Imperial Army of Nuln 2000 Pts

1 * Grand Master of the Griffon @ 230 Pts
General, *joins Inner Circle Knights of the Griffon, Barding, Lance, Full Plate Armor, Shield, Laurels of Victory

5 Inner Circle Knights of the Griffon @ 195 Pts
Full Command, War Banner

1 Battle Wizard of the Celestial Order @ 155 Pts
Magic Level 2, Lore of Heaven, Warhorse, 2x Dispel Scroll

1 Warrior-Priest @ 103 Pts
*joins Spearmen I, 2ndWeapon, Heavy Armour

24 Spearmen I @ 345 Pts
Light Armour, Shield, Full Command
12 Detachment - Handgunners
8 Detachment - Swordsmen

1 Warrior-Priest @ 103 Pts
*joins Spearmen II, 2ndWeapon, Heavy Armour

24 Spearmen II @ 345 Pts
Light Armour, Shield, Full Command
12 Detachment - Handgunners
8 Detachment - Swordsmen

5 Pistoliers @ 112 Pts
Marksman w/ Repeater Pistol

5 Pistoliers @ 112 Pts
Marksman w/ Repeater Pistol

1 Mortar @ 75 Pts

1 Great Cannon @ 100 Pts

1 Hellblaster @ 125 Pts
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Casting Pool: 4

Dispel Pool: 5

Models in Army: 119
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Total Army Cost: 2000


Any comments are appreciated. Cheers!

Why the Grand Master? You only have one small unit of knights, good for flanking manoevers but useless for a frontal charge. You infantry is fine (although you should remember that detachments may only be up to half the size of the parent- 11 is the maximum size when the parent is 23 men strong), and I recommend you put an Elector Count in there.

Also, the Griffon Standard would be useful for one of those infantry units.

My bad, it's should read 24 Spearmen w/ the Priest being the 25th to make for a solid 5x5 block (I will correct that now).

Why Grandmaster? Because Griffon Banner is so overplayed that I will use it to my advantage because opponents who would see a large block of infantry (w/ a Banner that has a Griffon on it) would immediately expect it to carry a Griffon Banner. That's deception no.1 BUT to make things more interesting is fielding TWO large blocks and make the opponent guess which has the Griffon Banner when in fact neither have it - deception no. 2! :D Deception no. 3 would be the "Griffon" theme of the army - ie. Griffon Knights, Griffon Banners, etc. ;) In the Art of War, deception is one of the keys to strategy - so I intend to test it using the Empire - done it w/ the Brets already (ie. Banner of the Lady).

Anyhow, my Spearmen is pretty hardy on its own without the help of the Griffon Banner. Even without the Banner, any smart opponent would hesitate charging head-on.

As for the Grandmaster and his unit, it IS actually quite potentially devasting on a frontal charge. The Laurel of Victory is the Grandmaster's version of Elector Count's Griffon Banner although it requires a bit of good dice rolling to be very effective. They will also be always supported by the Pistoliers (ie. flank/rear charge combo) so they're really deceptively quite effective. But in any case, they are meant to be a counter attacking force after my guns and cannons have weakend the opposition.

Anyway, thanks for the comments - keep 'em coming so I can refine my list further. I hope to playtest this list by Saturday next week.

I oppose anything that relies on good dice to work- and the Laurels of Victory are a good example of that. Feel free to try it, but I strongly recommend an Elector Count instead.

*shrug* But that's because I prefer infantry. Incidentally, I don't like the Griffon Banner either. Just thought you'd like to know. Good on you for not using it. :)

The Laurels of Victory is just icing. A combo charge of Knights and Pistoliers is quite devastating even with bad rolling due to its many bonuses.

So tell me, what's so great about Elector Counts? For me, the only use for him is if I wanna give my core troops a magic standard or if I want to field a Griffon monster. Other than that, he has the same leadership value as a Grand Master but is not as good in close combat.

He's useful for his leadership. With the average leadership of the Empire, he's useful to hold the infantry together. He's also cheaper than a Grand Master, meaning you can buy more troops.

Also, with the tendency of a GM to wander off and charge things, an infantry EC means that the troops won't lose their general's aura of leadership.

EDIT: Also, the strength of the Empire is through useful strategies, not close combatness. The EC doesn't rely on dealing death to be worth his points value.

I see. As for the GM, that's probably the most common thing most people do. In my list however, his unit is not strong enough to wander around the battlefield slaughtering everything (I think only Chaos can do that with their uber-characters). As I've mentioned, they're used for counter-attacking so they'll be in reserve until my opponent will give me that opening. So until they charge during the final phases, he'll be lending his leadership.

But you're also right about the leadership thing you mentioned though but hopefully with my Priest's leadership of 8, the foot soldiers get a decent upgrade. Hopefully, the two big units w/ their detachments are intimidating enough that my opponent would hesitate just charging through them. What's your opinion though? If you were to face my army, are those two units scary enough that it would intimidate or deter you from it? Aside from the elector counts, what else would you suggest?

Other than that, everything's fine. You might get a wider range of responses over at warhammer-empire, but it's a pretty solid list as far as I can tell.

Thanks dude. I'll check out that Warhammer-Empire place you mentioned.

Luc_Arkhame Edit: Text Removed