Slaan wrote:Hello all,
I'm looking at starting up a small Empire force and I had some questions about detachments, or more specifically, unit design. I figure it could go one of a few ways:
1) Anvil - range - range
2) Anvil - melee - melee
3) Anvil - range - melee
For the "anvil", I figure you have spears, sword and board (S&B), or halb's (I figure militia are better on the wings; am I wrong?). Another good question is do halb's make a good "anvil" or are they better off on the sides?
What I'm primarily looking at is the detachments. Is there a type of "design" you want to stick to or does it really matter? Do you want them to support the "anvil" on a countercharge (e.g. halb's in the detachment) or to be the firing wingmen (e.g. xbows or whatever) that are supported by the "anvil" when the enemy get too close? Is a mixed bag (e.g. halbs on one side, arrows on the other) a good idea or no?
Another questions probably debated is which ranged option. I love that about empire btw, lots of options!
-I like the handguns but if you go first and you're > 24 in away, they do nothing.
-x-bows are a little weaker but get to shoot if you go first. Problem is every turn after that the handguns are better (assuming they advance)
-arrows are decent for shear # of attacks; are they worth it even though they're weaker due to volume?
Am I looking at the ranged options right? Am I being too critical?
Ok first of all you can't actually have militia as the anvil as they only have the Detachment special rule so they can only be taken as detachments.
Over all the Halberds are ultimately the best as you get great striking power for little cost though if you can afford it having Greatswords as the anvil giving stubborn to halberd detachments is pretty awesome.
I find that both close combat and ranged detachments work really good but for different things. I would keep away from mixing the two though it makes it harder to make them work in sync. If the avail is a close combat unit it is generally best to have the detachments melee units as well and if the anvil is a missile unit it is also best to have the detachments a missile unit. The entire point of a melee unit is to get into close combat and that means getting close to the enemy and the point of having detachments is to have them stay close to the parent unit to provide support. So having a detachment of archers with a parent block of Halberders is not very good as they can't fire into the melee and as they are likely to be near the front lines very vulnerable. On the flip side the point of missile units is to say a way from the front and having melee detachments keeps them from doing their job, though however having melee detachments to ranged anvils is still okay as they do offer some good defenses to your ranged units.
As for ranged options I like the handgun myself as (said before) I like to keep them still firing from a distance so the move or fire rule is less important but if you want to get them closer to the fighting bows would likely be better. As for which to use it also depends on the enemy you are facing. The handgun has strength 4 and armor piercing so they get -2 to armor saves so they are good at fighting high armor enemies like dwarfs and chaos warriors and bows are better against higher number weaker enemies like goblins and skaven. Also I should point out that bows many actually not get more shots off as the volley rule has some restrictions against it. Since detachments are likely to be on the smaller side the number of shots are limited as only the front two ranks and half the models in each after that gets a shot, so a detachment of 25 archers 5 models wide gets 19 shots. More then handguns but not a lot. In addition it can't be used if you move (like you want them to) and you can't use it to stand and shoot, which a support fire action is treated as. Crossbows work as they have the best range but have less piercing then handguns and less shots then bows and also can't move and shoot.
For melee detachments in order for effectiveness I would rank them as:
1. Halberds
2. Swordsmen
3. Militia
4. Spearmen
Halberds like I said hit hard for little pay. Swordsmen are I find, against what Warptide said, really good at surviving as they are WS4 and have the parry rule and make good shields to ranged anvils and good combat support. Militia are the best against large number of weak models as they have two hand weapons and are cheap. Spearmen are basically useless as detachments as the spear just does not work for it as once again detachments tend to the small size and spears need large and multiple ranks to work right and their fight in extra ranks rule does not work in the turn they charge which a counter charge counts as.
