firstly, i love my halberds and never play my empire without 28 of them and their captain... most people think im crazy, but i get 10 attacks on the charge and the S4 is more than helpful... when i need it they still get a 4+ save and can hold out until my knights get the flank charge... so they work for me is all im saying, even if they do need the help of a captain but fluff wise what better unit for him to be in?
overall i dont think the halberds need to be better, i think the "+1 AS with shield in combat" rule needs to be killed or changed... all across the game it is more than overpowering, it has made it so basic stregnth 3 and in a lot of cases 4 is not enough to do damage and kill... my proposed change is that IF the extra +1 is used (or going to be used) there is either -1 WS or -1 to hit to show how much harder it is to strick from the defensive position...
Well, here we are in clear agreement, the HW+Shield bonus has severly skewered balance. I've heard proposals to make the bonus available only to WS4+ troops but that would only help the more elite armies who usually don't need it.
I do like your proposal but I don't believe that HW+Shield should be regarded as a Shieldwall. The shield is just as much a weapon as the sword. I think that they should just remove the rule altogether.
The problem I see with the halberds is that they are way to fragile versus pretty much anything. That's why I don't take them, they just don't have the staying power, S4 or not.
i also dont think they need heavy armor, and if they get it i wont use it... the points spent on HA is better used buying more models for your unit... empire generals need to realize our army is basically a human horde, let the commoner state troops die; its what Sigmar brought them into this world to do...
I disagree, the Empire is not a horde army, Skaven and O&G have the limitless numbers, Chaos have the unstoppable will of the gods and so on for each army.
What Empire has is technology and training/discipline, not numbers.
another big hang up people seem to have is the fluff, maybe GW should just change it like they have done so many times before... all they really have to do is say Swordsmen are the preffered weapon since always and that Karl reuires them and not halberds...
One of the reasons for bringing the halberds in line with the other state troops is fluff, but on my part it's more a question of making them a viable choice in the army compared to the other troops.
If a unit never sees use because it's rarely worth the points/slot/etc. then it should either be removed or updated. For Empire this applies to both halberdiers and the engineer.
