If dryads were not skirmishers, i think they would be a solid book, thats the only thing they are missing is a rank and file unit that can win a combat reliably. Then again like you said, wood elf players are finding ways to win without one.
no way man, this would substantially weaken the army imo. think about how much easier they would be to get to grips with if they didn't get march+free reforms. they'd have to be babysat by the shooters and support units rather than acting as CC support for a shooting army.
after constantly being raped in tournaments by WE, i think all the army really needs is pts reductions, a new lore (and access to beasts and life for level 2's), magic items redone, and let the characters keep their damn glade guard bows.
It has a few cool things. Like detatchments, warrior priests, demi griphon knights and the magic items are pretty good. It's just that everything falls a little short of being good enough. The core of the army just dosnt have the ability to stand up to fighting armys. The shooting units are under effective and horribly over priced. 9 points for an empire hand gunner! 100 points for a strength 2 mortar! The army can do some tricks, but at the end of the day it dosnt have a way of winning.
tbh, i'm not sure how this falls short of your expectations. empire core troops have NEVER had the ability to stand up to fighty armies. its not surpising that this would change with the newest incarnation. as for mortars, you have to admit that the removal of partials and the addition of shadow magic with 8th skyrocketed these things into the "stupidly obnoxious" category. a reduction in strength on that template is fairly reasonable i think. i have a feeling that if you do the math on a current mortar and a "partials" S3 mortar, you'll get similar results vs a block of standard, T3, 5+ troops.
EDIT: isn't it ironic that everyone bitched and moaned about how worthless cavalry have become, and now they may actually be an important element in some armies?
I'm going to make a list and if I can get the day off ill play it at the next BG tourney. After that I expect them to get put in a box in the back of my closest untill 2022.
well, at least until WoC, DoC, and DE get redone. i haven't had time to really digest the empire book but i doubt that its miles behind the TK and O&G books. and even the OK and VC aren't that bad. besides, you can't make
one list, play it in
one tourney and then decide to shelve them
