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 the value of the wounds he causes for the purposes of combat resolution. He also makes a unit of Reiksguard 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: Fluff-wise, this guy makes Kaldor Draigo look like a pussy. Crunch-wise, not so much. 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 why in God's name do you care about regen when you have a 4+ ward save in the first place?), 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. Build your own and SAY he's Luthor, no one will blame you.
• 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 with a different Lore (say, Life).

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 off with a more specialized character for your general unless you plan on taking part in challenges a lot. 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.
  • War Altar of Sigmar: The War Altar is, in short, fucking awesome. For 100 points, you get a +4 ward save (worth 45 points in itself), a -2 bonus on your regular armor save, magic resistance 2, impact hits, and the ability to cast a spell from the Lore of Light that you get to pick. If you take an Arch Lector and you have the points, take this too. Just make sure to have a way of healing the War Altar itself, as anyone who isn't a moron will try to kill it out from under you in close combat.
• Wizard Lord: Gives you all the 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 melee 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 give you +1 WS, +1 I and a shield, which increases their 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 your opponent's characters, the repeater handgun, which adds two more shots to the gunline, or a brace of pistols (pfft). 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 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. They can also take detachments. Take thirty 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). The Outrider Champion gives you the potion of putting a Hochland Long Rifle on a model with BS 5 (see "Super Sniper" in the Tactics section), while the Grenade Launching Blunderbuss is meh. Try to get behind your opponent's army and shoot him up the strap. Also got DEM BEARDS.
• 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 at least they won't blow up as much as they used to.

Rare Units

• Flagellant Warband: Pretty expensive for infantry (the same as Greatswords) and are WS 2, but man, can these crazy bastards 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, it runs the risk of damaging itself if you build up too much steam, and it's dead in the water when it gets to half strength; on the other hand, it does make a lovely tarpit, and dishes out d3 impact hits per Steam Point in addition to a Strength 6 cannon and a Strength 2 no-save template from the steam gun. Moreover, anything that does impact hits on a Steam Tank gets impact hits back (if one Steam Tank should charge another, they'll keep exchanging impact hits until one of them explodes). The errata removed the unique restriction, so you can now take two (or three in a Grand Army) if you want. It will be a massive fire magnet, so take a Life mage so you can heal it.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

If you're building a well-rounded army that has something of everything, 2-3 Battalion boxes should form the core of your army; then add Special/Rare units to your personal taste. However, one thing you should be aware of is that the knights in the Battalion do not come with a Knights of the White Wolf sprue.

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.

Army Composition

This is largely a matter of personal preference, 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).

Magic Items

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 Mace of Helsturm (sort of a Ghul Maraz-lite), the Ogre Blade (+2 Strength) and the Sword of Sigismund (+1 Strength and Aways Strikes First). If you're looking for something more economical, The Sword of Righteous Steel always hits on a 2+, and the Sword of Anti-Heroes can be awesome if your opponents are still playing Herohammer.
• Good Armor. The Armor of Meteoric Iron is an absolute steal at 25 points for a 1+ armor save. Dawn Armor and the Armor of Silvered Steel are also good choices. Taking the Shield of the Gorgon synergizes very well with van Horstmann's Speculum (see below), as it lowers the number of attacks they get, which means one attack (barring special rules or extra weapons) when you switch stats.
• Van Horstmann's Speculum. This little doozy gives you the option of swapping your champion's attack stats (WS, S, T, I and A) with those of your opponent's champion. No, Tyrion, you are the sucky fighter.
• If you pass on van Horstmann's Speculum, take the Holy Relic for a 4+ ward save; this is preferable if you're taking a Templar Grand Master or something equally nasty.

Magic banners will help you out tremendously. The Griffon Banner is great if you can afford it, while the Steel Standard gives your knights an extra d3 inches on a charge, even if they fail.

Aldred's Casket of Sorcery can be extremely annoying if used strategically (see the Tactics section for more details).

Magic

The Empire is one of the few armies to get access to all eight Lores of Magic. Good choices are:

• Life: This Lore could only be more awesome if it had tits and was on fire. Throne of Vines lets you ignore all miscasts from Life wizards on a 2+ (this includes a miscast from casting ToV itself, so go for broke) and beefs up the rest of your spells, Regrowth brings back dead models, Flesh to Stone and Shield of Thorns are welcome buffs, and The Dwellers Below makes all models in a targeted unit make a Strength test or roll for anal circumference. And every time you successfully cast, you heal a wound, which can be on any model within 12". Seriously, take this Lore, and take it for the highest-level wizard you have.
• Metal: A good choice, but only comes into its own against enemies with high armor values (Warriors of Chaos, Brettonians, other Empire armies, and so on). Casting Plague of Rust on Skinks or Clanrats is a waste of fucking time, and the lore attribute means that direct damage and magic missiles are less powerful the less armor their targets have. On the other hand, all damage spells ignore armor saves, and the augments it offers are fine in their own right.
• 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 very good secondary lore, especially considering the fact that it's statistically the easiest lore to cast. Also, taking the War Altar gives you access to the entire lore, so you don't even need to spend points on another Battle Wizard for it.
• Death: Four words: Purple Sun of Xereus. Also has very good buffs and debuffs, though you've got to be pretty close to an enemy for the latter.
• Shadow: Has a lot of very good debuffs and can make one guy a flier, 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.

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.

Tactics

Using detachments: If you're using detachments (and you probably should), you need to learn the detachment rules by heart so you always know what they can and can't do in a given situation.

The Good:

• Melee detachments can make a supporting charge or a countercharge. On a countercharge, a detachment may charge the enemy unit's flank if it is in line of sight, even if it normally would not be allowed to do so.
• Ranged detachments can make a Stand and Shoot action without the normal penalty if their parent unit is charged.
• Detachments do not cause Panic tests like regular units do.

The Bad:

• Detachments cannot take command models, so you can't put a Hochland Long Rifle in a detachment of Handgunners.
• Detachments do not receive any of the special rules that a character gives their parent unit, only its Leadership.
• Detachments lose their special abilities if they are more than 3" away from their parent unit, or if a character joins the detachment.

The Ugly:

• Detachments can take up a lot of valuable real estate during deployment, and can't be placed in reserve unless the parent unit is in reserve as well.

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 hard cover (this is less important for mortars and Helstorms, which fire indirectly). However, even though you may be tempted to do so, do NOT put your artillery in a building if your opponent has artillery of his own or high-Strength units he can bring to bear on it; every model in the building takes successful hits.

Super Sniper: Take a 5-man unit of Outriders with a Champion with a Hochland Long Rifle (the Champion has a BS of 5), and attach a Warrior Priest to it. Cast Hammer of Sigmar on your Champion to give him rerolls to hit and to wound (which is explicitly allowed by the FAQ). Kill all of your opponent's characters. Combine with Enchanted Blades of Aiban/Flaming Sword of Rhuin for even more cheese.

Flying Magic Vampire: Take a Captain of the Empire, put him on a Pegasus, give him heavy plate, Aldred's Casket of Sorcery and an Enchanted Shield, and have him fly around stealing your opponent's spells. Make sure to cast Armor of Contempt on him first, because he will become a massive fire magnet very quickly.