First up, a round of
to Naught...you picked some big shoes to fill, but I´m sure you´ll be up for the challenge!
I´d like to present my proposal for this TDG:
The Mixed Arms Army of Mixing it up!Lords:Level 4 Battle Wizard Lord (Lore of Death) with Dispel Scroll // goes with the Archers
Heroes:Captain of the Empire (General) with Handgun, Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield and Ruby Ring of Ruin // goes with the Handgunners
Captain of the Empire (Battle Standard Bearer) with Great Weapon and The Armour of Meteoric Iron // goes with the Halberdiers
Warrior Priest with Heavy Armour, Warhorse with Barding and Charmed Shield // goes with the Halberdiers
Master Engineer // goes with one Helblaster Volley Gun
Master Engineer // goes with the other Helblaster Volley Gun
Core:Handgunners (29) with Marksman with Repeater Handgun, Musician and Standard Bearer
Detachment 1: Crossbowmen (10)
Detachment 2: Crossbowmen (10)
Halberdiers (43) with Sergeant, Musician and Standard Bearer
Detachment 1: Archers (5)
Detachment 2: Archers (5)
Archers (10)
Special:Demigryph Knights (4) with Standard Bearer
Pistoliers (5)
Pistoliers (5)
Great Cannon
Great Cannon
Rare:Helblaster Volley Gun
Helblaster Volley Gun
Lords: 9,00%
Heroes: 18,44%
Core: 36,36%
Special: 26,48%
Rare: 9,60%
The army has a strong shooting core with the Handgunner unit (deployed in three rows of ten), pumping out 18 BS3, 3 BS4 and 1 BS5 shot a turn, with their detachments adding 20 BS3 Crossbow shots. Units charging them will not have a fun time. The Captain-General goes with them to lend some support should they get charged and to shoot some Fireballs in the magic phase; the extra rank helps them remain functionable after taking some losses.
Everybody knows how disgusting Hellblasters with attached Engineers are by now, and two Great Cannons round out the shooting component.
The Halberdiers help defend the shooting elements, with the Warrior Priest and Battle Standard Bearer lending their support. There have been lenghty discussions about putting mounted characters in infantry units; suffice to say the WP is pretty well protected with his Charmed Shield unless facing a vast amount of opposing artillery. The BSB sits smuggly behind his 1+/6++ armour.
The Archer detachments help clearing chaff and provide a nuisance for opponents themselves in the meanwhile.
The 10-man Archer unit serves as the standard Wizard Bunker for the Death Mage who helps with debuffs and character sniping, hopefully scaring opponents enough for Fireballs and Prayers to go through unmolested.
4 Demigryphs are a tough unit to deal with as we´ve learned in past TDG´s, and in this army they serve the specific purpose of hitting units that get to close to the shooting elements, refraining from venturing far from the BSB unless a very juicy target presents itself.
Last but not least, the Pistoliers are there to spread disarray in the opponents lines and hunt dangerous Warmachines or Wizards down should the opportunity present itself. They´re the first line of defense and should be used to make sure the opponent can´t hit our lines with more then one unit at a time.
The army is unlike the lists we have used in TDG´s before, but it makes use of some of our most powerful units, while at the same time trying out an unusual element (these days) in the large unit of Handgunners. All of the models used are on Naught´s list except for a few minor details (shield on the WP or Handgun on the General).
It was built to cover all bases: Gunners, Crossbows and Hellblasters for killing infantry; Cannons to take care of big scaries; Helbardiers to break Steadfast and go toe-to-toe with most other core units; Demigryphs to hit hard and dirty; Death magic to snipe characters; Ruby Ring to fill the Magic Missile-gap in Death Magic and to help against Undead; Pistoliers and Archers to disrupt the opponent´s movement. The Characters are purely there to support the units in those roles, and to keep the morale up. I think it´s a pretty fun and solid list and would love to see it used in this TDG!
