Topic: Cavalry Hammers

[Wyrdlight]

I think that empire need rules for Cavalry Hammers, the new rules for using great weapons whilst mounted made non-inner circle Knights of the White Wolf, one of the most iconic units in the whole realm of Warhammer, with an entire novel devoted to them completely redundent.

Currently there is no reason at all to take knights with great weapons, you have str 4 on the charge and a reduced armour save and do damage on the charge roughly equivalent to a unit of wolf riders.... that's ridiculous.

So i propose the following rules for Cavalry Hammers, hammer balanced for use from horseback.

Cavalry Hammer.  May only be used by Mounted Models.
+ 2 Strength on the charge.
Strikes last in successive rounds of combat at +1 Str.
Needs two hands, may not be used in conjunction with a shield.

Now they hit just as hard on the charge, slightly harder in the following rounds but strike last and have reduced armour due to no shield. 

How about it?

[Alrick]

i think this is a good idea because currently great weapons + cavalry = fail i think this would bring back an old favorite without being overpowered

[scarletsquig]

Sounds pretty good to me, they really need something to make up for the loss of the shield. Strikes last may not even be necessary.

[commandant]

I would welcome that.   It would also be useful to give it +1 strenght against infantry to show the greater power of horse over infantry

[Marius]

I prefer a +1 strength during all rounds of combat without striking last, though the infantry bonus sounds pretty good to me.

[Derek Contyre]

Cavalry hammers or even a specialised greatsword for our knights to give them the bonus of +2 strength on the first round of combat but then +1 on the following rounds.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Don't forget the Questing Knights...

+2 strength on the charge and +1 strength thereafter for great weapons when used in the saddle, striking in normal initiative order.

You lose some save but gain some strength. People will still generally prefer normal knights, you get the same strength on the charge, and save better getting there, but they won't be an automatic drop in the discard pile.

[Rodman49]

I mean this sounds exactly like how it was in 6th edition when it was actually well done.  Think its obvious.

[Smythen]

I mean this sounds exactly like how it was in 6th edition when it was actually well done.  Think its obvious.

except that in 6th. you would rather have a real greatweapon to have +2 st all the time. Now they give us back the greatweapon and f.up the rules for wielding them mounted.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

I would keep Cavalry Hammers unique for the White Wolfs. For others, I am with Marius: + 1 S, does not strike last. Or as in the 6 ed.: +2 S, strikes last.

[Rodman49]

Why so many different rules.  How about make all Great Weapons like the OP's first suggestion.  It is balanced versus Lance and Shield and makes sense for cool conversions like an Empire Knightly Order with Two-Handed Swords or Scythes.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

I would not say that these are many rules: 1 general rule for all armies; 1 particular for the WW. But admittedly: the main reason to keep the Cavalry Hammers limited to WW is fluff.

[Johedl]

I don´t really see the problem. I agree to the argument that ordinairy knights, S3, doesn´t benefit much from the GW choise, but I converted a unit of knights (IC) to be the Order of Sacred Scythe and they do OK. 2+ AS and S5 in every turn is great, sure they don´t preform as well on the charge as other knights but they can hold a charge from smaller units and do well against zombie spawning VC. Not to mention that I play alot against HE and allways striking last is a general problem.   
If great weapons lost the draw back of allways strikes last then flails would be stupid choise and not just a bad choise for horsemen.

[BrandonR42]

If the rumored changes back to +2 str regardless of cavalry/infantry are true, we should be in business.

[sniperjolly]

ASL on the charge, vs extra str in the following rounds. They are sllightly differnt, but about equal. They might as well add it to the next empire book, but there would be little point.

[Cannonofdoom]

Well, knights are only I3 (which is stupid) so they aren't exactly going to be going first all the time even with lances. I think with a 2+ save against STR3 opponents (spearelves) you would do just as well with Great weapons as with lances. The difference will be in when you do not break them on the charge (stubborn with more ranks) so I think great weapons might be more useful.

Against monsters and things with no rank bonuses and low initiative (Trolls, Kroxigors) you probably want Lances.

[Fandir Nightshade]

Kroxigors have great weapons themselves so no trouble there.