# Empire archer screens



## Yilmar (Sep 12, 2009)

Hello there again!,

So I came up with this idea of using about 8-10 archers, that are registered as a detachment, to screen my units.
This tactic works, in my opinion, best if u have a general and a BSB with the imperial banner in close proximity.


I really think it could be effective because of the following 3 reasons:

1. Enemy shooting directed towards the archers get a -1 to hit for long range and -1 to hit for shooting at skirmishers.
If u combine this with a BSB with imperial standard and a genral in the area, u get high LD + reroll on panic tests (induced by enemy shooting).

2. Another plus is that the archers can be used to lure the enemy into charging.
The archers flee and the enemy fails it charge for ur parent unit to charge next turn.
The archers arent lost either cause with the imperial banner they can re-roll rally test and again with the general (hopefully in range) they'll probably rally.

3. Last but not least is the advantage of shooting at the enemy while you advance.
Though they aren't the greatest shots in the game, every kill is another less for your parent unit.
Maybe even chipping away a rank bonus!

I believe that for maximum effectiveness with this tactic you'll need a block of 3 units. 
The BSB must be in the middle unit and the general can be in either one of the three units.
The idea behind the block of 3 units is to use the imperial banner and the screens to max effect.
So 3 screens of 8-10 gives u about 24-30 shots at the advancing enemy.
Another bonus that springs in mind is that if a screen gets shot up you can move either one of the remaining screens to cover your most important units.

Please share your vision on this tactic :victory:




Ps. If anyone wants to playtest this idea please let me know the results, cause i don't have the troops to playtest it myself.


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

Yilmar said:


> Hello there again!,
> 
> So I came up with this idea of using about 8-10 archers, that are registered as a detachment, to screen my units.
> This tactic works, in my opinion, best if u have a general and a BSB with the imperial banner in close proximity.
> ...


Played against it, it sucked hard, beat it with my TK and my Daemons, better off with hanguns just cause the damage they deal is so damn much higher....the benefits of the screen just aren't worth it.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Skirmish screens can work well, depending on how you use them. Personally, I use a unit of skirmishing archers to great effect in my bretonnian army, using them to shield my knights for the first turn before getting the hell out of the way, as the knights charge past. It works well.

However, for shielding infantry regiments, it won't be nearly as handy. If my skirmishers take a bolt thrower shot or a few jezzail shots, their worth it, they're protecting a lot of points from nasty weapons. If, however, they're just protecting rank and file infantry, its usually much better just to put your points into extra troops to soak up the damage, or decent firepower to put out damage. 

Manoeuvring also becomes a problem, and your screen can become a liability if it gets in the way of your main blocks getting somewhere, seeing as you'll usually only move them 4", so they can still shoot. Also if a cavalry regiment or something charges straight through them, or they flee through your main block causing panic, it can really go badly for you.

So yeah, use a screen to protect costly units, like knights or elite infantry, can be good, but leave them at home for anything else.


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## matty570 (Jun 14, 2007)

Detachments dont cause panic checks on units if they flee through them from what I remember. 

Personally, I think they work very well, especially with the detachment rules. The other bonus with skirmishers is that you can redirect the enemies charge, at its best allowing you a flank charge on the subsequent turn.

Personally, I prefer taking detachments of militia for the countercharge, or charge redirection


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## Yilmar (Sep 12, 2009)

maddermax said:


> However, for shielding infantry regiments, it won't be nearly as handy. If my skirmishers take a bolt thrower shot or a few jezzail shots, their worth it, they're protecting a lot of points from nasty weapons. If, however, they're just protecting rank and file infantry, its usually much better just to put your points into extra troops to soak up the damage, or decent firepower to put out damage.
> 
> Manoeuvring also becomes a problem, and your screen can become a liability if it gets in the way of your main blocks getting somewhere, seeing as you'll usually only move them 4", so they can still shoot. Also if a cavalry regiment or something charges straight through them, or they flee through your main block causing panic, it can really go badly for you.
> 
> So yeah, use a screen to protect costly units, like knights or elite infantry, can be good, but leave them at home for anything else.


In my army to be the archers would protect my 19 greatswords with WP and my 28 swordsmen with BSB and general.
So they're pretty much worth protecting right?
Both units also have a 2nd detachment of free companies for flanking purposes.
Lastly detachments dont cause panic when fleeing so no harm in there.



NagashKhemmler said:


> Played against it, it sucked hard, beat it with my TK and my Daemons, better off with hanguns just cause the damage they deal is so damn much higher....the benefits of the screen just aren't worth it.


Obviously the use of archer screens would depend on the army I'm fighting. 
The main use of archer screens would lie in protecting them from shooting and blockin LOS for certain spells.
The armies that spring into my mind would be HE, DE, Dwarfs and EMP.
I guess they would do well against skaven to since they're easy to hit.

Secondly, of course they will suck in combat and shooting but thats not the point now is it?

Handguns are a no go because they can't move AND fire and aren't skirmishers.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

When you choose the missile types for your Empire army you really have to look at the army as a whole before you decide.
In a basic gunline then the archers just take away points from the true killing power of the handguns / crossbows so would be a waste of points.
My Empire force is a fairly attacking mobile infantry force so the move and shoot archers fit in and fill the role pretty much as described in the first post where the 1 unit of handgunners I have are merely a long rifle delivery system that sits near my lone cannon.
The other type of Empire army is the Cavalry force and to be honest the archers will be left behind and just get in the way either mounted missile troops or the longer ranged crossbows are my prefered method of missiledeath.
I admit that to start with the only reason I took archers was because I had 30 halflings and didn't want to waste them but by tinkering with the force and practice archer skirmishers can work.


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## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

Perhaps I was a little too hasty, they have a use, but you need to ask yourself, what value are they adding? Make sure that the archers are adding value to your army. Is the 100 points on them really giving you that much value? Are 10 archers going to achieve more than 3 or so knights?


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Yilmar said:


> In my army to be the archers would protect my 19 greatswords with WP and my 28 swordsmen with BSB and general.
> So they're pretty much worth protecting right?
> Both units also have a 2nd detachment of free companies for flanking purposes.
> Lastly detachments dont cause panic when fleeing so no harm in there.


Yeah, that sounds like a good use of them, and the not causing panic is a good bonus. Just be careful they don't get in the way of your manoevering and you're golden .


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## ChickenWorm (Jul 8, 2009)

I've used these screen archers in quite a number of games. Just 5 of them would be enough to cover the front of the parent unit. Not only that, they're used quite often to lure away some pesky units causing a lot of problems (i.e. goblin fanatics). Those are the things you would want to avoid hitting the parent unit.

For me, they're not to cause any hurt to my opponents but rather tactical use. They don't have to stick with the parent unit. So sometimes they could be used like an individual unit which doesn't cause panic if it flees.


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