Here’s your guide to the Cities of Sigmar; from the Army box to their Battletome and more, here’s the latest for Age of Sigmar!
GW showed off the Cities of Sigmar starter army box (we’ll have it below for you), and we have many details about the setting, gameplay, units, and more! If you’ve patiently waited for the Cities of Sigmar to return to the mortal realms, you’ll love this guide to it all.
Cities of Sigmar Army Box Set: What’s the Value? (August, 23rd 2023)
Your first chance to get your hands on the brand new Cities of Sigmar miniatures and battletome is nearly here, with a jam-packed Army Set coming to pre-order on Saturday. Two units of 10 Steelhelms and five Cavaliers muster around a Freeguild Marshal and his attendant Alchemite Warforger.
In addition to the miniatures, this set contains a special edition of the new battletome with an exclusive cover, a deck of warscroll cards for all 52 Cities of Sigmar units, and four transfer sheets covered in iconography for your city of choice.
Currently, we don’t know the actual pricing of the individual units quite yet, but we have plenty of evidence to go off. Either way, the estimated value here should give you a great idea of what to expect.
- 20 Steelhelms $120 ($60 for 10, based on Chaos Warriors and Saurus, could be slightly cheaper as they are smaller- perhaps as cheap as $50 a squad like Cadian Shock Troops)
- 5 Cavaliers Muster $65 (based on new Choas Knights and Raptadon, both are $65 for 5)
- Freeguild Marshal & Envoy $45 (based on recent character releases)
- Alchemite Warforger $35 (Based on Skink Starseer)
- Book & Cards $60 (current battletome pricing, cards should be added value)
Total MSRP: $320
Total savings versus the estimated $200 box price: $120
Is the Cities of Sigmar Army Box Worth It?
It has decent value inside, but you do have to remember a lot of the value comes from the battletome; however, you were probably going to buy one anyway for the army. Everything inside is also brand new, so most people who play the army, or want to play the army will most likely want to get all the units included, So there are no wasted minis here in terms of value.
While $120 isn’t the best value we’ve ever seen for an army box, it’s a good value overall, and if you want the new minis and battletome, this is worth a pickup! This is mainly because it has a good range of miniatures inside, and you get early access to them, as who knows how long until GW releases them individually.
It took about a month or so for the Seraphon, so let’s hope this is similar (or faster).
What to Buy Next?
The Pontifex looks pretty crazy, and we assume almost every army will include one for free Mortal Wounds. Then, there will be a ton of new minis, so we recommend just buying the minis you like for now, and then when you get the book, build around your favorite minis to hobby on.
We’ve seen a few of these Army Box sets now for Warhammer 40k and a few for AoS already. They generally follow the trend of giving you early access to the Codex or Battletome a month or so in advance, providing the box with some intrinsic value.
Lastly, there will (most likely) be a Vanguard Box, and when you combine an army box and a Vanguard box, they generally give you a solid starting force to build around.
Like with all the previous boxes, we expect this to go quickly, so if you want it, try to get it early.
Here is a great unboxing video of the new Cities of Sigmar Army Box including model builds and more!
GW Reveals Cities of Sigmar Freeguild Cavaliers Rules & Sprues: (August, 18th 2023)
The new rules and sprues for the Cities of Sigmar come from Warhammer Community.
Their Devastating Charge is bolstered by their heavy barding, shattering bones and shields alike as they plough through defensive lines, allowing the riders to strike their foes with hammers, axes and swords, all of which have their Damage and Rend characteristic by increased by 1 on the charge.
Timely use of orders enable the brow-beaten warriors of the Cities of Sigmar to punch up in battle against the most fantastical foes of the Mortal Realms, and commanders that can keep up with thundering Cavaliers to issue these vital orders are a necessity.
If they charge, they are going to do a lot of damage with three attacks each at Rend and Damage 2! You definitely want them to be charging, as without it, they will be far less effective.
The Freeguld Cavalier-Marshal is just the person for the job, their lofty station unencumbered by the burden of command. Despite this immense weight, when using the “Their Finest Hour” Heroic Action, these unflappable heroes will bellow a cry of For Sigmar, Charge! to light a fire in the bellies of their allies, adding a full 3” further on the charge for anyone within earshot.
Adding 3″ to a charge is pretty insane, so it looks like you should be able to take advantage of the rule above far more often.
Freeguild Sprues
While the Castelite formation is the stock-in-trade of most Cities of Sigmar expeditionary forces, it isn’t uncommon for a full complement of mounted warriors to take to the field in order to rout the most formidable foes. With this in mind, the Warhammer Studio have made the Freeguild Cavalier kit one of the most flexible in the range, with an eye-watering number of combinations that defy cataloguing.
The sprues look great, and as GW said, they come with a ton of options!
The sprue contains five upper body constructions that combine horse and rider, and these can be mounted on any of the five lower body sub-assemblies. Five tails, pieces of saddle furniture and head armour polish off the mount, and unlock huge variations of steeds.
This is an exciting way to make the sprues, as the tops and bottoms can be combined any way you like, which gives you tons of variety.
On top of that, each rider can be equipped with one of five weapons and shields, one of five unhelmeted heads, or five helmeted heads with a choice of visor up, or down. Not content with this, the team also packed in options for the Arch-Knight Champion, and a Cavalier Herald, creating a dream of a kit for fans of armoured cavalry.
It seems like each rider will have a ton of options, so there will be plenty to sink your teeth into when building this kit!
Cities of Sigmar Get New Orders Rules: (August, 16th 2023)
The new Cities of Sigmar rules come from Warhammer Community.
It works like this. Just after the priority roll has been made, a Cities of Sigmar army can issue one order to each friendly CITIES OF SIGMAR HERO on the battlefield, with no more than three heroes able to receive the same order. These are issued in secret, using the tokens which come with every Cities of Sigmar battletome, and remain face down until they are revealed leaving the enemy general to second-guess them until the last possible moment.
Unlike Imperial Guard orders, these are secret and are only revealed at the appropriate time. This is an interesting mechanic to add to the game, as it gives you some hidden ways to surprise your opponents.
Advance in Formation can be revealed at the start of the movement phase, adding 3” to the Move characteristic of any CITIES OF SIGMAR unit that starts within 3” of the HERO with the order. CASTELITE units like the Freeguild Fusiliers and Ironweld Great Cannon can take up fortified positions even if they moved.
This is huge for the new Castelite Formation, as they aren’t really meant to move. So you can issue this order a few times and get your units moving without breaking the fortified positions.
Even the most mushroom-addled Gitz will soon notice that several extremely beleaguered humans are bellowing battle-defining orders to their followers, and will start singling them out. The response is simple – the Return Fire order can be revealed by a CITIES OF SIGMAR HUMAN HERO who has been targeted by a shooting attack, allowing a unit within 3” to immediately unleash a retaliatory volley – even if success comes at the cost of their commander’s life.
There are some pretty wild shooting units in the Cities of Sigmar army, so this can be huge and force your opponent to think twice before ever shooting at your heroes.
Clever use of orders can turn the tide of battle, and Marshals who have survived enough battles to hone their tactics are a rare and well-protected breed. Their lofty station comes with plenty of benefits, including a fabulously feathered Griffon, and from atop these winged steeds they easily communicate multiple orders with Tactical Acumen, taking two orders at the start of the battle.
Lastly, certain heroes can get more than one order, which is just excellent and can increase their efficiency.
Cities of Sigmar Pontifex Zenestra Rules Use All the Prayers: (August, 15th 2023)
The new Cities of Sigmar Pontifex Zenestra rules come from Warhammer Community.
Regardless of her origin, her power is undeniable to those who march to battle beside her. Soldiers have reportedly seen assassin’s blades phase straight through her neck as though she were nothing more than an illusion, though the true believers know it’s thanks to her Blessed Palanquin and its trusty 4+ ward.
Having a 4+ Ward Save is actually crazy in AoS! Meaning half of all wounds will be negated. This is on top of having a “rumored” nine wounds, so she should be hard to kill.
As a Vessel of Sigmar she is able to channel the divine might of the God-King himself, blessing those that surround her. This usually confers one boon to her followers, but if the Great Wheel has been sufficiently oiled by the blood of the faithless dead, she will deign to hand out two.
With a gesture Zenestra can sanctify the very earth itself, and the Hallowed Ground rule provides units with the CITIES OF SIGMAR HUMAN keywords with a ward of 5+ while they are wholly within 18” of her. When The Great Wheel Turns all CITIES OF SIGMAR HUMAN units feel revitalised and get an extra 2”, and if the Pontifex draws on the power of faith she can Cast Out Evil and force every enemy Wizard and Priest on the battlefield to suffer D3 mortal wounds on a 2+.
On a 3+, you should be getting this off more often than not, and all three are really good. The ward save is actually a big radius, but the other two affect the entire battlefield!
Giving every single one of your human units is a huge buff, or you can just kill off wizards all across the board! If you get this off on two turns, you should do an average of four mortals to every single enemy wizard or priest on the battlefield, which is honestly pretty crazy, and we expect nearly every army to take them for this fact alone.
Rumored Rules For Pontifex Zenestra
These leaks come from Reddit, and while this all lines up perfectly, they are still not 100% confirmed. So, there is a chance something changes, but from the looks of it, they are spot on.
There isn’t much else here besides the move, wounds, and +1 to dispel. Oh, and the fact if you charge her into combat, you can do more mortal wounds.
If you need a mortal wound machine in your army, this is the way to go, and against heavy wizard armies, this will be an auto-include!
GW Reveals New Cities of Sigmar Models As Rules Leaks Spread: (August 4th, 2023)
The new Cities of Sigmar rules leaks come from Reddit.
Let’s start with the new models; first, we have the Pontifex. Having nine wounds is far better than having 10, and this has a 4+ Ward save to boot, so a surprisingly hard-to-kill model.
Then, the prayers are interesting, with the possibility for Ward saves, extra movement, board-wide mortals (just insane against certain armies), of the abilities for mortals in combat. Lastly, you have +1 to unbind, this is a very versatile hero that can also dish out the damage!
Nothing too crazy here; it’s a giant cannon that is good at shooting down big models! You’ll just want to deploy this and not move it so it can shoot whatever you want. If you want something to bring down monsters, bring this.
She’s very similar, except she can’t make people run, shoot, and charge.
It seems pretty obvious you’re not going to pick the melee option, as most people will grab the +1 to cast or the unbind.
The Hurricanum seems to get a NERF here, but it’s hard to say without seeing everything in the book, but from just looking at this, it appears to be a tad less effective…
If you want to shoot beams of light at the enemy, this is your mini! Oh, and the searing beam of light does mortal wounds at 30″!
Lat for the leaks, we gave some dwarves! The Longbeards are surprising as they go to a base save of 3+ (meaning this leaves the ability to get them to a 2+ save) and bravery of 8. So should be a good tarpit unit.
Lastly, the Warden King is tough, has a good save, and can dish out some damage!
New Cities of Sigmar Models & Miniatures
The full reveal for all the new Cities of Sigmar Models comes from Warhammer Community.
Pontifex Zenestra is the Matriarch of the Great Wheel, one of the many Cults Unberogen who worship aspects of the God-King Sigmar. Allegedly a great-grandmother at the dawn of the Age of Sigmar, she brooks no questions about the accompanying skeleton whose scars mirror her own.
Redolent with Azyrite energy, a great coruscating halo of heavenly force lashes out at enemies as she is carried into battle on an ornate palanquin by pious warriors eager to prove their devotion.
We already saw the rules for this model, and we expect almost all players to run one of these in their army, as its abilites are quite good, and the model looks cool!
Ironweld Great Cannon
The gatehouse of the novel Castelite formation employed by the armies of Sigmar, the Ironweld Great Cannon is an artillery piece that strikes a balance between speed of reloading and raw, destructive firepower.
As we said, if you want something to kill big monsters, this is a good choice, as if you get a little lucky, you can do tons of damage!
Freeguild Command Corps
The Great Herald holds a banner, accompanied by Mascot Gargoylians. You might have spotted smaller Gargoylians on the bases of other Cities of Sigmar units – we’ll have more information on these peculiar creatures soon!
War in the realms is brutal, and War Surgeons are on hand to amputate a limb to keep the army in fighting form, while Soul Shepherds and their eerie Corpus Somni pipers guard the souls of those who cannot be saved. Arch-Knights are looming bodyguards to their Marshals, while the spymasters known as Whisperblades instil discipline in the ranks through fear, paranoia, and sharp knives.
Some very interesting minis are included in this command set, and if you want some wild doom and gloom in your army, these will be great.
Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal
Some Marshals prefer to command their armies from atop mighty steeds, charging into battle alongside the Freeguild Cavaliers, smashing through enemy ranks before wheeling around to strike again.
Every fantasy army needs a cool hero on a horse, and here you go!
New Battletome & Starter
Every single unit will be featured in Battletome: Cities of Sigmar, a 160-page book with a huge background section covering every aspect of the Cities and how they wage war. The first place to get this book – and the first selection of miniatures – is in the Cities of Sigmar Army Set, coming soon.
They still have a giant number of units inside, so the book being this large makes sense.
We’ve already seen the contents, but now we get the artwork of the box too! If you want to see all the minis inside, check that out here!
The Fuses are Lit; New Freeguild Fusiliers Pack a Powdered Punch!
These thundering reports cut down charging Orruks by the dozen – handy, considering their gear leaves them little melee defence. Against daemons, gheists, and other ungodly abominations, they use shot inscribed with sigils or blessed by lifewater. They fly their banner high, as much a memento mori as a rallying standard, reminding themselves that death is just one missed shot away.
These walking mini-battlements look sick! Packing heavy firepower behind moving fortifications will surely strike fear into any Orruk that shows its face on the battlefield.
GW Reveals New Cities of Sigmar Fusil-Major on Ogor Warhulk!
GW has done a few Master Blaster-style minis before, but this one is really cool! You get a sniper and an Ogor with a massive shield to protect the gunner and hold your flank down. If you were hoping GW would take the line in a bit of a wild direction, they seem to have you covered!
Guide To Cities of Sigmar, Army Box Details, Rules & More!
Take up the Coin Malleus, and join the quest to reclaim the Mortal Realms in the name of Sigmar. The soldiers who defend the Free Cities have sharpened their blades, fastened their armour, and gathered an entire feretory* of sacred relics – and they’ll soon be sallying forth with a huge new army set.
Cities of Sigmar Launch Army Box Contents
Here is the latest on the Cities of Sigmar Launch Army box from Warhammer Community.
This box features the robust core of a Castelite formation, ready to unleash Sigmar’s wrath on any who would stand in the way of the Dawnbringer Crusades.
With 28 minis, these seem to be the first way and a near-perfect starting point to being a Cities of Sigmar army!
An experienced Freeguild Marshal leads the force, commanding troops with years of hard-earned tactical nous, while their Relic Envoy delivers important messages to the front lines. At the same time, their sacred – and frankly, quite spooky – artefact offers eerie advice and spectral scolding.
The first character is the marshal, who is assumedly a supportive leader, grizzled by years of war and success.
They are joined by an Alchemite Warforger, powerful wizard-smiths from the Gold College of Chamon. These metallurgical mages can reinforce the armour of allies and infuse weapons with searing power, aided by the smouldering runic crucibles they carry into battle.
The other Character is the Warforger, who will be a new spell-casting support, focusing on metallurgy-based spells.
The Freeguild Steelhelms are the rank and file of the Cities of Sigmar armies – doughty, disciplined, and numerous. Though they’re often outmatched in size and strength by the ferocious horrors they face in battle, they have faith and gutsy determination on their side. That, and a whole armoury of sharp swords and blunt implements.
We’ve seen these before, but now we’ve got two full squads of 10 coming in the launch box.
Freeguild Cavaliers are the swift lance to the Steelhelms’ sturdy shield – heavy cavalry covered in tough barding who unleash devastating linebreaker charges. Once their thunderous charge has smashed apart an enemy formation, they will wheel around, weapons raised, to support their footslogging comrades in a long and grinding battle of attrition.
We’ve also seen the Cavaliers before, but now we know they will be touching down inside this launch box.
The army set is the first place you can get any of these miniatures, and it includes four transfer sheets with iconography covering a wide variety of Free Cities heraldry.
There’s also a special edition of the Battletome: Cities of Sigmar with cover art unique to this army set, and a deck of warscroll cards for all 54 units they can field. What makes up the rest of the roster? You’ll have to wait and see…
Of course, you’ll get the full rules set for the faction inside the Launch Army box that even sports an exclusive cover.
Tahila Vedra: Lioness of the Parch
You may have noticed just a little sting in the tail of the preview video – the awe-inspiring presence of Tahlia Vedra, Lioness of the Parch, who rides out as the scorching heart of Aqshy’s military.
Part of what makes the Cities of Sigmar so formidable, even in the face of gods and monsters, is the conviction of their beliefs. Few embody this strength as well as Tahlia Vedra. The former mercenary is Dawner propaganda made manifest, depicted across the realms as the righteous fury of the Dawnbringer Crusades – soaring into battle to smite the enemies of Sigmar from atop Infernadine, her savage manticore steed.
And lastly, this Manticore riding character will also be a separate release later after the new Cities of Sigmar Army Box. It’s a stunning centerpiece for the model and something fans can look forward to after getting a box and starting their army!
Be sure to check out all the big reveals from Games Workshop’s Not Warhammer 40,000 Preview below!
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About the Author: Andrew Schrank
Andrew Schrank
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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Bio: Aspiring diplomat, Lord of Fluff, and Master of Ice Hammer. Andrew joined the Spikey Bits team in 2018. He mainly covers releases from Games Workshop, along with some previews and hobby posts. He loves Star Wars, Chaos Undivided, and Gundam.
During his free time, he hunts Platinum trophies on PS5 and reads international news. On weekends, he can be found playing commander and cEDH games, often with unique strategies that push the limits. He believes that each day presents a new opportunity to grow and be challenged.
