Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

So which do you guys prefer as block sized(15-25)infantry?

I prefer swords men because of their higher WS,and armour save.

Swordsmen are considered by many to be the best Empire State Troop unit. Personally, I feel they all have their place when used right.

My parent units are usually 25-30 models with detachments of 10. Also, my parent units are almost always State Troops while my detachments are almost always State Missile Troops.

Swordsmen are very versitle and I do love them.

However, there is something to be said about Spearmen, fighting in two ranks, and two detachments of handgunners. Yum.

i like Halberds best because i my friends use chaos and orks and i dont like needing 5s to wound them.

with my state troops i like to use them in blocks of 25-30.i think it gives them more staying power.

First off welcome to the forums!,and to this particulate army forum been needing some more activate in here.

Secondly For the armies that you usally fight Halberds suit you fine because your dealing with tough opponents one group with excellent armor the other with lots of troops both tough.

Again welcome!

Halberds for units that I want to attack with and spearmen for defensive units that I expect to receive a charge with.

It all gets a bit more complicated when using detachments though. A unit of Spearmen to hold the ground with 2 detachments of halberdiers for flank countercharging is good but it rarely seems to come off for me - the enemy's plans always get in the way !

Halberds for me because they just feel right, fluff and look wise. Arming men with only swords just seems wrong. Swords are the basic badge of a soldier, then they should carry a field weapon too. But becuase the rules favour swordsmen (and they do to a big extent) I did 'give in' and paint a large regiment of swords. It does wonders to one's mental state to actually have a foot unit that can do something once in a while.

To get back into my own good books I am now making up for it by putting togather a new (Wissenland) regt of Halberdiers. I am beginning to feel ok again.

Lol, brilliant post Padre

I have an observation and a question...

"It does wonders to one's mental state to actually have a foot unit that can do something once in a while."

This is the very statement I should have used when trying to explain to my friend why I wanted to switch armies and no longer wished to play against his Dawrf army with my Goblin Army back during the 4th Edition !


I'm interested what you mean by the below (I always stick to Halberdiers or Spearmen when I play Empire ?) Do you consider them to be under-costed with their extra saving throw ?

"But becuase the rules favour swordsmen (and they do to a big extent) I did 'give in' and paint a large regiment of swords. "

Sigmar I think he means that Swordsmen eclipse the other state troops with a better armor save and better WS but I could be wrong.

And their better initiative sometimes comes into play too. For 1 point more you get the WS, Init' and much improved Save, all of which helps make their static combat bonus much more likely to bite.

It's an old argument, which worked better in the on the Warhammer Empire forum becuase of the pioneer who first wrote tactical articles about it. It led to a BIG spate of wholly swordsmen armies, 3 or 4 Sword regts with 2 sword detachments each. I have seen a few of those. It's not so clear a tactical advantage with the new rules, however.

@ Sigmar - yeah, they might be a bit undercosted. But in truth, I think Halberdiers and Spears ought to be a little bit better. Maybe like the old spearmen 'shield wall' rules (extra +1 save). Or maybe swordsmen, unless actual 'dualists' really don't warrant the extra WS or Init.

The thing is, I do see the logic in their rules. One has to be quicker with a sword than a halberd. But in terms of what a battle (historically) was like, then in massed combat I think halberdiers could surely hack a regiment of swordsmen apart in the press of the fight?

as an orc and dwarf player, id rather go up against spears or swords. I dont like str 4 attacks, i like being wounded on a 5/6. halberds do die faster than swords but they wound better too. id probablly say you need variety so put a unit of each in your army. but i hate halberds.