Empire 2012 army book
So, as promised: my review of the Empire army book that brings the Empire fully up to 8th edition.
In the story and graphics department the new hard-cover is okay. I would have loved to see a bit more coverage of the Empire in the recent years, and since I love a good story - “maor fluff is maor better” - I found the bit very basic, with only marginally more info then the pages that were already in the Warhammer 8th edition core book. Still, the graphics, mood, editing and pics are all top notch with some very enticing diorama-like mass battle scenes.
As with everything, the Empire is fairly middling, and the characters are flavorful and cheap. First up is the plethora of special characters, one of them new. A hunts marshal has joined the Imperial ranks at hero level, giving even ordinary huntsmen a chance to hit large monsters. Cute, but since I generally leave special characters at home I am not very interested. Karl-Franz and his gang fill the rest of the special characters section with no real surprises. Good stuff though I don’t use it very often.
The first new big change comes with the Generals and Captains of the Empire, in the form of the ‘Hold the Line’ special rule, allowing them to roll 3D6, discarding the highest, when rolling for Break Tests. This, coupled with all the new Detachment stuff below, should give the Empire infantry line a strong defensive posture. Wizards are much the same, still having access to all basic Lores, Priests of Sigmar have been slightly tweaked but remain wonderful supporting troops. Master Engineers now also lend their ballistic skill to Warmachines but have to choose beforehand - the Pigeon Bombs are still there, tho! The new kid on the block is the Witch Hunter, who is a character killer hero if I ever saw one with his re-rolls, Magic Resistance and pistols. Overall, the monsters available to the Lords and Heroes of the Empire has been expanded meaning I will take a Griffon easier, and the War Altar now buffs everything within 6”; adding even more oomph to an infantry core line.
Now for what it is really about (imho): the core infantry. More than anything, the Empire is rank upon rank upon rank of the best basic infantry in the game, unmatched in diversity. You have our basic spearman, bowmen, swordsmen, halberdiers, crossbowmen, handgunners, and free company militia. Overall the points cost of most went up a point or two, with slight balance checks such as the reduction of the swordsmen initiative back to human standard 3. This is of course coupled with the major improvement to the Detachment system. Gone is the supporting charge, but the old support fire and counter charge are still in there, and this is coupled with all the conditions and buffs of the main unit propagating to the detachments. Yes, that means that those handgunners protecting the greatswords flank are now stubborn. And with a 5+ wardsave cause of the Prayer of Sigmar. Jum. In the core cavalry department the Knights are still there, being your average 2+ save armoured fist, but the Inner Circle knights - previously special choice - are now just core. That makes the all-mounted list even easier to achieve.
In the special department we mostly familiar stuff, but also and the new monstrous cavalry. We have the Flagellants, no longer a core choice with Warrior Priests, but special. They have gained a point of WS, have a different martyr rule, can now be fielded in more than just groups of 30 but are still the nutters we all love. Greatswords remain my least favorite infantry model, though the propagation of the stubborn rule through Detachments makes them interesting as a massive main block where some characters can mitigate the worst of the “Always Strikes Last” special rule. Huntsmen remain a nasty scout bunch, and I am seriously thinking of deploying them more often if only for the sheer annoyance factor. Pistoliers and Outriders are still particularly nasty at the same points cost though the pistoliers are now a little less handy in close combat but still particularly nasty as disruptors.
The new addition are the Demigryph Knights - Inner Circle Knights on Wingless Griffons - as with all the Empire stuff a nice average Monstrous Cav that makes me particularly happy to fill the gap between the Steam Tank and the Greatswords with a decent statline and stomp attacks. The Artillery has been re-balanced with the rest of the Warhammer world - the Great Cannon is unchanged but 20 points more expensive, and the Mortar has gone up to 100 points while its strength is 1 point less. It has kept its large template, to my surprise, thus it maintains its rep as killer of regiments.
The Rare includes the really nasty stuff, and the highest percentage of new stuff within. The Hellblaster Volley Gun and Hellstorm Rocket Battery have both been improved in terms of reliability, though the Hellblaster also roles to hit now instead of Automatic Hits (that is where the Master Engineer steps in, me thinks), and clock in around the same amount of points - more consistent performance for a slight tweak is a good thing in my book, and it can still go all poof with 30 hits. The Steam Tank is the elephant in the room, and it has also been re-balanced. Clocking in at 50 points cheaper it is lower in toughness from an impossible 10 to a more manageable 6. The steam points system is now a little different with random movement, but it also allows you to choose what to fire the steam gun and steam cannon differently depending on steam points spent, and operates on a different misfire system. Also, the master engineer can now always fire from it, and can be equipped with a Hochland Long Rifle.
The new kid(s) on the block is the Wizard Mobile, the kit for the Celestial Hurricanum and the Luminark of Hysh. Both are Chariots with a supporting role, buffing either magic and combat in an offensive (Hurricanum) or defensive (Luminark) way, and firing bound spells. Of the two, the Luminark (lascannon) appeals the most to me, and clocking in around 160 points makes it possible to just have one running around without too much of an impact.
Magic Items have been cut down to size as per 8th edition standard. While it means good-bye to old friend such as the Casket of Sorcery and the Rod of Power, my favorite Magic Items are still in there such as the Speculum, Mace of Hellsturm and Griffon Standard. Not many big chang there fore me, though I am going to miss the Seal of Destruction.
The verdict: overall I am fairly happy. While the book in my opinion lacks anything that justifies a huge ‘yay’, the Empire itself has been the solid middle-of-the-ground contender for years, and much in the way of change has been a re-balancing act. The army has gained heavily with the minor tweaks to the infantry, with a slight cost to the Imperial Gunline, and has become viable as an offensive army even in the face of vampires, and ogres. It depends heavily on Force Multiplication - all of its parts working to be greater together then separate, and figuring out that bit is going to be keeping me busy for a bit, especially as it will become paramount for opponents to tear it down before smashing into my main battleline.
Now for some painting, and then I’ll be poking several of my regular opponents for a few practice matches.
In the story and graphics department the new hard-cover is okay. I would have loved to see a bit more coverage of the Empire in the recent years, and since I love a good story - “maor fluff is maor better” - I found the bit very basic, with only marginally more info then the pages that were already in the Warhammer 8th edition core book. Still, the graphics, mood, editing and pics are all top notch with some very enticing diorama-like mass battle scenes.
As with everything, the Empire is fairly middling, and the characters are flavorful and cheap. First up is the plethora of special characters, one of them new. A hunts marshal has joined the Imperial ranks at hero level, giving even ordinary huntsmen a chance to hit large monsters. Cute, but since I generally leave special characters at home I am not very interested. Karl-Franz and his gang fill the rest of the special characters section with no real surprises. Good stuff though I don’t use it very often.
The first new big change comes with the Generals and Captains of the Empire, in the form of the ‘Hold the Line’ special rule, allowing them to roll 3D6, discarding the highest, when rolling for Break Tests. This, coupled with all the new Detachment stuff below, should give the Empire infantry line a strong defensive posture. Wizards are much the same, still having access to all basic Lores, Priests of Sigmar have been slightly tweaked but remain wonderful supporting troops. Master Engineers now also lend their ballistic skill to Warmachines but have to choose beforehand - the Pigeon Bombs are still there, tho! The new kid on the block is the Witch Hunter, who is a character killer hero if I ever saw one with his re-rolls, Magic Resistance and pistols. Overall, the monsters available to the Lords and Heroes of the Empire has been expanded meaning I will take a Griffon easier, and the War Altar now buffs everything within 6”; adding even more oomph to an infantry core line.
Now for what it is really about (imho): the core infantry. More than anything, the Empire is rank upon rank upon rank of the best basic infantry in the game, unmatched in diversity. You have our basic spearman, bowmen, swordsmen, halberdiers, crossbowmen, handgunners, and free company militia. Overall the points cost of most went up a point or two, with slight balance checks such as the reduction of the swordsmen initiative back to human standard 3. This is of course coupled with the major improvement to the Detachment system. Gone is the supporting charge, but the old support fire and counter charge are still in there, and this is coupled with all the conditions and buffs of the main unit propagating to the detachments. Yes, that means that those handgunners protecting the greatswords flank are now stubborn. And with a 5+ wardsave cause of the Prayer of Sigmar. Jum. In the core cavalry department the Knights are still there, being your average 2+ save armoured fist, but the Inner Circle knights - previously special choice - are now just core. That makes the all-mounted list even easier to achieve.
In the special department we mostly familiar stuff, but also and the new monstrous cavalry. We have the Flagellants, no longer a core choice with Warrior Priests, but special. They have gained a point of WS, have a different martyr rule, can now be fielded in more than just groups of 30 but are still the nutters we all love. Greatswords remain my least favorite infantry model, though the propagation of the stubborn rule through Detachments makes them interesting as a massive main block where some characters can mitigate the worst of the “Always Strikes Last” special rule. Huntsmen remain a nasty scout bunch, and I am seriously thinking of deploying them more often if only for the sheer annoyance factor. Pistoliers and Outriders are still particularly nasty at the same points cost though the pistoliers are now a little less handy in close combat but still particularly nasty as disruptors.
The new addition are the Demigryph Knights - Inner Circle Knights on Wingless Griffons - as with all the Empire stuff a nice average Monstrous Cav that makes me particularly happy to fill the gap between the Steam Tank and the Greatswords with a decent statline and stomp attacks. The Artillery has been re-balanced with the rest of the Warhammer world - the Great Cannon is unchanged but 20 points more expensive, and the Mortar has gone up to 100 points while its strength is 1 point less. It has kept its large template, to my surprise, thus it maintains its rep as killer of regiments.
The Rare includes the really nasty stuff, and the highest percentage of new stuff within. The Hellblaster Volley Gun and Hellstorm Rocket Battery have both been improved in terms of reliability, though the Hellblaster also roles to hit now instead of Automatic Hits (that is where the Master Engineer steps in, me thinks), and clock in around the same amount of points - more consistent performance for a slight tweak is a good thing in my book, and it can still go all poof with 30 hits. The Steam Tank is the elephant in the room, and it has also been re-balanced. Clocking in at 50 points cheaper it is lower in toughness from an impossible 10 to a more manageable 6. The steam points system is now a little different with random movement, but it also allows you to choose what to fire the steam gun and steam cannon differently depending on steam points spent, and operates on a different misfire system. Also, the master engineer can now always fire from it, and can be equipped with a Hochland Long Rifle.
The new kid(s) on the block is the Wizard Mobile, the kit for the Celestial Hurricanum and the Luminark of Hysh. Both are Chariots with a supporting role, buffing either magic and combat in an offensive (Hurricanum) or defensive (Luminark) way, and firing bound spells. Of the two, the Luminark (lascannon) appeals the most to me, and clocking in around 160 points makes it possible to just have one running around without too much of an impact.
Magic Items have been cut down to size as per 8th edition standard. While it means good-bye to old friend such as the Casket of Sorcery and the Rod of Power, my favorite Magic Items are still in there such as the Speculum, Mace of Hellsturm and Griffon Standard. Not many big chang there fore me, though I am going to miss the Seal of Destruction.
The verdict: overall I am fairly happy. While the book in my opinion lacks anything that justifies a huge ‘yay’, the Empire itself has been the solid middle-of-the-ground contender for years, and much in the way of change has been a re-balancing act. The army has gained heavily with the minor tweaks to the infantry, with a slight cost to the Imperial Gunline, and has become viable as an offensive army even in the face of vampires, and ogres. It depends heavily on Force Multiplication - all of its parts working to be greater together then separate, and figuring out that bit is going to be keeping me busy for a bit, especially as it will become paramount for opponents to tear it down before smashing into my main battleline.
Now for some painting, and then I’ll be poking several of my regular opponents for a few practice matches.