40K: Cities of Death Returns
Games Workshop announces the return of Cites of Death for Warhammer 40,000 8th!
Warhammer 40k is a very cinematic game and one of those things that makes it look so darn pretty is the terrain. Especially when done well. Terrain can sometimes be the “3rd army” on the board because it can fight you as much as your opponent. Anyone who’s ever failed a charge due to difficult terrain can attest to that!
Now, GW is taking a look at some of the “Advanced Rules on Cities of Death” for 8th. These are an optional add-on to spice-up your game variety. So with that said, let’s dive in!
via Warhammer Community
How Will Ruins Work?
“[Ruins] impact takes the form of bonuses for units with certain keywords, and limitations for others.
Infantry are the big winners here. They alone have the flexibility and dexterity to move easily between levels of a building, over ruined walls, through doors, hatches and windows, as well as taking advantage of holes blasted in the ruins themselves. They are also the only units that benefit from cover naturally, just for being in a ruin. Other units (monsters, vehicles etc…) will need to actually be obscured to gain any bonus.”
How Will That Apply in a Cities of Death Game?
“In Cities of Death games, these bonuses get even better – if a unit does not move, its cover bonus from being in a ruin is increased from a +1 to their Armour Save to +2, representing the unit digging into cover and fortifying their position. This can make even a humble Guardsman squad difficult to shift, and a power armoured unit all but invulnerable.”
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Dug-in like an Alabama tick!
Fire in the Hole?
“It’s not going all Infantry’s way of course. There are solutions to dug-in enemies. Grenades for example. Any Grenade thrown at a unit in ruins will always count as having rolled the maximum number of shots (6, in the case of a frag grenade) and can reroll to wound thanks to the “Fire in the Hole” mission rule.”
Cities of Death Special Stratagems
As an additional advanced set of rules, Cities of Death will also come with a new selection of Stratagems. Naturally, there will quite a few to pick from to add that extra “Cities” flavor to your game. Sewer Rats, for example, allows you to infiltrate an Infantry unit in a street level ruin more than 9″ away from an enemy model. This is done at the end of your movement phase, just in time to make with the stabbin/shootin!
Read More About Cities of Death HERE
Between this new optional rule-set and the Stronghold Assault optional rules it really sounds like Games Workshop is looking to attract those Narrative players back to the game. I’m all for this stuff as well. If you don’t want to use these rules, you don’t have to “slow down” your Matched Play Games with them.
However, if you’re looking for a much more cinematic and thematic battle, incorporating one or both of these optional rule-sets can add some more GrimDark Flavor to your games!
Anyone else already planning a Narrative Campaign for the new edition launch? These rules are certainly making a case for it…
