I thought having an army of pistoliers would be great. IMO they look cool and seem to be a great touch to any empire army. So, I was wondering wouldnt it be cool to have an army of pistoliers?? 3 units may seem small but, what if it was 3 units of 10 and a couple of handgunners and the captain could be armed with the dragon bow or a repeater handgun. The overall idea to me seems great!!

P.S. I felt like i was writing a essay for some reason :P

You do realise pistoliers are a special choice now, do you? ;)

Yes, but I could simply fill up the core choices with empire handgunners. For instance, my army can be a small 1000pt army as follows

1 Captain
1 Battle Wizard
1 Master Engineer
10 Handgunners
9 Handgunners [Accompanied by Master Engineer]
10 Pistoliers
10 Pistoliers
9 Pistoliers [Accompnaied by Captain]
1 Helblaster Volley Gun [Accompnaied by Battle Wizard]

See my point? In truth, my core army is made up of pistoliers. The handgunners and helblaster volley gun is just support for my pistoliers.

P.S. This was just a quick list made up just now to prove a point.
What do you think?

The captain shouldn't go with the pistoliers because I think he gets rid of their fast cavalry rule, as he is not fast cavalry himself. Your army would certainly be different, though.

Thanks for pointing that out Drauthnir. Any suggestions as to where I should place the Captain? I was thinking of making it on foot and just place it with the other unit of Handgunners.

I guess my main plan is simply shoot shoot and shoot! But I figure with the Pistoliers, they can both be used in close combat or for distant shooting. That's why i think they very versatile. But because of this if I was to decided to shoot it out with my Handgunners I could choose my Pistoliers to charge first. Then my Handgunners could dish out their lead bullets and minimize the enemy down. This would leave my Pistoliers a easy job.

P.S. What do you think? Thanks to all who have posted so far!

There are a few striking wrongs in your list Handgunner must be fielded in units of 10+ men not included characters. Why do you have a Master Engineer to go with your Handgunner anyway, a master engineer has the same stats as a Handgunner champion except an extra wound, they have the same weapon options, which leads to the point that a handgunner champion is cheaper and with the same firing capabilities. A removal will leave you free to take an extra wizard to rain magical death on your foe.

I too must point out that your pistoliers are not a shooting unit, with only range 8” they tend to be within charge range of even infantry when they get to fire. If they are placed on a flank of the infantry and therefore cannot be charged, why not charge yourself. Pistoliers should be regarded as a close combat unit with some interesting bonuses the pistols. I would perhaps consider a single unit of knights instead of a unit of pistoliers.

Your pistolier units seem too large to me, they are fast cavalry so they do not get rank bonus, and a unit on a straight line of 10 pistoliers cannot get all models to fight. I suggest a unit of 6 pistoliers with a marksman with repeaterpistol, which gives 13 attacks with strength 4 plus horses.

By the way why are your wizard going with the Helblaster? And a Captain can go with a unit of pistoliers without taking away their fast cavalry ability, but he has none (cannot shoot when marched) and will perhaps slow them down with his barding. A character that joins up with a fast cavalry unit does get the movement bonus only. I would not recommend it however.

Lol, I guess this idea wumped. :P

P.S. Thanks to all who posted! :D

No! I like this idea go with it!