Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Empire

Why Play Empire

One word: versatility. An Empire army can be built to suit almost any play style. You want to play magic-heavy? The Empire can do that. You like to go for anti-magic? Empire's got you covered. Want to do both? Nothing's stopping you. Do you make heavy use of infantry? Ranged units? Cavalry? Artillery? The Empire can do it all, albeit not quite as well armies that specialize. But hey, you're looking for options, and this army has them in spades.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Named Characters

Note: Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

• The Emperor Karl Franz: 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 Ghul Maraz), he comes with a 4+ ward save and magic resistance 3, is Immune to Psychology (and confers that rule on any unit he joins), and has Inspiring Presence. He is best fielded on foot or on horseback; Deathclaw and the Imperial Dragon aren't really worth the points unless you're getting them free from Storm of Magic.
• Kurt Helborg: The Grand Marshal of the Reiksguard wields a Runefang and carries Laurels of Victory, which doubles a the value of the wounds he causes for the purposes of combat resolution. He also makes a unit of Reikland knights Immune to Psychology and Stubborn; this and +1 WS essentially costs you 25 points. Iffy, but he does come with 155 points worth of wargear, which is higher than the 100-point limit for generic Lords.
• Ludwig Schwarzhelm: If his name is Schwarzhelm, 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.
• Grand Theogenist Volkmar: A comparison between Volkmar and a similarly kitted-out Arch Lector means that you're spending 60 points for +1 WS, Frenzy, a 12" range to his Righteous Fury (instead of only the unit he joins), a +5 Regeneration save (as opposed to a 6+ save with Seed of Rebirth), and the ability to use his Leadership if he's the general of your army (as opposed to taking the Terrifying Mask of Eee!). Not really worth it.
• Luthor Huss: I see what you did there. 23 points for +1 WS and Causes Fear? Eat my shit.
• Balthazar Gelt: A Wizard Lord of the Gold Order who knows every Metal spell, has a 3+ ward save, magic resistance 1, a staff that gives a +2 bonus and ignores his first miscast, and a throwing attack that hits on a 4+ and ignores saves, and is mounted on a Pegasus. Good, but would be a lot better if the Lore of Metal weren't as situational as it is.

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, but you're probably better of with a more specialized character for your general. However, he does give you the option of spending up to 50 points on a magic banner for one of your State Troops units, so that's pretty cool.
• Templar 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.
• Arch Lector of Sigmar: A souped-up version of the Warrior Priest, he lets you cast two prayers a turn and gives you two extra dispel dice as opposed to one. This and his high Leadership means you should seriously consider taking him as your general.
• Wizard Lord: Gives you all the magical fun you can expect from magic-users. At the very least, upgrade him to level 4.
• Captain of the Empire: This guy is your Battle Standard Bearer and is therefore absolutely mandatory to take unless you're grabbing Ludwig instead.
• Warrior Priest of Sigmar: All sorts of goodness wrapped up into a zealoty bundle. Gives you an extra dispel die, gives any unit he joins Hatred, and can cast spells that can do such things as give a 4+ ward save to a character (including himself) or making his unit Unbreakable. Taking one for every major unit would be ideal.
• Battle Wizard: While being lower level and therefore less useful than a Wizard Lord, you can also take nearly three of him for the same price. Again, upgrade him to level 2 and use him as a scroll caddy.
• Master Engineer: you want him for his ability to reroll artillery dice once per turn; the errata states that you don't have to have him join the crew to gain this ability, and you can use it on the Helblaster on top of that, which wasn't allowed in 7th Edition. Leave his toys at home.

Core Units

• State Troops: These guys will probably end up being the backbone of your army, and are fully integrated into the Detachments system. They come in five flavors:
  • Halberdiers: Halberdiers give you +1 Strength to your attacks, which makes them ideal for detachments so they can get into your opponent's juicy flanks. Taking shields isn't worth it, as they can't be used in the Combat phase.
  • Spearmen: Spearmen let you fight with an extra rank, so these make natural parent units. Again, shields aren't worth it.
  • Swordsmen: Swordsmen don't have combat bonuses like the other two melee units do, but they make up for it in hardiness. They can be used either as the parent unit or a detachment.
  • Handgunners Handgunners give you Armor Piercing and access to the Hochland Long Rifle, which lets you snipe you're opponent's characters. They're Move or Shoot, so take care where you deploy them, since they shouldn't be moving around much. Can be used either as a parent unit or a detachment, and should be kept small, no more than 10-15 models in each unit.
  • Crossbowmen: Trades 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 opponents army on the first turn.
• Militia: The more raggedy units in your army, you can field militia units as detachments, but they cannot be parent units. You get two options, a melee choice and a ranged choice:
  • Free Company: Wielding two weapons and without armor, these guys will live fast and die young. If you take them, remember that.
  • Archers: Instead of Armor Piercing or extra reach, Archers have Volley Fire, so you the guys in the back rows will be more useful than ablative armor. And they can move and fire during the same turn, which makes them more responsive to enemy developments. Finally, you can give them the Scouts rule for +2 points a model.
• Knightly Orders: Cavalry ain't what it used to be, so if you take them, take a dozen or more in a unit. Can be upgraded to Knights of the Inner Circle for +3 points each, which gives them Strength 4 and they now count as Special units. Come in two flavors:
  • Reiksguard/Knights Panther/Knights of the Blazing Sun: Come with a shield and lance, which bumps their armor save up to 1+, and they get a +2 Strength bonus on the charge.
  • Knights of the White Wolf: Come with greathammers; they hit last, but keep the Strength bonus throughout the combat (and the combat will almost certainly take more than one turn).

Special Units

• Greatswords: DEM BEARDS. Come equipped with greatswords (duh), full plate armor, and are Stubborn. Make a great tarpit or anchor for your army. Take two dozen or more.
• Pistoliers: 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.
• Outriders: These old farts can unleash the same amount of firepower as a regular gunline, and trades safety in numbers for mobility (like Pistoliers, they're Fast Cavalry). Try to get behind your opponent's army and shoot him up the strap.
• Great Cannon: Hell yes. If you're good with your aiming, you can snipe monstrous creatures and characters with it. Goes 'splodey (you're playing Empire; get used to it).
• Mortar: Unreliable, but they're considered Stone Throwers in this edition, so they won't blow up as much as they used to.

Rare Units

• Flagellant Warband: Pretty expensive for infantry (the same as Greatswords), but these crazy bastards sure can dish out the hate. They're Unbreakable, they have unlosable Frenzy, and you can martyr some of the models to regain charge bonuses. A big block of these will create a tarpit like no other, Oh, and if you have Warrior Priests in your army (and you should), one unit counts as Core.
• Helblaster Gun Volley: Oh man. The Helblaster does three artillery dice worth of Strength 5 shots with Armor Piercing. If you roll a six on the misfire chart, it goes out in a blaze of glory, treating that die and any subsequent barrels as having rolled a 10, giving you up to 30 shots before being taken off the table.
• Helstorm Rocket Battery: The gun is named "Helstorm" not for its attack, but from the outburst of profanity from the Elector Count of Middenheim at the engineer that almost accidentally killed him; that should tell you something about its accuracy. The errata revised the firing rules so that it overshoots like a cannon and then scatters from that point (rerolling misfires on the second scatter).
• Steam Tank: Opinion is divided on the Steam Tank. It moves strangely, the weapons are meh, and it runs the risk of damaging itself; on the other hand, it does make a lovely tarpit. The errata removed the unique restriction, so you can now take two (or three in a Grand Army) if you want.