Shazbot’s Empire Sketchbook – TWH2
Need better guards in your settlements? Look no further.
SFO Edition is ready right here.
TEB-only version available here.
Following a pretty easy request, but after fixing some other stuff I forget what right now, I made a version of this mod TEB-only for those who’d rather see these units as mercenaries. In addition to that, I was thinking about archery and my fondness of the longbow, and how I hadn’t made a unit of longbowmen for the Empire. Skilled archers can fire arrows from mighty war bows at far greater pace than a crossbow, and some say with greater range as well. I thought about replacing the crossbowmen with archers… but why not have both? So the Marksmen were made. They boast 25% more range than Sharpshooters and do slightly more damage-per-minute with greater accuracy, however they lose a lot of armor-piercing damage. They will slaughter the lightly armored, as their war bows pack a solid punch and the master archers at their strings loose arrows with breathtaking speed and precision.
Bows require a great deal more training to use effectively than crossbows, but yield a greater volume of fire to one who has invested years of practice in archery. One can not just pick up a 120+ pound draw longbow and expect to even pull it back at all, and so these are elite archers at 900 800 gold per unit.
At long last, here we are. All righty, so what is this? Really just something I play around with but also thought it’d be fun to share, and I feel they also give the Empire some mid-late tier variety. Images are a bit outdated as they don’t show that I bumped health up a bit to put them on par with other units, but you should get the general idea of what they’re meant to do in battle.
First batch of units follows a "medieval warband" theme and includes warriors from every human culture under one banner and likely as mercenaries seeking to lend their service to a worthwhile or well paying elector count. The standard warband units hold the line remarkably well and can wield superior shields while knights and ranged units, mounted or on foot, provide the killing power.
Taking a bit of inspiration from the potential of Empire technology, we’re brought closer to 17th-18th century warfare. Line infantry come in two flavors: Musketeers armed with inaccurate smoothbores and well trained in close combat to properly hold the line, but only against infantry, and Guards who carry Ferguson style breech-loading rifles and boast solid melee skill as well. Grenadiers burn foes with quicklime rounds, repeater riflemen are a lethal skirmishing force, and pikemen are extremely specialized anti-large infantry. Cavalry options are elite Horse Guards, lancers and short long-range carbine skirmishers.
Heroes include a selection of RPG type support Champions, among them are a Paladin, Ranger, Shaman, Enchanter, Druid, Battlemage, Berserker, and Shadowknight. More powerful Officers boast better fighting skill and include the Colonel with area effect buffs that particularly affect ranged units, the Banner Lord with contact skills to properly lead by example in the midst of combat although only one skill may be active at a time, and the Champion of Myrmidia with skills designed for tactical application appropriate to a champion of the Goddess of Strategy and War.
And then I made a tank that fires explosive grapeshot, has a turret that shoots fire, and can squish things with an improved ramming prow. That wasn’t enough, so I took a Gyrocopter and tinkered with it to add explosive rounds to the nose gun, but otherwise it’s the same with standard bombs ready to drop. The Organ Gun got a makeover before being introduced to the Empire and is now a Volley Howitzer that fires explosive shells in a moderate arc. The Bretonnian trebuchet and Dwarf bolt thrower were two things I moved over as is simply because I like them.
– So while this whole thing is for fun, I’m still absolutely open to feedback about it and especially if there’s some bug or issue that should demand my attention.
– This’ll likely change a bit as I find things I think my custom made army dudes simply can’t live without, like eventually figuring out how to make an ammunition toggle like the elf bolt thrower has? Maybe I can give lots of ammo choices to my tank or other war machines, maybe even missile units, if that ever becomes the case. like new ammo types which I learned sort of yay.
– Contact effects in the unit card still just have the icon of a shield. Swear on me mum I’ll get that sorted one day, but of course if anyone’s got it figured out then I’d appreciate that knowledge. Hah! I found it!
– Units are only for the Empire currently, ’cause I tend to prefer that faction.
