In 2015, Games Workshop ended Warhammer Fantasy Battles and launched Age of Sigmar, blowing up the Old World in the process. The decision came down to money - Warhammer wasn't making enough of it for GW's tastes - and the design differences between AoS and Warhammer tell us what GW thought would sell better. One clear difference is that Age of Sigmar is a much, much better system for massive centerpiece models - and when those centerpiece models are as cool as the new Cogfort, I have a hard time calling that a bad design choice.
The Cogfort is a colossal new kit that GW revealed during the Adepticon Warhammer preview at the end of April. Part of the Cities of Sigmar AoS army, it's a walking fortress powered by steam and magic. The kit can be built either as a Conqueror Cogfort, equipped with a flamethrower the size of a battleship mast and with an assault ramp to disgorge infantry straight into enemy lines, or a Cannonade Cogfort, mounted with a central main gun large enough to kill Mega Gargants.
And the Cogfort is certainly taking aim at the Mega Gargant, the previous postergiant for AoS's most imposing centerpiece miniature. Aside from scale, there are similarities in how the Cogfort and the Mega Gargants are marketed. So just as the Mega Gargants get their own army list, players who want to field multiple Cogforts will have access to an Army of Renown that can do just that.
Also like the Mega Gargants, a new Regiment of Renown will allow every army in the game to take one of these models. As a sales strategy it's hard to fault. When this kit comes out I expect we'll see a wealth of conversions, from dripping Nurgle Cogforts to spectrally possessed Nighthaunt ones.
But when I say that Age of Sigmar is a better system for massive centerpiece models than Warhammer fantasy was (or Warhammer: The Old World is), I don't only mean that GW is designing more big minis and creating army lists that encourage you to bring them. I mean that the core rules are better suited to the task.
To be clear, I'm not calling AoS better than The Old World in absolute terms, but their competences are very different. At its core, Age of Sigmar is a simpler game than Warhammer fantasy. Models have board presence and mobility, they've got threat projection, damage output, the ability to soak up damage, and then powers and abilities from various sources that might shake things up. It's a relatively small set of capacities that make all units relatively easy to compare, and hence balance, compared to Warhammer fantasy.
Warhammer fantasy has far more ways for models to interact. Units' positions matter, but so too do their orientations thanks to flanks and charge arcs. As well as the distinction between ranged, magical, and melee damage and defenses, psychology and combat resolution play a massive role in determining how units perform; a unit might do a lot of damage on a charge, fail to break its opponent, then break and flee because of the enemy's superior rank bonus in a future turn.
That's the core of Warhammer fantasy, a simulation of medieval warfare, and the game's fantastical elements push beyond well bounds of reality, creating extreme capabilities or unique properties that can be an unsolvable problem for an opponent - or trivially easy, if they happen to have the right counter. When most of your infantry is mundane footmen, how do you deal with a Chaos Lord on a Dragon, or a block of immaterial ghosts? And centerpiece models are all extremely fantastical.
When the Grand Cathay army launched, its two centerpiece models showed the opposite extremes of attempting to balance big flashy centerpiece figures with fantastical abilities in the system. Sky Lanterns were abominably broken and ultimately had to be nerfed, since most armies in the game struggled to interact with them, while Cathayan Sentinels didn't live up to their utterly awesome models - they weren't big enough beat-sticks for their points cost and board presence.
These units could be better balanced. But I can't really see a way to square Warhammer - a system that is hilariously swingy when played straight out of the book - with the kinds of massive monster units that now dominate Age of Sigmar, at least not without making it into something it's not.
So, was the Cogfort worth blowing up the Old World for? Different question. But am I glad that Games Workshop has a fantasy game that can accommodate this kind of truly ludicrous behemoth? Hell yeah. Have you seen that thing?
Are you planning to get a Cogfort? Which loadout do you want to build? Which faction will you be using it for? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community!