Fall winds blew across the damp grasses. It had rained last night. Albrect leaned back into his saddle, as Hermionie, his griffon, pecked and clawed at the deer carcass in front of her. Smiling, Albrect took a sip of brandy. Waving his hand in front of him, he proudly proclaimed, "Say what you think, Kreuger, but I think it's a lovely army."
Kreuger hated the cold. Just yesterday, he swore he was on the Tilean riviera, enjoying the hot sun, and hotter sandy beaches. Now, here he was, in some mud-feild in Bretonnia being sent off to what he was certain was going to be his death. The old engineer could only run his fingers through what was left of his white hair. He hated going to war… but… Albrect loved to live the high life, and the high life cost money... as did the Tilean riviera. Lots of it. Luckily, depending on how you looked at it, these days people paid up front… in gold Imperial Crowns. So, the engineer knew it was only a matter of time before his liege would want to go to war as well.
"Sir, if I may," started the engineer. He knew Albrect wasn't listening, but he could not help himself try to stay alive just a day or two longer. "I think this is a bad idea. This hodge-podge of units is mostly populated with refugees from Marienburg, Tilea, Estallia, and even Bretonnia. They aren't professional soldiers. More... people conscripted to fight, as they have nothing else to lose. "
"Spot on, as always Kreuger; however, they all have this grim resolve to see whatever is going on through to the end. So, they'll make a grand army. Besides, we've already been paid, and I'm not going to be known as that Elector Count."
"Sir, you're a self-proclaimed Elector Count."
"Pish-posh. Just because the Empire no longer recognizes Marienburg as part of it, does not mean I am not the Elector Count of that city. They'll both see… someday. Anyway, Kreuger, time is wasting. Bring our roster over to the Grand Marshall's tent, so he can include us in his battle plans."
***** ***** *****
(( Alright all, this is my first post, so I thought I'd ask for some 3rd party thoughts on my army. This is what I know.
1) Tournament is on Sunday… not sure of the type, disposition, style, or personas of the other competitors; however, about a dozen have signed up so far. Overall rules are 2400 points. It is unclear if they're using "The BUYOUT times" percentages or magic rules or crazy army lists or not. Also, as far as I can tell, no composition or swiss-comp rules. Pretty much, as long as it's not illegal (like 55% points in Lords), you can do it, is what I am planning on.
2) I am under the impression that the Holiday Prize, a $500 store card, will bring out the worst in people. And… I also know that my army is no where near optimized. I fully expect to lose; however, I'm hoping that by giving you all a glance at what I do have, you can think of something I may have overlooked or undervalued… and maybe help me flesh out the other 200-odd points that I haven't accounted for yet. And my losses won't be completely and utterly embarrassing.
3) If I "lock", id est I chose one lore before the tournament starts, and stick with that lore for the entire tournament, I at least will get my entry fee back as store credit. Not really sure of the reasoning behind this, but at $25, I figured I might as well take advantage of it. So, I'm going to lock with Metal.
So, here is what I have.
Lords:
Elector Count (Yes, I know he's technically a "General", but I liked the previous edition where you could actually bring your Elector Count, so I'm keeping it) on Griffon with shield, full plate, Sword of Might, pistol, and Talisman of Protection. Griffon has Bloodcurdling Roar. I know that magic weapons are kinda wasted on Empire Lords; however, my thought is that the Sword of Might is cheap, and would help him clear away chaff. Also, I have the older version Empire Griffon, on the 50mm x 50mm base, so technically he's smaller, which means he packs more attacks on a smaller front, and is a bit easier to hide behind terrain and whatnot.
Heroes:
Warrior Priestess with Additional Hand Weapon and Armor of Meteoric Iron. She's with the Spearmen (Issengard Militia). Her main role is to give them a slight boost to their combat prowess, Leadership 8, and occasionally fling off a prayer or two.
Warrior Priestess on barded warhorse with shield, great weapon, and Armor of Fortune. She's with the larger unit of knights (Vanheim's Knights). Her main job is to make sure that my knights, when they charge, don't get rubber-lance-syndrome, and to pull out dispell dice.
Prodigal Sorceress, level 2 Metal, on barded warhorse with Dispell Scroll. While the signature spell is unreliable, I do like the Enchanted Blades. A well timed Enchanted Blades can make my spearmen more dangerous… and I figure I'll be going against a decent (id est 4+ or better) armor save fairly regularly... so the default spell should be applicable. I know level 2 is weak, but she does work with two other spell castor types. She'll be riding behind the spearmen... I don't have a non-mounted sorceress. If I did, I'd put her in either the archers or spearmen.
Battle Standard Bearer with shield, lance, Armor of Destiny on Pegasus. Pegasus has Iron Hard Hooves. I was considering him on foot; however, the Pegasus better ranks-up with the demigryph knights… and being on Pegasus makes him immune to Killing Blow… which I figured was a plus.
Core:
Spearmen, 39 count with shields and full command. I know that Halberds are better, but my spearmen have one HUGE thing going for them. I already own them, and they are already painted. I guess that's two things. Anyway, at effectively 40-sized, I figure I can either 5x8 them or Horde them, depending on the opponent. And, I'm planning on keeping the BSB generally near the spearmen, giving them an 8-rerollable LD.
Inner Circle Knights, 10 count with full command and War Banner. With the mounted Warrior Priestess, I figure these guys will be one of my main assault units. If I can paint one more knight up in time, I'll upsize these guys to 11.
Knights, 6 count with full command. I figured a second unit of knights could go where needed, and have the movement to exploit targets of opportunity.
Archers, 10 count with musician and marksman. I could upgrade these guys to Huntsmen. I mostly just want to use Lumpin's boys… the halfling Regiment of Renoun. I figure with skirmish they can either screen the spearmen, take shots of opportunity, or jump into woods to see what the terrain is.
Special:
6 Pistoliers with musician and Outrider. These guys run around shooting like banditos, in order to distract opponents from noticing that I'm moving my cavalry units into position. If they take the bait, good. If they don't… they always have their Pistols to shoot. I fully expect them to die by turn 2 of each game. If they last longer than that, nice.
Cannon 1... um… to shoot stuff.
Cannon 2… um… to give something "both barrels" I guess.
Demigryph Knights, 4 count including full command. Standard Bearer has the Steel Standard. My thought is that the Steel Standard increases the threat radius of the Demigryph knights, and keeps me from having a crappy charge-distance. I figure they are meaty enough that they can solo charge stuff, if needed, due to the fact that they can survive the turn unit my other knights, or pistoliers in a pinch, can hit the same unit.
If my math is correct, that puts me around 2200 points.
Other:
Okay, I also have:
20-strong unit of crossbows that I could bring, with full command… though the standard bearer would probably be lost with them. And humans shooting is… meh.
30-strong unit of Alcatani, that I could use as a second company of spearmen. The issue being that LD 7 is no where near as nice as LD 8… and they're just spearmen, which I already have. I guess I could include them in the spearmen block, it would just look odd to me.
5 additional halfling archers. Two are semi-painted, and three are glued-to-the-base. To me, though, adding archers seems counter-productive. They are meant to be small, light, and almost insignificant, in order to allow them to move around and maybe take a few shots of opportunity.
I could also try to assemble-paint two more demigryph knights as well.
A kit-bashed rocket-cart as well. I know it blows. I've tried multiple times to get it to work, and… the best it's done in six games is kill four line-infantry models.
A mortar… but with two cannons, I figured I had that covered.
I have eight Outriders, including two with repeater pistols. I swapped these guys for the Pistoliers, as, to me, Fast Cav needs to move… which the Pistoliers can do. The Outriders are too static.
15 Reiks footknights with full command that I could use as a small unit of swordsmen or Greatswords… though at 15, they almost seem too small to really be consequential.
Overall, my big constraint is what I have available to me.
So… suggestions, please? ))
