well that was all rather unacceptable- hijacking a post with an agressive off-topic argument which is a whisker from being an all out flame war is not something we're really looking for on heresy. The OP wants to know about the tactics behind halberds and as detatchment options; either stay on that or give well reasoned arguments about why another infantfry type would make a better choice instead.
1-2 quick comments as banter might be alright... but 7 posts later I dont expect a row to still be going; that is far over the line.
- T/S
Right, and with that I get to actually post on-topic.
I think the use halberds being used as detachment is mostly just a hang-over from 7th ed: having a unit such as swordsmen as the main unit meant that if the enemy charged them then their higher WS would make most enemies hit on a 4+ rather then a 3+ (a lot of infantry in the game are WS4) and then the increases armour of the swordsmen meant that they would take less wounds... meanwhile the halberdiers got in a flank charge on the enemy and so would strike first with stronger attacks, getting relatively few attacks back.
So the use of halberdiers was mainly because while they did more damage then anything else on the charge, they were much less able to take the damage that was directed their way if they didnt charge...
In 8th I dont think that halberdiers will be all that useful other then as hoard units. As detachments they are still useful, but the enemy will often hit them first with a relatively large number of attacks, so their fragility will be much more of a problem.
Personally I tend to agree with Vaz that greatswords are a much better choice of combat infantry with shooty units or knights filling up the core requirement... but that doesnt mean that spearmen/swordsmen/halberdiers are useless. I've seen hoards of spearmen and halberdiers used with success and Im sure that detchments flanking the enemy will still be incredibly helpful, although I would expect most people to move towords swordsmen simply to keep more of them alive for longer and keep those enemy units disrupted through multiple rounds of combat.
1-2 quick comments as banter might be alright... but 7 posts later I dont expect a row to still be going; that is far over the line.
- T/S
Right, and with that I get to actually post on-topic.
I think the use halberds being used as detachment is mostly just a hang-over from 7th ed: having a unit such as swordsmen as the main unit meant that if the enemy charged them then their higher WS would make most enemies hit on a 4+ rather then a 3+ (a lot of infantry in the game are WS4) and then the increases armour of the swordsmen meant that they would take less wounds... meanwhile the halberdiers got in a flank charge on the enemy and so would strike first with stronger attacks, getting relatively few attacks back.
So the use of halberdiers was mainly because while they did more damage then anything else on the charge, they were much less able to take the damage that was directed their way if they didnt charge...
In 8th I dont think that halberdiers will be all that useful other then as hoard units. As detachments they are still useful, but the enemy will often hit them first with a relatively large number of attacks, so their fragility will be much more of a problem.
Personally I tend to agree with Vaz that greatswords are a much better choice of combat infantry with shooty units or knights filling up the core requirement... but that doesnt mean that spearmen/swordsmen/halberdiers are useless. I've seen hoards of spearmen and halberdiers used with success and Im sure that detchments flanking the enemy will still be incredibly helpful, although I would expect most people to move towords swordsmen simply to keep more of them alive for longer and keep those enemy units disrupted through multiple rounds of combat.
