General of the Empire,Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Striking, Rod of command

Battle wizard level2, Rod of Power

Warrior Priest, Heavy armour, Shield, Icon of Magnus, Sword of Battle

Captain, Battle standard, Full plate armour, Barded steed, Sword of Might, Aldred’s Casket of Sorcery

24 Spearmen with shields and full command (generals unit)
detachment of 8 Free company

24 Swordsmen with full command, War Banner (Battle standards unit)
Detachment of 8 Free company

6 Knightly Order with Full command

18 Flagellants

10 Archers

17 Great swords with full command (warrior priests unit)
detachment of 8 halberdiers

2 Great Cannons

1 Hellblaster Volley Gun

GRAND TOTAL 1999

The standard "hold the line" army that sometimes causes a few problems. I've deliberately removed a lots of the squishier stuff to make easy VPs harder to come by.

Skaven alternative to follow.

Gareth

Golf, Guns, Gin

And the Skaven.

Warlord, Heavy armour, Cautious shield, Warpstone amulet
BSB, Heavy armour, Storm banner
Warlock Engineer, Dispel scroll x 2 (the ultimate scroll caddie )
Plague Priest, Flail.

464 points on Characters!!!!!!!

25 Clanrats with spears, Std + mus
29 Clanrats with spears, Std + mus
Ratling gun
25 Clanrats, std, mus
Ratling gun
30 Clantrats, std, mus
WFT
20 Slaves
20 Slaves + mus
20 Slaves + mus
5 Night runners, extra weapons
2 PWG
2 PWG
4 Gutter runners, poison weapons, tunnel team
23 Plague monks, Extra weapons, full command
6 PCBs
1 WLC

219 models, 2 casting dice (but no spells ) 3 dispel dice

Madness I tell you! Madness!!

Gareth
Nuts Knobs Knockers

A HIT!!!!

Golf scores a HIT

Is that 1:0 to me Pete

Gareth

I'd go with the Empire. It seems more likely to be able to take out Steam Tanks and Dragons than your skaven.

The magical defence value of the casket cannot be underestimated. It can cripple a warlock engineer in a single movement phase, and level 2s need to beware.

caskets, cages, cabbage

Skaven all the way!
You'll spend half the 3 hours per game setting up!

2nd Empire Option. 6 Dispel all the time the characters are alive. Spears now are stubborn + possibly Hatered if Warrior priest joins them.
Lost Rod of Command but gained Arch lectors Prayers and Hatred + VHS challenge abilitiy.

Arch Lector,Armour of Meteoric Iron, Hammer of Judgement, Van Horstmann’s Speculum

Warrior Priest, Heavy armour, Aldreds, Casket of Sorcery

Warrior Priest, Heavy armour, Shield, Icon of Magnus, Sword of Battle

Captain, Battle standard, Full plate armour, Barded steed, Banner of Sigismund

26 Spearmen with shields and full command
detachment of 9 Halberdiers

24 Swordsmen with full command
Detachment of 8 Free company

6 Knightly Order with Full command

18 Flagellants

10 Archers

17 Great swords with full command

2 Great Cannons

1 Hellblaster Volley Gun

GRAND TOTAL 2000
134 models as opposed to 139 in the 1st Empire list.

Gareth

lectors, lemons, lies

Is there any way of squeezing a mage with staff and scroll in there?

He'd seriously augment both casting and dispelling phases.

Drop a Warrior Priest and get a mage.

Or a rod of power to get those extra dice?

Cheers,

Pete

One mage is neither hear nor there in casting ability, even with the rod (at least in the heavy magic enviroment of a tournament). Any prayers I get off will be a bonus.

6 dispel will manage most magic phases, and a good steal with the casket can do wonders. As for a mage I don't really have anywhere for him to go that does not put him in the thick of the fighting.

The army is designed to march forward quick as possible, engage in combat and stick around for as long as possible, hopefuly until support arrives.

(4 Combat blocks and a decent knight unit, backed up by a couple of cannon and a hellblaster)

Gareth

A single spell cast with 4 dice is much harder to dispel than a prayer. And a scroll will add significantly to your magical defence. However, you would lose out on the combat side of things.

Your cannons should be able to deal with big things, and the little things will struggle against big infantry blocks.

Should do fine.

Cheers,

Pete

Wizard Lord (Walter”Wally”Wizard) [175]
Level 4 [35]; Armour of Tarnus [35]; Van Hostmans Speculum [30]; Rod of Power [30]; Barded Horse [21]
326

Captain of the Empire (Kurt Helman) [50] (General)
Barded Horse [14]; Full plate [8]; Shield [2];Pistol [4]; Aldreds Casket of Sorcery [35]; Sword of Might [15]
128

Warrior Priest (Brother Edwin)[90]
Warhorse with barding [14] Heavy armour [4] Biting Blade [5]
113

Battle Wizard (Weasly Wizard) [65]; Level 2 [35] Orb of Thunder [30]
100

6 Knightly order(Order of the Merchants Coin) [138] Standard [16] Banner of valour [30] Musician [8]
192
Walter joins this unit

5 Knightly order(Order of the Silvery Moon) [115] Standard [16] War Banner [25] Musician [8] Preceptor [16]
155
General and Warrior priest here

10 Crossbowmen
80

6 Pistoliers
musician, outrider with repeater pistol
132

5 Outriders
musician
113

1 Great Cannon
100

Giant (Glug-glug)
205

Steam tank (The Marienburg)
300

TOTAL 1999

Further down the road to madness?

Gareth

Good movement phase, which could prove very handy in keeping your wizards alive.

Units like Fell Bats and Terradons would be your biggest worry, getting to hit those mages without the need to challenge, and not worrying if they die. I'm guessing that is why the orb is in there.

Looks like an interesting army. I have no idea how well it would do.

There's enough shooting there to remove the threat of airborn attacks.
A Giant & a Stank? Gareth's going Power Gaming!

Okay, attempt at a band D army that's not a total pile of poo

Elector count, Full plate armour, Enchanted Shield, Rod of Command 157
Captain, Full plate armour, Shield, Icon of Magnus, Dragon Bow 110
Master Engineer, Light armour, Repeater Pistol, Pigeon Bombs 102
Captain, Battle standard, Armour of Meteroic Iron, Sword of Might 115

484 points on characters (lowest in the whole event? Most Vampire lords clock in at over 400 and a dragon riding anything will be 500+ )
No wizards! only 2 dispel dice and an Engineer with pigeon bombs! Flufftastic!

24 Spearmen with shields and full command 164
Detachment of 8 Free Company 40
5 Knightly Order with Musician 123
10 Crossbowmen 80
10 Archers 80
23 Swordsmen, with Full command, War banner 190
Detachment of 8 Halberdiers 40

717 points in core choices, 7 units (5 deployments). Should I split the archers into 2 5 man detachments?

17 Great swords with full command 200
1 Great Cannon 100
1 Mortar 75
6 Pistoliers, musician, Outrider with repeater pistol 132

507 in speacial slots. No double cannon, Mortar instead. Not normaly that good but with an engineer to guide it?

1 Hellblaster Volley Gun 110
18 Flagellants 180

GRAND TOTAL 1998
142 models.

Certainly a very friendly army and I would think it has a good chance of band D but if the dice are kind could pull of a suprise or two.

Unbreakable Flaggies, Stubborn Great swords, Rod of Command Spears, static CR 6-8 Swordsmen (depending on Outnumber and detachment flanking) are not to be sneezed at.

Only one cannon will require it not to roll those 1s to wound!!! But that along with mortar, Hellblaster, pigeon bombs, archers, crossbows, pistoliers and a dragon bow wielding captain is not an insignificant amount of missile fire.

Big weakness - no magic defense, but the plan is all the Vampire count and big magic armies will be band B so I should not have to play them 1st 2 rounds and if I do well against fellow Ders (if there are any, no one else may be so stupid ) I could get a bit of a bonus against them

What say you?

A plan or utter madness?

Gareth

Let's treat a top-tier VC's magic phase as being unstoppable, so low magic defense means that you don't have more than 4 scrolls and 6 Dispel Dice!
Mortars have always caused me more worries than cannon, with the pie plate template, even if it misses by a couple of inches, you'll get a good load of hits/partials and against horde armies, it's virtually bound to hit something.
Having 2 x 5 Archers does give you a couple of sacrificial units for charge redirecting & bait/flee.
Can a Warrior Priest take the Dragon Bow? If so, could be a better bet than a Captain, give those Swordsmen Hatred.

Madness.

Band Z

Cheers,

Pete