ell from verified rumors and such, I put together an Empire list based on my old “Josh list”.  Gone were some of my favorites due to the rules changes:  the Griffon Banner, small units of Huntsmen and the Hellblaster (now known as the “Nerfblaster”).  On the other hand this freed up some points for me to play with the list a bit.

Empire General, FPA, Shield, Barded Steed, Sword of Might, Holy Relic

>This was pretty much what I ran before except then I used a Great Weapon.  With the Sword of Might dropping to 15 pts, why strike last?

Empire Captain, BSB Upgrade, FPA, Standard of Sigismund

>It was either that standard or the Griffon Banner.  The Standard of Sigismund is so much better as you can tarpit units using the stubborn, plus the re-rolls.  Near the Empire General, they are nigh unbreakable.

2 x Wizards, Level 2 Upgrade (Both Lore of Fire)

>I took these because the old “Josh List” stressed balance and having something to do in every phase.  Of course two level 2 wizards are still useless.  Since I didn’t have the full power of owning the book, I am certain that I missed the power of the new “Doomfire ring”, which would have made my magic phase better.  Instead I took my normal attack/defense of the Rod of Power and two dispel scrolls.

Character Summary:

All in all a decent group of characters for a balanced list, though I think the “Doomfire Ring” would have made it a bit better.  I deployed the BSB in the General’s Swordsmen and the General in the IC Reiksguard unit.  This was mostly because I had intended to drop one wizard for a priest and forgot, so I had a weird unit of 9 knights.  (It would really help to own the book).

Core Troops:

General’s Swordsmen, Full Command, War Banner

Detachment 10 crossbowmen

Detachment 10 Free Company

Swordsmen, Full Command

Detachment 10 Free Company

10 Crossbowmen

5 Vanilla Knights, Musician

5 Vanilla Knights, Musician

>This was pretty much my standard two-battalion design for the old Josh list.  The only thing that changed was the lack of Griffon Banner in the Swordsmen.  Instead, I place the War Banner in there.  With the BSB on horseback, he could float to where he was needed depending on the threat.

Special Choices:

9 IC Knights, Full Command, Steel Standard

>Yep, and expensive unit, but they hit hard especially with a character, and the Steel Standard makes fleeing a little more iffy.

3 Great Cannons

>I’ve never used three cannons in an Empire army.  However, with the lack of useful rare choices (lack of book), I decided to try them.  Truly I expected Dave’s Dwarfs to show up so I wanted to blast his three bolt throwers on turn one.  However, DJ’s Ogres showed up instead and presented me with all sorts of juicy cannon targets.

Rare Choices:

12 Flagellants deployed 6 wide.

>These were an afterthought.  I deployed them to protect one of my cannons and secure the flank.  They did manage to destroy a unit of Gnoblars, but I would shudder to think how bad they would suck versus even against vanilla Ogres.

I was pretty happy with the list though I’m certain it could be tweaked with some thought.

Ogre Kingdoms Army:

Tyrant, Tenderizer, Wyrdstone, Longstrider, Luck Gnoblar

2 Butchers with a dispel scroll each

1 Butcher with the Siege Breaker and Skull Mantle

3 Bull (Ironfist Upgrade)

3 Ironguts, Standard and Lookout Gnoblar

3 Ironguts, Standard and Lookout Gnoblar

3 Ironguts

3 Ironguts

8 Trappers

2 x 20 Gnoblars

3 Yhetees

Scraplauncher

2 x Gorgers

Setup O1

I’ve played DJ a number of times, but only with my Skaven.  I deeply respect Ogre Kingdom armies, especially those with three Butchers.  Ganymede easily handled my tourney Empire army at the Necro with his Ogres.  However, this time I was armed with knowledge having lost to them and having now played them a half dozen times.  We’ll see how it goes.

I decided to just ignore the area around the large wood on the right flank.  A unit of Vanilla Knights would be there to harass the flank of the Ogre army.  My shooters and all my wizards went opposite of the Tyrant’s unit.  I knew that if I could kill the Tyrant the game was pretty much in the bag.  Having played OK enough now, I deployed back so that I could shoot for three turns minimum.  I had enough room to deploy my IC knights in front of one of my detachments.  This left my left most swordsmen unit without leadership, but it didn’t matter since he pretty much ignored that flank only placing a unit of bulls and gnoblars over there.

My plan was simple shoot for as long as possible and move the infantry battalions forward to take the charge on my terms.  Either the detachments or the cavalry would then countercharge and carry the day.

Early Turn O2

The Empire General ordered an all out assault.  Over on the left flank the Swordsmen and Flagellants moved quickly to exploit the Ogres flank, but it would be fruitless due to the speed of their advance.  A unit of Vanilla Knights moved forward just far enough to prevent the Yhetees from moving too quickly.  A strong demonstration was made in the middle with the General’s cavalry unit and the BSB-lead Swordsmen.  The goal was to hold the Ogres off while the artillery and magic did their things.

The three Butchers dispelled all of my attempts at magic.  With 5 dispel dice and three scrolls to overcome; I had little chance of magic working unless I took out one of the creatures.

Deadly Empire cannon crews trained their guns on the Tyrant’s unit.  The first cannon bellowed, a Gnoblar pushed the Tyrant out of the way.  Two Ironguts were blown to bits by the lethal projectile.  Deprived of the protection of the unit, the second cannon spied a Butcher picking its nose in the front rank and obliterated it.  With no place else to aim, the third cannon hit the Tyrant squarely but the projectile was deflected by a strange magic aura.  Crossbows quarrels filled the air inflicting slight damage to the remaining Irongut and to the Gnoblars.  A devastating turn one of shooting causing the Ogre magic phase to become manageable.

The Ogre Tyrant was not distressed by the Empire’s shooting and moved his men forward.  The large Kislev tower provided a perfect place for a trap.  The Trappers materialized out of the woods to threaten the Great Cannon.  The Ogre magic phase was ineffective and the Scraplauncher blew up on its first roll!  Thing were going from bad to worse for the Tyrant’s forces.

I spent this turn repositioning my troops to take the Ogre charge.  In the previous turn the Ogre Bulls autobroke one of my units of vanilla knights.  They were destroyed when they had to flee into a house!

My shooting went cold on me really doing nothing this turn.

Right when I thought my Great Cannon was done, the Trappers decided to argue amongst themselves!  The Tyrant abandoned the single Irongut and moved up to support a unit of Gnoblars.  The Yhetees moved into the woods to attack the Empire lines in the following turn.

After my turn of re-positioning, I launched my attack during my turn three.  My General’s Knights declared a charge into the intact unit of Ironguts, which fled, and continued on into the depleted unit, which tried to flee but rolled 2”.  I went the maximum distance and had my flank to the Yhetees.

A detachment of free company passed their fear test to charge the now wounded unit of Bulls.  The flagellants tried to charge some Gnoblars, but they ran away.

The only good shooting this turn was the crossbowmen causing the Trappers to panic and flee.

The Free Company killed a bull, which whiffed their return swings and were ran down!

In the Ogre turn the Yhettees charged the Reiksguard in the flank, killing two knights.  With the General’s leadership and the BSB nearby the knights held.  In my turn I tactical charged the Trappers taking my knights out of range of the Tyrant.  My BSB’s unit flank charged the Yhetees.  The rest of my army pressed forward.

A really lucky cannon shot, just missed my own cannon and destroyed the Gorger!

Without much trouble the Yhetees lost the melee by about 10 and were ran down by the knights.  However I was in deep trouble since I had pursued way too far.

O9 The last picture

The remainder of the game was a mopping up operation.  I did lose the IC Reiksguard to fleeing off the table.  However, I bailed my General out in the previous turn.  He would later join with the vanilla knights and take out that pesky unit of Gnoblars.

My flagellants destroyed the last Gnoblar unit in melee.

Having only lost three models total in my army from melee, the game came to an end. The combination of heavy armor, excellent shooting, good magic attack/defense and CR ruled the day.

Victory to the Empire!

I need the book!  This really wasn’t a unique test for the new Empire list.  I’m certain that I had some point values incorrect, but I doubt they had much effect on the game.  Three cannons were a bit much for playing against an Ogre army, but I was expecting to play against Dave’s bolt thrower laden Dwarf army and wanted to give him a nice surprise.  DJ had HORRIBLE luck in the game for his flee rolls, his shooting, and his attacks in melee.  In retrospect, I’ve learned a lot over the last few months about playing Ogres and think I had a good plan for combating them.