As it stands, I'm taking the idea and putting it up to see what people come up with. Here are the perimeters:

1. Must be a unit (no warmachines for this one, that'll be a later debate)

2. You can include any upgrades that the unit itself may take.

3. Have at it!

Here are all of the ranged units:

Archers (and Huntsmen)
Crossbowmen
Handgunners
Pistoliers
Outriders


And... DEBATE!

Point for point I'd have to go for handgunners. All in all I prefer outriders because they can get away when threatened. I have lot a lot of handgunners because they have been cornered without any nearby units to help them out.

Personally, I don't rate Pistoliers very highly, I've not had much luck with them.

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PS. I should say that another reason I like both handgunners and outriders is the ability to include the essential and potentially battle turning Hochland rifle.

When I consider the importance of heroes and lords in a Vampire Counts army Hochland rifles make me shudder in fear !

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Well I'm going to play some devil's advocate here, just to get things going a little bit.

While the handguns do pack a punch, they seem to lack any sort of range (only 24'') and crossbows are the same strength but with a 30'' range. While neither can move and shoot, the handguns seem like you may only get a turn or two of shooting off while you gain at least 1 more turn of shooting with the crossbows. Not to mention the fact that you can start firing crossbows from turn 1.

(I think handgunners win it I just want to give some debate to the subject)

The Outriders to me just don't seem very worth it. While they can be very effective I find that the fact that they need to stand still in order to fire their shots makes them a very vulnerable unit. With a weak armor save a quick round of shooting can send these men packing quite quickly.

When I compare them to the cheaper pistoliers I see many advantages. First the move and shoot ability makes them a good unit considering that fast calvary can march and fire. By using pistols they are uneffected by long range or by moving, making them even more interesting. Finally, noting the fact that with a brace of pistols your outriders can charge into a combat with 2 Str 4 attacks each with a -2 to armor makes them a very nasty infantry/calvary killer, especially on a flank when they can minimize the number of attacks back. The biggest issue in using them correctly is to make sure that your calvary are in the right position and not being shot to pieces.

I don't have the stats handy and it's been a while seen I last took a look at the Outriders but don't they have +1 Bs and multiple shots ?

I actually did some analysis some time back for my blog about the relative effectiveness per point of several missle weapons.

Check this out:-

Best Warhammer MIssile Weapons

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They do have +1 BS and multiple shots, but multiple shots adds +1 to your to hit.

I'll be taking a look at that article on monday. Don't really have time right at the moment.

I think you meant -1 to hit for the multiple shots didn't you ?

I ahev a quick question about Outriders actually, can they move and fire with their repeaters ? It makes a big difference to their flexibility in my opinion.

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