Age of Sigmar: How to Play Cities of Sigmar

Today we take a look at the basics of how to play Cities of Sigmar in AoS. For the glory of the Lord of Hysh!

Sigmar’s mortal servants, the Cities of Sigmar represent settlements across the Realms where the races of Order work together to repel the tides of Death, Chaos, and Destruction. They are the most multifaceted army in the game, bringing together the strengths of all the different societies that make up the greater cities. Whatever you want to play, the Cities probably have a list for you, and they’re a surprisingly rewarding force.

Who are the Cities of Sigmar?

Bastions of Order across the Mortal Realms, the Cities of Sigmar are the product of Aelves, Dwarves, and Men working together to make a safe haven against the forces arrayed against them. They combine the ingenuity of the Dwarves, the martial prowess of the High Aelves, the cunning of the Dark Aelves, and the nimbleness of the Wood Aelves with the natural hardiness of Men. Each city has a focus, like the druidic Living City or the oil-bleached forges of Greywater Fastness, and they keep the spark of Order alight in a world choked by Chaos. The Dark Powers may own the Eightpoints, but the Cities of Sigmar ensure their reach moves no further.

Why Play Cities of Sigmar?

The Cities of Sigmar are the most varied army in the game, with multiple ways to play to suit almost any playstyle. Each city has its own unique battle traits, artefacts, and spell lores, so it’s almost like several armies in one book. If you like guns, there’s an army for that. It’s the same for Phoenix Guard, Dark Aelf Dragons, or Wood Aelf skirmishers. Every unit is viable in every army, though some fit the balance better than others in each case. Whatever you build, you’ll find a richly rewarding army with easily customizable lore if you like Lorehammer. And hey, if it doesn’t work, try another city.

Strengths

• No army in the game has as many options as you (except maybe the Stormcast)
• You get to play the older armies, while also adding some surprising support models
• More conditional Battleline than you can shake a Zweihander at
• The ALMIGHTY STEAM TANK (which is also conditional Battleline)

Weaknesses

• All that choice can make your army unfocused if you aren’t careful
• Some of the Cities do have a “right” way to play, limiting the choices you have a little bit

Subfactions

In place of subfactions, each City has its own suite of special rules, making them completely unique armies. I will give a quick rundown of each city below.

The Cities

• Anvilgard – The Dark Aelf Corsair army. You can field deadly creatures with curses, you can cut down your own warriors to avoid battleshock, and you can decide what sort of black market business you’re running. A fun monster mash army.
• Excelsis – A Ghurish army that rose up during the events of Broken Realms. They have a preternatural sense for avoiding danger, and can turn their opponents’ attacks back on them.
• Greywater Fastness – The Dwarf Engineer and Nuln army. This is the land of cannons, guns, and blackpowder. Use this if close combat makes you queasy and you just want to blitz the enemy with gunfire.
• Hallowheart – The Arcane College army. This is the army to play if you want to unleash magic on your foes and ignore theirs in return. Lots of mages and enough magic to make Tzeentch blush.
• Hammerhal – The defensive army, and the one you play if you want to coalition in some Stormcast. If you bring Aventis Firestrike, you get even stronger, so you probably will. This is a good “I’m not moving” turtle army if that’s your style of play.
• Har Kuron – Not all the Cities are on Sigmar’s side; Har Kuron owes allegiance only to the Shadow Queen, and as such can only include Dark Aelves. It can also take Daughters of Khaine as Coalition units, and can ignore battleshock in the same manner as Anvilgard. Take this army if you love the Cities but hate the Sigmar.
• Misthåvn – A city of Dark Aelf assassins. This is the army of skirmishers that don’t want to play fair and want to win at any cost. They can set up late, they take combat stims, and they can move on the turn they show up from reserve. Take this army to live out your Assassin’s Creed dreams.
• Settler’s Gain – A city in Hysh under the watchful eye of the Lumineth Realm-Lords. While they provide the citizenry with training and artefacts, they have a bad habit of “cleansing” the inhabitants. Even so, you can take powerful Lumineth units as coalition choices, making this a surprisingly durable choice.
• Tempest’s Eye – The skirmishers army, and the one to play if you want to enhance your army with skyboats. They can add in Kharadron Overlords as a coalition, and they are faster early in the game. The polar opposite of Hammerhal, so take this army if you want to get stuck in immediately.
• The Living City – The Wood Aelf army, and also the army of life. Let’s you add Sylvaneth as coalition units, and you can redeploy every turn. Plus, you get to heal a wound every turn for every unit, which is pretty great.
• The Phoenicium  – The Phoenix/Phoenix Guard army. Does everything well, but is especially good at revenge. Phoenix Guard are one of the best units in the book, so making them battleline is pretty amazing.

Key Units

Cities of Sigmar has the largest roster of almost any book in the game. Still, these are a few units you’ll always want to consider.

Freeguild General on Griffon – One of the most versatile leaders in the book, atop one of its deadliest beasts. The Freeguild General has an amazing command ability, and the array of weapons available to him make him able to hang with almost any army type. Give him an Arcane Tome and watch his threat elevate astronomically.

Phoenix Guard – Hands down the best conditional battleline in the book, the Phoenix Guard have an incredible set of rules combined with a deadly weapon profile. There aren’t many units better at holding the line than the Phoenix Guard, with their 4+ Ward save making them one of the most durable pieces in the book. They’re Battleline if you have a Phoenix General, which you should anyway if you’re bringing them, so you can have an entire army of these guys smashing faces.

Steam Tank – A powerful and deadly war machine, this monster is rightly feared by the enemies of Order. It has a cannon, a close range steam gun, and of course the grinding weight of its metal wheels. For added nastiness, you can put a commander in one, allowing you to take more as Battleline. An army of tanks isn’t kind, but it is effective.

Outriders – If you need speed, shooting, and skirmishing, then Outriders are the way to go. While they aren’t the most accurate shots in the game, they can drown the enemy in weight of fire, and they can run or retreat and still shoot in the same turn, making them extremely hard to pin down. Add a few to take out warmachine crews or individual heroes.

Black Ark Corsairs – Not the most powerful or durable units in the army, Black Ark Corsairs are still a good skirmishing infantry unit. They’re fast, they have decent shooting defense, and they hit pretty hard while they’re in big units. They’ll want to hunt warmachines or shooting units, then skate away to go after someone else.

Sample Army (1000 pts)

Army: Cities of Sigmar (Phoenicium)

Leader: Anointed on Flamespyre Phoenix. General.

Battleline: 20 x Phoenix Guard

Battleline: 20 x Phoenix Guard

Cities of Sigmar Tips

It’s hard to give tips for Cities since there are SO many ways to play them, but just try to make sure you don’t get choice-blind. Decide what you want your army to do, then focus on that, and you’ll be fine.

~For the Glory of Sigmar!

Originally from North Carolina, Clint comes to Austin as the latest in a long list of haunts of a wandering actor. An avid gamer, writer, actor, pyrotechnician, and general nerd, he writes two Age of Sigmar weekly articles for Bell of Lost Souls from a slightly less than meta angle, plus a weekly tournament roundup. When not busy being a clueless cowboy, Winterfell Bannermen, or whatever else acting life throws at him, he enjoys reading folklore from around the world, writing narratives for his Wargaming armies, or watching all the movies he can. Look for his storytelling podcast, By the Dancing Fire, or find him on Twitch at RedWendigo13.

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