Why You SUCK with The Empire 

Happy new Year folks - Hope you all had a nice Christmas. Link to video handout here: drive.google.com/file/d/11Aq3VOhtR782lKmNrdPcQmluod3pYe1m/view?usp=sharing

One thing you didn’t mention but is actually super important: Returning a province always gives you imperial authority, even if the game doesn’t tell you. There are often dilemmas where two elector counts dispute over a settlement and you can decide for them to keep or return it. The decision screen doesn’t say that you will gain authority from returning it, but you will still gain +1

Hey! I don't suck with the Empire! I just fail to win as the Empire!

2:14 you can see Blake panic as he fears he might have girlbossed too deep into the enemy territory with the raiding lord and may not get an ambush

For terrain, the optimum for you ISN'T a flat plain, actually. It's having the foot of a hill. You park your melee infantry right at the bottom of the slope and your flat-trajectory missile units (handgunners, cannons, volleyguns) behind, which allows them to fire over the heads of the melee line rather than requiring checkerboarding or similar to clear up their lines of fire. This also works on a reverse slope.

The "Faith, Steel, Gunpowder" flowchart is amazing, I love it. When I attempt an Empire run I'll try to remember this video, thank you.

The Empire is also one of the factions that greatly benefits from the ally recruitment system via outposts. I usually keep one of the minor dwarf factions around to get some of their melee units.

One time I won a defensive siege against 2,5 full stacks of Skaven that assaulted Helmgart. I don’t remember what tier Helmgart was at that point, but it was not higher than 4… maybe The map was the best empire siege map, the one with an elevation and flat terrain, outside the fort being a steep climb upwards to the gates. The plan was simple: use the single unit of mortars only when necessary, placed on the capture point of the elevated surface, put crossbowmen on the elevated surface too, use swordsmen to hold the towers until the Skaven put ladders then retreat to the defensive position, where the spearmen are going to hold the line, if a swordsman dies, it won’t be that bad, but I’d lose valuable frontline force. Last step of the plan: convince the rats to take the main road instead of the flanks, and use the single unit of cavalry to kill any unit of Skaven that tried to use the side paths. It went PERFECTLY. The mortars did not stop firing once on the blob of rats that had gathered on the tight ramp, as crossbowmen fire at will at literally fucking anything they can see. Rat men arrived very tired from climbing ladders and running all the way to here to try to avoid fire from towers and missiles, my men were fresh when swords clashed. Still, it was very close, my missiles ran out of ammo as the last horde of Skaven arrived at my beaten up frontline, and had to become part of it. The mortars kept firing. Cavalry was useful to convince fleeing Skaven to give up permanently, plus intercepting sneaky rats once or twice. I don’t remember what Skaven faction came from there, and yes it was mostly comprised of clan rats and Skaven slaves, with the odd gutterrunner, BUT IT FELT SO FUCKING COOL

I love the ending comment "You will be summoning the elector counts in no time" 10/10, instant fan after my first video on this channel

Loved the alliteration with V's bit. That was mint!

Saw this on Reddit and decided to give it a watch. Even as a veteran player, this taught me some new tricks, like the empire successionist ambush trick at the start.

Crushed that Ice Court campaign thanks to you, these guides are genuinely entertaining to watch even though I don’t plan on playing most of these factions-however I’m still picking up my jaw from the floor after seeing the steam tank division, and by coincidence I’ve just started an Empire campaign

There is a point you are missing regards cannons and mortars. These units provide you the range advantage which the AI cannot ignore. So fighting the vamps as an example means that in a battle the AI will always attack you while you can just sit there and decimate them with your ranged units.

I love how you put the meaning of the words for us. Such well done videos all together. Your narration is also fantastic. Keep them coming good Sir. I usually go like this: Turn 1 you attack Grunberg with Franz and occupy it. You recruit an additional lord in Altdorf. Turn 2 you force march max Franz into the woods near Ubersreik and put your second lord recruiting on the border of Ubersreik. Turn 3 you attack Ubersreik with the second lord with Franz supporting and occupy it. Then you have enough movement with Franz to occupy Eilhart and that way you take your province on turn 3.

The only problem with *not* taking Marienberg early is that if you don't, you risk Bretonnia getting around to it first. Granted, a short war with another nation of Order can be smoothed over eventually, but it does rather complicate getting Marienberg back.

I have yet to play a full Empire campaign in any WH (did 2 co-ops with a friend in WH 1 and WH 2 when they were released all the way back, for about 50 turns each) so this is genuinely very helpful and it explains the faction in its entirety so well. Ill keep it in mind whenever I get to that one legendary campaign for that coveted 100% completion for both 1 and 2. Suprisingly at least from my viewing of different ytbers the empire didnt go through serious changes throughout all the different itterations of its games. The melee infantry is just there to hold, ranged infantry is still extremely good, ok cav, except late game cav is phenomenal and helstorm rockets are still king. Also Franzer divisions, thats bloody brilliant Blake!

One important correction: Do NOT return dead elector counts in their original capital. Keep the capital for yourself so that you can assign your own elector and unlock the bonuses. Instead, return the dead elector in a minor settlement, which will still give them enough income to field a full army, and they can assist you in defending the region.

Love your content Mr. Blake! While I don't necessarily need most of the advice in your videos they are presented in such an entertaining way that I keep coming back, keep it up my man! 👍

Awesome vid with very good info. Just want to add to not forget to spread the runefang love around when you confederate. You don't have to keep them with their elector count. You can use them to buff up your heroes, especially when fighting enemies that require magical damage to bring down efficiently

Love this series. I learn so much when play Kislev and now Empire. Good job and keep it up.

I loved this video, it really showed me my past mistakes with this faction as I did immediately attack marienburg and about 20 turns after I destroyed them I caught myself thinking „was this a mistake?“ I’m glad I found this video as it just helped me to understand the mistake that I can’t be aggressively expanding like I do with Khorne or the chaos dwarfs. You definitely earned a sub hope your channel grows to your desired number ^^ much love from Hungary

A timely tutorial and wonderful alliteration! Bravo!

First time watching your content, and I am very impressed. And the Steel Faith and Gunpowder line was cold AF. Now I can't wait for a Dark elf one, I love the aesthetic, but I suck so badly with them.

Glad you're still posting my dude. Was worried the reaction of the last video would slow you. I legit enjoy your style with these videos. Keep it up homie.

Fantastic video, all valid and helpful points. Can't wait to see the rest of the faction guides. Maybe Dwarves or Lizards next?

Well I was debating what faction to do next after my Dark Elf campaign. Thanks for choosing for me, Blake!

Excellent guide as usual ❤. I would love for you to explain to me why i suck with Kholek, as he has a somewhat tricky start and lots of potential ways to continue the campaign after you deal with the initial enemy 😅

One thing i have noticed is that greatswords have been performing a lot better since the last two patches. They still won't hold very long, but I sent the ones that come with Karl into festus nurgle great axe chaos warriors and they routed them with about a quarter of their own health and about half their unit models left.

I finally got to watching! Thank you for stopping by. Really great video!

Fuck yes! 47 minutes of pure Blake content. Can there be a better weekend gift? Cheers as always mate! 👊

Empire also just needs a dire DLC to bring them up to par with other races. They are still using dinky units from WH1

one thing thats really important and is really helpful is declaring war on 3 elector counts right at the start. you get nuln and a free T5 steam tank on turn 3

What a great and well done series . Please give us more its very entertaining and also super helpful when you are new to the game (at least it was for me) . Some Factions are kind of tricky to learn without some kind of guide and tips how the mechanics work and your videos are super well done and easy to follow.

The true way to play the empire is to play volkmar and only use flagellants, warrior priest, arch lector, knights of the blazing sun and a max of 1 or 2 artillery :)

the empire also has a lack of spooky stuff so it makes the 2 main terror pieces; griffons and tanks, even more valuable. the griffon lord in particular has a -8 leadership debuff around it. combine this with artillery damage, cavalry charges or gunfire (all give unique leadership debuffs) and you can rout anything short of an elite unit. units that get into your backline need to go, and fast, so use some demigryphs and a griffon lord to clear them out in no time

I love this series! Looking forward to the next video. Subscribed!

Amazing series,keep them coming. I'm waiting on Cathey video to come out 👍

I rock with the Empire....... on the battlefield. They just have so many fires to put out on the campaign map. My best battlefield faction is Slaanesh or Bretonia. Anything highly mobile so I do like the Empire roster their Knights are worthy sons of sigmar.

The Irrepreasible skill gives only 30% to your lord. Still useful, especially if you use him as a tank, but not broken like the skill might make you think by saying "your lord army". Apparently, CA thought necessary to precise that your lord only gets its replenishment if he's in his own army....

Another glorious video. Thanks for the upload!

I love these videos! 17:40 this part alone, everything is correct too, I'm impressed!

Some of the most fun I’ve had with the empire is trying to do a melee focused army. Longswords combined with elector count swords and warrior priests to buff stats and for a bit you get get units with 100+ melee defence and attack lol

Reikland getting the spotlight this time, wunderbar! This was my favorite campaign in WH2, so I was extra happy to see this getting a blake-take

Love this video!!! Please more of this guide!

really nice job! Now I want to try Karl Franz campaign

Hi Blake, just some feedback on the video. I feel like the repetition is very bad for the overall quality of the video, if I need to go back I can, and it bloats the video unnecessarily. I like the humour, audio is good too.

Would love to see a video about the dark elf guy who starts over in cathay, or the demon prince. both hard AF campaigns at start

A lot of good stuff here. Thanks for all your hard work.

Haleluya! I've been waiting for this. Once again, Blake delivers!

Empire Warrior Priests usually save many of my empire campaigns. They are so damn strong as a single human unit.

i love these topic-related intros, great job yet again blake

Thanks for insight. I have just mooved my skill at defending really far. I previosly focused on envelopment (spred infantery, suround and send Karl Frans or potent spell in the midle)

*looks at all my wins* empire is annoying not difficult.

Can you do a Bretonnia one😊

Hey thank you so much this video is very helpful 🎉

I love the effort you put into all these videos.

Wow, im early

Can't wait to see this channel get to a million subs. Won't take long with well made vids like this.

this was actually really help full. I learned to never build a Reiks guard only army.

A very clear and concise guide that doesn't say to do the ONE thing. Nice work

This video has reawaken my love of total war warhammer half way through the semester… thanks Blake!

Here for the advice, liked and subscribed for the V for Vendetta reference :D

Thank you very much Blake.

I just found this guy, but I have to sub right away, this video is top quality, and I love it.

Been looking forward to this one!!

I hope you do this for all factions; As someone who plays FPS's/MOBA's and other sorts these videos are great plus the way you present everything in these types of videos are S-Tier for me

What a great video mate, keep up the good work 🎉

Great content! Something about the Empire really makes me push for better and better wins. I've won a Legendary/VH hard long campaign (250+ provinces) in 120 turns and im still finding useful information out from videos like this! The argument for Halberds is based around which faction you'll find yourself going up against. The diverse roster of the empire affords the faction the luxury of building armies specific to the foes you'll be dealing with. Sure, spears and shields are cheaper and are generally better against factions with missile based damage (elves, dawi, kislev) but if I need to go up against Ogres or Bretonnians, Im picking Halberds every time. As for taking Helmgart, you should be table to do it by turn 4 in addition to taking Eilhart: Turn 1 I take Grunberg and recruit a Huntsman General, recruiting two archers into the new lord army. Turn 2 I march Franz and the Huntsman General towards Ubersreik, while recruiting a third Huntsman General. Turn 3 Franz can solo take Eilhart while the 2 Huntsman Generals and their handful of archer units can dispatch Ubersreik - its a bitch cheesy with kiting the Huntsman Generals, but the two of them can easily take down half the opposing force before getting your archers involved. Keep them hidden and prepared to position to mop up the remaining units. End turn by recruiting a Warrior Priest. You can use these three lords to ambush the Secessionists stationed in Helmgart as theyll severely underestimate your balance of power. Again with a healthy dosage of kiting you can win with just these 3 lords and handful of archers On Turn 4 you can mop up Helmgart with Franz and these 3 lords. Subsequently camp out around Eilhart and Kazrak should walk straight into your forces in ambush and wipe himself out on Turn 5.

Another great video! I mean, it won’t help me with my empire campaigns as il ignore all advice and B-line for marienburg anyway, but it’s nice that you’re trying to help 😂

So impressed with the V speech mixed in with the reason 2 explanation!

I love these videos so much lol. Have you thought about doing one for Azazel?

This was a really good guide and just funny enough to make it interresting😂 I will take faith, steel and gunpowder to heart❤

Great video man, keep it up

This guide sparked my interest into getting back into a Warhammer campaign. I would love to see a Bretonnia video.

Great video man

Feels good to hear i'm doing, at least, some things right. For the rest i can say i learned much from your videos. Please keep up the good work, and maaaaaybe you can do a take on the true emporer Vlad von Carstein. Just to see the other Side of things.

Very useful. Thank you.

Now this is the gravy train video youve been looking for Blake

not often I like a video before finishing it, but just for the 05:35 part you deserve it.

I've been waiting for this moment!

Great video as usual 💪

I do love this video series. It inspired me to try Skragg, and I had a good time with that campaign. And oddly, while I despise playing Empire, your video does push me to possibly play them again. I don't despise Empire because I'm unsuccessful with them, but because I just don't enjoy it. I don't like the available infantry, the early to midgame ranged is abysmal imo, I don't like managing Elector Counts. Admittedly, I last played Karl in the 2nd game, for achievements; and have only played Volkmar in WH3. So if the Elector Count system is better than previous iterations, I'd be willing to try again.

Thanks for the advice

Love this series! Plans to do all factions or just particular ones?

My name Blake too and hearing you say it so confidently at the beginning of every video gives me a strange sense of pride in it!

Super helpful!! I'm playing as the empire at the moment and have honestly never really got hold of them! Probably because I expect the infantry to hold 😂

amazing video, just one thing at 19:40 we disagree heavily I have always 4 reiksguard per army, they are often the units with it I get the *most* value with, specially before the hellstorms. but even then they usually get a higher value than recruiting them costs every battle it's mostly a game of luring one or two units and then doing the hammer and hammer technique(bait a formation with one unit by pretending to charge, charge them on the back with the other unit, then charge them on the back a second time)... they fall off hard because of no AP, but on Karls army the Anti large makes up to keep them relevant sure, it is a unit that you gotta pay more attention than usual because they suck if you're not taking good engagements. edit: but getting them to take good engagements is very easy if you're paying attention that said, I dont think the reiksfort building is worth it in empire lands. Only the special one in altdorf

I love your content. I actually just picked up Warhammer 3 because I watched a lot of Grim Kleaper's Vids and I got totally overwhelmed by it. (Probally starting my first campaign with Bretonia bc they looked cool wasn't so smart) I learned a lot in your vids like recruting a second commander or using heroes in my armies :D I'm rly happy to have found you because otherwise I would've just dumped this gem of a game after a while.... thx for the great content and shared knowledge (P.s. Greenskins especially Orcs made my first long campaign victory a utter blast)

As some who has never played Total War: Warhammer III, this is incredibly insightful.

That Greatswords were (rightly) OP top-tier elite infantry in TWW1 and are now disregarded speaks volumes about how bad the game balance has gotten.

Funny sh*t and very solid tips. Haven't even played WH 1 yet but when I do, Empire will probably be my first choice. Subbed.

On the note of fealty, you also get fealty from positive relations, i think its +1 at 50 relations and +2 at 150 relations. This is useful in the early game to get an early confed with Gelt. On the note of confederations, i oftentimes dont accept confederation straight away when its offered, since if you decline then you get +1 IA and theyll offer again in 20 turns. This can turn the smaller, less valuable elector counts like ostland, stirland and nordland into IA farms to help you stay in positive authority, which then gets you the 3 IA you need to confed without penalties. I find that i always confederate in a specific order. Gelt 1st, naturally. Then Talabecland which enables me to use Talabheim as a staging ground against festus and vlad, Then Nuln or Boris, whichever one RNG dictates i get the most random fealty for 1st. Following this strategy i find means you never have to deal with low IA as a mechanic, unless something goes horribly wrong

Wow this is great! Please make one with Vampire Counts/Tomb Kings!

Thank you good sir, I've enjoyed this video very much. Funnily enough, I'm starting my Empire campaign and so far I've been following these steps: I let Marienburg for later, I got rid of beastmen and Festus, I'm prioritising growth and cash buildings, saving 1000 prestige... now I'm starting to deal with Vlad, and with this knowledge it will be easy to deal with. Do we know when will your next 'Why you suck with... ' chapter be released? I'm really looking forward to High Elves.

I play a lot of factions, but turns out most of them have good or great infantry as I've come to realise after giving the empire a try after the 5.0 patch. I had to look up if you have a guide and what do you know! A very helpful video even with the new additions and after the changes! Thanks!

I feel like most of the latter mistakes also applies to other factions. Using diplomacy in particular. Having another faction pay you to join a war against someone is a really good strategy, especially since their allies won't be compelled to join war against you immediatley. And all factions needs to make use of their heroes.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

i would love to see chaos warriors/chaos dwarfs in the future, they are my favorite races to play as

Amazing tips and tone. Subscribed. Sir, your game looks fantastic too, what visual mods do you use ?

Loving the jokes and excellent presentation. Subbed for sure