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Im totally addicted to the look of greatswords! Just wanted to clear that up first of all ^_^ The whole regimented Heavy infantry look is something i look for in all armies i plqay in WHFB, and they preform it so well. If i were allowed to i would create a whole regiment of them (regiment as in army regiment) and support them with cannons and the like, but my main question is.... would that be good canon to do so, and second, do they make a good centre piece for an Empire army (like Hammerers can be)?

Dakkawolf.

I'm in the same boat you are. I absolutely LOVE the Greatswords models and I love how a unit of them looks on the table. For fluff though, Greatswords are more expensive to hire and maintain in your army, so an army that has a big unit of them would need access to a load of funds. For my army, the centerpiece is a giant 50-man block of Greatswords in horde formation. When I run them like that, my army is a branch of the main city guard of Bechafen, the capital of Ostermark, and they carry the Manticore Standard to represent that (it's a counts as Standard of Arcane Warding (MR 2) that I painted a manticore on ). There are some provinces that are much richer than others, like Altdorf for instance, that would naturally have a lot of Greatswords.

It's definitely possible to have a large unit of Greatswords fluff-wise. It's a LOT of points to sink into a massive unit though. I do it because it looks stunning on the table, and it's actually a pretty nasty hurdle for my opponent to get rid of, provided I can stop magical shenanigans (Manticore Standard helps with that).

Nice, i was kind of trying to make an army of them before i saw they were rare units

I play dwarfs currently, tried high elves for a while back a couple of years back, and now thinking of making a fluffy but small regiment of Greatswords, as kind of a non-playable but still looks cool force

dakkawolf wrote:Nice, i was kind of trying to make an army of them before i saw they were rare units

The Greatswords are a special unit, not rare. And they are a staple in my Empire army. Would love to field two of them, but they can be a bit expensive (in points and cash).

sure they are not that rare

Who fething cares if something is "right" in the fluff you should never let any of that fluff nonsense get in the way of collecting what you want to collect.

Sorry if that came of as harsh but the idea of someone not collecting an army how he wanted to for fear of not being fluffy makes me wanna kill puppies.

Jubear wrote:Who fething cares if something is "right" in the fluff you should never let any of that fluff nonsense get in the way of collecting what you want to collect.

Damn straight. The Warhammer fluff is basically just a bunch of stuff the authors thought was cool, so make your army somewthing cool and make the fluff to explain it.

This doesn't mean 'do anything and don't worry about the fluff' - it isn't an excuse to build that army of two steamtanks, two arch lectors and a handful of peasants to make up the minimum 25%. It means 'do anything cool and the fluff will write itself'.

Jubear wrote:Who cares if something is "right" in the fluff you should never let any of that fluff nonsense get in the way of collecting what you want to collect.

People certainly have a right to collect and field what they like (within restrictions of the army book), but equally people have a right to collect a fluffy army if they want to. Making their army fit with the background is important to some gamers.

Regardless, a large unit of Greatswords forming the centre block of an Empire army is certainly in keeping with the background. Two examples spring to mind... the Carroburg Greatswords making a last stand in a breached city wall and the Emperor himself leading a unit of Greatswords (on foot!) in some battle or other (it's in his bestiary entry).

Flashman wrote:Making their army fit with the background is important to some gamers.

This

Sorry, but if you field an army of skaven that are painted bright pink, tell me they are on the side of good and they brofist with the woodelves and are the sworn enemies of chaos, I'm going to be very dissuaded from playing you because it's such a stupid concept. I like warhammer for the setting. If I didn't I'd play another system that didn't cost quite so much.

Anyways, I don't think a large group of greatswords is terribly unfluffy at all. Whatever area just happens to feel they are more effective then common opinion dictates, so a large number of them are deployed.

Well how i see it is, the fluff is kind of a personal guideline, some of it fits, other bits you can mess around with.

The reason im saying fluff wise, is because i enjoy making backstory that fits for the armies i use (like coming up with a whole history for my Space wolf grand company).

Thanks by the way to everyone who's replied so far, im happy to know that a future army of empire troops (whether they can be played or not) will be a happy collection of Greatswords (as i think i mentioned earlier, im not looking for playable, more cool looking ). Also, if i do end up collecting a game capable, i will make sure to bring the Greatswords to life as the centre of it.

Anyone who has customization ideas or backstory ideas for a force of Greatswords would be cool if you have any to share

Well from what I understand greatswords are the counts bodyguards, handpicked from other groups of soldiers due to their skills...soooo

1.) Closed helms. People think these in particular are immortal, or close to it. Truth is when the wearer dies the armor is passed down.

2.) The count has his current greatswords train others to their standards instead of waiting on exceptional soldiers to just pop up.

3.) The count has had a history in dealing with assassins. Due to his benevolent nature, many soldiers are more apt to pull off exceptional acts of bravery and endure hardships to reach the rank of greatsword and serve as his bodyguard.

They aren't the best but they could possibly explain why there's a crap ton of them.

Just don't have stirland greatswords, they'd look scruffy!

I've a 30-man block of greatswords in my army, and then I'm gonna have mounted knights with greatswords.

My fluff will be that the greatswords are actually dismounted knights rather than exceptional state troops. [they still use the state troops rule.]