Have had another game of 8th. This one was 2.5k against empire. It was not very representative, but it was really nice, since it was against a good friend of mine.

This is not a battle report but rather a sum of things I have noticed, that might be helpful to others, or open for suggestions.

I took the following:
Grombrindal (told you it was not typical) as my general.
He was hidden in a unit of 20 Crossbow Ragers, FCG

BSB (MRoGromril, RoResistance, RoPreservation, Oathstone)
in a unit of 24 Hammerers FCG (MRoGrungni)

Runesmith (MRoBallance, RoSpellbreaking)
in a unit of 29 Warriors, GW, Sh, FCG

12 Thunderers Musician, Champion (BoP)
Gyro
GT (eng+BoP, RoPenetration, RoAccuracy)
FC

Opponent took a nice list, with 2x10 Handgunners (Hochland champions) and Engineer heroes with hochlands in each. 2 Great canons, Mortar and Hellblaster were the machines. One unit of 10 Knights, joined by empire general (ASF) and a captain. Infantry were a unit of 25 Swordsmen with detachments of 10 crossbows and 9 spearmen, and a unit of 25 greatswords with 10 spearmen and 9 free company. Each infantry had a Captain dressed up to match the unit. BSB was with Greatswords and he had some 1+ Armor and some Ward. Greatswords carried a warbanner.

Without too much detail, admitting that I've made some tactical errors, most of which were intentional, I have to say that I've learned a lot. The world has changed. The battles got bloodier. Our GW troops are feared by our enemy. It is hard to survive, and it is important not to die.

My three blocks were placed on three sections of the field. I've placed my rangers (with Grombrindal) opposed to his Greatswords. I went first so there was no charge, but I have moved enough to ensure his charge was successful. The CC was bloody, I lost the firs one, bu Grombrindal killed enough for me to use steadfast in the end. Simultaneous hits are nice against GW opponents. Only Grombrindal and my Standard survived the fight.

I have learned that without Grombrindal it is very hard to fight against greatswords. We lack the sheer killing potential. Also, I like crossbow rangers because they can perform multiple roles.

My warriors faced his cavalry. I chose a horde formation and made an error. I have killed 2 or 3 knights, but had lost my steadfast rather quick, and it led to my warriors getting broken caught by pursuing cavalry.

I have learned that GW Warriors have decent killing potential, but that Steadfast is often more useful.

After this his cavalry failed a charge or two due to bad dice which led to it moving ridiculously slow (3 and 2 inches). Randomization of charges is the biggest flaw of this edition, but with everything premeasured it is needed.

I let my opponent surround my Hammerers and charge me from all four sides. Dropping a stone, and getting support attacks to all sides led to a lot of dead empire soldiers and all chargers running away. All of the hammerers got to strike back! Too bad no pursues were allowed.

I ran my Gyro like it was the first time, so nothing to report about this great unit!

Flame canon is terrible. It has no range, it is expensive, it does not move, it does not get to fire its awesome weapon, and when it does it is not precise. I got to fire once, on heavy cav, he had good dice rolls, I killed one knight and he did not panic. then he finished it off. Unless making some last stand, or going castle, it has no use.

And castle is bad tactics in the 8th since you need to be in CC to score points. On the other hand, we lack killing potential to really score points in CC. If I had no Grombrindal I'd lose.

GT managed to kill 3 machines (2.5 to be honest, Mortar was down to 1W when it blew up), and to survive to the end.
Good positioning had to do a lot with it (right on the edge of the board). Bad dice for the canons had to do even more. Positioning a small template and rerolls (if you're reading this have one on my tab) of scatter dice are just bad!

Mortar is dangerous. No matter how big a unit, it covers it whole, and it has AP!

there is probably more, but I've written too long a post here anyways! Hope you find something helpful.

Oh and the game ended with +222pts for me, so I guess it was some sort of a victory. I've learned that I dislike the victory conditions. It was better before errata with the stupid double or draw. I guess I like draw games?
Thanks for the patience. :guinesssmilie: