Topic: Road to Adepticon - My Army Blog

[Clarkarias]

It has been a long time since I’ve played with my Empire army.  Also I moved so I haven’t gotten nearly as many games of Warhammer as I used to.  Now that the new army book is out, and I have a target tournament in mind – Adepticon 2013, I’ve decided to break the army back out and get it painted up.

I had originally designed a 2500 point list as that was what my old local store was playing.  The Adepticon tournament last year was 2200 points to that is what I’ve started planning for.  The goal is to have a nice balanced all comes list that will look great on the table and still be able to steal some extra objective points.  Last year there were bonus points for controlling terrain pieces and having banners in certain areas of the table.  I’m trying to make sure I have enough of both to get these extra points.  That said, here is what I came up with as a first pass at 2200 points:

General of the Empire (Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command) – 189 points
Captain of the Empire (Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone) – 128 points
Warrior Priest (Heavy Armour, Shield) – 69 points
Warrior Priest (Heavy Armour, Shield) – 69 points
Battle Wizard (Lore of Fire, Dispel Scroll, Dragonbane Gem) – 95 points

38 Halberdiers (Sergeant, Standard, Musician) – 258 points
General and Warrior Priest go here
15 Swordsmen Detachment – 105 points
5 Archer Detachment – 35 points
6 Knightly Orders (Inner Circle, Standard, Musician) – 170 points

38 Greatswords (Count’s Champion, Standard, Musician) – 448 points
BSB and Warrior Priest go here
15 Swordsmen Detachment – 105 points
5 Archer Detachment – 35 points
Great Cannon – 120 points
Great Cannon – 120 points

Steam Tank – 250 points

Army Total - 2196

I created the initial army before reading the great post about the Griffon formation.  I like sticking with two half griffons as I don’t see the need for that many archers.  That said I don’t have a spot to put my wizard yet.

In general the plan is have my almost completely stubborn army slowly grind away at the enemy.  The Regimental Units will be in horde formation unless they will be fighting a superior horde formation (say a 10 wide unit of Chaos Warriors, in which case they are probably screwed anyway).  The swordsmen and archer detachments are strictly in the army to protect the flanks and redirect any trouble from the parent units.  I especially like two key items:  the ability to hold with the swordsmen and the versatility of the archers as detachments.

The swordsmen will be deployed outside of their Regimental Units almost exclusively as flank protectors.  If my flanks are clear I will look for a counter-charge opportunity.

The archers will be used to clear away chaff, hold down pieces of terrain and in key circumstances be used as redirectors or conga holders.

The Knights will either be used as a rear guard hiding behind my army, or more likely will go monster hunting.  I have found since 8th edition, the best thing about cavalry is they can’t be stomped.  That saves a ton of potential damage without dice even being rolled. 

The cannons are there for one of the biggest issues this army would have otherwise, killing monsters.  They are also great versus other war machines.  The only time I seem them as useless is if facing a horde army with only troops.  They’ll have to earn their points back over several turns.

Steam Tank is so versatile I don’t have a plan for it.  First idea is to deploy it between the two infantry blocks.

Each main unit has a Warrior Priest for prayers/hatred and a “Hold the Line!” character.  The wizard is a scroll caddy with fire magic so I have the flexibility to roll 2 dice or 6 dice with a basic fireball depending on what I roll.  If I get Flaming Sword of Ruin as his spell, that is even better.

Possible issues I see with this current army list:
- Opposing hordes armies.  Difficult to eliminate units for VPs
- Opposing chaff.  I don’t have too much to take them out.  However if not playing against a gun line I should have the initiative with shooting priority
- High magic level armies.  Not much magic defense and not much ability to weather a storm.

I plan on using this post as a blog going forward, which is why it isn’t in the Parade Ground.  I hope to post some pictures of my first units soon as well as some of my game experiences and any list tweaks.

Any comments or suggestions are of course appreciated.

[TCWarroom]

Good luck! I will be there too. Its 2400 this year so a little adjustment on your list is in order. I'm not sure what army I'm taking.

[anvalous]

Can't wait to see it all play out!  I'm running my Bretoggians.  Perhaps we shall meet!

[Harshey]

If I get in, I'll see you there.

[Clarkarias]

Awesome!  Glad to see others going.  I'm working on what to take to bump it up to 2400.  I'm thinking Pegasus Captain.  I just need to add about 40 points in core to keep the list legal.

Hoping to get some pics up soon even though I'm a grossly slow painter.

[Eighty]

when in doubt, more halberds!

[Clarkarias]

A few tweaks to get the list up to 2400:

General of the Empire (Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Luckstone) – 194 points
Captain of the Empire (Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone) – 128 points
Captain of the Empire (Pegasus, Full Plate Armour, Charmed Shield, Shrieking Blade) – 126 Points
Warrior Priest (Heavy Armour, Shield) – 69 points
Warrior Priest (Heavy Armour, Shield) – 69 points
Battle Wizard (Lore of Fire, Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Dragonbane Gem) – 130 points

38 Halberdiers (Sergeant, Standard, Musician) – 258 points
General and Warrior Priest go here
15 Swordsmen Detachment – 105 points
5 Archer Detachment – 35 points
7 Knightly Orders (Inner Circle, Standard, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame) – 205 points

38 Greatswords (Count’s Champion, Standard, Musician) – 448 points
BSB and Warrior Priest go here
15 Swordsmen Detachment – 105 points
5 Archer Detachment – 35 points
Great Cannon – 120 points
Great Cannon – 120 points

Steam Tank – 250 points

Army Total - 2397

I got to play two games this week with this List

Dark Elves
Dragon Lord, BSB on Foot, Level 2 Sorceress on Foot, 30 Spears, 16 Crossbows, Chariot, 2 Bolt Throwers, Hydra, 5 Cold One Knights, Assassin, 8 Shades

Highlights
-   One goal was to have my knights go up against the Hydra.  With their flaming banner and great weapons they should be able to do some damage.  Always striking last with their great weapons was a problem in this case
-   Wizard was great with his fireballs doing damage (including eventually crippling the Hydra).  Support from low casting warrior priests forces the opponent to think about their dispelling
-   Steam Tank ran over the dragon.  The thing is still awesome. 
-   Pegasus captain did its job in taking out a bolt thrower
-   State Troops didn’t even make it into combat (crossbows fled and got caught by charging greatswords

I must say this wasn’t the most challenging game.  My opponent had even admitted his luck with dice had been horrible for months but I really think he poorly played that dragon.

Big win for the Empire.

Bretonnia
Fey Enchantress, Mounted BSB, 2x9 Knights of the Realm, 2x9 Knights Errant, 2x16 Archers, 10 Mounted Yeoman, 6 Pegasus Knights, 2 Trebuchet

Highlights
-   Stubborn units are awesome. A swordsmen detachment got changed in the flank by a unit of Knights of the Realm and held them up for 5 rounds of combat.  I need to work on support as I had nothing to counter with
-   Knights with Great Weapons worked well in this game taking a lance charge and killing knights in return
-   Heroic Killing Blow vs Steam Tank is bad
-   Swordsmen can also repel light cavalry charges with no sweat
-   Greatswords were killed to a man because not many could fight against the lance (the Fey Enchantress was in the way)
-   Again the Fire Mage made itself valuable by making an archer unit panic and run off the table
-   Cannon Counter battery is the best (even though it was the archers that took the last wound off the last trebuchet
-   Pegasus Captain protecting the rear made my opponent think about where to place his Pegasus Knights

Draw

A couple of notes after first few games
-   Enemy characters will definitely cause problems as I don’t have much that can take them in close combat.  Maybe shuffling some points to get some tools for the job.
-   Further thought on repelling flies is needed
-   My archers felt useless being in the wrong positions.  Definitely need to put further thought into what to do with them
-   How to protect my Warrior Priests while still keeping them cheap