So I know I should have done a short review on this book by now, but I don't think I can review this one in the format that I normally do. I feel that the best way I can look at this book is through a more 'thought's on' type format.
So what do I think of this book? Well, to me this book is Games-Workshop's ultimate compromise. What do I mean by this? Well, GW has been wanting to remove a lot of the Old World miniatures, but in doing so would result in a massive consume backlash from more classic Warhammer players. As such, they picked a bunch of miniatures from each of the now classified 'Order' factions and put them together into a single Battletome. So how bad was the shafting?
Empire:
Kept most of what was left of their range, though lost their engineer character, the horse mounted General, Warrior Priests and their War Alter and more confusing, Witch Hunters. I say the last one is confusing as even in the many cities, Witch Hunters are still prominent (so I can only hope that somewhere down the road they get brought back as part of a Warcry Warband or something similar).
Dwarfs:
Your old battleline units are gone (so no more Warriors, Handgunners or Quarrelers). You also lost the Unforged (the old Slayers), but also your artillery too. Yep, beyond the Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers, everything else is gone so you'll be relying on manlings for most of your ranged firepower. It seams they are going for a more armoured and elite style for the Dispossessed now, which still works in their favour, though not all the warscroll changers are positive.
Dark Elves:
Probably the faction that suffered the least out of all these as far as model losses go, most of their range is still there (minus the Daughters of Khaine of course). They still have that Dark Elf feel to them, with the only exception being that Assassins and Dark Riders are more akin to Sigmar's dagger then being more traditional Dark Elf like.
High Elves:
The ones that got screwed the most. Unless you played a lot of Phoenix Guard, not much else survived this. All things related to the Phoenix Temple (their hero who is the only High Elf hero, the guard and the birds) are in here, but beyond them, the Shadow Warriors were the only other unit to come out of this (and that appears to be because they are made using the same box set as the Sisters of the Watch) and are now under the Shadowblades keyword instead of Swifthawk Agents (which when you think about their playstyle, makes more sense. Maybe my brother was right to abandoned the High Elves with the end of the Old World.
Wood Elves:
The Wanderers lost a few more units, but secured enough to keep then quite viable. Like the High Elves, they also suffered a big hit to their heroes. They now are limited to a Nomad Prince. Not great, but still could have been a lot worse.
So yeah, there were a few casualties that I really do question as to why, but at least we still got to keep most of what we have. I would say that this is my biggest annoyance with this book, the second being the cities themselves. I'm not saying the cities are bad, far from it, but it is the lack of Realms that annoys me. There are suppose to be cities over all the Mortal Realms, yet only two Realms are represented, Ghyran and Aqshy. Both have three cities each, with the seventh being the twin city, which can choose which Realm of the two they are apart of. The problem lies not only with limited representation and creativity (White Dwarf had been pumping out articles on giving your armies a theme from a particular Mortal Realm, so most couldn't take advantage of this now), but this also meant that if you were using a Realms Artifacts of Power, then you can now only pick the items from the Realm of your city. With only two Realms available, it really limits what you can do with those creative option.
The book is also designed to encourage you to incorporate Stormcast into your army, with one in every four units allowing you to take a Stormcast unit. While not mandatory, I'm not going to be adding them no matter what. Some cities have extra options like this, with Tempest's Eye allowing you one in every four units being a Kharadron Overloards unit and the Living City letting you have one in every four units being Sylvaneth (so yes you could have a more classic Wood Elf like army with Wanderers and Sylvaneth units). These units replace their main faction keyword with that of Cities of Sigmar, so they benefit from all the same rules as that city (which is good).
There are no Endless Spells or Terrain, but I think this was a great move as I find having to rely on faction Terrain to be annoying and this faction has a better focus on the Malign Sorcery Endless Spells. On top of that, if those Endless Spells have the ability to be empowered, then they count as the Empowered versions, regardless of the Realm they fight in. The cherry on top is that each City has three spells of it's own, with Hollowheart having six spells, with these spells themed more in line with their respective city. This means that there are a decent number of magic options out there and with the Battlemages, you can theme your magic around your playstyle.
If your the kind of player who prefers their General on foot then riding a massive mount, this book has you covered with a bodyguard unit (as long as he is a 6 wound or less model, which most are). Between 5 - 20 one wound models, your General (as long as he is standing next to them) can pass on a wound to that unit on a 4+. Even better, if another hero on foot of 6 wound or less is also close to the General, he can be the army advisor and give a command point on a 4+ each hero phase, which makes this really feel like an actual army.
The Cities themselves have unique themes and styles. The Living City mentioned earlier is about things like wound restoration and ambushes, while Hollowheart is dedicated to magic and spells. Anvilgard feels very much like old style Dark Elves, while the Greywater Fastness is very reminiscent of the artillery city of Nuln. As such, there are seven cities with unique rules, spells, items and abilities, so there is enough there to find a particular playstyle you like and work your way around that.
I still possess many of my old Empire models from back when I was doing the Army painting challenge with my brother, so I have enough to start rebuilding a new army (too bad the models already re-based are no longer usable and are not in this book). I had thought of using the Living City rules for this new army, but after some discussion with my local store, it was pointed out that I do have a lot of Battlemages and I do like to use magic, so it was suggested that I go with Hallowheart instead. As such, I will be designing my own city and lore, but will use the Hallowheart rules (so more like an expedition from that city has reclaimed a lost city and set up there, which is why that use those rules).
Like I said earlier, this review is different, mostly cause I just don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it's great to get better rules to use for these troops then the standard Order rules, but on the other hand I wonder if the cost was worth it. I feel we lost a few important things and didn't get nothing new to replace them (I mean the artwork for Greywater has humans manning a giant cannon, yet the book has only two artillery pieces and the unique dwarf ones are now gone, so not much of a black powder city is it).
I guess well have to see if this book gets expanded on in the future. I know White Dwarf brings out rules for a new Stormcast chamber every now and then, so why not one for a City, perhaps in a different Realm with some unique rules to match. Something to re-look at in a few months time maybe.
Sorry this wasn't the best. Perhaps I'll come back at some later point and rework it.
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