Codex Battlezone: Cityfight (2001) - Codex Compliant

Fights within cities. Cityfights.
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[@rorythomas9469]

Ok the bit where Snipe reveals the grots hidden inside cut out 50 shades of grey is the best bit of warhammertube in a long time

[@philipbanks7730]

Best use of that book I've seen.

[@Jsilveira309]

I don't know what book you guys are talking about. There's that one scene where there was some Grots hidden inside that bunker that was so lavishly painted with Fifty Shades of Gray

[@odstbag337]

50 Shades of Grot

[@bigkahoonaburger7303]

50 shades of green......

[@changelingiris9409]

There are only few things as comfy as when you get a notification that a new codex compliant is out at Saturday evening.

[@twerkfromhome]

It's saturday afternoon you maniac

[@changelingiris9409]

@@twerkfromhome Not everyone is from the same timezone, my friend.

[@kraeutemall]

My thoughts exactly (even if it's sunday by now).

[@lordofuzkulak8308]

“I now have a very funny image in my head of an Assault Marine grumbling as he’s forced to take the stairs.” - funny, the image I got was an Assault Marine trying to use his pack to fly up a lift shaft and cracking his nogging on the ceiling at the top when he can’t stop in time. 😝

[@luclin92]

And no I have the cartoon image of basically getting his upper body stuck in the roof.

[@meshuggahshirt]

The Assault Marine hits the ferrocrete full force but, because it's built from the same material they use to build streets that won't buckle under Titan footsteps, bounces off

[@EternalQuestion]

As a person who grew up in Nottingham, I can safely say that there are fews things more grim or dark than the industrial estate in Lenton... Perhaps that's why GW put their headquarters there 😂

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

The lack of upselling is something I ADORE about this era of GW, something that fell apart about completely by just about half way through fifth edition (In my opinion anyway). White Dwarves especially! Those even warned you when prices increased, and I've even read an issue where a guy states in an article (that he wrote!) that he hates GWs paints!

[@maddlarkin]

I'd argue it fell apart at the very start of 5th ed, when one day 1 the repackaged all the plastic squad boxsets keeping the same price and halving the models

[@jazzy4830]

I was a 4th Ed Tyranid kid and I remember GW getting significantly shittier as a company from about 2011 onwards, they have pulled it back a bit in the last few years though.

[@maddlarkin]

@@jazzy4830 still pretty shitty though...

[@TheDirtysouthfan]

@@maddlarkin I mean, there are people who have preferences for different era's of 40k. Apparently around 1990 GW became corporate and a lot of people left over it. Then 3rd Edition happened and that was polarizing as well, it stripped away a lot of the special rules from 2nd ed and streamlined the game. I came across a thread from some old forum talking about how the new 3rd edition was a cash grab, how only teenagers were playing it (I grew up a little after, and there was definitely a subset of the adult audience who didn't want their hobby to be childish so they resented any young kids being into it), how the game wasn't tactical anymore etc. and just complaining about the changes. Then in 4th ed people were talking about how 3rd was better because most of the 4th ed codices were fairly bland. Nowadays people seem to reminisce about how 4th ed or 5th ed were the best. I've seen a couple people who even liked 7th. All in all it seems to come down to what era you started playing in. It does seem that everyone universally hates 6th ed though.

[@maddlarkin]

@@TheDirtysouthfan I'm more talking about GW as a company rather than 40k editions per-say, there cooperate attitude was getting less and less consumer friendly towards the end of the late 2000's (it was probably more noticeable if you had friends who worked in the company, the attitude shift which followed Andy Chambers depature was pretty stark internally) I tend to think of the launch of 5th ed as a watershed moment as GW repackaged the infantry box sets it was in effect a 100% price rise and it was literally done over a weekend, the box art changed and the contents was halved (Cadains for e.g. went from 20 a box for £18.50 to 10 for the same price, and this was repeated for every faction) and they've done the same over and over since, what was it, the new Cadians box was something like a 30% hike for 20 year old models for a single extra frame of special weapons & mostly useless heads, I mean u can only use 10 of em (no bloody pouches though, something any Guard player always wants more of) The that was when I was out, I played a game or 2 of 5th but the passion was gone, if we're talking preferred edition, 4th, it had some game play issues, but mostly minor and easily worked around, I'd also say in narrative terms the 13th black crusade event was the last time anyone in the company had a long term plan for where to take the narrative and the focus on army customisation and rewarding of conversion work which was the focus of a lot of the codexes of the era was a big part of my enjoyment of the era... We made some mad Guard armies in those days with doctrines and whether they worked or not it was fun. Something I thinks been lost in the modern era of meta builds (my grumpy old maness is probably coming through there)

[@anotherzingbo]

That bit about Cityfight being the original source of the mechanics 8th and 9th edition have used to replace blast and flamer templates was a really cool thing to learn about!

[@asteroidrules]

I've seen a few other template-less systems that use similar rules, I wonder who inspired what.

[@academic0chris]

And seeing how LoS rules in things like KT 21 evolved as well

[@nekrataali]

They also adapted most of the terrain rules over to 4th. because they made way more sense. True line of sight is a really gimmicky mechanic and I hate they abandoned it in 5th. and never brought it back.

[@sandyakabatteriehuhn]

Oh, this takes me back to the time where little 15 old me drove 45 minutes in a train to play a narrative Campaign with those rules 🤭

[@garrhetsampson]

Deeply miss this era of 40k. My gaming group fell in love with city fights when this came out to the point where they became the standard for the games we would play. We even went so far as to make 3 8x5 interlocking boards that created one complete city!

[@nekrataali]

Me and my friends always wanted to play Cityfight but we didn't have the terrain. We tried using the shop, but felt like we'd be assholes if we had all of the store's terrain on one table. We could never get there early enough in the day before everyone else to play a proper game.

[@Catterjee]

Two things I remember about when this codex launched: 1) There was a plan of some sort for at least one other Battlezone codex. I think it was mentioned via Andy Chambers' column on the old GW website. It was going to be about boarding actions and they were considering it to be a way to link games of Battlefleet Gothic with 40K. IIRC they said something about the possibility of playing your BFG game and when boarding torpedoes hit a ship, switching to a condensed game of 40K. I assume that was abandoned for being a pain in the ass. 2) At the time I kind of hated this codex, not because the rules were bad or anything, but because that 16 page battle report was reprinted in its entirety in the issue of White Dwarf that came out alongside it. No editing of any kind, just a straight reprint. They also had a summary of a lot (but not all) of the rules changes, so I was left wondering why I was paying for the codex.

[@mortyjhones4068]

As to 1. the Space hulk exspanshion Deathwing was relised and with it the rules for effectivly using any sort of marine, thus it was reperposed via a special sinario for a linked in game. However the link was never very populer and quickly droped. It was revisited later for a special campain, that used BFG, 40k and Spacehulk in an intresting narative, but over all entusiasum was low due to you needing and army/fleet for all 3 systems.

[@stue_big]

I’m not sure if it’s that specific project, but this concept was a thing. It was called battefleet gothic invasion

[@Catterjee]

@@stue_big I remember Invasion. It was a few years later, so I assume it was them salvaging whatever preliminary work had been done for the canceled codex.

[@willdunn8846]

There was the Planetstrike expansion book which was all about a planet invasion campaign, GW even realised plastic hex tiles.

[@MadSpaceWolfDiary]

@@willdunn8846 planetstrike came in 5th ed after cities of death. The hex tiles were for planetary empires a seperate thing but easily adapted. Which in itself was a spin off of the 7th ed fantasy mighty empires.

[@mrbearbear83]

Reminded of the time a bloke invited GW WD team to his custom made urban combat tower and the article was called: that'd be corkin'

[@Skitarii_Ranger]

Well those cities ain't gonna fight themselves

[@murgel2006]

Back in the day when GW was about the hobby and much less about draining us of money. I really loved the times when one found conversion and scratch build instructions in the rules and codices. That was what brought me back and its lack has chased me away again.

[@ImperialDiecast]

now it's about rebuying your space marines cause primaris and about a billion strategems lol

[@alexmacdonald1998]

This is actually one of the 1st 40k books I owned. Those hobby sections in these 3rd edition books were invaluable. I bought mine at a used book store, which was like a liquor store, except it sold books that other people owned previously. Much like a liquor store, you were not allowed to drink there, but they had CDs and pornography. So that's 3 thing these strange establishments provided that are now the purview of the Internet. RIP Wee Book Inn!

[@TheMaltesefalcon204]

God this is a blast from the past. I do miss those cadians in urban fatigues up against those bat winged night lords.

[@Smilingtree]

One thing I loved about this book was the art. The guards hiding behind walls as a chaos dreadnought rampaged or Eldar marched through the streets.

[@matttaylor308]

In about 2003 I played a game of cityfight with three boards, the main city being a normal 40k board with boxes for buildings, then two boards showing the 1st and 2nd floors of all the buildings, with rooms, windows and stairwells, draw onto A4. It was a blast, with one guardsman at the top of a staircase, which added up to a lot of cover bonuses, holding off three space marines for most of the game in proper Pavlov House fashion.

[@mikenolan73]

The "stumm gas" from Rogue Trader was lifted from Judge Dredd. The judges used it as a riot/tear gas.

[@EdFortune]

Fab stuff. Never found City Fight worth the time (and too much effort), but nice to see it covered.

[@prickliestcactus]

I didn't know Fifty Shades was a trilogy and initially thought you had bought a bunch of copies from a charity shop as a gag.

[@proto303]

Unfortunately, I think it’s a bit more than a trilogy at this point.

[@Ninjat126]

Fun fact: 50 Shades was originally two Twilight fan-fics, posted serially online. The two fan-fics were later re-packaged and published as three books.

[@Retrosicotte]

I DEARLY want that t-shirt of Wibs.

[@ironvader502]

I gotta really give you props for the editing in this, the *dynamic* shots of the Models in the cities are awesome!

[@Marsuvee]

I remember seeing this book when I first wanted to get into 40k, and was the main reason I started to think the Imperial Guard were cool. Really nice to see this covered. Now subbed!

[@DashCamSheffield]

ah Cityfight, I annoyed so many people with my Tau Stealth Suits and a 3ft high tower, by moving off it, shooting then moving back on top of it. "What? they can fly over it, but not go on top of it?"

[@iainstruthers3559]

I basically never comment but I was absolutely delighted to see a new codex compliant from you. Love your creativity, great job with this series, and thank you!

[@SnipeandWib]

Thanks for the comment! And we're glad you're enjoying the series

[@andrewharper1609]

I love the joyful end credits music. The episode was pretty cool too.

[@stue_big]

This video is very nicely made. I like how models were shown for example scenarios

[@colonelkilling2425]

I bought this used several years after it came out. I enjoyed the book. I'm fascinated with the idea of 40K urban warfare. Great video! As usual.

[@aaronbrown4275]

I hate you for making me snort coffee out my nose when the 'gaunt and the terminator were fighting with sticks.

[@Narlgoth]

The 'citizens beware' poster can be seen in its full A4 sized glory towards the back on the 3rd edition Tyranid Codex, its a what to do guide for citizens in the event of a xenos attack.

[@jlworrad]

Le Corbusier famously said a house is a machine for living in but I guess that's even truer for a craftworld.

[@manyslayer5889]

This is one of my favorite 40k books, along with Codex: Armageddon.

[@andrewnewell1142]

Always great to see a book I’d otherwise never hear of!

[@philipkelly7369]

Cityfight is one of the few old school editions that I really really want to go back and try.

[@sushimandaddi]

I love how the title of this book is really actually the same as fight weapon future year

[@Powoga]

12:26 Is it weird that I think the fact that there was a Citadel brand hot wire cutter is the most interesting thing in this video?

[@XPainMaster]

the commitment in carving that book justo for the lols is why you are the best

[@Adamskitheshirtless1]

The "CITIZEN BEWARE: IN CASE OF ALIEN SPORE ATTACK" (The cadian point up to the sky) poster was printed in a full page in white dwarf at higher resolution, which 18 year old me scanned, and printed at poster size and still adorns my den to this day, if you'd like i can tell you what it says, its mostly instructions on what to do when tyranid spores start to rain down on your city (other than kiss your ass goodbye)

[@UnkleKlumsy1353]

I enjoyed using cityfight a ton back then. I also enjoyed the hell out of cities of death that followed suit later on

[@joelsexton4434]

"Why is Fifty Shades there, a joke reference of som.....oh I see. That's why that book was used. Respect."

[@SNIPERTHATSUCKS]

I am surprised they didn't just use this to push more terrain on the players

[@EverianKalim]

GW during the lates 90s early 2000s was much different to what it is today. As they said, GW did not produce Much Terrain (only having the Grey Ruins or some forests). GW even put a full book out on "Making Wargaming Terrain".

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Which is a FANTASTIC book if you ever get a copy!

[@Richard-ri4yq]

Comical timing, I purchased this Codex two days ago! As always a great video guys and your sense of humour is on point. I look forward to the next installment of CC.

[@-rayzer--wolf-6474]

1:26 "i think i just figured out why we dont have more subscribers" this oneliner just got you a new subscriber

[@TrisTime]

You might not have many of us but we love you guys.,

[@jonesfigures]

As someone who played in the gw stores in this era, they were gamechangers. And hey!! Remember when GW TOLD YOU HOW TO MODEL SCENERY YOURSELF....FROM GARBAGE, REALLY!! it was fun times. Great book (also, see "Cities of Death")

[@daviddalby6217]

I work at the hospital next to Warhammer World, in beautiful Lenton. Codex: Battlezone Industrial Estate in Lenton would be too real...

[@HereticalKitsune]

The hidden troops in *those* books, glorious! The close combat gives me flashbacks tho... My poor Flesh Tearer devastator unit got shredded by 32 Terror gaunts.

[@proto303]

that 50 shades bit honestly got me!

[@edgarallanpogo8688]

Ah, the old pewter Cadians. Happy days. The entire battle report was also in WD, the huge melee was something else. Good times for 40k players in general - the plastic Land Raider had just been released and of course Codex Craftworlds.

[@lotsofspoons]

I so loved this codex! .. Just so characterful and intriguing. I didn't even play 40k at the time. Have similar feels for the 5th edition wfb siege book.

[@dmeep]

Well more codex compliant is always welcome. Having the space money and time to play a complete cross systems campaign would be awesome but reserved for oligarchs sadly. Battlefleet gothic for fleet engagements and winning allows you to orbitally bombard one of the many planetside conflicts on the hexgrid. Boarding actions to sccuttle or comandeer ships and special operations sabotaging supply lines or taking strategical assets com stations, fuel depots in kill team giving some sort of benefit for the "real battles for hexes in 40k and to finish the campaign of a apocalypse finale. Dare to dream big :) It is up there with playing an entire forge world book with the actual armies listed in the campaign and everything painted accordingly and terrain to match.

[@joshuadarrow]

A year or two back GW printed rules in chapter approved for linking games of apocalypse (which had just gotten new rules at the time), kill team, and regular 40K. Apocalypse’s rule set never saw much service, but I once played a modified game at a local GW store where me and a friend played a 2000 point game (my blood ravens vs his emperors children), while a board of kill team (using the close quarters rules from the rogue trader-themed expansion) was set up on a adjacent table, for anyone to come by and play a game in tandem to ours. The thematic goal of the kill team players was that they were fighting over an orbital space station with heavy weaponry pointed down towards the planet that my chaos friend and I were fighting over. Every time they completed a game, the winner got to pick a point on the big board, and every unit within like, 12” took a number of mortal wounds. It was a stupidly fun mess of a game, and we ended up cycling through like, 3 different kill team games. I barely won the big game, due to the timely intervention of a madlad Deathwatch kill team seizing the station and nuking a greater deamon.

[@ja37d-34]

That was fun times, I miss it..

[@michaelagin7076]

The nostalgia is strong with this one I remember playing it when it came out. We used my daughter's city map carpet play area and two buckets of duplo's blocks for terrain

[@Alefiend]

Fun fact: the Siege of Vogen was an attempt to keep the locals from exporting collections of their poetry.

[@euansmith3699]

Aw, I've not seen Pete Haynes in decades. What a lovely chap. The outro music is soooooo grim-dark.

[@KevinNHaw]

The use of books for city terrain has given us a revealing peek into S & W's reading shelf. In my soul I *knew* they had PTerry, but to have it confirmed is a blessing from the Emperor!

[@LordProteus]

8:59 Guardsman Las-Gun fire audible in the background.

[@dicepersecond]

We love this format and we love you. Please continue to make videos indefinitely.

[@TonyE727]

This and Cities of Death were my favorite way to actually play the game.

[@dano8902]

Oh...oh man...I just noticed you have a copy of that unparalled work of literary excellence that is Ian Watson's Inquisitor!

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Wib lobs it into a recycling bin in one episode!

[@ghostlincoln9304]

I realise this is old but the citizens beware poster was printed full size in an issue of white dwarf, it covers tyranid spore awareness

[@lysander1]

I dunno why this makes me think of two cities fighting each other - Like, Sheffield vs Aberdeen. CITYFIGHT!

[@1800-REGICIDE]

That third 'Citizens Beware' poster was printed in full in White Dwarf 254 (The Australian edition at least). I remember because it was my first ever White Dwarf. Also I have a spare copy in which I'm going to cut the poster out and frame it (one day). Also, White Dwarf had a Cityfight campaign over several issues using the Vogen setting to promote the book. It was very cool!

[@rogerstewart5525]

It also appears in the 3rd ed codex: Tyranids

[@ankhi3585]

13:39 BEW obviously stands for Blessed Emperor's Wards.

[@Tehstampede]

I loved Cityfight that book was badass. GW's attitude towards the hobby and their customers was radically different back then. Drop Pod Assault used to just be a special rule that let you deep strike a unit of Space Marines, and didn't require you to buy a whole model kit just for a drop pod (which is still asinine). The terrain section of the book was amazing; "here's a tutorial on how to create a ruined building out of two paperclips, some red construction paper and a squirrel." God I miss those days.

[@jamesbrunton9507]

Our local store did loads of campaigns using this book. Vogen also gets a mention in Graham McNeil's God's of Mars so I think he may also have played a bunch of cityfight.

[@suppositionstudios]

i remember obsessing over a pdf of this when I was 11 and this has been such a nice hit of nostalgia. I miss the GW of back then, as money hungry as ever for sure, but with enough personal touches to hide it.

[@TheGCRust]

Yey, my favorite 40k series. Thank you guys for your hard work!

[@MattiasGrozny]

I still have my copy right next to me, this was the "good old days" for me. No kids, no rent, no work, just homework and 40k. And man csm were fun then, my lord with jump pack and lightning claws was a pure terror to play against.

[@raptor1234sp]

This really has me longing for the days before endless strategems and thousands of combinations of army buffs.

[@phoenixdblack]

2:11 I have that exact version of "The complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft"! I love it to pieces, it feels so nice and the Cover Art is so good. Also it comes in this slipcase with the same motive to keep the book in good condition

[@DiscoKevin69420]

There was a battle report in the Sisters of Battle 5th Edition codex, although that was a two part white dwarf article. The pdf is still out there if you're interested

[@rileynibhroin6395]

A lot of these rules remind me of some of the optional urban combat rules that Warlord Games put out in one of the theater books for Bolt Action, Rick Priestley's WW2 game. I think your tank plunging into the cellar of a building is in that too.

[@rileynibhroin6395]

Also the close combat victory conditions mentioned at 8:24 is how normal close combat is done Bolt Action. It's very interesting to see the potential origin of all these mechanics

[@mazubahtender]

This codex made me laugh a surprising ammount, this was really great. Great job you two! :3

[@michaeljames1334]

i am shocked this channel hasnt blown up. the content is so fun and entertaining for warhammer fans.

[@mr.e.8292]

2:53 is why I love Snipe and Wib

[@TheBoyFromNorfolk]

I had a pure scout army built just for City Fight. My Dad has actually sent it off to me just recently, should be here any day now :D

[@Jonu1636]

So happy you guys are doing this one. It's the inspiration for my entire 40k journey.

[@oldcrow3965]

Ahhh Wiblet and the Sniper.......tomorrow's morning coffee entertainment lined up......thank you very much

[@GazpachoTabletop]

Cityfight, Armageddon & Eye of Terror are my favourite codexes. LOVE Cityfight. I read that a BUNCH, well all of them to be honest. But I painted my Imperial Guard in city camo and did all their bases too

[@XanderStorey]

I absolutely adored this book when I got it. City fight rocked

[@Kaiyanwang82]

This was a great book. For the record, the night lords would later become masters of this type of warfare with the 3.5 2002 book.

[@Gigasius]

That ork-in-a-book gag cracked me up. xD

[@boboth1]

Come for the codex compliance, stay for the outro music

[@EternalQuestion]

You know, I still have all of these books on my shelf and I played 40k back in 2nd and 3rd edition. But I still watch every one of these videos as soon as they come out. I could just read the book myself, but it's so much more entertaining to see someone else's take on something that holds so much nostalgia for me. I'd love to see you cover some of the spin off games from the 90s. In particular Mordheim and Inquisitor were both pretty legendary and would make amazing videos. Also you've talked about epic before on the channel, but a full video on the OG Adeptus Titanicus/Space Marine and/or Epic 40k would be incredible 😝

[@danza71]

such fond memories of that battle report, it was in the white dwarf as well. Absolute corker.

[@ConquistadoraDeLaEstrella]

I like the Zoran the Bear plush in the background, that's a neat little thing

[@immortalgamer3960]

So that "Citizens Beware" was from the 3rd edition Tyranids Codex. Makes me wonder if the other two are hiding in some other old codices too.

[@trogdo]

In manc we don’t need a book to teach us how to cityfight; it’s a natural phenomenon you get used to

[@42tjat42]

Thanks Snipe and Wib! I still have my copy of this 😊

[@beardwierd2783]

I personally really don’t understand why you don’t have more subscribers. P.S love the fact that you are Robert Ramkin readers and fellow Pratchetters.

[@perigrin2115]

I work in a comic store that, in the year of our lord 2022, still has brand new copies of Cityfight sitting on our shelves. no one ever bought them.

[@stationary_bandit6607]

Codex City Fight is one of my all time favorite 40K publications. I played city fights exclusively when it came out back in the day. So much fun!

[@dutchdoggo]

This is actually pretty cool, imagine, you can have squads of infantry FIGHT INSIDE OF BUILDINGS LIKE ITS A SWAT RAID

[@julianwarren7770]

I remember that Imperial Guard vs Night Lords battle rep. From White Dwarf! It was awesome!

[@richtheunstable3359]

The issue of white dwarf at the time also had the same bat rep. Vogen was also mentioned as a way to play campaign games in WD. With a whole Pete Haines iron warrior's Vs stuff. I seem to remember a whole battle over Sanguineous square thing going on.

[@MarkGreen-uy9em]

You guys and your style totally rock. I love that you celebrate old school gw. Im a 3rd edition freak and tolerate nothing after 5th.

[@craigevans4694]

Love the Fifty Shades of Waaaaaaaaagh there.

[@andrewpackham8236]

Loving the use of the root symbol instead of a tick mark on the table at 12:40. Very professional James Workshop

[@viraltang]

Sees all the Terry Pratchett books "ah they have impeccable ta-"sees Ian Watson's Inquistor book " oh.... darn my chapter doesn't use flamers."

[@AndorianBlues]

2:53 My desires are... Unconventional