I believe that hordes of infantry are a solid thing to anchor your Empire army around, but I also believe that there can be too much of a good thing. Right, big detachments for a big regimental unit seem like a cracking idea right? Well not really. Running a horde unit with two horded detachments takes up an awful lot of room, and takes a lot of maneuvering off the table. Other armies, like orcs and goblins, can just slap a bunch of hordes down on the table and rush straight at you, and do fairly well, but the empire is not that kind of army. If you look under the list building thread, you will see recommendations towards a few maneuverable units in your army. I agree wholeheartedly, and I would like to take that idea to another level, maneuverability with infantry.
After a good deal of experimenting with horde formations and detachments I have come to a few conclusions. If you are playing on a 6ft by 4 ft board, three hordes, even without detachments, is too many. Two horded units is as many as I will run these days simply because once you have three hordes on the table, it is too easy for a good opponent to isolate one of your units, and once our units are attacked individually we fall apart. One strategy to keep my units from being picked off is to take a detachment of 15 swordsmen/halberds with each horde unit, and 10 archers for each horde. Assuming you are running stubborn on both hordes, crown in halberds and greatswords, you will have 15-25 stubborn bodies to throw in the way of your opponent's steam rollers, and trust me those 15 wounds when played 5 wide can survive a surprising amount of punishment.
Another nifty way to get your hordes where you want them is to use a steam tank as an anvil rather than the hammer we all know it is. The steam tank has a narrow frontage, which translates to fewer attacks that can be thrown back at it. Even against str 6 opponents, the steam tank can hold up a big scary unit for several turns. These valuable turns can be used to chase down other units, or line up that perfect combo charge on the unit the stank is holding up. Don't underestimate the steam tank as an anvil.
One final note before I sign off regarding redirectors. This took me a long time to figure out; flinging your pistoliers, huntsmen, and archers up at your opponent as early as possible might seem like a good idea, but I would advise only throwing them to their deaths if you have a specific purpose for them. Don't senselessly throw away points just to make your opponent fail charge on turn one. Hold those redirectors back and make them fail charge on turn three when it really counts.
I hope someone out there finds this helpful. Happy Hunting~
