Age of Sigmar: Cities of Sigmar ‘Order’ Rules Preview
Games Workshop talks shop about the new Cities of Sigmar Orders and how they will function on the tabletop.
This week GW is rolling out some previews for the Cities of Sigmar. Yesterday we got a look at the rules for Pontifex Zenestra. It’s a really cool model that tells an intriguing story and the rules seem pretty solid. Today, we’re getting a higher level look at how the army will play with it’s own unique Orders. So let’s dive in!
“These orders are time and again the key to the success, allowing regular men and women to punch up into odds that would otherwise seem impossible to beat. Grit, determination and a whole pile of guns and shields are nothing without direction, and the orders system that the Cities of Sigmar utilise in battle is the secret of their success.”
Cities of Sigmar Orders
Okay…it’s time to talk about Orders. Remember when I talked about why I have a Love/Hate relationship with the Cities of Sigmar? Just wanted to mention that preface one more time before I get into this system. Again, I like the models and think they look great. But I am NOT a fan of these rules. We’re going to tackle what these do first and then I’ll go over my issues afterwards. Here we go.
First up we have Advance In Formation. This allows your gunline Cities of Sigmar units that started within 3″ of a Hero with this order to move an extra 3″ to their move. Additionally, they can establish a “Fortified Position” at the end of the phase if they are within 3″ of a Hero with this order.
Basically, Cities of Sigmar units will get and extra 3″ of movement and suffer no penalty to their shooting for moving from their old spot to their new spot. And again, just to reiterate, you can give this single order to up to three different heroes. But it essentially applies to all units within 3″ of them. (Trying to contain my comments to the end…)
Next we have Return Fire which is exactly what it sounds like. This order allows a friendly unit within 3″ of this hero with the order to shoot back after being shot. So this is an out of turn shooting attack with no penalty from the unit Returning Fire. Just more free shots that happen during the opponent’s phase. (Trying to keep it together…)
And finally we have Tactical Acumen. This applies to the Freeguild Marshal on Griffon in particular and allows it to have two of these orders per turn instead of just one. Each order must be different but still, you’ll get to double dip on one character. By the way, there’s a lot more orders to choose from on top of the two above. There’s two for universal units, three orders that apply to Human units, two Orders that apply to Aelf units, and two more that apply to Duardin units. (This isn’t so bad…right?)
This Is Fine.
After releasing a long sigh, let’s get into why I have issues with these rules. These new Cities of Sigmar Orders…do they cost any Command Points? No? They are just free if you have a hero nearby? Oh, okay…that’s nice. Oh and what’s that? You place those tokens face down and you don’t have to show what they are? And you only flip them when you need to reveal them? So it’s a “surprise, gotcha” type of feeling for the opponent? I’m sure that players will totally have their tokens on them for their games all the time and will never get them mixed up or “accidentally” swap them when it’s convenient, right? ‘Cause we need more book keeping and that’s fun.
So yeah, I have issues with how these orders are used/applied in game. I’m fine with the tokens but they shouldn’t be face down. AoS is a game with pretty open information in general. Why does is this army special rule “we get to have hidden information”? And yeah, experienced players will probably anticipate what Orders are being issued anyhow — but that’s not the point. This feels like the Cities of Sigmar saw the Orders system from Legions Imperialis and thought “yeah, we want that in this other game that totally doesn’t have that mechanic!” I’m not a fan.
Now let’s just get into the two Orders GW teased. Return Fire allows for some out of turn shooting. I personally don’t like this in general. I’ve seen how busted attacking out of sequence can be — see the previous iteration of Nighthaunt charges. Out of sequence attacks throw things off and those rules were changed (ie removed) to better fit the flow of the game. On top of that, this unit that’s shooting has zero penalty for shooting back! There’s no -1 to hit for these shots. And there isn’t a loss of shooting later in the turn. Hell, Unleash Hell is more punishing than these shots — and by the way the unit can still do that later, too!
Again, these shots don’t require the use of a command point either. Just more shots from the gunline. The only plus in my mind is that this will be used on other units that are also shooting at them. So at least the ranged units can go play 40k together exchange fire at each other I guess.
Advance In Formation is by far my least favorite. Again, THREE heroes can get this order. But it can apply to ANY/ALL friendly Cities of Sigmar units that start within 3″ of the various heroes. If you deploy wisely, that’s your entire force — or at least a major chunk of your gunline. Those units get all buffs, no penalties and make your gunline a lot more mobile. That 3″ extra move is just gravy on top of the redeployment of your gunline that still retains “Fortified Position” afterwards. And again, this costs ZERO command points. It just relies on positioning…
I know some folks out there are going to say “Well a unit can only issue and receive one order a turn.” That is 100% true. But I ask who’s issuing these orders and who are the targets? Hint: It’s not the units that are actually getting the benefits of them. Additionally, I’m assuming that these Cities of Sigmar Orders are counting as the same generic Orders that can be issued to units already. But it they aren’t…that’s even dumber I guess. And they still don’t cost command points to issue.
I can’t wait for all the fun counter-play with deep and engaging gameplay against this gunline army… And yes, that’s sarcasm. No, I don’t like these army rules. That was not sarcasm. But hey, that’s just like my opinion man.
Again: Cities of Sigmar have cool models. But I still don’t like their rules. Both things can be true.
