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Be warned that I am a complete noob to WHFB so bear with me.

Across the internet I've been looking at Empire strategies written for 7th edition and all seem to agree that the Engy is somewhat useless addition to your army.

Has this changed in 8th edition? Specifically I'm looking at the Master Engineer with the Hochland long range rifle. Is he worth using?

Many I've spoken too think he's worth it now. As written, he seems to be able to stand within 3" of multiple artillery pieces and lend aid to whichever needs it most. I think he certainly seems more handy now as a result.

I think the hochland route ends up being not as good a deal though. He can only fire that rifle if he hasn't used his special ability, and you also probably want him out of sight of the enemy since he can't actually join the war machines now.

If you want to be able to snipe things, there are other routes. For some reason you can get as good BS on a hand-gunner champ, and better on an outrider champ. Multiples getting buffed by prayers of sigmar for hit and wound re-rolls can help pick off wizards and the like.

RZ

I think one of the main things a Master Engineer gained is that only their "points" are in direct competition with other characters. Last edition in, say, 2K points, you were sacrificing something to fit in a Master Engineer. This edition, you aren't necessarily.

I'd say they're worth it if you're doing a gunline, but only about one to two (depending on how many War Machines you take). On average, a single Engineer can handle (and fit) around 2-3 War Machines a turn without the whole line blowing apart. Two of them works for an entire gunline, and shouldn't take up more than about 20% of your Hero points at whichever level you're using.

Of course, if you're not taking a gunline, it's a much less useful purchase. I've seen Engineer w/ Pigeon Bombs in a building be put to good use, though. If the bird kamikazes, you're only hitting 3-4 models on average instead of the full template on a unit.

Master Engineer is absolutely worth it. At 1500+pts an Engineer manning a Cannon and a Mortar should be a mandatory selection. The Engineer should be kept cheap, but if you're going to give him a weapon, give him Pigeon Bombs. The games I've played with this combo "the firebase" they were fantastic.

Id say theyre one character you always need to take if your army includes 3 cannons and/or mortars. One engineer will cover virtually all misfire results which basically means you wont misfire, thats huge

You'll probably get 1 misfire every 2 turns, and he negates 1 every turn.. Good job

So I guess the repeater handgun is the best Engineer to use?


Shame. I really liked the look of the Sniper Engineer :(

I don't take any weapons at all on my master engineer. And I use him to buff the helblaster. A helblaster that can re roll its misfire each turn (about 50% chance to get one) has a decent shot at going the whole game without exploding. And zeke is right.... if your cannon is also nearby, and the helblaster manages to get through without misfiring, you can use him to adjust your cannon shot. for 65 points, a steal. Should be taken.

The ability to chose which warmachine to help AFTER seeing the misfires rolled is huge. He is definitely worth if with a helblaster or two other warmachines.