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So, since my brother recently offloaded his Empire troops to me, I've decided to finish the army. It focuses mostly on large blocks of infantry supported by Detachments.

My two main Pros/Cons for both weapons are

Helblaster:

Pros

30 Shots!!!!! with good armor pen.

Psychological warfare

Cons:

Likely chance of explosion.

should it explode, it seems like a waste of points

Helstorm

Pros

Much less, blowy uppy

Still good, longer range.

Cons

Can still kill itself or even worse, my other units.

Not as much armor pen.

so, vote and decide! please.

My vote would be the Helblaster. It's able to ward off skirmishers/light cav from one flank of your army pretty much by itself (unless it blows up).

i'd have to go with option C


Steam Tank!

It is significantly better than both of those. It will totally change the dynamics of your Empire Army. It gives you a serious competitive piece in an army that needs it badly.

Hellblaster is a terrifying thing to run up against.

Its bark is usually worse than its bite, however it stops me moving up a flank until I've neutralised it...

The rocket battery is just too random.

Hmm, I'll probably go with the Helblaster, thanks guys.

P.s. GreaterGood?, you do have a point there. I'll see If I can squeeze a Steam Tank in there. maybe.

As with most things in the Empire army the value of a particular unit is related to its role.

The Helblaster and the Helstorm perform very different roles, Except for them being Rare choices, warmachines and constructed from the same kit, they have little in common.

The Helblaster's strength lies in pelting incoming enemies. Shooting it might actually be saved untill the enemy advances into half range for increased accuracy and higher number of higher S hits. It's targets are usually expensive high wound/low model units. Ogres (and anything resembling them like Kroxigors, Minotaurs etc. ) detest Helblasters for instance. A large target (with no or hardly any save) like a Giant is dead meat vs a Helblaster. As long as it doesn't misfire of course.

The Helstorm is used from the outset. Because of it's minimum range requirement and the possibility of shots actually scattering back towards your lines you'll preferably fire this baby at far away targets. Shooting at targets that are near its minimum range is often only done in desperation. Being a template weapon (a large one at that) the Helstorm should target infantry blocks, preferably with several other units in the area for when it scatters. Unlike the S3 Mortar the Helstorm's S5 actaully makes high T infantry regiments nervous. A S5 -2 save hit on a unit of Dwarven infantry will hurt a lot more than a S3 -1 save hit!

Helblaster is good at guarding areas, anything that gets near is in danger of being targeted with large amounts of deadly lead (at least the possibility of that destruction is present).

Helstorm is good for that 'reach out and touch' kind of feeling. Projecting destruction across a large distance.

During a friendly tournament last year I took a Helstorm for the first time. It made a great impression on my foes (and myself, previously I'd theoryhammered it to be too unreliable) with a few solid hits (and the accompanying loud cries of woe from its victim) during my games it made quite a reputation for itself. Even to those people I didn't play!
Add to that the fact that even a scattered shot has a large chance of still hitting (and killing) something of the enemy, due to its large template size, and it was a fine addition that tourney.

They're both temperemental weapons, but that's beside the point, it's about answering to yourself "What role do I want this warmachine to perform?" and then you'll be able to decide if you want one or the other (or maybe both!).

Helblaster. Don't waste time on Steam tank, unless it is a friendly game. Was totally nerfed in this book.

Oh how I miss the days when it could eliminate a unit by itself.

barlio wrote:Helblaster. Don't waste time on Steam tank, unless it is a friendly game. Was totally nerfed in this book.

Oh how I miss the days when it could eliminate a unit by itself.

I couldn't disagree more. Steam tank is certainly one of the better things in current empire book (with the waltar and good ol' great cannons). If it gets a good 4/5 SP charge it smashes pretty much everything barring VC/DoC regebunkers and even those will break some sweat. Even if it doesn't actually break/kill stuff, it's an awfully good tarpit and points denial unit.

I guess I haven't played it enough with the new rules so I will give it another shot. My experience was that once it took a wound the chances of getting any steampoints was dramatically reduced.

Chaoslord: You have to understand that when I put any great amount of money and/or time into a unit/model it seems to under-perform, but that's me and my sucky luck.

Make them both so you can swap it out when you want to, vs gun lines go the rocket battery, vs everyone else rock the helblaster.