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So I finally started playing fantasy (played 40k for 5years) and im thinking about expanding my Empire army.

I currently have 2wizards, 2cannons, 2 hellblaster/hellrocket (with magnets so i can swap between), 10handgunners, 10archers and 2Generals (one is on a horse).
Im thinking something like mass State Troops supported by handgunners (and other ranged) but I don't know if that is viable or to cheesy so im asking for some assistance in choosing what to buy and im looking for something that will work well together, easy to expand upon and fun to play (don't just want to sit back and shoot since I played IG way to much xD).

Also what sort of State Troops are the best pick?

Some people prefer swordsmen but I'd say take a unit of 40 Halberdiers, no shields, full command w 2x 10 Handgunners as detachments. As good as it comes - that's what I take anyway, usually works out well

The standard Empire list is a level 4 light, Lector on Walter, BSB, 2 level 1 light mages, 40 odd halberdiers, couple of 5 man knight blocks, 5 demis, 2 cannons, hurricanum and a tank

Thanks, I was thinking about Halberdiers but since I only played 2games I was unsure if they were viable.

How come light mages are so popular, is it because of the buffs it has?

Probably because there's a youtube channel by someone who uses light mages a lot. "Famous" is a synonym for "standard" after all...

True that. Well i'm gona try some light mages and see if they work and if I like then.

Loads of people use a lot of light mages as it gives you 2 very strong banishment with the one from the war altar

Jade wizards all the way. I find life works really well with the big Halberdiers unit like that. It's fun too

Halberds are peoples first choice for the most part when it comes to Empire State Troops, as the S4 is really nice against many opponents. However, Personally when I ran my Empire back in the day, I loved the fluff and the ability the good old Spearmen could bring to the table. A horde of 50x of these guys w/a Warrior Priest have been pretty effective for my Army, and just by casting the Signature Beast's Spell, they can go toe to toe and put some hurt on units such as Chaos Warriors and Knights due to all of there attacks. Basically it comes down to what you want to do.

Halberds: Aggressive Infantry, as well as Defensive depending on your opponent, S4, solid Parent and Detachment Unit.

Spearmen: Defensive, extra rank of attacks, 5+ armor save w/shields which is the same price for a Halberdier with a 6+ armor save, best used as a Parent Unit only.

Swordsmen: High WS, 6+ Parry Save, Best used as Detachments,

Thats just how I see it, as Swordsmen are only worth it in detachments, while Spearmen are best in a parent unit. Halberds are the jack-of-all trades unit, which is why most people go for them. But I liked my Spearmen, as it allowed me some tactical flexibility in the since that having a solid unit gave my harder hitting units more freedom to do there thing.

I lean more toward Haldberds (mostly because the jack-of-all-trades aspect) but one big blob of spearmen with a warrior priest don't sound bad either with the extra save and rank.

A Jade wizard has some good spells that could be nasty on a large blob so definitely gona try one out and se what I prefer

Handgunners are cool models and fluff-wise, but they're considered too expensive to be really competitive. I use mine for fun, friendly games but when I really want to win I park them on the shelf, hoping that a future edition will bring them back in the light.

Cannons are good and can do a lot of damage if you roll decently. You can either blow apart enemy generals and big monsters in the early turns, or have your cannons explode or roll 1's to wound everything.

Knights are good, but if you go for big infantry blocks you're best off with small 5-man units of knights with just a musician for redirecting and flank support. No need to have a big, expensive unit charge off into the distance while your infantry watches from the back.

Empire depends a lot on buffs, so definitely get a warrior priest in with your infantry, as well as a BSB. At higher levels I would definitely go for a Celestial Hurricanum (1 extra power dice and +1 to hit for your units really helps).

A War Altar is also a good choice, and is the main reason people tend to run with many light wizards. In addition to giving nearby units a similar buff as a WP it has Banishment as a bound spell (so you're sure to get it and be able to cast it easily). Banishment gains +1 strength for every nearby light wizard, so 2-3 xlvl1 wizards in a group of archers behind your lines can be a really good booster. I like having one lvl4 Life and 2 lvl1s to get both a good banishment and a chance to heal my units (and get dwellers below).

Demigryphs and the Steam Tank are also very, very good units so in time you should definitely consider adding them to your army. Or if friends aren't that important: run a STank and Demis at 1000 points