Yo,

 
Figured I’d write something up, before I forget it all. Here goes.

 List:

 Grand Master of the Blazing Sun
Sword of Power, Shroud of Magnus, Shield, Full Plate, Barded Warhorse
with steel-standard knights

Battle Standard Bearer
Sword of Might, Dawn Armour, Barded Warhorse
with swordsmen

Warrior Priest
Icon of Magnus, Armour of Meteoric Iron, Great Weapon, Extra Hand Weapon
with greatswords

Level 2 Wizard
Rod of Power

23 Swordsmen w/ Command
9 detached Halberdiers

19 Greatswords w/ Command
9 detached Halberdiers
6 detached Handgunners

10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician

5 Knights of the Blazing Sun w/ Command
Steel Standard

6 Great Weapon Knights w/ Command
War Banner

5 Pistoliers w/ Outrider and Musician
Repeater Pistol

2 Great Cannons

Steam Tank 'Deliverance'

2250pt Total

Round 1: Clint Millward – Bretonnians

Clint had an army with 4 lances of knights, some pegasus knights, Lord on hippogriff, and skirmishing bowmen. Terrain was in my favour in this battle; I was able to split the lances between two lanes of advance, where they were each shot, baited, flanked then run down. My knight units did away with the pegasi and bowmen while my cannons and shooting left a riderless hippogriff with a single wound in turn 6. Clint had some bad luck in the game with very few successful ward saves, but everything worked to plan and I came away with a victory.

Result: 20-0 Win

 

Round 2: Ben Morrison – Demon Legion

Winning in the first round propelled me forward to play Ben. I didn’t do enough (or anything) to stop my army from being bogged down into combat, and so everything fled away after a few turns. The steam tank had some success against the bloodcrushers, but this wasn’t enough to prevent a massacre.

Result: 20-0 Loss

 

Round 3: Greg Johnson – Skaven

The scenario involved getting into the enemy deployment zone whilst defending your own – a tough prospect against an army that stretches across the board. First turn plague cut my number of infantry in half in face of an advancing horde, and there onwards I was fighting a retreating battle. The steam tank held its own, taking an entire flank by itself, but again this wasn’t enough to prevent a loss.

Result: 16-4 Loss

 

Round 4: Drew McLean – Orcs and Gobbos

I’ve played Drew’s army a few times now, and our games usually boil down to infantry lines of battle – where his fast cav is countered by my shooting and my knights are countered by fanatics. Fun games they are, and this was no different. His wyvern warboss was killed by grandmaster flash in a challenge when the screaming sword didn’t give much of a bonus, and the wyvern was subsequently punched to death by the furious five. The infantry battle swung in my favour in the last turns, when a detachment pulled off a delayed flank charge against boyz who were in combat with swordsmen, who were then carried into the flank of a combat with savage orcs against my greatswords (who were left with 3 men after stubbornly holding for many rounds of combat). The steam tank ground down the black orcs to leave me with a solid victory – a big swing in the last turns of the game.

Result: 16-4 Win

 

Round 5: Christie Johnson – Wood Trees

The tree army is a tough one, and it was a capture scenario played in a table full of forests. Hmm... Luckily though, the army was still cursed with all the bad luck I’ve ever seen, after two treemen in the front and flank of my swordsmen killed a total of four models, got charged by the tank, failed both stubborn break tests, one fleeing into the impassable objective and the other being chased down. It was all looking like it was going well until I left the flank of said swordsmen exposed to the charge of wild-riders, who broke the unit and captured the objective.

Result: 11-9 Loss

 

Round 6: Jason George

Jason had Dom’s army of competitive Dark Elves – a black dragon and lots of shooting, as well as a unit of executioners with the banner of murder and a hydra. My infantry got shredded by bolts advancing on his shooty hill, though my greatswords were able to take out the hydra. The steam tank chased ever-fleeing executioners across the board, squishing them finally in the last round. After the grandmaster was charged and killed by the dragon, his tricked-out bodyguard managed to rout his general with a blast from the musician's horn and were carried forward, eventually taking out two bolt throwers, crossbowmen and both mages. A lot of points were given up though, and I managed just a minor victory.

Result: 12-8 Win

 

I came 9^th overall, mad-happy too. I think my army needs a bit of tuning before being ideal; the pistoliers and greatsword-knights weren’t of much use – replacing the pistoliers with vanilla knights and upgrading the greatsword-knights to inner circle would have put a different spin on certain events. But overall after playing Empire for 3 years it feels like they’re finally shaping up to a proper midfield-competitive army.

 

Now everyone else post your reports!