Empire list

Wizard lord (general)
-Imperial perasus
-seal of destruction
-aldred's casket of sorcery
-talisman of protection
( he will take lore of life)
25 swrodsmen, full comand
- 12 halberdiers
- 10 free company
20 crossbowmen, full comand
- 10 free company
- 10 free company
28 spearmen, full comand, shields
- 10 crossbowmen
- 10 crossbowmen
5 knightly orders
5 knightly orders

hellblaster volley gun
hellblaster volley gun
great cannon
great cannon
5 pistoliers
8 outriders, music, champ

any thoughts on the list, things i could change to make it more effective.

I think that if you take a level 4 wizard you should also toss in one or two level 2 wizards for support. That way you can get some spells off. I like the idea of a flying wizard but in reality he just becomes the primary target for shooting and magic. I'd put him on foot inside a unit instead.

Other than that, you have good shooting and a couple decent infantry blocks and some cavalry. It looks pretty balanced overall with an emphasis on shooting which is what I think a typical Empire army should be.

I find if the detachments are too big they just get in the way. I usually have just enough to get a flank countercharge reaction that will be at us5. I also prefer if one of the detachments is skirmishing archers, so that they can either flank charge or flee from a charge in order to fail a unit in front of the parent unit.

You'll find that gun lines don't work. They look really scary at first but quickly crumble once your opponent makes it across the table. I fought a thorek gunline in Calgary at the last tournament I attended. The first two turns I took horrible losses and pretty much thought the game was over.....we'll it was, once I hit his lines he had no combat ability and his entire army was fleeing the board by bottom of 3.

Two blocks of empire infantry even with detachments will not win games.

On another note, in a tournament you would get killed on sportsmanship!

Definitely not so much shooting as to make it a gunline. Looks balanced but honestly will have difficulty with fast moving aggressive opponents, especially large flying monsters.

I would drop the Wizard's Pegasus take the Speculum (Boo! Hiss!), Sword of Fate and Shadow magic and then just try and use Steed of Shadows to fly your way into combat with any big challengeable monsters like Lords on dragons or Bloodthirsters etc.

I would try and scrounge the points for another Wizard or two, like Nathan said, although I am not sure where the points would come from.

If thats not a gun line I'd like to see what is, Specials and rare are composed entirely of missle troops or artillery, 40 crossbowmen in core backed up by a wizard lord. hmmmmmmmm

I've never liked the gimmick magic items that are win or loose. Oh I got the spell off so I win.

Now I have used the speculum quite a bit, if you have a magic item use it, but my point is not to build a list around a magic item or unit or spell win/loose type deal.