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This is my first army list, designed for play amongst my circle of friends. Well, here it goes:

Characters

Battle Wizard, 145
- Level 2
- Van Horstmann's Speculum
- Crystal Ball

Battle Wizard, 150
- Level 2
- Rod of Power
- Power Stone

Core

20 Swordsmen, 135
- Standard
- Musician

10 Halberdiers, 50
- Detachment

20 Swordsmen, 135
- Standard
- Musician

10 Halberdiers, 50
- Detachment

10 Handgunners, 85
- Champion

10 Crossbowmen, 80

10 Archers, 80

Special

5 x Pistoliers, 90

Total Points: 1000


There are fluff reasons my army is led by 2 wizards and not a captain, also why I have no knights or war machines.

I know the Speculum wizard is a bit predictable, but as none of my planned opponents have played Fantasy before either, I'm hoping it'll work at least once. Plus, I know my Lizardmen friend plans on running a JSOD, and he's even talked about assassinating characters with it. I think he'll fall for it.

So, within these guidelines, any suggestions on improving the list? I'll usually be using Light and Metal lores. As I said, I'm new to Fantasy.

Handgunners with a champion but no longrifle...bad.

If you believe you can countercharge detachments...well, you can't against experienced players.

You also have minimum sized units. 6 dead guys and all of a sudden you are down 2 in combat resolution. That's bad with LD7 troops and no BSB.

No champs in the swordsmen units...

So, you'll get in a win and then people will bring powerful builds, and you'll never win again.

If you're going to run a foot army, you've got to back those wizards up with longrifles and cannons/mortars.

So...it's a new player army. You get a free pass.

When you say you can't countercharge with detachments against experienced players, do you mean they will simply block the detachments with other units or something?

So, I should maybe drop the detachments, get larger swordsmen units with champions, like 35 men or something, and make all my ranged guys handgunners, with a Longrifle-armed marksmen?

Detachments are worth it. For one thing, they don't cause panic in other units, so even if you aren't able to use them for counterpunching, you can still sacrifice them for the greater good. Hint: drp your halberd detachments to nine and run them in a 3x3 formation. They are still >US 5, so will negate the enemy ranks & get you +1CR for flank, but they are much more maneuverable. You can put one detachment in between two parent units and leave too small of a gap for the enemy to charge the detechment. And the parent units don't have to be enormous, especially in 1000 points. 22 to 24 is plenty.

Swordsmen need full command. Handgunners don't. The only reason to take a handgunner champion is to give him a Long Rifle (character killer), a Repeater Handgun (increase volume of fire), or a brace of pistols (makes the unit stand-and-shoot reactions occur at close range, and it's free).

I think the crystal ball is a waste of points, and would take the Ring of Volans instead. Or, since you plan on throwing this wizard at enemy characters, the Sword of Striking or the Biting Blade, either of which complement the Speculum.

Agree with most of what's been said, 3x3 detachments are the way to go, you also need a musician in both the handgunners and the pistoliers

if your going to take archers pay the points so they can scout, helps march block foes cause your pretty slow

if you don't want Captains how bout a warrior priest? Still some magic but much better fighter

PapaSmurf

I mean experienced players will shoot/magic down your detachments, and far more often than not they just give your opponent more attacks into you...and make you lose the overall combat more quickly.

You can use them to block, but only in limited amounts. They aren't hard to destroy, and unlike say an undead army...you cannot replenish them or raise more.

Thanks for the input guys, I've tweaked my list.
As the Warrior Priest suggestion, sorry but that too goes against the army's story. Imagine it a bit like a Stirland army, from a town on the edge of the Drakwald forest, so not many handguns, cannons or knights. Basically, the wizard in charge of the army hates religious people because a corrupt priest of Sigmar had his father executed for insulting him. His brother took command of most of their family's armed forces, leaving the wizard with a relatively small band with him at his head. Ergo, no Captains. I know it's rather restricted, but I think it will make for more interesting and fun wargaming. Anyway:

Characters

Battle Wizard, 135
- Level 2
- Van Horstmann's Speculum
- Biting Blade

Battle Wizard, 130
- Level 2
- Rod of Power

Core

24 Swordsmen, 169
- Full Command

9 Halberdiers, 45
- Detachment

24 Swordsmen, 169
- Full Command

9 Halberdiers, 45
- Detachment

10 Handgunners, 110
- Champion
- Hochland Long Rifle
- Musician

10 Archers, 100
- Huntsmen

Special

5 x Pistoliers, 97
- Musician

Total Points: 1000

DairyQueen,

Welcome to the Empire. Anyway, normally I story-review these, but I'm lacking in time, so here are some quick thoughts, related to your comments.

First, your wizard might do well with an armored horse. He will still be able to fall in with your normal troops, and it gives him a bit of a mundane save. At 1000 points, a 5+ armor save is actually decent. I would save the points though, and drop the Biting Blade... it's not terribly effective. And, your opponent will probably know something is up, iffn you send your wizard into hand-to-hand. Van Horstmann's rarely suprizes anyone.

I would say, try to get a school of magic that has a cheap movement, or melee spell. That way, you can move into hand-to-hand and issue a challenge (for the speculum), or you can still get a nice melee bonus via something like Illumination of Pha or that Lore of Beasts spell that makes you into a dire bear.

Halberd's aren't the best bit of gear to give Empire folk... even as detachments. You might want to consider swapping out your halbards with some 8-man detachments of crossbows. At 1000 point games, the pepper-shots of crossbows can easily whittle through small enemy detachments and blocks, possibly causing army-wide panic tests.

You might be able to downsize your Swordsmen to 20 strong with full command. With the points you save, you can get a small block of free company detachments (for the flank attacks), and upsize your pistoliers to six... possibly with an Outridder with Repeater Pistol.

I've never been impressed with the Long Rifle... they work best in mass numbers. Still... at small point games, it should actually cause some definate problems. I'd focus on high-point-one-wound targets... like cavalry champions. With only one shot, you want to make sure you are picking off a model your opponent will definately miss.

Anyway, just some quick thoughts.