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So after contemplating for some time, I think my second army will be Empire. While Lizardmen seemed tempting, ultimately, I decided I wanted to try to make a "Band of the Hawk" themed army, and figured Empire was the best option for that. That and looking over the book, I rather like the Detachment system, and like the over-all flexibility of the list.

Having said that, here's a list I kind of quickly threw together.

HEROES
Captain - 116
Barded Warhorse, Shield, Sword of Might, Dawn Armor

Captain - 97
Barded Warhorse, Full Plate Armor, BSB

CORE
25x Swordsmen - 175
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

20x Swordsmen - 145
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45
-- 5x Handgunner Detachment - 40

SPECIAL
5x Knights of the Inner Circle - 130
Lance and Shield

1x Great Cannon - 100

1x Great Cannon - 100

Total: 993


C&C welcome. Dunno if two cannons is too much at this points level. Coming from an army with no artillery (High Elves), I don't really have too much experience using artillery.

Quick Question - For most of the Empire Magic Armors, it doesn't specify that they can be combined with other equipment as normal - does the Dawn Armor, for instance get the benefits of shields and being on a barded mount?

Sword of might, meaning the 40 point +2 S sword?

Take either

A: A great weapon, but put him on foot

B: If you really want him on a horse, A lance

40 points could be better spent elsewhere.

Also, I might not equip my Empire Captain to be as killy as possible. I tend to give them either a higher LD or some such. Maybe the auto-rally horn.

Take out the handgunner detachment. Although they seem great, they can be beaten by Skirmishers in combat. They don't belong on the front lines.

Also, though this is kind of a personal thing, I would take 2 detachments of 10 Halberdiers. The same cost as free company, except with S4 and a 6 up in CC at least. Better than nothing.

You've taken too few knights. A unit of 5 alone isn't going to do much, IMHO.

The cannons are fine, but I would take one out to make room for more knights.

Also, may I suggest the Griffon Banner. A great, 55 point banner with double rank bonus. Awesome.

And yes, they can be combined as normal.

Sword of Might as in the Common 15pt +1S sword.

Ahhh, never mind then.

your hero should be fine then

Looks fine, I would drop the handgunners and give the IC knights a banner or musician.

2 cannons aren't going to win you any friends but are tactically sound. I personally like the mortar as a second peice of artillery, great against hordes and light infantry blocks

Might think about a warrior priest rather than BSB. Don't know how much fear you face but the Icon of Magnus is a never leave home without item for me. Good luck

PapaSmurf

PapaSmurf wrote:2 cannons aren't going to win you any friends but are tactically sound. I personally like the mortar as a second peice of artillery, great against hordes and light infantry blocks

Yeah, that's what I was fearing. I was vacillating between that or some more cavalry. I'll probably drop the second one.

I'll probably drop the Handgunners. I put them in originally just 'cause I thought this list was a bit light on shooting, and I read somewhere that a small detachment of them wasn't a terrible idea. But, 5 of 'em are probably too little to really be of much use.

Cryonicleech wrote:Also, though this is kind of a personal thing, I would take 2 detachments of 10 Halberdiers. The same cost as free company, except with S4 and a 6 up in CC at least. Better than nothing.

Most of the time I'm gonna be going up against WS4/5, S4 guys that are fairly well armored. Going over the math-hammer (I know, bleh), Free Company do seem to come out on top, but I'll probably give both a try to see which one I'll end up preferring/have better luck with.


Gonna mull things over. Probably will switch the BSB to a Warrior Priest.

Ok, a bit revised.

HEROES
Captain "Griffith"- 116
Barded Warhorse, Shield, Sword of Might, Dawn Armor

Warrior Priest "Pippin" - 100
Great weapon, Heavy Armor, Shield

CORE
24x Swordsmen - 170
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

20x Swordsmen - 145
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

SPECIAL
5x Knights of the Inner Circle - 170
Lance and Shield, Full Command

6x Pistoliers - 108

1x Great Cannon - 100

Total: 999

The idea - The captain goes with the Knights, the Warrior Priest goes with the 24-strong swordsmen unit, and pistoliers go do their thing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm also considering a Mortar instead of the Pistoliers, and that'd leave me with 34 spare points.

Looks fine. I'd personally use a level 2 Wiz w/ Rod of Power instead of a Captain, but that's your call.

You should be fine with regular full plate. I don't think the Dawn Armor is ever really worth it outside of getting a Warrior Priest or Arch Lector access to plate armor.

Try to find the points to give your priest AoMI!!

Why is one of your blocks only 20 large? You lose a rank bonus with one casualty, I'd find the points to up it to 25 like your other one.

You don't really need Knights of the Inner Circle at this point level. I would consider dropping the upgrade and turning them into more of a MSU role (So 5 Vanilla's w/ a musician)

I would configure your Pistoliers as 5, with an Outrider, Repeater Pistol, and Musician upgrade. ESPECIALLY the Musician. These guys need it.

Some of that boils down to preference, so it's your call.

Egh, good call on the Pistolier Musician - I keep forgetting that Fast Cav. should really have the Musician.

I was considering the drop to regular Knights. The +1S just seemed so damn enticing.

Question though: Mortar or Pistoliers? Mortar will probably do more damage overall, but Pistoliers will give me a bit more mobility and tackle a couple of more tasks.


EDIT: New list.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
HEROES
Captain "Griffith"- 116
Barded Warhorse, Shield, Sword of Might, Dawn Armor

Warrior Priest "Pippin" - 119
Great weapon, Armor of Meteoric Iron

CORE
24x Swordsmen - 145
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

25x Swordsmen - 150
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

5x Knightly Order - 170
Lance and Shield, Full Command

SPECIAL
1x Great Cannon - 100

1x Mortar - 75

Total: 950

Huh....apparently I mis-calculated the points for my Swordsmen units. Now I have 50 extra points to play with.

1000 means less troops. Is your table smaller? If not, I'd argue against the mortar - the odds of a lucky scatter are less just because there's less stuff to scatter into. If go with the pistoliers.

Another go at this list:

HEROES
Captain "Griffith"- 116
Barded Warhorse, Shield, Sword of Might, Dawn Armor

Warrior Priest "Pippin" - 119
Great weapon, Armor of Meteoric Iron

CORE
25x Swordsmen - 150
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

25x Swordsmen - 150
full command
-- 9x Free Company Detachment - 45

6x Knightly Order - 178
Lance and Shield, Full Command

SPECIAL
5x Pistoliers - 97
Musician

1x Great Cannon - 100


Total:1000 exact

Basically just swapped out the Mortar for some Pistoliers and beefed up the Knights and the one Swordsmen unit. Hoping the Pistoliers and cannon can take care of my DE friend's magic quickly enough...



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oo, or I could keep the Knights at 5 and give the Pistoliers an Outrider with repeater pistols...

Looks good so far.

I'd lower the Knights to 5, that way you can make your pistoliers moer shooty and you can put your Captain in the Knights.

I'd actually find the points to put the Priest on a horse and run HIM with the Knights. Hatred on Knights hurts when they charge.