I've just recently decided to play empire, and after reviewing some other criticised lists and other information, this is what I've decided on.


1 Captain @ 84 Pts
General; Halberd
Armour of Meteoric Iron [30]

1 Battle Wizard of the Celestial Order @ 120 Pts
Magic Level 2; Lore of Heaven
Dispel Scroll [25]

1 Battle Wizard of the Celestial Order @ 95 Pts
Magic Level 2; Lore of Heaven

25 Spearmen @ 280 Pts
Spear; Light Armour; Shield; Standard; Musician; Champion

10 Detachment - Handgunners @ [80] Pts
Empire Handgun


19 Swordsmen @ 245 Pts
Light Armour; Shield; Standard; Musician; Champion

10 Detachment - Handgunners @ [80] Pts
Empire Handgun

10 Free Company @ 50 Pts
2ndWeapon

1 Hellblaster @ 125 Pts

Casting Pool: 6

Dispel Pool: 4

Total Army Cost: 999

Feel free to correct as much as you possibly can, but this is my theory as of right now:

My general will be with the swordmen at the beginning of the game. Depending on which unit needs him the most, I will switch him between the spears and swordmen. The two wizards will be behind my line or in the free company, bombarding anything it can with nukes, or helping out combat with rerolls. The loose free company (point fillers, honestly) will be there to shield the two wizards or help flank.

My plan really isn't elaborate, and being as I've never played with or against empire, I quite honestly have almost no idea what I'm talking about, so help me out!

-Scrappy

Get rid of one f the Wizards. Not many armies would have that much magic in an army of 1000pts. Get rid of the 10 free companies and get extra swordsmen. Then also get something like 8 halberdier detachment for the swordsmen unt aswell as the handgunners. This means that you have a very hard, holding unit.

I'd swap the Free company and the Handgunners around - make the Free company a detachment for the spears - not many units can take a spear-block defense to their front and a twin hand weapon attack to their flank! Hangunners aren't going to do much as detachments that they couldn't do on their own.

I'd also considering lessening your magic power - it's powerful for 1000pts, but it's still weak, and will not achieve much for the points investment. In return for the lost wizard or wizards, I'd recommend some cavalry, just to give you extra hitting power - and you can't go wrong with Pistoliers!

Thanks guys! That really helps... you're right, one level two wizard will probably be sufficient, with one scroll.

Please PLEASE pardon how naive I am, but what EXACTLY do detachments do? I have a rough idea, but help me out a little here. Second, why are handgunners so widely used? They seem pretty mediocre to me (aside from the fact that they have that rediculous -2 armor save), standard 3 BS and 1 shot each.

Scrappy

Thanks! (Please, don't flame me out here... I'm a skaven and vampire player!)

Detatchments are a very useful feature of the Empire, when your unit charges, the detatchment can charge the enemy in the flank, or if your unit gets charged, detcatchments can perform counter-charges. this means your enemy is getting flanked and probably outnumbered.

Handgunners are quite useful for taking out armoured opponents, and they can also be used for detatchments where they can do supporting fire instead of charging.

Handgunners - the main point of them is that they're cheap and reliable. Like all infantry missile fire, they won't rip a unit to shreds in one turn of shooting, but what they will do is punch down a reliable one or two troopers a turn - which takes ranks off the enemy, since the back rank will fall below four models, and you can then target the next unit. A great advantage for very few points.

Excellent point, that's why I post on these forums!

After reviewing (and playing one game versus wood elves, which ended in a victory for Empire, a massive slaughter at that), I've devised a second 1000 point list. Criticize away!

1 Captain @ 84 Pts
General; Great Weapon
Armour of Meteoric Iron [30]
1 Battle Wizard @ 95 Pts
Magic Level 2
25 Swordsmen @ 340 Pts
Light Armour; Shield; Standard; Musician; Champion
12 Detachment - Free Company @ [60] Pts
10 Detachment - Handgunners @ [80] Pts
12 Handgunners @ 136 Pts
Empire Handgun; Standard; Musician; Champion (Long Rifle)
1 Hellblaster @ 125 Pts
8 Knightly Orders @ 216 Pts
Barding; Lance; Full Plate Armor; Shield; Standard; Warhorse; Champion
Casting Pool: 4
Dispel Pool: 3
Models in Army: 73
Total Army Cost: 996

What I learned is that handgunners are excellent at taking out armored rank and file troops! By have 12 in a straight battle line, theres enough fire to take out anything from a cavalry rank to anything else. The handgunner detachment is just big enough to get an effective support fire round without taking up too much room. The cavalry always seems to be a safe bet, as cavalry is hard to kill and gets the charge (by the way, after using chaos knights and black knights from vampires, knightly orders are absolutely worthless... moving on). The hellblaster is absolutely PRICELESS in taking out groups of skirmishers. All hits is excellent, and it has enough shots to take out war machine hunters (birds, fast skirmishers, fast cav and the like)!

I use very basic, universal tactics and lists so I can make a good tourney list ;) Thanks!

Scrappy