v. Sturmfeld, here's why I'm wishing the below changes
- bring reiksguard on foot back. (0-1 max in core) - Full plate, shield and hw. 9 points each. Upgradeable to Inner Circle for 3 more points (and unit becomes a special choice)
Reason : We only have one "elite" infantry unit (GS)... I do not think another "elite" unit (with the best possible save) would hurt.
- replace spearmen by pikemen (same rules as DOW)
Reason : The pike makes a lot more sense than the spear. The Empire is relatively quite advanced and I believe the lance should have been long gone in most Imperial armies. (some will say we can play pikemen and 'count them as" spearmen, but why not have pikes for real?
- ogres, dwarves and halflings as rare. No giant.
reason : fluffwise, this makes sense and it clearly makes the Empire a real fantasy army (and not some pseudo-historical force in a fantasy setting).
- Make FC skirmish and give them dual pistol options (with all these options, they should cost about 12 pts each). If this one goes through, consider removing Archers from the list.
reason : fighting in regiments take a lot of practice and discipline. I cannot picture free companies fighting in ranks (even though they do so by the current rules). I think that there are the one unit in the whole empire army that should be skirmishing. I'm not going to deny that the pistol option is coming from DOW and it would make perfect sense for skirmishing units to use short range weapons such as pistols.
- drop the engineer from the Character choices and make it a unit upgrade.
Reason: do you need a reason for that???
- add witch hunter to the character list (hero choice). Gives special abilities vs undead and all things chaos.
Reason : with a useless character choice gone, we have some free space for something else, that might actually be useful... Now that the warrior priest gives hatred vs ANY enemy (and no longer chaos), it would be nice to have some specific "Anti-chaos" character in the army (should not be too powerful (eg: limiting the choice of armour / giving them some drawbacks like needing to roll not to fail to chaos etc), but would be fluffy. Finally you have a full mordheim range that could be used to support this new character type, so why not?
- GotE. Agreed that this guy is not really worth it today. The other available choices are much better. Either give the chap a higher LD radius (as suggested by a few people already) or let him allow a different army composition (eg : allow one more special Choice per 1k tranche).
Reason :GotE are leaders, not fighters. Their lack of fighting skills are well reflected in their profile, however I think their leadership is not. (and LD alone is not enough. Elves are supposed to be fast, but this is not only justified by them having higher I, but also some special rules. Why would it be different for us?
- overall point costs for core should go down significantly.
Reason : In terms of point cost, there is a clear gap between older books like ours and the newer ones. DE can now outnumber Empire or Orc players with superior core choices, I think everyone with sense will agree there is something odd there..
- mortars should be 1-2 per special slot.
Reason : Being a special choice, they have to compete with better / more interesting choices, we need to make them more attractive. I believe it's the same reasoning that developers have had with orc chukkas or dwarf bolt throwers. Had these been 1 per special slot, I guess we'd not see them very often.
- Stank with actual warhammer rules.
Reason : again, is a reason needed for that? The Stank is loathed by a lot of players because it is believed to be cheesy (I can't really judged as I have not used it enough to make my mind) and its rules are not in line with the "logic" behind the game system. Make it simpler to use, like a chariot and done.
- Bring back the cavalry hammer. (increase point cost if needed)
Reason : my white wolves want it back
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