The Empire is the world of men in the Warhammer 8th Edition Fantasy world. In this section we will investigate the armies of the empire and Empire Tactics.
Why play a Empire army?
So what are the key points of an Empire Army? There are several strong reasons to play Empire, they are the arm where you have the broadest range of options. You can have an army of many troops, or you can have a Brittonian mounted Army, or a magic heavy army, the options are huge!
The empire army has the look and feel of the European middle ages, with the odd fantasy item thrown in, wizards, dragons, and steam tanks.
Empire Lord Tactics
The Lords selection of an army is where you can find the biggest toughest warriors for your army. And to be honest, with the Empire army, having a hero that packs a punch is really useful.
Named Lords
The Empire army has a number of named Lords that you could field. These lords have extra special rules that the standard Lord choices do not have. To beware! These extra rules come with a cost, and if you do not know or use the special rules then you may end up spending points on your lord that you do not use, and could be better spent elsewhere!
The Emperor Karl Franz
Kurt Helborg
Grand Theogonist Volkmar
Balthasar Gelt
General of the Empire
The General of the Empire of the Generic Empire General. You can tool him up with weapons and magic. Be careful to remember what type of opponent you will be facing when choosing the upgrades. When you are facing Goblins you will want weapons that will kill lots of little creatures, but when you are fighting Ogres you will want a fewer harder hitting punches.
Temple Grand Master
Arch Lector of Sigmar
Wizard Lord
Magic is an important part of the Warhammer 8th Edition Empire army. This is because magic is one area where the
puny human bodies are not out matched by bigger more brutish creatures that inhabit the Warhammer world.
> Also See:
Warhammer Fantasy Magic Tactics
Empire Hero Choice Tactics
Named Heroes
Ludwig Scharzhelm
Luthor Huss
Captain of the Empire
Warrior Priest
Battle Wizard
> Also See: Warhammer Fantasy Magic Tactics
Master Engineer
Empire Core Unit Tactics
The Empire Army has a good number of core units to choose from. This will allow you to design any type of arm that matches your style of play. If you favor a swarm army, then the Spearmen are cheap. If you want to pay a gun line, then there are hand gunners, archers and crossbowmen, a cavalry army can be created by fielding Knightly Orders. Ususally a mix of these tactics are used to allow the maximum flexibility. The is specially true if you do not know what army you will be playing.
Halberdiers
Spearmen
Swordsmen
Knightly Orders
Handgunners
Crossbowmen
Archers
Free Company
Empire Special Unit Tactics
Greatswords
Pistoliers
Outriders
Great Cannon
The Empire Great Cannon is the largest cannon in the game. It has a range of 5 feet, so you will be able to reach anything on the table that you can see.
> Also See: Warhammer Fantasy War Machine Tactics
> Also See: The Rule Book page 112
Mortar
The Mortar is another war machine option available to you. It works like a stone thrower but it has a reduced range and damage. What to do get is a 5″ blast marker and -1 armour save.
> Also See: Warhammer Fantasy War Machine Tactics
> Also See: The Rule Book page 112
Empire Rare Unit Tactics
Flagellant Warband
Helbaster Volley Gun
The Helbaster Volley Gun is a more extreme version of the Dwarf Organ Gun. You roll the artillery dice 3 times to find the number of shots. This means that you have 3 chances to roll a misfire or a 50% chance. The up side is that you could get 30 x S5 shots off.
Fielding a volley gun is a big gamble, but it can pay off big too.
Helstorm Rocket Battery
Steam Tank
The Steam Tank is loosely based on the Leonardo Da Vinci drawings. Of coarse Leonardo did not know about steam, so his was peddle powered!
The Steam tank can be temperamental. They are great to start with, but as they take wounds, generating steam to move and shoot increasingly damages the tank further.
The Steam Tank is tough but strength 3 and 4 weapons and wound it on 6’s.