The Empire Described – Special Choices

A simple description of the Empire special troops and how I would play them

As how I have described the core choices in a previous article, the Empire army would not be able to win battles if you would only field the core choices (probably the same with all other armies). Of course the Empire would be best fielded with their Elite choices that would greatly increase the army strength. Here are the Special choices for the Empire army.

• Great Cannon – One of the most feared choice that the Empire fields. The Great Cannon. Why? Strength 10, multi-wound damage, no armour saves, maximum range of 60 inches and goes through ranks as a single line template. That's why. Single model characters fears it, monsters fears it, knights dare not show their flanks to it, other warmachines fears it and even buildings are not safe from it. I would sure to bring either one or two to the battle field in every game as just their mere presence would cause some psychological effect on your opponent. Just don't roll misfires frequently and you'll come to love these big guns.
• Mortar – Empire mortars are underestimated greatly. These explosive round will land a 5 inch round template on the enemy troops. Though it's only Strength 3 but it makes up for the number of models that could be hit with it. Very dangerous if it was put against an army with mostly Toughness 3 and below troops.
• Pistoliers – These are fast moving, fast shooting and fast dying guys. With vanguard, you could bring them forward and with their 16 inches fast cavalry rule, if you get first turn, you will be able to get to the enemy deployment zone in the first movement. Disrupt enemy movement or even their formation and probably even do some damage. Their drawback is that they are weak defensively and easily taken off by shooting or magic. These guys don't see much action in my army.
• Greatswords – The Elite Empire infantry who wields swords as tall as themselves if not taller. If these guys were cheaper in points, I would field them in a few hordes. They are all fitted with full plate armour which makes them pretty good at surviving because they will need any armour they could get. Being Toughness 3, they have to survive before landing a blow on their opponents due to the greatweapon that they wield. As in the Warrior Priest and you have a pretty good hard hitting unit. But make sure they survive the initial hit by their opponents first. Stubborn is a nice bonus on top of this unit.
• Knights of the Inner Circle – Solidify your rubber lances with these knights. At base Strength 4, the Inner Circle Knights will pack a bigger punch to your targets. It's up to you to equip them with great weapons or with lances. Both have their pros and cons but you will be hitting your target with a Strength 6 hit. I have used these knights with success. Bring a mounted Warrior Priest with them for the Hatred rule and prayers could sometimes make the knights very solid blocks.
• Outriders – Men on horses with machine guns! Well not exactly. Outriders could shoot 3 shots per shooting phase on horses. They have Ballistic Skill of 4 which is great and making them shoot targets at 5+ at long range. When the enemy troop gets too close, move them away with their Movement of 8 ( 16 inches if you march). They can't fire if they had moved so remember to place them correctly. They are similar to Pistoliers where they can get shot down easily but at least these guys would be deployed around your own deployment zone and receive the Inspiring Presence of your general. One of the best thing about Outriders is that you could equip the Champion with the Hochland Long Rifle. It is a gun that could shoot 36 inches and you could “Snipe” opponent characters with it. It's a single Strength 4 shot that pierces armour. In two quick lucky rounds, you could probably take out your opponent's wizard!

In 8^th edition, opponents could move much faster and easily gets the charge on the second turn of the game. With fliers and fast cavalry units that could vanguard and high movement our warmachines are easily caught and destroyed. It would be best for to have a strategy devised for both the mortar and the great cannon early during deployment itself so that they could be able to gain back their points before they are rendered useless or destroyed! I would usually deploy the warmachines last but also remember to have some protection for them. Usually I would use the handgunners or crossbowmen that would shoot and perhaps redirect incoming threat away. 

Outriders and pistoliers are our only fast cavalry available. With vanguard, you could almost certainly get to shoot on your first turn. But beware, if you push them in the open with vanguard, they could be the first shooting target that you opponent chooses. Remember, these guys are weak to shooting and would easily panic when a few of them have fallen. Have some psychological effect on your opponent when you deploy the Outriders by declaring that the champion have the Hochland Long Rifle. Their weak wizards or sorcerers would shiver at the sound of that gun. Pistoliers are still useful in baiting your opponent and shooting them when you out manoeuvre your opponent units. They are pretty annoying with their 16 inches march move and could reform in any way at the end of movement. 

Inner Circle Knights have many times been my favourite “Hammer” unit. Have a Warrior Priest to join them and the Arch-Lector on the war-altar following behind. Equip the Steel Standard on the knights as well. Quite often your opponents would move their units into a range that is just slightly away from your average charging range. With the Steel Standard, you may catch your opponent offguard with the additional D3 movement on the charge. Try to cast some magic to draw away dispel dice from your opponent but reserve the final two dice for yourself. Then cast “Birona's Timewarp” from your war-altar to the Inner Circle Knights that have charged. Hopefully your opponent will not be able to dispel it and your knights have two attacks, Hatred, Always Strike First at strength 6 (lance). 

To conclude, remember that these special troops have great potential and would perform greatly if you roll well and deployed correctly during deployment. Spend a few extra seconds to think during deployment and you would not regret it. Protect them well and max out their potential and win games with them.

The Empire Described – Core Choices

A simple description of the Empire core troops and how I would play them

Have you watched movies like Troy, Return of the King (LOTR), Two Towers (LOTR again), Kingdom of Heaven, Braveheart, King Arthur and Gladiator? These are just some movie names that inspired one to play the Empire. Thousands of men on foot marching covering hills with their numbers towards their doom. Knights supporting flanks taking out enemies at the sides causing much disruption in the opponent's enemy lines. Knights performing deeds of great honour, killing devastating monsters and saving the day. Wizards casting spells that burns their foes charging at them. Wizards causing catastrophic magic that cripples the enemy army. Inspirational leaders leading the men towards the inevitable doom. Leaders jumping up to face the seemed invincible enemy and slaying them against all odds. 

The army of men. In the game of warhammer fantasy battles, Empire men do not have strong “stats” that could face the blunt of battle blindly. The entire army needs the support of each other and with the combined strength, the army could do well. I would not suggest it to a new player who would just want an army that would just move straight and kill what they could charge. Playing the Empire would require you to have some strategy involved when you start deploying them in the tabletop.

When fielding an army, you would require at least 25 percent of the total points to be from the Core choices. Meaning that you would not be able to field an army without any of the core choices. But which of the troops to choose? Here's a little description based on my own opinion that would probably help you to decide.

• Swordmen – During 7^th edition, these were my favourite blocks. Now at 8^th edition, they're still not so bad. With the “parry” rule, it means that they would always have a 6+ ward save on top of their 5+ armour saves. They are an option as detachments for their better defense. I would field about 15 of them in a 5 x 3 formation and use them to counter-charge or bait opponent units.
  
• Halberdiers – These now form my usual blocks of men. With halberds, they deliver a Strength 4 hit which would help a great deal when we need to cause wounds. Add a warrior priest to lead them to battle and they would have Hatred rule which greatly increase the strength of the unit. I would usually field them in a unit of 40 strong and form them up in a horde formation. Make sure I could maximize my number of hits and get a good chance of wounding.
  
• Spearmen – Another unit which I would field as detachments. They are cheap and could fight up to three ranks if they were charged or in subsequent combat rounds. I don't usually give them shields as detachments should be as cheap as they can be.
  
• Free Company – Cheap two attack per model units which would die easily. They're my other choice for detachments. Free companies would work well for those lightly or not armoured opponents.
  
• Handgunners – The cracking sound of muskets and bullets piercing through armour. What better units to protect your warmachines. They're not very accurate but at Strength 4 armour piercing, opponent knights don't really like these guys.
  
• Crossbowmen – Shooting from 30 inches away, Strength 4 to wound. Field them at the back and torture your opponent's units. Similarly with the Handgunners, they are not accurate but the strength of each hit makes up for it. These are good for softening your target before hitting them with your close combat units.
  
• Archers – The only skirmishers in the whole army. These guys are also one of the options that I would use as detachments. Mainly to be used as screens against shooting. A little bit expensive screen but with Skirmish rule, they would have to hit these guys at a further -1 “To Hit” penalty. Upgrade them to Huntsmen and they will have the “Scout” ability. They won't be able to do much damage to your opponent with only Strength 3 shooting or close combat. I use them mainly to harass my opponent if I know they would probably be fielding warmachines that are lightly defended.
  
• Knightly Orders – One of my favourite core choices. Reliable men that are tough to kill. Of course that's because of their 1+ armour saves. These knights are mostly used as bunkers for my mounted army Battle Standard Bearer or mounted Battle Wizard. As they are heavily armoured, you don't have to worry about these guys getting shot or magic shot at unless against high strength or those ignore armour damage. They have good defence with their high armour saves but when it comes to their offensive abilities, I have come to learn of the term, “Knights of the Rubber Lance”. They have Weapon Skill of 4 but somehow, they just could not deliver the punch needed when they are required to do so.
  

Depending on your army list and play style, you should pick the units that complement your other units. So far in the 8^th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, in my opinion, if you would want to hold an opponent unit until you could flank it with a “hammer” unit, field a huge block Swordmen and have many ranks in them to ensure you would have Steadfast rule if you lose the combat. That would help you to sustain the combat until your own turn to flank or rear charge the opponent that had charged you. If you would want your core troops to be able to hit your opponent, bring in Halberdiers in a horde formation. Field a Warrior Priest with it and it would be able to deliver quite a number of wounds and win combat. 

In the 8^th edition, the units now move faster and have a longer potential charge range. This would mean that shooting units would have lesser turns to fire and cause massive damage to opponents. This is unless of course if you bring huge numbers of shooting for example a gunline army. I would think that shooting are not useless at all but you have to pick the right targets. Causing two or three wounds to a unit that consists of 40 models would not have any impact but it would mean a panic test to a flanker unit that consists of only five or six models.

In conclusion, the Empire core troops won't be able to kill all in their path like Chaos Warriors but they might just be able to do enough timed correctly and with the right targets. They are weak defensively but cheap enough to be able to suffer the losses in order to achieve a greater purpose. They are like pawns in a chess game waiting for the right time for you to make the Checkmate!