Volker, sometimes known as the Mad Fiddler, sat quietly, watching and listening to the gathered generals with interest. The origins of each general were glaringly obvious in their arguements.
     Medwin Frei, field commander of the Knights Panther, was the first to speak. “It is, as it has been for hundreds of years, the various orders of chivalry, the knights, who are the key to the Empire’s defense. Without their bravery, and thundering charges, the foes of the Empire could advance without concern- sure in the knowledge that when combat was reached they would be triumphant.”
     Beside Medwin, marked by the faint traces of smoke that could not be cleansed from his face and hands, Tancred Lanz, master gunner of the third Long Reach brigade, refuted this point and offered his own observations. “While the knights do serve to impress the people and give them symbols of hope, it is our guns who truly protect the Empire in battle. Guns which are capable of shredding any foe, even those too thicked-skinned or massive to suffer from the lances of the knights.”
     ‘Hurmph.’ Bertrand Riston snorted. “Your guns may be powerful, but their crews are not. They die or flee too easily and the fight is left to those of us on the front lines who buy the Empire’s freedom with not only our blades, but our blood. Without us ‘foot-sloggers’, which you so lovingly refer to us as, the Empire would have fallen long ago.”
     So it went around the room with even more groups joining the discussion, each sure of their importance. Even some of the best generals had their favoured modes of warfare and would speak for those units whose style matched theirs.
     Volker was content to allow this arguement to continue, and would have done so all night, had he not been addressed by Andrei Lorthar the leader of the Empire’s largest contingent of Kislev troops. “Fiddler, in your songs, you celebrate the bravery of all the troops of the Empire, but it is a well known fact that when you command, you prefer to have a large number of troops from the lands of Khan-Queen in your force. Is this proof that you believe these to be the best troops the Empire can field?”
     Standing slowly, Volker carefully considered his words. “You have trapped me Andrei, in a question to which there is no right answer. I prefer a style of war like that practiced by the elves of Loren, relying on speed, a denial of a general engagement, and a concentration of forces on an outnumbered and outflanked enemy. For this type of warfare, the troops of your land excel, being both faster than most of the Empire’s troops, cheaper to raise and maintain in the field, and still capable of dealing a considerable blow to the enemy on engagement. However, this is not the only way to fight, and in many cases, is one of the poorest. In border skrimishes against the Dwarves for example, the lancers and archers of Kislev fare poorly, as they not the armor to withstand the dwarven crossbows, nor is their charge always fearsome enough to break the solid dwarven infantry. Here, the heavily mailed knights of the Empire fare better. I would be harded pressed to choose the ‘best’ forces in our army. Perhaps it would better for me simply to explain their uses.

 CHARACTERS

General- Since you must take a general, it seems a logical place to begin. First and foremost, the general is the most important figure in the army. He is your best fighter, but providing leadership is his main role. He must be protected and not be expected to handle enemy characters. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT place him on a monster. Instead he should be placed where his leadership can help the most units. For a defensive army, this means right in the centre of, or just behind, the battleline, while in an offenive army he should be with the main attack force.
     In high powered games (mostly elite troops, lots of characters and magic, etc.) he should have say- Speculum, Armor of Protection, Ogre Blade.
     For lower powered games (which will be the centre of this discussion from now on as this is how I and my friends play), he should have something like- Armor of Fortune (or Crimson Armor of Dargan), Jade Amulet, Runefang (just so cool, but can be switched with the Sword of Might, or dropped altogether to take a halbred or a brace of pistols).
     Final words- Remember placement for leadership and avoid combat with enemy characters. The Empire has the most professional troops in the Old World, use this to your advantage (In all other armies, the general has a 12” command radius. This is also true for most of the Empire troops, but with State troops, as long as the parent unit is within 12” of the general, any detachments can also use the general’s leadership as long as they are within 8” of the parent unit, giving the general an effective command radius of slightly more than 20”).If the general dies, quite often the army follows.

Battle Standard Bearer- Only as tough as a unit champion (especially the very poor Tou 3, 1 wound, and Ld 7) but more difficult and expensive to raise than a hero, with the additional drawback of providing a great boost to the enemy if he is ever caught or killed. On the surface it seems to be an easy decision simply to never include him in your army. Yet, this may not be the correct decision as the benefits of the battle standard are great.  Re-rolling break tests is very important. Our armies are cheap enough to raise, that we can often have more combat fit units than the enemy, or at least have detachments big enough to offer important combat bonuses. Now, given that most armies are faster and more manuverable (as they cost more, they have less and/or smaller units and so more freedom in of movement), how can we use these numbers to our advantage? Well, if you are strategic expert and can anticipate well in advance an enemy’s movement, you can attempt to outmanuver them and launch combined charges. The rest of us however must rely on traps and/or absorbing charges. When using the second method, the BSB may be worth his points (if you protect him).
     Items to give him include- Armor of Meteoric Iron (if on foot), Jade Amulet or Dawnstone (if mounted). Magic standards leave him very vulnerable- use one on foot only if the BSB will have Heavy Armor and Shield, or mounted with the same on barded horse. The other option is to take a magic standard that doesn’t have to been in combat (ex Banner of Sorcery) and hide the BSB using terrain or a unit of fast cavalry.
     Finals words- A gamble to field and in high powered games probably not worth it (all the elites and characters rack up such huge combat results that the re-roll won’t help), but vital to specific armies (see the Field Tactics section). Like the general, should be placed where he can effect the greatest number of troops, and should be close enough that most troops benefit from both his and the general’s presence. While they work best side-by-side, it is important to remember that in such a formation they provide a very tempting target to the enemy.

Heroes- Given the martial spirit which resides in the breast of every citizen of the Empire, it is hardly surprising that heroes would be common amoung our ranks. Like the rest of the army though, as individuals, they will fail. Take care which you invite to accompany your army and make sure they have a role. I find three main types most useful in my forces. The first are those who are strong of spirit. They are used to bolster and inspire those troops which are important, but who the plan dictates must operate at a distance from the general. Second are those known as skilled duelists. I personally prefer heroes known for their ability to survive rather than those known for their ability to deal death. By challenging the enemy characters, they save my troops from the attentions of these death dealers. One of these duelists should be accompany any unit expected to see combat. In fact, against armies known for their melee prowess, such as the Chaos Warriors, it is advisable to include two heroes so that while one can challenge the opposing heroes, the other can strike at troopers. The last are specialists. Some men are reknown for being monster killers (Peg., Sword of Heroes, Whip of Agony), others excel at commanding gunnery batteries (warhorse, Talisman of Ravensdark) and there are many more examples. All of these roles I will discuss in more detail later (in the Field Tactics and Sample Army sections).

Wizards- In the last few years, the threats to the Empire have so grown in scale that even the great Colleges at Altdorf have not been able to train enough mages in the true spells. Thus, more and more, our armies have been forced to rely on hedge wizards who use a corrupt and simple form of magic known simply as battle. While their control of the winds is as good as the Colour Mages, their ability to form useful spells out of them is most certainly not. While a number of their spells are potent, their studies are very unfocused and even haphazard- some much so that even the most well trained amoung them can find on the day of battle that they are unable to cast any spell which might have a significant effect on the battle. If you are foretunate enough to find a Colour Mage the focus of his spells can be used in your planning (Grey for movement, Jade for defense, etc.) and, despite the high costs involved, it is probably worth it to utilize a higher level mage. If you are forced to rely on the hedge wizards, do not plan on them ever casting a spell. Instead employ greater numbers of lower level mages and use them to counter the effects of the enemies’ magic. (If you have the points a Mage Champion with the Skull Staff and the Rod of Power, along with one or preferably two Mages with scrolls serve well enough for defence purposes).

Champions- Of all the decisions one must make when raising an army, this is the simplest. Every unit whose main role will be in melee combat will contain a champion within its ranks. There is no reason to do otherwise.

Battle Priests- [Not part of the Empire book. You can find full rules for them on my homepage under the section Empire Additions. Since I invented them, I am probably the only one who will bother to include them in a tactics article].
     The Battle Priests play a strange role in the army. To some degree they fulfill the roles of both the hedge wizards (magical defense) and heroes (leadership, increase unit combat abilities) but perform neither as well as the specialists in those areas. Additionally, they are difficult to find and expensive to maintain. Still they have their place and I believe that they work best when fielded in secondary combat units in place of both a champion and/or a hero. Such units are not expected to bear the brunt of an enemy charge, nor serve as the spear head of an attack on the enemy line. Instead, they serve in other roles- handling light enemy units (Dark Riders, Gutter Runners, Harpies, etc.), protecting your more valuable units’ flanks, your gun batteries, etc; serving as flankers once the main units are engaged. [11 swordsmen (with standard and musician) and Battle Priest would be a good example of such a unit.]