Editing The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy) (section)

===Infantry and Cavalry===
In the 17th century the ''crème de la crème'' of military tactics was the ''tercio'', otherwise known as the Spanish square, Spanish third or - as we know it today - the pike-and-shot formation. Composed of pikemen, swordsmen and early handguns, the tercio would see the pikemen at the forefront, defending against infantry and especially cavalry while the gunners fired their relatively short ranged and slow-loading guns, while the swordsmen, called rodeleros, would help break the deadlock that occurred when two blocks of pike men clashed face to face. As the guns got better, the swordsmen were phased out. The gunners could also be moved from the front toward the flank to allow more tactically defensive maneuvers.

The whole tercio was further supported by heavily armoured cavalry, called ''cuirassier''. Due to the superiority of pikes, the lance was dropped from the usage of heavy cavalry and instead long barreled pistols were taken up as the primary weapon and ''caracole'' (which means "snail," ironically) tactic was invented. The cavalry would fire their guns, then wheel around to reload, and then circle back and fire again. They also often carried pistols to fire quickly or in an emergency. Generally, cavalry had a hard time facing against a tercio, as the hand guns got better and the wheeling caracole got less and less effective. Often, the commanders would have the cavalry charge formations until they were point blank range, as the pistols often had mace heads and blades mounted on to make improvised melee weapons.

Incidentally this time period is when we get the term "bullet proof" as cavalry armour would be shot with a pistol before it was sold: if the armour stopped the bullet then it was "proofed" and was then sold as being able to offer proper protection. If the bullet went though the armour, well, good luck selling it.

If that sounds a bit like the Empire, it should. That was the Spanish square. In Switzerland, halberds were used in place of the swordsmen (the Swiss Guard in fact STILL use halberds ceremonially), while in Germany soldiers also used halberds and legends say the ''Doppelsöldner'' (mercenaries who volunteered to fight on the front line for more money) could do the same with two-handed greatswords called ''Zweihänders'' by using the weight of the sword to smash though the wall of pikes.

Considering the Empire's principle enemies are [[Warriors of Chaos|massively ripped, Chaos worshiping Viking warriors in awesome plate armour with physical strength and skill beyond that of any other race]], [[Orc|greenskinned football hooligans with inhuman resilience and never-ending numbers]], [[Skaven|man rats with horrific technology]] and [[Beastmen|Goat-headed, Chaos-mutated killing machines]] the use of halberds with their greater ability to cut though meaty target over pikes makes a lot of sense.

Likewise, the Empire's detachment system is surprisingly accurate being very representative of the discipline these formations held with units of men armed with distinctly different weapons acting in support of each other.

The Empires pistoleers are indicative of the cuirassier while the knights, without the competition of heavy pikemen because none of the Empire's enemies have the discipline to hold a pike wall, take up the traditional knightly role of shock troops. In addition, the attitude and bravery of pistoleer units in the fluff seems to be drawn from the Light Cavalry units of later eras, such as Napoleonic Hussars, who were basically pirates on horseback (the name is even related to the word ''Corsair'').

Outriders come from a different military unit, however, that of the dragoon. A dragoon was a infantry man who rode from Point A to Point B but once at Point B got off his horse and fought on foot. When they say, "Wait for the Cavalry" they mean "Wait for the Dragoons" because they were used as troubleshooters and fast reaction soldiers to plug gaps in the line. But the bigger part of their influence is the US Cavalry deployed by the North in the Civil War, Northern cavalry were armed with early breech-loading carbines, one Confederate solider said that they (the unit of cavalry armed with the weapon) could "load on Sunday and fire all week", a clear parallel to the Outriders' repeater handguns. For completeness sake, Southern cavalry were armed with revolvers. Also of note, the fact that the Empire's outriders are heavily entwined with the engineers of Nuln is likely a reference to the fact that many dragoon units were cross-trained as sappers and combat engineers, due to the fact that they ranged ahead of the main army and thus often had to repair or build bridges and outposts.