The full Cities of Sigmar range is available to pre-order on Saturday, from the lowliest Freeguild Steelhelm to the Matriarch of the Great Wheel. Inside the battletome there are rules for 11 different cities from the Mortal Realms.
Each is steeped with background, providing great inspiration for thematic forces, and with Warhammer Community in the thrall of Cities fever, we checked in with some devoted Sigmar worshippers to find out how they are constructing their armies.
Luke - Excelsis
Luke: I’m a fan of how each sub-faction in the battletome encapsulates a City, but also acts as a jumping-off point if you want to do something a bit different. From the second I saw the Freeguild Cavaliers kit, I knew I wanted a decent cavalry core, and Excelsis with their Fearsome Breeds for shock and awe charges seemed like a great starting point
I had a bit of a quandary though – Excelsis isn’t really my vibe in terms of colour and theme, and I much prefer the striking colours of Greywater Fastness and Lethis. In the end, I settled on the best of both worlds – a quartered scheme!* It's quite high effort, but worth it for the Cavaliers, letting each fly a unique take. My shopping list includes a Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal and at least two more units of Cavaliers.
The advantage of this is that I can spin them to be offshoots of either city should I want to try a different tactic. This is convenient because despite being fully Cavalier-pilled, I quite like that the Freeguild Fusiliers have plenty of real estate on their shields to sell the quartered scheme. It doesn’t hurt that A Greywater Welcome enables the use of All-out Attack up to three times for one command point. That’s ideal for using gunners to soften up tough units ahead of a thundering cavalry charge…
Charlie - Misthåvn
Charlie: Misthåvn is my favoured city, a floating free port packed with pirates, scoundrels, and salt-hardened souls just trying to make an honest living. That means a Black Ark Fleetmaster as my general, who makes Black Ark Corsairs into a Battleline choice. In terms of the sheer number of dice I’ll get to roll, these aelven privateers can’t be beat – with an All-out Attack command, they’ve got 4 attacks each, hitting on 3s. Not too shabby for the cost, especially with extra Rend from a Counter-charge order – or better yet, the Tenebrael Blades spell removing the enemy saves entirely.
Scourge Privateers aren’t the only black-hearted buccaneers in Misthåvn, though. No pirate fleet would be complete without cannons – whether a gunline of Freeguild Fusiliers ready to pepper the enemy decks, a giant Ironweld Great Cannon lugged straight off the ship, or a crow’s nest lookout in the form of a Fusil-Major. They’ll provide lethal covering fire, and lure in my opponent’s melee units for a Corsair Counter-charge.
Shadowed Approach is the Misthåvn ability, which allows me to move up to three of my units D6" (or 2D6", for cavalry) in my hero phase. The obvious application is aggressive moves that bring my Scourgerunner Chariots and Freeguild Cavaliers into charge range, but I can also use it on my gunline to play keep-away. Fusiliers become much less effective when they’re not in a Fortified position, losing half their attacks and range – but that only requires staying still in my movement phase. I can shuffle them back in my hero phase, stand still in my movement phase, and still blast away to my heart’s content.
I might look into hiring a Battlemage and a Cavalier-Marshal. With Move 10", plus 3" from an Advance in Formation order, plus 2" from Pontifex Zenestra being on the battlefield (pirates need priests too!), plus a free 2D6" move from Shadowed Approach, plus the Wildform spell and a For Sigmar, Charge heroic action… My coastal cavaliers will have a maximum threat radius of 45". Even if I roll five ones in a row (with a re-roll from the Fiery Temper command trait), they’ll still race a minimum of 23" into combat. Revolting! I can’t wait.
Emma - Lethis
Emma: After working on some of the Cities of Sigmar painting videos as part of the Warhammer Painting Team, I felt that there was only one city that had my name on it. I have a really soft spot for anything spooky, undead, or with ravens on them–- so Lethis was an instant winner for my army.
With Lethis in the Realm of Shyish, and with heraldry that’s purple, black, and grey, it was a no-brainer to pick them and make them look similar to my Soulblight Gravelords and Cursed City collection. The main change is trying to get my personal twist of vibrant and ghoulish green magic to the city theme. With that included, the army started to take shape.
As with all my projects, I began with the heroes, so I could get the colour scheme and palette down. These models have so much extra detail you can really make them to your liking. My Freeguild Marshal has a head swap from the Cavaliers kit – it’s not a major change, but it’s just enough to make him unique to my army.
Now I have my colour scheme ready and written down in my recipe book, I can easily replicate these over time. I can then take these colours and translate them onto other models, making sure I’m happy with the placement and contrast of details – you don’t want black cloth right next to black wood or you won’t see much detail of the miniature if you are keeping it simple.
What’s next? Well, I will definitely want the Freeguild Command Corps mainly for the Soul Shepherd, which I will have to make a Raven Priest thanks to Lethis’ army rule. For heavy-hitting stuff, I am thinking about taking some Fusiliers, Fusil-majors and Ironweld Great Cannons – with added ravens, crows and skulls. If I can find a skull big enough, I might just put it on the open end of the Cannon.
Let us know who you are thinking of constructing your own Cities of Sigmar army on the Warhammer X/Twitter and Facebook pages. You’ll be able to expand your collection with the whole range available to pre-order from Saturday.
* In the business this is also known as having your cake and eating it too.