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I am looking for some feedback on the army list I have come up with.

Lord
Arch Lector on War Alter (AMI 1+AS, Hammer Judgement)

Hero
Captain BSB AoD
Warrior Priest (5+Ward talisman)

Core
30 Flagallents
50 Halberdiers (Full CMD) (WP here) + 10 Handgunners (Detachment) + 20 Halberdiers (Detachment)

Special
30 Great Sword (Full CMD) (BSB Here) + 10 Handgunners (detachment) + 10 Halberdiers (Detatchment)
Mortar
Mortar
Cannon
Cannon

Rare
Hell Blaster Volley Gun

Total 2200 points.

I have been getting some reviews that I should consider a LVL4 Wizard Lord instead of the Arch Lector and putting in a Steam Tank.

Model wise I can do either option.

Any comments on effectiveness or concerns on weaknesses or any comments are happily accepted.

Any suggestions to cheese it out more are also worthy of consideration.

I actually think the weak point of this list is the detachments. They're a cool theory but I've never been in a situation where they actually helped much.

With that many warmachines and a hellblaster you need a engineer.

Having no mage at all is a risk and missing out on what could be a large chunk of firepower.

I'm surprised by 2 ommisions. Firstly the BsB why not take AoMI for a 1+ save and a Dawnstone that should keep him alive a lot longer than the 4+ ward.

Then the Archlecter if you're taking him he should have Van Horstmanns to character assassinate and deal with large gribllies going after your warmachines.

Also I don't rate Halberdiers and not sure you need 50 of them. 4 gives you 8 ranks and that should be enough switching to swordsmen makes a great unit.

I'd consider dropping the detachments or going all handgunners for them. I don't see the benefit of having more than 1 detachment.

I'd also always ensure there was a dispell scroll in an army for stopping that 1 spell when it isn't irresistabled...

One benefit peopel forget with detatchments is they deploy with the parent unit (meaning one less "deployment" in certain scenarios) which give you a better chance of going first.

I agree no mage is risky - not even a lvl 2?

I've only play a dozen or so Empire games so I'm still learning them myself but a few models I've seen that are run in EVERY tourney list:

Your BSB captain should have AoMI and Dawnstone for 125 points.

Another Captain on a pegasus with the casket of sorcery, enchanted shield, FP armor and a lance for 164 points

Arch LEcter with Mace of Helstrum and the Speculum for 326 points.

In lieu of the lecter a lvl 4 of shadow or life.

I agree that with all that artillery, especially the rocket battery, you do need one engineer. Mostly becuase of the rocket battery.

I run Swordsmen instead of Halberds and yes I have wished at times I was Str. 4 instead of Str 3 but I love the 5+ armor save and 6+ ward save in melee. If you math out the two units the halberds don't actually killl /that/ much more, a few models, but they have a /lot/ more die when they are attacked. It was like +2 kills but +4 dead for a total of -2 on combat resolution. I'll have to math it out again when I'm not feeling so lazy.

I run 15 free company and 10 handgunners in a detatchment. Well, if I run a mage I'll run 20 handgunners and, even though I can't field them with a musician, will bunker my mage in the detatchment.

I just find gong first is so much more important and having hte +1 (or 1/3 better chance) of going first is my priority. That's why my lists are always 4-5 deployments.

Here are some of the thoughts as to why I was thinking this would work.

The thought behind no wizard is that I will have 3 prayers and 1 spell from the lore of light (my choice each round) for each of my turns. That seems about average number of spells to cast on a turn. Depending on the number of dice I get it will make a difference as to what I want to try. And they are very easy to cast needing 4s and 5s.

Detachments of handgunners can stand and shoot to soften a unit up when they are charging into my units. Even if the unit is within the move range of the parent unit being charged.

Detachment of halberdiers can get to the flank of a unit. +1 CR for Charge and +1 CR for Flank. And the potential to cancel ranks.

50 Halberdiers Horde wide gives 3 ranks of hitting with Hatred in first round on their initiative. Minimum of 9 attacks with a possibility of 31.

AoMI is on my Arch Lector.

I may have to shift things around for magic items based on the suggestions listed above.

Will have to see about getting an engineer. That may cost me a detachment to fit him in.

Thanks for the input so far. If my thoughts above do not make sense please feel free to bash away at my plans. Nothing is set in stone yet. And any chance to improve my enjoyment of the tournament is appreciated.

I know it is fun to play, but I have more fun when I am winning.