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Hi, this is my armylist for playing with empire. If I haven't read special rules propery and my army is illegal, please say how so that I can edit it to make it legal. Also, please give suggestions on how to improve it.


Lords

General of the Empire
Barder Warhorse, Sword of Battle, Armour of Meteoric Iron, Holy Relic
186


Heroes

Captain of the Empire
Full Plate Armour, Shield, Biting Blade
65

Battle Wizard
Level 2 Upgrade, Staff of Sorcery
135

Battle Wizard
Level 2 Upgrade, Dispel Scroll
125


Core

6 Knightly Orders
138

10 Handgunners
80

10 Handgunners
80

10 Handgunners
80


Special

7 Knightly Orders
Inner Circle, Full Command
222

20 Greatswords
Full Command, War Banner

2 Cannons
200

6 Pistoliers
Full Command
122


Rare

Hell Blaster Volley Gun
110

19 Flagellants
Prophet of Doom
200



Please comment and help me improve my list.

For starters you have 1 special choice too much for 2k games as you can have only 4. Remember that 2 great cannons are still 2 special choices. You can fix this by taking just normal knights instead of the inner circle for example (altough they won't hit quite as hard). Getting a battle standard bearer with the greatswords would be a good idea also, as the reroll to the stubborn break test makes them hold more reliably. You can upgrade the captain to bsb, altough I'd give him a barded horse in that case so he gets a better save too. It's also worth noticing that you don't necessarily need Armor of meteoric iron for the general to get 1+ save. Barded horse, full plate and shield do the same trick. In general, your character equipment looks not very optimal. Most would also choose the arch-lector to lead the army, but I take that you wan't to go with the general (who isn't bad as such, it's just when compared to the lector) and I made an example character setup:

General of the Empire
Barded Warhorse,Full Plate,Shield,Lance,Dragon Bow,Holy Relic,Van Horstman's Speculum
-222
This guy is well protected and he's ment to stay back, provide his ld9 around and shoot stuff with the str6 bow (he's bs5 after all). If a nasty character (or monstorous character) goes to rampage in your lines you can engage him and swap the stats with speculum in a challenge, which means generally that you have the edge as empire characters don't really have that good combat stats compared to others.

Captain of the Empire
BSB,Barded Warhorse,Full Plate,Sword of Sigismund
-142
A nice boost to greatswords with the bsb, and the sword will help if the unit the bsb joins gets charged.

Battle Wizard
Level 2 Upgrade, Staff of Sorcery
-135

Battle Wizard
Level 2 Upgrade, 2xDispel Scroll
-150
Extra scroll should help in the magic defense.

This character setup costs more, but if you drop 1 pistolier and couple of knights + the inner circle status, you should have points for the chars.

One big thing with empire is leadership problems, and the troop-handgunners will cause panic around unfortunately if they get killed or run. If you swap the IC knights to normal, you could take couple of the handgunner units as detachments to greatswords which would make them better as they can a)support the handgunners with detachment tricks and b)not cause panic as detachments don't cause it.

Thanks for the help. I was thinking of having my captain in the flagellants to help hold the centre with only 2 infantry units. Would it be better to have the BSB in the greatswords, or the flagellants?

Also, my General is going to go with the unit of 7 knights to act as a unit of heavy cavalry, so I think that the bow will be wasted points.

Soneji,

A couple of things, Heroes can't join units of flagellants so scrap the idea of your captain helping them out. They are really a tarpit unit, they won't kill anything but the most basic of troops but should hold your opponents unit up until you can hit them in the flank with something that will kill them. Not sure what your direction for the army is, you have some shooting and some combat but everything is a little scattered, I like the balanced army list approach but you need more infantry to make your list effective IMO.

Drop the hellblaster, in 6th it was killer but now unless you plan on babysitting it with a master engineer to get at least BS4 then its a waste, cannons and mortars do a better job and are less likely to blow up. Drop the champ from the pistoliers, their leadership doesn't change and for the points you can almost get another pistolier, these guys are warmachine hunters and flankers, if used properly they can be very effective, so much so that many of my opponents often spend a turn shooting at or magiking them rather than the really hitty things in my army

Two level 2 wizards is not going to do all that much in the magic phase, if you want a powerful magic phase you almost have to go with a wizard lord and even then many other armies can blast you with magic much more effectively. Have you thought about dropping a wizard for a warrior priest? They give hatred and thats incredibly useful on the charge. I usually run with this character set up for my balanced lists

General of the Empire - Full plate Barded steed Shield Sword of Sigismund Holy Relic

Captain of the Empire - BSB, Armour of Meteroic Iron, Sword of Striking

Warrior Priest - Heavy armour, shield, Barded steed, Icon of Magnus and either sword of might or battle

Battle wizard - 2x Dispel scroll

General and BSB go with infantry blocks, Priest joins hammer unit of Knights and wizard is either with handgunners or infantry

I also recommend getting some detachments for your infantry, the rules give you a great advantage and will help with CR, if possible pump your greatswords to 25, this allows you to take some casualities as you move towards you opponent.

I will post a couple of my full lists later if you want. Hope that helps

PapaSmurf

Hey, I would definitely recommend getting some detachments for your greatswords, preferably handgunners. These will be able to support the army with shooting and you can use them to bait charges so you can flank charge with the greatswords, the detachment rules are so great I would recommend them in almost any empire army.

I rarely use shooty detachments, only combat ones, usually a 9 strong unit of halberdiers in a 3x3 formation and sometimes a throw away unit of 5 free company for bait and flee, sacrifice or march blocking

PapaSmurf

I think you don't necessarily need a wizard lord to have decent magic phase. Popemobile (arch lechtor on war-altar) with dual lvl2 mages offers a very good offensive/defensive magic phase.

Ok, I think that if I drop the flagellants I'll be able to push my Greatswords up to 25 and add a unit of swordsmen. Then I can use detatchments of add handgunners. I'll try to work in a Warrior priest to accompany my second unit of knights which will give me more hitting power. Taht will mean that I will have 1 unit of fast Cav, 2 units of heavy cav and a infantry center with some ranged support.

Here is my review. I hope I don’t parrot too much of what has already been said. And now, without further ado, I hand the microphone over to the Lady Issabella von Hauptmann.

***** ***** ***** *****

Lady Issabella von Hauptmann looked at the chessboard for a long time. The Count’s set was sculpted from polished granite and marble, and was very impressive for an Empire noble. Issabella smiled behind her lace fan. She knew that in Estallia such a trinket would be owned by merchants or farmers. She always was disappointed when her Lord sent her to the Empire to review yet another Count’s army. She knew her skills at magic, and her knowledge of war was vast and that was why Duke Metzger often sent her. At least the Imperial nobility had the common sense to ask for such a learned opinion. Yet it infuriated her. The Empire seemed little better than the Border Lands. They were barbarians barely able to put on pants, let alone understand the complexities of war. Still, a paying customer was a paying customer, and she knew better than to say such. The Empire, for all its advancements, still paled in comparison to home. One day she planned on triumphantly returning to Margritta. One day. And to do so, she needed gold.

Issabella was fond of Chess. She enjoyed playing the game from Cathay, and had become quite good at it. Some of her skill came from her beauty, but she knew the lionesses share of it came from her smarts. She moved the bishop in a harmless way and said, “If One may begin her review of your mustered soldiery.”

The Imperial general nodded his agreement, and she began. “One will begin with you, General. While One understands the protection offered by a trinket blessed by Sigmar, the rest of your arms and armaments make little sense. It would be wiser to get a suit of full plate and a shield instead of armor forged from comet-iron. You would be just as well protected, and even save a few silvers. One would also suggest instead of your current enscorcled blade, to, perhaps, draw from the Imperial Vaults Sigismund’s Sword. That blade is able to cut through solid oak, cleave through steel, and still remain as quick as winds. Changing your armor and weaponry for what One has advised will let you lead your knights into great charges with much success, and still save you some valuable silver.

“Thinking along those lines, while One understands that Inner Circle knights are the best that any order has to offer, One knows that you must donate a considerable sum to the coffers of the knightly order to aquire their skills. You would be very well served by just asking for the assistance of regular templars of the order. It would even enable you to save quite a bit of silver, letting you get even a simple banner and horn for your second detachment of knights.”

Issabella closed her fan, setting it on her lap. She then moved the knight, and continued her review. “One would also like to address your captain of the guard. He is greatly skilled, and has a bit of mystical equipment to help him, but… One cannot help but suggest you leave him to the defense of your city while you are on campaign. In his place One would suggest perhaps the Priest Klaus Kluben… One has watched him over the past week, and he has quite the skill in command, and even with some rudimentary magicks. A simple suit of heavy armor, perhaps a warhorse for him to ride, and he could accompany your other unit of knights. One is certain that his firey speeches would embolden your templars to feats of amazing skill. And, Imperial Priests are also skilled at dispeling the chaotic winds of magic, which is always a vaulable asset.”

Issabella looked at the chessboard again, and nodded her approval. Apparently this Imperial had a bit of taste. She could see highlights of exotic jade amongst the polished granite. For a moment she tapped her lips with her long finger, then decided her move by pushing forward a pawn two squares.

“One must address your wizards. While few are of the same level as One’s abilities with magic, One wonders why you hired such expensive prodigal sorcerers. It is well known that the Imperial magic schools, while good, barely teach anything. Your expensive wizards would barely be able to compete against their more powerful cousins. One would suggest that you could simply hire a pair of apprentice wizards. That would save you considerable silver, and apprentice wizards are still just as good at anti-magic as your expensive wizards. Or, if you insist on bringing along your mages, that you purchase a pair of dispel scrolls for your second wizard, instead of allowing him to bring along that staff he carries.”

The Estallian noblewoman picked a sour cherry from the fruit bowl in front of her. She rolled it around her fingertips without actually tasting the early harvested fruit. “One must address the issue of your musketmen. While One understands how powerful gunpowder is, One has worked many times with Master Engineer Krueger, One has noticed that none of your squads of gunners has a drummer or fifer. In addition, she sees no line infantry to protect them. Not even the criminal free companies. One highly suggests getting at least musicians for your gunners. One also recommends hiring a company of swordsmen or spearmen… perhaps twenty able-bodied strong. You may need to decommission one of the handgunner squads to find the silver to pay for these swordsmen. That would give your firing line a bit of protection from approaching enemy cavalry, fliers, and even hardened infantry that has shrugged off your lead shot.”

At last she put the cherry into her mouth, and enjoyed its sour-sweet taste. “Your pair of cannon, company of Greatswords, and pistoliers will serve you well. And, by swapping the inner circle knights for just templars, these four units will have plenty of space in your army. One would suggest getting an Outrider champion with a repeater pistol for your Pistoliers. One has seen the destructive results of such a fast unit against enemy flanks and lines… though One has also seen pistoliers routed by a stiff wind as well. They can be very effective, yet their light armor means you have to use them where they will face a minimized enemy retaliation.”

Issabella opened her fan again, to hide her wincing face. The dark-red cherry was picked way too early, and was extremely sour. “One has only a few more comments, good noble. First, One must concur with the learned experience of Master Krueger. While Rockets make for a great display of light and sound on festival day, they are too… chaotic to use on the battle field. One would suggest you save your silver, and send the rocket battery back to Nuln, till such time as the weapon is greatly refined.”

“Lastly… One wonders about the mob of flagellants you have allowed to hang around your army’s camp. While she has seen these mobs bog down even the most horrific of enemies… they lack any real ability to do anything reliably. They are all noise, complaining, and lack teeth. One would insist that, if you want a group of soldiers who are just willing to die for their beliefs, seek out a dwarf pirate named Long Drong. His Slayers are just as mad, but, while the flagellants lack any sort of martial skill or training, Drong has with him a company of elite, dwarven, slayers. They are a bit pricey, yes, but their skill, bravery, and pistols allow them to chew through enemy units, as well as tie up great monsters. Else… if you are not interested in hiring mercenaries, One would still suggest you disband the mob, send them on their way, and use the silver you have been using to buy them food, to equip a company of swordsmen or spearmen.”

She moved a rook saying, “Checkmate.” Issabella stood up from her seat, straightened her gown and asked, “Do you have any questions of One’s thoughts on your army?”