A bunch of questions for a new CoS player.

[supercrunchbravo]

Hey, I'm new player to Age of Sigmar and I've got a bunch of questions about jumping into the Cities of Sigmar.

First, which city did you pick and why? I wanted to get an general idea of the different cities before I pick one for myself.  I'm currently leaning towards Tempest's Eye due to their ability to take Kharadhon units, but I want to keep an open mind when picking my first city.

Second, here's quick army list I threw together form models I have access to.

• Freeguild General (General)
• Battlemage (General's Adjutant.)   
• 10 Freeguild Greatswords (Honoured Retinue)
• 20 Freeguild Guards
• 10 Freeguild Crossbows.
• 3 Vanguard-Raptors with Hurricane Crossbows.
• Total: 750 pts.

Is this a good starting army?

Third, how do you feel about 3rd party miniatures? I wanted use some of the Kings of War Basileans for my Freeguild guard.

Forth, what's better for Freeguild guard? Swords or spears?

Fifth, I did a quick mock up of how a Basilean Men-at-Arms model would look in Cities of Sigmar colours. I wanted to get an idea of how they would before I did any painting. Do any of these stand out? I'm drawn to the Tempest's Eye one, but I wanted to get a second opinion.

Thanks for your help guys.

[zilberfrid]

I would not make the Greatswords the Honoured Retinue. You either want cheap units or Phoenix Guard.

The Basilean Men at Arms would work, but they are spearmen with shields without a woodsy look, so they'd be Dreadspears? Do check if those fit your playstyle.

Freeguild Guard are generally made with Sword and Shield, though sometimes halberds work.

I would give the crossbowmen handguns, that will net you more value. They are also, sadly, the worst looking set in Freeguild.

I would go for three units of handgunners (preferably made from Skitarii old dwarf Thunderers or something else that isn't the crossbowmen set).

Greatswords are a brilliant looking set that is very hard to get to net value for their points. They want to go to the enemy to kill them and be close to a General (no other Freeguild heroes), but the General is stationary, and they can't keep up with the General on Griffin.

Maybe it's best to build them as guards and make them lift the look of your guards and handgunners.

I do not know anything about Stormcast.

One thing I would consider when you cross 1000 points, is a Celestial Huricanum, which raises the effectiveness of your whole army.

Pistoleers are also brilliant

So:

General 100

Battlemage 90

Handgunners (long gun) 100

Handgunners (long gun) 100 (extra set)

Handgunners (long gun) 100 (maybe build from the guards with converted crossbows?)

20 guard sword shield (retinue) 160 (half of them from the greatswords

650 pts

Now you need mobility, to take objectives.

Pistoleers 100 (grab objectives and charge a lot)

Gunhauler 150 (this can pop up anywhere on the battlefield and can shoot quite well). Alternatively: Balloon boys if you want the hurricane crossbows.

900 points

This leaves you with 100 points to work with for additional stuff. (Alternatively 150 points for the Hurricane crossbows).

[Myrdin]

At first I read this threads name as Cosplayer" and went like "Oooo this  person is doing a CoS cosplay ?"  

Anyway, those minis look nice, I like some of them more than others but all are good in general. First 3 and Living city Alt are my favorites though.

If you can make those shields removable (maybe magnetize them), you can easily play them as Freeguild Guard Spear/Halber/Shield option. For my FGuard I have the models with Halberd, but since I have them painted in 3 different color schemes if they are representing different setup I always tell my opponent which color is which (spear is never used, and I dont tend to mix them up usually, so they tend to be all with shields or all with halberds usually.)

In the future I am planning to buy arond 20 more and customize the halberds into axes and glue the shields on, to have a properly looking shield variant