Hi

Creating a new thread, as the other game never happened due to real life hindrances and travels and I have since updated and thought more about it. I have a 3000 points game set for Sunday Sept. 21st.

Here is the army list I am toying with:
315 - 7 Halberdiers
195 - 3 Handgunners
330 - 6 Crossbowmen
210 - 3 Flagellants
125 - 5 Skirmishers
550 - 5 Knights
190 - 2 Pistoliers
100 - 2 Helblaster
255 - 3 Cannon
260 - 2 Steam Tank
205 - 1 General
- 1 Griffon (80)
160 - 2 Hero
105 - 2 Wizard
- 1 War Altar (15)
= 3000 pts.
http://wm-selector.appspot.com/army_sel ... 2=2&12-1=1
Army is already based but unfortunately unpainted...

My concern is that I have 33 units and 17 breakage and my friend can easily muster 25/13:
450 - 3 Chaos Warriors
180 - 3 Chaos Marauders
210 - 2 Ogres
220 - 2 Trolls
270 - 3 Marauder Horsemen
200 - 1 Chaos Knights
150 - 5 Chaos Hounds
130 - 2 Harpies
500 - 2 Dragon Ogres
220 - 2 Chaos Spawn
225 - 1 General
- 1 Chaos Dragon (100)
160 - 2 Hero
90 - 1 Sorcerer
----------------------------------------------------------------
3005 - 25/13 (five pts. too much - but this is approximately what he has, not what he will field)..
http://wm-selector.appspot.com/army_sel ... &12=2&13=1

My army list does not give me much in terms of advantage of numbers. Almost all his troops are hard-hitting with high armour saves.
My reasoning around my army is that if I focus on shooting I can maybe break his lines with my no-save cannons and steam tanks and other shooting can drive him off.
The rest of my army does look rather fragile compared to his high-save, hard-hitting force.

I took the Griffon, steam tanks and War Altar more than anything because I wanted these iconic models on the table.

My questions are:
1. Is my army list viable? What would YOU change?
2. How useful are Wizards really compared with another halberdier unit?
3. How many heroes incl. general is needed / optimal for 3000 pts.?
4. How do you use brigades most optimal in an Empire army?
5. How do you field and protect cannons / steam tanks? Do you gather the cannons near each other or spread them out and do you use particular units to protect them?
6. How best to use a General on a Griffon (do's and don'ts)?
7. How best to break a chaos line?
8. How to best combat the many fast movers?

I own and play regularly with both of these armies. If it were me and I was facing Chaos, I'd probably drop the steam tanks and buy another unit of knights (as you'll need them to attrition away his knights and dragon ogres) and some more halberdiers to boost your break point a bit.

The way to beat chaos is to be a bit asymmetrical and try to fight all his "rubbish" stuff (marauders, hounds etc) and try to avoid committing to fight his chaos warriors, knights and dragon ogres! Sucker him in with halberdiers and crossbowmen and then counter charge with the flaggelants/knights.

Let us know how you get on!

Dave
Long time, big time warmaster collecter and gamer!