With the new Battletome: Cities of Sigmar up for pre-order this weekend, we called upon Anthony Magro from AoS Coach to explain how budding Freeguild Marshals can get the most of the new rules.
Anthony: The Cities of Sigmar march to war with faith, steel, blackpowder and discipline. This new battletome reinforces the army’s identity as a combined-arms force, where heroes, infantry, cavalry, monsters, war machines, wizards, priests and towering Cogforts all work best when they fight as a coordinated battleline.
This is not an army of isolated hammer units charging forward on their own. The Cities reward careful positioning, layered synergies and smart sequencing. You’ll be forming battle groups, issuing orders, setting up counter-punches and asking your opponent a very important question: “Are you sure you want to charge that?”.
Form Up!
The defining mechanic for the Cities of Sigmar is Form Up!, and it’s the rule that tells you how this army wants to be played. At the start of each battle round, you group three different Cities of Sigmar warscrolls together, and those units become under orders for the rest of the battle round. Repeat this process until you run out of trios.
Once a unit is under orders, it doesn’t need to remain close to the original group. You form up, receive your orders and then the units are free to move, charge, shoot or reposition as needed.
The trick is making sure you can repeat the process in later battle rounds. That means Cities players will want to think in power trios: groups of three different unit types that naturally want to operate together.
A simple example might be:
Freeguild Marshal and Relic Envoy + Freeguild Steelhelms + Freeguild Gallants creates a durable melee formation built to anchor an objective, and absorb pressure.
Fusil-Major on Ogor Warhulk + Freeguild Fusiliers + Ironweld Great Cannon forms a natural gunline, improving accuracy, and slowing enemy threats before they reach your battleline.
Cavalier-Marshal + Freeguild Cavaliers + Gate Gargants gives you a fast, aggressive counter-charge package that can hit hard, reposition and punish opponents who overextend.
The key is that Form Up! does not just reward having good units. It rewards having the right mix of units, in the right place, at the right time.
What can I do while under orders?
Once your units are under orders, the Cities of Sigmar have a toolbox of Once Per Turn (Army) abilities that help them shoot, charge, fight and hold the line.
Take Aim! gives an under orders unit +1 to hit with one of its ranged weapons in your shooting phase. This is excellent on units like Freeguild Fusiliers, who get full value from the buff because their shooting output is concentrated into a single key weapon profile. It can also help Cogforts or Gate Gargants push through important damage.
Sound the Attack! is one of the most exciting tools in the book. When an under orders unit declares a charge, you can change the lowest D6 in the charge roll to match the highest D6. That can turn a failed charge into a successful one, or turn a lucky 6 on one dice into a massive 12” charge. It will make your Counter-charge far more reliable too.
Into Them, You Dogs! is the big one. Pick an under orders hero as your field officer, then two other under orders non-hero units wholly within 12” of the field officer. After the hero fights, one of those units can fight immediately, followed by the other. That’s three Cities units fighting in sequence before your opponent gets their next activation, and it creates some extremely powerful turns when combined with units like Freeguild Cavalier-Marshal, Freeguild Cavaliers, Tahlia Vedra or Cogfort passengers like the Freeguild Gallants.
Hurl Them Back! adds +1 Rend to an under orders unit’s melee weapons when it is in combat with an enemy unit that charged that turn. This can create brutal defensive spikes, especially alongside Freeguild Gallants, whose presence can hand out Anti-charge (+1 Rend) to nearby Sigmarite units. Suddenly, charging into the Cities battleline becomes a very dangerous idea.
Top 5 new units
There are a heap of new units in the Cities of Sigmar battletome, and each brings something interesting to the battlefield. Whether it’s new support pieces, durable objective holders, magical utility or towering war machines, the range has plenty to get excited about. Here are my top five favourite new units.
Cannonade Cogfort
The Cannonade Cogfort is everything I love about Cities of Sigmar turned up to 11. With 25 Health, a 3+ save, Control 10, and the 24” range godbreaker cannon, it can sit on an objective while projecting serious long-range threat. Overheat the arco-combustors with Full Power! to access a menu of benefits, including faster movement to 10”, subtract 1 from hit rolls for shooting that targets SIGMARITE units under orders wholly within 12”, or re-roll 1 hit and 1 wound roll for the godbreaker cannon. The Special Ammunition ability can get even more godbreaker cannon boosts, like subtracting 1 from ward rolls or adding 1 Rend, as long as you can roll a 3+ to trigger the ability.
Conqueror Cogfort
The Conqueror Cogfort is a mobile fortress and delivery system rolled into one. It brings the durability and board presence of a Cogfort, but the real appeal with the Conqueror is All Aboard! and Sally Forth abilities, which let it carry a SIGMARITE INFANTRY HERO and SIGMARITE INFANTRY unit, which is deployed within the Cogfort then later deployed on the battlefield wholly within 6” of the Conqueror Cogfort and either within 0.5” of an enemy unit or not in combat. That creates some fantastic play with units like Freeguild Marshal And Relic Envoy + Freeguild Gallants. Let’s not forget the realmscorcher flame cannon ranged weapon, which has 6D6 attacks!
Freeguild Gallants
Freeguild Gallants are exactly what I want from a Cities of Sigmar melee unit: tough, disciplined and dangerous when holding the line. Their 3+ save and 2 Health per model make them a durable objective anchor, while Not One Step Back rewards them for standing firm by gaining +1 attacks and +1 damage to their melee weapons if they didn’t use a charge ability. Deploy your Gallants into combat via a Cogfort and you’ll still reap the rewards from Not One Step Back. They also support the rest of the army with Break Them Upon the Walls, handing out Anti-charge (+1 Rend) to nearby SIGMARITE units while under orders.
Gate Gargants
Gate Gargants are a brilliant addition because they give Cities a durable monster unit that also supports the rest of the army. They bring 20 total Health across the unit, a 3+ save, a 6+ ward, strong control and enough melee threat to make opponents respect them on an objective. Their real value is in their support abilities: Aggressive Defenders can help nearby SIGMARITE units retreat and shoot/charge, while Open the Gates adds 2 to charge rolls for a nearby non-WAR MACHINE CITIES OF SIGMAR unit. They feel like a true battlefield anchor, opening paths for the army while holding the line themselves.
Erasmus Zonn, the Enlightened One
Erasmus Zonn might be my favourite new utility piece in the book. He has 12” Move, a spell that allows him to teleport to a battlefield corner, a Lantern of All-Knowledge menu that includes creating a 6” visibility blocking aura, and the Realmsphere Mastery ability that lets you banish an opponent's manifestation and replace it with one of your own with a 2D6 arcane manipulation roll. I can see Erasmus supporting your reinforced Freeguild Cavaliers and providing spell support like +1 attacks through High Star’s Light or +3” movement through Speed of the Twin-Tailed Comet from the new Spells of the Collegiate Arcane lore.
It isn’t just about the new units, as plenty of existing Cities of Sigmar warscrolls have received exciting updates. Tahlia Vedra feels like a true battlefield commander, with Combat Tactician letting a friendly SIGMARITE INFANTRY unit make a Normal Move in the enemy hero phase while also putting them under orders, and Lead From the Front turning her into a powerful combat force multiplier with +1 to hit and wound for nearby SIGMARITE units. Freeguild Steelhelms have become a proper defensive screen through Steel of Helm and Heart, forcing enemy units to direct pile-ins and attacks into them, which is perfect for protecting your more valuable pieces. Meanwhile, Freeguild Fusiliers are much harder to shut down thanks to the rewritten Fortified Position, gaining Shoot in Combat and reducing incoming Rend while under orders, making them a far more reliable anchor for your blackpowder gunline.
Closing thoughts
There is a lot to like about the latest Cities of Sigmar battletome, which reinforces the faction’s identity as a disciplined combined-arms army built around orders, positioning and battlefield coordination. With Form Up! driving the army’s power trios, improved support from priests and wizards, and new tools like Gate Gargants, Freeguild Gallants, Erasmus Zonn, and the mighty Cogforts, Cities generals now have more ways than ever to tailor their army around objective control, durable battlelines, blackpowder firepower or carefully timed offensive pushes. Whether you want to hold the line with faith and steel, dominate the midfield with towering war machines, or unleash a perfectly coordinated counter-assault, this battletome gives the Cities of Sigmar the tools to stand firm against the horrors of the Mortal Realms and hit back with Sigmar’s fury.
Thanks, Anthony! The new Cities of Sigmar battletome is available to pre-order from Saturday. You can find more tactical insight and a full battletome preview from AoS Coach on his YouTube channel.
