8th Ed. Starting Empire...

[lordkingcrow]

Hey There Everyone!

So I've been contemplating beginning an Empire army. Now that I've finally sold my Orcs and Goblins, I have the cash to begin. Any suggestions with what I should start with? I know they are an extremely diverse army, so I thought I'd get some feedback from you guys. What works/what doesn't? What do you like? What do you hate? Let me know!

 

[NexS1]

cannons and volleyguns. they have the 2nd best knights (arguable to be best, in S4 1+ knights for CORE) in the game.

But if it were me, i'd run a big unit of halberds, 2x 5-10 archer detatchments for redirecting, knights and warmachines.
Steam tank as well. Oh boy, a steam tank.

 

[Branden]

Hey there! Empire is my main army. For an all around competitive list you should get a big hoard of halberds, a unit of at least 8 knights for support, but a big unit will crush everything (12+), a warrior priest for making your infantry go from great to fantastic, a wizard for magic, handgunners or crossbowmen a bsb, two cannons and a helblaster, a steam tank and one of the three support wagons (luminark hurricanum, war altar).

Here you have a jack of all trade army to start out. From here you can choose to be magic heavy, infantry heavy, ranged heavy, shooting heavy, or all cavalry, or balanced. I'd suggest two battalions boxes for your core. That's 16 knights, 40 halberds, 20 hand gunners and two cannons.

For a good Empire list your main combat block(s) need at least 2 supports such as these:
Characters: warrior priests make units fight a lot better, which hunters provide magic resistencd, etc
Wagons: the three buffing chariots that buff your units with different effects.

A unit of 40 halberds with a warrior priest and a hurricanum behind it is terrifying to most oppents. +1 to hit, hated, and possibly rerolling to sound or flaming attacks.

Magic is great too. Make sure to always do at least two supports for units

Remember that halberds are better han swordsmen and spearmen in almost every situation so save your money and just get halberds. I have a unit of 30 swordsmen which unfortunately gets no use as they're just not competitive.

 

[Scalenex]

Empire are my secondary army. By a slim but real margin, halbrediers are the best all around Core infantry the Empire possesses. If your only goal is to tarpit an enemy you want spears, but Halbrediers are the best infantry if you want to kill the enemy. Swordsmen are an awkward middle ground. They can kill ALMOST as well as halbrediers and they can stall things almost as well as spearmen but they are just a shade overpiced. Militia are viewed as being very overpriced. No save, pitiful attacks.

My understanding is that Handgunners are the least valuable shooters the Empire has. Crossbowmen tend to outperform them in all comers environments with their better range, but the top tier Empire lists tend to use archers instead of either of the move-or-fire troops. Archers can serve as redirectors, screens, and wizard bunkers and they can shoot almost as well as the less versatile troops.

The Hurricanum is generally viewed as better than the Luminark but the Luminark has some fans because their bound spell is better. You want one of the two magemobiles if you are going infantry heavy.

The Steam Tank and Demigryphon Knights are the cream of the crop for Empire units. They are strong and tough and quite potent for their points cost.

The Empire forum is currently overrun by people weeping and gnashing their teeth over GW's recent releases, but the Handbook written by Rothgar is a very good read

 

[lordkingcrow]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

So I bought an old 6th edition Empire army from a friend a few months back and have enjoyed it immensely. I've got 20ish halbardiers plus 20 spearmen (which I've been using as halbardiers), a good dozen great swords, 5 knights of the white wolf, 20 handgunners, 20 flagellants, 3 cannons, a hellblaster, wizard on pegasus (Balthazar Gelt), Ludwig Swartz, Karl Franz on griffon, a master engineer, a few captains, two warrior priests, and Luthor Huss on a horse, and ten militia.
I've added a few more bit pieced knights, a proxy steam tank which I'm still in the process of converting from an old school tank from 40K, and 3 demigryphs. I plan on adding some Perry models for great swords and halbardiers, but probably not until I get my taxes back this year. I should probably get some archers as well.
I've fought around 8 games, both big and small (using a lot of proxy models for the big games) and have lost one (a brutal slaughter in which I thought to field an army without a wizard... MISTAKE), tied one, and won the rest. While I'm accustomed to beefier troops (Dwarves and Lizzards) I love the diversity I can get with the Empire. I'm a pretty big fan of great swords. With the use of proxies I've big running 30-40 in a unit with a BSB and they do great for holding the line and dishing out some damage. While I enjoy the demigryphs, I find that opponents fear them probably more than they should, and focus too much on them. I've seen similar reactions to running a large slayer unit. I wish I could get them into combat more, but I suppose I can't complain when they over commit their forces in order to subdue the critters.