AoS 2 - Free Peoples Discussion

[Duck1986]

Hi folks,

First post for a little while.

After a couple of years of playing casually against a select few armies (Dispossessed, mixed-Destruction, mixed-Death and Khorne), I'm thinking about being brave and losing my tournament virginity in a local 2k one-day 3 battle tournament. Having never played competitively, and also not faced a lot of the other armies out there before, I'm not expecting to place highly, but also would like to at least give my opponents a decent battle! (Fearing turn one annihilation by something I totally didn't account for!)

Here's what I'm thinking!

• Freeguild General on horseback, sword and shield - stately war banner.
  General, Indominable.
• Freeguild General on Griffon, Greathammer and shield.
  Armour of Meteoric Iron
• Freeguild General with sword and pistol
• Gunmaster with longrifle
• Battlemage
• Freeguild Guard x20 - sword and shield - Great Company
• Freeguild Crossbowmen x 30 - Great Company
• Freeguild Handgunners x30 - Great Company
• Freeguild Greatswords x10
• Freeguild Greatswords x10
• Cannon x1
• Freeguild Outriders x5

Points 1930/2000 (330 points of allies)
Extra command-point with the extras?

Does this seem okay as an all-comers list? I was going to go with more artillery but realised I didn't have any dispelling ability so took the mage instead.
I also have an additional 20x Guard with swords and shields, Knight Incantor, Cannon, Helblaster and Rocket Battery, 20 handgunners amongst others that could be swapped in if they'd work better.

Feedback appreciated

 

[zilberfrid]

I think that list has too big a chance for the griffin to become unsupported somewhere.

I'd remove the gunmaster, cannon and battlemage and put in a Luminark with mage. 240 pts this is a more survivable battlemage with built in artillery, alernatively, a battlemage on griffin could work.

You can still add a Knight Azyros, Knight Incantor or even two Excelsior Warpriests (to heal your generals), with the first being probably the best option.

I think the range on the pistol isn't worth losing the shield for, but it is extra damage, of course, and you have a few generals.

I would not fear turn one obliteration, your great company will be a nasty thing to charge into.

[Slackest_Dorf]

15 hours ago, Duck1986 said:

Hi folks,

First post for a little while.

After a couple of years of playing casually against a select few armies (Dispossessed, mixed-Destruction, mixed-Death and Khorne), I'm thinking about being brave and losing my tournament virginity in a local 2k one-day 3 battle tournament. Having never played competitively, and also not faced a lot of the other armies out there before, I'm not expecting to place highly, but also would like to at least give my opponents a decent battle! (Fearing turn one annihilation by something I totally didn't account for!)

Here's what I'm thinking!

• Freeguild General on horseback, sword and shield - stately war banner.
  General, Indominable.
• Freeguild General on Griffon, Greathammer and shield.
  Armour of Meteoric Iron
• Freeguild General with sword and pistol
• Gunmaster with longrifle
• Battlemage
• Freeguild Guard x20 - sword and shield - Great Company
• Freeguild Crossbowmen x 30 - Great Company
• Freeguild Handgunners x30 - Great Company
• Freeguild Greatswords x10
• Freeguild Greatswords x10
• Cannon x1
• Freeguild Outriders x5

Points 1930/2000 (330 points of allies)
Extra command-point with the extras?

Does this seem okay as an all-comers list? I was going to go with more artillery but realised I didn't have any dispelling ability so took the mage instead.
I also have an additional 20x Guard with swords and shields, Knight Incantor, Cannon, Helblaster and Rocket Battery, 20 handgunners amongst others that could be swapped in if they'd work better.

Feedback appreciated

 

Hey Duck, 

With what you have provided and using my experience of playing the Free Peeps in quite a few 2000 point games at tournaments, I think you enjoy the list below. It's not going to blow anyone's socks off but it is well rounded and has a good set of tools for armies you'll be encountering on the battlefield.

So what are point of interest?

Ethereal Amulet - Ignores modifiers, both positive and negative. This will keep the General on Griffon at a flat 3+ save ignoring rend (and also your Indomitable). This will allow him to go out and about. You can also still cat Mystic Shield on him making him 3+ re-rolling 1's.

Jade Battlemage - Can cast one spell and dispel one.  The spell Lifesurge is amazing - Casts on a 5, pick a unit within 18" and heals D3 wounds, also has a 6+ ward save (wounds and mortals) until your next turn.

Two Great Companies - Splits your shooting into two companies creating two problems for your enemy to deal with. It's also good as you can use one company to defend a flank whilst the other pushes forward on the attack. Make sure to keep your General with Banner in the middle for the 24" battleshock shenanigans.

Outrider - Good objective grabbers and scouting. Can be made better with the Rousing Battlecry and Hold the Line! abilities. These guys can also support the Griffon General.

Cannon - Free Peoples have a lot of mid-range shooting. The Cannon gives you the ability to reach out and touch people (not in a good way :D). I'd prefer the Luminark for it's laser beam and buffs but we make do.

Extra Command Point: 1 extra command point, this comes in handy with activating the General on Horse and the General on Griffons command abilities in one turn, turning your Crossbows, Handgunners, Outriders or Griffon into damage beasts!.

Would love to know what you think Duck. I'm excited to hear how you go with the Free Peeps

Allegiance: Free Peoples - Mortal Realm: Shyish
LEADERS
Freeguild General on Griffon (280)
- Shield & Greathammer
- Artefact : Ethereal Amulet

Freeguild General (100)
- General
- Stately War Banner
- Warhorse

Battlemage (110)
- Specialisation : Jade
- Allies

Knight-Incantor (140)
- Allies
UNITS

20 x Freeguild Guard (160) (GC1)
- Swords and Shields
30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (300) (GC1)
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100) (GC1)

20 x Freeguild Guard (160) (GC2)
- Swords and Shields
20 x Freeguild Handgunners (200) (GC2)
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100) (GC2)

5 x Freeguild Outriders (120)

WAR MACHINES
Cannon (140)
- Allies

TOTAL: 1960/2000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 1 WOUNDS: 152
LEADERS: 4/6 BATTLELINES: 6 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 1/4 ARTILLERY: 1/4
ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ALLIES: 390/400

[zilberfrid]

My first list is this one

 

Batallion: Regiment

General on foot (war banner, shield, indomatable, armour of meteoric iron)

General on horse (War banner, shield, flag of the conquerors)

Excelsior war priest

20 Guard sword-shield

10 Pistoleers

10 Outriders

20 Guard militia

10 Greatswords

10 Handgunners

20 Guard sword shield

10 Handgunners

10 handgunners

Demigryphs

 

So, your basic 3 company regiment, with spare general and healer/dispeller curtosy to the points adjustments. Idea is to have the great company with the Outriders move up as fast as the guard can run while shooting, have the demis protect the flank of one of the generals, and use the greatswords as anvil in the company that also has militia.

I have some ways to alter it, with Karl or battlemage on Griffin, three battle mages, some 30 spare bodies that can become guard, 20 extra greatswords and a knight incantor.

For 2500 points, I'd up two of the guard units to 40, and add a knight incantor (in the beginning) or Cannon (later). Another option would be to remove the warpriest, and add a Knight on Griffin and witch hunter, or to keep the warpriest, and make the Griffin a wizard

[swarmofseals]

I'm curious to know if any of you have any competitive experience with a list like the following:

2x Freeguild General (likely one with banner, one general with shield, indomitable, and probably the writ)

Luminark with White Battlemage

2x20 Freeguild Guard

1x20 Freeguild Crossbows/Handgunners

3x30 Freeguild Crossbows/Handgunners

Random endless spell up to 40 points

2 extra CP

Alternately you drop the endless spell and Luminark for a general on griffon

 

Such a list is definitely slow and will basically never have the choice of turn, but the amount of shooting damage that it can do is tremendous and it's going to be very hard for the enemy to engage you at all. You should be very difficult to flank, and any unit trying to engage with you head on is going to have to weather a massive amount of fire before attacking. 

I do certainly worry about getting to objectives quickly enough, and the lack of anti-magic is potentially really problematic.

 

[Duck1986]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:58 PM, zilberfrid said:

I think that list has too big a chance for the griffin to become unsupported somewhere.

I'd remove the gunmaster, cannon and battlemage and put in a Luminark with mage. 240 pts this is a more survivable battlemage with built in artillery, alernatively, a battlemage on griffin could work.

You can still add a Knight Azyros, Knight Incantor or even two Excelsior Warpriests (to heal your generals), with the first being probably the best option.

I think the range on the pistol isn't worth losing the shield for, but it is extra damage, of course, and you have a few generals.

I would not fear turn one obliteration, your great company will be a nasty thing to charge into.

Thanks @zilberfrid, those are nice points, especially the fact that the General on Griffin becomes unsupported. I'm a bit limited currently on those models you've suggested, but they are something I may look to build towards with future purchases as they look awesome from looking at them. I do have a Knight Incantor, so may try and work him in as he can automatically dispel something which is always a bonus! 

On ‎7‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:54 AM, Slackest_Dorf said:

Would love to know what you think Duck. I'm excited to hear how you go with the Free Peeps

Allegiance: Free Peoples - Mortal Realm: Shyish
LEADERS
Freeguild General on Griffon (280)
- Shield & Greathammer
- Artefact : Ethereal Amulet

Freeguild General (100)
- General
- Stately War Banner
- Warhorse

Battlemage (110)
- Specialisation : Jade
- Allies

Knight-Incantor (140)
- Allies
UNITS

20 x Freeguild Guard (160) (GC1)
- Swords and Shields
30 x Freeguild Crossbowmen (300) (GC1)
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100) (GC1)

20 x Freeguild Guard (160) (GC2)
- Swords and Shields
20 x Freeguild Handgunners (200) (GC2)
10 x Freeguild Handgunners (100) (GC2)

5 x Freeguild Outriders (120)

WAR MACHINES
Cannon (140)
- Allies

TOTAL: 1960/2000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 1 WOUNDS: 152
LEADERS: 4/6 BATTLELINES: 6 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 1/4 ARTILLERY: 1/4
ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ALLIES: 390/400

I like the list you've suggested @Slackest_Dorf! I notice that the largest difference really is the adding of handgunners and removal of Greatswords. Greatswords on paper seem an awesome melee unit, but is the opinion of the community to concentrate on shooting with the Great Company abilities? Does make sense!

As I have 40 handgunners currently, do people find it better to have several smaller units of handgunners as opposed to a blob of 30, which has decent to-hit enhancers?

Thanks everyone!

Ed

[Slackest_Dorf]

 

14 hours ago, Duck1986 said:

Thanks @zilberfrid, those are nice points, especially the fact that the General on Griffin becomes unsupported. I'm a bit limited currently on those models you've suggested, but they are something I may look to build towards with future purchases as they look awesome from looking at them. I do have a Knight Incantor, so may try and work him in as he can automatically dispel something which is always a bonus! 

I like the list you've suggested @Slackest_Dorf! I notice that the largest difference really is the adding of handgunners and removal of Greatswords. Greatswords on paper seem an awesome melee unit, but is the opinion of the community to concentrate on shooting with the Great Company abilities? Does make sense!

As I have 40 handgunners currently, do people find it better to have several smaller units of handgunners as opposed to a blob of 30, which has decent to-hit enhancers?

Thanks everyone!

Ed

Thanks Duck, glad you like the list.

The good thing about the Handgunners is that they are effective as sniper teams and flank protectors in units of 10, with the Long Rifles (3x in that list) you can snipe characters at 30" ( and combine this with the Cannon @ 32" range shooting, that could be nasty). With the Greatswords you have to get them into combat with their very low movement (5"), at least with the Handgunners they are cheaper, can shoot out to 16" and have a 30" sniper champion.  As for the unit of 30x Handgunners, they suffer from moving which is huge as they are mid-range shooters, this makes them susceptible to long-range shooting. Hiding a 30x man unit is hard, but hiding a 10 or 20 man unit in scenery is easier. Also if you split the units you get more 30" long rifles.

You'll be surprised by the damage output a unit of 10 Handgunners can do with Hold The Line! and not having moved. 

The Great Companies are built to exploit  the potency of our shooting, hence the 30x Crossbows and 20x Handgunners split into two different Great Companies, as they can be activated separately. Also remember that with the supporting Great Company fire you don't have to target the enemy charging the Great Company, so you can split that fire to other threats.

Hope this helps mate ")

 

[Kramer]

Hi generals! 

I have some old dogs of war pikemen (the leapard kind) and a bit out for 20 more.  Is there any use to a big block of 40 spearmen? 

Ive been finding all kinds of old dogs of war and empire models at my parents in storage. And I was wondering if there is some use there. The end goal would be a fun 1K list I could let opponents use them in 1k and meeting engagements  

or will you rarely stack enough buffs on them to make it worthwhile because they are better used on say thunderers and greatswords 

Edited July 11, 2019 by Kramer

[zilberfrid]

18 minutes ago, Kramer said:

Hi generals! 

I have some old dogs of war pikemen (the leapard kind) and a bit out for 20 more.  Is there any use to a big block of 40 spearmen? 

Ive been finding all kinds of old dogs of war and empire models at my parents in storage. And I was wondering if there is some use there. The end goal would be a fun 1K list I could let opponents use them in 1k and meeting engagements  

or will you rarely stack enough buffs on them to make it worthwhile because they are better used on say thunderers and greatswords 

I think spearmen would be best to convert to halberds with shields, or add some spare guns/bows/crossbows and make them militia, spearmen themselves are not often fielded. Militia, I think, are a great option for guards as a rearguard in a great company  with greatswords in front.

Militia is a very good way to just chuck random stuff together, I make sure every model has a ranged and melee option, but the original set did not have such considerations.

40 guards are a danger, they hit on 2+ from range or in melee, they wound half the time, and their missiles will make a great company very prickly. Giving that unit a buff to wounds makes them very nasty.

For a 1k unit that's easiest to play, I'd say

• buy one box of Greatswords, make 20 greatswords from them with the most armoured bodies of your spearmen (there are a lot of parts in one box), and try to stretch it to 30 with a few "counts as"
• Get a general (or appoint one from existing miniatures) and give him a War Banner
• Use the 40 spearmen as militia
• Try to find 30 crossbowmen, add where necessary

This army will be a terror on the battlefield, from 20" the double striking crossbows come in, from 14" the 40 militia add to that, and if you get close, they can murderise you in response to anyone attacking troops.

It cannot hold multiple objectives though, for that you would need to split it up

20 militia

30 crossbowmen

10 greatswords

20 militia

10 guard (I'd say sword shield, but halberds would also work fine, or even militia)

10 guard (I'd say sword shield, but halberds would also work fine, or even militia)

1 general

 

[Kramer]

5 hours ago, zilberfrid said:

I think spearmen would be best to convert to halberds with shields, or add some spare guns/bows/crossbows and make them militia, spearmen themselves are not often fielded. Militia, I think, are a great option for guards as a rearguard in a great company  with greatswords in front.

Militia is a very good way to just chuck random stuff together, I make sure every model has a ranged and melee option, but the original set did not have such considerations.

40 guards are a danger, they hit on 2+ from range or in melee, they wound half the time, and their missiles will make a great company very prickly. Giving that unit a buff to wounds makes them very nasty.

For a 1k unit that's easiest to play, I'd say

• buy one box of Greatswords, make 20 greatswords from them with the most armoured bodies of your spearmen (there are a lot of parts in one box), and try to stretch it to 30 with a few "counts as"
• Get a general (or appoint one from existing miniatures) and give him a War Banner
• Use the 40 spearmen as militia
• Try to find 30 crossbowmen, add where necessary

This army will be a terror on the battlefield, from 20" the double striking crossbows come in, from 14" the 40 militia add to that, and if you get close, they can murderise you in response to anyone attacking troops.

It cannot hold multiple objectives though, for that you would need to split it up

20 militia

30 crossbowmen

10 greatswords

20 militia

10 guard (I'd say sword shield, but halberds would also work fine, or even militia)

10 guard (I'd say sword shield, but halberds would also work fine, or even militia)

1 general

 

Thanks for the tips! 

I won’t be converting the pikemen. It’s a shame of such amazing models (although I’m the first to admit I’m looking at them very nostalgically). But I’ll be holding of on adding this crazy expensive OOP sculpts though. Thanks for the tips! 

But I must say I’m surprised about the militia thing. I’d expected bigger blobs sword and board to take the charge supported by hand gunners and greatsword. One of which you would buff through the roof for massive damage. Depending on the situation it would be one or the other. 

But I assume that has been tried and didn’t work. What’s the problem with such a set up? 

Edit: also have a great beast wizard in the form of the Albion life Druid. I assume the +1 to wound is great value or does it become redundant with the generals buffs? 

Edited July 11, 2019 by Kramer

[zilberfrid]

32 minutes ago, Kramer said:

Thanks for the tips! 

I won’t be converting the pikemen. It’s a shame of such amazing models (although I’m the first to admit I’m looking at them very nostalgically). But I’ll be holding of on adding this crazy expensive OOP sculpts though. Thanks for the tips! 

But I must say I’m surprised about the militia thing. I’d expected bigger blobs sword and board to take the charge supported by hand gunners and greatsword. One of which you would buff through the roof for massive damage. Depending on the situation it would be one or the other. 

But I assume that has been tried and didn’t work. What’s the problem with such a set up? 

The issue with sword &board, is that they can't all deal damage, this is something the militia can do. You could go spearmen (you have them) and have three rows of staggered guard deal damage and achieve a similar result, but then you're still not using every body on the field to deal damage if, for instance, they are counter attacking a unit in your great company.

If you're not into changing them, just run them as spearmen, and they will do fine, at least for friendly games.

One thing to note is that you're not buffing one of the units, you're buffing all of them with "Hold the line" you can't move or charge (but can counter charge and protect your great company), and you're adding one to wounds, and one to to hit. This means 2 to hit (because you normally can't go lower) for your guard, and for your greatswords, and your crossbowmen. Your crossbowmen have rend on 5+, shoot twice and wound on 3+, your greatswords on 2+ and your guards on 3+

If everyone manages to attack:

61 attacks from the Greatswords, 51 hits, 42 wounds with -1 rend

60 attacks from  the Crossbowmen, 50 hits, 33 wounds, half with -1 rend

41 attacks from your guard, 34 hits, 23 wounds

Your own dudes have save 3+ for greatswords, 4+ for guard (reroll one if they have a shield), 5+ for crossbowmen (because your general has Indomitable). 

Your dudes can also reroll charges for defending the great company and get +1 bravery, because he has Flag of the Conquerers.

If you roll a 1 or 2, noone in the unit flees for battleshock. You roll battleshock with two dice, and choose the die you want.

 

The trouble is getting all the little dudes to attack, that is why I like militia better for ease of use, they also have double the damage output, because they can shoot and attack in their own turn.

Edited July 11, 2019 by zilberfrid

[Arkanaut Admiral]

If I get some overtime this week, I might be able to purchase some old dogs of war minis to start a unique Freeguild army lol.

[Kramer]

5 minutes ago, Arkanaut Admiral said:

If I get some overtime this week, I might be able to purchase some old dogs of war minis to start a unique Freeguild army lol.

Where do you think I got the idea  

[Arkanaut Admiral]

3 minutes ago, Kramer said:

Where do you think I got the idea  

Gasp!  You’re not after the...lost legion are you?! 😂

[Kramer]

1 hour ago, Arkanaut Admiral said:

Gasp!  You’re not after the...lost legion are you?! 😂

No it’s jungle leopards for me I fear! But I also have the old Borgia the besieger as a general on horse. Two different sets of crosbowmen (those with shields and in a different style). Because it’s meant for friendly games I will play the 10 Voland venetors as knights but with the free people keyword. And probably a lot more. But like I said it’s all up in an attic and don’t have the complete overview. 

[swarmofseals]

Had a pretty interesting game yesterday taking a freeguild list for the first time against my opponent's Thunderquake Seraphon list. My list:

Freeguild General (steed, lance, shield, war banner, general: indomitable, Ignax's Scales)

Freeguild General (steed, lance, shield, war banner, Writ of Dominion)

30 Freeguild Guard (sword and shield)

10 Freeguild Guard (sword and shield)

10 Freeguild Guard (sword and shield)

30 Freeguild Crossbows

30 Freeguild Crossbows

10 Freeguild Archers

10 Freeguild Greatswords

5 Pistoliers

5 Outriders

3 Demigryph Knights

Battalion: Freeguild Regiment

 

His list:

Slann

Astrolith Bearer

3x10 Skinks

3 Ripperdactyls

Bastilodon (Solar Engine)

Engine of the Gods

Stegadon

Knight-Incantor with the comet endless spell

2 Salamanders

3 Skink Handlers

Battalion: Thunderquake Starhost

 

We rolled up the Battle for the Pass and set up scenery. My initial impressions were that the battleplan and matchup were very unfavorable given that he was playing a list that was content to hold back with most of its force, the deployment areas were very awkward, and the distance between deployment areas is about as large as it gets (24" at the closest point, but the vast majority of the deployment area is even further back. 

Given that most of my damage dealers are slow, didn't expect this to go well.

Things got even worse when he won the roll off and stuck me with the side of the table that had a large, entangling piece of terrain right in the front part of the deployment zone and a large overgrown piece of terrain blocking my LOS to the objective in my right.

Once the battle actually begun, it went downhill from there. Even though I would prefer to play second, I thought that I needed to go first in order to get to the middle objectives right away. I knew that if he took both on the first turn I likely wouldn't be able to get them back until turn three at the earliest. Even though this decision compounded my problems, I think it was correct and kept me in the game.

My first turn run rolls were abysmal, hitting 1s and 2s (which were largely reduced to 0 by the entangling terrain) on all but one unit. I was still able to get to both middle objectives and take them.

At that point, nearly everything went wrong until turn 3 or so.

My opponent hit the "summon" result on his Engine of the Gods on both of his first two turns, and managed to double turn me right away from turn 1 to turn 2. He was able to take one middle objective on turn 1 and the other on turn 2. As I predicted, I wasn't going to be in a position to reclaim either until turn 3 , although far below average combat roles didn't do me any favors. Unfortunately I lost the roll off on turn 3 as well, meaning he was able to take another 5 point turn. 

On the bottom of 3 we realized we were about out of time and shortcutted our way through the rest. At this point I was finally able to bring my firepower to bear and do real damage. We figured that I would be able to easily take one of the objectives back due to numbers, but the other objective was close. We played out that combat and due to fluffing my rolls quite a bit I barely missed taking it. He won initiative for a third time and at that point we figured he was extremely likely to win. If I had managed to take both that turn it would have been very close, likely a toss-up.

So overall, the takeaway for me is that while this army looks quite crappy on paper, it actually performed quite well despite a number of factors:

• The battleplan and terrain were very unfavorable, and the matchup was a tough one. I know Thunderquake isn't exactly a tier 1 list, but I actually think that it's a more difficult opponent for Freeguild than some of the more competitive elements in the meta. 
• Over the course of the game the dice definitely favored my opponent particularly in the first few turns
• I lost all of the initiative rolls

Even so the outcome wasn't really fully decided and given a small nudge I could have been very much in it. 

Overall it leaves me fairly optimistic.

 

 

[Maturin]

Hey guys, just a question, does the Free people abilities like the "Free guild companies" work in a mixed order army ?

[StapMyVitals]

21 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Hey guys, just a question, does the Free people abilities like the "Free guild companies" work in a mixed order army ?

Unfortunately not. The Freeguild great companies are an allegiance ability, just the same as Stormcast's ability to teleport on to the board or Legions of Nagash having grave sites. The good news is that the musicians in Freeguild Guard, Crossbowmen, and Handgunners apply a weaker version of the great companies' abilities so you don't completely lose the ability to act out of sequence.

[Maturin]

7 minutes ago, StapMyVitals said:

Unfortunately not. The Freeguild great companies are an allegiance ability, just the same as Stormcast's ability to teleport on to the board or Legions of Nagash having grave sites. The good news is that the musicians in Freeguild Guard, Crossbowmen, and Handgunners apply a weaker version of the great companies' abilities so you don't completely lose the ability to act out of sequence.

Thanks for your reply mate! Tell me if I'm getting it right, If a great swords unit is charged and she's got a musician, than nearby handgunners can shoot at the charging enemy ? Is there a way to make the use of musician viable in a mixed order army ?

[StapMyVitals]

No, the Handgunners would only be able to shoot if the charging unit ends up within 3" of them. The only way the two units can interact in that example is if the Handgunners were charged and the Greatswords' musician allowed them to counter-charge D6" at the end of the enemy's charge phase.

The stronger ability that the Freeguild allegiance provides is that the Handgunners can shoot at any unit within 3" of any other unit in the great company, not just themselves (other conditions apply, but this might be one of the strongest things about Freeguild as an army, if the positioning is right), or the Greatswords could counter-charge the regular 2D6" in the enemy's charge phase as long as their units are within 3" of another unit in the great company.

[Maturin]

Ok, so if I was to use them, then I'll have to keep them close to each other at all time! Like Greatswords just right in front of the handgunners ?

[StapMyVitals]

Sure, if the Greatswords were literally one line and the Handgunners stood very deliberately a little less than 2" behind them, then by charging the Greatswords an enemy would open themselves up to a stand-and-shoot reaction from the Handgunners while still facing off against the Greatswords alone unless they had very good melee weapon range. In those circumstances, however, the Handgunners would lose a +1 to hit bonus for not being within 3" of an enemy. Great companies are where Freeguild troops excel, but (especially if accompanied by a Freeguild General) they're by no means useless as part of a grand alliance army.

[Maturin]

16 minutes ago, StapMyVitals said:

Great companies are where Freeguild troops excel, but (especially if accompanied by a Freeguild General) they're by no means useless as part of a grand alliance army.

Yeah, I'm trying to do a Mixed Order List with at least 3 FreePeople units and a general, backed with a Celestial Hurricanum and his mage, at least one unit of sisters of the Thorn and the rest would be either Seraphons or Stormcasts

Edited July 14, 2019 by Maturin

[swarmofseals]

This is a bit of an odd request, but has anyone here been playing long enough to have a good grasp of the history of Freeguild/Empire infantry releases?

I picked up a cheap empire army a while back and have just been trying out some configurations, but I really have no idea what editions the models are. There are even a few sealed boxes that look like they are probably older than the current Freeguild Guard set, but they seem so similar that I'm really not sure.

I think most of my plastics are from the Empire State Troops (2000) box, which has 20 models in it. I understand there have been two releases since then: the 2006 release and the 2012 (current) release.

Those of you that have been collecting for a while -- do you ever field the old sculpts along with the new ones? Do you find that it looks strange on the tabletop? What are the main differences in the look between the kits?

[StapMyVitals]

There's no problem combining the kits. If anything it makes the army look like it has more individual soldiers in it, which I enjoy. The oldest ones were made by the Perry twins and have slightly smaller weapons and hands than more modern kits, being more realistic in scale.

The middle kits are monopose and possibly the most boring in terms of what a line of them looks like. They have the puffiest clothes of the the three and again stick with the historical aesthetic, though with slightly bigger hands and weapons in line with Warhammer's fantasy scale.

The most modern kit is where they tried to move away from history and into the Empire being its own thing, with more expressive faces, extras like relics hanging off their belts, details like bare feet, and really gigantic weapons. Definitely my favourite of the three but I have all of them combined in my army and it really does look just fine.