So I had an interesting experience the other day that sparked this thread idea.

What was the best example you have had of a "bad" unit over-performing in a game for you, or any unit really taking over the game in an unexpected fashion?

I had an interesting example recently where my opponent was bad-mouthing my warrior priests (I had taken two of them in a test match--never used them before) and their Shield of Faith, saying they weren't any good, they needed too much help to be successful, etc. After talking over our strategies/armies pre-game (we were both testing new armies) he had me convinced they might not be worth their points. During the game, however, they proceeded to dismantle his army, and both survived until the end while inflicting multiple casualties. They even provided the killing blows on his heroes, which wiped the board and secured my victory, while simultaneously defying our pre-game opinion of them (although I still think they need an unusual amount of support to be successful).

Anybody have similar examples?

The unit in question doesn't really need to be a "bad" unit. I guess I am just curious when you have had a smaller investment get its points back in a big way, or had a unit you didn't expect to see succeed win you the game. We've all had games where the Dragon, Troll, or hero puts in work, so I want to hear about games where the much-maligned Kurgan Marauders or Pistoliers clean house.

Honestly, up until Saturday, my sole opponent had been my wife. So, I'm actually out of the loop on what units are "good" and "bad". I will say that on Saturday, a couple of people were surprised I brought the Ratling gunners, right up until I blew a hero away with a very lucky round of shooting. So I'd say ranged units in general get a bad rap, but have performed adequately for me (I view them as high risk/high reward units, sure some games they'll be pathetic little turds, but other games they'll put a wound on a hero before he knows what's happening). I definitely had 2/4 games on Saturday where they pulled off a massive three successes that shocked my opponents. :-)

I don't play Empire a ton, but when I do, I take Pistoliers. They are great at board control. You have to put a little thought into their use, but moved wisely, you can mitigate their propensity to shoot themselves, and you can immobilize or wound important units, heroes and war machines.

My best experience was using them against Chaos, the game was some time ago, so I don't remember the specific heroes, but my opponent was sneaking them up the side, hugging a table edge, with a little support, but sort of close to each other. I swung my pistoliers up the side of the board on the last move of the turn, and immobilized one, and wounded the other. On the next turn I was able to go first in the first round, and fired off another salvo, killing a hero and wounding the other for the first time, I retreated back to my line and completely dissolved my opponents threat on that side of the board. He kept his heroes well away from them after that, but I continued to use them to pick off smaller units the rest of the game, only finally losing them late in the 3rd turn and early in the 4th, but by then the damage had been done, and I tabled him.

Pistoliers seem to get so much grief, but they really are a nasty opponent. Again, High risk/high reward.

Don´t know if Goblin Wolf Riders really are bad units. In one game one of my Riders took the opportunity and pinned Karl Franz and one Marienburg Swordsman unit, then killing one another Swordsmen with its mobile ranged attack. This happened to be one lucky move, since Karl was blocked for the rest of the round and my opponent had no chance to use his favourit "reload da frakkin´ Hellblastas" by moving activation tokens to nearby units, which normally ruins my day. Well, my Riders did not survive the melee phase, but they did their job well, and were announced to be "best unit of the game" for my side (after our games each player declares one, beside naming one unit to be the "loser of the game". This happened to be Grimgore, who made his first turn, and remained pinned until the end of the game by various incidents... ).

I can never quite decide how I feel about wolf riders, but they are a bit like Reavers and Pistoliers in terms of how I use them. They won't always generate kills equal to their cost, but they will reliably pin/block key units or harass at critical junctures in such a way as to gain me an advantage. Reavers and Pistoliers almost always do something great for me, even if they often die in the process, and I don't think I have ever regretted taking them. As others have noted, high risk and high reward!

They never disappoint me, even if they seldomly do great amounts of damage.

Agreed on pistoleers. Their firepower makes them a nasty suicide unit, and their mobility lets you dart in and pin enemy impact units very early on if you need to.