Warhammer Army Project/Empire

Empire: Warhammer Army Project, 8th Edition Tactica

(had copied pasted the 8th ed page to save time on the framework)

Created by Mathias Eliasson, this project was a homebrew attempt at giving many of the units, nations, and factions that never got Armybooks of their own (and those left behind and never got one in 8th Edition) such a thing.

It should also be noted that Eliasson is constantly updating his work, so don't expect this page to stay current forever. If anyone wishes to actually update this page and the items that need it, later on, go ahead.

Why Play WAP Empire

The main perspective character in the whole Warhammer fantasy franchise. The majority of stories and events are written from the eyes of an imperial citizen. In the grimdark and absurd world, the Empire is a shining beacon of stability and progress that humanity can achieve, despite the Grounded and Fantastical flaws that historically plague other empires. The frontend mascot of fantasy You get a lot of freedom in list building, from simple to fancy toys, even getting 3 supplements to contain all the options the empires of man has getting over a 40+ years life of editions, Novels, and White Dwarfs articles.

Pro

• Very Flexible list building like Going classical Pike & shot, huntsmen Skirmish, a Pure Knight Crusade, or just Gunpowder crazy.
• you know all 8 core lores of magic, with only expensive Slann, High Elf, and Tzeentch Deamon mages matching that much magical flexibility.
• Steam Tanks
• Getting an entire supplement detailing all the knightly orders you can take.
• Getting an entire supplement detailing more varients of Steam Tanks
• Witch Hunters
• German Men in Pajamas holding the line and knowing how to fight like a proper battalion (you would think a more heavily disciplined and precise Factions like High Elf should know how covering-fire works? ).
• Jack of Trades, Master of none. true to a point, you don't have the best troops, Calvery, chaff, guns, cannons, characters, or wizards. but you are still strong as you perform a combined arms approach to capitalize on all the things your average and above-average in.

Con

• Men in Pajamas
• have human stats, sets standards for what to expect from a unit, but they don't excel in any area and ofent struggle against superior stated enemies without an advantage.

Notable Differences from 9th Edition

Pros

• Still the creator's favorite, as your the only army with expansion books. Steam Tanks and Knightly Orders.
• 'State Troops' is so much better and less complicated than 'Detachments'. This affects almost all of your infantry.
  • Game shifting too many smaller bricks makes the State Troops counter strike trigger more oftne.
• Swordsmen and Spearmen are buffed up to better contend with Halberdiers.
• Pistoliers are core and with the game wide rule changes are stronger than ever, having two attacks in melee and able to fire their pistols on the charge.
• With game wide buffs to cavalry all your mounted units are as deadlier than ever.
• Increased versatility and reduced pricing in most of your infantry.
• WAR WAGONS ARE BACK BABY.
• Most of the knightly orders are core units

Cons

• Your Demigryph Knights are not as undercosted and overpowered. And, they're moved to Rare choices (amazing how you balance a game when you're not simultaneously trying to sell models).
• Inner Circle Knights count as special.
• With the general move away from big blocks of infantry, your Warrior Priest are typically less efficient (buffing a horde of 50 halberdiers is more cost effective than buffing a block of 25).
• Hurricanum is now re roll 1s to hit. Which is worse in most cases than +1 to hit, especially considering how easy it is to have hatred in this army.

Special Rules

• STATE TROOPS: Retuned to the great version. When one of your State Troopers is declared as a charge target and they don't chose to flee, another trooper unit within 3" of them can open fire at or charge the enemy. A good way to discourage or punish aggression, especially when you have Greatswords ready to charge.

Equipment

Experimental Weapons

• Hochland Long Rifle: a Sniper handgun. usful for pickling out Squishy wizards.
• Repeater handgun: a handgun with Multishot 3.
• Reapeater Pistol: a pistol with Multishot 3.

• Grenade Launching Blunderbuss: Strength 6, Effective Ap of -4, but slower to fire than Handguns, but will reliably take out most humanoids no matter the armour.

• Pigeon Bombs: a bad handgun bomb with infinite range. if it hits, put around template over the target, else nothing or you explode.

Heirlooms of Magic

• Runefang: 70 points. A Sword that auto-wounds, no armor saves allowed in case you wanted to call your commander "Count" instead of "General". A much more impressive (and expensive) sword than the Obsidian Blade, but rightfully so.

• Mace of Helstrum: 50 points. You get a greatweapon that lets you trade all your attacks for a single S10 hit that has the Flaming Attack and Multiple Wounds (D3) special rules. This will make a skaven player fielding the hell pit abomination cry, as not only will you be able to deal up to 3 wounds but you will also strip it of its annoying regeneration. That is if your underprotected lord survives the abomination's counterattack. Hint: snipe those with the cannons.

• Armor of Meteoric Iron: 40 points. 1+ Armor save, and 6+ Ward Save. The 1+ is very impressive, but 6+ Ward is not, but now wards stack. Take a shield, Your already have a 5++ and then add a TALISMAN OF PROTECTION or any other such item to get the max 4++ for only 58 points. A 1+ armor may be good, but any kitted-out challenge character will likely be S6 or higher, inflicting a -3 modifier on your save. And that's assuming no Armor-piercing special rules. could consider also taking the Dawnstone on a lord which allows you to reroll bad armour saves. Assuming that the enemy is s6 with no AP and lacks magical attacks, this nets you a 3+ rerollable + 5++ save for 65 points.

• Helm of the Skaven Slayer: 15 points. Causes Fear, and if playing against Skaven, it causes Terror. But, all Skaven gain the Hatred special rule when attacking the unit containing the bearer.

• Shroud of Magnus: 60 points. It gives you a 5++ ward save with magic resistance 2, both of which will help protect against spells. It also grants any attached unit immunity to both fear and terror, which can keep them fighting against monsters.
• The White Cloak of Ulric: 50 points. Enemies in base contact with bearer have -1 to hit. Also, confers 5++ ward which becomes 2++ if you're attacked by a Flaming weapon. Awesome against Flame breath weapon dragons and the like, including Tzeentch daemons.
• Van Horstmann's Speculum: 40 points. When in a challenge, you swap all (not pick and choose, you must swap all) characteristics with your challenger. Hilarious when you steal a Vampire Lord's characteristics when you challenge him with a mere Empire Battle Wizard.
• Aldred's Casket of Sorcery: The aggressive spellthief's item. This allows you to rob one random spell from an enemy wizard on a 4+ and then use that spell against the enemy as a single-use bound spell with power equal to its basic casting value before vanishing for good.
• Ring of Volans: 30 points. One use only. Choose 1 spell from any of the 8 CRB lores and generate a spell as if the bearer was a Level 1 Wizard. The Spell can be cast just like a bound spell, with a power level equal to the lowest casting value.

• The Imperial Banner: 85 points. This allows your boys within 12" to roll 3d6 for all Leadership tests and drop the lowest, which is essentially giving you another general on your BSB. If you're ever in a situation where you'll need morale kept among two fronts while your general's off killing, this is how you keep your gunners in line.
• Griffon Banner: 60 points. Your extra rank bonuses are doubled. However, you can never pursue an enemy and must ALWAYS hold their ground when being charged. Hint: you cannot purse, but your detachments are free to do so. Slap it on your pikemen/spearmen.
• Banner of the White Wolf: Knights of the White Wolf only. This grantss Fear and then Terror on charges, which is ideal for a unit bent on shattering enemy morale.
• The Knights Panther Battle Standard: Knights Panther only. This grants Magic Resistance (2); a strange choice of ability, but it allows them to attack unharried by any Metal Wizards or other mage-fuckery.

Expansion Magic Items

Weapons

• Sword of Sigismund: 40pts. ASF and +1S, two things your characters would like to have.
• Sword of Fate: 35pts. Pick a character or monster at the start of the battle, the wielder can now wound them on 2+, ignores armor and Multi wound(D3), which is ideal for killing the lynchpin.
• Sword of Power: 30pts. +2 Strangth, copy of OGRE BLADE.
• Hammer of Judgement: 25pts. Upon hitting an enemy with this weapon, they must pass a toughness test, or else the hit will auto-wound and bypass armour. A potent and cheap Character killer.
• Sword of Righteous Steel: 25pts. Always hit on 2+.
• Cold Iron Blade: 20pts. This sword grants +1S and auto wounds Ethereal models, which...is handy but rather niche. SWORD OF MIGHT gives better value and 5pts on something else is better than curb-stomping harder on an already fragile archetype.
• Wyrmslayer Sword: 10pts. Wounds enemy on a roll of 4+ or better and ignores Natural armour. cheap way to fight enemies that are T5+ and Natural armour has become a common way to increase durability in 9th.

Armour

• Armour of Tarnus: 35pts. Light Armour that Wizards can wear and also provides a 5++ Ward. All in all a pretty handy upgrade.
• Shield of the Gorgon: 15pts. This shield forces one model to lose an attack, though the rules as to who qualifies is a bit...open. Meaning you could flash this and blind a hero every time, no matter where.

Talismans

• Holy Relic: 25pts. +1T and Immunity (Psychology). Will bump up that T4 to T5 for your humans.
• Jade Amulet: 20pts. Ignores the first wound the bearer suffers. Situational over stacking more save rolls, but with character have only 2 to 3 wounds, good to ignore the first bad rolls.
• The Crimson Amulet: 20pts. 6+ ward and pass any Characteristic tests. Absurdly good with how many save or die abilities that exist in 9th.
• Sigil of Sigmar: 10pts. Magic Resist(1). copy of the Obsidian Trinket. makes this a decent pick for the price.

Arcane Items

• Grey Wand: 20pts. a second copy of WAND OF JET. Gives a flat +1 to spell casting, which is nice and cheap if running two or more wizards.
• Seal of Destruction: 15pts. A single-use item that destroys the spell that your wizard dispels. like the Destroy Magic Scroll but cheap and guarantees the spell is gone.
• Crystal Ball: 5pts. At the start of your turn, learn about hidden characters and magic items in the unit.

Enchanted Items

• Doomfire Ring: 30pts. Bound PL5 item with Burning Head, a useful line spell to put on a movable hero like on pegasus or griffon and invoke possible chain routs.
• Icon of Magnus: 15pts. Bearer and unit gain Immunity (Terror). Prevent panic test then fighting a monster and not suffer that -2ld.
• The Silver Horn: 15pts. This has a Bound PL3 spell that causes all units within 24" to rally. chain routs often lose you the game, but now you have a safety net. Good if running a lot of low leadership units or enemies will cause many and/or difficult panic tests.

Magic Standards

• Banner of Sigismund: 35pts. Gain Stubborn. Is a 15 point discount on the BANNER OF DEFIANCE. Lets your line holder hold the line without worrying about the major negative effects of not winning the combat rounds.
• Steel Standard: 20pts. Knightly Orders only. This adds D3" to charge distance. The downside is that your unit will always move forward, even if the charge fails. This is a very big gamble for units as valuable as knights.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Named Characters

• The Emperor Karl Franz: 320/344/350/530pts. His Imperial Majesty is definitely one of the better-named characters in the book. All of his hits automatically wound for D3 wounds (unless you're a complete moron and drop Ghal Maraz in favor of his Runefang), he comes with a 4+ ward save, Magic Resistance (2), is Immune to Psychology, and has Inspiring Presence with a better range than any other general you can field (18" instead of 12"). He is best fielded on foot or on horseback; Deathclaw isn't really worth the points by making Franz an easy target unless you're really keen on the iconic. However, if you take it then the inspiring presence reaches a game-breaking 24".
  • As a side note, the Imperial Dragon is no longer available. It would be a shame to lose such a cool mount, but nobody really used that thing anyway.

• Kurt Helborg: 310pts. The Grand Marshal of the Reiksguard wields a Runefang and carries the Laurels of Victory, which doubles the value of the wounds he causes for the purposes of combat resolution. He also makes a unit of Reiksguard Immune to Psychology; this and +1 WS essentially costs you 65 points more than a Grand Master using 100pts of items. MUSTACHE!

• Marius Leitdorf: 220pts. Elector Count of Averland. He's from older editions, he's back, and he's here to go insane and charge that Hellcannon because he's convinced it's looking at him funny (to be fair, being a possessed cannon, it probably was looking at him funny). He's got a special rule, forcing him to take a leadership test on three dice, dropping the lowest, at the start of each of his turns. If he fails he goes nuts and does something random. Maybe all your units get a free instant reform, and then get to charge or shoot as they please! Maybe he pisses off Gork and Mork and gives Orcs & Goblins Hatred against him for the rest of the game! He's got a Runefang and an additional hand weapon that he gets to use even though he's mounted and got a Runefang. You're effectively paying 4 points for +1A, a staggering WS7, and his insanity. He is also dead, killed by an Orc warlord so apparently, if you use him you are playing in a time machine (kinda the same for most all named Orc warlords, though.)

• Ludwig Schwarzhelm: 170pts. If his name is Schwarz (black) helm, how come his helmet's painted gold on the box? Anyway, Ludwig is a Battle Standard Bearer with a 20-point magic weapon and Killing Blow, making him another very solid named character choice. His Hold Your Ground has a radius of 18" and he can take wounds for the Emperor if they're both in the same unit unless the Emperor is in a challenge.
  • If you mount Karl Franz in a Warhorse and place Ludwig in the same unit; you get the bodyguard benefit and the combination radius of Inspiring Presence, Hold Your Ground!, Hold the Line!, unit-wide Magic Resistance (2), and +1 Combat Resolution (+2 if you include another Standard Bearer in the unit). Not game-breaking, but very helpful and synergistic.

• Markus Wulfhart: 100pts. The Empire has a character archer now? Yeah, and he's kitted for hunting monsters because apparently, we didn't have enough men with giant brass balls. His Monster Hunter rule means he can reroll hits against monsters, always shoot monster mounts out from under characters, and taking him lets you buy a unit of Huntsmen who get the same rule. He's also got his own magic longbow that always wounds monsters on a 4+ and does D3 wounds to them. Would be totally worth it if cannons didn't exist or you spent your points allowance on tons of warm bodies.

• Volkmar The Grim: 175/295pts. Grand Thegonist of Sigmar. Fluff-wise, this guy makes Kaldor Draigo look like a pussy. Crunch-wise, not so much. A comparison between Volkmar and a nameless Arch Lector means that you're spending 75 points for +1 WS, a +5 Regeneration save, a +1 to casting his prayers, and +2 Strength to attacks, but only so long as you take him on the War Altar or a +1 in any other case. If he is the General, Flagellants become core, The best place for a suicide unit. Dubiously worth it.

• Balthazar Gelt: Quite expensive at 350pts. The dude cheats people by giving them fake gold as payments and accidentally turned his own face to gold. A Level 4 Loremaster of Metal who has a 3+ ward save against shooting, magic resistance 1 (which increases one point for every enemy wizard beyond the first, up to magic resistance 3), a staff that gives a +2 casting bonus and is mounted on a Pegasus. +6(!) to cast on any Metal spell is a very nice boost that helps you conserve power dice. Good, but would be a lot better with a different Lore (say, Life).

• Elspeth von Draken: 580pts. An Lv 4 Wizard Lord who knows every Death spell, mounted on a motherfucking Carmine Dragon. As obscenely powerful as this sounds, with a KB scythe, -1 to wound, and the power to re-roll a single roll she made(including her dragon's breath weapon is now an artillery blast) or heal, but she's now very vulnerable to anything that would harm daemons or the undead. Even so, she is a decimator of units during magic, shooting, and combat phases, despite the lack of armor saves.

• Thyrus Gormann: 365pts. Former Supreme Patriarch from the Bright Order. While his statline similar to Gelt's as a Loremaster of Fire, that's the end of the similarities. For starters, his horse can't fly. He's also immune to fire and has a 5++ Ward while his spells all add +12" to their range, deal an additional hit when needed, and one spell gains two extra channeling dice each turn. In the unlikely event that he has to come to combat, he'll be using a flaming sword with +1 to wound rolls, giving him a bit of an edge over the average wizard.

• Boris Todbringer: 270pts. Since the Cult of Ulric is essentially a more choppy Empire army, so too can you include FUCKING TODDY in an average Empire army. He's a fully plated 1+ horse-riding General with Hatred (Beastmen and anyone with an Ld under 7) and his fancy Runefang. The big sell here is his Talisman of Ulric, which makes him heal absolutely anything and gains Immunity (Psychology) and Magic Resistance 1.

• Aldebrand Ludenhof: 205pts. Elector Count of Hochland. As befits a realm of hunters, he's accompanied not only by his Runefang but also by a Sniper Hawk, which gives him a pseudo-shooting attack that has the target test WS or has his pet hawk peck them with an S3 hit. Esencaly an Empire General that shoots down wizards.

• Valmir von Raukov: 225pts. Elector Count of Ostland. Raukov's claim to fame his special Dragon Bow, an S5 longbow with multishot (3) and volley, providing heavy firepower to his knight entourage.

• Magnus the Pious: 275pts. The second (or third depending on your opinion) most famous Emperor, though you wouldn't tell with his lack of Ghal Maraz. He does, however, take Karl's expanded IP range and gives Hatred to his unit like Priests. Though he has the power to lay down an S10 d3 wound attack each turn, his 4+/5++ self with Magic Resist (1) and ability to make enemies waste attacks shows that he's a pretty useful tank as opposed to Karl's offense.

• Theodore Bruckner: 200pts. Ser Gregor Clegane on optional Demigryph. He can never be the general, but he's very scary in combat. He's Unbreakable in Challenges, his lance has Killing Blow, and his other weapon has +1 to hit and wound rolls. On top of all this, he's got an amulet for a 5++ Ward and deals d3 armor-negating wounds to anyone who kills him to combat.

• Jubal Falk: 100pts. A specially-named Engineer. On top of all the classic bits, he allows a unit of handgunners he's with to re-roll any hit rolls of 1 (though he's not subject to this) and he can let one Handgunner unit take medium armor for +1 point/model. His special weapon is a single-use S6 Piercing 1 2-wound shot he can add to his Hochland Longrifle.

• Luthor Huss: 155pts. I see what you did there. Luthor is now the only Warrior Priest with the prayer "Unbending Righteousness", which makes his unit Stubborn for two rounds of combat. He also has a one-use power which makes him even more of a beast in close combat. His points cost went down, but so did a basic Warrior Priest, and by the same amount. Still has +1 WS over other Priests. In short, he's actually worth taking now, especially if you're in need of a mounted Warrior Priest that can handle a challenge.

• Valten: 260pts. Unlike prior renditions of Valten, this book just interprets him as the plucky youth who managed to kill shittons of monsters and become an inspiration for the common man without the whole "Destined to become the new Emperor" bit. So he's just an average joe with only a 5++ who gives Stubborn and Immunity (Psychology) to his unit, makes flanking and rear-attacks meaningless, and makes his wounds count for the conflict resolution of other Empire units within 12". In the event that he dies in combat and not by a Killing Blow, he can test Ld to keep on trucking with a single wound.
  • Chosen of Sigmar: 410pts. Now we get into his retconned Future form. A big man, being a super melee character in a less funds restricted hero slot (he is the most expensive hero in the game). His stats don't change much other then getting a +2 armor save, getting Luthor Huss's Chosen of Sigmar, that superweapon know as Ghal-Maraz, and he provides his inspiring martial fury to mounted knights now.
    • Exalted of Sigmar: For 25 additional points, Valten the Chosen can become even more OP, with the option to charge in on his horse for an elven steed with ilithmar barding (meaning no penalties to movement on top of being faster) and dwarfen super-armor that gives a 2+ save, Magic Resistance 2 and forbids anyone in base contact (including allies) from casting or using bound items. At this point, he's become an absolute beatstick, meant to go up against the worst of the worst like Archaon.

• Count Mandred Skavenslayer: 170pts. Anti-skaven Empire General. Hatred(skaven), a great sword that's multi-wound(D3) against Skaven and courses his charge target must make a panic test before making their reaction. Even if not fighting Skaven, he is a cheap guy you throw into an offensive state trooper or knight unit to give it greater repulsion power.

• Hubert Valentour: 95pts. Witch Hunter with a Hate boner all Witches that belong to the classical Destruction factions, things Witch hunters traditionally hate. Pistols are multi-wound(D3) against Daemons of Chaos and Vampire Counts. Also has a multi-use Dispel scroll that uses 3 free Dispel Dice but is destroyed if he fails. Outside the dispel, usually not worth paying a full price for a WITCH HUNTER that spends his whole allowance on situational and unoptimized gear.

• Bertha Bestraufrung: 140pts. the head Matriarch that leads the Sisters of Sigmar when the Mordheim first fell. She is a Warrior Priest that must run with her Sisterhood unit if included while giving them stubborn and Magic Resistance (2). She also gets a +1 for casting prayers and the unit she is in passes their first required leadership test, also some anti heresy weapons. Good to have if running a contingent of Sister, if not then any big fighty unit since who turns down a good priest that can protect them from Deadly magic.

• Rutger Wolfrick: 55pts. Also a named Witch hunter. Gains frenzy if the unit he joined becomes below half strength, hatred to (Warriors of Chaos) but he treats them as having fear or terror if they ready have it when fighting them. Also not the best Witch hunter as you prefer them cheap snipers or at least upgrade their weapons if they melee.

• Brother Valdemar: 105pts. named warrior priest. his unit may reroll failed break tests and gains Immunity (Fear). He also rerolls one dice once per Magic phase when casting a Prayer. Worst protection than a normal WARRIOR PRIEST but a great support character for your front line.

• Rein Volkhard: Grand Master of the Knights of the White Wolf. He's just as scary in melee with his vicious hammer and pelt that confers some protection against missiles.

• Heinrich von Torlichhelm: Grand Master of the Knights Panther. He lacks a lance but is every bit as swift and well-armored as his colleagues.

• Lavarro San Andera: Grand Master of the Knights of Morr. as a fear causing unit, so a good idea for him to gear up to trigger that rout.

• Sigismund Drak: Grand Master of the Knights of the Everlasting Light. He lacks a lance but retains all the other peculiarities, so saving money on a ward save.

• Ulrika Grunfrau: Grand Master of the Longshanks. The only Grand Master you'll appreciate for having both a long-range shooting weapon and a melee weapon.

• Tomas Bacham: Grand Master of the Knights Griffon. He isn't able to charge like the other knights, but he can still fight at all costs and may never refuse a challenge.

• Hrofil Halfdane: Grand Master of the Sons of Manann. He gets that +1 to hit from his order.

• Jerik Wildorn: Grand Master of the Hunters of Sigmar. a more up in your face GrandMaster with two of the best mundane weapons but he also over from being unable to roll 6s on his wound and armor saves.

• Hans Leitdorf: Grand Master of the Knights of Sigmar's Blood and less-embarrassing brother of the late Elector Count.

• Adrian Hoven: Grand Master of the Knights of the Fiery Heart.

• Dieter von Nachttorin: Grand Master of the Knights of the Black Lynx. Being more of a supped up champion of a unit of aggressive Halberds.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

• General of the Empire: Has very good attack capabilities and gives his State Troops unit Lizardmen style Leadership against Break tests. They are flexible in loadouts and mounts.
• Grand Master: Pretty much a General with a barded warhorse and a better statline. You can only take him if you have a unit of Knightly Orders to go with him. Also doesn't have the Hold the Line rule that the General has, but he has Immune to Psychology, which he can share with with a unit of Knightly Orders or Hippogryph Knights that he's joined, which is why he's generally not worth the additional 27 points he costs over the identically-equipped General unless you've got Knights in your army.
• 0-2 Arch Lector of Sigmar: A souped-up version of the Warrior Priest. Not as good as he used to be, but still worth taking.
  • 0-1 War Altar of Sigmar: The War Altar now bestows a 6" bubble to spread Hatred and any active prayers, and can cast Banishment once a turn. Not as awesome as it was in 7th Edition, but a very good force multiplier if deployed correctly.

• Battle Wizard/Wizard Lord: Gives you all the fun you can expect from magic-users. 9th has shifted the meta from having a big level 4 Wizard Lord to multiple smaller Battle Wizards and Warrior Priests. As you can now pick your spells then rolling at the start of the battle, choose lore based on army synergies and possible counter rather than something that's good in all situations.
  • Empire is also relatively good at versatile magic, Getting the CASKET OF SORCERY and RING OF VOLANS for nabbing a spell the user doesn't have while getting the SEAL OF DESTRUCTION to remove a wizard's problem spell.
  • Wizard Lords are no longer a goto pick. they still have uses, as the 5 and 6 can only be cast by them. A Wizard Lord using the Lore of Beasts can take a griffon as a mount, having The Savage Beast of Horros to give it stats to match its mount. While a Wizard Lord using Heavens or Light can ride the Hurricanum or Luminark.

• Captain of the Empire: This guy is your Battle Standard Bearer and is therefore absolutely mandatory to take unless you're grabbing Ludwig instead. Like the General, he gives Lizardmen style Leadership to his unit against Break tests.

• Warrior Priest of Sigmar: All sorts of goodness wrapped up into a bundle of zealotry. Channels power dice like wizards, gives any unit he joins Hatred and can cast prayers that can give the unit he's in rerolls to wound, a 5+ ward save, or flaming weapons. Taking one for every major melee unit would be ideal unless you're taking an Arch Lector on the War Altar.

• Witch Hunter: This guy buys you Magic Resistance 2 and a small boost against Terror for a unit, and a character assassin who works just as well with his pistol as up close. And he's cheap, too. Ridiculously cheap. Take these guys, and send them after whoever your opponent's most important character is.
• Master Engineer: 20pts cheaper. If you have a Helblaster, you must take Him. Grants one Warmachine the ability to reroll artillery dice once per turn and use his ballistic skill. can take A sniper rifle for a bit more damage. Try putting him on a hellblaster and watch as this one gun destroys an entire unit of whatever the hell takes your fancy, take that Skaven.

Mounts

All the mounts are available to the generic Heroes and Lords above.

• Warhorse: Standard mount. Useful for joining Reiksguard, Pistoleers, and the like. IF you ever worry about giving your character some sort of mobility, always pick this.

• Griffon: A Flying, Large target that causes Terror, available to Generals and Wizards of Lore of Beasts. Can be upgraded to have Bloodroar (the enemy rolls 3D6 dice when taking a Fear/Terror test, discarding the lowest result. Inverse Cold Blooded/Hold the Line! if you will), Two Heads (make a separate chomp attack that gains +1 to hit when resolved against Large Targets), Shrike Talons (+1 to S on the charge) or Razorbeak (Armour Piercing 1). The latter two upgrades have given the beast a bit more viability in combat.

• Imperial Pegasus: My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My-ah-ah Shut the fuck up. Can be upgraded to either re-roll failed wounds when Stomping, and/or re-roll 1s when determining your charge distances. They are effectively cheap Griffons, Providing better mobility to Wizard Lords, or cheaply fling a heavy geared Captain of the Empire into a monster.

• Mechanical Steed: Causes D3 Impact hits at S4, and now has constant Movement 7 base and now grants Natural Armour. Only available to Master Engineers, which means that you're either running him on his own for some strange reason, want the glorious charge as the unit coming to attack instantly tears you to shreds, or have found a war machine that can whiz around long distances while shooting because you've decided rules are just too dull.

Core Units

• State Troops: Compared to 8th, the melee options are more balanced, and all are more or less equally viable. You can get something other than a massive halberdier horde with a life wizard in without feeling like you're gimping yourself. Additionally, armour is not mandatory. So if running against an S4 army, there are a lot of points to be saved. They come in six flavors:
  • Halberdiers: Still the go-to state troop choice for offense, but swordsmen can potentially be viable. Can go nacked for 5ppm, Can be upgraded with shields for only 1/2 a point, light armor for 1 or medium for 2point.
  • Spearmen: Identical to vanilla stat & equipment-wise. However, with the universal buff to spears, they are better than Halberdiers when charged from the front by pretty much anything but infantry, all for a whole point cheaper. If you want the massive blocks of yore, Spearmen and also mabey with pikes is for you.
  • Swordsmen: They now the same price as Halberdiers while having parry, with weapon skill and initiative of 4, there is finally an argument to take 'em over halberdiers, for a more defensive line and have the edge over other human stated enemies.
  • Handgunners: Handgunners give you Armor Piercing and a unit leader with access to a Hochland Long Rifle, which lets him aim separately and snipe your opponent's characters; a repeater handgun, which adds two more shots to the gunline's massed fire; or a brace of pistols with too short a range on a melee-averse unit (pfft). They're Move or Shoot, so take care where you deploy them since they shouldn't be moving around. If you have room in special you should probably take Outriders over hand gunners. With a +5 armor save, higher BS, and multiple shots, they are better at getting into a firing position and holding it. Outriders are likely to get one more turn of shooting vs handgunners, and in a pinch, can be used to redirect and hunt war-machines.
  • Crossbowmen: Trades extra Armor Piercing for an extra 6" range. The loss of the specialty guns means you're probably better off with Handgunners unless you're taking a whole boatload of them and try to blast as much of your opponent's army on the first turn.
  • Archers: Instead of Armor Piercing or extra reach, Archers have Volley Fire, so the guys in the back rows will be more useful than ablative armor. Useful cheap shooters as they can move and fire, unlike handguns and crossbows, while also producing double the firepower as of 9th when standing still. Buckets of dice may not be as useful against a unit with good toughness and/or armor as well-positioned gunpowder weapons, but they can still deal considerable damage for their ease of use and numbers.

• Free Company Militia: Drafted Citizens to fill numbers, these guys will live fast and die young. They are disposable bodies to add extra Flanking damage or take charges for the more expensive State troopers. They got the Militia rule now so they can take the Support Fire and Counter Charge action for other state troops. When they are equipped with Two hand-weapons or a pistol, they are your cheap melee fighters (getting more damage potential with the Pistols). Do be aware they will be going into battle nacked and that 6 in leadership will hit harder after taking casualties. Ambush is toggleable so they can be your traditional war machine hunters, or you can run them with a Battle Priest. If you give them bows or crossbows, they have cemented themselves as Ambushers (appearing from an edge helps them get around shield saves).

• Knightly Orders: With buffed full plate armor and cavalry having a single horse impact hit, they are slightly better than before. Still deadly on lance charge, and hard to dislodge with their +1 armor save, but 9th has introduced many new anti-armor toys to most army books. They can be upgraded to Knights of the Inner Circle for +3 points each, which gives them Strength 4, but they become Special units. Knights also come in many additional flavors listed in their own section.

• Pistoliers: moved to Core. Young nobles full of piss and vinegar and dual-wielding pistols. They can be a massive thorn in your opponent's flank, especially because they're Quick to fire and are Fast Cavalry. A pretty reliable fire-magnet.

Special Units

• Greatswords: DEM BEARDS. Come equipped with greatswords (duh) at 8 points, starting with light armor, but you can pay to go up to Medium or Heavy armor. Still Stubborn, making a great tarpit or anchor for your army. Of note is that they can now take a magic banner. Take 30 or more and have them supported by your other State troops.
  • are partly less good as you remember from 8th. changes to Greatewapons will mean that your swing at the same time as normal humans and before greenskins and dwarfs on the charge but after that first round, they become worse halberds. Still elite humans with that WS4, LD 8, Armor, and Stubborn (which was also nerfed from 8th), but don't think they will hold out forever.

• Huntsmen: BS4 archers with Scout but are not State Troopers. useful for early game board claiming, accurate potshots, and body blocking. If your not having them starting mid-way or close to your opponent's deployment zone, then Archers in skirmish formation will serve you better for points. If Markus Wulfhart is in your army, you can buy a unit of these guys to be Monster Hunters.

• Flagellant Warband: Pretty expensive for infantry but man, can these crazy bastards dish out the hate. They're Unbreakable, they have Frenzy, and you can martyr D3 models to gain rerolls during the first combat round. A big block of these will create a tarpit of Death like no other but are expensive and very much a glass cannon. if sending them after other cheap hoards, you can sacrifice their flails for two-weapon wielding - Trading that First round S5 for 3 attacks per model (first rank only) and a flimsy 6++ Parry. Also, they have some rather appealing (or appalling, your choice) facial hair for the most part.

• Imperial Dwarfs: You get a gang of hardy dwarfs. Their loadout can be pretty diverse and handguns are an option for them. not a great choice for any reason. Compared to swordsmen you're paying 2 ppm for one Toughness, two Leadership, - two initiative and dwarf rules. Compared to handgunners/crossbows you pay 4 ppm for light armor, one Toughness and dwarf rules. The only possible justification is if you wanted an Empire Dwarf Seaguard for the lols. Which would come in at 13ppm With shields. This happens to be the cost of a spearman and a crossbowman...

• Halflings: They're cheaper but most puntable chaff even compared to other naked troops. Their height makes all attacks take -1 to hit, and they have fantastic Hand-eye coordination. You can capitalize on this strength by using them as very accurate archers (cost the same and may also buy shields), or as a 3.5 ppm shield wall of chaff (that combination -1 to melee and that 9th'ed shield plus 8ld will keep them in a fight against most chaff humanoids).
  • capitalizing on that Initiative 5 with a light wizard, The Speed of Light lets them reroll 4s to hit against most chaff units. Use spears.

• Imperial Ogres: Ogres but can't take Ironfists. Still Fat Monstrous Infantry with a lot of attacks. The unit can take Ogre Pistols or Braces, guns with their 24" range. With the loss of Demigryph knights in special, this is your only option for multiple wound high strength lolz.

• Sisters of Sigmar: What if the Warrior Priest was a unit. You get a gang of angry battle nuns with Hatred, Immunity to Fear, and are a wizards Pious servants of Sigmar. If you were to compare them to something, then they are your Swordsman but pay a discount as the Priest is built in. Being a unit of Warrior Priests, they can hit fairly hard and are hardy in melee with bucklers and Shield of Faith but possess no missile protection. If your not trying to get a rank bonus or taking a heavily armored hero, Fighting in Skirmisher mode takes some of the pressure off while getting you closer to the enemy.

• Outriders: 3 shots each at BS4 for 20 ppm (handgunners are 1 shot each at BS3 for 8ppm). Additionally, these sick bastards are fast cavalry(they can move and fire their big weapons on 5/6+ to hit) with a +5 save, and if you don't think you need fast cav they can take barding for free. Still can get an S6 armored piercing 18" Noobtube for 15 points, including champion, However, you lose a repeater handgun and 15 points is 75% of another outrider making this hard to recommend. If it had flaming attacks it be a no-brainer but a high explosive grenade in the Old World is flameless I suppose.

• Great Cannon: Frankly I'm amazed this unit made it through untouched, except for a 20 point cost reduction (I wonder what army Mathias Eliasson plays?). Making it even more of a no-brainer than before. F**k it, take three for the same price as 10 Reiksguard with full command. Keep in mind that cannons are much less accurate than in 8th edition, and The rule of duplicates will prevent you from taking three in smaller games.

• Mortar: Gunpowder Stone-thrower. With a large template. Fantastic for brutalizing T3 blocks.

Additional Knightly Orders

Coming from the Empire Knightly Orders supplement available on the WFP website, these provide numerous variations on the classic Knights. Most are some variation of your baisc Knights with additional weapons and abilities. almost all can take Inner Circle knights with +1S for 3 more points. Most can also take their own Grandmaster as their own unit (listed above), following the restriction that they can need a unit of their order in the army as well. The majority of the following Orders are Special choices unless specified otherwise.

• Reiksguard Knights (Special): They're their own unit now! They're basically started out like Inner Circle knights with lances and shields, but now they're Stubborn naturally. That's right, Stubborn knights with 1+ armor. The Bretonnians are weeping with envy right now. Stubborn only cost them pennies more per man than regular Inner Circle knights, so they're totally worth it, especially when you bring Karl along so he can grant them Stand Your Ground.
  • Alternate View - They're more expensive than the inner circle for stubborn. For most, this isn't bad, but bear in mind that they are lance cav, this means they are strong in only really one round, and these guys can't take great weapons, so is it really even benefitting you that much? Yes, they do. Take them in 5 man units and they make a great tarpit, which can also kill something.

• Reiksguard Foot Knights: (Special) For over half the price, you can have Reiksguard without horses but with sword & board to be an efficient elite holder that will refuse to fold all game. They make a great general-bunker in an army built around an infantry line.

• Knights of the Blazing Sun (Core): Decent chance to lower enemy WS and BS the turn they charge by one, making it safer for them to charge handguns and average WS high strength units.

• Knights of the White Wolf (Core): Fluffwise: AWW HELL TO THE FUCKING YES! They are motherfucking Viking-furries with greathammers from the deep forests of Middenland, what's not to love?. They are the closest you'll get to vikings in an Empire army. To become a Knight of the White Wolf you have to kill a wolf with your bare hands and skin it. They wear no helmets, 'cause they are just that awesome. They wear the fur of the skinned wolf on their armor, so they look pretty badass. They come without shields, so they lose that 1+ armor save, but the wolf pelts give +1 against Missiles. they're wielding Hammers that give them effectively S4/5 Ap2/3 attacks for no Initiative penalty. They hate Cowardly hoards like Skaven and Undead. they also have a Magic Standard that gives Fear and then Terror on charges. They are effective at breaking chaff while maintaining their effectiveness in protracted fights.

• Knights Panther (Core): Their steeds add D3" to charges. Useful for the Far or more reliable charge rolls. Also, they get a banner option for some cheap MR(2) more magic defense.

• Black Guard of Morr (Core): Can freely swap lances and Shields for great weapons, trading charge power, and initiative for consistent strength even if they get charged. They are scary and Immune to Terror. Better at causing enemies to break while not succumbing to Terror themselves.
• Black Guard of Morr on Foot (Special): Only Armed with polearms, they are discount Reiksguard Foot Knights, but they have an easier time chasing off enemies in CC.

• Knights of the Everlasting Light (core): The Fantasy Lamenters. Brave Knights that have to re-roll wound rolls of 6 and more likely to trip when moving over dangerous terrain. this is offset by them having magic attacks and a 5+ ward during CC. An Order if you want your knights to tank even more rather than killing.

• The Longshanks (Special): Knights of the Verdant Field but better by paying +1pt more for paired hand weapons.

• Knights Griffon (core): they don't need to roll when Reforming after a charging a fleeing unit or lose a round of combat, but they are too prideful to run from a charge or use Swifstride when fleeing. They are better at changing their formations for the current situation and good positioning rarely puts knights in a position they have to run.

• Sons of Manann (core): they wear medium armour, wield Tridents (polearms), and gains +1 to hit during the first CC round. They have the best time translating their attacks into wounds when fighting other humans.
• Sons of Manann on Foot (core): On foot, they become upgraded Swordsmen with medium armor & bucklers making them fairly tanky with a 4+/5++ save. Another good holding and grinding unit against low-armour infantry.

• Knights of the Raven (Core): Undead Hunters. Dropped their Lances for bows so they can shoot as they close into melee. They are mounted bowmen in +1 armour. is currently in a situation where they are an inverted role of Pistolier, where they are well protected from even handguns but far less killing power and menuverbilty. They also do slightly better against Vampire counts having hatred for them and immunity to Terror.
  • don't know, but I don't think they are that good, paying 22 points per bows when you can get 3 archers and a standard bearer.

• Knights of the Verdant Field (Special): Elite Huntsmen with 4 in WS and BS and Light Armour. For occasions, you want a scouting bow unit that can also perform melee. Unless your need points, The Longshanks fill the role better.

• Knights of the Twin-Tailed Orb (Core): Have their Hands full with a Flaming Flail and can't be outnumbered but must pursue fleeing units. Good at engaging with and chasing off regenerating monsters and animal-based units.

• Knights of the Black Bear (Core): Knights with strength bonuses on charges, giving a total Strength with lance up to 6 or even 7 on the charge, but has a chance to not move each turn. When they do charge, the receivers are unlikely to live. They are the best candidates for the role of anti-calvary calvary.

• Hunters of Sigmar (Core): Cheap Countryside knights. With the lack of maintenance, they downgrade to Heavy armour and must re-roll wounds and Saves of 6. Despite their neglect, they have a Hated for Beastmen, able to Vanguard and ride unimpeded with Forest strider. In Melee they charge with lance bet then switch to Greatweapons the next round to maintain their high strength attacks. Are a must for early aggression lists, but need wizard magic to help with their minor reroll problem.

• Knigths of the Broken Sword (Core): Hate all Forces of Destruction but suffer from Berserk Fury. They cost the same as normal Knights, and facing a Forces of Destruction armies are common, worth considering if you don't mind losing control on occasions.

• Knights of the Sacred Scythe (Core): Hunters of Vampires. For 2ppm less, they dropped the lance for Immunity to fear, Hate the Vampire counts, and has KB against Vampires, but nobody besides their Grand Master can join them. Vampires are a popular faction, so if caught, Sacred Scythe can counter one of the strongest character choices in-game.

• Knights of the Gold Lion (Core): Discount Reiksguard, don’t have an inner circle or grandmaster but are stubborn during first cc round and only cost +1ppm over base knights. They will at least hold the enemy back for a round if lances don't win.

• Knights of Sigmar's Blood (Core): knights that let nearby units re-roll Panic, Fear or Terror tests within 6" (this includes themselves). Lance Knights usually go for the flanks instead of close to your font line, They are help full at winning pincer attacks.

• Knights Encarmine: (core) for sustained cc, with dual weapons that re-roll 1s to hit, but they can't receive a bonus from ranks. Go wider for more efficiency. They are still fast-moving bricks but put out ok DPS when flanking. Encarmine holds up and kills units with a flurry rather than high strength attacks. Becoming an inner circle is helpful as their 2 attacks gain ap.

• Knights of the Hammers of Sigmar (core): Sigmar's Blood Knights that trade lances and shields for great weapons. They have less of a problem walking alongside your flanks to give them their aura.

• Templars of Sigmar (Special): The Knightly Order of Witch Hunters, they have a Brace of pistol and light amour, a deviation from the typical knightly model and have more in common as upgraded free Company. They are Skirmish with Magic attacks, hate Warriors and daemons of Chaos, and possess Magic Resistance 1 to protect them from the various heresies they'll inevitably fight.

• Knights of the Fiery Heart (core): May replace their lance and shield for great weapons for free and Hate Greenskins.

• Knights of the Black Rose (core): Currently are Bodyguards of the Ottilia of Talabecland. Have Fear, and gain Stubborn when guarding a General but gives a penalty to the LD of nearby friendly units.

• Knights of the Black Lynx (Special): Halberdiers with WS4, Scout, and be upgraded to deal S5 attacks. can be a disrupting roadblock or an early game monster hunters.

• Knights of the Vengeful Sun (Rare): Demigryph Knights with Lances and have Devastating Charge. Super hard-hitting, but equally expensive.

• Knights of the Taal's Fury (Rare): Halberd DEMIGRYPH KNIGHTS with Hatred(Beastmen). Have the same price but Hatred Beastmen makes them objectively better vs Beastmen than Vanilla Demigriphs.

Rare Units

• Demigryph Knights: Moved to Rare with a minor point bump to 60 and loss of AP on the mount. Making them less broken. You can say f**k you to that guy that brought 6 Demigryphs and 2 Steam Tanks to 2000 point games. They are still Inner Circle knights on Demigryphs with 3 S5 attacks + impact hit. Not a lot of things can tank that. Can use Lances to destroy first round, or trade for Halberds and -1 armour in CC so the rider still has S5 if the fight lasts longer.

• Helblaster Volley Gun: Oh man. The Helblaster potentially fires three artillery dice worth of Strength 5 shots with Armor Piercing. Changed to having three decks loaded at the start of the game. Can fire as many decks as you have loaded in one turn but only one gets reloaded each turn. Number of shots equal to the dieroll. Any misfire rolls on the black-powder shot but malfunction will only consume one deck for no shots while a disabled consumes two decks. 10 pts cheaper but a weaker option than in 8e.

• Helstorm Rocket Battery: Upped in strength and cut in cost, this is the only piece of artillery that got only buffs and no nerfs in the book. It fires D3 Templates past your troops' heads. With the shift away from mass blocks of infantry the Helstorm's main targets are not on the board.

• Steam Tank: The Steam Tank is awesome. A 1+ armor save with T6, 10W, and up to 3 D6 random movement makes this guy look very scary to your opponent. The more wounds you take the more likely you are to hurt yourself, but if done right it can still be effective with 1 wound. Though at that point I'd rather just blow myself and everyone around me to smithereens. At only 225-250 pts. this guy can hold up double its worth. Oh, did I mention the extra cannon? Just don't hurt yourself too much, or you'll be inching across the table. The steam tank is better overall and safer to use. When in melee combat, do not forget the attacks from the engineer. Is it a reliable source of damage? Heck no! But driving closer to those Chaos Warriors to hit them with your scepter will earn respect knuckles from your opponent. Plus, that one time you bash in their skull will be hilarious. Take THAT, meathead!
  • Steam Tank Variant: the Steam Tanks supplement gives a couple of different versions of the classic tank.
    • Conqueror: The classic tank in the main book, with a cannon were you increase its range by 12" for each steam point spent.
    • Old Reliable: Replace the Steam cannon with a Steam Volley gun for 25p less, Multi-shots equal to Artillery dice.
    • Implacable: Has a mortar for its main gun.
    • Sigmar's Hammer: a Melee Tank with the charging and Grinding attacks inflict d6 hits instead of the usual d3 per point.
    • Von Zeppel: A cross between a Steam tank with a fighting crew of a War Wagon, Grants more range than Sigmar's Hammer but also has a variety of melee weapons for any occasion.

• Luminark of Hysh: Gives a 6+ ward save in a 6" bubble, adds a power die, and fires a super laser (Strength 8 multiple-wound magic missile that goes through units like a pre 8 edition bolt thrower). It can be used as a mount by a Wizard Lord using the Lore of Light. useful buffer for going big holding lines while also shooting doom lasers through high-value enemies.

• Celestial Hurricanum: Gives a reroll 1s to hit in close combat in a 6" bubble, adds a power die, and dumps a random storm on an enemy using the small blast template. It can be used as a mount by a Wizard Lord using the Lore of Heavens. The random storm isn't that great and is a low-level bound spell so often easily dispelled, bought more for its reroll bubble and free power dice.

• War Wagon: It's a big rolling box of weapons, and what's not to love about that? On top of the long rifles and handguns, it has a blunderbuss (12" (1D3) Repeaper pistols and can shoot without penalty on multi-shot or against charging units), a Mancatcher (KB), A Hook Halberd (Halberd with +1 to hit Cavalry and Monstrous Cavalry), and a Ball & Chain (Flail that deals d3 hits with each attack). And all of this can be thrown at different people.
  • you have 8 people in a wagon, and by weapon and their own roles, each crew member can individually pick a weapon and spit their attacks. Despite being humans, the weapons they have to carry them at range and melee.
  • Long Rifle snipe characters, Repeater Handgun take long-range, Blunderbuss is for short-range and charges, Hook halberd fights calver, Ball and chain is chaff grind, and Man Catcher is if they are too tough for a Hook halberd.

• The Marienburg Class Land Battle Ship: a Ship on land, made a mobile gun platform, had one Cannon that can always fire in addition and 6 handgun shots. they can also have move ether slowly forward 6" or random move (3d6") but with a chance of something bad happening.

Regiments of Renown

You already have a very flexible core bool + additional knightly orders, but you also get the full selection of mercenaries, being very trust full with most of them only really distrusting the Orc and the Dark Elf (surprisingly only suspicious of the undead guy with a regiment that grows with every kill).

As a core unit, Manann's Blades are Swordsmen with a hard to kill Leader and are good at breaking and then running down enemies, especially if combined with a flank attack.

Often the Regiments you shouldn't pick are the redundant ones like VOLAND'S VENATORS (which are more expensive Empire inner circle knights), or GOLGFAG'S MERCENARY OGRES(you have better OGRES) for factions that don't have that. through many Regiments do hold slight rule edges over the normal variants

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

Most empire units can be proxied by using other companies models. Both Mantic and warlord games do models that have a similar look whilst being A LOT cheaper.

Magnetize your artillery so you can swap between cannons and mortars and between Helblasters and Helstorms.

The General and Wizard boxes both give you two characters for the price of one and are a converter's dream come true.

The Celestial Hurricaneum/Luminark of Hysh box comes with a wizard model (Lore of Heavens or Light) which is not compatible with the Wizard box models.

The Karl Franz on Deathwing box comes with an alternative Lore of Beasts Wizard and a General model as riders. With some fiddling, you can fit them on an ordinary warhorse instead of a Gryphon.

Army Composition

This is largely a matter of personal preference given the sheer variety of choice, but keep two things in mind:

• Size matters. Most of your army is going to be Strength 3, Toughness 3, so melee units need to be big in order to have staying power. One unit of 30 State Troops is a lot harder to break than two units of 15.
• Don't go overboard on Lords & Heroes. The days of Herohammer are dead and gone, probably forever. Another block of infantry/cavalry/whatever is a lot more useful than a superfluous character that only makes for easy kill points. Only take characters if you have a specific role for them to fill in your army. Generally speaking, you shouldn't have more than two or three characters unless your army is magic- and/or anti-magic-heavy (i.e. you've got a bunch of wizards and/or Warrior Priests running around).

Loadouts

First off, you need to properly kit out a champion to handle challenges; most armies you'll face are likely to have a champion bigger and nastier than yours. In order to survive and thrive in challenges, a character will need three things:

• A good weapon. Good choices are the Runefang (15 points cheaper now), the Mace of Helsturm (sort of a Ghal Maraz-lite) and the Ogre Blade (+2 Strength). If you're looking for something more economical, the Sword of Anti-Heroes can be awesome if your opponents are still playing Herohammer. WYRMSLAYER SWORD or Venom Sword is now the cheapest economical pick
• Good Armor. The Armor of Meteoric Iron gives a 1+ armor save and a 6+ ward save. Fullplate Armour with an Enchanted shield and Dawnstone Give a 1+ rerollable while on foot.
• Take the Talisman of Preservation, HOLY RELIC, The Crimson Amulet, or SHROUD OF MAGNUS to make a character harder to deal with, especially if you're taking a Templar Grand Master or something equally nasty.
• have some good Enchanted Item and arcane items that let you get another spell from a different lore and having a bound Light of Battle or Burning Head as always a good thing on a mobile hero.
• My suggestion on a grandmaster is: Ogre blade, Talisman of preservation, full plate armour, shield, barbed horse. This will give him a 1+ armour save 4++ ward and strength 6 on every round of combat for 223 points.

Magic banners will help you out tremendously. The Griffon Banner is great if you can afford it. Although, the best banner for its points, however, is the Standard of Discipline. It boosts the Leadership of the unit it's in at the cost of using your general's Inspiring Presence; however, this downside is negated completely (and then some) if you put a character in that unit. BANNER OF SIGISMUND is also a good choice for the discounted Stubborn.

Some character in your army has to take an enchanted shield, it's 10 damn points for +2 to armour! A no brainer choice.

Magic

The Empire is one of the few armies to get access to all eight Lores of Magic. Almost all are of at least solid use because pretty much all buffs and hexes are valuable to army that's mostly made up of mediocre infantry and all damage spells are welcome too even if you'll never blast the opponent off the table. Still some lores are definitely better.

Good choices are:

• Life: This Lore could only be more awesome if it had tits and was on fire. If you want to win and be boring you'll do the same thing you've been doing in since vanilla 8th. Stick a level 4 in that horde of Halberdiers, sit on your Throne of Vines, be within 12 inches of your Steam Tank and whore the hell out of Earth Blood, Flesh to Stone and Regrowth until the game ends.

• Metal: A good choice, but only comes into its own against enemies with high armor values (Warriors of Chaos, Bretonnians, other Empire armies, and so on). Casting Plague of Rust on Skinks or Clanrats is a waste of fucking time, as you won't be getting as much mileage out of it compared to using it on Dwarfs or WoC; considering how nearly every unit in the book has at least light armor and all melee cav have fullplate this just got a whole lot better/ A horde of Halberdiers with +3 armor save, +1 to hit and armored piercing, YES PLEASE (calm down, that unit of Halberdiers would do better with T7 and 4+ regen from a life wizard). Metal also has better offense spells than life with Searing Doom ignoring armor and Gehenna's Golden Hounds being a sniping attack.

• Light: Gives you a lot of very nice buffs (Speed of Light is a godsend should your opponent get into your artillery) and debuffs (particularly Net of Amyntok). A particularly nasty combo (if you can get it off) is Speed of Light and Birona's Timewarp, which together will make your Greatswords/knights with greatweapons hit like Frenzied High Elf Swordmasters. Very good lore, especially considering the fact that it's statistically the easiest lore to cast.

• Death: Four words: Purple Sun of Xereus. It also has very good buffs and debuffs, though you've got to be close to an enemy for the latter.

• Shadow: Has a lot of very good debuffs and grants additional mobility to self and another character. But you really want this Lore for Okkam's Mindrazor, which replaces a unit's Strength score with its Leadership when rolling to wound, which means that the unit you cast it on will essentially have at least 7 Strength(!) in close combat. Cast it on your Knights, Greatswords, or Flagellants and swing for the bleachers. This is statistically the hardest lore to cast, so make sure to give it to a level 4 Wizard Lord.

• Heaven: One of the best lores for an all cavalry Empire Army. Harmonic let you reroll 1s for to hit, to wound and armour saves which is really useful when you will find yourself with 2+ to wound and 2+ as a lot of times. Use a lvl4 and a lvl1 wizard for that double iceshard which gives -2 hit which goes a long way when charging high strength units and -2 to ld which is really useful when charging steadfast units. Thunderbolt and Chain lightning is decent for taking out MSU armies and Comet can help you against corner armies as well as controlling the movement of MSU armies. All the spells are cast at a decent cost which allows you to attempt several spells compared to life, which gives your opponent a dilemma when he has to prioritize which spells to let through. Also, heaven spells have a good range so you can keep your wizard in the back protected by f.ex. archers. This lore is highly underrated. The downside is that it requires some practice to use.

If you take direct damage spells (especially magic missiles) with the notion of blasting your enemy to kingdom come, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Buffs and debuffs are where it's at, and you'll notice that what all of the Lores recommended above have in common are good buffs, good debuffs and one Spell of Horde Buggery.

If you want to just murder shit, though, there is always...

• Fire: Literally just spam fireballs and shit everywhere. Just spam the fuck out of level one fire wizards, and I can guarantee you, point for point, you'll do far more damage than a fully kitted out gunline of Handgunners and crossbowmen.

Tactics

Fighting challenges: Most armies are going to challenge your heroes every chance they get, so make sure you either have a unit champion to feed to that Vampire/Chaos Lord or have your hero kitted out for fighting these combat monsters. There are some common stats to expect from these kinds of heroes so plan for: WS/T/S/I of at least 4, most likely 5 or even higher, at least 4 attacks and probably re-rolls for something (most often to hit), in most cases you will be looking at a 2+ or 3+ save as well. On the other hand, you can probably afford 2 heroes for every one of theirs. Most of the time all you can do is deny them kills and combat resolution so kitting your heroes to survive the stupid numbers of attacks likely to be inflicted on him is a good direction to take as normal troops would probably just get minced. Also, remember that challenges aren't your only option for handling heroes. Your goal isn't just to kill them (although if you can it's generally good) it's simply to stop them fulfilling their role. With so many points tied up in a challenge lord, simply deploying well can give you a nice edge, making the opponent march down your cannon's throat if he wants to charge your general. Honor and valor are for Bretonians, the empire fights to win not to play a losing game of who's got the most pimp general.

Take the high ground: In real life, placing artillery on the highest position available gives you an unparalleled vantage point over your enemy, and the same is true in Warhammer. Placing your artillery on a hill behind your troops means that you can fire over them without giving your target hardcover (this is less important for mortars and Helstorms, which fire indirectly). However, do NOT put your artillery in a building if your opponent has an artillery of his own or high-Strength units he can bring to bear on it; every model in the building takes multiple wounds, which can wreak havoc on artillery.

Homing Rockets: Take a Helstorm Rocket Volley with a Great Engineer. The artillery die reroll can apparently be used on the Helstorm now, as well as the engineer's BS. Bulls-eyes with 4" scatter or less means you can do 21 hits on a unit per rocket, for a maximum of 63(!). Use the reroll wisely, though; you do increase the chances of a misfire. It's best to reroll misfires (duh) and 10s, 8s if you feel lucky. If you roll a 6, just hope for bulls-eyes for a 2" scatter (unless you get three rockets, in which case you might want to go for it).

Homing Fireball: A funny thing you can do is buy a Witch Hunter a Ruby Ring of Ruin and according to the most recent FAQ their Killing Blow ability applies to shoot spells as well. Hit someone with a Killing Blow Fireball.

Kill the Witch: Fill your Hero allotment with Witch Hunters. Walk forward every turn, shooting merrily. Kill all of your opponent's characters this way. Put a Warrior Priest in the same unit, and have him cast Hammer of Sigmar to give the Witch Hunters rerolls to wound in close combat, or Soulfire to make all ranged attacks Flaming. Combine with Enchanted Blades of Aiban/Flaming Sword of Rhuin for even more cheese.

Karl and Friends: Synergy unit, needs skilled use of artillery support and at full placement only can be done in 3500+ games. Karl Franz, Ludwig Schwarzhelm, Kurt Helborg, Luthor Huss and Valten in a unit of Reiksguard Knights with a Magic Banner (Steel Standard, War Banner). The unit has mobility, damage output, damage resistance and passes all Leadership tests with:

• Inspiring Presence
• Hold Your Ground!
• Hold the Line!
• Immune to Psychology
• Stubborn
• Magic Resistance (2)
• +2 Combat Resolution (+3 with War Banner)
• One turn Battle Prayer effects: Flaming Attacks, 5+ Ward in close combat or Reroll to Wound. Why one turn effects? To gain flexibility and avoid permanent Flaming Attacks that makes the unit useless against a 2+ fire ward.

Put a Level 4 Wizard Lord (Life, Light, Shadow) with channeling Staff in another unit for protection from spells like Dwellers Below or Purple Sun. The rest of the army is Steam Tanks, Great Cannons, Witch Hunters, Warrior Priests, and Knights units of all types excluding Reiksguard; keep the Wizard Lord in dispel/buff/debuff mode, get a second Wizard (Beasts, Level 1) with a Dispel Scroll to buff your units. Combine this tactic with the previously listed tactics (Take the high ground, Kill the Witch, Homing Rockets, Homing Fireball, etc).

The Gunline: Yes this tactic is pure cheese but it is not illegal. Basically, replace all-state troops with Handgunners (think American revolution or Napoleonic wars). A block of 10 handgunners with another block right next to them, repeat until a gun line is formed. Great Cannons on each side of the gunline to fire diagonally from each corner when your opponent's troops move in to engage your gunline and grapeshot anyone who wants to engage your cannons. Have some mounted pistoleers behind your gunline to fire over your gunners' heads or to charge anyone who makes it to your gunline and sweep up all those routing units.

Pike and shot: This may be a bit obvious, but combing a parent block of spearmen with two hand gunner detachments (aside from being historically accurate No they used Pikes not spears, the hint is in the name) can be devastating. no one wants to charge spearmen, but the hand gunners are the bait to make them want to try. if someone tries to run the hand gunners off while avoiding the spearmen, intercept them with small blocks of infantry to give your spearmen time to get into position. 5 Halberds should be at each of your flanks to charge anyone AFTER they engage your spear block.

unbrackable lines: Reiksguard Foot Knights with a Warrior Priest and near a Luminark of Hysh. You have a 2+/4++ line with Stubborn, They are not going anywhere all game.

External Links

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