Freeguild General Wargeae

[Valgrath_the_Despoiler]

Hey all! I'm assembling a middling Free Peoples (Empire) army, and I was wondering if the folks from this wonderful community could lend me some advice! Thus far, I have the following models:

• 2x Freeguild General (1 mounted on horseback)
• 30x State Troops (10 with halberds, the other 20 with swords and shields)
• 10x Handgunners
• 3x Demigryph Knights (with lances)
• 8x Reiksguard/Empire Knights
• Empire Cannon

I hope that can give a sense for what kind of army I'm building! I'm planning to eventually add a Celestial Hurricanum and some more ranged units, but this is where I am right now. 

What I'm debating is how to equip the two generals; one on horseback and one on foot. For the general on horseback, I would love to give him a shield and lance, though the statistics on the lance weapon seem hit or miss, leading me to think that a sigmarite weapon might be better. I'm tempted by the great weapon as well, but sacrificing the shield might not be worth it. 

For the general on foot, I was thinking that a pistol and sigmarite weapon could be a nice load-out, seeing as he'll primarily be buffing my ranged units (and their escort of swordsmen), but the better save from a shield seems too good to pass up! I was also wondering if I should take the stately war banner on either? Does the banner replace the shield (seeing as it takes up an arm on the model)? I'd love to hear some input, and what's worked for you! Thanks!

[Aezeal]

Support characters need all defense they can too survive and buff longer I'd say.

[Salyx]

I would go with one in horseback with Lance and the other one in foot...hmm...never played a General in foot. I guess you should Go with the Lance for the mounted one and with the Sigmarite weapon and Relic Blade with the other one. However, Lance and Relic Blade ist also very nice.

I have played two loadouts this far: Lance+ Relic Blade and Great weapon+ Relic Blade+ Legendary Fighter in both.

The one with the Lance Always failed to wound and got nothing really through, except in one Game in which He made 12 wounds in His Charge against Saurus Guard shattering the whole unit with a following 6 in Battleshock...

However, most of the time He did Not manage to gerne His attacks through.

The one with the Great Weapon proved to be too squishy. He did kill a Stonehorn in cooperation with the Demigryphs surviving with Just one wound. The next Game He clipped into one Skyfire model and got slain before He could do anything.

He is more reliable in doing damage but He does not Like getting an Echo. 

Perhaps you could Play the General in foot as a bretonnian Paladin? He is also a Free People Hero and hast some nice abilities. 

Oh and if you are looking for a mobile fighty Hero use the bretonnian Lord in Pegasus.

 

To sum everything Up: The freeguild General's purpose ist to stay alive, use His command ability and hold Up His Banner, which does Not conflict with a shield. Consequently, he needs a 3+ save. If he can get some Charge Off into something, he should be able to do some damage, so a Lance is a good Option, perhaps you can roll better than me

 

 

 

 

[MrCharisma]

My first choice would be the Stately War Banner. The Generals role is to survive and keep buffing the troops. Shield is a must. 

[Fisherdwarf]

As I understand the description on the warscroll, the stately war banner does not conflict with any other piece of equipment, and so is basically an auto-include.

Personally, I use my general to buff and hold the army together rather than to fight. The save bonus provided by the shield is in my opinion incredibly valuable.

[Josh]

Yup my general only see's combat if something needs to die really bad in my side of the table

I played a game last night and he didn't move or touch anything lol

like you said more ranged units will help beef the list out 

imo I take 3 as a min, my handgunners usually do some running around but meh 

[MrCharisma]

On 17/08/2017 at 1:49 AM, Fisherdwarf said:

As I understand the description on the warscroll, the stately war banner does not conflict with any other piece of equipment, and so is basically an auto-include

If you use scrollbuilder, it's a weapon choice. The warscrolls is very vague 

[Valgrath_the_Despoiler]

Thank you for the thoughtful answers everyone! McCharisma, I just checked out the scroll builder, and it would appear you're right! Despite the wording, do you think a model can take a 1-H weapon with the banner? On the model, the banner is a left handed object, and the sword and lance are both right hand objects, and I've seen GW model the general with the war banner and a 1-H weapon. It's kind of confusing! I've more or less decided to go lance + shield for the mounted general, and war banner + shield for the foot general, but I would like to know if he can grab a sword too- it doesn't make much sense to me that a general would go into combat without any weapon! 

[MrCharisma]

22 hours ago, Valgrath_the_Despoiler said:

Thank you for the thoughtful answers everyone! McCharisma, I just checked out the scroll builder, and it would appear you're right! Despite the wording, do you think a model can take a 1-H weapon with the banner? On the model, the banner is a left handed object, and the sword and lance are both right hand objects, and I've seen GW model the general with the war banner and a 1-H weapon. It's kind of confusing! I've more or less decided to go lance + shield for the mounted general, and war banner + shield for the foot general, but I would like to know if he can grab a sword too- it doesn't make much sense to me that a general would go into combat without any weapon! 

I run the general with sword, shield, banner. You are 100% right that it would make no sense for it to have no actual weapons to defend themselves. It doesnt say that I can't... but it also doesn't say that I can either 

[Cerlin]

Well the scroll says if you take a sigmarite weapon you may also take a shield. A lance may also go with a shield. The banner is listed alone and does not have any conditions on it. I run a mounted and foot general each with a one handed weapon, shield, and banner.

With the coming massive regiments rule, route protection will be even more important. I am hoping for a discount on the guard at the very least.

[Donal]

2 minutes ago, Cerlin said:

Well the scroll says if you take a sigmarite weapon you may also take a shield. A lance may also go with a shield. The banner is listed alone and does not have any conditions on it. I run a mounted and foot general each with a one handed weapon, shield, and banner.

With the coming massive regiments rule, route protection will be even more important. I am hoping for a discount on the guard at the very least.

Any idea what the allegiance abilities for free people will be?

[Cerlin]

Nope! They have kept it really close to their chest but I am excited. I've been playing matched play freeguild vs all the fancy new armies for a year with no special rules and winning more than I lose. It will be great to have point free rules I will get to use. I'm looking forward to bringing the old Empire team back together, and I hope we get dispossessed and aelf friends too for allies.