[Luyp]

I plan to start up an empire arrmy but can't decide what units are best to feild. so far I'm thinking of a group of 25 swordsmen with a 5 strong detach of miita and 10 strong halbiders, a unit (or 2) of pistoliers at maybe .....6 strong with a champ and music. 10 handgunners and a great cannon. i dont know where to go from here though, i want to cover all phases of my turn so i want a fairly well ballanced arrmy. also i dont (ussually) like to feild a unit that is the same as another.

The main question i have is more of a numbers game, how big should units be?

any sugetions wouls be greatly appreciated

 

[GMJoeSolarte]

To be honest with you....

Part of the empire's strength is versatility so I think you want a good looking command group that can be put into any unit you end up building. But after that, you should seek out plastic troop sets in order to get the numbers you need of any particular type. Buy that 16 pack set of Halberders, maybe two since they are easily converted into spear men anyway. If you are a half decent modeler you can build units that have some look/parity that will allow you to change or reduce the numbers needed as you see fit.

 

[alvenom]

Numbers-wise, I'd generally aim for at least 20 men in an Infantry block, units of ten for missile troops and detachments. My Pistoliers are a five-man unit with just a Musician.

 

[kithre]

To be honest with you....

Part of the empire's strength is versatility so I think you want a good looking command group that can be put into any unit you end up building. But after that, you should seek out plastic troop sets in order to get the numbers you need of any particular type. Buy that 16 pack set of Halberders, maybe two since they are easily converted into spear men anyway. If you are a half decent modeler you can build units that have some look/parity that will allow you to change or reduce the numbers needed as you see fit.

The general rule of thumb is that the majority of models must be armed as the unit options. So you could mix some spears in a halberds unit or vice-versa...as long as no more than a few models are "wrongly" equipped...

So 16 halberdiers + 16 spearmen could conceivably give you a unit of say 25 halberdiers or 25 spears or 16 of each...

 

[Luyp]

thanks for the advice so far, how about Knights? and characters as well. I was thinking of going with a templar grand master a warrior priest and 2 battel wizards. any sugetions, like posibly a BSB?
any other just general advice ??

 

[GMJoeSolarte]

well unfortunately, in this new edition of warhammer it seems like there are combos that allow for greater magic usage, so the truth is, it seems any army now adays needs to have the ability to withstand SOME magic use in it now.

Your going to need Warrior Priests, and Wizards. You could go with the Templar Grand Knight, 3 Warrior Priests and hope for the best that their additional dispel dice will help, but if you are going up against armies that have strong magic at their disposal, you are going to need more wizards and may have to drop the Templar Grand Master and replace him with Luthor huss or something like that.

 

[Zema]

Your going to need Warrior Priests, and Wizards. You could go with the Templar Grand Knight, 3 Warrior Priests.

I gotta say, 3 warrior priests is a bit too much. A BSB will do a lot more for your army than just 3 additional dispel dice. Those dice won't do any good if your army is running off the table.
And warrior priests and not shining characters, they get the job done, sure; they give another point of LD, they can buff the unit they're in and their DD is nice, but they cannot go toe to toe with your enemies real killers. Hell, we applauded when my warrior priest downed a chaos knight.

I'd say, take 1 warrior priest, 1 wizard and 1 templar grand knight. That way you have some versatility: you have a real solid fighter (your TGK) to go with your knights, a good all round character, your priest, with an ability to make the unit Unbreakable and gives em hate to go with your infantry block and a wizard to give some basic casting and dispelling.
Perhaps after that, a BSB to give your other infantry block (if applicable) some more backbone.

As to unit sizes: 20+ is what empire likes. And detachments are a real effective way of adding bodies and they work real good.

 

[GMJoeSolarte]

I guess in order to get an idea on how big your unit should be, we need to know what you are going to be playing at: 500 points? 1000?

 

[Luyp]

my games run at all point lvs, the most (for now) being 3k. but for the most part 2000-2500 pts is what my leauge likes to play.

What sizes should detachments be? and would i be right in saying that halbibers make the best detachments? that just seems to me what the best choice is. also how wide do most people like to run them? the full 5 wide or maybe just 3? again any advise or tips are greatly appreciated

 

[GMJoeSolarte]

ok, so we are talking about 4 characters, 1 of them being a lord.

Luthor Huss may help here, as he provides additional dispell dice and is up there with other lord characters in battle. but otherwise......

Well it depends on whom you are going up against as well.

I'd say you want at least 20 strong infantry blocks with double detachments of 10 each for a 40 strong unit.

Don't get the Engineer as I hear he is not worth the points compared to what you are going to get.

If you think you are going to stand and deliver, then a strong unit of Hangunners is essential with a marksman equipped Hochland long rifle. Although if you are going up against an army that HAS to close with you, then I have found Repeater HandGuns to be more effective.

Flaggellants are what they are, but are a rare choice so you need to measure out if they are worth giving up a RARE slot for.

 

[CmdrWrein]

My personal findings in my local tournament scene are the following:

* You need at least 5 dice and some scrolls to survive a bit. So I usually have 2L2 wizards and a warrior priest. The wizard usually carry 2 dispel scrolls and a rod of power (To bring 2 dispel dice along). The lord then is really what you like. I used a general on griffon to both great and not-so-great effect. I also found that a BSB did not add that much. The fighting capability of the captain was worth more than the fact he was a BSB.
* My core infantry blocks are usually 25 men, with a 5 men shooting and 9 (3x3) men combat detachment. I found that 10 men shooting makes deployment to complicated because you need space for a long line next to your big block. I chose not to go for a 5 wide combat detachment because my opponent then usually just charges these, finished them of and comes back for the parent unit. A 3 wide block can usually be deployed in such a way you have to charge something else as well.
* Bigger (10 men) shooting units I usually take as separate units. Preferring the repeater handgun to the hochland.
* You can take 1 unit of flagellants as a core unit if you have at least 1 warrior priest / arch lector. This is a great unit (15-20 men) for pinning a big angry enemy unit. Although this is only experience from friendly games (need to get myself the real models for WYSIWYG tournaments).

Good Luck