Cities of Death

[Pop goes the world]

So... I managed to get my hands on a copy of Cities of Death... I must admit that I was excited about the prospect of new urban warfare rules. I should have known I would be somewhat let down.

Cities of Death is lacklustre at best. Though it offers a little bit more in the way of rules than the Cityfight Codex did, it seems to have less of an impact on gameplay. As far as the basics go, there really aren't any changes. Target acquisition is the same, ranges are pretty much the same, not much changed.

The Strategems looked cool at first, but upon further inspection, they are pretty basic and don't add much. They don't seem particularly well thought out. Vehicles have been more or less ignored. I can forsee alot of unrealistic circumstances popping up with these rules. For instance, troops can still travel vertically just as fast as they could do so horizontally. Since most people can climb a ladder just as fast as they could run, that makes perfect sense. Blast templates that scatter away from a target above ground can only effect targets at that same level. I dunno, it all just seems so shoddy. At least you can destroy buildings now.

Overall, Cities of Death looks like something a couple of designers slapped together over the course of a weekend. As I have spent the last week or so trying to learn the incredibly complex yet rewarding rules for the Faces of Battle system, maybe I am just trying to hold Cities of Death to too high a standard. Admittedly, it is an improvement over the old rules, but not much of one.

[Andrew]

I paged through it last week. Notice in the section pertaining to blast markers that in not one but two pictures it is not centered over a model. It cannot scatter (at least with what I read). There are no provisions for this discrepancy with the main rules. Thus, it's an anything goes book.

Ranges did change. Instead of measuring only across the ground, you actually go straight from model to model. So if two guys are 24" apart horizontally, but one is two floors up, they'll be outta range of bolters at least.

However, so far as I know we'll be using these rules for GD (if GW ever contacts me!).

[heatseeker]

remember 40k is for children especially walking into any gw you'll see a slew of douchebag kids that havent showered in days.

the rules for cities of death do seem pretty stupid. they need to revamp that whole blast marker bs bc that makes no sense especially when gravity is involved, but alas since it is a game they believe they can make the rules as dumb as ever and no one will complain. but we want realism!!! something gw may never give us bc they suck .

[Pop goes the world]

If ultra realism is what you want, you need to try out Face of Battle. In FoB, for instance, each of your vehicle crew members has actions. The loader has to take an action to load a specific type of round (usually AT or HE), the tank commander (or another crewman) has to acquire the target, the driver has to provide a stable firing platform, even the radio operator can interact with off field arty, etc. It might sound complex, but it offers an incredibly realistic gaming experience. You can really envision what is going on on the table.