The 9th Age/Tactics/Empire Of Sonnstahl
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The fair use The 9th Age expy of The Empire of Warhammer Fantasy, itself an expy of the Holy Roman Empire.
Why play Empire Of Sonnstahl
you like to play the jack of trade human faction, with the appeal of normal people driving back the more monstrous and fantastical army.
your troops are so bonded with each other that they mechanically support each other.
your generals actually give order rather than merely giving stern looks and dueling other generals.
Tactics
The Tactics are current as of second edition.
Army Rules
Blessings The bearer's unit gains hatred (not harnessed models parts). The model gains access to the following three bound spells with power level (4/8) with type: caster's unit and augment and duration: lasts one turn.
- Ullor's Blessing: the target gains Aegis 5+ vs melee attacks.
- Sunna's Blessing: the target gains flaming attacks, enemy models in base contact during casting suffer 1d6 hits with str 4, ap1, flaming and magical attacks.
- Volund's Blessing: reroll failed wound rolls with melee attacks.
Parent/Support Units Allows you to roll units together and fight together by having Smaller melee units and shooty units support the nearby bigger melee units. Support Units are Insignificant to Parent and they get useful buffs like fight/shoot with more rows and can provide support charges, counter Charges, and suppressing Fire.
- How to support Melee: to keep a unit of 20man unit of Halberds within 8" but slightly behind a large Spear unit's flank. this will make charging/be charged by the spears more daunting as the Halberds will wheel around into their flanks.
Orders A character with orders may give one order at the beginning of your turn to any unit within 8", a general with orders may give an order to any unit within its commanding presence. There are four orders to choose from.
- Brace for Impact!: gains fight in extra rank.
- On the Double!: target gains +1 advance and +4 march.
- Ready! Aim! Fire!: gains accurate.
- Steady Men!: discipline tests are subject to a minimized roll.
Equipment
Brace of Pistols shooting weapon, range: 12", shots: 2, str 4, AP 2, quick to fire. counts as paired weapons in melee.
Long Rifle shooting weapon, range: 48", shots: 1, str 5, AP 3, multiple wounds (2 vs standard), unwieldy. Don't see much action, but will pick off Character retinues.
Repeater Gun shooting weapon, range: 24", shots: 3, str 4, AP 2, Unwieldy.
Repeater Pistol shooting weapon, range: 12", shots: 3, str 3, AP 2, quick to fire. If the model is also equipped with a pistol or brace of pistols, this weapon gains shots: 4.
Cavalry Pick Elite knights only. Attacks with this weapon have +2 ap. Works out better in the grind R&F humanoids as they rely on their armour saves to live (you already winning in wither other rolls).
Hereditary Spell
the Empire does not have an actual Hereditary Spell like other races. Instead, when a mage chooses the H spell, they gain the #1 spell of another magic path available to that mage. Gives Empire mages incredible variety without having to invest in multiple mages or magic items.
Unit Analysis
Characters
Marshal: 160pts. Stats on par with other race's second fiddles, but they can give you more value than other first fiddles. This guy's stats aren't what you're taking him for though. Marshals are dirt cheap, have 200 pts of special equipment standard, can be the BSB for free. While other races are getting maybe 4 characters, the Empire of Sonnstahl can easily get 6 to 9 fully kitted characters in that 1800 point allowance. You want at least 1 Marshal in your army for BSB, but really you'll want at least 1 for each important unit you have to babysit them with orders and that Discipline 9.
- Marshals may also be upgraded.
- Greate Tactiction: (1 per army) +65pts. let a Marshal give out two orders a turn.
- Impirial Prince: (General only) +160pts. Comes with +1 Attack and a Light of Sonnstahl, but your other Special item allowance is reduced to 50pts. Also in bigger games, you can afford to put him on a Dragon.
Knight Commander 180pts. A more combat competent super Huma on mount. Trades the ability to give orders to make a unit of knights better at Slaying monsters.
Wizard 125pts. like the rest of the Empire, they are dirt cheap for what they do and have a wide variety of options. They can choose from Alchemy, Cosmology, Divination, and Pyromancy. You can get Adept wizards for +200 points.
Prelate 160pts. Your access to Blessings. Even though he is your semi-spellcaster, he still has access to plate armor and divine attacks. Same price as a Marshal. as most heroes are given aiges, lets your save money on dualist gear and open up a weapon enchantment.
Artificer 120pts. Your babysitter for war engines, Gunnline commander, and has access to all the fun shooty weapons. He also counts towards the Imperial Armory which will limit how many you can take harder than your character limit. May be mounted up if your feeling wild. Combos well to stand near a Cannon and a unit of Light Infantry.
Inquisitor 115pts. The Witch Hunters of Warhammer Fantasy. Your True Hero and monster slayer character. A good variety of CC and Range equipment and multiple wounds (1d3 everything) and Lethal Strike. Make them a threat multiplier to throw around, and now cheaper to do so.
Mounts
Horse:
Pegasus:
Young Griffon:
Great Griffon:
Dragon:
Altar of Battle:
Arcane Engine:
Core
Heavy Infantry 145pts for 20 + 9ppm. They can be taken as a parent or support unit depending on its size and has options to take sword+board(Hold the line!), spears(spike wall that kills with a dice bucket), or halberds(can kill with smaller numbers) making them incredibly flexible core choices. The shields are standard but note that you can't use shields+halberds in melee, so the +1 str/ap comes at the cost of lower survivability.
Electoral Cavalry 155pts for 5 + 25ppm. Incredibly tanky standard cavalry. Take a weapon for them if you actually want them to kill things. One unit may be upgraded to Knightly Order, or if you have taken a Knight Commander, any unit may be upgraded. Great weapons are preferable as they allow them to actually outgrind enemies and losing out on agility 3 isn't too bad unless your fighting zombies or saurus ancients. Only bother with shields if you really need that 1+ armor.
Core + Imperial Auxiliaries
Counts towards both categories. Don't worry about it too much, the Imperial Auxiliaries allowance is rather large and the units within it are very cheap.
Light Infantry 135pts for 10+ 13ppm. Support unit that comes with crossbows which may be replaced with handguns for free. Take Crossbows for the range, take handguns for the extra AP. The champion (if you take one) may take a Long Rifle or Repeater gun, but you're usually better off with more models than a fancy gun.
State Militia 135pts for 10 + 8ppm. A cheap multi-purpose unit to fill line gaps. They come with paired weapons, bows, and pistols but no defenses of any kind. A flexible offensive unit that can do work if you get them into close range. They are insignificant so if you have the points to take a few, why not?
Imperial Auxiliaries
Imperial Rangers 90pts for 5 + 11ppm. Essentially expensive light infantry with scout and skirmisher. They gain shots 2 and lethal strike when firing at beasts, so they can be powerful in the right situation like Alpha bows, Monster Hunters, and charge blockers.
Reiters 150pts for 5 + 23ppm. fabulous cowboys. They only have a 5+ armor save standard, so it is worth it to invest in heavy armor for them. If you really want to annoy your opponent you give them the lance/shield option and heavy armor so you have 3+ cavalry with light troops and feigned flight circling their flanks. Their true power is Fire on Impact, allowing them to shoot their guns on the charge which assures them striking first with decent str and AP.
Special
Imperial Guard 170pts for 15 + 19ppm. Tanky infantry with bodyguard. Throw your general in here and you have a block of infantry that will not budge. They have a 3+ armor and parry standard, meaning they can hold their own against the nutty offensive specials of other races, you can replace the shields with great weapons if you want them to kill things too.
Knights of the Sun Griffon 290pts for 3 + 83ppm. Yup, humans have monstrous cavalry. The Knightly Orders knight on top is just there for their armor, the young griffon is the one that will actually be killing enemies.
Arcane Engine 280pts. A chariot with channel. The power of the engine is its aura. It can choose Perception of Strength bound spell and Distracting to all friendlies within 6" or Ice and Fire and Lightning reflexes. So the choice is -1 to be hit and a buff/hex spell, or +1 to hit and a missile spell. A great all-round support unit.
Imperial Armory
Artillery This one entry includes all siege engines.
- Mortar: 160pts. A standard catapult template, for eliminating Infantry blocks.
- Volley Gun: 190pts. Short-range (only 24") but 3d6*2 shots(!). If you can get a good sightline this thing can destroy any unit in front of it through sheer volume of fire.
- Imperial Rocketeer: 190pts. A weaker mortar with more shots. Each rocket can cause a misfire, if you are incredibly unlucky it could kill itself in 2 turns.
- Cannon: 245pts. Your longest ranged siege engine. It is better suited to slaying monsters but can do work against unarmored units. Can also be fired as a volley gun with 2d6 shots, but only if an enemy is within 12", but use it to discourage flankers and other would-be war machine hunters.
Sunna's Fury
Flagellants 190pts for 15 + 17ppm. Unbreakable frenzied naked men. Essentially Slayers but taller. If you can get them into melee they'll do some work.
Sunna's Fury + Imperial Armory
Steam Tank 475pts. Much more consistent than the 8th edition version. The cannon is weaker and shorter ranged than the war machine, but it comes on a chassis with resilience 6, 1+ armor, and 7 hp. The steam tank is not the best at any one thing, but its strength is that it can reasonably take on anything.
Magic Items
Weapon Enchantments
The Light of Sonnstahl 150pts. Hand weapons only. The weapon auto wounds, has AP 10 and magical attacks. This weapon is what allows your wee marshal to go toe-to-toe with big scary models. This monster does come at the cost of 3/4 of a marshal's magical allowance, although survivability can be solved by making the marshal a prince and slapping it on a dragon.
Death Warrant 60pts. Hand weapons only. This weapon has battle focus and magical attacks. If this weapon successfully hits (not wounds), all friendly units with Parent unit or Support unit gain battle focus against the hit unit in subsequent initiative steps.
Hammer of Witches 40pts. Hand weapons only. The bearer has 5 attacks and gains battle focus and magical attacks when attacking a model with channel.
Armour Enchantments
Imperial Seal 105pts. On foot only. The model gains 1+ armor and +1 discipline. The model may not voluntarily flee.
Blacksteel 50pts. +2 armor (only +1 if mounted) and the model causes fear.
Witchfire Guard 35pts. Shield enchantment. The bearer gains Aegis 4+ (vs magical attacks).
Shield of Volund 20pts. Shield enchantment. Attacks made against the bearer with lethal strike and/or battle focus lose those attack attributes.
Banner Enchantments
Household Standard 40pts. If the general is part of the Bearer's unit, its commanding presence is extended 6".
Banner of Unity 40pts. Parent units only. Whenever the bearer's unit is targeted by an order, an additional order (for free) may be given to a support unit within 8".
Marksman's Pennant 10pts. The bearer's unit does not suffer the -1 to-hit penalty for stand-and-shoot reactions.
Artefacts
Locket of Sunna 70pts. When fighting in a duel, the model may swap its Strength, AP, Resilience, Agility, and Attacks with the model it is dueling with. Select only one model part to swap with, cannot swap with a model part with harnessed.
- Inquisitors are the best pick as they have the lowest melee states while having combat Attributes and gear to capitalize on the buff.
Winter Cloak 70pts. the bearer gains Distracting, Aegis 5+, and Aegis 2+ (vs flaming attacks).
Exemplar's Flame 50pts. Wizard only, Dominant. Choose a single parent unit at the beginning of the game. If at the start of a friendly melee phase and the bearer is within 18" of the selected unit, you may discard a veil token. All R&F models in the unit gain Magical lethal strike until the end of the phase.
Karadon's Courser 40pts. Knight Commanders and Marshals on Horses only. One use only, for the duration of the turn, all friendly units within 6" of the bearer must reroll failed charge rolls.
Mantle of Ullor 25pts. Enemy units within 6" do not gain the +1 agility from Charging.
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