Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress
A frequent question I see online is: I’m interested in getting into a new game, should I go with Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress The Internet It’s a tough question. They’re both still currently available new, from Games Workshop or your friendly local game store. Cursed City costs a bit more, but dollar-wise it’s not a deal breaker. Also, your preference between fantasy (Cursed City), or sci-fi (Blackstone Fortress) may sway your decision. Both have: Blackstone Fortress was developed first, and came out in 2018. Cursed City came out in 2021 and is a bit more distilled than Blackstone Fortress. They both are a bit light on strategy, though some of the newer expansion heroes for Cursed City make it more interesting. Some of the things that were slimmed down for Cursed City make Blackstone Fortress a bit more intriguing to play. In Blackstone fortress, you’re frequently deciding when to…
Warhammer Quest – Cursed City: What early reviewers missed
Pretty much all reviewers left out the Trait cards. I don’t completely blame them; out of the 100+ cards, only eight are Trait cards. Some reviewers mentioned that they didn’t care for the leveling-up system but no one ran an on-camera adventure using anything other than level zero heroes. Is the leveling up as momentous as Warhammer Quest 1995? No. Does leveling up unlock new and nastier monsters (other than boss fights)? No. Can leveling up change the development path your character takes? No. Will new levels unlock fun and exciting equipment? No. Wait, I’m not selling this very well. What I mean to say is that even though leveling up in Cursed City isn’t monumental, Trait cards add a lot to the game. Most characters have two or three actions they can take every turn. Adding Traits greatly expands the thoughtfulness needed every activation. It’s fun imagining your characters…
Are Cursed City Bone Dice Cursed?
I read somewhere a while back either on Facebook or Reddit that people’s bone colored (D6) dice in Cursed City seem weighted towards failure. Anecdotally, I agree. So I figured I’d do a small test to find out: There are two successful results on the die, so 1/3 (33.33%) of the results should be successful. I have four Cursed City bone dice and I rolled each 50 times. So if the dice are truly random, we’d expect to see 16.667 successes (50 x ⅓ = 16⅔). Turns out they’re… spot on average. The average across the four dice is 16.25 successes. Just short of the 16.667 you’d statistically expect. However, I might reserve Die #1 for hostiles! Keep in mind, 50 tests is a woefully small sample size. Blank = Failure, 1 = Success, 2 = Critical Success
White Dwarf 500 (2024)
Now this is something I can get behind! A new White Dwarf mini AND rules for Cursed City! Count me in! (sold separately, purchase necessary) He looks great, very majestic. His fellow White Dwarf breathern will welcome him into the fold!
A MOST UN-SILENT NIGHT
This Cursed City content flew completely under my radar until recently. It consists of a pre-battle report: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/12/20/building-the-wildest-festive-battle-report-adventure-yet/ The actual scenario is linked in the page above, but here’s the direct link: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vgBnJJdPbfXOvBra.pdf As usual, this GW content would cost hundreds of dollars to put on the table if you don’t already have Da Red Gobbo, Squigs, Grotmas Gitz, Gnawty Snufflers, and Coal Grots. I read the adventure, but it turns out I unknowingly had COVID, so not much stuck around in the old thinker. I’ll give it another read through. I’m glad to see some fun, festive content for Cursed City. The game is a GREAT base to make fun things happen. I found some pretty solid 3D options for you home printers out there. I didn’t find (and didn’t look too hard) for Gnawty Snufflers and Coal Grots. Just swap in some goblins, there’s lots of squig models…
Cursed City eratta for White Dwarf 497-498
Attention everyone! Stop what you’re doing and read the eratta from Games Workshop, fixing the errors with The Madness of Baron Veingulper. Huge thanks to Nicholas Linindoll in the Cursed City Facebook group for pushing GW to move on the fix. It’s nice when non-free expansion material is playable. I’m equal parts glad and surprised this was released. GW addressed the mistakes and omittions necessary to be Rules-As-Written slaughtered by an avalanche of bloodthirsty cannibals. Doorway rules are included, map corrections, as well as the card for Crypt Haunter Courtiers! They will beat your heroes to death, no joke.
Crypt Flayers & Decapitatior: Done!
Finished these mean looking guys last night. Always nice having the bases done! I’m ready to try at least the first Ghoul adventure from White Dwarf 497.
Cursed City Big Ghoul Update
Some speculative clarification on the big ghouls. It looks like you need these models to play: 2 Crypt Flayer, 1 Crypt Infernal Courtier 2 Crypt Horrors, 1 Crypt Haunter Courtier So in “Our Enemies Sally Forth”, use 2 Crypt Horrors, 1 Crypt Haunter Courtier This is an improvement, because that scenario had called for 3 Crypt Haunter Courtiers, which pushed the big ghoul model count over 6, which would have meant another kit was necessary to build everything necessary. However, we still need the card for the Crypt Haunter Courtier. The good news is that my 3D proxies are ready to go! However, if I knew I only needed two Crypt Horrors, I wouldn’t have printed three. I would have fired off a Crypt Haunter Courtier that I mocked up. I may still print it, or I’ll just paint one of the Crypt Horrors white and red to differentiate it…
Callis & Toll – Saviors of Cinderfall Cursed City heroes
In case you missed it, Callis and Toll are coming to Warhammer Quest: Cursed City. Now I’m not personally acquainted with these heroes, I haven’t read any of the books featuring them, but apparently they did well in Cinderfall. White Dwarf magazine has included Cursed City content in several recent releases. Callis & Toll, however, are available as a free download from Warhammer Community: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2024/03/05/callis-and-toll-who-are-the-witch-hunting-city-saving-heroes-of-the-mortal-realms/ I’m OK with this. White Dwarf expansion content is more difficult to get on the table. First you have to just get the magazine! Then scan the pages, then print, then make cards. I actually don’t mind too much, but it can be a lot. Warhammer Community content though, is already PDF’d and ready to print size-accurate, color-correct cards at home. This saves multiple steps and $11. These new heroes are going to be BRUTAL. They aren’t as powerful as the Army of One characters…
Ghoulish Models
Updated 4/12/2024 with the recent Errata The ghoulish models that Games Workshop included in White Dwarf 497–498 are so indistinguishable that even GW got mixed up and didn’t include all of them in the magazines. I’ve gathered the brightest minds of our generation to make sense of what is necessary to acquire the models to play the game (though rules for the Crypt Haunter Courtiers are completely omitted from the scenarios). If you haven’t seen Always Board Never Boring‘s take on the magazines, they’re right here: It’s pretty pricy to get into this. Keep in mind, the entire base game costs $199.00 (+tax) and can be found for less everywhere besides the GW webstore. If you buy all kits separately, you’re looking at $318.50 plus tax. The Model breakdown: Quantity $ Per Model Total Description 1 $35.00 $35.00 Royal Decapitator 1 $35.00 $35.00 Marrowscroll Herald 1 $33.50 $33.50 Abhorrant Archregent…