Empire Army book - likes and dislikes

[Wildeybeast]

I'm thinking militia mght be more useful now they get the parents special rules and given the points increases in state troopers, they are quite cheap cannon fodder, my feelings to them are entirely personal and I can see their use. I agree entirely on spears, they are pretty rubbish, especially when compared to halberds and swords.

[eldargal]

I've so many likes after giving my copy a look over I think I'll just put the dislikes:

So few magic items. This is more an issue with 8th books in general but it is the case with the Empire book so I include it. 15-20 items I think would be better than 10-12 or whatever it is now.

Mortars. They were overpowered, and could have borne a strenght decrease OR a points increase but both were heavy handed. Having said that I'm not convinced they are useless. there are still a lot of T3 armies and DE and Skaven in particular are top tier and you will still be taking out a rank or more of troops with each direct hit, softening them up before thye hit your state troop anvils.

Re: the Witch Hunter, watch Book of Hoeth HE mages cower in fear. I think it is an excellent addition to an Empire army in a game where magic use is strong.

[Wildeybeast]

I agree on entirely on the magic items, I also think they are all overpriced (except the Helm of the Skavenslayer which is undercosted and awesome). I expected it given the way the other books have gone, but I'm still disappointed to lose the Seal of Destruction and Aldred's Casket, they were awesome little items. Glad to see Runefangs getting a bit cheaper though.
I don't think moratrs are useless, I just think I'd do much more damage with another detachment of S4 halberdiers for the points, especially given that the engineers are now largely useless.

[eldargal]

So, the growing consensus around the interwebs seems to be that the mortar is actually still a viable choice, just not the no-brainer it was before.



This is what I love about the internet gaming community, it's all doom and gloom when a new book comes out until people start playing more than one or two games with things and start to get used to things.

[Wildeybeast]

I'm sure it is still viable, but given how fricckin awesome detachments are now, I'd much rather spend my points on them, especially as if you are investing in a warmachine you need an engineer to babysit the thing.

[simonphenix]

Hi all. New to the BoLs forums and empire so wanted to give the little experence I have. We started a campaign at our local game store and was able to play a 1500 and 1750 battle, both ended up being against dwarves. Games went well with a draw the first game and a minor victory the second. A couple things that stood out, Outriders are awsome, I ran 2 groups of 5 and was able to kill 2X10 slayers and a cannon plus some warriors my first game. Cannon is still good even with the price hike. Hellblaster with a engineer is brutal, Gyrocopter and big block of hammers were blasted to peaces by the 3rd turn in the second game. Flagalents were ok but a bit underwhelming after the first round. Their unbrakable made sure they staied in place, but for how many points they are each its alot to spend on a unit whos job is to hold something up and die horrabley. I'm thinking that Greatswords would work better for me. They were kind of funny at the end when i was down to 2 left and rolled a 6 for my mayrter hits. The big dissapoitment was the mortar. I know theirs alot of descusion on if people still think it's worth taking, after my first game I would say no. I know I was playing against dwarves so that extra toughness works against it, but even when I was counting 5s to wound it still wasnt doing enought to make it seem worth taking. The weakness became a little overwhelming when in the second game I traded it out for a Hellblaster and for 20 points more it seems im doing alot more dammage.

[Nightstalker]

i dont really like the new detachment rule. gun and crossbow men dont really have a benefit of those rules.

[Nightstalker]

Volkmar the Grim. Cruddace has decided to retcon the fluff and Volkmar's imprisonment and torment by Be'laakor has been removed, along with his Frenzy rule. Why?

i think its because all that happened during the storm of chaos event, which isnt even mentioned in the book. Its all before Volkmar was used as a standard banner from that demon Bel Akohr (or something like that

[Wildeybeast]

i think its because all that happened during the storm of chaos event, which isnt even mentioned in the book. Its all before Volkmar was used as a standard banner from that demon Bel Akohr (or something like that

Indeed, it would seem that their decision to never again do global campaigns that affect the fluff has extended to retconning them out of the fluff. Curiously though, they have released all three Valtens in FC, despite there being no mention of him in the background or rules for him. It's not even like he makes for a good stand in model. KF on horseback is now dead easy to model with the plastic kit and the Empire General kit allows you to make pretty much any character you want.

[Nightstalker]

Indeed, it would seem that their decision to never again do global campaigns that affect the fluff has extended to retconning them out of the fluff. Curiously though, they have released all three Valtens in FC, despite there being no mention of him in the background or rules for him. It's not even like he makes for a good stand in model. KF on horseback is now dead easy to model with the plastic kit and the Empire General kit allows you to make pretty much any character you want.

if you have the Karl Franz kit, you easyly can put him on a horse if you dont glue him on the gryphon. I think its sad they let storm of Chaos and things like that disappear. i liked that plot very much. The cult of Slaanesh army list in it was the reason i started the chaosarmies (which are not playable anymore thanks to splitting those up in beastmen, warriors and deamons)