-Just a little change regarding the Detachments might apply in the following List in the future, as I didn't consider that "Skirmishers" cannot negate enemy's Rank bonus-
THIS TOPIC IS UNDER CONSTRUCTIONThank you all for your helpful commentsPROCEED TO MY LATEST REPLY: "STAND ALONE COMPLEX"
Creating a 500pts competitive Imperial List was much more difficult than I had imagine!
I had to think solutions for a lot of different challenges and with only 250 to 400pts available for choosing units that seemed imposible. To be honest, it still does!
Anyway, one of my first priorities was having some serious shooting, as well as a good close-combat unit.
Three things I generaly had in my mind:
1)
Every Point Counts: The first thing I learned trying writing this mini-list was that EVERY POINT counts. If I field a powerful unit that hits hard but it might also cramble on it's own, I must have something else to take it's place. And with 500 available points, I don't! As a result I decided to field units that maybe are not as powerful as others, but a lot cheaper and most important MORE reliable! In other words, I focused on what I like to call,
RELIABILITY: Fielding a Cannon for 100pts could give me an advantage, but if it misfires or if shoots grapeshot, I probably spent 100 pts for nothing! The same conclusion applies for all machines, so no type of machine is taken.
Instead, I decided to use soldiers holding firing hand-weapons, who they'll never die from a misfire and as long as you can calculate the distance, they'll hit exactly were you want!
The same thing applies for heroes as well. A Wizard may win the entire game, BUT he can also do nothing (except maybe offering MR). The human Wizard is not a Warrior, he has no protection, and with 3-4 Power Dices he'll face enemy's Dispel Dices (2 to 5), meaning I won't expecting much if I don't roll an Irresistable. In the end, enemy will be too close and I'll be missing those 100pts who could be taken as a unit or a Captain instead...
2)
Magic: Many nasty armies rely on their raw magic for winning some easy points. Using their magic defensive, wouldn't be such a problem, since there aren't many those who can do that. Plus this type of Magic wouldn't affect (directly) my units. But the offensive magic is much more common and an issue you MUST face immediately if you want to keep your units on the table (like you have a choice!). So, Magic Resistance was exactly what I needed. A warrior Priest is too expensive with only 2 attacks and as I mentioned, a Wizard isn't so reliable.
The only solution is hoping that enemy has not a Wizard too or that this 2 Default Magic Resistance will be enough. But as I wanted to be prepared for almost anything, I decided that cheap Magic Items giving MR would be more suitable.
3)
How the Empire Supposes to Play: The Empire can't win battles only with hand to hand combat. Humans aren't strong or tough enough to deal with Ogres, Beastmen, Elfs, Chaos Warriors and so on.. The Empire usually relies on killing foes from distance and then charge the remainings
. Magic is a good way to do this, but since Human Wizards aren't the most powerful, they mostly use gun-powder. So I had to field Shooting units
Suceeding all these things in such a small army-list seems tough! If I had Chaos, a unit of bad-ass Chaos Warriors and a Chaos-Wizard would do the job. But this is not the case. Then it came up to me: I had to choose units that would do more than one task. Such 'polymorphic' units are hard to find, so I had to think hard and in some cases improvised! The rest is history..
PRESENTING THE UNITS:
CORE CHOICES & HEROES:
19 Halberdiers and
Captain of the Empire.
This is the core of my army. This unit has Banner, three ranks and outnumber which I must preserve through the battle, if I want to keep the +5 or at least +4 result in combat resolution. Halberdiers are striking with Strength 4 and it's the best available for a core choice.
Captain wears Full Plate Armour and carries a Shield. That's because I used 30 points of Magic Items for the two following Items: (1) "Wyrmslayer Sword". It's cheap and has Magical Attacks which is what I need for Ethereals. I hope that with my +4 or 5 to my combat resolution I'll overcome the damages I'll accept and I'll force them to Collapse.. On top of that, the specific sword is what I need for Monsters and Tough opponents, since it always Wounds on a 4+ no matter how high is the enemy's toughness! Not bad for 15pts... (2) "Sigil of Sigmar". Every Dispell Dice is welcomed, as well as every protection for my main unit. A total of 3 Dispel Dices against spells targeting my Captain and his Unit sounds like music in my ears
That way I create a unit that can deal with most of the creatures. The challenge now is also protecting it from missile fire! The only way to do that, is giving the opponent something else to....shoot!
Before I proceed, I'll clear you this: Because of my few points List, I needed units to shoot well while they'll be able to charge enemy's flanks at any time. That way, if for any reason a unit of mine would've been wiped out, another one could take it's place, just like spare units are acting in a large battle. That means I'd be able to afford as many casualties as I can, while in the mean time EVERYONE would remain active, fighting enemy even from distance with no breaks at all. I had many ideas and even thought of fielding a second large unit with it's own Captain, but that was just not possible, because I also wanted Shooting! I wanted ALL!!
If I was able to find a unit to Shoot AND Charge the Flanks, that would be great! Now it was time to 'improvise' with the three following units:
5 Outriders.
They have some serious Firing-power. Why a Special Choice instead of Handgunners? Because they are 'fast cavalry' plus only five models means that their Shooting will (probably) always reach the target. Of course they cannot move if they want to fire, but if I ever need them for supporting me in close combat, they will respond because of their speed! I know that Pistoliers are better in this, but a pistol lacks the range of a handgun. Here's what I thaught: 5 pistoliers have 15 close-combat attacks while 5 outriders have 10. For the fire-power and the range they give me that's not a real dillema for me. I'm not saying that you should always choose Outriders, but in a small battle like this, enemy will probably have 2-3 units max, the one of which will be the main one. That one will eventually engage into combat, so no important unit will remain un-engaged for Pistoliers to Shoot it from it's Rear or Flanks. So why should I hire THEM in the first place? Outriders will fire enemies while they're coming OR while the rest of my army is moving. When I need them, they're so fast & manoeuvrable that will reach me sooner than any other unit would! In close combat they might have 5 less attacks than Pistoliers, but considering an Outrider's or Pistolier's Strength and WS, you can truly count on negating enemy's Rank bonus and nothing more. Which is what I needed in the first place, for my Halberdiers.
5 Knights.
Now, here, is were I conclude that an extra Hero will not give me too much into such a small combat! Maybe 2 attacks more, so (....) Army List came to my mind and I decided to follow his example, replacing the second Captain with 5 knights. I did that for four(!) reasons: (A) They are a Core Choice and I needed a second one. (B) Knights are fast, they have 5 attacks S5 (and 5 S3 from their horses) while Captain has only 3 or 4max and (C) they also have 5 Wounds while Captain has only 2. (D) Most important is I'm giving the enemy many units to Shoot or Cast Spells at, so this way I'm reassuring that he'll not focuse his Ranged Attacks only to my precious Halberdiers -I want them ALL for the final close-combat! I hope that with their Armour they'll prove hard to fall..
9 Bowmen (Detachment).
Bowmen are Firing from a long distance and Shooting is what I need.
Detachments are also good in charging enemy's flanks, so once I'm having Knights as my 2nd Core Choice, I can deploy Bowmen as Detachments! Regarding 'polymorphic units', bowmen could be used as hand to hand fighters as well, only for
negating enemy's Rank bonus IF possible giving that +1 Bonus for "Flank Attack". As a result I'm having THREE units for the specific job: Knights, Outriders and this one. Bowmen may not Shoot hard, but with their ability of firing while they move, I can decide whether I'll stay in place or I'll move towards the enemy (something very usefull when you're dealing with Gun-Line Armies),
plus they're Skirmishers meaning they have that -1 when shooting at them. The problem would be that it's unlikely for anyone to ever target them, something we need in order to prevent missile Attacks firing a specific allied unitGENERIC BATTLE-PLAN
How I'll deploy the units, mostly depends on which army I'm facing at the time. But the general plan is this:
----Halberdiers & Captain are my main fighting-force. Since my Captain hasn't a missile weapon, no line of site requires here and I'll 'hide' them from enemy's missile attacks as much as I can.
----On their one flank I'll have Outriders Shooting the World(!). When I'll need them for engaging enemy's flanks and thus supporting my Halberdiers, they'll come fast! Really fast!
----On the other side, Bowmen will be following Halberdiers while firing. I hardly expect them to even injure anyone with their bows, but it's my best shot and the rival-player will think that I have a fair gun-line, so I'll mostly aim at his 'morale'
----Finally (something you don't expect) Knights will be in front of Halberdiers. Why protecting cheap models with more expensive ones? Well..... if you think of it, both units cost me the same points because of their sizes:
5 Knights are the minimum number of templars you can hire while 19 Halberdiers have everything (numbers, banner etc) So I'm actually expecting more from my State Troops as I explained before. If I hired as many Halberdiers or Bowmen or Huntsmen as my knights costs, would you be happy? Well... I wouldn't!! First, Knights have extremely
high Armour Save, so I'm expecting them to last enough. If they don't, with a
Ld8 I expect to easily pass their 'Panic' test. If they don't and they'll flee through my Halberdiers, then my infantry will use the Ld of my Captain, so THEY'LL pass it (what!! I don't think I can lose this Test two times in a row!!). My Knights may also
Charge Hard (S5) if required and they're
faster from infantry.. The only problem is that
their small number makes them unavailable for fighting large units in the front... and in such small Lists, I usually expect ALL the enemy's points gathered in a single unit. The second one enemy unit required for that 2nd Core choice will probably be minor and less important regarding the battle.. As a result, I want them for carging the flanks, but if 'they don't make it' through the battle, Bowmen or Outriders will do the job
SUMMARY
19 Halberdiers [Full Command] -115pts-
<Fighting Large enemy units (S4 attacks and because of their number) -some Ethereals (because of their number) -Monsters (because of their number)>
cos: They are slow and with only 6+ AS they need protection
Captain [Full Plate Armour, Shield, Wyrmslayer Sword, Sigil of Sigmar] -90pts-
<Fighting Large enemy Units -Ethereals -Monsters -Opponents with high Toughness. Gives MR to Halberdiers> cos: 3+ AS, only 3 Attacks, must remain with Halberdiers
5 Outriders -105pts-
<Engaging enemy's flanks as they are Fast Cavalry and have a Unit Strength of 10. Firing 15 rounds S4&AP from a long distance. *2 Units for the enemy to shoot*>
cos: They can 'move or fire', low AS
5 Knights -115pts-
<Engaging enemy's flanks as they are Cavalry and have a Unit Strength of 10 plus they'll hit them hard with 5 S5A and 5 S3A. Protecting Halberdiers from hostile Missile Attacks as they have good AS and in case they have casualties high Ld for passing the Panic Test. *3 Units for the enemy to shoot*>
cos: They cannot Charge Large enemy Units in the front
9 Bowmen -72pts-
<Engaging enemy's flanks first as they are Detatchments and have a Unit Strength of 9.
*4 Units for the enemy to shoot*>
cos: low Strength, low AS,
enemy will probably never shoots themWell.... after much hard thought and many different combinations, I conclude that these are the best choices you could make.
What do you think?
