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Interested in a combat centred empire army

807 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  EmoJosh 
#1 ·
I have played empire for a little while and had mixed success with them, mainly due to my lack of desire to have a gunline. I wanted to know if any of you had success with more combaty/war machine mixed empire armies. For example, for my next game i plan to run this, any ideas on how to make it any better? I am reluctant to take a life wizard as I already have a tank and lector.

Characters:
Lector on alter with armour of meteoric iron and great weapon.
BSB with griffon banner and full plate.
Level 2 wizard, lore of light.
Warrior priest, heavy armour and shield.

Core:
30 halberds with full cmd (BSB goes here)
10 huntsmen scouts (to get on top of enemy war machines by deploying behind them)
10 Knights with full cmd. (ideally to get into the flank and support halberdiers)
10 Xbows (to make up core)

Special:
30 Greatswords with full cmd (warrior priest goes here for hatred and a shot at unbreakable)
5 Outriders (to vanguard forward and shoot war machines etc)

Rare:
Volley gun
Steam tank

(Approximately 2100 points)

My opponent is dwarves with 2 grudge throwers (str 3 or 4 they wont be 5) , 1 cannon, king, 3 units of 25 - 30 warriors and some hammerers.

I know this could go in the army list section but I wanted more general advice regardging empire armies that are not gunlines. The list is just an example of the sort of things I'm trying.

Advice appreciated!

-Lex
 
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#2 ·
I saw a great Empire army that was combat oriented, and well themed too. It had a Templar GM as General, and multiple Warrior Priests/Captains for fighting power. Of course a BSB as well. The Core was all Knights, quite a few of them actually. Then he stocked up on Mortars and Cannons to soften up horde armies or get rid of the Monsters his Knights couldn't fight that well. It was an awesome army to play against, very fast and good shooting. Has a bit of trouble with terrain but nothing horrible. I think he eventually went with a small block or two of Swordsmen to defend his war machines because Scouts were crushing them.
 
#3 ·
sounds interesting, not sure how well the knights will perform in 8th edition, especially against toughness 4 dwarves. I am trying a unit of 10 though as an experiment, last time i tried a unit of inner circle knights they got organ gunned to peices.

I'm determined to make this work, I love the empire especially their state troops and greatswords etc but I have struggled to make it work against dwarves. Their troops just seem outright better for the cost. Steam tank should give them some trouble though, seeing as he only has 1 cannon and I have an arch lector as a second target and I plan to get my huntsmen in combat with the cannon ASAP to tie it up.
 
#4 ·
Well Empire can't fight well, it's how the book is written. That build is the best combat one I've seen though. The Knights seem to do fine, bear in mind VERY unit had a Warrior Priest for Hatred and I think all had Captains as well. Hit on 4's re-rolled against Dwarves, wound on 3's. No save for a basic Warrior unless they're bad and have HW+Shield. Character stack a bit of CR, pretty good. It won't run through things but no army does, not even Chaos anymore.

As for war machines, use your Cannons or invest in Pistoliers. 10 Knights is to few to get an accurate estimation of their abilities, they're not that bad for their points with the right support. Wizard isn't bad either, nice Lore of Life or Light works very well.
 
#5 ·
Maybe substitute the Knights for a couple of 15-20 man Swordsman detachments? Put one each with the Greatswords and the Halberdiers. With the detachments rules, you'd probably find it easier to get on the flanks. Also, you can counter-charge as well as support charge, when the opponent gets the drop on you. Can really make a difference against elves and skinks.
 
#6 ·
Detachments are pretty horrible no matter what, if you substitute Knights you need to sub them all out. In that case you're basically looking at the same build but just with Great Swords/Halberdiers and Swordsmen blocks.
 
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