Empire Skirmishers

[andys]

Are they worth having? I realise it probably comes to down to an individual players style of gaming.

I guess they increase the combat resilience of a basic infantry unit and give a shooting attack to an otherwise shotless unit of halberdiers/flagellants. At 25 points a stand, are you better just going for more basic infantry units to increase the break point? Or if you give ALL your infantry units a stand of skirmishers, does it transform them into a much stronger force overall?

I've a few spare crossbow/gun/sword figures from Pendraken left over from various Dogs of War units I've been painting up. Enough for a loose handful of Skirmishers stands. Even though these figures are a little bigger than GW Empire infantry, I'm minded to mix them up and add them to my Empire force as skirmishers. Better that than have then laid there unpainted doing nothing.

[jchaos79]

If you change the point of view and instead thinking in a unit you consider the overall force of skirmishers inside a 4 unit brigade, you could conclude:

It is more or less like a unit with the following
points 75.
Stat: 4 attacks  /  3 hits   / save 0/6+     / sieze:3 stands
Special:
- Not have -1 command when a stand is destroy
- could be the fifth unit of a brigade.
- Do not have own movement,

Above is a simplification because SKIRMISHERS STANDS NEVER COUNT AS INDEPENDENT UNITS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, but could sum up the potential of skirmishers.

75 points  unit of 4 attacks and 6+ that could make be the 5th unit brigade... yes I think it is worth.

or even a 100 points  unit of 4 stands, 4 attacks that could make 5th unit brigade. Yes.

[andys]

I find it slightly odd that other armies don't have a similar option. The only one that comes close AFAIK is the Lizardman Salamander but I get the impression that's more to give that army some kind of artillery-type unit.

The ability to add Skirmishers to Flagellants is also odd. Flagellants being your basic nutters wanting to get stuck into the enemy - why should they worry about tactics, a sensible advance towards the enemy and army organisation?

Throughout history, skirmishers have been a very common part of armies. I don't see why this hasn't carried across to the Warmaster world.

[Edmund2011]

Just to clarify a bit, Skirmishers stands don't shoot (only 4 dice in close combat).

Witchhunter army has similar type of troop, but attached to cavalry: Warhounds.

I guess they increase the combat resilience of a basic infantry unit and give a shooting attack to an otherwise shotless unit of halberdiers/flagellants.

[andys]

Ooops, my mistake Edmund, you're quite right, they don't shoot! 

Still, 4 attacks when attached to a basic infantry unit (13 attacks total) isn't to be sniffed at.

[Stormwind]

The idea behind all Warmaster official lists was simplicity, Empire is kind of an anomaly in terms of how many units it has. =-P

[empireaddict]

I always try to add Skirmishers to Halberdiers.  The unit can then sustain 12 points worth of damage (same as a unit of Dwarves) and if you put them at the front of the columns they improve the odds for what are otherwise pretty poor infantry.  Not sure it's really worth the extra 25 points if your going to be overly analytical, but giving your infantry some chance of doing something useful can be psychologically important for you and for your opponent.

When playing Witch Hunters, I always go for hounds with the flagellants.  Not much additional combat power but another 3 hits that your enemy has to inflict to make you go away.  And all the while you're wearing them down.  Effectively makes flagellants last as long as Troll Slayers.

[forbes]

I've added them to Flagellents in the past - adding them at the back to give them 360 (ish) line of sight. Then you park the unit behind canons to chase off flyers.

Tried adding them wholesale to halberdiers - not sure it helped much.

[Stormwind]

What models do you use for warhounds? The copplestone wolves?