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I stopped playing before the new edition came out because a lot people at my local gaming store just stopped playing fantasy for some reason so I picked up 40k and have been playing that since. I used to really enjoy fantasy since I found it more challenging and would really like to pick it up again since I have the models. I used to play an empire army that was heavy with spear men with handgun detachments and a large number of knights. What exactly changed and how did it effect the empire?

As far as state troops go, spearmen are now bottom of the barrel. Halberdiers got a huge boost in 8th with supporting attacks and horde rules. Swordsmen are still a solid defensive unit. I run my state troops as 50 halberdiers in a horde with a warrior priest, or 30-40 swordsmen 5 wide as a character bunker or tarpit unit. Don't bother with detachments because they do not count toward core, and with the new steadfast rule, having more ranks on the parent unit is the most important. Handgunners are also pretty subpar (the modifers stack up too quickly)

Knights are not that great in 8th ed, but they still have some uses. I would recommend no more then 10 knights in your list in either of the following 3 formats:

10 Inner circle knights with lance+shield and flaming banner
10 Knights with great weapons and flaming banner
2x5 units of Lance+shield knights for flank protection and running down skirmishers and chaff


Some units that are very solid in 8th are:

Level 4 wizard, either shadow, light, or life
Arch Lector on War Altar
Warrior Priests
Halberdiers
Greatswords
Steam Tank
Cannon
Mortar
Engineer


Make sure to check the current FAQ to see all of the updates (for example the steam tank is T10 now)