Age of Sigmar: New Cities of Sigmar Faction Focus Rules – Bringers of Dawn
The Cities of Sigmar are under the spotlight with a brand new Faction Focus. How will they stack up in the next edition?
As the Army that got the last major revamp before the new edition I know folks are curious to see how their Cities of Sigmar army is shaping up in the next edition. Well Age of Sigmar fans, it’s time to take a look at these crusading Dawnbringers to see how their new rules are holding up. Will they still be blasting folks with shot and cannon? Let’s find out!
“The Cities of Sigmar are the ordinary folk of the realms, who have taken the Coin Malleus and joined the military effort – or have been press-ganged in by the religious fanatics of the Cults Unberogen. Whether defending their cities or marching out on Dawnbringer Crusades, they fight with tireless determination and a stockpile of blackpowder weapons.”
Cities of Sigmar – Battle Traits
Let’s jump right into their Battle Trait rules. Advance in Formation gives you some movement tricks — you’ll get to shuffle up to 2 units if the first was Human. Suppressing Fire can force an enemy unit to Strike Last provided you did enough damage to roll under the result. Strike Them Down boosts a units number of attacks and if it’s an Aelf unit they also get to add 1 to hit rolls, too. And finally we have Hold The Line which grants a unit a 5+ ward in exchange for Strike Last. And if that unit happens to be a Duardin unit, then enemies targeting them also get -1 to hit rolls vs that unit.
Overall, I think these “Officar’s Orders” are a nod to the current edition. I like the additional bonus based on the unit type, too. Although I’m not sure if we’re going to see folks really lean into a mixed army any more than the current edition. Maybe that’s one aspect they are looking to expand on with the new edition (eventually).
Battle Formation – Fortress-City Defenders
Bulwark Zone allows for Fortify Position to be a thing for the first battle round. This applies a -1 to be wounded for attack rolls that target Cities of Sigmar units in those Fortified Positions. This is just one of their Battle Formations, too.
“Dawnbringer Crusades still forge into the bleak and nightmarish wilds, their relentless vigour granting them a movement boost in the early battle, while other Battle Formations make great use of the weapons supplied to them by the Ironweld Engineers or the puissant sorcerers of the Collegiate Arcane.”
Cities of Sigmar – Magic
Once again we get a preview of what the Spells will be for the Cities of Sigmar’s lore. Here we have Speed of the Twin-Tailed Comet. On a 7 to cast, you get to boost a unit’s charge by +1 D6 up to a max of 3 dice. That might not sound like much but it makes a few long bomb charges a lot more consistent and it makes close charges almost guaranteed!
Cities of Sigmar – Warscroll Previews
Games Workshop has dropped another broad cross-section of Warscrolls to peruse. And again, we’re not going to recap each one — you can see them below for yourself. I will say that you might want to pay close attention to those abilities because they are close to what the respective unit did before. But they certainly aren’t 1:1 translations.
Cities of Sigmar – Spearhead Army
If you’re looking to start a Cities of Sigmar Army in the future then you might want to consider the Spearhead option. At least we can see what’s coming for that army:
“Much to the Grand Conclave’s chagrin, the Castelite formation, which bristles with guns, cannot solve every military problem. The more flexible Castelite Company is often used for smaller skirmishes, a mixture of swift cavalry, booming cannon, and ever-reliable Freeguild Steelhelms, all under the command of a Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal.”
It looks like we’ve got:
- 1x Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal
- 1x Ironweld Great Cannon
- 5x Freeguild Cavaliers
- 10x Freeguild Steelhelms
So yes, this is the exact same contents as the current Spearhead box in case you were wondering. Scoring one of those boxes now will only give you a headstart so keep that in mind.
Naturally, this Spearhead force comes with some modified rules. You also get the modifed Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal’s warscroll along with the rest of the units, too.
If you’re looking for a mixed-arms force then few do it better than the Cities of Sigmar. So load that cannon and steady your fusiliers. And prepare to fire!
Dawnbringers are going to bring the boom in the next edition.
