Warmaster Fantasy - Empire Counter Set Revised

This set of Empire counters replaces the set that I did over a decade ago while I was active on the Warmaster Yahoo email list. Unlike the old set, which was slightly undersized, this set will print to the full 20mm x 40mm counters.

"The Empire is by far the largest and most powerful of the human nations of the Old World. It stretches from the Grey Mountains in the west to the Worlds Edge Mountains and the borders of Kislev in the east. This vast nation is divided into many separate principalities or states each of which is something akin to an entire and independent land in its own right. Throughout much of the history of The Empire these states have fought amongst themselves. Rival dynasties have vied for power, alliances have been made and broken, and only rarely has a single claimant risen to control the entire land. The Empire of today is almost wholly united under the Prince of Altdorf the Elector of the Reikland--hereditary ruler of the western principality of the Reikland. Only the great sea-port of Marienburg in the Wasteland retains independence under the leadership of its powerful and wealthy mercantile community." -- the Warmaster Rulebook


Printing the Counters
I hope some of you find these counter sets useful.You can print these at office printing places, like Staples, using heavy card stock paper printed at actual size. You can also print on regular paper and then glue the counters to wooden bases. (Check the older posts on how I did this with my Empire army.) Currently, I'm printing the counter sets at Staples using regular paper, spray gluing the back of each sheet with Super77, attaching each sheet to an old comic book backing board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters.

Click on the counter set image above to download the complete army counter set in PDF format. The set has enough counters to create the sample armies below and many armies of 2000 points or less. Of course, if you need more counters simply print more copies!

Empire Army Lists

Total Points: 1000 (BP 5)
1x General
2x Heroes
1x Wizard (Ring of Magic)
5x Halberdiers
2x Crossbowmen
2x Knights
1x Cannon

Total Points: 1000 (BP 5)
1x General
1x Hero (Sword of Fate)
1x Wizard (Scroll of Dispelling)
2x Halberdiers
2x Crossbowmen
4x Knights
1x Cannon

Total Points: 1485 (BP 9)
1x General
1x Hero
1x Wizard (Scroll of Dispelling)
5x Halberdiers
5x Crossbowmen
4x Knights
2x Pistoliers
1x Cannon

Total Points: 1965 (BP 12)
1x General
3x Hero
1x Wizard
6x Halberdiers
1x Handgunners
2x Handgunners + Skirmishers
4x Crossbowmen
2x Flagellants
2x Knights
2x Pistoliers
2x Helblaster
2x Cannon

Total Points: 1805 (BP 10)
1x General (Orb of Majesty)
1x Hero on Griffon (Sword of Destruction)
1x Wizard
4x Halberdiers
4x Crossbowmen
1x Flagellants
3x Knights
3x Pistoliers
1x Helblaster
2x Cannon
1x Steam Tank

Total Points: 1975 (BP 10)
1x General
2x Hero
2x Wizard (1x Scroll of Dispelling)
4x Halberdiers w/ 4x Skirmishers
2x Handgunners w/ 2x Skirmishers
4x Crossbowmen
2x Flagellants
2x Knights
2x Pistoliers
1x Helblaster
2x Cannon
1x Steam Tank

Empire Tactics
Players seem to create Empire armies that are either infantry-heavy, shooting-heavy, or cavalry-heavy depending on the tactics they prefer, which makes the Empire a versatile army compared to some others in Warmaster. A common unit tends to be the cannon, whose long-range shooting will suck armies such as Orcs, Undead, and Chaos into attacking your army. Protect your artillery with one or two units of crossbowmen to discourage flying units like eagles, harpies, and carrion. If you have two or more units of artillery, break them into multiple units. There is nothing worse then watching your cannons and helblaster all go down at the same time.

Use your infantry to take and hold woods, hills, villages, and any choke points. Use your cavalry as a counterattack force. If your army is cavalry-heavy, these units will do all the killing, along with the artillery, while your infantry stays out of the way. If possible in larger games, create at least two brigades of cavalry to attack in waves. Remember, cavalry in Warmaster are the "tactical nukes" of fantasy gaming, hitting far harder than their real world counterparts, which mostly hunted down enemy units once an army was beginning to rout. (This is why cavalry in Warmaster Ancients is mounted along the width of the base, thereby reducing its punch compared to cavalry in the fantasy game.)

The helblaster and steam cannon get little love due to their poor performance versus cost. The griffon and war alter tend to be in the same boat. It's a shame because these are some of the coolest units in the Empire army! Oh well, such is the world of Warmaster.

Special Unit Rules
I've included a couple special units in this counter set. Officially, the Elite Halberdiers are to be treated as regular halberdiers, but some house rules were printed giving the units a +1 attack and limiting them to 1 unit per 1000 points.

For rules covering the Greatswords units, download this old PDF article from Fanatic Online magazine.

The Mortar unit follows the same rules as the Bombard, which can be downloaded as a PDF in this reprinted article from Warmaster Magazine #1. You'll also want the rules clarifications from Warmuster #2, which you can download from the Warmuster website.