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THE TREASURE VAULTSA look at some of the more useful magic items in the empire armoury along with the flops you should avoid.WEAPONSRunefangThe runefangs are among the strongest weapons in the game, which is a shame since only counts can have them. It looks the business, but with only three attacks an elector count can't really get full use out of it, for a 100 points this weapon is a bit of a flop. In a challenge the elector count will be a feared opponent, but make sure you get the charge if your using this weapon since the count will die rather easily due to the lack of magical protection. Against most models the count will fight a great weapon or sword of power should be sufficient to kill them easily enough anyway. Against creatures like dragons the runefang can come into its own, but since these sorts of monsters generally have 3-6 wounds you probably won't be able to kill it before it rips your elector count apart, anything with a ward save reduces it's effects significantly too. Leave this one at home. The Mace of Helstrum In certain situations this weapons is brilliant, it's a good weapon for an elector count since he only has 3 attacks compared to the grand masters 4, wizard lords might get some use out of this weapon too. This is the sort of weapon you use to kill dragon ogre shaggoths and dragons with if your feeling very confident, a whack from this weapon can kill practically any enemy character you come across as well. Since you only get one attack though it's a good idea to take a good ward save too in case things go pear shaped, the spell "second sign of Amul" will increase your chances of success with this weapon by quite a bit. Sword of Fate This is another monster/character hunting weapon. Unlike the above two this is in the hero-level price range, so a captain might be the best person to wield it since sending your general off to fight combat monsters isn't always a good move. This is the sort of weapon that you use when you know exactly what you are up against and can plan in advance, correct deployment is vital too. Sword of Sigismund This weapon is best used for characters on foot, since mounted characters usually get the charge anyway so half the weapon is wasted on them. This is a very good weapon to protect infantry regiments from enemy cavalry since the wielder can kill one or two charging enemy knights before they get to strike. Sword of Power No fancy stuff, this is a good weapon for any fighter, it's effectively a one-handed great weapon that doesn't strike last. When you don't know what your up against or you are building your army to take on "all-comers", you can be sure that you will get some use out of this weapon. Give this and a holy relic to your lord and he becomes good enough to compete with enemy characters. ARMOURThe Gilded ArmourThis is definitely one to avoid, for 50 points you are left wondering what the designer was smoking when he priced it. Perhaps one of the worst items in the empire armoury. Dawn Armour To get full use of this armour its best to mount the character so his save is as high as possible. You still have to watch out for weapons that ignore armours saves and killing blows however. Armour of Tarnus For wizards, again preferably mounted to get full use it, since a 6+ save isn't brilliant on it's own. Giving this to a wizard lord along with Van Horstmann's speculum and sending him off to fight enemy characters is an old favourite among empire players. Armour of Meteoric Iron Brilliant! This armour is best used for great weapon wielding characters such as warrior priests, who can only achieve a 5+ save otherwise. It works well on characters mounted on monsters too. Bronze shield This shield is most effective on characters that are expecting to get hit by a bolt thrower or cannonball, for characters inside the safety of a unit it's probably not worth it. Helm of the Skaven Slayer The fear causing ability against Skaven isn't that useful, since the character has to outnumber the Skaven all by himself to break them automatically. The 6+ save is a good combination along with full plate armour for characters with two-handed weapons however. TALISMANSShroud of MagnusUsed correctly, this item is well worth its high cost. If you know that you are going up against a dark elf, skaven or chaos force with a powerful amount of magic, then this can prove to be a nasty surprise. This item should not be wasted on characters inside units, lone characters such as one riding a griffon or pegasus get the full worth out of this. You enemy was probably relying on magic to kill the monster in question too, so this surprise immunity could make him very nervous, and it's a ward save too! Jade Amulet Is an extra wound worth 50 points? Perhaps, but for slightly less points you could get a 4+ ward save which will probably keep your character alive longer anyway. Holy Relic The best ward save in the army, and pricy too. Again only characters that are likely to be targeted by shooting or magic will get it's full worth, for characters inside the safety of a unit of knights etc a 5+ ward save is usually sufficient. The White Cloak Buy this for the 5+ ward save, not the immunity to cold bases attacks and spell. The empire army book was among the first to be released, so perhaps they didn't realise that they would rarely ever actually release any kind of unit at all with a cold based attack. There is only one spell lore that is cold based at the time of writing this, and the only person that can use that lore is a 450 point Kislev special character. Worth it's points as a ward save however. Sigil of Sigmar Fair protection for units against magic heavy armies and not tool pricy either. I've found it very useful in protecting knights from dreaded skaven warp-lightning spells. The Crimson Amulet Perhaps it could come in handy against nurgle or skaven plague censor bearers, but for general use you are best off just getting a common talisman of protection. ARCANE ITEMSGrey Wand+1 to cast is always good, especially against high elves and lizardmen with slann's to cancel out their +1 to dispel. Best used on wizard lords due to the high number of power dice involved, with normal battle wizards they are often already loaded with dispel scrolls to get one. Rod of Power Criminally underused. With two battle wizards in an army, two dispel scrolls and this item will go further than 4 scrolls and isn't as boring either. The beauty of it is that it works in all situations, against magic heavy armies you can convert power dice to dispel dice. Against armies with little to no casting ability or if your opponent miscasts and ends his magic phase prematurely you can turn those unused dispel dice into power dice. I've found two wizards and a warrior priest are a supreme combination with this item which makes you able to cast or defend against magic extremely effectively, could be very useful in tournaments or situation where you are unsure of your opponent. It can also be a surprise that was wasn't factored into your enemy's strategy too. Have the guts to give up two scrolls for this item and you'll be rewarded. Luckstone A power stone or dispel scroll is probably a better use of 25 points generally, using the luckstoen ion combination with a power stone helps avoid annoying miscasts, but is a bit of an expensive idea for a one-hit wonder. Crystal Ball Very limited use, you'll have to put the wizard on a pegasus or horse to get the information its gives early enough due to it's limited range. Wizards Staff Cheap item for low level wizards if you don't have a wizard lord but want to use a fair amount of dice to cast a particular spell. ENCHANTED ITEMSRod of CommandFor setting traps, this items is absolutely unrivalled. Remember it still works against things that cause fear and terror too. One classic tactic is to place a weak infantry regiment in charge range of some uber-combat enemy unit which would obviously break the infantry on the charge hands down,. Then with a characters in the regiment with this item your unit will hold against all expectations and you can charge the enemy unit in the flank with knights in your turn. There are paragraphs of uses for this item but its more fun to figure them out on your own. There two golden rules though; don't use it too often against regular opponents and don't get the characters using killed. Avoid challenges from enemy characters and make sure to give the unit he is in a champion to accept them instead. The Silver Horn Not nearly as useful as it sounds. For a start, it is used in the magic phase, so fleeing units would have either rallied already or ran off the table by now. Then there's casting it in the first place, you need lots of power dice to wear down your opponent's dispel dice and then if the fleeing unit is actually important or worth much your opponent cold just scroll it or save dispel dice to stop it anyway. If you are bent on using it, concealment is the key, don't use it too early, but then that's hard to judge… Orb of Thunder Pretty effective as long as your opponent is actually using flyers and you have enough power dice to wear his dispel dice down. Luckily, most players can't bring themselves to dispel scroll bound items, they'll probably just let it go if they run out of dispel dice unless the flyers are in a critical position. Don't try and use it as soon as you see a flyer, wait until he has run out of dice and possibly used a scroll dispelling something else (no-one wants to use two scrolls in one turn, and it is only a bound item after all…). Once they know about it, they won't let you use it again at a critical moment. Also, oddly, trying to use it at critical moments might be a bad move, as there is no way they'll let it go. Turn two is always the best turn to use bound items, because on turn one they will be saving a few dice if there any good "just in case" and if you don't use a bound spell they'll let their guard down. On turn three the flyers will be in an important enough position to warrant a dispel scroll. Alfred's Casket of Sorcery Absolutely useless, the chances of first getting in combat with a wizard that doesn't want to be in combat is minimal (and ones that DO want to get into combat with you are probably capable of ripping you apart). Then getting out of combat and managing to use the spell effectively before the end of the game is highly unlikely too. The only use of this item is advising other empire opponents to use it. Icon of Magnus Underrated. Failing a fear test or fleeing automatically are obviously frustrating and things you wish to avoid, great item for captains or battle wizards. Ring of Volans In my experience this item has never managed to be useful. Doomfire Ring This is a nice item for a captain, giving him something to do. Like all bound spell best used when there are plenty of friendly wizards around, unlike the previous bound spells however you want to try and use this every turn. It's not very good but your opponent will save a dispel dice for it, possibly letting you cast better a spell with your wizards beforehand. Also useful for smoking banshees, wraiths, badly placed assassins and various other undesirables. Van Horstmann's Speculum Ohoho! Good item, even better because empire characters' stats aren't very good comparatively. Giving it to a waizard is good but they generally don't have enough protection to survive long enough, warrior priests however are the most desirable thing to give this item to. Soon your poor fighting warrior priest or mounted wizard lord will be knocking out greater daemons and the like, frustrating your opponent to no end, remember you have to challenge your opponent to use it, even if it's a one-on-one combat. Just remember that any experienced opponent will NOT jump that "conveniently-in-charge-range-empire-wizard" with their combat monster characters (everyone makes that mistake at some point in their lives) and that you can't challenge something that isn't a character, such as chaos spawns. MAGIC STANDARDSImperial bannerNice banner against undead as long as you keep the units close together, but it doesn't let you avoid auto-fleeing from outnumbering fear causers. Before using it, ask yourself whether this 100 point banner will be worth it's points in the upcoming battle. Banner of Sigismund Not as useful as it sounds, mainly because it's so easy to kill battle standard bearers and the banner is too expensive to be carried otherwise. Against anything worth being stubborn against, the enemy can probably kill the bearer with little effort. Griffon Standard Taking an elector count means you can give this to infantry regiments without the hassle of having to give it to suicidal battle standard bearers. Brilliant standard, feared by opponents, it makes a unit of swordsmen powerful enough o have to be babysitted by captains. Just remember that regiments with this banner and detachments will soon be avoided like the plague by your opponents and will never get into combat if you usually defend with them, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you use them for. Banner of Valour Nice standard for knights, eliminates the chances of last minute frustrating failed leadership tests. Watching your expensive cavalry unit flee from a bolt thrower hit is always depressing. Steel Standard If you really have problems guessing and often fail your charges by an inch or two, I suggest you use this, otherwise a war banner would be better used instead. Next: Empire Deployment | |
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