Cursed City - 10 Reasons I'm Hyped!
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Well looky here! It’s a top 10 clickbaity-style listicle. Shocking! But fear not dear reader, for this isn’t just some crass attempt to muscle in on the Warhammer Quest: Cursed City hype train (although it is a little bit that) - it’s also a way for me to safely let out and share the indescribable excitement I’m feeling for what looks set to be one incredible boxed game! I’m feeling it, you’re feeling it, so let’s cast cynicism to the winds and revel in our childlike enthusiasm for spooky toys! These are the 10 reasons I’m hyped for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City!
1. The Models!
Let’s start with the most obvious and eye-catching aspect of Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - the models! We’ve only seen a handful of them, but by Sigmar’s sainted sandals aren’t they glorious? In recent years Games Workshop have proven themselves to be the undisputed masters of the dynamically posed sculpt, but the vampire hunter Jelsen Darrock in particular proves that they’ve still got it when it comes more reserved compositions too. He’s not flashy, but he still makes a huge impact, as does the gloriously macabre Gorslav the Gravekeeper. If Gorslav is any indication of how the other rotting adversaries in the box will look, then this is the take on the undead I’ve been waiting for!
And let’s take a moment to appreciate the paint scheme too. It’s rare to see the ‘Eavy Metal team using such a limited and desaturated colour palette, but what a fantastic choice it is for these particular models. It really suits the bleak and sinister atmosphere that the game is going for, and I’m inclined to try and replicated it when I get my copy - because there’s no way that’s not happening!
Also, if you’re as excited for the models as I am, why not get ahead of the game with this Cursed City basing tutorial.
2. The Setting!
From what little we know about it, the city of Ulfenkarn (the setting for Warhammer Quest: Cursed City) is quite unlike anything we’ve seen in Age of Sigmar before. Ulfenkarn, as you might expect, is located in Shyish - the Realm of Death. It’s history stretches back to the Age of Myth, which by definition means that there’s already a lot more going on beneath the surface (literally and figuratively) than the cities only recently established by Sigmar’s stormhosts.
It seems that the city has gone downhill in the last few thousand years. We already know that it features such evocative locations as ‘The Clot’, a canal clogged with dried gore, and Hangman’s Copse, the bat-infested site of a former Sylvaneth embassy. And from the artwork presented in the teaser trailer and the map (more on that in a moment), the look and architecture of Ulfenkarn represents a return to Warhammer’s low-gothic roots. I love the outré high fantasy of Age of Sigmar, but this is a refreshing change.
In many ways the setting harks back to the look and feel of Mordheim, and I don’t think that’s an accident. If there’s one thing that’s been made abundantly clear since Age of Sigmar first launched (a little too clear from some perpetually dissatisfied quarters), it’s that there’s still an appetite for grim and gritty fantasy that gets right down into the gutter as opposed to looking up at the stars of Azyr. It doesn’t seem like Mordheim is going to return any time soon, but Ulfenkarn may just be the next best thing, and a true spiritual successor. I for one can’t wait to explore its dark alleyways and crumbling ruins!
3. The Map!
What’s a fantasy setting without a good map? The best fantasy maps don’t just set out an accurate diagram that mechanically depicts a series of locations, but give you a real feel for a place. Oh boy, does this map give you a feel for the place! It’s dripping with character - oppressive and bleak, yet begging to be explored. I need say no more - just feast your eyes on it and imagine all the stories that are about to unfold behind Ulfenkarn’s looming, gothic walls!
4. The Mystery!
At this point we know a little of the story behind Ulfenkarn and how it became the ‘Cursed City’ of the game’s title. We know that the city thrived during the Age of Myth, but was later sacked by ‘Slaughn the Ravenor’. The city then suffered some kind of purge, and its living inhabitants were forced to serve some kind of undead elite (shades of Moussilon there, for you old-timers).
This is a tantalising starting point, but there’s still so much we don’t know. Who exactly is Ulfenkarn’s tyrannical ruler (and presumably the game’s final boss) the ‘Wolf’, whose shadowy figure is depicted in the teaser trailer slouched on a throne and wearing some kind of wolf skin cloak? Is he a vampire, a werewolf or something else? Does he have some nefarious scheme in play? Can the city of Ulfenkarn be saved outright, or do our heroes have their eyes set on a less grandiose goal?
I expect we’ll get a lot of these answers via Warhammer Community before the game even hits the shelves, but I can’t help but speculate!
5. The Lore!
The mysteries and secrets buried within Ulfenkarn bring me neatly to the next thing that’s got me buzzing - all the new lore we’re going to get to flesh out this fascinating location! The official Cursed City website and the interactive map markers give us some tasty tidbits, but there’s so much more I want to know about Ulfenkarn and its place in the Age of Sigmar setting.
What I most want to know is how it functions as a city. We know that it has a living population dominated by an undead ruling class, but what are their lives like from day to day? Bleak certainly, but how do they actually survive and why don’t they leave? Does Sigmar know about Ulfenkarn, or is it so unimportant in the grand scheme of things that it’s not even on his radar? Will the fate of the city connect with the events of the Broken Realms story arc in some way, or is it very much an island in narrative terms? With the presence of the vampire hunter Jelsen Darrock, will we get more information about the mysterious Order of Azyr? Who are the unusual hero characters that we’ve seen in the trailer and promotional art - the ones that don’t seem to belong to any major Age of Sigmar faction - and what will their backstories tell us about the peoples and lesser-known factions of the Mortal Realms?
There is going to be so much new lore!
6. The Adventure!
Here we are at item number six, and I’ve barely mentioned the actual game itself! What form will the adventure take, what will the story be, and how will it play out on the tabletop? Reading about the lore and the setting is one thing, but experiencing it for yourself via the mechanics of a tabletop adventure game is quite another!
In Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, the plot of the game was very simple - in each play session, the players’ objective was to find another piece of an amulet that, when collected together, would allow them to defeat the master of the Silver Tower, the Gaunt Summoner. There’s a lot to love about Silver Tower, but plot intrigue isn’t exactly high on the list. Subsequent Warhammer Quest games - and Blackstone Fortress in particular - have been much more varied and interesting in this regard, putting the players in a series of unique and narratively interesting encounters that each add to our sense of understanding and purpose. There’s every reason to think that Cursed City will follow the trend, and I’m looking forward to fully immersing myself in the unfolding story on the tabletop!
7. The Zombies!
I don’t know about you, but I love zombies! They’re such a fantastically gross, harrowing and evocative monster, and I can’t get enough of them. Since 2015 I’ve had a voice in the back of my head, regularly whispering that I should paint a massive horde of zombies for Age of Sigmar, to which I always reply - not yet, Games Workshop might release a new zombie kit any day now!
Well, it kind of looks like that might actually be happening! I’m sure they won’t be called zombies, and from the preview video (still image below) they seem to have been given the heightened Age of Sigmar spin that you might expect - but these are undeniably the walking dead! As a fan of the shambling undead, Gorslav the Gravekeeper is my favourite of the miniatures revealed so far, and I can’t wait to see his minions realised in the same style. Perhaps a zombie horde army beckons after all!
Oh, and while we’re here let’s pour one out for the venerable zombies multi-part plastic kit that’s been on the shelves since before many hobbyists were even born. It’s been an absolute trooper and it will always have a special place in my heart, but it’s days must surely now be numbered.
8. The Expansions!
In many ways this might be the thing I’m most excited about - the potential for expansions! There have been three Warhammer Quest games in the modern era and, while Silver Tower and Shadows Over Hammerhal didn’t receive any expansions, the more recent Blackstone Fortress received a lot. True, that game was set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, which has always been a more reliable and lucrative commercial prospect than Age of Sigmar, but Cursed City is not Silver Tower. Something feels different. Games Workshop appear to be hyping Cursed City up to the hilt, and all the noises coming from the company suggests to me that they know they’ve got a hit on their hands.
I think there’s good reason to be hopeful that Cursed City is going to run and run in the same way that Blackstone Fortress did. Already, even with the crumbs of information we have about the game and setting, it feels like there’s a huge amount of depth and richness to it that begs to be explored beyond just a one-off boxed game. Will new sections of the city be unlocked? Will we go under it or explore its surrounds? Who knows, but my body is ready!
9. The Content!
Clearly I’m not the only person who’s hyped about Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - already there are tons of articles, videos and tweets that, much like this very article, are reveling in a whole lot of excitement based on relatively little information. If we have this much content now, imagine how much more we’ll have to enjoy when the game is actually released! My heart sings just thinking about all of the unboxing videos, painting tutorials, live streams, playthroughs and custom game content that the Warhammer community (small ‘c’) is going to generate.
And y’know what? I’m going to be right there with them. Regular visitors to the Realm of Plastic website will have noticed that we’ve been expanding the scope of our content in recent weeks, and Cursed City gives us the perfect opportunity to do even more. I’ve been wanting to dip my toe into video content and live streaming for a little while now, and what better way to kick it off than with a brand new game that we’re all super excited about? Watch this space, and maybe get ahead of the game by following Realm of Plastic on Twitch!
10. The Reveals!
Here I am writing an article about Cursed City, and Warhammer Community go and drop a brand new reveal right in the middle of it! On the one hand I now have to go back and edit some of the earlier text to reflect the new info, but on the other hand - new models! Say hello to Captain Halgrim and the Ulfenwatch.
As it happens, my last point about why I’m so hyped was always going to be about the prospect of even more reveals in the coming weeks, and Warhammer Community have helpfully illustrated my point perfectly! Apparently we’re now going to get a reveal every week leading up to the game’s release and, with models as cool as these, how could you not be hyped about that?! Truly Warhammer Quest: Cursed City is the gift that keeps on giving.
I’ve now used up my entire allowance of exclamation marks for the month, so I think I’ll have to end the article here. What are you most hyped for about Warhammer Quest: Cursed City? What kind of Cursed City content would you like to see here on Realm of Plastic? Let me know in the comments - don’t be shy!
