1000pts Empire Friendly, could do with advice

[The Infernal Penguin]

Ok dudes. I'm putting together a Marienburg-themed army and I need your wisdom. My model selection is limited at present, so the list is more of a theoretical one than a 'this is what I got' one, but it's still restricted by the mercenary/rich boy theme I'll be running with, so no warrior-priests or flagellants, etc.

This is also my first list for 8th edition, and I don't really know what I'm doing. I think I got the points ratios right, though. ALSO, my first opponent will be versus Skaven, probably.


Heroes:
Empire Captain (Helmacht von Marienburg) with full plate, Helm of the Ratslayer, Sword of Battle, shield, pistol. 106 pts

Battle Wizard (Jonas Flensmann) with level 2, dispel scroll. 120 pts


Core:
Swordsmen (20) with full command. 145 pts
Detachment of Free Company (10) 50 pts

Halberdiers (30) with full command, Banner of Duty. 190 pts
Detachment of Free Company (10) 50 pts

Handgunners (10) with full command, hochland long rifle. 120 pts


Special:
Pistoliers (5) with full command, repeater pistol. 114 pts

Great Cannon. 100 pts



Total, 995.

I should say that I already own the pistoliers and a bunch of free company left over from mordheim, but the other stuff is pretty flexible. Need advice!

[Liam]

I can't help but come at things like this with a skewed view on them (gaming wise), but lets see ...

Unless your going themed then don't go with that setup on your Captain. Making him more defensive is usually the better option, though the key is to always have a Battle Standard, espeically when your taking blocks which look like steadfast will help. As a result I'd make the Lv2 the General, the Captain should become a BsB, usually with the 1+ Save Item from the Empire Book, cheap magic weapon if you want, but it's not needed.

Core looks solid, though I feel you have them the wrong way around. The current setup seems to be a big block of 30 Swordsmen (Ws4, I4 and Parry > S4) is better for steadfast, then you go horde when required. Opposed to starting Horde and reforming back to 5 wide when needed. You then use the Detachments Rule for a unit of 15/20 Counter Chargers and your Handgunners, so it's all able to help when needed.

Special looks fine, though I'd be tempted to try and upgrade the pistol's to outriders, they just make a mess of anything!

[The Infernal Penguin]

Right, thanks for the advice. So if I take a BSB, I can take magic items as normal unless I take a specific magic banner, right? I still get the 'Battle Standard', which is rerolls to leadership tests? In that case, yeah 1+ save sounds rosey.

If I change the cannon to a mortar, I'll have enough points to switch the swordsmen into a 30-strong unit. How do the horde/steadfast rules work?

I suppose I could move the handgunners into position as a detachment and shave a couple of points there. I'll have a tinker and see what I come up with.

EDIT: Sorry for the derpy questions, I'm very out of touch with the rules and never was very informed to begin with!

[Liam]

Don't worry, happens to all of us. Yeah, your right, if you take a magic banner, you can't take any other magic items, however if you don't, you can. The 25pt upgrade is what lets you reroll break tests, so keeping him safe is normally the best thing for it.

Steadfast = More ranks than your opponent, then your stubbon when taking break tests.
Horde = 10 Models Wide and you get an additional rank of supporting attacks.

The key to it is knowing when you need to the Steadfast (5 wide, lots deep) and when you want to go Horde (10 wide, at least 3 deep), however the real trick is using combat reforms to do it between turns

[The Infernal Penguin]

Righto. Well, if I switch the cannon to a mortar, change the captain to a BSB with the armour of meteoric iron (1+) and a sword of battle, and make it 30 swordsmen and 20 halberdiers, that comes in at 995.


For 1500pts, I was considering adding some greatswords, a great cannon and some more core troops (missile detachments, for instance).

[Strassa]

personally i would drop the pistolers and take a worrior priest +1 dispel dice you can make units unbreakable you can drop the metric iron and the sword of battle on your bsb and use the priest to give him a 4+ ward and then get a sweet banner like the griffon banner and your priest gives whatever unit he is in hatred!!!