Karl Franz returned in haste to Altdorf.  Barely had he removed the reins off Deathclaw

before he was screaming at his guards to gather the Council and to bring him Volkmer in particular.

Volkmer was first to arrive at the zoo. 

"Are the rumors true.  I pray to Sigmar that they are not"

Franz sullenly replied, "They are true. . .Morglum is prepared to strike Nuln and our Counts

bicker amongst themselves.  I fear for the Empire for it has been years since we have fought such a large incursion."

"Is there no end to Chaos and the Green Tide?"

"You speak like a flagellent.  The Empire must be saved one battle at a time.  Call the Counts we have

little time to remind them how to fight".

"Some of us have known for years that another great battle would be fought. It's time you have this

artifact from the time of Sigmar. . ."

With that Karl Franz opened the book of Sigmarian Strategy and began to read.

First off, as an Empire general know what you are and what you are not.  You are by far one of the

weakest INDIVIDUAL hand to hand fighters.  Your troops

are average, your characters are average and your leadership is just plain average.  Yet, you are

cheap and possess a mighty amout of troop variety as well as character armament, monster selection

and wierd and fabulous war machines.

The goal of the Empire Player is to coordinate several mediocre elements of an army into greatness. 

. . .bring the huge units of infantry <including the detachments> slowly forward.   Send the

Calvery sweepting to either side prepared to crash the flanks of any enemy units that engage.

Shoot Shoot Shoot those war machines.  Squeeze like a vice in from the side. If the enemy

charges, have the haflings flee behind the flagellants and crown of command big unit.  Now

they are stuck <if they even got into combat>.   Advance and use the detachments and calvery

to break rank bonuses and provide additional combat resolution.  Litterally, you can have +4

combat resolution from the parent units rank and standard and an easy +3 from the

detachments rank and standard.  Trust me the infantry awaiting the

calvery to crash through the furthest enemy units has every chance to survive starting

with such a bonus! Stick them into combat they can not win or which you can afford to lose then close in!!!!!!!

These are but a few strategies the Empire can use.  In fact when it comes to making a battle plan,

the Empire is absolutely spoiled.  Don't forget, you can always have a hero on a flying 5W monster

for relatively cheap and in larger battles the hero <with just a little protection> on a chimera serves

as a mighty charger <with lance and pistols> or can breathe fire down any enemy unit's neck.

Imperial Calvery with Lances <Panther, Reiksguard Knights, Blazing Sun>: They only move

6" and to place a standard with them costs no less than 78 pts before the cost of the standard. 

Imperial Calvery was not designed to rush down the middle and crash through enemy lines

like the Brettonians in lance formation.  They are a support unit, sweeping out to the sides and

awaiting to charge only AFTER the infantry troops are stuck in.  Otherwise, use the calvery as a

reserve.   With movement 6" they can be a second  line unit <unconventional but highly effective>. . .

if the archers, handgunners etc. . .choose to flee, the calvery is often the best way to bridge a hole

and deliver a strike. . .that is hard enough to win the combat and allow the infantry reserve to

jog in and hack the unit that broke through from the flank or rear.  A good place to put the

Imperial Battle Banner I might add. I'll talk about what magic items to use later.

Knights of the White Wolf. . . . .Outstanding flankers against large units of calvery.  Sure they strike

last but who cares?  Their armor will protect them from the futile attacks of the rank and file and

their hammers will ensure victory.  Just don't get charged.

Pistoleers. . . .another one of those ever incredible fast calvery troops. Fast Calvery is extremely

useful to the Empire.  Str 4 hit and a Str 3 in hth is seriously damaging to most units.  Use them

as support for the mighty infantry.  Charge through space you leave between infantry blocks to

attack the enemies rear.  Break the unit and it is destroyed or use them as the ultimate advance

flankers in a deep defense situation. 1) Place far to both flanks  2) advance the first turn 

<fire of course>  3) Turn to face the advancing armies flanks  4) Now you can either shoot

or charge. . . .if the enemy continues towards your infantry and war machines simply let him

and move in behind him for devastating rear charges.  Armor Save of 5 means you better pick

your uses depending on the enemy you face. These guys are easy pickins for shooters.  Chaos

and Skaven advance forward with otherwise, I would use them to attack after the poor bloody

infantry is engaged.  The are the heart and soul of the Stick and Charge strategy.

Outriders. . . .The trouble with Outriders is that they can only fire until they miss.  On horseback

with BS3 they tend to miss all too often and they can not hide behid infantry and make the fantastic

strikes that fast calvery can.  Still, they have their use and if only you get bless. . . .well enough said.  

The really valuable outrider is the champion!  If only heroes attached to outrider units could

have repeater hand guns.  They are not fast calvery. 

Kislev Winged Archers.  For only 50pts I can get a magic standard.  Much more affordable. 

Str 5 is usually more than adequate to defeat an enemy. They travel with a movement of 8 just

like the Brettonians and, therefore, pursue and flee on 3d6.  This is my basic calvery unit with pistoleers..

Kislev Horse Archers. . . . .here is your screen and your scirmishers to flush out the enemy and

take advantage of terrain features etc.  If you are using them as a mobile screen that will flee and

draw the enemy into a failed charge. . . .remember the enemy can REDIRECT FAILED

CHARGES. . . .Use one unit rather than 2 or 3 as a screen.  Cheaper than pistoleers. . .and

they scirmish.  A nice screen to pull the enemy into a fialed charge. 

Halbardiers. . . .Generally armor is ineffective with this unit,  at 7pts it is easy to field a large unit.

Sure they can not have a magic standard but a champion for 30pts is about as good.  Halbardiers

make a fine detachment that can have several ranks to help with combat resolution when you slam

the enemy from the side. 

Reiksguard. . . .strength 4 armor save 4+. . . . Nice unit that I always take for its flexibility.  They

can survive missle fire <esp pesky bowfire> especially when protected by spells and champions with magic items.

Spearmen. . . .You will take charges sometimes and often your parent unit will get slaughtered in hth

combat.  You must rely on mass ranks, standards and the ranks of your detachments hitting

the enemy's flanks.  Spearmen give you the ability to at least strike back in hth.  Against

Wood Elves meet your basic parent unit.  They get mowed down by missle fire. 

Greatswords. . . .Again no armor, double handed weapons are problematic if yo have strength

3 and no armor.  Of course, against armies that historically have lots of double handed troops,

they are worth taking. Humans initiative is greater than dwarves!!!!!

Swordsman. . . . .Not as powerful as the Reiksguard but completely adequate as a detachment. 

Flagellents. . . . .What is there not to love about these guys <save no armor>  Their first turn

they attack at St 6 with 2 attacks  a piece.  In other words, if they were to charge they could

inflict every bit the damage as a massive unit of knights.  Now how do you get them to charge. 

I like to put the Kislev Horse Archers in front of the Flaggelents and then when they are charged

they flee right through the unit leaving the flagellents to charge the next turn.   Shooting can hurt

them, especially dwarven x-bows and hand guns.

Dwarves:  Toughness 4 spearmen with crossbows is hard to pass up.  Shoot then reform and take the charge. 

Haflings. . . .Simply the best archers in the game because they are dirt cheap.  While the

horse archers screen the flagellents. . .the Haflings are often put in front of such nasty things

as Hellblasters, Ogre units or even calvery.  Just advance and shoot with these guys.  

A great way of moving your infantry up the field.

Ogres. . .An incredible Imperial Strength.  First let us not forget Movement 6 and a hero

on a horse will get his look out sir roll!!!!  What makes these guys so powerful is that you

can pick between the extra hand weapon for those weedy woodies, the halberd vs most

armies or the double handed weapon. They hit almost as hard as your calvery and have 2

attacks.  With toughness 5 most missles won't effect them and they have 3 wounds to boot. 

I tend to have this unit strike with war wagons or with calvery. . .or I put them in the middle

of my infantry blocks.  Place Ogres between parent units and detachments.  Now what

does the enemy choose to charge?

Some other notes on Regiments

1.Shooting not hth is the scourge of the Empire.  The infantry is plaqued by arrow and handguns

which can seriously damage it. Your fast calvery too is easy prey for longbow fire.  You must
silence bowstrings <aka Chimmera, calvery, flying monster whatever it takes>.  I often send the

Ogres after any enemy shooters.  2.Anyone who ever told you to tool up your characters for

combat was a fool.  The Empire wins by numbers or on the backs of monsters.  Make it such

that your characters protect their troops <talisman of ravensdark, ruby chalice, etc.>   The general

and battle standard bearer should see little combat. 3.Give your units champions and heroes for

leadership especially if the general might be out of range. 4.You hate flyers so make sure you

have one or two of your own.  Heroes should be on monsters where they can lend a hand

breaking rank bonuses, eating troops and causing terror.  There is no need for tooled up magic

item heroes with the Empire's fine ability to provide heavy armor and a shield with a flail and pistol.

WAR MACHINES:

Mortars. . .100 pts for a very random result.  I use one only when I am

faced with a skaven horde or similar mass horde army.  The trick to the

mortar is to shoot in the middle of the enemy's deployment regardless of

what the unit is to better your odds that you will hit something. 

Great Cannon. . . .Cannons are nice if you play defensively or if you are

using the slow advance.  Make sure your opponent will have ranks though

<Chaos and Wood Elves are bad ideas for cannons>.

Steam Tank. . . . .a cannon with far less likelihood to misfire. .

.Toughness 10 and the ability to trample opponents.  Great against low

initiative troops.  I love to place my steam tank in the middle of my

deployment and just chug ahead.  I assure you Lizardmen HATE this.  It

really messes up their battlelines when their best troops are getting the

steam tank rollover and play dead!  Remember Steam tanks down the middle!!!!

Great with the slow advance!

War Wagons. . . . .One of my all-time favorite war machines.  These things

have fragile leadership so they should remain close to your general.  I tend

to use them just behind my slow advance shooters, right there in the middle

with the steam tanks.  Shooting becomes your only problem. . .but hey in a

slow advance who is going to care if you move 8"?  Remember only 1-6 shots

will even hit the horses and that is missle fire NOT chewing up your

infantry blocks and detachments.  IF you get to charge great. . .nice high

strength charriot, but even if you do not look at the weapons you have.

Against knights. . . .the Ball and Chain and the Man Catcher.  Good Lord. .

. .I'd love to take the general out with a Man Catcher!  Bret's hate this.

The Ball and Chain ignores armor!  Hochland Long Rifle is the scourge of low

toughness wizards and blunderbluss is wonderful to use as the war wagon

approaches enemy infantry blocks.

The War Wagons mediocre leadership and its ability to take wounds once in

hth makes it NOT a charging/hth flanking machine but a machine best used in

the thick of things with your general right behind it.

Hellblasters. . . . .Amazing truly. . . .they are the great infantry eaters.

Against calvery they still do quite nicely and usually will take out more

than their cost.  Often the trouble with hellblasters is their limited

range.  Can war machines be moved?  If so. . . .I like to take the

hellblasters in the front of my formations and move them towards the enemy

right in front of the infantry.  If not they are wonderful for holding up

the middle while the real power <calvery.ogres, steam tank and war wagon>

outflank the enemy who is scurrying to get away from the hellblasters.  As

often the enemy puts his best troops in the middle of his deployment, I can

really tie things up and make life easier on my flanking troops.

Furthermore, place units of haflings to either side of the hellblasters and

see if anyone dares try to charge the haflings <if they get close enough

shoot em>.  Of course, you must fear fast moving cheap skirmishers or

throw-away goblins.  Kislev Winged Archers can take care of these annoyances

so your hellblasters can shoot at whatever is a real threat.  Remember. . .

.because of their range it is better to place them at the front of your

deployment zone!  If the enemy can have infiltrators, I often like to

dedicate a 8 barrel salute to them.  The Empire HATES having troops get

behind its lines.

The General. . . . .He must survive and must remain out of combat.  His

magic items should ensure his safety and

Battle Standard Bearer. . . .Keep him alive!  I would take a ward vs a

magical standard personally.

  Remember part of your detachment plan is to flee.

Champions. . . . .Almost a necessity.  . . and cheap too.

Heroes. . . .Take your heroes without magic items and place one or two on

monsters.  You will fare far better using your heroes to break ranks, take

out war machines, shooters and enemy flyers.  My favorite monsters for them

are chimeras.  Most of the real points of my characters go to Heroes on

monsters because they can do sooooo much to help my infantry.  Terror serves

to protect your battery. . . .you can meet any flying challenges.  You

breathe fire on any line of shooters or soften up the infantry and ,of

course,  your hell in hth when your infantry bears the initial blow <and the

characters blows>.

Wizards. . . .The way the Empire plays. . . .I honestly prefer using several

level one mages.  Add dispel scrolls with no magic items and place them with

your infantry.  Sure some will die and when the fighting starts many will

die.  But as you advance, you have dispels, you have lots of stored power

cards and you have a wide variety of spells.  Human Wizards are fragile and

again the Empire is not going to win with tooled up characters.  Cheap level

1 wizards with a dispel scroll suit me fine.  I really prefer heroes on

monsters for the Empire. 

Special Characters:

Karl Franz:  Truly an Empire Character. . .Atop his griffin he has magic

which prevents him from getting hurt.  He causes terror and  his weapon

allows him to attack even the hardest troops after the infantry has engaged

as he will do many wounds.  His last magic item should generally be a

defensive item.

Magnus. . . .Underrated and actually one of my favorite leaders.  I like him

because he doesn't waste a lot of points on the general yet, gets 2 armor

saves nice with 2+ saves he can avoid even gunpowder.    Secondly, anytime I

can get a natural dispel in the Empire you have to take it.  Worst problem,

he has a frigging sword.

Grand Theoginist. . . . .Nice Chariot.  Terror when you charge!  Jade

Griffon makes shooting at him terribly difficult and Staff of Command

ensures he will hit like a knight!  Best feature is the NO BREAKING RULE.  I

love to use him with the war wagons when they go a flanking!!!!  A level 2

mage and all for 3vps.  WOW!  Plus, he gets his own WOM cards so his spells

don't suck up your ability to dispel next round!

Supreme Patriarch. . . .All I can say is TOTAL POWER and it is an item most

people won't call cheezy like the forbidden rod from hell.  He still takes 3

more magic items.  I would take him if my opponent allowed special

characters.  Now do you take bright or battle magic.  Actually, I'd prefer

battle magic and pray for such things as protection <parent groups> or bless

<outriders> or shield!

Counts and Helborg:  First of all the runefangs that you can have so many

multiples of are WONDERFUL against armies like Chaos knights and especially

Bretonnians.  Cuts right through all that silly armor now doesn't it? 

Raukov has the mighty dragon bow.  3 strength 5 hits is just too mighty for

words and he has the range of a wood elf!

Tzarina can use Ice Magic.  Personally, I don't much care for her.

Remember as the Empire General let your infantry get into the thick of it

then attack with all the support troops, calvery and monsters you can muster. 

Magic Items:  Anything that keeps you from running.  Crown of Command on one

unit and flaggelents right by give you a virtually unbreakable center.

Crown of command has interesting consequences with detachments.  The

detachment uses the parent unit's leadership and benefits from the heroes

placed in the unit.  If the crown of command changes the parent units

leadership to an unmodifiable L10, it does so too for the detachments.  Now

you have a core of 4 "units" of unbreakable troops. 

Book of Ashur with High Magic negates many of the problems you could face

using cheap wizards.

Potion of Knowledge lets you get by with casting something for free and who

cares if 1VP goes insane?

Staff of Lighting in an infantry unit should give the calvery second

thoughts about advancng for a charge, same with staff of osiris.

Skull Staff and Ring of Corin are essential. . . .destroy any magic items

that could quickly mince your infantry.

Pipes of Doom let the Imperial Infantry keep calvery at bay and let the

Knights Panther challenge faster moving less heavily armored wolf riders and

boar boyz.

Banner of Defiance with the Crown of Command turns the imperial infantry

into a great enemy unit breaker.  The enemy is likely not to have enough

attacks even to compensate for the rank bonus!

Heart of Woe the hero for the inevitable death he will suffer. . . .of

course you could just use him to harrass with the firey breath of the chimera.

I often ward both the general and the battle standard bearer and DO NOT make

the battle standard magical. 

If I take a major wizard I use the cloak of mist and shadows.  As the

Empire, you present so many targets and should have a hero to cover the mage

should a solitary hero go after him.  It is likely that a cloaked mage will

not be attacked.

Unit specific magic dispels are often ineffective as you have so many units

for the enemy to choose to cast on.  Bring dispel scrolls, you dispel and

save your WOM cards for your turn.

Sword of Swift Slaying and potion of strength pose an interesting question.

Charge to what will be a painful attack by a hero or wait and be peppered

with shots?

Book of Ashur and Cloak of Mist and Shadows. . . .Your dispelling machine!

Now for spells.  At this time let's solely focus on BATTLE MAGIC.

Shield. . . .is the great protector of the Empire's screens and fast calvery

charges.. 

Hold fast. . . .ensures the enemy will be peppered then attacked.  Best used

on troops as they advance closely to your battle lines.

Fear. . . .usually there is a unit that has strayed too far.  Make them flee

so that they won't attack with the rest of the units.

Blast. . . .two options st5 or st10 and no armor saves.  What a true

bargain!  Take out champions, heroes or anything giving leadership bonuses

to the enemy's units.

Curse. . . .Again, protect your units vs massed archery, x-bows and hand guns.

Net. . . . . .Just before the infantry charges you. . . .make them stick

around for a turn!

Move Unit. . . .enough said. . . . .keep your wizards near units, you never

know what spells you will get.  I forget do you draw spells then deploy?

Bless. . . .Natural for outriders. 

Heal. . . .keep that general alive, otherwise what can you spend it on

<battle standard and cheap wizards are one wound only> Still, if you buy

your leadership makers a turn it often is all the difference in the game.

Protect. . . .Protect units that will take the charges so that rank

bonus/standards etc are SURE to cause them to flee. 

Destruction. . . .the scourge of knights.

Fireball. . . .good range no armor save attacks.  Sure I use only Lvl 1

wizards.but think about it.  If I kill 2 knights I've made up my point

value, not to mention most heroes and champions with heavy armor have T3 or T4.

Two important points to summarize.  The most important phase of the game to

the Empire is Deployment.  Use it wisely and know that you will generally

have troops you can deploy once your enemy is finished.  Never let the enemy

stay behind your lines or flank you.  Hit from the front or take the charge

on an steady unit that will not break and then slam their flanks with

another large unit filled with rank bonus, standards etc.  Remember,

leadership is the key. . .make sure your units will rally and are unlikely

to flee when they see their comrades head for safer groud.