How to Play Cities of Sigmar in Warhammer Age of Sigmar (4th Edition)

The army's signature mechanic is its Orders system, kicked off by a battle-trait ability commonly rendered as Form Up!. At the start of the battle round you nominate a Cities of Sigmar unit and two other friendly Cities units of different types near it (wholly within a short range), and those units become Under Orders for the round.

Being Under Orders is the key that unlocks the rest of the army's toolkit — a suite of Orders such as improving ranged hit rolls, digging in to a fortified defensive posture, or hitting back harder against a unit that just charged you. On its own the trait does nothing flashy; its power is that it lets you pre-select which parts of your line will be aggressive, defensive, or accurate this round, so your "combined arms" actually combine.

Because the trait deliberately wants different unit types, it nudges you toward a varied force (a block of infantry, a gun unit, a cavalry unit) rather than spamming one warscroll. Plan your Form Up! choice around the objectives and threats you expect that round. Exact ranges, the full Orders list, and their precise numbers should be confirmed against the current battletome/faction pack, as they have been tuned across 4th-edition releases.

In 4th edition, battle formations are the sub-army choice that replaced 3rd edition's old subfaction/allegiance systems (do not use Broken Realms-era 3rd-ed subfactions — they are obsolete). You pick one formation, and it colours how your whole list wants to play. Cities' formations cluster around recognisable Sigmarite archetypes rather than specific lore-cities:

• A mobility / crusade archetype that pushes you up the board early.
• An Ironweld gunline / artillery archetype that rewards a static firebase of cannons and blackpowder.
• A Collegiate magic archetype that buffs your wizards.
• A fortress / defensive archetype built around digging in and punishing chargers.

Exact formation names and their bonuses differ between the 2024 Faction Pack and the current Battletome, and secondary sources report the names inconsistently — so treat the four below as archetypes and confirm the live wording. Pick the formation that matches the core of your collection: don't buy a gunline formation for a cavalry-heavy army.

• Freeguild Steelhelms — cheap, shield-heavy line infantry; your objective-holders and Order anchors.
• Freeguild Fusiliers — massed blackpowder shooting; best when static and Under Orders for accuracy/dig-in bonuses.
• Freeguild Cavaliers — heavy cavalry hammer for charges and flanking pressure.
• Freeguild Gallants / Grenadiers — supporting infantry that add close-range punch and flexibility to a battleline.
• Wildercorps Hunters — mobile scouts/skirmishers for board control, screening and grabbing objectives.
• Ironweld Great Cannon — long-range artillery to threaten monsters and elite units; the backbone of a gunline.
• Cogfort (huge war engine) — a durable centrepiece platform combining firepower and presence (a marquee 4th-edition kit).
• Freeguild Marshal — core human hero/general enabling command play and buffs.
• Tahlia Vedra, Lioness of the Parch — named mounted commander offering leadership/combat support.
• Battlemage / Collegiate wizards (e.g. Alchemite Warforger, Aqshian Pyrocaster) — spellcasters for the Collegiate spell lore and magical support.
• Callis and Toll — characterful hero pair for utility and hunting threats.

Exact profiles, weapon options and current legality vary by battletome/season — check warscrolls and the live points.

Cities of Sigmar plays as a methodical, combined-arms controller. You are usually not the fastest or the single hardest-hitting army; you win by making every part of your line pull its weight at the right moment via Orders.

A typical plan: anchor objectives with cheap, durable Steelhelms; set up a firebase of Fusiliers and an Ironweld Great Cannon (or a Cogfort) to grind down key enemy units; hold cavalry back as a counter-punch or flank threat; and use wizards for buffs, debuffs and chip damage. Each round, spend your Form Up! choice deliberately — accuracy on the guns when a juicy target is exposed, the defensive/counter-charge Order on the unit about to be assaulted, mobility where you need to grab ground.

Think one round ahead: decide which three units are Under Orders before you commit, because that decision is what turns a loose collection of models into a coordinated army. Reward for good planning is high; punishment for autopiloting is real.

• Autopiloting Orders. The whole army is built around choosing your Under Orders units well. Picking them thoughtlessly throws away the faction's core advantage.
• Building a one-note list. The trait wants different unit types; an all-infantry or all-gun list fights its own rules. Combined arms is not optional flavour, it's the mechanic.
• Static gunlines against fast armies. A firebase is strong until a mobile alpha-strike army (fast monsters, deep-strikers, flyers) reaches it turn one. Screens, positioning and a counter-charge plan matter.
• Overpaying for firepower. Blackpowder units often want to stay still to shoot well; if you're forced to move-and-fire constantly to chase objectives you lose their value.
• Elite/durability matchups. Volume-of-attacks and horde-clearing is a strength; grinding through very high-save, ward-heavy elite units or big single monsters can be a slog without focused fire and magic support.
• Assuming last season's list still works. Points and formation tuning shift every GHB/Battlescroll; a list that was strong last season may need rework.