|
Post by knoffles on Jun 14, 2018 6:56:59 GMT
Army Book Review by KnofflesAs others are starting threads on army breakdowns, I thought I'd have a bash at the Dwarves. Nothing here should be ground breaking and i'm sure many of the thoughts have been expressed on other sites such as Bugmans but these are my thoughts and as such may or may not be entirely accurateđ. There are several other equally good reviews including the two below. I'll admit that I used some of 1D4chan's comments under the runic items section as why rewrite something when you fully agree with what has already been written (though I did give credit in those sections I did it!). Greyhnir's dwarf handbook: www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/43675-greyhnirs-8th-edition-dwarf-handbook/?hl=handbook1D4Chan: 1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer/Tactics/8th_Edition/DwarfsAfter my initial army book thoughts, I've also added some great tactical articles that I've taken from other sites (mainly Bugman's forum). I welcome anyone else's thoughts and I'm happy to add them to this (especially if I have gotten anything wrong or someone has some different ideas on uses). List of PostsPost 1 - Intro, List of Posts, Why play them, Army Special Rules and Dwarf Armoury Post 2 - Runic Items & Ancestral Heirlooms (see post 13 for thoughts on combos) Post 3 - Lords and HeroesPost 4 - CorePost 5 - SpecialPost 6 - RareTactica ArticlesPost 7 - Dwarf Gunline Defense Theory by MonteguePost 8 - The Monty Mash by Stymie JacksonPost 9 - Taxi's Organ Gun Stats by Taxi for BigginsPost 10 - Three Block Deployment by Alex HallPost 11 - Swordthain's Tournament deployments.Post 12 - Swordthain's List Building AdvicePost 13 - Runic Combos and further list thoughtsLinked PostsComparison of Dwarf core units - by KnofflesWhy Play them?Are you getting on a bit in years? Do you feel as if you are a bit of a grumpy bastard with tendencies to say stuff like: âin my day youths were bought up to respect their eldersâ, while using a pipe to emphasis your point. Does âremembering when all this were fieldsâ, âgobboâs were twice the size of those knocking around todayâ and other reminiscing for the âgood old daysâ bring a tear to your eye? Do you have an excess of bodily hair and the inability to forget a slight against you, your clan or anything else? Congratulations you have found the army for you. Oh you want a bit more on what they bring to the table? Well in that case draw yourself a Bugmanâs and pull your stool closer to the hearth young beardling and Iâll tell you more. How they playThere is no two ways about it, a dwarf army will lend itself to having a heavy shooting phase. You have almost no access to magic so to compensate it has a lot of strong shooting elements and their artillery can be buffed to insane levels, making it the envy of any other race (looking at you manlings - who do you think gave you the gift of black powder). It isn't recommended to take just shooting though, they are not 40k's Tau! The army works best using a combined arms approach. Plenty of artillery backed up with missile troops and some combat blocks. You can slant towards combat if you want, as your melee troops are excellent. However with your low movement it makes this a tougher proposition but there are tricks and builds to assist this route, some of which will be mentioned in later sections. Special Rules You have to start with the fluffiest of the rules: Ancestral Grudge. Dwarves (yes I subscribe to the Tolkien spelling) have always hated Orcs and Goblins for all the pain and grief that race have caused them, with the holds that have been defiled etc. The Greenskins may not of been the root cause of the earthquakes and other ânaturalâ disasters that weakened the bastions of the stunties (I believe that was actually the Skaven or perhaps the Slann depending which lore is current) but they capitalised on this the most and more than a fair few settlements have fallen to various waaaaaaahs. In this edition they finally recognised that the Skaven have caused as much hurt to the Karaks as the greenskins and also given the dwarves hatred against them. Ok so you only get Hatred (re-rolls to hit in the first round of combat) automatically against 2 of the 16 armies but it is fitting that it is these two. (I've heard good arguments for adding High Elves to that list but technically that grudge was settled when the head of the Phoenix King was taken, together with the confiscation of the crown). On top of this you still get a 33.3% chance to get hatred against the other 14 armies. You roll a D6 after deployment and on a 5-6 your army will hate your opponents. Epic stuff. Rolling a 3-4 is a bit more MEH as it only gives your characters hatred against the enemy characters (situational but could help against Warriors with all their challenges) or rolling a 1-2, your general hates the enemy general, which is normally as useful as a chocolate teapot (not very...). So all in all, I love this rule and think it really epitomises the dwarves. The roll is perhaps a bit too random but that is often the nature of 8th edition and army wide hatred can really help swing a battle (if the dwarves actually get into combat!). Natural Resistance
Dwarves have always had a natural resistance to magic and this is reflected by always letting them dispel as a level 2 wizard (+2 is added to your dispel rolls). In an age when you rarely face an army without a level 4 wizard, it helps to bridge the gap but isn't over powered by any means. When wizards have the ability to lose concentration, knowing that you will always get +2 on your roll, even if you failed to dispel a previous spell cast, is nothing to be sniffed at. Relentless
Another rule that Dwarves have had as long as I can remember (well at least since 4th ed.). This is the ability to March if you are within 12" of an enemy model/unit without testing on Leadership. I'm not going to complain about this, as we all know that leadship tests always fail at the worst moment but with their naturally high leadership and with BSB's allowing you to roll any leadership, it is unlikely dwarves would have failed a test to march anyway. Still, with movement 3, knowing you can always march is one less thing to worry about. Dwarf CraftedIn the previous edition this rule gave dwarf handguns +1 to hit. In this edition it changed so that all missile weapons with the rule (crossbows, handguns, pistols, Drakeguns, Drake Pistols) don't suffer a -1 to hit when the unit is charged. This isn't as good as a +1 to hit but it does apply to, basically, any ranged weapon that isn't a warmachine and with their movement of 3 dwarves tend to get charged a fair bit. With a mainly BS of 3, this helps maximise hits on a stand and shoot reaction, which is never a bad thing. It does however emphasis and play to the strengths of a gunline, one of the reasons some opponents don't like to play dwarves, so read into that as you will. It also combines nicely with: Shield WallIf your unit has shields, this rule and is charged, you get +1 to your parry save that turn. This is a great rule and with the lack of penalty when standing and shooting (meaning you are likely to choose this option as a charge reaction), ensures that it is seriously worth considering putting shields on all of your missile troops. It further has some great synergies with one of the runic standards you can take (more on that later). Resolute
Models with this rule get +1 Str when they charge. This is another fairly situational rule and one I was surprised to see in the book. I wasn't entirely sure where it came from as I don't remember anything similar in previous editions. With crap base movement, dwarves shouldn't normally be charging opponents. That isn't to say that they can't, there is at least one runic banner that assists with this and when you do, an extra pip of strength and the additional modifier to a save, is never unwelcome. I feel it mainly helps with dwarves armed with hand weapons and shields as they benefit most from the extra strength, though it can come as a nasty surprise when your tooled up, magic weapon wielding, character suddenly gains an extra +1S. So they have 6 special rules. Some are more useful than others but there are none which are in anyway bad. Dwarf Armoury
I've not only included the standard items from the armoury section but I've added the unit/character specific items too (excluding the special character items). Dwarf Crossbow/Handgun/Pistols - These are the same as the standard BRB weapons but all have the dwarf crafted special rule (see above). Gromril Armour - This gives the wearer a 4+ save that can be combined with shields etc. in the normal way. Forge Proven Gromril Armour (Irondrakes Only) - Confers the same 4+ save as the basic Gromril Armour. On top of that it gives a 6++ ward save and a 2++ ward save vs flaming attacks. Fantastic armour to have on rank and file and part of the reason I love Irondrakes so much. This is pretty much High Elf Dragon Armour but why oh why is it not available to dwarf characters? Drakegun (Irondrakes Only) - A S5, 18" range, dwarf crafted, armour piercing, quick to fire, flaming attack weapon. A model with this, can: move and shoot and can always stand and shoot (no matter the range), with no additional penalties (bar the long range negative) and these shots confer a -3 to armour saves. The shorter range and flaming, means you have to pick your targets but I feel these are hands down the best ranged, unit, weapon in the game. Brace of Drakefire Pistols (Ironbreaker or Irondrake Champion Only) - As per the drakegun but 2 S5 shots that have a 12" range. As a ranged weapon they will normally have a -2 penalty to hit (from long range and multiple shot) but range is not why you take them. You take them for the S4 flaming attacks they give your champion in combat (and the +1 extra attack is an added bonus). It is worth noting that a model armed with them still receives the +1S when charging as the Resolute rule applies to the model. They are really worth considering for the Ironbreakers champion (let alone the Irondrakes) and it is very rare I donât take this free upgrade. Trollhammer Torpedo (Irondrake Champion Only) - A 24" range, S8 flaming, D3 multiple wound, slow to fire weapon. On paper this looks good as it is a boosted bolt thrower that a unit champion can take. However no matter how often I take it I'm always disappointed. The champion only has a BS of 4 so if the unit moves (and it is rare I keep it static) it immediately drops to a 4+ (or 50%) chance of hitting and with a range of only 24", it is also almost always at over half range. This means it only hits on a 5+. Needless to say, with my lack of ability to ever roll high on a single dice, I've rarely managed to hit anything of note with this gun. You may have a different opinion but i'd say leave it at home and use the 20pts saved to buy an additional irondrake. Cinderblast Bomb (Ironbreaker or Irondrake Champion Only) - A 2-8" missile weapon (range is based on an artillery dice), that uses stone thrower rules (except you can move and fire). It uses the small template, with S3 (6). On a misfire, roll a D6 and only on a 1 will the template go on your champion's head. There have been some rule arguments on whether you can stand and shoot with it but they are largely irrelevant as for a cost of 15 points you won't be taking it anyway, as you will either be keeping the standard unit armament to ensure the 3+ save with 5++ parry (for Ironbreakers) or be equipping the free brace of drake pistol upgrade! Blasting Charges (Miners Only) - A one use missile weapon with a range of 4" that is S4, armour piercing, flaming and quick to fire. My main issue with these is they are purely a defensive weapon, as due to their range, I can't see why you would ever use them except in a stand and shoot reaction. That might not be a bad use for if they are charged on the turn they enter the board except, it is a situational upgrade and (I think, without double checking the BRB) they will still get a -1 long range penalty shot on a stand and shoot as well as the -1 for the stand and shoot reaction. So 6's to hit. If I've not read this incorrectly (and I may well not have and will change this if corrected) then it is a great fluffy upgrade but cost and effectiveness wise a pointless one. Edit: as mottdon pointed out, they could be useful on the turn you enter the battlefield, as the miners could come on just behind an enemy unit and then throw the charges. As such, they might be close enough to be in short range (so hit on 4+) or at long range (5+). It is still fairly situational though.Steamdrill (Miner Champion Only) - Apart from allowing a re-roll of a failed ambusher arrival, this gives the champion a +3S attack rather than a +2S for a great weapon. It's a bit pricey but if you are running a larger miner unit and want to give the best chance of it appearing, fully worthwhile for the re-roll alone. The additional +1S is just gravy. Oath Stones (Dwarf Lord or Thane Only) - This is the first of the dwarf equivalent of a mount and is available to generic lords and thanes. It has a number of special rules. A unit that contains a character on an oath stone can never choose to flee as a reaction (as if you would ever run as a dwarf, the shame!) and the unit can never be disrupted. The unit can also make parry saves to flanks and rear. Any Character on an Oathstone must accept challenges. Immunity to being disrupted (so not losing combat res for ranks) is a really good bonus to have and this is often overlooked, as peeps home in on the parry rule. You will most often see oath stones used by a Thane who is kitted out for protection to give survivability in challenges (a 1+ save from the Master Rune of Gromril, perhaps a rune of Iron for +1W and great weapon is the classic build and my favourite). Placing this character in a unit of Ironbreakers and putting them to guard a flank is again the most used option and in fairness probably the best use of it, as not only will they always get their 5+ parry against attacks from any direction but the additional strength of the Thane from the great weapon, helps against things the rest of the unit might struggle against (e.g. high armour or high toughness). Shieldbearers (Dwarf Lord Only) - This is the other 'mount' (and my personal favourite as it reminds me of the chief from the Asterix comics) but unlike the Oath Stone is only available to the generic Lord. The mount adds 2 wounds to the lord (representing the 2 dwarves holding the shield and bumping him to a respectable 5 in total) and +2 to his armour (giving him a 2+ save as he comes as standard with a 4+ from his Gromril armor). On top of this, he gains 2 WS5, Str 4 attacks from the 'mount' (2 dwarves) and still counts as infantry. This is the starting base of the fabled unkillable Dwarf Lord (see Lords section). The cost of this is a measly 40pts. I do think this is probably under-costed but I suppose it is offset by (as normal with dwarves) by the limited movement. You just have to find a way to bring the mountain to Mohammed. Anvil of Doom (Runelord Only) - The Anvil is a Runelord specific 'mount'. Like the shieldbearers the 'mount' adds 2 wounds to the lord (representing the 2 dwarves guarding the Anvil and again bumps the lord to a respectable 5 in total). He also gains 2 WS5, Str 4 attacks from the 'mount' (again curtesy of the 2 dwarf guards). Where the Anvil starts to differ, is that the Lord gains a 5++ ward save instead of +2 to his armour (and combined with the natural magic resistance of the lord, this gives it a 3++ ward vs direct damage spells). The model's troop type does change to 'Warmachine' but gets the unbreakable rule (over the stubborn rule that other dwarf warmachines get). The Anvil also automatically gives you +1 power and +1 dispel dice in the relevant phase. This is on top of the Lords ability to try and channel additional dice in the same way as a wizard. So far so good then. The main draw of the anvil is that it gives the dwarf army access to a magic phase (in the form of 3 below bound spells): 1) Hearth and Home - Bound lvl 3 - Augment - 24" range - gives all friendly dwarf units Immune to Psychology until your next magic phase. A decidedly lacklustre spell. High leadership means dwarves rarely panic or fail other psychology tests. You rarely choose to flee as a dwarf, so removing that option as a side effect of the spell is not really a negative (though if a gyrocoptor gets caught in the bubble that could cause issues, as that is your one real redirector and so you may often want to retain that option with it and this spell could screw up your plans!). 2) Oath and Steel - Bound lvl 4 - Augment - unlimited range - adds +1 to a single units armour save until your next magic phase. An excellent spell and probably the main reason you will be taking an anvil. Dwarf infantry have saves between 5+ and 3+ and the ability to bump these by a pip is fantastic. The issue is you will hardly ever cast this. 3) Wrath and Ruin - Direct Damage - 24" range - 2D6 S4 hits A fairly standard magic missile in an army that already has an abundance of S4 or above shooting options. The one good thing about this spell is it has a 360â field of fire. There are a number of flaws with the anvil: 1) The first that two of the spells just aren't that useful in the dwarf army for the reasons already stated. That means they will inevitably be saving their dice to dispel Oath and Steel (the one spell you will want to cast), which means you will be trying to 6 dice this as much as possible. 2) The second is that they are bound spells. Sure you will never lose the spells from a miscast (as they are innate bound spells - BRB - pg 37) but most enemies will gain +4 to try and dispel them, as it is rare you don't face a level 4 wizard across the board. 3) The third reason is that you can't embed the Anvil into a unit, this means that part of the reason for taking a Runelord (their AP rule) is wasted and it also becomes vulnerable to anything that would normally target loan characters or other warmachines. 4) The fourth reason that comes to mind is the cost. Ignoring the cost of the Runelord himself, that you need to take to access it, the basic anvil upgrade is the same cost as a kitted out unit of 10 thunderers or quarrellers. These put out a guaranteed 10 S4 shots a turn and can count towards blood and glory scenario etc. I know which one I would rather take. Oh and it's worth noting that the combined cost of the Runelord with Anvil is 300 points (and that is before giving him the compulsory spellbreaker rune etc.) and he only has a initiative of 3 so god forbid you have to take an initiative test or die reaction to one of the nastier spells, as you don't even get the benefit of the look out sir rule that a lot of clubs and competitions normally house rule to embedded characters. This makes is almost compulsory to give him 2 or 3 runes of speed to bump his initiative to a 5 or 6 (as a bonus they are at least cheap at 5pts per rune). 5) With it changing to a unit type of warmachine, if it it is targeted by a characteristic test spell and fails, it will immediately be removed! It is a real shame as the Anvil is an iconic dwarf unit but apart from fluff reasons I can't see any reason to take it in this edition. If pressed, you could perhaps use it to anchor a flank as you can make it pretty defensible and combined with the high wound count and unbreakable, it wonât be going anywhere unless a serious threat was bought to bear against it, though this would work better if you were castling (not something I like to promote). As an aside, it is worth noting that the anvil CAN move without impacting any of its abilities, it just moves at the Runelords base movement of 3". It doesn't make a lot of difference but the current model gives the impression that it should remain static. Having said all that, it is worth pointing out that, as bound spells, even if you fail to cast one, it doesnât stop you still attempting to cast another of the spells. This is because you can always cast bound spells, even if you lose concentration (BRB pg 37). So on a really low magic phase (such as the dreaded 2 or 3 roll), you could attempt to cast each spell on a single dice and your opponent would still have to roll a 3 to dispel it. In this situation, your opponent having a level 4 would not necessarily be an advantage as they would still need to make the 3+ dice roll. Otherwise on a larger phase you could still throw 1 or 2 dice at the more situational spells, trying to draw out the dispel dice and then try to force through the one you want with a miscast.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jun 14, 2018 6:58:59 GMT
POST 2
Runic Items
Iâm going to go against convention and go through the runic items before looking at the characters and units. The main reason is it is such an important part of dwarf list building. I have NEVER seen a dwarf army that hasnât taken multiple runes, even if they were only on warmachines. I will refer to them extensively in the upcoming posts, as they are integral to many dwarf lists, so it is worth knowing about them beforehand. Runic weapons are one of the main draws of taking dwarves. Coming up with unusual combo's is great fun (if you like the list building element of the game which I do). There are a number of rules to Runic item building that you need to be aware of: Rule of Three - You can only add a maximum of 3 runes to any one item Rule of Pride - No more than one item can have the same combination of runes. Rule of Form â Weapon runes can only go on weapons, armour runes on armour etc. Note: you cannot put weapon runes on 2 handed weapons in this edition, only on hand weapons. Jealous Runes - Only one Master rune can be added to an item (but can be combined with non-master runes). A Master Rune cannot used more than once in the same army. Weapon Runes
Iâll say now that although I love the idea of a runic weapon, I will very rarely take one in a competitive game (friendlies are a different matter). This is mainly down to Dwarf characters only having a base S4. Iâd much rather boost this to S6 with a cheap great weapon and then use runes for defence or other utility. The exception to this, would be to give a lesser character a cheap single rune weapon to gain magical attacks and with Slayer characters (who can only take weapon runes). Master Rune of Skalf Blackhammer (75) - You wound everything on a 2+ except if they are in magic armour when it increases to a 3+. This rune helps mitigate your lack of strength when wielding a runic weapon. There are however several problems with this rune: - Cost â itâs 75pts! That is a large chunk of your points allowance and means you will only be taking this on a lord level character:Â
- Armour, or specifically getting through it. You are still hitting at a base S4 so only have a -1 AP.Â
You could combine it with runes of cleaving to help boost its armour piercing but Iâd be more tempted skip this rune altogether and take the rune of might instead as a far cheaper option. Master Rune of Smiting (60) â You gain the multiple wounds (D6) rule. Itâs worth noting that only on an unsaved wound will it multiply to D6. I like this rune, the chance to one shot almost anything means an opponent always has to fear any character with this. Master Rune of Alaric the Mad (50) â This is the same cost as an obsidian blade and has the same armour ignoring effects. Itâs not a bad choice but there are better. Master Rune of Breaking (50) â When you hit an opponent in combat and they have a magic weapon, roll a D6. On a 2+, you will destroy that magic weapon. Itâs not a bad ability, especially if you also gave the wielder a rune or two of speed to give him a decent chance of striking first but it is expensive. Master Rune of Dragon Slaying (50) - Against dragons, you wound on a 2+ and get multiple wound (2). All for the low, low, price of 50pts. Completely worthless. Move along please. Master Rune of Flight (30) â This gives you a single 12" attack which always hits on a 2+. The attack combines with any other runes on your weapon. Itâs a bit gimmicky, especially with the limited range but at 30pts, itâs not too expensive if you want to do something a bit different as letâs be honest, no one will expect you to take it. Master Rune of Snorri Spangelhelm (25) â This allows you to always hit on a 2+. A lot of people seem to love this rune but with high WS you will often be hitting on a 3+ anyway and with a decent chance at getting hatred you stand a chance of re-rolling hits, so Iâm not as big of a fan of this as others. However, it does only cost 25pts and can be combined with might and another rune to give it good utility so I can see the appeal of it. Master Rune of Swiftness (25) â To quote the 1d4chanâs entry (because it sums it up nicely): 25pts for ASF on dwarfs. This is amazing. Also gives you rerolls to hit against any army with Initiative 3 and lower (aka most armies) and can be stacked with the Rune of Speed for re-rolls against almost everyone. Rune of Demon Slaying (25/50/125) â This is only useful if you are tailoring your army to face daemons of chaos (something I very rarely do). As such this rune is a waste of time for me but if you donât mind tailoring then itâs not bad. The first rank gives you +1 to hit and wound (for just 25pts), so that is great. The 2nd rank (for another 25pts) gives you multiple wounds (D3). Again not too bad. The 3rd costs an additional 75pts and no ward saves are allowed against your attacks. Useful but way too pricey, especially as it uses your entire magic point allowance. Rune of Fire (10/50/125) â The first rune give flaming attacks which is hit or miss, depending on what you are fighting. Still itâs a cheap way to get both flaming and magical attacks. The second rune gives you a S4 breath weapon. Breath weapons are good but whether paying 50pts for one is worth it, is another question, especially when you have access to another 35pt breath weapon in the ancestral heirloom section. Still having 2 or more breath weapons in the same unit, could be a nasty surprise to spring on someone. The final rune give multiple wounds (D3). The final wound isnât worth it. For the cost of this final rune, you would be better off just getting a flame cannon as that is base S5 causing D3 wounds and isnât that much more expensive. Rune of Fury (25/60/100) - An additional +1 attack is never a bad thing and giving it on the first Rune means you can combine it really easily with other runes. The second rune gives frenzy (so another attack). A further attack is nothing to be sniffed at though whether doing this through frenzy is a good thing is debatable. Restraining from charging isnât normally going to be an issue, especially with dwarf base leadership of 9-10 of characters but over-runs can be problematic. The final rune allows you to generate an extra attack for each hit caused. On a Lord, this means you could be getting 12 attacks! Bear in mind they will only be hitting on 3+ and with S4. Unlike other comboâs this does leave 25pts to spend on other things too. You could take 3 of these runes on a weapon but the likelihood is you probably wonât. Rune of Dismay (20/45/80) - The first rune causes fear. It could be useful but I wouldnât count on it making too much difference most of the time. The second rune causes terror and the third give anything in base to base contact -1 to LD. Terror only kicks in when you charge so is of limited use. -1 LD could be useful but not at 80pts. I would probably skip all 3 runes. Rune of Cleaving (10/35/65) â The first rune gives armour piercing (-1 to saves). It is very cheap and a useful ability so not a bad choice. You Runesmiths/Runelords gives a unit they join the same ability, so just bear that in mind. The second rune gives +1S. A fantastic ability and boosts the base S4 you start with when taking a runic weapon. Very much worth it. The third rune gives the character killing blow. Killing blow is a great threat and at this price you can also take a good selection of defensive runes as well. All in all, these are 3 useful runes. Rune of Might (25/60) â The first doubles your strength against anything with a T5 or over for a very reasonable cost. The second rune gives you multiple wound (D3) against those T5 or above foes. The first rune is one of my favourite runes to take on a weapon as it makes up for your lack of strength when it matters (and will boost your armour piercing ability at the same time when it kicks in). It is this rune which makes me question the worth of the MRo Skalf Blackhammer. A decent weapon combo on a standard Lord is a Ro Might and 2*Ro Cleaving. Rune of Striking (10/35/60) â The first rune gives +1 WS. This is of limited use on a thane or lord but is quite useful on a Runesmith as it ensures his WS is greater than most elite troops so helps his attacks hit (and again is a cheap source of magical attacks). The second rune allows re-rolls to hit, which can be useful but Iâd be more inclined to get this via the ASF MRo Swiftness. The third gives WS10. Not worth it on a dwarf. Grudge Rune (25) â Nominate an enemy character at the start of the game. The character with this rune then gets +1 to hit and wound against that character. This would be great if you could mount your model on a gyrocoptor to ensure you could actually get into combat with that nominated enemy. As it is, youâd need to be exceedingly lucky (or cunning) to ensure you got any use out of this. Rune of Parrying (25) â This is a fantastic rune. Making opponents get -1 to hit against you is an awesome ability as anyone who has faced Nurgle armies can attest to. I consider this rune almost compulsory on a slayer character to make up for the lack of other protection but putting it on any character you want to protect is never a bad thing. Rune of Speed (5/10/15) â Each rune gives +1 initiative. A very cheap way of getting magical attacks and synergises well with the MRo Swiftness. Armour Runes
Although they get pricey very quickly, armour runes allow you to turn a good lord into an amazing lord. There are numerous great combos and it is easy to add a new twist onto classic builds so that an opponent will never quite know what to expect. Master Rune of Adamant (100) â This gives the wearer T10 but cannot equip any other armour runes if taken. You can still stick a lord with this on shieldbearers to get a solid 2+ save and 5 wounds. The only worry he will have is poison. Iâd still give him a great weapon over a shield and rune of parry combo but that is because I would want some offensive ability rather than just an out and out tarpit. Although I used to regularly take this in earlier editions (read 4th/5th, normally on a Runelord), Iâve never taken it in 8th. Iâm just not sure exactly why that is but I suspect that it is just a bit too expensive (I wonât say over costed as my juryâs still out on that) and so limits other runic options. Edit: In 8th ed. any attacks will wound on a roll of a 6. In previous editions you needed to be S7 in order to wound a model with T10. That is why the rune was so great previously and has lost its appeal.Master Rune of Gromil (30) â I think this is a great rune. Sure all your characters get a 4+ save as standard and you can boost the save through other options but it excels when you stick it on a thane together with a rune of iron (for an additional wound) and arm him with a great weapon. A lord is better off taking shieldbearers and a runesmith will be taking spellbreakers so you shouldnât ever give it to them. Putting it on an Engineer and then giving him a great weapon or brace of pistols, can make him an extremely tough and unexpected guard. Rune of Fortitude (35/50/75) - The first rune gives you +1T. For that price, this seems to be a bargain (although I may have 50pts for an additional wound in my head from previous editionsâŚ). Either way, boosting your character to T6 means all but the most boosted character will only wound you on a 4+. The next rune gives you a 5++ ward. This is often much maligned as you can get a better ward elsewhere, however if you look at it as you are getting a 5++ for 15pts, then this is a bargain and allows you to use the points saved on something else. The final rune effectively gives you a 2+ save that prevents you suffering more than 1 wound if attacked by something that has the multiple wounds roll. For the number of times this will ever come up, you are better off spending the points elsewhere, like on⌠Rune of Iron (20/45/70) â And this is the fan favourite to turn to. The first rune gives you +1W and is great to add to a thane or other hero level character to really boost their survivability. The second gives you +1T and it is this together with the rune of fortitude first rune that helps give you the unkillable lord. The third rune gives you a 5+ regen save and isnât really worth the points. It isnât that regens are bad, but you can get an equivalent ward as easily. Rune of Shielding (25) - This gives you a 2++ against shooting. To again quote 1d4chan: Put it on an Runelord on an Anvil, but otherwise you can do just fine with the "Look Out Sir!" rule. Rune of Preservation (25) â This gives s 2++ against Killing Blow (and thus Heroic Killing Blow â as per the errata). Admittedly this probably doesnât come up often but I face a number of dark elf players (and thus executioners) in my local club so if Iâm spending 250+ points on a character and there is a chance they will be in my competition group, then I like having this protection. Rune of Impact (10) â If you have a way of almost ensuring the ability to get a charge with the character (hint: rune of slowness) then you could consider taking this but Iâd be more inclined to either use the points on getting a unit champion, musician or standard over this or give him a 2++ ward vs fire or a +1 armour save. Rune of Stone (5) - This is the only rune that ignores the Rule of Pride (meaning you can use it any number of times as a single rune on characters armour). The rune gives you +1 to your armour save. This is a brilliant rune and it is rare that all my Engineers and Runesmiths do not have this in order to give them a 2+/3+ save. Banner Runes
The dwarf runic standards are in the main, all things awesome. There are a couple of duds but these are outshone by the others. You will be hard pressed not to load up on them, no matter what build you take (and some of the army builds positively rely on them). Master Rune of Stromni Redbeard (75) - This gives an extra +1 combat res to the holders unit and all units within 12". For me this is the weakest of all the banner master runes. There is also the cost, it is too much for just a +1. Master Rune of Groth One-Eye (75) â This gives everyone within 12â stubborn. Due to the cost it can only go on a BSB or in a unit of hammerers (who already have stubborn anyway). Donât let that deter you, this rune was made for that unit and if you are taking them I would highly recommend using them to centre your line with this rune. Placing your 10 man unit(s) of quarrellers or thunderers armed with shields next to them means that anyone picking on those two units, hoping to blow through them in a round, are in for a nasty surprise with their stand and shoot, a 4+/5++ save and then them holding due to stubborn, ready for your hammerers to then hit the flank. Sure an opponent should only fall for this once but again you can play mind games with them as they will likely think youâve taken the rune with that placement and you get a bonus 75pts to spend on other stuff. Even saying that, Iâd find it hard not to take the rune (I love it so much) and there is only 1 reason I wouldnât and that is: Master Rune of Valaya (65) â This banner gives you an extra +2 to dispel (so a total of +4 as it stacks with the dwarves natural resistance). Unlike with wizards you cannot lose concentration so will always dispel as a level 4. This is another firm favourite with me as my Meta is magic heavy so it really helps give you a maximum chance of shutting down an opponentâs magic phase. As a bonus, at the start of each magic phase, each Remains in Play is dispelled on a 3+. As I said, I really like this banner and it does compete as the hammererâs banner option and as the BSBâs option. The choice would be easy if it werenât for: Master Rune of Grugni (60) - BSB only. This is the third of the almost must take master runes. The bonus with this rune is it gives your BSB a 4++ ward as part of the price (so that is 45pts worth). The other 15pts gives everything within 6â a 5++ ward against shooting and magic missiles. This can really help to protect your warmachines (if you are able to make 5++ rolls â something Iâve been known to fail regularly). If it werenât for the ward save on the BSB I would not rate this rune as highly, as it is, when I take it I always wish Iâd taken Valaya but when I donât, my warmachines get shot up quickly and I regret not taking it. You canât win! Rune of Battle (35/70/125) - The first two runes give you +1 and +2 to your combat res. This can combine well with the MRo Stomni Redbeard but in 8th you tend to gain combat res through kills (at least the way I play) so Iâm not as big of a fan of these. The third rune gives the unit the âfight in extra ranksâ rule. To make the most of this, you want a horde and plenty of extra bodies to soak up casualties so at least a unit of 50. Itâs one of the comboâs that I will try one day but that day hasnât ever come and that likely comes down to both cost and the fact it would have to go on a BSB, which means giving up one of the 3 master runes. Rune of Slowness (35/50/80) â The first rune allows you to deduct D6 off an opponentâs charge distance. The second rune allows you to roll 2D6 and pick the highest to deduct. These are fantastic runes and I will say that taking at least 1 is compulsory on a unit of Irondrakes to maximise the number of shots they take (while slowly falling back to maximise charge distance). It is also very useful for increasing the odds of getting off a charge to gain +1S from resolute and combines well with the Silver Horn. The final rune give ASL to your opponent. It is useful for removing elves re-rolls and allowing your great weapon dwarves to strike at the same time as your foes. Again it is one that has to go on a BSB and would mean dropping one of the more useful master runes to fit it in. Rune of Sanctuary (15/30/45) â These runes give Magic Resistance (1/2/3) respectively. I find MR is of very limited use. The best (Gobbos are da best!) use of this rune is to get around the Rule of Pride, say to allow another unit to take another more useful rune such as when creating a strollaz list. Rune of Stoicism (35) â To again quote 1d4chan (as why rewrite something if you agree with what they say): Another easy way Dwarfs can get stubborn. A good banner if you didn't want to put the Master Rune of Groth One-Eye on that unit of Hammerers. Put it on and have fun never running away. Strollaz' Rune (35) - This gives the unit Vanguard. This rune is at the heart of the famous dwarf Strollaz list. It combines nicely with the Ro Sanctuary to get around the Rule of Pride. You will want to also take a unit or two of rangers to ensure your opponent cannot block your vanguard otherwise you will have wasted all those points! Rune of Courage (20) â This gives immune to psychology. If it was 15pts, then it might be worth taking as an alternative to the Ro Sanctuary when getting round the Rule of Pride but as it is you wonât ever take it. Ancestor Rune (20) - A one use rune that allows you to take a break test on a single D6. It could be useful, especially if combined with stubborn and in a melee heavy list. Due to the cost, you couldnât fit it on with a vanguard or stubborn rune (which you would want to) so you will likely never take it. I will add that it is probably well costed as the 15pts you really want this to be to combine with the other runes, is probably too cheap. Talismanic Runes Master Rune of Balance (50) â This gives you a 50% chance of removing a power dice from your opponent and adding it to your dispel pool. I inherently dislike single dice 50% chance rolls so normally avoid them. Itâs slightly different if you get to do it multiple times in a game as it should average out. Still itâs not a cheap rune so Iâd pass to take something else. Master Rune of Spite (25) - Every time you take an unsaved wound, you deal a S5 hit back to the model that caused it. This is similar to the slayerâs deathblow ability but on each wound rather than just your death. Itâs a fun rune as it fits in with the dwarf idea of vengeance but you are probably better off taking something that protects your character. Master Rune of Passage (10) â This rune allows you to automatically pass Dangerous Terrain tests. Itâs a cheap rune that can be used to get round the Rule of Pride. Rune of Warding (15/35/45) â These runes give you a 6/5/4++ ward respectively. The cost and effects are the same as the standard ward talismans available to other races (with the exception of the 5++ ward which for some reason is 5pts more for dwarves). If you are going to take them, go big or go home (take all 3). If you want a 5++ ward, then look to take 2* Ro Fortitude on your armour as you effectively get the 5++ ward for 15pts. Rune of Spellbreaking (25/45) â Runesmiths and Runelord only. The first rune is a Dispel Scroll that can be taken on multiple Runesmiths as long as you get round the Rule of Pride. This ability is what allows the dwarves to shut down the magic phase and I never leave home without one. The second rune upgrades this to a spell eater. On a 4+ you remove the spell from your opponentâs deck for the rest of the game. This can really spoil their game if you get it off (and especially if you bring multiples of it). However itâs a big IF, as itâs a one use 50% chance. For 25pts a pop, I find it too hit or miss. That said, if I was entering a tournament, i'd consider taking a Runesmith with a double Ro Spellbreaking almost compulsory. The threat of the Death spell, Purple Sun, on your army is huge (a good roll could single handily remove half your army), so the ability to remove that spell from the game is priceless. Rune of Luck (15) - This rune gives a one use re-roll on: to hit, to wound, armour, ward or characteristic test. For the price, thatâs not bad at all but I still struggle to take this, probably because it is very much single character focused and there always seems to be better things to take. One way to look at the rune is as a one use failsafe against a test or die characteristic roll (I say failsafe but it just gives a second chance to pass the roll. 15pts to save your potential 300pt lord seems quite a bargain!). Rune of Furnace (5) â a 2++ ward against flaming attacks. This is the runic version of the Dragonbane gem and just as useful. On top of that it is the best (Gobbos are da best!) way of getting round the Rule of Pride on a Talisman. Engineering Runes
These Runes are what take your warmachines and put them on a pedestal high above every other races. They will look at you and turn green with envy. If you take warmachines you will be taking many of these runes, so plan accordingly. Itâs worth noting that putting a rune on a war machine, makes the attacks magical, so you can target and kill their ethereal troops. Master Rune of Immolation (30) - This allows you to detonate your warmachine at will, after combat but before combat res, to cause 2D6 S4 flaming hits to enemies in combat. If you have points left over it is worth considering as will really mess up a lot of warmachine hunters. Iâve seen one player go as far as to leave one warmachine on a far flank with a small unit of crossbows, to both mislead with the drops and deliberately tempt his opponent to divert resources to attack it. The crossbows removed the light chaff sent against it and when he then diverted a small unit of heavy cav, he got quite a surprise. Master Rune of Disguise (25) â This gives your warmachine hard cover. If you take an engineer he can give your warmachine this anyway but if you have more warmachines than engineers (and you normally will), then this at least gives the option of getting it on those machines. For 25pts I probably wouldnât bother though. Rune of Penetrating (40/50) â The first rune gives +1S on the warmachine. I consider this a compulsory rune on a grudge thrower. It is probably worthwhile on a bolt thrower but you are unlikely to ever take that warmachine (unless for fluffy reasons). Itâs also worthwhile considering on a Flame Cannon (if you have an engineer attached). You could put it on an Organ Gun but there are better options due to the limited runic points available on that machine. The second rune allows you to re-roll a single âto woundâ roll once in the game. I would skip this. Stalwart Rune (15/30) â The first rune gives the crew +1 to their combat res and the second upgrades their stubborn to unbreakable. Frankly if you are in combat your machine is in dire straits and these runes will not help. You are much better off taking runes that help it cause damage or prevent it malfunctioning. Failing that take the Rune of Immolation to kill off your attackers. Rune of Accuracy (25) - This gives you +1 to hit or allows you to re-roll the scatter dice. For me this is the second compulsory rune on a grudge thrower. It is also very much worth considering on an Organ Gun to boost the chance of it hitting (it is rare I donât take it). Rune of Forging (25) â This allows you to re-roll the artillery dice the first time a misfire is rolled each turn. I will always take this rune on a cannon. I will also always take this rune on an Organ Gun, unless it has a Master Engineer attached (as he provides the same re-roll) Flakksson's Rune of Seeking (15) - This gives your bolt throwers +1 to hit vs flying enemies. If you are taking a bolt thrower, then take this rune itâs cheap and may help out with the crewâs average BS. Rune of Burning (5) - This gives your warmachine flaming attacks. This is a great way of stripping regen off a monster or unit. It is always considering adding this rune to either a cannon or an organ gun. Just be aware of the number of 2++ wards that are around on units and that often appear on super characters and always seem to be on a daemon prince. Ancestral Heirlooms
These are the bookâs equivalent of other armiesâ unique magic items. Because of the dwarves unique ability to build their own magic items (which is part of the fun of taking dwarves) The Hammer of Karak Drazh â This hold is now known as Black Crag and is one of many that fell to the Greenskins. The fluff says this was a hammer that stood out as exceptional amongst the holds treasures. Frankly if this was the best (Gobbos are da best!) their Runelords could produce, it is no wonder the hold fell. Adding +3 initiative to a character is OK but I struggle to see what the point of the secondary effect is: reducing the opponentâs initiative to 1 on an unsaved wound, just until the end of the combat phase. Itâs the last bit. Why until the end of the phase? You have to wound them for that to kick in and about the only thing reducing initiative does is to prevent them attacking first. I suppose it could have some utility against someone with ASF, to remove their re-rolls to hit, but that would in the main just be elf characters, as adding +3 I to your lord or heroes stats, would generally equal or beat a rank and file elfâs initiative, thus negating their rerolls anyway and you could get the same +3 initiative boost for just 15pts with a standard runic weapon. The other issue is the cost. 65pts for this. I cannot see a point for this weapon unless you live in fear of initiative or die spells but even then it is protection for just one character with almost no other utility. If anyone else can see a purpose for this weapon, I would love to hear it. Edit: One possible use has been pointed out. If you could reduce an enemy character to initiative 1, then your rank and file dwarves would be able to attack before that character as they have a base initiative 2. I didnât say it was a good or even likely outcome but itâs about the best we could find! Still skip this! Red Axe of Karak Eight Peaks â This is a very fluffy weapon where the effects only work against anything in the Orc and Goblin and Skaven army books (so it includes anything those armies could field: Trolls/Giants/Wyverns etc.). As both those armies are the cause of Karak Eight Peaks downfall it ties into the name nicely. In terms of what it does, it allows re-rolls of all hits and wounds and the bearer causes terror. At 50pts, the costing is not great (the wood elves get a weapon with re-rolls to hit and wounds against all opponents for the same cost, though they donât get the terror impact). The main issue I have with it, is you can only include it in a tailored list, as for any other army bar the two listed, it is a total waste of points. You also already have a 33% chance of getting re-rolls against any opponent without the axe and terror is of limited use in this edition. The Magnificent Armour of Borek Beetlebrow â The armour grants you a 2+ armour save and a 3++ ward against str 6+ or higher for 60pts. As it was meant to have been crafted to protect against twin giants, the armours abilities match the fluff. It doesnât state if it comes with a shield, so you can conceivable give the wearer one to get a 1+ save (failing that, shieldbearers if given to a lord). The ward is fairly conditional. A 3++ ward is nice (as we all know from fighting the cursed Warriors of Chaos) but it will only kick in if you are against monsters, some characters and some elites with great weapons. Taking an unconditional 4++ ward and 1+ save (using runes) comes to 75pts. So taking the armour is 15pts less than this at least. It isnât a bad choice but there are better options. Silver Horn of Vengeance â Forged from the silver helms of the vanquished elves in the War of Vengeance its sound causes friends to fight harder and foes it promises doom. This is a one use only item that gives, all dwarfs within 6" devastating charge and in additional the sounder of the horn and any unit he is in cause fear in all elves (wood, dark, high). Again another item where the writers have tied the abilities into the itemâs fluff (I like fluff as you have probably guessed by now). If you get the charge off (and it is a big if), an additional attack could really hurt your opponent, especially if you put it in a unit where they donât expect it (combo this with the Rune of slowness to help this out). The fear is very conditionally and unlikely to make any real difference. It âonlyâ costs 45pts so I quite like giving it to a Runesmith and at that price, it still allows him to take a rune of spellbreaking. I would probably take this item more if it was cheaper and the attacks guaranteed. The Fiery Ring of Thori â Who doesnât like an enchanted ring, especially one that gives the wielder a S4 flaming, breath weapon? I like breath weapons, the chance to do an extra 2D6 automatic hits can swing combat. At only 35pts (or 3.5 great weapon wielding dwarves), it is cheap enough to definitely think about taking. If I take this, I normally use this it on a Runesmith. The ideal character to utilise it would be an engineer but sadly itâs not an option for him. Banner of Lost Holds â A unit that carries the banner rekindles the flames of vengeance. Sounds good but how does that equate to game terms? All models in a unit that carries the banner of lost holds can re-roll failed to wound rolls. A great ability and even at 100pts, it is one I would consider taking (probably making this the only army book banner at this price I would). At this cost, there are potentially only two ways to take it. On a BSB or on a unit of Slayers (if Ungrim is your general). In an amusing quirk of wording (and thanks to the gents of this forum for pointing this out), if you look at the exact wording of ancestral relics, this item and the wording around the dwarf BSB, he canât actually take it! (The same wording also prevents the Slayers taking it). So take that as you will. It is probably a given that the BSB can take it (even if following RAW he canât) but you may want to check with your opponent before putting it on a unit of slayers.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jun 14, 2018 6:59:40 GMT
POST 3
Characters
Iâm going to do this section a little differently and instead of spitting the section by Lords and then Heroes, Iâll instead group them by the Lord and Hero counterpart. Dwarf Lord
The lord is a solid melee choice. Fairly standard lord stats but with boosted WS (7), T (5) and LD (10). He gets all the dwarf army special rules. And can take a massive 125pts of runic items. I like the lord. You are more likely to see him than an equivalent lord in a different army but this is because you donât need to take a high level spell caster unlike most others. That isnât to say you often see him, as there are arguably more competitive choices. If you are going to take him, I cannot see why you wouldnât take him on shieldbearers (except if you didnât have the points) as 40pts for the +2 W, +2 armour save and +2 WS5, S4, I2 attacks is a bargain. That alone gives you a 2+ save and 5W off the bat. If I had to take a lord with limited points, I would probably take that over runic items. One of the most fun things about the lord is just the wealth of options available on how to arm or armour him. You can build your lord for offense of defence but he works especially well as an immovable object. I have and will mention the unkillable lord several times. The classic build for this is: Shieldbearers, 2*Ro Iron, 1*Ro Fortitude, 3*Ro Warding and a Great Weapon. This gives you in defence: 2+ save, 4++ ward, T7, 6W with 4 WS7, S6 attacks (and 2*WS5, S4 attacks). Not too shabby Iâm sure you will agree (probably an understatement if ever there was one. That much toughness and that many wounds on an infantry model is obscene). A cheaper version (by 50pts) would be to drop the 3*Ro Warding and the Ro Fortitude and replace that with 1*Ro Preservation. This drops 1 point of toughness and the standard 4++ ward and replaces it with a 2++ ward vs killing blow and heroic killing blow. Probably the main reason for the lord heading down the defensive runic route is his base strength of 4. Taking just armour and talismanic runes leaves the option for you to just arm him with a cheap great weapon. The defensive runes almost always ensure you have the option to hit back and his strength and GW will still ensure you get a -3 save modifier. If Iâm taking runic weapons, Iâm partial to this combo: MRo Smiting, Ro Might, Ro Parrying. This gives him double strength vs T5 or higher foes, multiple wounds (D6) and he gains the mark of Nurgle (sorry -1 to hit). The last helps offset the lack of defensive runes. I still mount his on the almost compulsory shieldbearers and and give his a shield for a 1+ armour save. You would have 15 points left to spend (if you wanted), so could add a Ro Luck (itâs a luck stone from the BRB â basically re-roll one dice for this model in the game) or a Ro Fire (for a 2++ ward vs flaming attacks). I think the key rune when taking a weapon is Might as it allows you to offset the lack of base strength. That isnât to say you always have to take it but I feel it has the most utility. I do have to say that this lord cost can be expensive. To put it into perspective, a minimal build (shieldbearers and great weapon) is just under 200 pts but fully runed up, in the classic unkillable build is over 300pts. For that cost you can get 2 runed up warmachines or another block of troops. If you do take him you wonât be disappointed but you have to think carefully on where to place him. Yes you could put your tooled up lord in your hammerers but that unit is already a magnet for spells, missile fire and artillery and most opponents will avoid combat with it as much as they would witch elves. You would be much better off placing him in your weakest combat block. Perhaps dwarf warriors, as suddenly that weakest block is looking a lot nastier. Itâs worth pointing out that if you are playing closed lists, most opponents will automatically assume that your lord on shieldbearers is the unkillable variety, so you could still âbuffâ your weak unit whilst fielding the cheaper bare bones option to free up points for other options. Thane
Like the lord, the thane has all the dwarf special rules. The main difference between them is the stat line with 4 of the characteristics (WS, W, A and I) being a single pip lower. Retaining an LD of 10 and costing less than half the value of the lord, makes a thane a very attractive alternative, especially with his 75 point runic item allowance. Even with a naturally high leadership, it is rare that a dwarf player wonât take at least one thane to use as a BSB. There are very few armies that can perform without them, the risk of failed leadership tests is just too great. With their low movement and reliance on a solid battleline, the BSB is rarely out of range of key units if deployed well so he is more often than not a staple of your army and I think that is as it should be. Iâm very much of the school that all armies should have a general and bsb if only for fluff reasons. In terms of arming your BSB, again the runes give you multiple choices and you also have to factor in the banner runes. A solid choice is to give him a shield and the MRo Grungni. This gives his a 3+ save and a 4++ ward as well as throwing out a 6â bubble that gives a 5++ ward vs shooting. Not only does this make him very durable but it is very handy when defending warmachines against counter battery fire. (Not to mention helping your slayers last a little longer). I most often flit between that build and taking a shield and the MRo Valaya, which gives an additional +2 bonus when dispelling. I find this combined with the spellbreaker runes really helps neutralise (or reduce) enemy magic phases (at the expense of some defence for your thane). You can add other runes to the banners as a BSB has a 100pt allowance but it quickly boosts the cost and as with the main banner rune, which ones you take should depend on the army build you are taking and if it fits in with it. The third of the builds I favour can be used for a bsb or for a normal thane. Give him a MRo Gromril, Ro Iron (for a 1+ save and an additional wound) and a Great Weapon to boost his strength. This still leaves a few points to play with. Depending on what you are fielding and where you are planning to deploy him, you can then add an oath stone (though I wouldnât advise this if you are using the thane as a BSB). Again, there are lots of fun comboâs to take with runes and this barely scratches the surface. Master Engineer
The ME allows a warmachine within 3" to use his BS instead of their own and also re-roll an artillery dice (in the same way as a Rune of Forging). As a tertiary affect he can also entrench one warmachine at the start of the battle to give it hard cover. His primary and secondary abilities equate to 50pts of runes, so you are effectively getting a hero and body guard for your warmachines for an additional 20pts. If you then take into account the entrenchment ability he gives, then you are making a saving 5pts (at least if he is taken naked). Now having said that, I would only normally take an engineer if I were to take an Organ Gun, as his abilities sync with this machine the most (as you can use all three of his abilities with it) and Iâd go as far to say I consider a taking one Master Engineer per Organ Gun, a mandatory choice. It is worth pointing out that you could take an organ gun with no runes and just a ME without compromising its effectiveness and suddenly that banner of the world dragon bearing unit of elves, isnât looking too safe! Iâd never take an engineer on a cannon or a grudgethrower as taking runes is normally more cost effective. I would take one on a flame cannon IF I had taken the Rune of Penetrating on it (as I would want the re-roll to misfires the ME would provide). In terms of armaments, it is worth adding a Ro Stone to an engineer to boost his armour to a 3+. A brace of pistols never goes amiss to boost his combat potential when guarding his warmachine. You could consider a GW instead, as it is cheaper, but the pistols allow a stand and shoot reaction and that can make the difference in combat. The main thing is to keep him pretty cheap. Runelord
A Runelord is the master of the runic arts. He is often the oldest dwarf in the hold, imbued with years of wisdom. He gets access to all the standard dwarf army special rules and also gets access to some unique Runesmith rules: Forgefire: This gives the Runelord and any unit he is embedded in, Armour Piercing. This is a superb rule and one of main reasons to take a Runelord/smith (just after the ability to take dispel ârunesâ). Runelore: This allows him to channel dispel dice. This is the same as wizards and isnât game changing but can crop up to assist during the game. Magic Resistance (2): a 5++ ward against direct damage spells is helpful but not normally that useful. He is also the only dwarf that can access the Anvil of Doom (which Iâve already covered under the armoury section but to recap, itâs pretty rubbish, donât take it in any kind of competitive game). You want to really like the Runelord. He does have a massive 150pt runic item allowance which is great but he falls into a null zone. His stats arenât good enough to make him a combat character compared to your other options (he has the same attacks as the hero version. Why would that seem like a good idea? I suppose they were modelling them on wizards but with an additional attack). He also costs double the price of a Runesmith so if you take into consideration, forgefire and the ability to take spell breakers, there is no conceivable situation where you wouldnât take 2 Runesmiths over a Runelord. That is a real shame and because of this, it makes the Runelord the only generic lord option I would never take in a competitive game. Now having said all that, if you were to take a Runelord (120pts) on an Anvil (170pts) and want to max him out for laughs, consider all or part of the following build: Runic Weapon - 3*Ro Speed (15pts) to give him +3 Initiative. This boosts him to initiative 6 in total and gives maximum protection vs those test or die spells. Give him a shield (3pts) and on his armour give him a Ro Stone (5pts) and Fortitude (35pts) to boost his armour to 2+ and Toughness to 6. Then give him 2*Ro Spellbreaking (45pts) and a Ro Balance (50pts) to give you maximum protection in the magic phase. Sure it comes in at 443pts all told but could be quite amusing. Runesmith
This is the hero version of the Runelord and a better option in every way. He gets all the same rules, excepting a smaller 75pt runic item limit and Magic Resistance (1) but only costs half what the Lord does. I would state that EVERY dwarf list should contain at least one Runesmith. If you donât have one, you should go back and look at your list and rewrite it to put one in, that is how useful they are. As all Runesmiths will take at least the first level spellbreaker for 25pts, realistically they only have 50pts of Runes. I personally like to kit them as cheap as possible for defence, with a Ro Stone and shield so they get a 2+ save and 6++ parry. Occasionally I might also give a Ro Preservation for protection vs Killing blow if he is my General. I have taken the GW, MRo Gromril and Ro Fortitude combo for a S6, 3W, 1+ save. Though with only 2 attacks as standard, this isnât as effective as giving this combo to a Thane though. This is one character that can benefit from giving a cheap runic weapon. A Ro Fire is probably your best choice to give both magical and flaming attacks, perhaps combined with a rune of speed (if he isnât in a great weapon unit), in order to strip regen. I do occasionally give him the +1 WS rune if heâs my general, although Iâll admit this is as much for fluff as anything (as my general should be a more skilled fighter than the troops heâs leading)! Itâs also always worth giving the Ro the furnace for the 2++ ward vs flaming attacks for 5pts and the Ro Passage for 10pts is a good way of getting round the duplicate spellbeaker restriction, whilst giving a useful ability (although not one that will come up often unless you face an opponent with beasts magic). Daemonslayer
I have a real soft spot for all things slayer. Most armies have their iconic units but there are some that just stand out. For me that is slayers. If you read the time of legends books there are some interesting comments on slayers, as it is only around this time that they started to appear and at the time, many dwarves thought negatively about it and that becoming a slayer was taking the easy (and less honourable) way out of facing the responsibility of their shame (pretty sure that was the gist and Iâm not making it up â will have to re-read them to be sure). Either way, Daemonslayers are the toughest most badass dwarves. Shunning armour and seeking out the biggest monsters and challenges to find a worthy death, they have survived everything thrown at them. Gotrek is the most well-known thanks to the Bill King books but there are many others. They have very limited options available to them. They can take a runic weapon and can only join a unit of slayers. That is it. So at 5pts cheaper than your basic lord, what else do you get for your 140pts? Firstly a slightly differing statline. You drop a point of BS and gain a point of initiative. Thatâs a great trade off and boosts it to 5 giving you a greater chance of striking first. He keeps the standard dwarf special rules, only dropping shield wall (quite rightly) and retains the standard slayer rules of: Unbreakable â never has to take break tests and is immune to psych. How I love this rule. It is possibly the greatest strength of a slayer. Slayer - always wounds on a 4+. Again a good rule and helps against monsters or other high toughness units but it doesnât help against armour. Slayer Axes â Can choose to use an additional hand weapon or a great weapon at the start of each combat. On a slayer unit this is a great option but on a slayer character I tend to advocate taking a runic axe which replaces these options. Deathblow â If a model with this rule is killed, they immediately can make a single additional attack. A fluffy rule and gives you a chance to take out something in a last hurrah. He also gets the unique Dragon Slayer rule â Gives you the multiple wound (D3) rule vs monsters. His own special rule is Daemon slayer â Any ward saves made against your attacks must be re-rolled. You basically get the other tricksters shard. So you get a whole host of special rules, most are excellent and none are bad. In terms of weapons, you can really tailor this to offset the unitâs weaknesses or take character/monster killers etc. A classic options is: MRo Swiftness, Ro Might and Ro Parrying (gains always strikes first, double strength against T5+ opponents and enemy suffer -1 to hit him in combat). He is also one I might actually consider giving 3 runes of cleaving. I also like the idea of giving him the MRo Smiting so he gets multiple wounds (D6) against all foes. If he gets in a challenge and is slain he then gets a final chance to cause D6 wounds back at the attacker. It just seems apt somehow. You can run a slayer character solo but any opponent worth his salt will use them as a pin cushion as soon as look at them. I might still consider it with a Dragonslayer but due to the cost Iâd never run the Daemon slayer outside of a unit. Dragonslayer
He gets all the same rules as the Daemonslayer (bar the ability to force re-rolls to wards). Comparing him to the Thane he again loses a point of BS and gains one of Initiative and costs 5 points more. Everything stated about the Daemonslayer, applies to the Dragonslayer. All in all, Iâm not as big of a fan, maybe this is because he loses an attack and a wound on his profile and with no defence, it makes him a bit too squishy with not enough damage output. Special Characters
There are two main reasons for taking named characters. You are either fitting them in for fluff or for a special ability they are able to confer that no one else can. They are, in the main, considerably more expensive than their generic counterparts. Full disclosure, Iâve only ever used 3 of the 8 named characters in this review. Thorgrim Grudgebearer
He is the current High King, known to have struck off an impressive entries from the Dammaz Kron (Book of Grudges). He gets the following dwarvern army rules: Ancestral Grudge, Relentless and Resolute (so no shield wall). He is carried into battle by 4 dwarves on the Throne of Power and has 4 unique magic items. In addition he MUST be the general if in the army and if he is slain, all dwarves get frenzy! So what are his unique items? Throne of Power â This is treated as shieldbearers (so he counts as infantry still) and he gets +2 to his save. The difference is he gains +4 wounds and 4 additional WS5 S4 attacks (to represent the 4 dwarves carrying it) but loses the look-out sir rule if he joins a unit. He also gets a 4++ ward and his commanding presence range is increased from 12â to 18â. The throne is great, +4 wounds puts him up to monster levels and means he canât be one shotted by cannons. The ward helps further prevent this and the increased range is a bonus but not as important as for other armies, due to the high leadership of the dwarves. Axe of Grimnir â This is one of Grimnirâs two legendary axes (Gotrek was long thought be wielding the second). This grants him ASF, it wounds on a 2+ (3+ if they opponent is wearing magic armour) and multiple wounds (D6) vs giants. ASF is always great but with a high chance of getting re-rolls to hit anyway it isnât as useful for the High King. The 2+/3+ wounding isnât bad but doesnât help him overcome high armour with his base S4. The Multiple wounds is very conditional. I canât remember the last time I faced anyone with a giant. So all in all, this axe is good against monsters with low saves but not great against anything else. Armour of Skaldor â Gromril armour that combines with the Throne of Power to give him a 2+ save. In addition it gives him a 2++ ward vs Killing Blow, HKB and attacks with the multiple wound rule (this is basically a boosted Ro Preservation). The wording is interesting. It is a ward save against attacks with those rules, not just against any where a successful killing blow/HKB etc. is made. I like having KB and HKB protection, it doesnât come up a lot but is always good to have on a tanky, expensive, lord. The unique preservation against multiple wounds is conditional but again helps against things like cannons (especially with no look-out sir protection). Dragon Crown â Grants Immune to Psychology and Stubborn Stubborn is all kinds of good and there is never a reason to lament having it. ItP is conditional on dwarves. Great Book of Grudges â Add +3 to the ancestral grudge roll. On a 7+ all dwarves gain the equivalent of Eternal Hatred (can re-roll to hit in every round of combat) There is often one thing that sets a named character above its generic counterpart and this rule is the one for Thorgrim. On a 2+ you guarantee your army gets hatred and you also get a 50% chance of rolling eternal hatred. I love this as rerolls to hit are just so useful. So as you expect, the big boss of the dwarves is loaded with magic items and rules, so what are the drawbacks. Well letâs start with the big one. 650 points! This means you could not fit him in a standard 2500pt army unless you are using the 1.9 errata rules for 50% character allowances. Trying to see what that cost is made up of, Iâve added together basic cost of the components. Lord (145), 2 * Shieldbearers (80), 3*Ro Warding (45), MRo Swiftness (25), MRo Skalf Blackhammer (75), Ro Preservation (25), Ro Stolicism (35), Ro Courage (20) â Total 450pts The remaining 200pts is made up of the following abilities: Increased commanding presence range by 6â, additional +2 BS (completely pointless as he has no ranged attacks), MRo of Giant Slaying (from the axe), 2++ ward vs multiple wound attacks (from the armour) and the book of grudges effects. Is this worth it? Itâs debatable. I suppose in a much larger game (where you are more likely to field him), then the additional hatred could really come into its own as you would likely have far more combat blocks. My other main gripe with him is he only has a -1 modifier to an opponentâs armour save (from his S4). The best you can boost this too is -2 if you add a Runelord/smith to his unit. Itâs just poor and so you would only want him realistically attacking monsters or rank and file. Ungrim Ironfist
I love the Slayer King almost as much as normal slayers (fluff and rules). Sure he is reasonably expensive at 350pts but a tooled up tanky âunkillableâ Dwarf Lord comes in at over 310pts so he isnât too much more. So what do you get for the points? Iâll start with defence (and compare it to the tanky lord even though they arenât necessarily built for the same role) and his WS of 9. He has to be one of a handful of characters with a WS that high and it means that most enemies will hit him on a 4+ but anyone with a WS4 or lower will only hit him on a 5+. This is almost as good as having a -1 to hit. The Dragon Crown adds +1 to his toughness, boosting it to 6 so most elite troops with GWs will only wound him on a 4+, as well as adding +1 to his save, which combined with his Gromril armour, gives him a 3+ save. Again these help reduce the odds of him losing one of his 3 wounds. On top of this, his Dragon Cloak of Fyrskar, grants a 4++ ward (which increases to 2++ vs fire based attacks). If I compare is to the dwarf lord. The lord âonlyâ has a WS7 and tends to have a 2+ armour and 4++ ward, so pretty comparable so far. Where the lord outstrips Ungrim is with his T7 (not too much difference) but a whopping 6 wounds. Still, as you can see Ungrim is still pretty tough and not a push over with his defence. It is mainly the wounds that are the difference between them. So what about attack? Again his WS comes into play. He will rarely, not be hitting foes on a 3+. Ancestral Grudge also gives him a chance at re-rolling failed hits in the first round of combat. His Axe of Dargo, grants him +2S which boosts him to S6, so he will wound most foes on a 2+ and will have a -3 to armour saves. He also has the resolute rule so gets +1 Str on the charge. On top of that, his 4 attacks, strike at initiative 5 and the Axe also gives them killing blow (so a chance to ignore armour and regen saves altogether and kill multi-wound enemy that arenât monstrous). He also gets all the slayer rules, so any successful ward saves made against his attacks have to be re-rolled, against monsters any wounds caused become D3 wounds and the worst he can roll to wound on is a 4+. This is a lot of special rules and why I consider him a bit of a combat monster. Again comparing him to the dwarf lord, the lord has 4 attacks at Str 6 (or 7 on the charge) due to the GW (so the same as Ungrim) but this also gives him the ASL rule. He does gain 2 WS5, Str 4, I3 from the shieldbearers but as expected, he is at a disadvantage to Ungrim if only down to the sheer number of additional rules the Slayer King has on the attack. Weâve established that he has a solid defence and attack so does he bring anything else to the table? Well like other slayers he is unbreakable and as mentioned earlier if taken as a general one slayer unit gets a magic banner of up to 100pts. Unlike other Slayer characters, he can be the army general. So is he worth taking? Yes definitely. Especially if you are a player who normally takes a Lord character and are planning on taking slayers and so a more themed list. Iâve taken him on numerous occasions and never regretted doing so. The main drawback is like all dwarf lords, he is still only M3, can only join a unit of slayers and costs the same amount as a block of dwarves or 2 runed up war machines. Thorek Ironbrow
Iâm not going to delve into Thorek too much but to say that he automatically comes on an Anvil of Doom and has no spellbreaker rune and costs double a naked generic Runelord on Anvil. Suffice to say, ignoring the massive over costing, you shouldnât take him for the same reasons you wouldnât take the generic character on an anvil. If you are curious above the difference. He comes with MR (3), so one higher. He also gets to re-roll one of the casting dice on a failed attempt to cast a bound spell and he gets +1 to his casting attempts. He gets a 1+ armour save and his weapon allows no armour saves and if he causes an unsaved wound any magic items equipped by the opponent wounded are destroyed. Belegar Ironhammer
The true king of Karak Eight Peaks, at first glance, appears to be set up as a combat lord but how does that stand up to scrutiny? He has a standard Dwarf Lord stat line but with WS8, so higher than most opponents heâll face. His Hammer of Angrund gives him ASF and +1 to his wound rolls, the latter really helps to overcome his low strength. On top of this, once per game he can double his attacks to an impressive 8. He comes mounted on an oath stone, so has to accept challenges, so you hope that he is well protected in those fights. I would rate his defence as above average as although he only has a basic save of 3+ save, his Shield of Defiance grants him a 4++ ward with immunity to KB and HKB and on top of that any wounding hits that would automatically slay him only cause a single wound. As a final rule he also grants stubborn to any unit he joins. At 305pts he isnât excessively costed but he suffers from the same issue as many of the special characters, he will struggle against high armour. Now from the fluff side, if you think about his primary foes (Skaven and Orcs) then neither have many high armour units so it wouldnât normally be an issue but in the real world, it is one of the reasons you will rarely see him fielded. Grimm Burloksson
In dwarf society, we donât have family names as manlings know them but the second name often shows who your father is, especially if the father is someone of note. In this case Grimm, son of Burlok and the father was definitely of note, the renowned Burlok Damminsson. The father was always worth a look in older books, so what is the son like? Well he is a master engineer with the normal dwarf army rules of: ancestral grudge, resolute and relentless. He also comes with an improved +1 BS (so 5) which is utterly fantastic, especially if you combine this with an Organ gun. It also helps out with his unique weapon, Grudge-raker, an 18â, S4, AP, Dwarf Crafted, Multiple Shot (2D3) modified handgun. He also adds +2 to his strength as he built a steam powered gauntlet to emulate his father and combined with his Cog Axe, with its AP, opponents take armour saves with an impressive -4 modification. On top of that, if he scores a hit in combat, on a 5+ their magic weapon is destroyed. Now he only fights with 2 attacks, an initiative of 2 and only has a 4+ armour, with 2 wounds, so I wouldnât expect him to really survive in combat to make use of this ability. It is very much worth noting, that he also comes with a brace of pistols and as neither of the above are magic items, he can choose to use these in combat (and I would over the Axe, every time). This gives him 3 S6 (S7 on the charge) AP attacks (on top of his 2D3 S 4 AP shots from standing and shooting). Suddenly charging him is a much less appealing decision, especially from any chaff wanting to get past him to the warmachine. So now weâve covered him armaments, how do his special rules compare to the normal Master Engineer? Well he can entrench machines in the same way. In addition, he has his own special rule called: Master of Accuracy. He rolls a D6 and on a 1 he canât use it. On a 2+ he can choose one of the following 3 options on a unit within 3â, though he can never benefit from the effects himself (in either situation, he CAN still fire his gun â unlike a normal engineer): 1. Artillery Adjustment â This is the normal ME rule. A warmachine can use his BS and re-roll an artillery dice. NOTE: unlike a normal engineer, this CAN be the distance the cannon ball bounces or flame template moves. 2. Increased Range â A unit of Quarrellers or Thunderers can add 2D6â to their range. 3. Superior Volley â A unit can re-roll any missed shooting hits. The first of these is useful, especially as you can re-roll the bounce/flame template movement (unlike the normal engineer). However you will normally just take a generic ME if you want to baby sit a machine using these abilities. You will normally be taking Grimm for the second and third abilities. These are just fantastic. Applying the increased range to Thunderers means that, on average, they now have the same range as crossbows. If you give it to quarreller, then they are suddenly hitting the troops that were carefully positioned out of range. Both of these could be a nasty shock to an opponent who isnât expecting it and these kind of things can help to throw their game plan. You could apply Superior Volley to Thunderers or Quarrellers to maximise their hits but I would prioritise giving it to your Irondrakes as their volleys would benefit far more from it, in terms of maximising the sheer devastation they can cause. His Grudge-raker also, conveniently, shoots at the same range as their guns (itâs like it was meant to be). In terms of price, he is around double that of a generic engineer and at 165pts that isnât breaking the bank. Taking him does mean you are more likely to go down the gunline build but he is well worth considering if that is your plan, as he just makes that build stronger in every way, though I would clarify that by saying, I would only take him if I were planning on taking larger units of missile troops as I think his abilities are wasted if you are using him just for warmachines and youâd be better off just taking a standard Engineer. A very good choice (and the model is great too). Josef Bugman
Josef is almost as an iconic character as Gotrek or Thorgrim. Almost all dwarves know and rate his beer as having reached almost the pinnacle of the brewerâs art. Most also know of the demise of his brewery at the hands of goblins. He comes with a standard Thane stats (except an improved BS and Initiative) and the normal access to army special rules of Ancestral Grudge, Resolute and Relentless. Although he does have a shield (combining with Gromril armour for a 3+ save) he doesnât get the Shieldwall rule, which is quite right as the magic weapon would prevent him getting a parry save anyway. He also gets the Scout rule, allowing him to deploy either on his own or within a unit of rangers, which fits his fluff nicely. He and any unit he joins also get the rule: Stout Courage. This grants immunity to fear and terror. Note this is different to the Immune to Psychology rule and as such they can still panic (and can choose to flee). His magic weapon, Olâ Trustworthy, gives him +1A, +1S and Armour Piercing (basically 2*Ro Cleaving and a Ro Fury) and that gives him a very respectable 4, S5 AP attacks at initiative 4. Bugmanâs Tankard is his enchanted item and at the start of any friendly turn, Bugman, or any model in the same unit, can drink form this and can gain +D3 wounds they had already lost during the game. This can be useful and as every reviewer points out combines well with the âunkillableâ dwarf lord. He also gets his own unique rule called: Liquid Fortification. At the start of each friendly turn roll 2D6 and the result rolled lasts until the next roll. 2 = Bad Brew â The unit becomes Flammable. 3-9 = Belligerent - The unit becomes Stubborn. 10-12 = Leathered â The unit gains +1T. There is only one bad roll and the chance of that occurring isnât high. The other two are excellent. As a final special rule, he gets Bugmanâs Rangers. This allows one unit of Rangers to get +1WS, +1BS and +1S. This boosts the rangers up to Elite dwarf stats and elf shooting levels, all for a âminisculeâ +3pts per model. It is worth considering if you were planning on bringing a sizable unit of rangers (otherwise I wouldnât bother). Although you could put him in a unit of rangers (whether upgraded to Bugmanâs Rangers, or the standard variety), I much prefer putting him in a mainline unit with the BSB to both protect and buff them both. I do consider him more of a buffing unit, despite his decent melee ability. Cost wise he comes in at 165 points. Taking into account the price of a Thane (65) and his weapon Runes (60), this means his other special rules and enchanted item cost 37pts. If you look at it that way, he is very well costed. Would I take him though? Possibly. It would all depend on the build and what I wa hoping to get from him. If I were running an Ambusher/Vanguard Hybrid list with a large unit of rangers/Miners and Longbeards, then he would be a serious contender for the list. Option character rules Grombrindal
These rules for the White Dwarf were published in WD. It does specifically state that he shouldnât be used in tournament games. He comes with the straight up stats of a normal dwarf lord but costs a whopping 500pts! Why does he cost so much you ask? He gets the dwarf army rules of ancestral grudge, resolute and relentless. On top of that he is unbreakable. He has the option of starting the game hidden in a unit (in a similar way as an assassin) but if the unit he is hidden in flees or is wiped out, he stands his ground and is placed on the table. He has 4 magic items: Rune Helm of Zhufbar â any fleeing dwarf units within 12â, will automatically rally. A handy ability but nothing to write home about. Armour of Grimril Scales â This gives him a 1+ save and a 4++ ward. This is a solid save and ward and is a great if simple piece of armour. Rune cloak of Valaya - This gives a MR (3). It almost guarantees direct damage spells canât harm him as it combines with his ward but is quite conditional. Rune Axe of Grimnir â With +2S, re-rolls to hit and wound and opponents having to re-roll successful armour saves, this is the Axe the High King wishes he inherited. Overall he is a good combat character that can be sprung as a nasty surprise. You have to be thinking that a large part of his cost is likely tied up in this Axe but he is very expensive and wouldnât be something Iâd include except in a much larger game (in a similar way to Thorgrim) Grombrindal on Shieldbearers (30th Anniversary)
It should be stated that the designers of these rules intended for this to be ridiculous and it should only be used in agreement with your opponent and they should be bringing Greater Daemons, Dragons and Special Characters to pit against it. This is because Grombrindal is held aloft by none other than Gotrek and Bugman. The rules for Grombindal are the same as those listed above with one additional item: Ancestral Shield â Any ranged attack that targets Grombrindal has its strength halved (this includes magic missiles, cannonballs etc.). In additional, the Shield and any other magic items carried by the White Dwarf, cannot be nullified in any way. This item and mounting him on the other 2 renowned heroes increases the cost from 500 to 1000pts. So how do their rules combine? Well both heroes add attacks to the White Dwarf. Bugman adds 4 S5 I4 attacks. Gotrek adds 4 attacks at I4 that automatically wound, allow no armour save and each cause D3 wounds. Against Daemons or Dragons it becomes D6 wounds. The final rule is a fun quirk where the 3 strong personalities can have conflicting ideas of what they should do. You roll a D6 in the movement phase and: 1-2 â Bugman decides to have a drink. You canât move but all wounds are healed. 3-4 â The wiser head of Grombrindal rules and they can move normally 5-6 â Gotrek in a rage that he still lives moves towards the greatest foe. The model must move 12â towards the enemy unit with the greatest points value. If he moves into touch with anything, he counts as charging. He is basically stupidly priced but if you could arrange a game where your opponent just bought dragons, greater daemons and other such monsters and then faced them off against Grombrindal, you could definitely have a great evening of laughs.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jun 14, 2018 7:00:07 GMT
POST 4
Core
As a dwarf, you are blessed with possibly the best core choices of any army book (no donât argue, itâs a fact). There are no bad choices just some that are arguably better than others. Warriors
Your basic dwarf clansmen has above average stats with WS4, T4 and LD9 as the standout attributes. They also come with heavy armour. They come in two varieties, Shields or Great Weapons. The former can be combined with the armour to give a solid tarpit with a 4+ save 6++ parry and T4. A reasonable block of 25 of these with full command comes in at just over 250pts so they are cheap to boot (a single dwarf is 9pts), especially in an elite army that will sometimes struggle for more bodies. 3 blocks of these would give you 75 bodies and fill your core allowance. There is one major downside to them however and that is their base strength of 3. Yes they can get +1S on the charge but apart from that, they have no way to buff it. If you want a tarpit unit, there are far better choices for dwarves in the form of Longbeards or Ironbreakers, as both if these come with base S4. For this reason alone, I would advocate never taking a basic dwarf with a shield and instead take the other option available: Great weapons are great for your basic dwarf. With their already low initiative of 2, they will normally be striking last anyway so ASL conferred by the weapon isnât a big drawback and the +2S is a massive benefit that, for me, takes away the only negative your warrior has (the S3). A block of 30 with full command comes in at 330pts (a GW dwarf is 10pts on the nose), so again it is reasonably cheap and a great way of boosting your numbers. Many threads will often promote Longbeards or other core options but GW warriors are, per model, 4pts cheaper than anything else in this section, so I will normally take GW dwarves over GW longbeards ever time. Why did you give a different example of 30 GW warriors and not 25, as per the shield warrior example? Iâm glad you asked. With dwarves (of all melee unit varieties), Iâve found it a rule of thumb that if they are armoured with shields, you should always take a minimum unit size of 25 whereas if they are armed with GWs, always take a minimum of 30. These sizes are the minimum required to ensure they have enough bodies to help maintain combat effectiveness. The extra pip of armour with the shields makes a big difference. Now as it goes, personally, Iâll normally take 30 shield dwarves and closer to 40 with GWâs but it depends on your foes, meta and army tactics. Quarrellers
Although warriors are excellent for their points cost, there is another major thing that makes them less appealing than their counter parts in other armies, their movement of 3. Yes you can march without testing (or boost movement via runic standards) but your march move is still barely more than other armies standard movement! For this reason alone, it makes arming your warriors with a ranged option a favourable choice and is one of the reasons dwarves lend themselves towards a gunline. Quarrellers (and Thunderers) are what you get if you give a warrior a ranged option. Their stats are identical except you pay 4 points more for each of the ranged weapons. This greater versatility is why you will more often see Quarrellers or Thunderers taken over warriors. So which ranged weapon is better? Old school vs new-fangled? Both are move or fire (boooo) and strength 4 (yeaaaah). The difference is the crossbow has a range of 30â and the Handgun loses 6â in range but gains armour piercing to make up for this. Iâve found that generally the greater range normally outshines the greater armour piercing as it means you can both hit targets sooner and you have a greater chance at shooting at short range for longer. The other thing that makes the quarrellers more attractive, is the options available to the units. Thunderers can only take shields, whereas Quarrellers have the choice of both GWâs and/or shields, meaning that they are not as limited in their application and so are hands down the most versatile choice in core. I almost always take GWâs on them to overcome the inherent S3 weakness (but not always) but rarely take shields as well as GWâs, as you canât use them those in combat with the GWâs and taking both boosts their cost to 15pts a model. Unit size will very much depend on what you want from them. Units of 10 are great for chaff removal duty and if you take two units of them you have great flexibility and can always combine the fire if needed. This is the most common size you will see and you will never regret taking them. As an alternative, a horde of 40 with GWâs is also a solid choice, coming in at just under 600 points (or you can also give them shields to fill a 625 core selection). Iâve had this unit decimate equivalent points units on several occasions (the favourite of which was taking out a large unit of scouting Maneaters). Thunderers
I covered most of the abilities of the Thunderers in the previous post. Suffice to say, the main drawback with them is the lack of versatility. That said, they can work very well, armed with shields, in a Groth list as the immoveable object (though Quarrellers could also fill this role). You could then have a small unit of GW quarrellers/dwarves etc. next to them to counter charge. The -2 to armour when shooting is nothing to sniff at though. A lot of infantry will find themselves with no save and even Chaos Warriors and heavy cavalry are looking far more vulnerable. It is always worth considering taking the brace of pistols on a champion. You will lose a longer range shot but you will have a much greater chance of getting in the final stand and shoot reaction due to their shorter range. Overall Iâd say they are the weakest of our core options but that still doesnât make them a bad choice to take, especially when combined with Grimm Burlocksson. LongbeardsHaving an elite unit in core (in a similar way to Chaos Warriors) is just great. They have the same stats as a normal dwarf but an improved WS of 5 and Strength of 4. Many players love having the option of Longbeards in core and will always take them but for me they fall into an odd hole. If you give them great weapons, they are better than warriors on the offence but they should be at 4pts more per model, but the issue with this weapon selection is they arenât that much better than GW warriors (and you can get more warriors for the same price). They also cost the same as GW quarrellers (who are far more versatile) and crucially, cost the same as Hammerers, who are better in every way with their two attacks and innate Stubborn. So what about taking a shield (which gives them the name Shieldbeards)? Again they come in a 4pts more than an equivalently armed warrior but as previously discussed I donât like this option for warriors. The improved strength of the Shieldbeard is the key stat for me here. It means that as well as having the 4+ save and 6++ parry, they have a good chance of dishing out some damage back, especially if paired with a Runesmith to get AP. It could still be argued that this isnât the best choice though. Both Quarrellers and Thunderers can be given shields for the same cost per model to get the same saves but with a ranged option (making them again more versatile). The trade-off is they lose combat effectiveness vs the Shieldbeards. You must also factor in Ironbreakers (and perhaps Irondrakes). Both of these have the same elite stats, and although the breakers cost an additional point, they gain a pip of armour, making them a better anvil. Drakes cost 2 more points but have the same armour as Shieldbeards but get an unconditional 6++ ward and an 18â ranged attack, so they are better in every way. So if they are outclassed as both a hammer and anvil, what else do they bring to the table? Immune to Psychology. This is a situational rule with their high leadership but knowing you will never panic or flee to fear/terror is never a bad thing. Old Grumblers: Acting as an additional BSB for units that are panicking within 6â is a great fluffy rule, with those units rallying under the disapproving looks of the elder dwarves. However, I have never in all my games, actually had an opportunity to use this rule. Apart from the fact that it is rare that my units flee, if they do, the chance of them being within 6â of the longbeards is slim to none. 6â is just not enough of a distance to make it effective. So why would you take longbeards? Well, there are two key considerations that must be factored in. The first is they have access to a 50pt runic standard (the only core option that does). This means they can be tailored to fit a certain role. They can get Vanguard to push them into the faces or an opponent early on or Stubborn so they become practically unbreakable. Both of these help give them something that other core units cannot do (unless a BSB joins them). The second is they do come out of the core âtaxâ. The other elite options are only accessible via the special or rare sections. This means you can take an entirely elite stat army and it generally gives you more options than previous books allowed, which is never a bad thing. In all, they are a good unit. You wonât regret taking them and they offer up the greatest of things in an army: choice. In terms of builds, it very much depends on your army tactics. I still hold to the 25/30 minimum model count for Shield/GW armaments respectively. Itâs worth noting that a horde of 40 GW longbeards with full command and a strollazâs runic standard (for Vanguard), comes in at 625pts exactly, so is perfect for a Strollazâs/ambush list (as well as being a frightening prospect to face).
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jun 20, 2018 7:28:55 GMT
POST 5
Special Hammerers
Hammerers are elite stat dwarves with WS5, S4 but two attacks. This puts them on par with a Chaos Warrior, though I would argue they are possibly better. A bold claim I hear you say. They come as standard with a GW which is no drawback as they have the garbage standard dwarf initiative and just helps them munch through armour, especially if they charge (as they get the normal +1S) and if they have a Runesmith for AP (that combo could give them a -5 modifier to armour saves!). They come with stubborn as standard and LD9 so are likely to fight to the last dwarf, especially given how easy it is to make that LD10 with a thane/lord. They arenât bad on defence either with T4, heavy armour and the ability to give them shields to help against shooting. They also have a fluffy ability (in a similar way to Grail knights), where any Hammerer can accept a challenge if the general is in the unit. On top of that, the unit can take a runic standard up to 75pts. This is huge and allows you to take one of the master runes on the unit (normally be Groth or Valaya) and this can be the starting block for several army builds. You could take a horde of 40+ of these but you probably shouldnât, as any opponent who knows anything about dwarves, will not want to come within a mile of them and will avoid them like the plague and with a movement of 3, you wonât be catching anything quickly (though it could act as a large points denial). You are better off taking a unit of 30 or so, ranked 6 wide and 5 deep. This wonât look as intimidating and if it anchors your lines, an opponent will likely have to come within range of it, allowing you to at least get it in combat. Ironbreakers
Ironbreakers are often mooted as the best anvil in the game. They share the normal elite dwarf stats of WS5 and S4 and a decent 3+ save. Where they go a step further is in getting the Shieldwall of Gromril rule. Most dwarves get an additional +1 to a parry save on the turn they are charged but this rule means that they always get the 5++ parry save. This is a fantastic rule as a 1/3rd chance to always make saves in combat can really make a difference. On top of that they have a boosted LD of 10 and can take 50pts of runes on a standard, so can easily get stubborn and these combined, really will turn the unit into a tarpit but a tarpit with bite. With S4, the unit will be able to dish out damage too. I very much consider a Runesmith compulsory with this unit in order to give AP. It gives better synergy with this unit than with Hammerers, who already have a good armour modifier. This is also the ideal unit to put in the tried and tested Thane on an Oathstone, with GW and Armour of Gromril, as this will ensure the unit gains the parry if also charged in the flank or rear and immunity to disruption. This is great for guarding a flank. As stated earlier, it is worth considering putting duel drake pistols on the champion for the additional attack and to remove regen from opponents. Slayers
If we are judging units purely on fluff, these guys are hands down my favourite dwarf unit but they are also pretty effective too as I found out when using them. So what do they bring to the table? They are unbreakable, so are immune to psychology and basically never have to take a leadership test and will never run away. Even in an army with an average leadership as high as dwarves and with many units having access to stubborn, this is huge. It means you have a block of dwarves that will have to be completely wiped out and can effectively tarpit anything and operate completely outside of the bsb/generals bubble (it is also one reason you find excommunicated beardless dwarves using small darts of them, the shame!). As with black Orcs, they can also choose each round to use either additional hand weapons (AHW) or great weapons (GW). Note once you are in combat, with a unit you have to keep using the weapon you've chosen. It's not every turn that you change weapons. With âonlyâ basic dwarf stats (with the S3 being the important one) I would normally use the great weapons against anything that has a 4+ or better armour. It's worth using the AHW vs anything that has either a toughness of 5 and little to no armour (thanks thorpyuk for this), as you are always wounding on a 4+ due to the slayer rule, so you would get an extra attack over using the GW, or if the foe has a toughness of 3 and you charged (as with all dwarves they get +1 to Str when they charge and this would take them to Str 4). Against everyone else I'd use the GW to get a Str 5 attack. Always wounding on a 4+ is not a bad rule and helps against high toughness foes but it doesnât help vs armour so Iâve consider this more of a situational fluffy rule. When a model dies in combat, it gets to make a final attack back. Contrary to what I've seen written in some places, it is a single attack, no matter your base attacks and using AHW's doesn't boost the number, though you do get the Str bonus for a GW (or runic item effects). This rule helps to overcome the glaring lack of armour and with the step up rule can mean that you are potentially outputting far more attacks than the number normally available from your ranks. They are also able to take a 50pt standard. This is more in line with Elite Dwarf units than those with a standard dwarf warrior stat line (such as slayers have). You will never have cause to take stolicism on it so stollazs is definitely something to strongly consider (the ability to get them up the board and into combat quickly for just 35pts, is great to avoid taking copious amounts of fire. It's also worth using it on a smaller unit of say 20 slayers and using them on one flank as a distraction carnefex). So if this unit is pretty damn good, why is it not seen more? Well firstly, it is highly susceptible to poison and missile fire. There isnât much you can do about the former but for the latter, it is why I consider the Grungni banner with the 5++ ward vs missiles, an almost mandatory selection when taking the unit. You wonât be able to put it in the unit as only a BSB can take it so you will need to place it within 6â of them. They also have the same limited movement as all dwarf units so it is hard to get favourable matchups. The final reason is probably down to choices. They come out of the same section as Cannons, Grudge Throwers, Gyrocoptors, Hammerers, Ironbreakers etc. That is a lot of quality competition vying for slots and is probably the main reason for their exclusion. So slayers are pretty good by themselves but if you are taking Ungrim as your general and a slayer centric army, then they get even better. This is for one reason and that is because he allows one unit to take a 100pt banner. This is the largest banner allowance outside of the BSB and means you can place one of the Master Runes on the standard (I tend to use Valaya on the unit as Groth would go on the Hammerers). As a final note, some unscrupulous players take units of 5 or so slayers and deploy them in darts, 1 wide and 5 deep and then use them as a tarpit to hold up enemy units, utilising their unbreakable rule (there is a bit more to this tactic but I wonât soil this post with the rest). DONâT BE THAT GUY. Seriously, just donât. It is WAAC tactics and no one likes playing that guy. I only mention this here so you can be aware that it is a thing and so if you see them fielded like that, shoot the shit out of them. Miners
Miners cost the exact same points as GW dwarves, which is not unsurprising as the stats are exactly the same. Where they differ is they drop the shieldwall rule (which is pointless for them anyway) and gain underground advance. This rule gives them the option of using the ambush ability, which is a great way of getting your dwarves into charge range quickly. Their rule specifically says that they âcanâ be placed into ambush (whereas the ambush rule normally means you âmustâ place them into ambush) and that gives you some great tactical flexibility. It is worth noting that their rules mean that in the turn they enter the table, any shooting against them gets a -1 to hit (as the miners peer out of the hole they used to reach that part of the battlefield). They do have two upgrades. The first is the steamdrill that I covered in an earlier section. This allows you to re-roll the dice to see if you enter the table on that turn. I strongly recommend this as a must take if using a large unit as you donât want that many points off the table. The second is blasting charges. Chucking some dynamite is fun and fluffy but not worth the points to upgrade. Taking one or two units of 10 miners can really give an opponent pause, especially if they have a number of warmachines, as they have to factor in these units appearing in their back field. At just 100pts for 10 it is well worth considering taking a single unit to open up options. Taking a horde of them works well in the ambush/vanguard list as having that sort of threat appear just cannot be ignored. It becomes truly frightening when paired with a similar size number of Rangers. Cannon
I consider a cannon an almost mandatory choice in every dwarf list. In eighth they are just too useful to not take one in order to threaten monsters and monstrous units. Dwarf cannons become better than every other one in the game, as you can give them a rune to allow the artillery dice to be re-rolled and another one to cancel out regen (about the only defence against a S10 shot). The latter does run the risk of allowing a 5pt dragonbane gem giving that Daemon Prince a 2++ ward vs your shot but that is why you either take another cannon or a Grudge Thrower! Seriously if you are taking a competitive dwarf list without a cannon and you arenât running a strollaz/ambusher list, you need to rethink your list. Itâs clichĂŠd but true never-the-less. Grudge Thrower
If for some reason you decided you werenât taking a cannon (maybe you donât hold truck with those upstart inventions), then you should consider taking a Grudge Thrower instead (or even one of each). If you take the GT, then you should take a Ro Penetrating as the additional +1S makes a massive difference as not only does it increase the blast area to S4 but it also makes the centre hole hit at S10 to put it on a par with a cannon. If you then give it the Ro Accuracy (which again you should), in order to allow re-rolls the scatter dice, then it becomes the same cost as as the Cannon with Ro Forging. It is also worth giving it the Ro Forging to reroll those pesky misfires. The GT is great for culling large amounts of rank and file troops, especially if they are T3 but the runes also make it good for monster hunting (if not as good as the aforementioned cannons). It is the more versatile of the two which is why some players prefer to take them. If taking warmachines, it is worth considering the Rule of Two (a new rule Iâve just made up and in no way connected to the Runic Rule of Three). Many armies have the ability to field their own artillery and both your and their primary mission (even above taking out that Dragon) will normally be counter battery fire. If you fail to get the first turn, then there is a strong chance your warmachine may not get to fire at all. By taking a combination of two of a Cannon/Grudge Thrower, you stand a much greater chance of being able to destroy their warmachine. To a lesser extent, you should also consider this when taking the following: Organ Gun/Flame Cannon, Gyrocoptor/Bomber but due to the range, the Cannon/GT combo is far more important. Bolt Thrower
Iâll say right now that I think the bolt thrower is the weakest, non-character choice in the army book. It is comparable to other races bolt throwers but can take a huge 100pts of runes. This means that you can really tailor it, giving boosted str, +1 to hit flyers or flaming attacks (to name a few). However there are two main drawbacks: Rolling to hit. The dwarf crew only have a BS3. This only gives you an evens chance of hitting at short range. Over that and it drops to a 5+. This is just too unreliable. Sure you could spam a few of them or add runes or a master engineer to help out but then this feeds into the second drawback: Cost. A basic bolt thrower is 55pts (before adding runes). This is 20pts more than an OnG equivalent. Yes your crew is tougher and gains stubborn but those attributes arenât why you take a warmachine. You take it for the warmachines abilities. To get the most of it you either want to add an engineer to give improved BS or add runes but then the cost starts to spiral and you would be better off taking a cannon as that is stronger and doesnât need to roll to hit. You could therefore take 2 basic BTâs but again they are not too far off the cost of a naked cannon and I would recommend taking that every time, even over 2 similar costed BTâs. Gyrocoptor
And now we come to the money shot. The dwarf Gyrocoptor is arguably the best âwarmachineâ in the book. If I said earlier that I consider a cannon almost mandatory, then I will say that you categorically NEED to take at least one Gyrocoptor in EVERY dwarf list. They are that good. In fact, if you arenât taking two (remember the Rule of Two mentioned earlier), you will likely regret it. Why are they so good? Well first of all they bring something that the rest of your list sadly lacks, speed. In an army that can barely make it past a waddle, having a unit that flies at M10 (or a 20â march, remembering that no test is required due to relentless) is just so crucial. If that was all it bought to the table Iâd probably say it was a must take. As it is, they happily bring much more than that. If you compare it against a similar sized chaff unit, the Great Eagle, for 30pts more, you get the same 3 wounds but with a toughness of 5 and a 4+ save on top, which makes it far more survivable. In combat, you still have 2 attacks but at 1 less WS and a significantly lower Initiative (and no stomp) but to be honest you donât really want your Gyro in combat. What you do get to make up for the lack of combat prowess are some other abilities, which far out strip the eagle. Bombs â Once per game, if you move over an enemy unit/model (and this includes marching), the Gyrocoptor can drop its bombs. You roll an artillery dice and that is the number of S3 AP hits caused (misfires cause 1 auto wound on the Gyro with no saves). This is never going to be devastating (unless the targeted unit is on the small side, such as other chaff units) but instead think of it as an added bonus. Steam vs brimstone guns â The Gyro comes as standard with the Steam Gun. It uses the flame template and causes automatic S3 AP hits for everything under it. This is a total unit killer and is one of the main reasons you will take the Gyro. When combined with the speed and manoeuvrability of the model it can decimate units. Itâs worth noting that if you get to a stage where the template no longer covers the maximum models in a unit (say if the unit has dropped to a low number of models), then move on to a different unit and rinse and repeat. The template is at its most effective when covers a large number of models (20mm infantry are best). The Brimstone gun is a free upgrade that gives the Gyro: D3, S5, Flaming, AP, Quick to fire, dwarf crafted shots with an 18â range. This sounds promising at first but with a BS3, the unit will always hit at best on a 5+ due to the multiple shot modifier. On top of that, if you are over 9â away, you also get the long range modifier, so will only hit on a 6+. If you want S5 AP shots that badly, take an Organ gun (or stack up on Irondrakes). I cannot think of any situation where this upgrade is preferable to the standard Steamgun (except if there were some form of comp restrictions in play limiting it â which I have come across â and you still wanting to take the Gyro) Vanguard â Half the Gyroâs (rounding up) in the army, may be given vanguard for 20pts per model. This is a really handy rule, especially if they are in a strollaz list. It isnât something Iâve utilised as much as I probably should as I always struggle to find the points. Restrictions â You can take double the number of Gyroâs in a 3k list that you are normally allowed for Special units (so 6 rather than the 3). It isnât something Iâve often seen but does allow some different builds. Gyrocoptors fall into a kind of middle ground of roles. They can be used as chaff, blocking units, attacking warmachines etc. but that isnât really what you want to use them for. Iâve found they work better as a harassment unit. I tend to move them up aggressively and then march them over the top of a unit, dropping their bombs on the way, to get into the back field. They then will sit behind your selected enemy unit, using its steam gun repeatedly to whittle down their numbers and making them take leadership tests to march at every turn. (My favourite memory of this use was a single Gyro taking out 400pts of Chaos warriors in just 3 turns, neutering the unit for the entire game). As for the cost, you get all this for a meagre 80pts (or 100pts with Vanguard). I would say this unit is probably under-costed but then a unit of 5 DE Dark Riders with shields and Repeater x-bows comes in around the same value and they are some of the best chaff in the game.
|
|
|
Post by Horace on Jun 20, 2018 13:54:56 GMT
Looking forward to your thoughts I personally love the Resolute rule, it works wonderfully in tandem with Shield Wall. It presents you with an interesting conundrum and makes camping not always the go-to option.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jun 20, 2018 16:34:08 GMT
POST 6
Rare Irondrakes There are very few units, from the dwarf army book that I would insist you had to take, Gyrocoptors are definitely on the list and more often than not Cannons and Organ guns but here we are looking at Irondrakes and they are also strong contenders. The Irondrakes have the same elite stats as their deep dwelling brethren, Ironbreakers but with a slightly reduced 4+/ 6++ (non-restricted ward), which increases to a 2++ vs fire. As an anvil, this makes them more effective than a unit of shieldbeards, our go to core anvil unit, with the added advantage of an extra point of Leadership (10) and the same 50pt Magic standard allowance. Ok so they are still not as good as Ironbreakers but thereâs more. On top of that they get an 18âł, flaming, str 5, Armour Piercing, ranged attack and they are quick to fire meaning they can move and shoot and stand and shoot without penalty (except for long range) and always stand and shoot, no matter how close the charger is. The unit champion can be upgraded to dual drake pistols (two, 12âł, str 5, flaming, AP, ranged attacks and these also gives the unit the chance of removing regen in combat with his 2 flaming attacks) or to the trollhammer torpedo (a 24âł, str 8, flaming, d3 wound, slow to fire attack). NOTE: the pistols DO NOT allow the unit to stand and shoot at short range, as the drakegun has a range of 18â and half of that is 9â (and the pistols have a range of 12â). Being both a solid anvil and having a high str ranged attack gives them a versatility that our other infantry units lack. They work equally well as a flank or centrally placed unit and adding a stubborn runic banner means they will normally hold to the last dwarf. The rune of slowness, whilst an obvious and well known choice, is very effective even against cavalry or other high distance chargers. Add in a basic Runesmith to the unit (who can be tooled up to add further depth with items such as the silver horn, breath weapon or even a basic runic weapon to counter ethereals) and their ward becomes 5+ vs direct dmg spells and their close combat attacks gain AP which effectively doubles their combat effectiveness vs armoured troops and if you choose to charge with them (a possibly option if you have the rune of slowness) then they get the standard dwarf +1 to str that turn and an effective -3 armour modifier. The Trollhammer Torpedo
I have been asked on several occasions why I never take the trollhammer. There are a couple of reasons: Slow to fire. It is rare that my unit of drakes is stationary and even with the increased bs of 4 for the champion, it makes a big difference to the hit roll and you cannot stand and shoot with it. Price. 20pts for it (or 30 if you include the champion cost) may not seem an expensive upgrade but with my preferred army load out, I cannot normally squeeze it in. Charge reactions. Dual pistols allows a stand and shoot reaction, with an additional attack. Once in combat, they again provide an additional attack for the champion and as they are flaming, can strip regen off anything he attacks. If he does charge himself, he gets the standard dwarf +1 str, so they are back to str 5, flaming AP attacks in the first round of combat. Single dice rolls. It works like a cannon, in so far as, no matter the actual odds I seem to find that with a single dice roll, 9 times out of 10, it is guaranteed to roll a 1 (either to wound or hit). Conversely 2 dice rolls will more often than not come up as an 11 or 12, especially for break tests. Donât ask me why, I donât make the rules, itâs just the way it is! In terms of recommended unit size, the normal 10 man squad is reasonably cheap and works well but a unit of 20 is solid and a great alternative to Ironbreakers, both as an anchor for your lines and as an offensive unit with the S5 drakeguns. Runes of slowness or stoicism are definitely recommended with a larger unit. A Stollaz rune, to grant Vanguard, can be a surprise to your opponent, especially when they find this fearsome unit is range from the first turn! If going this route, I wouldnât normally move the full 12â, just far enough to get a number of your foes units in range from the get go (so probably 4-5â). The average unit can only move back 2-3â and your Irondrakes can match that movement. By only vanguarding a few inches, you help prevent them closing in on you a quickly. So Irondrakes are not an automatic choice but definitely bear consideration, either working in tandem or as an alternative to an Organ gun. Rangers
This is another unit that offers the dwarves something different. They are identical to GW Quarrellers in core, including cost and come as standard with heavy armour, x-bows and GWâs. On top of that, they effectively get for free, throwing axes (that always allows them to stand and shoot at S4) and Scout. Scout is phenomenal for Dwarves as it allows them to get round their poor movement. Having the 30â crossbows means that when they are set up, they can already be within short range to maximise their ranged damage as well as being in a great position to then charge in if required. You can take these guys in minimum units of 5, which means you can take 2 small units just to screen your lines in a vanguarding list, which is essential to not waste all the points spent on those banners runes. You could also go the other way and drop a horde of 40 to really screw with someoneâs day. You could take 1 or 2 units of 15-20 but I donât advocate that, purely because Iâve had a couple of very bad experiences with using them at that size. Bear in mind that they are very likely going to be out of range of a general or bsb early on and so susceptible to panic from shooting. Rangers are a great option to take and the only reason you probably donât see them more is because they have some extremely strong competition for the points in the special and rare sections. As a final note, you can upgrade these to Bugmans Rangers to get an additional point of WS, BS and Str at a cost of 3pts per model (as well as the 165pt cost of taking Joseph himself). In a 2500pt game, this limits you to taking 35 rangers (with a standard and musician). The question is, is it worth doing? Possibly. I personally wouldnât as I think it makes their cost too high but I wouldnât gainsay you if you decided to go that route as BS4 on crossbows is a combo that makes me warm and fuzzy inside (though that might be the Bugmans XXXXXXXX). Gyrobomber
What do you get if you take a Gyrocoptor and turn it up to 11? Well I can tell you right now, it isnât the Gyrobomber. Oh bomber how I wanted to love thee! The main attack works in a similar way to the gyrocoptors dive-bomb. You can bomb any unit/model you move over during your turn. This includes if you march and remember you canât be march blocked due to the relentless rule (so have a 20â range and can weave as much as you like). To find out how many hits you get, instead of rolling an artillery dice, you use the large blast marker. On top of that, after resolving the damage, roll a D6 and on a 4+ you have a chance of placing the small blast template and causing further damage (I think of it like the dambusterâs bouncing bomb â not really an accurate analogy I appreciate, as their bombs didnât work like that but I see the secondary explosion from a âbounceâ in my head). So far so good. This is one of the few attacks in the game to use the large template and the potential number of hits from that is huge. So why donât I like it? Well to start with, both the large template and the small template (if you are lucky enough to get it) have a chance to scatter. The big template between 2 and 10â, in the same way as a stone thrower. The small template by D6â. With no way of re-rolling the scatter, it makes this very unpredictable in an army that excels in pin-point artillery accuracy. In terms of damage, anything under the template is struck by a S3, AP hit (or S6 in the centre with D3 wounds). Already this gives you only a 50% chance to wound most standard rank and file in the game and this chance reduces against quite a few armies that have T4. This combined with the scatter makes the damage output too unpredictable for me. It isnât too expensive so can be used as a distraction carnifex, as a large blast template is always a worry for opponents but expect a large amount of fire to come its way (It does feel that it needs an additional wound). Having a moving stone thrower also helps to protect it to some extent from warmachine hunters. My final thoughts are, the large blast template isnât that much bigger than the flame template and it has a large chance of scattering. So what would you rather take, a guaranteed number of hits or the potential for a greater number? The Bomber also comes out of the rare section that is already packed with fantastic choices and for that reason alone you will often find it hard to field this. If you were to field bombers, I'd probably go down the air force route with two bombers and 2-3 Gyrocoptors. That would give your opponent too many targets to prioritise (in a similar way to a monster mash) so they could cause some real issues. Organ Gun If the cannon is the number one choice to take to kill off single multi-wound models, then the Organ gun was the preferred choice to kill off everything else. With the introduction of Irondrakes in 8th, it may no longer be the first choice for your S5, Armour Piercing, ranged attacks but there is still a strong case for taking it. In use, it is very similar to the upstart Hell Blaster Volley Gun but it uses 2 artillery dice rather than the 3 than the HBV rocks, to determine the number of shots fired. Hmmm that doesnât seem right the humans outclassing the Dawi. Both have to roll to hit using their crewâs BS3. The main base difference is the Organ Gun comes with a 30â range. I cannot state how good that is, sure you roll up to 10 shots fewer than the human version but the main weakness of the HBV is normal archers with a 30â range can target it before it becomes a threat to the rest of your army. The Organ Gun does not have this weakness. Ahhh mankind tears have never tasted so sweet! The other glaring difference is if you roll a misfire on one of the artillery dice, you donât halve the number of shots. Instead you just get a -1 to hit modifier. By itself, the Organ Gun is a good edition to the list but nothing to shout out about. This mainly comes down to it needing to roll to hit using the crewâs BS3. This only gives it a 4+ chance to hit at short range and 5+ at long. Where it shines is when you add an engineer to it. I would say, if you take an Organ Gun, at a minimum, an Engineer is COMPULSORY. This immediately gives it BS4 (so to hit becomes 3+ at short range and 4+ at long). He also give you a re-roll to one artillery dice. My recommendation is to only use this if you roll a misfire OR if you roll a â2â on one of the dice (you want to maximise your shots and taking the chance of a misfire over increasing the number of shots is always worth it, especially if has the engineer and Ro Accuracy). It is worth noting that if you take just an engineer on the OG, then it doesnât have magical shots. Suddenly that horde of White Lions with the Banner of the World Dragon isnât looking so safe with just a 6+ save! To take it to the next level, I also highly recommend taking a Ro Accuracy as that adds +1 to the hot roles (short range is now 2+ and long 3+). It is this combined with the basic OG stats of S5 AP, with a potential of up to 20 shots that make this warmachine so feared! As normal I recommend following the Rule of 2, as then you have a redundancy. In fact, in a 2500pt list, with 625pts to play with in Rare, you can take: 1 organ gun with Ro accuracy (+1 to hit), with accompanying engineer. 1 organ gun - no runes but with attached engineer. 19 Irondrakes with standard (1* Ro slowness), champion with dual drake pistols and musician (accompanied by a Runesmith). This comes to 615pts (excluding the heroes) and creates an extremely formidable selection of str 5 AP ranged attacks for the throng. As a bit of trivia. On the plastic kit organ gun, the runes on the top side, of the firing end of barrel, spell âbangâ in dwarvish. Flame Cannon
This fires in the same way as the one in the BRB. You place a flame template at the machine and roll an artillery dice to see how far it goes. Anything under it suffers a S5 flaming hit and if any wounds are unsaved, they have to take a panic test. In addition, the dwarf version (being superior in every way because it was made by dwarves), inflicts multiple wounds (D3). And because Dwarves are the master engineering race they didnât just let it go at that. You can super charge the shot so that you can place the flame template up to 12â away and then roll the artillery dice. This gives it a more respectable 14-24â range and remember that the template is then an additional 8â in length. Now you are talking. The supercharged shot does come with a slight drawback, if you roll a misfire, you -1 to your roll on the black powder chart. This means that you HAVE to take a Ro Forging to give you the best chance of not getting a misfire (a normal Engineer cannot affect this role, though it should be noted that Grimm Burlocksson can but you wouldnât want him to as he is far more useful doing other stuff). It was like this was invented to ruin Trolls and happily can also do the same to any other monstrous infantry. Get your angles right and it will happily butcher tarpit units too. The main problem with the Flame Cannon is it falls into competition with the Organ Gun and in my eyes the OGâs 30â fixed range trumps the flame cannonâs variable range. Still it is a decent choice and as long as you can neutralise any threats to it, youâll have fun using it. Final Thoughts
The book contains some extremely strong elements that allow you to actively participate in most phases of the game. You are restricted by your low movement and for this reason it favours a heavier shooting element (further backed up as you have no magic phase to speak of). Of everything in the book, there are only 4 debatable entries: the Anvil of Doom, Thorek Ironbrow, the Bolt Thrower and Gyrobomber, with Thorek being by far the worst by a large margin. The bolt thrower and Bomber could be taken but there are just far better comparable options.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 8, 2018 20:43:55 GMT
POST 7
DWARF TACTICAL ARTICLES
In the next few posts, i'll add in some tactics articles that I've found really useful reads. These will be in the main, lift and shifts from other forums (mainly Bugmans) and will be fully credited with links. Note: a number of the Bugmans articles are behind the login so you will need an account to see the originals.
I'll start with one of the must read articles for a new dwarf general. As it states, this is around Gunlines and it is of course not the only way to run a dwarf list. Still it has solid concepts and even an experienced general can gain from refreshing their knowledge from the article. - Knoffles
Dwarf Gunline Defense Theory by Montegue www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/45523-dwarf-gunline-defense-theory/This post is intended to offer a tactical outlook for running a dwarf gun line successfully. For the purposes of this article, I will be using my own list - dubbed the "Monty Mash" in another thread, as my example. However, the principles behind the way that I play that list apply to most gunlines. In addition to talking about list construction and general theory for your gunline, this Tactica will focus on a few things - deployment, target priority, and breaking the box. The Dwarf Gunline - The Fluff-Based Competitive Dwarf Army Build
The principle behind a gunline is fairly simple. Deploy back, frequently with a defended or refused flank, gun down must-kill targets and weaken combat units, win the game in close combat or simply hold the line until the end of the game. This form of play has existed for the history of Warhammer, and gained popularity for Dwarfs early in 8th edition through the tournament success of our own Furgil, a dwarf player from central Texas in the United States. This form of play was also used quite successfully across the pond from us colonials by one Andy Spiers. Both of these gents have extensive battle reports and posts on what made their lists work. Our new army book came out this past year. The changes to our army brought about several options for our gun line builds that made up for weaknesses in them under the previous book. The general principle behind a gunline in terms of building your list is simple. For the strongest shooting phase you need: - At least 4 war machines, including 2 Organ Guns with Accuracy, and two master engineers to run them.
- At least one war machine that can reach out and kill T3 shooting infantry at long range, such as the Grudge Thrower. Flame cannon can also work, but is more limited.
- Shooting Infantry - Either in large units or in small units. Quarrellers are slightly superior to Thunderers in that they have a 30" range and more options in terms of close combat armament.
- At least one solid fighting block of infantry. Generally, that's a unit of Hammerers carrying the Groth One Eye banner, but it can also be done with a central unit of Longbeards with great weapons, or even Irondrakes. Hammerers make an excellent central threat, and tend to draw the shooting ire of opponents who fear them, keeping your actual threat (war machines, shooting infantry) a bit more safe.
The debate about what unit is best rages on. I prefer hammerers because of their amazing close combat punch, and their 75 point banner allowance. - At least 2 Gyrocopters. Some have gone with a single gyrocopter, and make it work. However, the utility this unit offers makes 2-3 gyros ideal for helping preserve the gunline through the game.
Here is the so-called "Monty Mash" list, used at Bayou Battles (4th General), and TWGC (6th overall) - Runesmith, General, Shield, Stone, Spell Breaker, Furnace Runesmith, Shield, Stone, Spell Breaker (2) Thane, BSB, MR of Grungni Master Engineer Master Engineer 25 Longbeards, Shields, Music and Standard 10 Quarrelers, Shields, Music 10 Quarrelers, Shields, Music 26 Hammerers, Full Command. Groth One Eye Banner, Rune of Fire on the Keeper of the Gate's hand weapon. 2 Gyrocopters Cannon, Forging Cannon, Forging and Fire Grudge Thrower, Accuracy and Forging Organ Gun, Accuracy Organ Gun, Accuracy and Burning I like my Longbeard unit, and love how it plays on the table. My guess is that a more optimal gunline, however, might trade those Longbeards for two units of Quarrellers with Great Weapons at approximately 20 or so strong. With the Groth One Eye banner, you trade some WS and defense for offense and shooting from turn one. My small 10 man units tend to work like little redirectors at the end of the game, or speed bumps for my opponent to set up counter charges from Hammerers and Longbeards. However, they also tend to give up their points, and 140 is a lot to hand off if you don't make up for their loss in close combat. Why do you not have a fighty/tanky general?
The purpose of the build is to win in the shooting phase and control the opponent's choices by forcing them to come fight you or get shot off the table. A fighty general is a lot of points to spend on someone who won't be useful until the end of the game, if at all. If all goes according to plan, he'll never see combat. And, given our limited movement, most armies can keep a good dwarf general away from choice targets for the duration of the game. That being said, other successful players have used Thanes and Lords as their generals in a gun line to great success. Just accept that it's a zero sum game - spending 300 points on a Lord that never sees combat means you didn't spend 300 points on shooting that was useful from turn one. Why Groth One Eye?
The Groth One Eye banner was designed with gun lines in mind. One of the problems with the old gunline build before our new book came out was combats that went badly for a horde of Great Weapons. Early on in 8th, Dwarf great weapon hordes could throw back just about any foe. However, as more books came out, more threats began to present themselves that could win combat against 40 great weapons and run them down, costing us 400 points and then putting a big enemy into our backfield or war machines. Stubborn changes all that. We can take stubborn on a magic banner (35 points) and then another (50 points) to have two stubborn units, but you're paying a premium - 85 points, and also the extra cost of those units. With Groth, however, you get a couple of added benefits. Not only will your bubble likely protect all of your units for the majority of the game, it also allows you to use 2+ armor save heroes to hold off entire units of soft-hitting enemies like clan rats, slaves, Orc Boys (normal ones), goblins, zombies, skeletons, and the like. Basically, anything with S3. With Groth one eye, a single hero can stop an entire regiment of enemies, happily losing combat every turn and then holding on Stubborn 9 or 10. Gyrocopters can serve in the same capacity with their 4+, t5, and three wounds. Groth One Eye can be used in conjunction with swift reforms to allow outlying units to hold against much more dangerous foes until help arrives. That unit of 10 quarrelers can have a body or two left, and if that banner is in 12", they will hold until the big kids get in to clean up the mess. You can then shift your war machines out of the way of an overrun if you don't need them to shoot. The utility of this banner cannot be underestimated. I believe you can play a gunline successfully without it, but I think it's amazing in a gun line army. Why the investment in organ guns and master engineers?
The Organ Gun is our most dangerous threat. It can control a massive swath of the battle field, and if any unit comes within 30" of both guns, it can potentially be deleted. 18 Chaos Warriors can easily be killed by two Accurate Organ Guns, fired at long range, through soft cover (if a Master Engineer is nearby). That's impressive. Master Engineers help prevent misfires and keep the number of shots consistent by rerolling low numbers (2s) and misfires. You essentially get a weapon that's S5 Armor Piercing, 30" range, at Ballistic Skill 5. There's really nothing out there that compares to twin Organ Guns, accurate, with Master Engineers. Even more so than the Cannon, it's the bread and butter choice for a powerful gun line. And yes, it will not make folks happy when it does it's job. It's over 400 points invested, nearly 1/4 of your army. But, it can wipe out units of fast cav in a single volley. It can break the spine of monstrous cavalry, or regular heavy cavalry, with a dedicated turn of shooting. It can kill war machine hunters, and even presents a credible threat to those irritating unkillable flying heroes (Masters On Pegasus with the Twilight Cloak will still blow up if you focus fire, as will disc lords and what not). I can only take 4 war machines because of comp. What should I drop?
The second cannon with forging and burning. I don't want to use Hammerers. Can I still do this successfully?
Yes. You will need a stubborn combat block to go alongside your Ironbreakers. Greatbeards with a rune of Stoicism and full command fills your core exactly in a 625 point list. You should probably have a third unit to fight with in your army, but if you want to play Chaos-Dwarf style, you can do so with Ironbreakers and a unit of Great Beards. You could also go with Shield Beards with stoicism, or just great weapons alongside Stubborn Ironbreakers. You need stubborn, however, to hold the line. Shooting will fail you. You can also pack a unit of Ironbreakers with heroes, put Groth One Eye on your BSB banner, and hide him in the second rank. I run into the Banner of the World Dragon on a variety of High Elf units. All of these War Machines are Runic. What can you do against the BOTWD? You cannot kill what you cannot kill, so don't bother. Gyro copters can either slowly burn them down with steam or redirect them if they are high armor cavalry. Shoot everything else and then let whatever unit has the banner get stuck on stubborn units, chaff, etc. It takes a little management, and some sacrifice, but it's doable. Deploying Your Gunline
Deployment may be the most important phase of your game when playing this sort of list style. And, gunline deployment has advantages and disadvantages. Gunline deployment is generally consistent, assuming a normal scenario that does not control your deployment choices (Dawn Attack or Meeting Engagement, for example). In most 5-game events, you'll see either Battle Line or Blood and Glory deployment rules in play. I'll go into deploying in other scenarios briefly at the end, but for now let's focus on standard deployment in order to talk about the strategy behind laying out your gun line. Castle Deployment
Most gunlines rely on what's referred to as a Castle Deployment. You use your main infantry blocks to guard access to your war machines, which sit between or behind those blocks in order to freely fire for as long as possible. The goal of this deployment strategy is to force the enemy to come to you via shooting, and then to punish them for coming to you when they get there by carefully arranging the infantry unit "walls" of your castle to set up advantageous combats for your troops. The disadvantage of a castle deployment is that you generally have to make the same or similar choices with a castle every time you deploy. Your opponents will almost always have more drops than you, which means they will know where you are going before they commit a major unit to the field. They will be able to approach your gunline from the angles they want (ideally), and you will have to respond to that. The advantage, of course, is that when you deploy someplace, that's where they have to go to get you. So, assuming your shooting is strong enough to motivate them to do more than hide and spam spells at you, you can set the stage for the end of the game (and the close combat that will determine your victory or loss). The thing to remember about castle deployment is that there is no fullproof formation. Every castle can be exploited, and will be exploited, by your opponent's army. Every army has the tools to do this - they all have fast cav, or deadly heroes that fly, or monsters, or artillery of their own to pick off your war machines from a distance. You must keep this fact in mind - all other armies are better than you at movement, and most armies are better than you at close combat. Magic makes every army potentially better than us in nearly every phase. We excel at shooting things. But, I digress. Your choice of where to deploy and what to put where is determined by several things. First, chaff. You will want to drop your Gyrocopters first. If you get the first deployment, you can use that moment to "lie" to your opponent and potentially draw out one of his chaff drops. So, if you're planning on deploying on the left flank, you can drop a gyro out to the right, and trick your opponent into believing that's where you're going. If she's wise, she'll just drop some chaff over there, but that's ok. That means you won't have to deal with that particular unit of chaff early on. It's win-win, because you can just fly your Gyro over to your lines on turn one and leave those wolves or harpies or whatever swinging in the wind. Or, you can go send your gyro out to take them down, and then fly back towards the battle later in the game, or maybe hunt some war machines. Either way, that's a win. Once you have dropped your gyros (and, I suggest dropping at least one behind LOS blocking terrain or heavy cover), you'll need to build your castle. When picking the ground you wish to defend, you need to take the following into account - 1) Lanes of Fire
With line of sight rules firmly in mind, you want to deploy in such a way that your war machines have line of sight to as much of the board as possible. You also want to make sure your Organ Guns have a nice, broad swath of the board covered with their 30" range. If possible, you can arrange your troops such that any enemy troop deployed on forward line of their deployment zone is in range for a turn 1 volley from the Organ Guns. If they *don't* deploy on the line, well, you've just cost them some movement, which translates into an extra turn of shooting, possibly 2. Terrain is important. That hill in your deployment zone can really open up LOS for your Organ Guns, cannons, and Grudge throwers. It allows you to fairly see over your own troops, and that means you can tuck your Organ Guns back without giving yourself a penalty. That being said, the hill may not be the best choice. It's not always wisest to go after a War Machine hill. You have to look at the battle as it *is*, not as you'd like it to be. If that hill is too hard to defend, don't try. 2) Where your weak point will be.
Every castle has a weak point. Either you have a smaller, weaker main line unit (quarrelers, for example), or you have a backfield vulnerable to a flying hero. You need to assess where your weak point will be, and try to augment it's defense as best you can. Having clear lines of fire from the Organ Guns will help. Positioning heroes in units that can easily get to that point and stop enemy war machine hunters is probably a good idea. But most importantly, have a plan for what happens when the enemy strikes at your weak point. If you're careful, you can use that to your advantage. If you know where your opponent might strike, then you can get ahead of the game and set them up for a trap. 3) Likely approach(es) of the Enemy
As you deploy, try to keep in mind where you would strike if you were the bad guys. Where is that aforementioned weak point? But more importantly, how might they get to that point in a way that allows them to strike from a position of strength? Once you know how they might get there, you can get ahead of them in your own movement phase. Can your Gyrocopter be sacrificed early on to jam up their movement for a couple of turns? Can you use the range of their BSB to panic one side or the other of their army, forcing them to re-calibrate their approach? 4) Ability to counterstrike in close combat. The problem with a castle is that you need room to breathe. This is something I often screw up. I try to make as tight a castle as I can to prevent ingress into my lines, and I wind up getting stuck on my own units when I try to counter charge. You need room to breathe. Give some wiggle room between units (and more if you tuck your war machines in there). A lot of our better items work in a bubble - Groth and Grungni come to mind. You need to be very careful about where you deploy those assets so that that they provide the maximum bang for their buck. Not every unit needs to be in Groth range on turn one, but any unit likely to be in combat on the following turn should be in Groth range before that happens. Obviously, that's not always necessary. Your longbeards might have enough ranks to hold out for a turn or two on their own Steadfast before you need to have Groth present to hold. So, you have three competing needs. One, the need to be able to freely counter charge or change your formation to deal with changing battlefield conditions. Two, you need to be able to keep several units relatively close to one another for Stubborn and protection from shooting and magic missiles. And three, you need to make sure your war machines have line of sight and open lanes of fire. You'll notice some things. First, all units are within the 12" Groth One Eye banner, projected from the red banner in the hammerer unit on the hill. My BSB also covers all units. The Weak point is on the left flank, where there are only two 10 man units of quarrelers.However, Groth One Eye means those units are going to hold the line, even against one of those nasty Greenskin hordes over there, and the Hammerers can save the day. But it's still a weak point in the line. So, I toss a Cannon out right as a tempting target, hoping to keep his chaff approaching from that angle to kill the cannon, and to perhaps draw a Mangler Squig over there. It should also draw some fire away from the Organ Guns, since it's outside the Grungni bubble. That's not to say you couldn't deploy it in a safer locale. I made a choice here given the battlefield conditions, and what I want to make my opponent do during his movement phase. I want him to commit something to take out the "free" cannon target over there. Hopefully, I can exploit that choice. The Master Engineers are tucked away in units. This is because my opponent has enough credible shooting threats to kill them with a Doom Driva or maybe even a Bolt Thrower. Until those threats are neutralized, I need my ME's safe and close to their personal Organ Guns. My general is deployed in the Hammerers in order to make use of the Bodyguard special rule, should it come up. The big Impassible terrain rock is a help and a hindrance. He doesn't have any serious units that can exploit it as cover, so I'm not too worried about it. The corner castle deployement is nice against big hordes because it forces them to get jammed up on one another should they get in a position to charge my lines. Here is one example of Central Deployment - The Quarrelers in the building are Stubborn on their own, and relatively safe from panic. The weak point is on both edges of a central deployment. However, on the right we have some pretty solid anti-troll and chaff shooting, and a Gyro to redirect if needs be. On the left the building will offer cover to the unit of Wolf Riders, but it's going to be tough to get a charge on the Organ Gun without exposing that unit to an Organ Gun volley (almost a certain unit deletion) and 10 Quarrelers. And a Gyro. So, my edges are weak, but they're supported. The enemy doesn't have a lot of back-line threats unless he gets off a Hand of Gork. In which case, I have organ guns and grape shot, and Gyros if needs be. Magic and Deployment -
A final note on deployment. Make sure your opponent follows the rules and rolls their spells before deployment. Many forget, but it's important. Don't deploy until you know what their wizards are capable of. If they have any of the unit deletion spells that rely on characteristic tests, you need to deploy your war machines spread out to minimize the threat against them. Pit of Shades and Purple Sun are the big problems. If your opponent has Comet of Cassandora, recognize that a tight Castle will be very problematic if he gets that spell off. If they get it off with If, assume the loss of at least two war machines and probably half a unit. It's that bad. Dispel it, spell eat it, etc. More on magic defense later, but recognize that you must take their magical capabilities into account when you deploy your forces. Chapter II - Defending the Line
War machines are a glass hammer. They are the most vulnerable part of our army, and easily the most powerful. Even at T7 against shooting, they only have a 6+ save, and 6's to wound are easy to come by. Not only that, but every other army has a variety of tools at their disposal to hunt, shut down, or kill your war machines. Protecting them must be your first priority when playing a gun line, because their success or failure will be a large determining factor for your ability to win the game. Furthermore, war machines are easy to mess with during the magic phase. Spells from the Lore of Light like Net of Amyntok, Pha's Protection, and Banishment all present a credible threat to either kill or shut down your shooting, and we *need* all of our shooting to be working like a well oiled machine. Foot of Gork can easily stomp your war machines down. Pit of Shades kills them automatically, as does Dwellers Below, Purple sun, etc. So, your most credible threat is significantly more fragile than it seems. Wood Elf shooting will kill one - two war machines *per turn*, and entrenchment won't help you much against big hordes of Trueflight or Hangbane arrows. However, that takes time. The *worst* threat to your war machines are things like fast cavalry, flying heroes, and counterbattery fire from other cannons, stone throwers, and the like. This is why I suggest a layered strategy for War Machine defense. The Pretentiously Named Primary Axiom of War Machine Defense - Your War Machines Will Fail You
If you rely on your war machines to protect themselves, you will be disappointed at a critical moment. Even with 5 war machines for redundancy, even with two master engineers, and all the reliability in the world, you are trusting your fate to a 1-6 chance, or several 1-6 chances, to blow it. You cannot rely on your War Machines to always be successful. The notion that our cannons are lazer guided machines of death is a dirty, nasty, Grobbi spawned *lie*. They will fail to reach their target. They will hit their target but fail to wound. Their target will make their ward saves. They will wound but do only one or two wounds. Yes, sometimes they will be like the righteous, vengeful hand of an angry ancestor god. They will hit, wound, and slay a thousand points of enemy models before the enemy even gets to move. They will make those players moan and lament the "good old days" of guess ranges. Dice will be thrown. Bad games votes unfairly given. But, for the purposes of playing this sort of list successfully, you *cannot rely on that possibility*. It is just as likely that you will have an amazing round of shooting that cripples the enemy as it is for you to have an amazingly *crappy* round of shooting that leaves your beard hanging in the wind. So, assume the worst, celebrate (humbly) the best. At the top of every single one of your turns, tell yourself "My war machines will fail me. How to I get ahead of the bad guys when they do?" Second Pretentiously Named Axiom - The primary target in any given shooting phase is any model which presents any credible threat to your war machines.
This is really a rumination on shooting priority, a key skill in playing a gunline. Many players go for big point targets right away, hoping to kill the nasty stuff first and get it's points early. I have come to realize that it's best to have your guns firing every turn they can, and so you have to stop the threats to your line of war machines first. This axiom is more of a guideline, really, however. If someone has two big gribblies about to decimate your hammerer unit - yeah, you should kill them. However, for the first couple of turns at least, you should be trying to kill the immediate threats to your guns. The single most dangerous threat to your guns is other guns. In order from most dangerous to least - Cannons (Dwarf, Ogre, Deamon, Empire, Skaven in order of most dangerous to least. We can debate about Dwarf Vs. Ogre), Stone Throwers and Poison Shooting, Bolt Throwers, Regular Shooting. Cannons are the best answer we have for other cannons, and Grudge Throwers work fairly well at counterbattery fire. The MR of Grungni can save hundreds of points if your dice love you. Keep your own counter battery in range of your Grungni banner if at all possible. Here is a common "This is bad" Scenario you can see as early as turn 2 or three. On the left, my opponent can charge a Gyro. If it flees, he redirects into the Organ Gun. If it holds, he may kill it and overrun into the Organ Gun. But he's wise, and know that the Gyro might hold out in that fight. So, I have to assume he's going to charge his dark riders into the Organ Gun. On the right, my opponent has a unit of Dark Riders 9" away from my gun on the right. This is a serious problem, because a 9 is the average result on a charge made with Swiftstride. I have to assume he will make that charge. So, I must address that problem this turn, as well. But even worse - he's got a Master on a Pegasus well in his charge range to the Organ Gun *or* the Cannon. So, he can choose after the results of the Dark Rider charge where he wants to go. If both of those units get in, it's a 300 point pick up, and a ticket to ride through my war machines over the next two or three turns. Ah, but look at those tasty targets! A Hydra right in front of me, and that DAMNABLE CAULDRON OF BLOOD. I've failed to kill it or do any appreciable wounds to it, and that Witch Elf unit can easily be the death of every model I have on the board, all by it's lonesome. It's a must kill target, too. And that Hyrdra! It can pose a serious risk to my Quarrelers, my Longbeards, my war machines - oi. This looks bad. And then the Warlocks. They're far enough away that my opponent probably won't risk a charge (they would need an 11 or 12)., However, they are a nightmare to deal with in the Magic phase. So, what do dwarfs do when faced with seemingly impossible odds? Beard up and get it done. I must kill or stop - the Dark Riders on the left and right, and the Peg Master. I have three things I *must* stop. Everything else is a luxury. I have two ways to stop them - by intervening a unit with a charge or redirect, or by shooting. That's it. So, I need to decide which is the *worst* threat, and make sure to stop it. The Peg Master is the worst threat. He has the longest charge, he's got his Twilight Cloak (3++ ward vs shooting, and 1d3 wounds on the first turn of combat. He's S6 on the charge with a lance. He autokills any war machine he fights when he rerolls to hit and 1s to wound.). Then the Dark Riders. If I fail to stop the dark riders, it's *bad*, but they might bounce off the war machine, even with all their rerolls. Especially with a -1 to hit on the OGs from entrenchment. So, that's my priority. First the Peg Master, then the Two units of Dark Riders. Now I build my layers, assuming everything will fail. So, Peg Master. He's got a 3++ ward, and probably a 1+ armor save. Ugh. That's hell for an Organ Gun to stop. A cannon or Grudge might get lucky. Let's imagine we've plinked his Charmed Shield away on turn one with Quarrelers. Now, my Gyrocopter *could* charge the Peg Master. He would either flee or hold. If he fled, then mission accomplished. I redirect into the Dark Riders, and free up a lot of firepower. If he holds, however, he's S4, hitting on 3s, wounding on 5s, but he rerolls 1s to wound, and does 1d3 wounds. Worth it? If the Gyro *dies* on turn one, then he has his charge, and I need more layers to stop him. If he doesn't die, bully for me - I get another turn. But he will still be alive and present a credible threat to my war machines a turn or so later. What is the better gamble? I charge, he holds, I kill the Dark Riders with the Quarrelers and Organ gun. But will I? What if they both fail. If they both fail I need some defense. Or, I decide to dedicate a lot of shooting to the Peg Master in the hopes that he fails a 3+ ward save and gets blown up. I have three chances of that - two cannons and a Grudge Thrower. That's fairly good odds that *one* of those multiwound hits will get through. Is there any way I can still defend my Organ Gun if they fail? Hmmm... I decide to go with redundancy and use the versatility of the Gyro. I fly the Gyro over his head, drop my little bomb, and then park in front of the Dark Riders. It's a gamble. If I fail to bring him down, then I lose an Organ Gun for sure. Over on the left, I do the same to the Dark Riders. They take a couple of casualties, but don't panic. My Gyro is the first layer between them and my Organ Gun, and now my organ gun is safe. The ME is still worthwhile. Had I killed more than 2, they would be able to evade my redirect and still potentially get into the Organ gun, shutting it down for a turn or more. The rest of my movement needs to think ahead. There are few credible threats - the Witches and Executioners both need a 10+ to get anywhere worthwhile. No sense advancing to make that easier on them. So, I chill. Shooting happens. Rolling on Universal battle, in Order - First, my Quarrelers on the right. They target the Peg Lord. unlikely to do any wounds, but anything helps. I got lucky. Lots of hits, several wounds, and he managed to fail both a 2+ and a 3++. Two more wounds to go!. I decide to go with my Organ Gun next. It doesn't have a great target that the cannons aren't better, and forcing more saves on that guy is important. So. I fire with the ME's help. He needs 3's to hit. 12 (8 and 4) shots. Not great, but I do not give in to the temptation to reroll the 4. Only reroll a misfire or a 2 unless you have no other choice. In this case, 12 will have to do. Sadly, he saved all wounds between armor and his 3++ ward. The mission remains. Cannon one - Got through his ward! But only rolled 1 wound! ARGH!. Still, the mission remains. Next shot. I'm going to use the Grudge Thrower, because the other cannon could still do some good work against the Cauldron or the Hydra if I'm successful. The GT hit, and then wounded, and killed the Peg Master. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I still had a cannon available to me to make it work out. All threats next turn eliminated, I can *now* decide what targets of opportunity I want to deal with. I decide that the Hydra will be a problem, so I take it out with the cannon (six wounds), and then I go to work on the Warlocks. Between the Organ Gun and the Quarrelers, I take them out. That was an excellent turn of shooting. however, I would have dedicated every single resource possible to kill that damn peg master until he was dead, because once inside my lines, he would be impossible to stop. Now, what the hell to do about those witch elves....? (I did roll out the combat, had I charged him. He failed to wound me, so I survived. I could have then shot off the dark riders and turned the Organ Gun and second cannon at the other units - the Hydra, the cauldron. Probably would have been a better plan, but hindsight is 20/20). Did I make the wisest choice? The one choice I'm hung up on here is what I did on the left. I could have saved the Gyro for the Witch Elf redirect and just trusted the Organ Gun. 2s, wounding on 2s - it's a sound bet. probably the best bet by the numbers. But if it failed, big trouble. I went with what I knew would work for sure for the following turn. I know I have to deal with a turn of movement from him, and then he'll be ready to charge with those damn witch elves. At the same time, I then have a turn to try and arrange for a safer combat. Chapter III - Winning the Battle
So, we've talked about how to manage deployment, and how to manage your targeting priority. Now let's talk about how to win the war once they have crossed the field to get you. You've done all you can - you've shot off their chaff, their war machine hunters, and primary threats to your war machines. And, if you're lucky, you've killed some other major threats too - perhaps a monster or two, or a Wizard. But now we are in the final stretch. Here's the primary axiom - No Matter How Well You Have Done So Far, You are Still Losing The Game -
Even if you are 1500 points ahead. Even if all he has left is his unit of Witch Elves and a Hero or two. You are losing until you have truly won the game. Either they conceed, you table them, or they get so deep in the hole they cannot come back from it. Why the doom and gloom attitude? Because a gunline used successfully only sets you up to have a *chance* at beating a stronger army (and most other armies are fundamentally superior to ours). You still need to win the fight. So, here we are, probably at the top of turn 4. I rolled out the fights with the Gyrocopters. One held, the other took a wound and rolled badly and broke. The Dark Elf player wisely reformed to set up a charge on the Organ Gun with his remaining Dark Riders. The above picture takes place after my movement phase. Measuring distances to the horrible Witch Elf horde and it's cauldron of absolute doom, I know that I can't afford for them to hit either the hammerers, the Quarrelers, or the War Machines. So, I need layers of defense, and I need to provide the Dark Elf player with a decent option that's got a chance at surviving for long enough for me to lock in the Win. So, I shift the Runesmith in front of the cannon, the Master Engineer in a position to countercharge the Dark Riders if they survive, the Longbeards into position for a flank charge if the hammerers survive a witch elf assault, the Quarrelers reform and shift up to draw a tempting charge from the Executioners, and the Hammerers reform and step back an inch to set up counter charges and lengthen the charge distance needed by the Dark Elves to about 9"+ their move. The Longbeards are in position to where the Witch Elves need an 8. That's a lot more tempting than a 9 to most players. And, since they are witch elves with the cauldron, they should blenderize those longbeards well enough. My next priority in shooting, now that my war machines are safe, is to use my shooting to arrange for a favorable combat against a superior foe. In this case, the Witch Elves. I use quarrelers to shoot the Dark Riders, killing all but one. It takes both cannons *and* the Grudge Thrower to take out the cauldron. Both Organ Guns fire at the Witch Elves, even through hard cover, and strip off a rank of bodies. At the end of the day, his BSB, his Cauldron, and 10 witch elves are dead. those 20 witch elves will *still* murder the hammerers, but now they might survive to strike back. So, here's his turn's charge. He chooses to charge the Witch Elves into the Longbeards, and fails the charge with a 3. The Executioners take the bait, hoping to pick up the points on the Quarrelers, and then get war machines or set up a bad choice for the hammerers. They get in. This is where Groth One Eye shines. The Quarrelers survive, and hold him in place. The Witch Elves are hanging in the wind. The Hammerers are in position for their counter charge. The Longbeards are in position to charge the Witch Elves. And, that's what happens. The Hammerers hit the flank of the Executioners, the Longbeards make it into the Witch Elves, and combat begins in earnest. Without hatred, the Longbeards take 7 wounds, but manage to dish out 7 in return, beating the Witch Elves in combat, and running them down. The Hammerers unsurprisingly smash the executioners, and run them down as well. Lots of luck there. The Witch Elves could have easily won combat and held their ground. But, if they did, they would only grind on the Longbeards for another turn or two, and the Executioners would still die. The executioners could have *not* charged, and tried to set up a charge elsewhere. But then they would be vulnerable to an alpha strike from two organ guns, a Grudge Thrower, and cannons. That barrage would likely cripple them. Even if the Witch Elves killed the Longbeards over the course of turn 4+5, on turn 6, the Hammerers could hold them until the game ended. The Dark Elf player would get the longbeard points, but the War Machines would be safe, and the bulk of my other points in the hammerers would win the game. Obviously, this is a series of situations I have created to illustrate the strategy I'm laying out here. Nothing ever goes perfect, and turn to turn, anything can happen. Charges, like war machines, fail at critical moments. Or they succeed. What might have happened if he had made his charge to the hammerers at a 9? Could they survive the game? Could the Longbeards get into the flank and pick up those points, trading them for the hammerers? Who knows? The point is simple - layer your defense, assume shooting will fail, protect your war machines, and set yourself up for victory on the turn before they have their big rush. Breaking the Box - Aggressive Dwarf Movement
The greatest weakness of the Dwarf army, and the quality of our army that causes people to claim we are boring to play against, is our lack of movement. With only Gyrocopters able to move more than six inches (outside of charging), we have very little to work with during that phase of the game. And that weakness is very easy for the enemy to exploit, if we are not careful. Our next most mobile unit are Irondrakes. while not any more mobile than any other dwarf infantry in terms of their M stat, they have an effective reach of 21 inches in any given direction, assuming you have a musician and don't botch your reform roll. The problem, of course, is that they compete with Organ Guns for points. In a 2500 list, it's very hard to take a decent unit of Irondrakes, two runed organ guns, etc etc. So, with just two units that can really make use of the movement phase, we have to be that much better with our own moves. Good opponents know how to split a castle open by presenting threats to multiple angles (which is why many Dwarf players play corner hammer, to eliminate one flank entirely). Good opponents also know that we can never keep up with their dancing around us. Our Core missile troops cannot reform and fire, and so all they can do is serve as a moving wall to cut off charges, which of course prevents them from shooting so long as they are doing it. And it's nearly impossible to deploy in such a way that a small flying hero can't get fit into your back line for a charge. Furthermore, there are armies that will simply avoid combat, and players who will hide behind a hill and try for a draw as opposed to moving out to face our guns. So, we may need to be aggressive. How? In a standard Battle Line game, it takes two full rounds of movement directly forward to get into even a remote charge (9" + our move) of something. And, frankly, that assumes they do nothing but stand there as we advance, which is of course a fantasy. They will not be doing so. They will use their better movement to do what we do to them - set up superior charges and counter charges in order to arrange for a reliable victory in close combat. This is where Irondrakes really do shine. We can advance a large unit of Irondrakes 6" on the first turn if we feel like our opponent is going to play hide and seek with us. The 18" range should let us start shooting at the top of turn 2 if we do so. The rest of our troops won't get a charge until around turn 4 against most opponents. So, we need to pick a high-value target we can beat in combat, keep it hemmed in as much as possible by gyrocopters and the like, and then double charge it with two of our solid combat units and take it down. So, when do you break the box? When do you come out of your castle to strike the enemy down? If they're hiding, and you haven't been moving the whole game, you won't get to them. Don't bother. Form up to minimize losses, and keep trying to shoot valuable targets with cannons and Grudge Throwers. Causing panics on outlying units is a great way to pick up a hundred points here and there, and that really adds up. Gyros can be dedicated to war machine hunting, or even wizard hunting. Charge two gyros at a unit with a Wizard, and you might pop them (more likely to pop their level 2 with a scroll than their level 4 with the 4++ ward save). just make sure the Wizard is worth more than the Gyros. If they are coming at you, you need to break the box on the turn before they charge, assuming they're being wise about where they stand relative to your lines. Most opponents know we have an effective range of about 10-11 inches for our own charge (7 or 8 on 2d6 plus our movement). The turn before they get their charge off, they will park just outside this range but in their own 7-8" + their move range. Swiftstride units can park 9" plus their move and have an average charge. If you want to make that set up hard for them, you can think two turns ahead and come out of the box a turn early. You still need to set up your units to have a solid countercharge in place if they decide to go in anyway. You still need to assume your opponent's long, unlikely charges will make it, and be prepared for that if it happens. And most importantly, you can't take defense away from your war machines to set this up. But if you can get out there before they set up their charge, you can disrupt their plans. But if you don't, and if you stay back with your guns, you very much need to arrange the first real clash of units such that you have an advantage. You must assume you will hold on Stubborn or Stedfast, and angle your units such that if they go into *any* unit, it will hold, and then they will get countercharged. Reforms And You - the Mobile Wall
One of the key ways you can protect your war machines is with reforms of your infantry and by moving your heroes out of their units. Our heroes are pretty rugged - most of them have a 2+ armor save, they are at least T4, and often have a high weapon skill. With Groth One Eye, every unit in 12" of the banner is an immovable object to most enemy units. Even a unit of 10 warriors with shields will hold up just about every other unit in the game for one-two turns of combat. Its really hard to shift 10 WS 4 4+/5++ T4 dwarfs. When the opponent gets close, you should always use movement to provide your layers of defense. Reforms allow you to do this. Swift reforms allow you to do this and then move a bit (so, always have musicians in your units) to make sure your machines are safe. This movement might suddenly provide the enemy you want to shoot with hard cover to the Organ Gun, but anything close enough to really threaten the gun is likely in close range, so you're still hitting on 4's or 5s (if they are skirmishers). Your organ guns will delete any small unit in the flanks. Reforms also allow you to keep a unit that's locked in a dangerous combat Stubborn by reforming the Groth One Eye banner into range. Sometimes that means a single, long line of hammerers with the flag on the corner. That's fine. Don't feel bad. You're trying to use your assets to the best of your ability to survive the battle. You can also use your small units to conga line up and get in the way of big bad scary units you don't want to fight. And finally, your heroes and Gyrocopters can all be one-man walls against a lot of enemy units if you are within the 12" Groth Banner bubble. I've had Master Engineers, Runesmiths, Gyros, and my BSB hold up entire units of Clanrats, Zombies, Slaves, Goblins, and even Orc Boys for the duration of a game simply because they could not put them down in combat and Groth One Eye kept them in place. Don't be afraid to move a cannon or Grudge Thrower, or even Organ Guns, behind a recently reformed wall of dwarfs. Yes, you lose a turn of shooting, but that might be worth the sacrifice if the Machine lives on to shoot during turns 5 and 6.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 10, 2018 5:44:26 GMT
POST 8In the following post, the 'Monty Mash' list is further expanded and a breakdown given of what makes it so effective. It then ends with a good number of example lists, all of which have placed well in Grand Tournaments. - knoffles
The Monty Mash by Stymie Jackson www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44585-2014-dawi-tactica-the-monty-mash/ Tactical Variant: Hybrid Gunline
Points Value: 2500 Summary
Alright, the book has been out for a few months now. The easiest path to a tactical article right now is basically developing the old mainline dwarf armies (gunline hybrid and 'Furgil Lists') to account for changes in the new book. Ambush and strollaz lists look very different than in the past and are, in my opinion, harder to judge effectiveness. There's also new gimmicks like Dwarven Air Forces (yes, a primarily underground-dwelling race would totally master flight) that have appeared, as well as interesting changes for hardcore gunline lists. So we'll have a better idea about how a traditional dwarf army is doing right now. What the book seems to be geared at is a template of a solid battery of war machines, a couple gyrocopters for support, backed by some interchange able infantry units. There's not a lot of difference (but some tactic differences of course) between running quarreller blocks in core, or taking two medium-sized Shieldbeard blocks. Yes, they'll play differently, but the special and rare choices complement both these options easily with just a change in play style. In other words, the Mash list is not dictated by the 625 points you spend on core. Take whatever you want, we'll cover that later. Let's be honest here, there really ain't that much to do when all you have is Infantry and Warmachines. The idea of this list is the 'Monty' Mash www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44457-war-games-con/. Montegue's battle report here shows the basic outline. As with the last edition, the first person to get an excellent result at a GT is the first person I name a list after. It's a draft tactica anyway, so we can always change our minds later. But we're seeing reports of this list crop up all over and I've used it a couple times (outside of tournaments) to really be excited about it. Design
The Mash list uses a bank of powerful war machines (4 or 5) backed by a solid Elite unit to base the army around. The Mash:
Our mash is our war machines and Elite block. The war machine battery is going to be basically cannon and organ guns. Both are excellent, and both can become primary targets of the enemy VERY quickly. You can certainly build variants that have only 3 war machines, but the risk is with a single organ gun, and you're fighting an avoidance army or cavalry-bus based army, that organ gun is going to be public enemy number one and even entrenchment doesn't do enough to stop poison or even massed S3 fire. Three wounds is three wounds. Grungni becomes even more valuable here as your machines are more precious, but with fewer it's easier to get them in the 5++ bubble. For 4 war machines, take two cannon and two organ guns. Alternately, and I think this works well in the current meta and should REALLY be considered, is taking one GT instead of a cannon. For elgi-heavy metas, 2xGT and 2xOG can certainly work as well. For 5 war machine builds, the 5th should be either a flame cannon or a GT and not a third cannon GTs, with accuracy and forging/ME re-roll, hit 40mm bases 55% of the time. This is roughly identical to cannon odds (with the benefit the GT can shoot through or over your troops as it doesn't need to see the ground but the actual target). Cannons are of course better at larger bases and the GT better at smaller, so I feel a GT makes a solid cannon-replacement. With avoidance armies being popular taking both cannon and GT allows better flexibility. Cannon
Forging
Options: Fire
I don't think you can skip forging at all. The MEs will be too busy for the first few turns on the Organ Guns typically. Grudge Thrower
Accuracy, Penetration
Options: Forging
The black powder Misfire table is a little harsher than what the GT rolls on, so it might be able to skip forging and hope an ME can provide that later in the game. Without it, it costs the same as a forged Cannon. Penetration is for murdering avoidance units (every hit has to count) rather than for larger targets. It also makes it useful if you have to shoot it at ranked up units of tougher infantry blocks...a cannon is probably better at that task otherwise. Organ Gun
Accuracy
Options: Forging, Fire
This is the key unit. This is what causes fear in the enemy, obliterates MSU armies, and even makes flying Nurgle Princes think twice. Taking one is great. Taking two is way better if you can fit it. The accuracy rune becomes optional if you have an ME supporting the Organ Gun. BS5 is awesome, but if you're trimming points to squeeze in support like rangers or Irondrakes that's probably one of the first things to go. A cheap version is running one ME to man a naked Organ Gun (say Hi BotWD) and one OG with Accuracy+Forging. The expensive version is Accuracy on both (one with fire) AND a Master Engineer to aim. I wouldn't recommend going less than the cheap version as any Master Engineers are helpful to the list, and running without Forging on an Organ gun (through any source) is risky. Not from blowing up but from effectively wasting a turn of shooting. Flame Cannon
Options: Forging
For 5 war machine lists consider giving the ol' girl a try. The Elites
Option 1: ~30 Hammerers, Musician, Standard with Groth Option 2: ~30 Ironbreakers, Musician, Standard with Stoicism I feel option 1 is by far the stronger option because Groth goes so well with a defensive list. But you can't go wrong with Ironbreakers. A shout-out has to be given for slayers (possibly with Strollaz) for comp'd tournaments. Heck, if the enemy is shooting slayers he's not shooting something more valuable like war machines or gyros. Characters:
This is the easiest part. The 'Holy Trinity' of the dwarves is the double runesmith and bsb build. It's pretty self evident why and we're not going to waste time in this thread. Within the limited choices of viable characters there some variety of gearing up. What's new to this article are engineers. The Mash lists works well with at least one, and preferably two master engineers. Again, they work in either a full-on gunline version or a Furgil-style war machine-only shooting list with all combat infantry, or anything in between. Runesmiths
Spellbreaking, Stone, Shield
Options: 2nd spellbreaking, Fiery Ring, Furnace, Passage, Iron
Simple. Their point is to slightly buff a unit and provide a dispel scroll. If you have points you can make your general a little harder to kill or, even better, make the dispel scroll a spelleater. Everyone should try and take one or two of those gems. You can cripple a magic-reliant enemy in the first turn for a measly 15-20 extra points. 'Banner' Thane BSB
Grungni, Shield
Options: Strollaz, Stoicism, Slowness
'Tanked Thane BSB
Gromril, 3xWarding or 2xIron, GW
I'm personally a fan of a combat character. We have a hard time justifying one in our lists unless you want to run a Lord. Lords are great, but my opinion is they need to be in a strollaz list. Which this artical ain't. Either build listed above is fantastic. A decently tough hero with a 5++ shooting bubble, or a very tough hero with S6. I don't think the 'Banner BSB is mandatory to the build, but many gunline and hybrid lists I've seen are strongly favoring the 'Banner' BSB over the 'Tanked' version. Master Engineer
Options: Stone, Pistols or Handgun/GW, Impact, Shielding They are fine naked. When you are adding options the first two have the highest relative value. Pistols make him have 3 S5 attacks on the charge, possibly with hatred. That will wreck chaff units trying to tie up your war machines. The rest of the options are for flavor...it's doubtful you'll have the points with all the other options to choose from. Stuff like upgrading Spellbreaking to Spelleating or Vanguard on a Gyro. But they certainly work effectively. Single pistols are IMO a waste...unless he's camping in a thunderer unit or some other specific purpose. The Rest:
625 points should be spent on core. If you go over it will be at the expense of Gyrocopters, your Elite block and possibly war machines, and we start to move away from a Mash list. If you do take a smaller Elite block (like 20) you can make the core blocks bigger for a more 'Furgil' like list which can certainly work. This would mean two large GW warrior units, or a decent block of Shieldbeards (25) with those GW Warriors. We've got three basic styles of core to fit into 625 points. All shooting:
4 units of 12, or 3 units of 15. Quarrellers with either shields or GW, Thunders with shield, whatever. 15 Shield Quarrellers/Thunderers with musician are 205 points. Take two of those, and one of GW Qarrellers and you have exactly 625 spent. All infantry:
2 units of 20-25 Shieldbeards. Self explanatory. Goes well with hammerers in special. Better, IMO, than 2x30 GW Warriors, which also fits if you're so inclined. Avoid Shield Warriors. The Mix:
1) 25 Shieldbeards and 2x10 Quarrellers. You can work the points to get close to 625 pretty easily...may need to drop a Longbeard or 3. Take whatever you want on the Quarrellers. 2) 39 GW Warriors. 15 Shield Quarrellers with Standard and Musician. 625 on the nose. Gyrocopters
You want two. Three in a variant list. Vanguard if points permit. Take them. Take them. Did I say to take them? Putting it all together (Tournament Tested Lists W-L-D) Montegue's List (4-1-0 Games Con, 4th Place Overall) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44457-war-games-con/ Thane, BSB, Grungni, Shield Runesmith, General, Shield, Stone, Spell Breaker, Furnace Runesmith, Great Weapons, Spell Breaker Master Engineer, pistol Master engineer 24 Longbeards, Music and Std. 10 quarrelers, Shields 10 Quarrelers, Shields 27 Hammerers, Groth One Eye, Fire on the champ Cannon, Forging Cannon, Fire Organ Gun, Accuracy Organ Gun, Accuracy, Fire Flame Cannon Gyro Gyro Montegue's 2nd List (3-0-2 2014 Bayou Battles) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44793-bayou-battles/ Thane, BSB, Grungni, Shield Runesmith, General, Shield, Stone, Spell Breaker, Furnace Runesmith, Great Weapon, Spell Breaker Master Engineer Master Engineer 25 Longbeards, Music and Std. 10 Quarrelers, Shields 10 Quarrelers, Shields 27 Hammerers, Groth One Eye, Fire on the champ Cannon, Forge Cannon, Fire Organ Gun, Accuracy Organ Gun, Accuracy, Fire Grudge Thrower Gyro Gyro Stuntymike's List (3-0-2 at Toddhammers Con, 4th Overall) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44490-2600pts-for-first-tournie-with-new-book/ Runesmith Shield, 2 x Rune of Spellbreaking and Rune of Stone Runesmith Shield, 1 x Rune of Spellbreaking and Rune of Stone, Fiery Ring of Thori Master Engineer Great Weapon, Rune of Stone Thane BSB, Shield, Master Rune of Grungni, Rune of Slowness 24 x Longbeards Full command, Great Weapons, Rune of Stoicism 24 x Longbeards Full command, Great Weapons, Rune of Stoicism, Rune of Sanctuary Cannon Rune of Forging Gyrocopter Steam Gun Gyrocopter Steam Gun Gyrocopter Steam Gun 21 x Slayers Standard and Musician 16 x Irondrakes Full Command, Trollhammer Torpedo, Rune of Slowness Organ Gun Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Forging Organ Gun Rayn Oathforge's List (Crossroad Spring GT, 4th place out 80+)
Lord: GW, Shieldbearers, Stone, 2x Iron, 3x Warding Runesmith: Sh, Stone, Furnace, Spellbreaking Runesmith: Sh, Stone, 2x Spellbreaking Thane: BSB Sh, Groth 41 Warriors: FC, GW 20 Quarrelers: FC 30 Hammerers: FC Cannon: Forging Grudge Thrower: Accuracy, 2x Penetrating Grudge Thrower: Accuracy, Penetrating, Burning Gyro 8 Rangers: FC Note: This is not really a Mash list without the Organ Guns and with a Lord. The overall success however earns it a place as it has a good bit in common with the other lists. Rayn Oathforge's List (Unplugged GT, 11th place out 80+)
Runesmith: Sh, Stone, Furnace, 2x Spellbreaking General Runesmith: Sh, Stone, 2x Spellbreaking, Fire Thane: BSB Sh, Grungi Master Engineer Master Engineer 35 Longbeards: Standard, Stoicism, Musician, GW 15 Quarrellers: Musician, Standard 33 Hammerers: FC Cannon: Forging, Burning Grudge Thrower: Accuracy, Penetrating, Forging Gyro Organ Gun: Accuracy Organ Gun: Accuracy, Burning Rayn Oathforge's Fall Crossroad GT Best General (4-1-0) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44955-dwarfs-at-crossroads-fall-gt-2014-best-general/ Runesmith: General, stone, shield, spellbreaking x2, furnace. Runesmith: stone, shield, spellbreaking x2, rune of fire. Master Engineer: pistol Master Engineer Thane: BSB, shield, Master Rune of Grungi 35 Longbeards: Great Weapons, Stoicism, musician and standard. 15 Quarrellers: Great Weapons, musician and standard. 30 Hammerers: 2x Rune of Slowness, musician and standard. Gyrocopter Cannon: Forging, Fire Grudgethrower: Accuracy, Forging, Penetrating Organ Gun: Accuracy, fire Organ Gun: Accuracy Thorgim Thunderbarrel's List (2014 Bayou Battles, 4-0-1) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44801-2500-points-successful-first-gt/ Thane General MRo1+armor, RoWardingx3, great weapon Thane BSB shield, MRoGrungi Runesmith shield, RoStone, RoSpellbreaking, Ring of Thori Runesmith RoStone, RoSpellEATing Master Engineer 30 GW warriors, veteran, standard 24 shieldbeards, standard 24ironbreakers, full command 2x gyros canon, forging grudge thrower, accuracy, forging, flaming 10 rangers, standard organ gun, accuracy organ gun, accuracy, flaming Putting it all together (Other takes on Hybrid Dwarves): Andy Spier's 2400 Point ETC List Gunline Variants www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/42544-andy-spiers-battleblog-new-book-new-thread/page-6 Runesmith General, 2xSpellbreaking, Stone, Furnace, Shield Runesmith, 2xSpellbreaking, Stone, Shield BSB, Grungi, Great Weapon, Dwarf Pistol 20 xbow, GW, Veteran, Muso 20 xbow, GW, Veteran, Muso 27 Hammerers, Std (2xSanctuary), Muso Cannon, Forging Grudgethrower, Forging, Accuracy Grudgethrower, Forging, Accuracy, Burning Gyrocopter Gyrocopter 16 Drakes, Muso, Ironwarden, Cinderblast Bombs Organ Gun This is Andy's 2400 point ETC List. It's actually pretty close to something I'm thinking about running in an ETC tournament. A variant of this list) for a 2000 Point 40 player tournament came in 4th as seen in following list. These are more gunline with an emphasis on the more reliable missile shooting units over Organ Guns. Cinderblast because it can be used to stand and shoot in most Euro comp packs. Runesmith, Spelleater, stone, furnace, shield Runesmith, Spelleater, stone, shield BSB, Grungi, Shield 17xbow, gw, std, muso 17xbow, gw, std, muso cannon, forging Grudgethrower, accuracy, forging, Grudgethrower, accuracy, forging, burning Gyrocopter Gyrocopter 28 Irondrakes, std, stoicism, muso, Champion, cinderblast bombs. Test Variant Build #1: Variant: Bringing in the Irondrakes
Here's what I'm thinking for a 'softer' ETC list. Swapping out the Irondrakes for another OG/Engineer combo and a 3rd Gyro would make it 'hard'. Runesmith, 2xSpellbreaking, Stone, Furnace, Fire, Shield Runesmith, Spellbreaking, Stone, Shield Thane, BSB, MR Gromril, 3xWarding, GW Master Engineer, Stone, Pistol 29 Longbeards, Shield, Mus, SB 15 Xbows, Shield, Mus, SB 25 Hammerers, Mus, SB, MR Groth Cannon, Forging, Fire Grudge Thrower, Accuracy, Penetration Gyrocopter Gyrocopter Organ Gun, Accuracy 15 Irondrakes, Full Command, Trollhammer As you can see it's similar to Andy's list, adding a Longbeard Anvil and a Master Engineer. 3 War Machines is definitely on the light side for a Hybrid list, but the Irondrakes and Trollhammer help mitigate that somewhat.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 10, 2018 5:44:41 GMT
POST 9The below is an article from Bugmans (again), giving stats around the Organ Gun and the difference between giving it runes and a Master Engineer. It's an interesting read. The most interesting is it actually shows that re-rolling 2's on the artillery dice gives you a lower average hit number. This is because, on paper, it increases the chance of a misfire (and thus giving a negative hit modifier) but I've always re-rolled 2's and still recommend doing so. - Knoffles
Taxi's Organ Gun Stats (By Taxi for Biggins) www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44088-organ-gun-runes-stats/The OG is a critical piece of artillery and this thread can help you get the most of yours. I've held the opinion for a while that forging is probably better on an OG than accuracy, and always intended to figure it out but it took a discussion with Bimli in the barracks for me to finally get around to it (I was going to reply there but the post kept growing and I thought this might be useful for more people to see). You can count on Bimli to make you back up your position. So, I did some stats (iterations, not calculations). Investment = Ratio of points spent compared to a Naked OG
HitRatio = Number of hits as a ratio compared to Naked OG
ROI = Return on Investment - Ratio of HitRation compared to Investment
* NOTE about ROI - this is calculated purely on number of hits vs cost, not misfire chance
* NOTE about Master Engineer: The calulations do not cater for the option of re-rolling a non-misfire, rerolls are only used on a single misfire dice
My gut feeling was that the number of hits would be a touch closer, but as you can see it averages out to about 1 hit difference. What the averaged numbers don't show is that the forging hits with a somewhat more reliable (albeit sometimes smaller) amount per turn. What I can't really calculate out is the comparison with a master engineer, because the reroll can be used on, say, a 2. Since you can make a judgement call on the reroll, it's not really easy to show its full potential, so I won't misrepresent it. Let's just say it's pretty much equal in effectiveness to having forging+accuracy, except it bypasses BotWD and Rule of Pride. So I'll concede a bit... I'll say that an OG needs at least 1 rune, but it doesn't overly matter which it is. What's great to see is the ROI of 50pts worth of runes - for less than an extra 50% of the cost of the naked OG you get twice as many hits and a much reduced chance of misfire. EDIT: Added ME and organised/rounded the table a bit better. I also added investment and ROI calculations. The final column should be the most interesting. EDIT2: Added stats for ME rerolling 2s/4s. Very interesting!
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 10, 2018 5:44:53 GMT
POST 10This is a good little article on deploying blocks of troops and warmachines to get maximum coverage between them. - knofflesAlex Hall's Three Block Deployment www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44665-3-block-deployment-ideas/I'm considering some deployment techniques and thought some of the longbeards around here might be able to shed some light on these ideas. I'm no expert and I'm not claiming this is the best nor only way to deploy. I have played Dwarfs for about 7 years, gone to a few GTs, and regularly play in no comp local tourneys. I like to take the 3 block approach much akin to the Furgil style of yesteryear. In the new book it seems that smaller units are the thing to do now because we can make them stubborn. That way, they can hold long enough for support to swing around! Anyway I ran into a situation in a recent game where I deployed too tightly. My center unit was unable to swing around to support my flanks! I wanted to come up with a trusty and easy way to deploy in a typical game to maximize fields of fire, ensure supporting flank charges, and minimize my spacing for Grungni. The set upI made the below image by just screen capping a set up in Universal Battle (hope I'm not violating any copyright). It's a pretty useful tool and you should check it out! Plus, its free! Diagram key
The little 2x2 units represent Organ Guns or whatever warmachine you might want there to protect which could be further forward or back, as desired. Things like more war machines, Gyros, rangers, MEs, and other auxiliary or supporting units are not represented here because their deployment is highly variable whereas the main line pretty much sets up the same way every game. The 24" ruler is there to show the amount of room you'll need to make this formation. You will also need about 6" of depth. You can even measure ahead of time for where to deploy, making sure that there's ample space. The units
The center unit is typically either Hammerers, Ironbreakers, or maybe Slayers. I prefer Hammerers simply for access to Groth One-Eye. The flank units could be anything, typically core; GW warriors (my fav), Longbeards, Quarrellers, or maybe Thunderers. See this useful thread for list building that plays well in this deployment: http://www.bugmansbr...the-monty-mash/ Observations and Grungni
As you can see, the center can support the flanks and the flanks can support the center. If you can anchor one flank to some impassible terrain or building and the other to a table edge by angling the formation this is one tough nut to crack! This deployment also makes full use of the Master Rune of Grungni, covering every unit and war machine if you so desire. If a horde forms the center, the Grungni bubble will fall short of protecting the flank units unless you squeeze the warmachines to the back. Enemy depth
One variable is the depth of enemy units. In this scenario, LOS is possible to units with 3 or more ranks. Sometimes the enemy unit will be only 2 ranks deep so you'll have to angle the flanks more inward and place them a little more forward. If the enemy is more than 5 ranks deep (Brets, Skaven) you can angle the flanks more outward (forming closer to a straight line). Size of your units
The size of the flank units is not important other than to ensure they they will hold a charge. The longer they hold, the better. They don't need to do tons of damage, they just need to hold. This is why Groth One-Eye is vital to this deployment (and every Dwarf list?) The size of the unit in the center is more important. Based on how wheeling works, a deeper unit (more ranks) requries more space between it and intervening terrain/models. It is therefore, less wieldy. I have made a table to show the approximate spacing required to wheel a unit of varying sizes to ensure open charge lanes assuming they are somewhat flush. 5x8 3.7" 6x8 3.3" 5x7 3.0" 6x7 2.7" 7x7 2.5" 5x6 2.4" 6x6 2.1" 7x6 1.9" 5x5 1.9" 6x5 1.6" 7x5 1.5" 10x5 1.1" 5x4 1.2" 6x4 1.1" 7x4 1.0" 10x4 1.0" 5x3 1.0" 6x3 1.0" 7x3 1.0" 10x3 1.0" I hope that makes sense. As you can see, a unit which only requires 1" is preferable to minimize the gaps, providing for a tighter formation. This really only applies to the center unit since the flanks will have open space to wheel. I think the magic number of ranks is no more than 5 if you care about maneuverability. If a flank unit is in horde formation, you will need to angle it in further since enemies can take advantage of your frontage to position themselves out of LOS from your center. Theoretically
The other thing is, the numbers above are not mathmatically derived (though could be). They are based on table top measurement. You can't tell your opponent, "well I spaced them thus so I can wheel". No. You have to physically do it and if you clip, its your fault for not providing extra room to account for human error. We humans tend to not pivot exactly, not see precisely, and not measure to the mm. Keep this in mind and provide for some slack. Side note: Charge denial
This table is also useful if you'd like deny charges by restricting the enemy's wheeling by parking a Gyro next to the unit such that it cannot wheel to charge. This is an even better form of chaffing since the chaff is not destroyed and the unit simply fails the charge, moves forward or is forced to pick a different target. It only works if a wheel is required of course! The Hard Castle
This is a quick example of what a hard castle looks like. It's obviously not a full army, but this gives you an idea of how to deploy war machines between blocks. Note the infantry will hang back slightly at the start to allow greater fields of fire. When the enemy gets closer they will advance to block of charges to the war machines when possible or flank anything that gets stuck on a stubborn war machine. Below we see the infantry has assumed blocking positions, but are faced in all directions to protect against ambushes. The initial deployment above gives coverage against all angles. Now when the enemy advances and if the flanks are secure, you can shift into the re-inforced line formation. Again the war machines are protected against the cavalry force, but the Giant may be able to squeeze in anyway! You'll notice the GT is behind the infantry. This is because unlike cannon they do not need to see the ground to shoot at it they need to see a target. When aiming from the crossbeam you can clearly see larger targets. Here we clearly clearly can target the bone giant: This allows the Catapult to get a hard cover save against incoming fire while being unaffected itself. Organ Guns and Cannon may have sight blocked by the same deployment.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 10, 2018 7:04:57 GMT
POST 11This post was an extract of one of Swordthain's GT reports, adapted by Montegue as an example of textbook gunline deployment. I slightly updated it adding in the dwarf list (as I am always curious on what people take). - KnofflesSwordthain's Tournament deployments. www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44808-29991-3-game-tournament-old-line-conventional-army-still-dead-urty/This list is actually a 3k tournament so it's going to be larger than most games you'll play in all likelihood. Still, these three deployments pictured in his report are text book examples of 'how to do it'. The Dwarfs
Runesmith (General): Shield, RoStone, RoIron, RoSpellbreaking x2,RotFurnace. Runesmith: Shield, RoStone, RoSpellbreaking x2. Thane: BSB, Shield, MRoGrungni. Master Engineer. Master Engineer. Warriors: x39, Great Weapons, FC. Warriors: x39, Great Weapons, FC. Hammerers: x39, FC. Gyrocopter: Vanguard. Grudge Thrower: RoForging, RoAccuracy, RoPenetrating. Cannon: RoForging, Stalwart Rune. Cannon: RoForging, RoBurning. Flame Cannon: RoForging. Organ Gun: RoAccuracy, RoBurning. Organ Gun: RoAccuracy. 1) Table-edge corner castle vs Wood elves
This deployment is risky in regards to panic tests. The benefit is that ambushing Glade Riders cannot get in behind the line and he's protected on two sides by the table edge. He also starts far enough back that Hagbane (poison) archers will need 7's to hit, cancelling their poison for one turn. If the enemy wants to use the forest for cover, or as a moonstone destination, he has two units ready to charge in. He also gives his middle war machines light cover for non-trueshot missile fire. 2) Central hard castle vs Chaos
The triangle infantry formation serves to protect the war machine flanks and allows him to counter-charge anything that comes in with a flanking unit. If the enemy moves to surround, the rear warrior units can fast reform to face and block the enemy while the front hammerers can cover their now exposed flank. With Groth it's an insanely hard formation to break. 3) Diagonal corner castle
Here the army covers both flanks and the rear with a diagonal formation. This obviously works best in the "Meeting Engagement" scenario, but can be used in normal "Battleline" style missions as well. You might think the 3 war machines grouped up are vulnerable, but a Warrior horde will be filling that gap turn 1. This is due to the scenario but you can do the same with miners or rangers as well as an intentional trap.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 10, 2018 7:05:09 GMT
POST 12This is a more general post on list building and all the elements that should be considered. - knofflesSwordthain's List Building Advice www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/44191-swordthains-list-building-tutorial/This thread is more of a breakdown of the logic process behind picking an army, and how it all fits together. It will be useful if you wish to 'deviate' from the script and do you own take on the Mash list. BUILDING A WFB ARMY LIST
Getting started, it has been brought to my attention that this tutorial revolves around the definitions I give to a lot of the "technical" terminology I use. So, here are some definitions to aid you in understanding and engaging this tutorial. List Building
Tactical Elements: The assets available to the army (i.e. the choices that you have for your list). Tactical Capabilities: The roles or functions that each Tactical Element has available. **Strategic Concept: A simple statement about how your army is going to win. Supporting Capabilities: The Tactical Capabilities in your army that support your Strategic Concept Utility Tactical Utility: A measure of the quality and quantity of capabilities available to a Tactical Element. Value: A measure of the quality of the Tactical Element relative to its cost. Core Tactical Element: The primary Tactical Elements that allow the army to achieve the Strategic Concept. Supporting Tactical Element: The Tactical Elements that provide secondary and other capabilities to the army in support of the Strategic Concept or aid the main elements in executing the strategic concept. Utility Lifespan: The point in the battle at which a Tactical Element/Capability ceases to be a critical asset. Force Maneuver Deploy **Deployment Scheme: A simple, general statement on how your forces should be deployed in order to achieve your Strategic Concept. Deployment Option: A choice that is made for each Tactical Element with the goal of maximizing its impact on the battle while potentially minimizing the impact of an opponent's Tactical Element. Maneuver **Maneuver Scheme: A simple, general statement on how your forces should conduct themselves during the battle in order to achieve your Strategic Concept. Situation: An assessment of the battlefield, including possible deployment zones for your own forces and your opponent's forces, as well as the impacts of terrain (choke points, visibility, barriers to movement). Area of Interest: The areas of the battlefield that have the potential to be utilized by friendly and enemy Tactical Elements, determined as deployment progresses. Area of Operations: The area of the battlefield that you expect will come into play based on the finished deployment. Mission: The goals for your Tactical Elements to accomplish in the battle in order to achieve victory by means of your Strategic Concept. Execution: The choices and actions you take in order to accomplish the Mission with regards to your Strategic Concept, Deployment Scheme, and Maneuver Scheme. Fragmentation Order: A change to a Tactical Element's mission as a result of an opponent's decision or other events during the course of the battle. Mobility Scheme: Where will your Tactical Elements move, and why? Obscuring Scheme: Which of your Tactical Elements need to be screened from the enemy? Intelligence Scheme (for closed-list play): What information about your army is critical for the enemy to know, and how can they determine it? Command and Control: deploy and maneuver constraints for maximizing the effectiveness of the army general, battle standard, and characters. 1. The first thing any general wants to do in developing a force for any fight is to consider what sorts of troops he or she has and what their roles are on the field of battle. This is really simple in theory, but it can be more difficult than one might imagine in practice. In other words, assess your assets. Imagine yourself as an ancient Israelite king or warlord for a moment. You have the Egyptians from the south and the Assyrians and Hittites from the north, not to mention the Babylonians to the east and Philistines to the west... Each other civilization has its own military foci. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but you may not be able to address all of those potential strengths in your force since there's such a wide diversity in the potential threats you may encounter on the battlefield. So, start by evaluating what sort of force you can build that will work well on its own terms! As this ancient Israelite leader, imagine yourself assessing your assets: you have access mostly to peasant militias with clubs, slings, and other non-metal weaponry. You have access to a small class of wealthier countrymen who can afford metal weapons, spears, bows, and even some armor. Finally, you have the miniscule standing force that serves as the king's body guard and core of any army. You have almost no cavalry or chariots, so you really have to give up trying to face any of your enemies in the open plains. (Historically, the Hebrew people inhabited the hill country almost exclusively, since chariots and horses were extraordinarily expensive and could only function at significant disadvantage in rough terrain.) So, assuming you'll fight your battles defensively in rough or difficult terrain, which of your assets provide the most effective means of eliminating your enemies--whomever they may be? This is basically what you're doing when you build your army list in WFB! For Dwarf players, the above example may be a good one, since the movement phase of the game tends to be a sore spot for a lot of Dwarf generals. (How I miss the days of the Rune of Oath and Honour!) Each asset is called a tactical element, or element for short. Assessing your assets is probably the most important thing you will do in building your army list next to developing a strategic concept, which we will address in the next section. What exactly does it mean to assess your assets? First, think of the nature of the tactical element. It might be helpful to use an example here. Let's take regular Dwarf Warriors for starters, since they're pretty straight forward. Warriors have no ranged capabilities, meaning that they have only melee capabilities. Movement is a consideration, as well, which we'll talk about in a moment. So, understanding Warriors as a purely melee tactical element will have significant implications as you select them for inclusion in your list. Now, consider what functions melee tactical elements might have on the battlefield. Basically, there are two. (Let me know if you think of others.) First, they can kill stuff (the conventional jargon for such a melee tactical element is hammer). Second, they can die as slowly as possible (the conventional jargon for such a melee tactical element is anvil or points-denial). The equipment you choose for your Dwarf Warriors, then, will be highly influenced by the role or function you intend the unit to play in your army. Movement can be its own tactical capability! (The conventional jargon for purely movement tactical capabilities is chaff or redirectors.) Dwarfs have preciously little access to these capabilities. Examples include Gyrocopters and single-column, 5-model Slayer units called "Slayer bolts". Other armies have excellent options for these units, such as Furies from Daemons of Chaos or Dire Wolves from Vampire Counts. The point of such units is merely to have something in a particular location at a particular point in time in order to gain or maintain spacial control of the battlefield. (In our historically-inspired vignette above, chariots excelled at controlling space on a battlefield as well as providing great offensive tactical capabilities in their own right, making them truly the terror weapon of ancient warfare.) A good WFB example of this might be using a unit of High Elf Shadow Warriors to block the Vanguard moves of a unit of Bretonnian Pegasus Knights. The role or function a unit plays in your force is called its tactical capability. Sometimes a unit may provide more than one tactical capability, though it is usually problematic to build a multi-functional unit into a force as a critical strategic asset. We'll talk more about that later, too. Go through the entire spectrum of tactical elements available to you. (In WFB terms, this means going through all the units and Runes and such in the entire Dwarf army book, for example.) Based on the options each unit has available to it, determine its potential tactical capabilities and what equipment you need to provide the unit with in order to best perform each of those potential tactical capabilities.
>>> I suggest Greyhnir's handbook as a useful tool for helping you assess your assets: www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/43675-greyhnirs-8th-edition-dwarf-handbook/ ( edit: or even my own thoughts on the book at the start of this thread - knoffles) Now you've assessed your assets and are ready to move on to the next step: developing a strategic concept! 2. The second thing any general wants to do in developing a force for any fight is to consider how he or she wants his or her army to engage the enemy force. Again, this is an internal decision, integral to the function of your force and should not be dictated by the nature of your possible opponent(s). This task takes a good amount of ability to synthesize the assessment of your assets you just did in the prior task! Given the tactical capabilities of your force, then, imagine the possible ways a force with access to those particular assets might engage an enemy force. This should take the lion's share of your time and thought! This is also the most important task in building an army list for a game of Warhammer! We call this developing your strategic concept. Your strategic concept should be simple, not complicated, and it should also have nothing to do whatsoever with a specific deployment or movement on the battlefield. Those sorts of things should be considered, but they should be considered as particular applications of your force organization theory. In other words, you build your army list and THEN consider specific tactical applications. Your list of available strategic concepts for any given faction will not be large. For example, you just don't ever see Beastmen "gunlines" or Chaos Dwarf "Light Councils". This is a good comparison, by the way, since both "gunlines" and "Light Councils" operate using the same strategic concept: shoot the enemy and hope there's nothing left to mop up/mop up whatever is left. To get you started, here are a few example strategic concepts for your consideration. A.) Shoot the enemy until there's nothing left. B.) Shoot the enemy's critical targets and mop up what's left. C.) Take the enemy by surprise and bring overwhelming force to bear against a portion of the enemy force. D.) Engage the enemy force in close combat to the enemy's disadvantage. E.) Shoot the enemy while avoiding retaliation. F.) Disorient the enemy with target saturation and exploit critical errors. You might start to get the idea quickly, or it may take some time for this idea to sink in. Whatever the case, give it plenty of time processing. Sleep on it. You might want to take a break from reading this tutorial right now so you can contemplate and come back in a couple days when the pot's been stirred, so to speak. Choosing your strategic concept is the most fundamental, most critical event in the force organization process! 3. The third thing any general wants to do in developing a force for any fight is to consider what tactical capabilities support his or her chosen strategic concept. If your strategic concept is to trample your enemy under the hooves of your Knights' horses (see D above), you probably want to have a unit of Knights with whose horses you may trample your enemies underfoot! It really isn't any more complicated than that! Now, just because it's not complicated doesn't mean it won't be difficult. (Ha! Just like that last sentence.) But seriously, you'll want to ascertain which tactical capabilities support your strategic concept. Let's go back to our historical vignette. As a Hebrew military leader, I decide I want to disorient the enemy with target saturation and exploit critical errors. (This is the typical strategic concept for most guerrilla warfare.) I decide I need mostly ranged capabilities in order to draw the enemy's attention. But then, I know I also want some melee capabilities in order to prevent those ranged units from being isolated and destroyed piecemeal. I only have so much grain-beer to pay my troops (points to build my list), though, so I have to be careful how I distribute these tactical capabilities. In the end, I decide that I will have to also provide myself a command-and-control tactical capability to maintain the coordinated efforts of my other capabilities on the battlefield. Notice I haven't even chosen any actual units (tactical elements) yet, much less their equipment! Choosing supporting tactical capabilities is the third step. Once you've chosen your supporting capabilities, you can move on to the next step. First, however, you'll really want to put some time and thought into this step, because it's quite a lot more important than the next step. In fact, from this point on, each successive step diminishes in its importance to your force organization process! It's worth taking the time to discern in what ways a tactical capability that may initially seem to obviously not support your strategic concept might actually prove an extremely supportive capability after all! For example, if you're going with the example of the Knights above, you might imagine what sorts of weaknesses your army will have if all you bring to the table is a tray full of Knights! What might you bring that will help those Knights do their job? A unit of Peasant Bowmen, for example, might be able to clear out chaff seeking to block a critical charge, or a Field Trebuchet might cut a swathe into a unit of infantry with which your Knights might otherwise become bogged-down after the initial charge, unable to continue their intended function. 4. The fourth thing any general wants to do in developing a force for any fight is to consider what tactical elements will provide the desired tactical capabilities that support your overarching strategic concept. This is the step where you choose the units you actually want to include in your army! There are a couple of criteria for choosing one unit over another, and this piece of the puzzle will again engage your best efforts in channeling your inner Mentat. A.) Choose each unit (tactical element) with only ONE (1) (UNO) (EINS) tactical capability in mind! As I alluded to earlier, if you start choosing units with multiple functions or battlefield roles in mind, you're not going to know what to do with the unit once your army makes first contact with the enemy force! (Once you become proficient in this process, you might be able to adlib a little. In fact, I do hope you are able to eventually get to that point! But that takes the ability to synthesize a lot of moving concepts and is not something beginners are typically ready to do.) Dwarf Quarrellers are often the subject of this sort of abuse. People often think that, since they can equip Quarrellers with Great Weapons, Quarrellers can function as both offensive/melee and defensive/ranged capabilities. The result is that, especially new players will spend a good portion of the battle moving or reforming their Quarrellers and never use them in the expected function of ranged support, while others will fail to move them at all only to have them charged by something that outclasses them in combat before they have the chance to function as a hammer unit. B.) Choose each unit with consideration for its cost-efficiency and point-per-model cost. Dwarf Rangers upgraded to Bugman's Rangers are a good example of a difficult case. At 17 points per model, Bugman's Rangers are quite expensive. They do have great statistics and the ability to scout, so taking them as a tactical element is extremely dependent on one's chosen strategic concept. They can't be taken as a "Swiss army knife" type of unit, because they're too expensive, take too great of an investment, and are too big of a target for the enemy. Alternatives, such as regular Dwarf Rangers or Dwarf Quarrellers with Great Weapons might be preferable, since they're cheaper per model and tend to be slightly more cost-efficient. C.) Choose each unit with its priority in mind. By this, I mean that you will have some units that are obviously primary and others that are obviously secondary or even tertiary in importance based on their tactical capabilities. Give first pick to your primary elements that most directly support your strategic concept, and for newer players, I advise that you try to stick with all primary elements at first. Secondary and tertiary tactical elements should be support elements that are meant to enhance the ability of primary elements to execute the strategic concept of the force. 5. Pick your equipment and options for your tactical elements with the intention of giving your tactical elements the tools they need to best and most efficiently execute their intended tactical capability. For example, Dwarf Warriors intended as a hammer unit will obviously need Great Weapons; shields might help their survivability against enemy shooting, but that's of peripheral importance to their intended tactical capability. Well, there you have it, folks! Those are my five steps to building a WFB army list based on my force organization theory. I hope y'all will get something out of it! Good luck in all your battles! A NOTE ON TACTICAL UTILITY:
The utility of tactical elements is difficult to address, because very little formal theory is available on the subject. I find it odd to some extent, but then, I am also not surprised. Military doctrine has only been a formal scientific discipline for a very brief amount of time in the grand scheme of military history, and even then, military strategists are not typically also good scientists. Therefore, the following is largely original theory I have worked on just in the last couple days since posting the above tutorial, so I respectfully request your deference. First, let us define the term utility. Utility simply refers to the usefulness of something. More broadly, and more specifically in this context, utility refers to the quality of practical useâand the amount of such useâin a tactical environment. It may also be helpful to reflect on the difference between strategy and tactics, two terms used colloquially without formal distinction, and therefore, interchangeably. Strategy, in a formal military sense, refers to the overarching goal and plan to obtain that goal. Strategy therefore includes all capabilitiesâmilitary or otherwiseâavailable for obtaining that goal. The âgoalâ is referred to as an end state. Tactics, then, refers to the use of individual elements in their capability roles in support of the strategic concept. To put it another way, strategy is what we do with our brains to develop plans and implement operations, while tactics is what we actually do on the ground, so to speak, when physically engaging the enemy. So, tactical utility thus refers to the quality and quantity of the usable practical application of tactical elements in-game for the purpose of our discussion here regarding WFB. Tactical utility deals largely with the capability management of tactical elements on the field of battle, so another way to think about this in simpler terms is to imagine that once we have developed a general idea of what our army will look like, it is time to analyze how the units weâve chosenâand the particular designs weâve given them (including number, equipment, command groups, characters, magic items, etc.)âmight function individually as elements and together as a whole force. Utility varies in either quality, quantity, or both from tactical element to tactical element. For the purposes of this discussion, a âhigh-utilityâ tactical element has a broad base of applicable utility (i.e. the tactical element has multiple capabilities that support the strategic concept of the force), while a âlow-utilityâ tactical element has a narrow or specific base of applicable utility (i.e. the tactical element has only a single capability that supports the strategic concept of the force). (This means that a high-utility tactical element may actually be less useful than a low-utility tactical element, so try to make that distinction clear when analyzing any particular unit.) The quality of the utility of a tactical elementâa unitâs actual usefulness in terms of its ability to function in its tactical capability or capabilitiesâcan be referred to as its value. Value follows suit. So, if we were to have a unit we wanted to describe as being good at only one thing but excellent at that one thing, we would call it a âlow-utility, high-value tactical elementâ. (Again, fight the temptation to confuse the use of value with the tactical elementâs cost in points or essential nature to your force; the former is irrelevant for this discussion, while the latter is addressed below.) Next, weâll look at the utility roles of our tactical elements. Core tactical elements are those that are most fundamental to your force because they enable the force to function at all. (These are not necessarily Core choices from your army book, just to avoid confusion.) These are often the first options you decide on when actually choosing your tactical elements, since without them, your force would be completely unable to function in line with your chosen strategic concept. Core tactical elements, then, are the fundamental building blocks, the foundation if you will, to your force. For example, if my strategic concept is to engage the enemy with overwhelming force in close combat, my core tactical elements will be those that provide overwhelming melee combat capabilities. Core tactical elements are typically low-utility, high-value units. Support tactical elements are those that contribute secondary or other tactical capabilities in support of the strategic concept of the force. These come in two types: specialty (or specialized) tactical elements and utility tactical elements. Specialized tactical elements are almost invariably low-utility with medium to high value. Think for a moment about the sorts of units that might fit this description in your army book in the context of any particular strategic concept. You might use a unit in one army as a support tactical element that would be used as a core tactical element in another army you might build from the same army book! Utility tactical elements are almost invariably high-utility but may encompass the spectrum from high to low value! Dwarf Rangers are a good example of a utility tactical element, especially in small numbers. They are almost worthless in terms of their ability to function in most of their tactical capabilities, but they often have such a broad application that they appear in a very large number of Dwarf playersâ armies since the new 8th edition Dwarf book was released! Utility tactical elements typically provide a range of capabilities and are therefore some of the most tactically flexible units in any army. The key to using these successfully is knowing when and where to apply each of their available tactical capabilities in various contexts. TACTICAL ELEMENTS AND UTILITY
Now that weâve defined our terms, let us consider some practical implications of the theory weâve covered. This next section will be a guide for evaluating the utility of various tactical elements. Again, for ease of use, I've provided sequential steps to enable the evaluation and selection process. Before I begin, I think it's important to state that a lot of what I'm about to spell out here is mostly stuff we typically do naturally, without even thinking about it. The brain, being the marvelously sophisticated computer it is, constantly works through millions of pieces of data, synthesizing and evaluating to come to resolution on millions of decisions every day. So, what I want to do here is to take what we often leave to our unconscious or unintentional cognitive processes and make those decisions conscious and intentional ones. Obviously, it's easier said than done. 1. The first thing you'll always want to do in evaluating the utility of various tactical elements is to determine to which tactical elements you have access. For example, if I'm a Dwarf player, I decide my strategic concept is something along the lines of "shoot the enemy and mop up what's left". For this strategic concept, I then decide I need to have a unit to do the mopping up, as it were. Now, I look at my choices for filling the tactical capability of "mopping up". (Tactical capabilities are usually referred to in more formal terms, so let's just say we're looking for a low-utility, high-value offensive melee capability.) Dwarfs happen to have a lot of very good options in these regards: anything that will have a good chance of destroying an enemy element in close combat will do. Sounds like a job for Great Weapons to me. So, Warriors, Longbeards, Hammerers, Quarrellers, Slayers, Miners, and Rangers all have access to Great Weapons, so this will fill your initial list of options for this example. Any of these units can theoretically do the job, so don't immediately limit your options. At this point, it's important to keep your options broad, because an element you initially dismiss might actually be the best option after all. 2. Next, consider whether any of these options would tempt you to use them as a different tactical capability. If it does tempt you too much, the end result leaves you forcing yourself into difficult decisions. That's bad. Some armies are simply built on this strategic concept: force the enemy to make difficult tactical decisions and exploit critical errors! If you're adding difficult tactical decisions to yourself, you're either 1) a paragon of tactical genius, or 2) an idiot. I'm most often the latter for the simple reason I fancy myself the former! I might exaggerate, but it's for a point. Be aware of this tendency in yourself and fight the urge to give in to your own hubris. It will take time and effort to become proficient in the use of some units (usually medium to high-utility tactical elements), and until such a time as you do, decide how you want to use the unit beforehand and stick to it save for the most dire situations. In doing so, you're likely to make some errors in judgment, which your opponents will sometimes be quick to exploit, but that's alright. You'll be better off in the end, because if you're consistent in your tactical application of a unit in its intended tactical capability, you'll be better able to see when, how, and why you might utilize a unit in a different capacity in the future. A good example might be Quarrellers with Great Weapons. The most common tactical decisions with these doughty fellows are when/if to reform prior to combat and when/if to charge an enemy unit. Those decisions sound simple enough, but in-game, they take on a life of their own! What may seem a good decision to reform before an impending enemy charge might be exploited by your opponent when the enemy decides not to charge and instead move up, in which case your unit loses precious opportunity to shoot and precious attacks in close combat if you decide to charge your opponentâs unit. Don't reform, and now you're risking losing Steadfast against an enemy unit charging in. Andy Spears is known for his Dwarf armies that utilize GW Quarrellers, but most Dwarf players can't just pick up that army and have good success with it until they gain good experience using GW Quarrellers and are able to discern the various critical tactical decisions they need to make and how to best execute those decisions. As you advance in skill and your overall ability to synthesize the tactical capabilities of any given army, you'll eventually be able to intentionally select tactical elements in respect to utility, prioritizing the tactical capabilities a unit may offer. This is one of the things good generals do extremely well, and it ultimately enables a player to be flexible in his or her tactical application of elements in-game. 3. Assess the risk! Do a risk assessment based on your temptation to use a tactical element in more than a single capacity (tactical capability). Weigh the various tactical decisions with which you may be presented in light of the probable outcome of each decision. (This is advanced stuff, so if you're not ready for this, stick with the basics and come back after a few games.) Assessing the risk is often a gut-check. It's often very subjective. This is where some math can really help, because sometimes your gut is undecided. You see this all the time on forums. People ask, "Should I take White Lions or Phoenix Guard?" or "Should I take Hammerers or Ironbreakers?" These are perfect examples of people struggling with this gut-check. Running the numbers, so to speak, can really help bring clarity to our cognition, even while we still have to wrestle with issues revolving around probabilities and potentialities. A Mentat needs data, right? That said, if you feel the risk of you making a critical error in judgment regarding the flexible tactical use of any particular tactical element is low, by all means I encourage you to try out those multi-functional units! 4. Once you have assessed the risk and determined whether or not each tactical element is a viable option, filter out all the dropped selections from your mind. They'll just cloud your judgment. You need a hard-and-fast decision for now. You can always come back to those other tactical elements when you build another army list in the future. Remember here, your first instinct is usually your best in these cases if you're being intentional about thinking clearly and logically in your risk assessment, so listen to that first instinct. (You'll come back to this step again later. Remember, this is a process.) I often take days to filter out the old ideas that I've decided I need to drop in order to concentrate on moving forward in building my army list. Sometimes it merely takes a few seconds to find clarity. Whatever you do, remember this is a process that you have to work through, so give your brain time to do its work. Some of the best things you can do to help your brain is to get some good physical exercise, eat healthily, and stick to a regular sleep schedule. Do those things, and your ability to do everything in life increases dramatically, not to mention your ability to put together a good army list for a game of WFB! When I'm stuck on a decision, either sleeping on it or doing some pushups helps me. When I wake up, I often find my brain has made the decision during the night while I slept, or when I come back to my desk, I find the pushups have rushed blood to my brain so that it suddenly feels fresh, quick, and discerning! 5. Now, go back to Steps 1-4! Assume you no longer have access to the tactical elements you previously dropped. Once you've gone through these steps--sometimes once, sometimes several times--you should have made your decision to include a particular tactical element in your army list. If so, move on to Step 6. Sometimes, however, you may be left with a multiplicity of viable options. In that case, you'll move on to Step 6 and the rest of the process, but you'll have to come back after deciding on a single tactical element. 6. Consider the utility of the unit in relation to the other choices you have made or will likely make for inclusion of tactical elements in your force. Ask yourself questions about the unit(s) you're trying to decide on that seek to evaluate them. Does this unit add critical, redundant, or superfluous support to each of its tactical capabilities? Does this unit compete with other options? If its tactical capability is redundant, would another unit provide more effective redundancy? Try to determine the overall niche the unit fills amongst the other tactical elements in your army. Can you imagine it working in tandem with other units? If it's a tactically flexible unit (i.e. it possesses multiple tactical capabilitiesâhigh-utility), do any of its secondary or tertiary capabilities risk interfering with those of other units? Sometimes it's good to write these down. You can get a better picture of what the unit's interaction will look like with the rest of the army. To continue with the example above, Great Weapon Quarrellers might provide good redundancy with their capacity to engage in supportive small-arms fire. What your Organ Gun can't kill, your Quarrellers might be able to finish off. On the other hand, will your Quarrellers compete with your Hammerers for a late-game charge? Do you risk getting them overextended if they make a charge that your Hammerers can't complete? Do they pose a liability if they give up their points too easily? Is the impact they might make in close combat worth the additional 2 points per model to equip them with Great Weapons? Continue to ask yourself questions like these until you feel like you can make a good evaluative judgment and come to a resolution as to your tactical use of the unit in-game. 7. Next, evaluate the tactical element in terms of its overall utility. In other words, make sure you can give an emphatic answer to this question: Is this tactical element a critical asset (i.e. core tactical element) or a support asset (i.e. specialized or utility tactical element)? It might feel counterintuitive to ask this question towards the end of the process. But really, all your work up to this point has been for the purpose of being able to answer this simple question! This will tell you whether or not the unit is expendable. Notice this evaluation has nothing to do with the unit's cost! It has everything to do with your mentality towards the unit's tactical use in-game. If it's a critical asset, meaning that your army cannot function without it, treat it as such. If it's a support element, meaning that your army can function without it, treat it as such. 8. Finally, determine the unit's utility lifespan. Even your core tactical elements have a utility lifespan, a point at which they cease to be critical assets. At what point will this particular tactical element cease to be combat-effective? This may mean different things for different elements. Cannons may become liabilities once units get into close combat, or they may become combat-ineffective once they have eliminated priority targets, for example. Multi-functional units (high-utility tactical elements) will have longer utility lifespans overall, since they only cease to be combat-effective once they do so in all their tactical capabilities. However, it's good to know when such a unit will become combat-ineffective in each of its tactical capabilities. 9. If you still have multiple viable options, go back to Step 6--or even Step 1! Follow this process in selecting each of your units. You'll have many variables to consider, so take your time and think over each carefully before moving on. Deployment and Maneuver
I was hesitant to include a section on maneuver and maneuver command and control with the forgoing force organization tutorial. The two are just so vastly different in nature! However, I decided to include the following sections on the basis of the connection that does exist, despite whatever fundamental differences may also exist. On the other hand, it is very important to recognize the hard break that exists between force organization and force maneuver! Force organization tends to have finite parameters, because your force is developed by you, the organizer, and is not subject to the immediate responses of your opponent. (Now, I've tried this before, where my opponent and I built our lists together, reacting to each other's decisions in real time. Not only did it take about five hours to finish our lists (because we constantly changed our lists in reaction to the other's changes, etc.), but we also ended up with armies completely tailored to one another (6th edition Dwarfs v. High Elves), resulting in a rather abusive game that neither of us ended up enjoying.) On the other hand, maneuver (colloquially referred to as "tactics") is fundamentally influenced by your opponent's decisions and therefore nearly infinite in terms of possibilities! Another important point to remember is that deployment is a particular task within maneuver. I will treat deployment and maneuver separately here for the sake of contextualization to WFB. That said, consider the implications as we discuss each concept in turn, because we will come back to the connection between the two thereafter. Deployment 1. Develop an overall deployment scheme. Remember to be flexible here. Your deployment scheme should be based on your overall strategic concept of the force. For example, if your strategic concept is to shoot the enemy and hope nothing's left after the smoke clears, you probably want to deploy deep and exploit terrain. Your deployment scheme should be short and extremely general in nature, much like your strategic concept. It should also be simple. If you're drawing up maps and using sand tables to try to project the development of an enemy contact, you're doing it wrong. You cannot predict beforehand where and how your opponent will deploy and move his or her tactical elements on the battlefield--unless you happen have the powers of prescience of the god emperor; therefore, projecting your decisions on the basis of an imaginary opponent's imaginary decisions is essentially meaningless conjecture, neither informed nor informative. This is one of the reasons that new players tend to lose a lot of their early games. They need the real experience that enables real knowledge and real data for synthesis. It's like a blacksmith trying to imagine himself making an ingot and deciding beforehand how he will strike the metal with his hammer and how many times he will have to douse it in the water and reheat it before it's finished. He won't have any real knowledge of such things until he looks at the ore and starts to work with it! 2. Once you've developed a scheme for the deployment of your force, start to evaluate the deployment options of each of your tactical elements. You should have considered this to some extent in building your army. This will give you some idea as to where that particular element may best fit into your overall deployment scheme. Make a list of deployment options for each, but don't decide yet how or where you will deploy your elements. First consider deployment of groups of tactical elements. Not only may there be groups of elements in your force that you can identify as having similar deployment options, but there may also be multiple tactical elements that should be deployed together or in some sort of relationship to one another. Write down these patterns and analyze them until you start to discern relationships between those patterns. Once you do, you can then go back and start to finalize specific plans for deployment of individual tactical elements. Remember that once you've developed a finalized plan for deployment, no plan ever survives first contact. If you try to make your plan prescriptive, it will completely derail your deployment by robbing it of adaptability! You have to stay flexible and adaptable with your deployment plan and be able to apply your deployment analysis to your specific context and dynamic situation in each battle against each enemy you face. Deployment dictates a tactical element's maximum possible impact on a battle. Use this knowledge to your advantage. Once your opponent deploys an enemy element, take a moment to define that element's maximum potential impact on the battle, especially if you have elements of your own not yet deployed. Maneuver
By maneuver, I mean overall tactical operation in combat. I use this term for two main reasons: 1) it provides a familiar military term for our purpose, and 2) it's a general enough term to cover the whole spectrum of battlefield operations. There may very well be a better term available, and I want to make it clear that I am not using this term in its formal and technical military sense. Rather, I'm adapting it for use in our discussion regarding the application of tactical elements on the battlefield. Maneuver is probably the most difficult concept for which to develop guiding principles! So many variables are involved, exponentially more than even those involved in deployment, because of the mercurial nature of your opponent's interactions and reactions in fluidity with your own through the course of a battle. Good practice in maneuver demands constant--almost perennial--analysis, synthesis, resolution, and execution. Get ready to think extremely broadly and critically, because any principles developed for maneuver must necessarily take into consideration the myriad variables involved therein! The following is a PROCESS! You'll have to continue all of the following steps, restarting and going through them all during each turn probably multiple times, if not many times! It takes a lot of practice to develop this process as a natural way of thinking through your tactical decisions, so don't think you'll be able to master these concepts after a single game--or ten--or even one hundred games! 1. Develop a scheme of maneuver. Much like your scheme of deployment, your scheme of maneuver needs to be brief, concise, broad, and simple. Again, this should be based on your strategic concept. For example, if your strategic concept is to shoot your enemy and hope there's nothing left, then I would suspect your scheme of maneuver would be something along the lines of "static line of fire, forming ranks prior to impact" or similar. Once you've developed your scheme of maneuver, you're ready to take your force to battle. 2. At the start of your game, consider the following things. You'll have to reassess your scheme of maneuver and adapt it to the unfolding situation throughout a battle. A good rule of thumb is to reassess at the beginning of each movement phase. (Remember that you'll start this process even prior to deployment and includes deployment! I mentioned above that deployment sets the parameters of enemy elements' maximum possible impact on the battle, but it bears mention here that it works both ways: deployment of your own elements establishes the parameters of their maximum possible impact on the battle.) A.) Situation: First, consider the area of interest. This includes the entirety of the battlefield. Note the possible deployment areas (especially in consideration of the possible scenarios for the game). Note the terrain, its relationships with the possible deployment zones and with its potential impact on both deployment of friendly and enemy elements and on their maneuver thereafter. Impressions are important at this point, not specifics, so look for choke points, barriers to movement, areas of limited visibility, etc. Once you've begun deployment, refocus your scope of interest. Note the areas of the battlefield that are likely to be affected by friendly or enemy elements and that are likely to influence friendly and enemy elements. By the time deployment has been completed, you should be able to tentatively define the outside limits of the area of operations. This is usually easiest to determine in smaller games, just by looking at the deployment of friendly and enemy forces, what areas of the battlefield make up your area of operations. Your area of operations is going to be a subset of your area of interest. Try to block off the sections of the board that are not likely to affect the battle. Don't forget about these areas, but sectioning out various areas of the battlefield--and especially your area of operations, the area with which you're concerned in reference to your tactical elements and their interaction and engagement with enemy elements--will give you a better grasp of the area with which you should allow your attention to be absorbed so that you limit the peripheral influences on your attention and keep the important things as the primary influences on your command and control. Be aware that in larger games especially, your area of operations may actually be synonymous with your area of interest. It may also be helpful to take a moment to consider the area of interest and area of operations of each of your individual elements. Also consider your mission. Each of the standard scenarios has its own set of criteria for completion--victory conditions. Give thought to these and consider how your deployment and maneuver should work towards obtaining those objectives. Many times, other objectives may also be involved, especially in tournaments and in narrative games and campaigns. In turn, decide early what tasks or missions you want each of your tactical elements to complete over the course of the battle. These individual tasks should be practical applications of your strategic concept and scheme of maneuver, taking your scheme of deployment into consideration. Consider at the same time which missions are related and the individual elements tasked with those missions. Patterns should readily manifest themselves. Once they do, use those patterns to develop relationships in order to better enable your tactical elements to accomplish their missions. For example, you decide you want to tie up an enemy element with a bus of Swordsmen, while you want to demolish an adjacent enemy element with your Greatswords. It may be wise in that situation to attempt to deploy each across from its respective target and then move those elements in such a way as to increase the probability of those elements making contact with their respective enemy targets. You don't want to have your Greatswords slogging across the entire battlefield only to show up, too little too late. Of course, that's an extreme and limited example, but it should provide some imagination for seeing relationships between the mission or objective patterns of maneuver between elements within your force. Some of these relationships and patterns may have been completely intentional and planned prior to the game. If so, take these into consideration as well, but don't be too afraid to divorce from those relationships and patterns in order to serve the greater overarching strategic concept. B.) Mission: Next, consider the mission. You've already done this to a certain extent. The point here is to make explicit the correlations between your strategic concept, scheme of deployment, and scheme of maneuver and the victory conditions of the battle. These correlations should present themselves naturally and obviously. If you find yourself thinking for too long about this, you've probably been inconsistent in developing your maneuver and deployment schemes, or your force may not ultimately support your strategic concept. If you find this occurring more than once or twice hereafter, you probably need to revisit the way you're allowing your strategic concept to meaningfully inform your force organization and force maneuver. A good idea might be to write down your overall mission(s) and attach this with a paperclip or something to the front of your order of battle/army list. This will keep you thinking in terms of the main goal being the main goal! Keep this in front of you so that you actively allow it to inform your decisions. I can't tell you how often I've become so involved in destroying the enemy army, only to discover I've taken too long to get around to the main goal of taking and holding the Watchtower before the game ends, leaving my opponent with the victory despite me being up more than a thousand victory points! C.) Execution: This piece of the puzzle basically formalizes your intent to accomplish the mission and obtain the victory. Execution spells out HOW you intend to carry out your plan--the entirety of your strategic concept, scheme of deployment, and scheme of maneuver from start to finish. Remember, at this point you're still subject to your opponent's decisions, so stay flexible and be ready to adapt to the unfolding situation. In the United States Army, we use something called a FRAGO--a fragmentation order--that can modify or entirely change the unit's mission in the middle of our attempt to complete the mission we were previously given. Suddenly, we find ourselves directed towards an entirely different objective, and sometimes that means completely abandoning our current position, no matter how hard we just worked to dig in and fortify it! Don't be afraid to scrap your original intent as a battle develops in the event something happens unexpectedly and unfortunately. Nothing--or very little, at least--should really take you by surprise, if you've followed the process I've laid out, because you should have anticipated most, if not all, of your potential risks; and if you've anticipated risks and continued with your plan unchanged, you've decided that those risks are acceptable risks. Plan your scheme of mobility--where will your units move, and why will they move there? Consider counter mobility, too. Where are enemy elements located, what are their relationships to your own elements, and what are the possible lanes or patterns of mobility available to those enemy elements? Are any of those potentialities seriously threatening to your own elements and scheme of mobility? What contingencies are available to you to counter those enemy elements or block the possible lanes of mobility that pose significant threats? Consider your scheme for obscuring the battlefield. Which of your elements need to be screened from the enemy force, and how can you screen them? Are there other elements you can use to screen them, or can you use terrain as a screen? Think about your opponent's scheme for obscuring the battlefield. How is he or she doing so? More practically speaking, obscuring involves such things as the notorious "dog screen" in front of a unit of Skull Crushers, reforming units to pull them out of an enemy element's charge arc, or hiding a Heirotitan behind a building. Even things like Alith Anar's passive ability to give enemies -1 to hit or the Skaven Storm Banner should be incorporated into your scheme of obscuration. If you play closed-list games, a scheme of intelligence may be applicable. Since most players at least have access to information regarding the strategic and tactical options available to their opponents, we won't go into this too deeply; but consider how much familiarity you have with the enemy force and how much experience you have fighting that particular faction. Even if you have little or no knowledge of an enemy's force and playing a closed-list game, you can sometimes extrapolate a lot of information from experiences you've had against armies with similar strategic concepts. D.) Command and Control: Now, consider your command and control. The most important elements in your force for this piece of your scheme of maneuver will likely be your general and your BSB. Other characters, banners, and such may also be significant considerations. Often, your Battle Standard Bearer is actually more important than your general! Where does each need to be deployed? Where does each need to be in order to provide its unique capability to various portions of your force? As part of your scheme of maneuver, plan out when and where to move those command and control elements in order to best support your force by enabling it to perform its strategic concept to the best of its ability or to the greatest degree of efficiency, predictability, or reliability. 3. Now, I hope you can begin to see how your scheme of deployment is related so closely to your scheme of maneuver. Your scheme of deployment sets the maximum potential impact on the battle of each element, but it also sets the maximum potential impact on the battle of your entire force, since it delimits the impact of each element by setting its starting position! Your scheme of deployment can either enhance your scheme of maneuver or derail it altogether! Consider how your scheme of deployment delimits the maximum potential impact of your entire army on the enemy force.
|
|
|
Post by knoffles on Jul 12, 2018 7:18:05 GMT
POST 13 - WIP
Runic Combos & further list thoughts - by Knoffles
In this post, i'll talk about some of the most common runic combos you'll find and some of my favourites. I'll then expand on that with a few different runic weapon combos that are more fluffy but reasonably effective. I'll then raise a few additional thoughts about lists.
Its worth mentioning straight off the bat, that Dwarves are already an expensive elite army (much like delfs) so you will always be short (ha ha) on numbers. With so many sweet runes available it is all too easy to go crazy on them but it is best to use them for specific purposes, to enhance builds and characters, much like you would with any magic item. Itâs always worth asking, yes I can build that epic killer rune combo, but what could I take instead?
(Note: Ro = Rune of and MRo = Master Rune of)
Engineering Runes
The obvious place to start and one of the few places I will load up on them
Organ guns â to maximise their worth, I recommend always take an engineer with one. This costs 70pts and effectively is the same as taking a Ro Forging + Accuracy (which between them cost 50pts). So this gives you re-rolls to the artillery dice and +1 BS (to hit on a 3+ at short range or 4+ at long) and effectively a hero level model for 20pts. This is the only warmachine where it is cost effective to get an engineer for. Itâs worth noting that the engineer also allows you to put the gun into hard cover (in a similar way to MRo Disguise (25pts) so you could argue you are getting a 5pt saving on runes taking him!
Then you can give the organ gun a rune of accuracy (so it hits on a 2+ short and 3+ long). That is gold.
For something different to the Ro Accuracy, think about giving it a Ro Penetrating to give it S6 AP hits (-4 to armour baby!). I'd only do this if you are taking the Engineer though.
Grudge Throwers â again you should consider Ro Accuracy (re-roll scatter), Forging (re-roll artillery) and Penetrating (for +1 S). However this does makes it reasonable expensive (170pts).
If you want to save points, Iâd drop forging as the misfire table is more forgiving (though I appreciate that other players would drop accuracy for forging). The rune of penetrating I'd consider compulsory.
It's worth considering taking the second Ro Penetrating for 10pts (instead of forging) as it will allow you a one use re-roll of a failed wound. How many times have you rolled a 1 to wound with a cannon on a crucial turn and wished you had this ability!
A reasonable 'trick' with the thrower (probably if you are only taking a single warmachine and works equally well with a cannon) is to place it on the opposite flank to your main force, with a small guard of 10 quarrellers. Then slap whatever runes on it and a MRo of Immolation. Its range is such that it will still reach most of the board and the quarrellers will mean that your opponent wonât be able to just send a unit of dark riders (or equivalent chaff) to deal with it and will have to divert something more substantial. If they do make it past the bodyguard you then explode the thrower (hopefully) killing off the attacker. Iâm not normally a fan of sacrificing things but this always makes me giggle. If you do it once then there is a good chance if you repeat the deployment in the next game, that the opponent will assume you are doing it again and avoid it. Play with their minds!
Flame Cannon â Forging is compulsory with this machine, as the black powder chart with this machine is particularly nasty if you supercharge it (and you will!). Note. an Engineer does allow this artillery dice to be re-rolled but not the distance the flame template moves (though Grimm Burlocksson does give you the re-roll ability). A Ro Penetrating to give it S6 is also filthy.
Cannon - Pretty much Forging is the way to go. Occasionally add the Ro Burning. This is a double edged sword though as although itâs good for regen removal, too many filthy characters have the dragonbane gem, to provide almost immunity to anything with flaming attacks. Iâll take burning it if I have a number of warmachines but not if you only have the single cannon.
Bolt Throwers - Dwarf BS is so poor that a Ro Accuracy is compulsory for the +1 to hit. Flakkson's Ro Seeking is also worth considering for a further +1 to hit vs flyers for 'only' 15pts (these two runes take it to 95pts). With a base strength of 6, it's also worth considering a Ro Penetrating, though this makes the thrower 135pts (with the other two runes) and for 10pts more you can get a cannon. This is one warmachine that has really suffered with the removal of the cheap engineer and the improvements to cannons in this edition.
LORDS
Dwarf Lord
Always take shield bearers. For +2 to armour and +2 wounds and +2 WS5 S4 attacks for 40pts, there is no reason not to (and he also displaces 2 rank and file models meaning less vulnerable troops for the opponent to attack). So the question becomes what do you give him?
There are a number of options and the first question to ask is do you rune him for defense or attack?
Defensive Builds
In the main defensive builds ignore weapon runes and give the lord a great weapon for S6.
The most obvious place to start is with the unkillable lord, 1*Ro fortitude, 2*Ro Iron and 3*Ro Warding. With the shield bearers, this gives you T7, 6 wounds a 2+ save and 4++ ward with 4* WS7 S6 attacks. Yes he is tough but he costs 316pts! This is an extreme defensive build and i'd likely never take the Ro Fortitude as it is pricey for what it brings.
For a cheaper option, consider: 2*Ro Fortitude and 1*Ro Preservation + Great weapon. He has the same damage output but âonlyâ T6, 5 wounds, 2+ save and a 5++ ward. As a bonus, he gets a 2++ ward vs all killing blow (+ heroic KB). This build is 50pts less (266pts) and I think the protection vs KB is the most important aspect of it.
Offensive runic builds
Here we will look at weapon combos. Its worth noting that taking a magic weapon allows you to equip a shield so it's easy to get a 1+ armour save if mounted on the shieldbearers.
Dwarf lords really suffer by only having S4. It means it's hard to wound most infantry on better than a 4+ and is almost impossible to get through any reasonable armour save! This means that in any magic weapon builds you almost always have to take the Ro Might as your first choice. This at least means that you will hit anything with a T5 or greater at S8 (and at a -5 to armour). However vs anything with a T4 or less you strike at S4 and with -1 to armour, which is frankly poor.
A good way round this is to give him 2*Ro Cleaving for +1S and AP. This not only means that you will hit at S5 base (and -3 to armour) but combined with the Ro Might, your Str vs T5 opponents, jumps to S10 (and -7 to armour)! This comes to 60pts so still allows 65pts of defensive runes (again I like 1*Ro Preservation to protect against KB and perhaps 1*Ro Fortitude for T6). This build still comes in at 314pts and gives you 5pts left to spend so perhaps a Ro Furnace (basically a dragonbane gem).
A Ro Smiting, Ro might, & Ro speed (90pts) is a great option for taking on both characters and monstrous infantry as it causes D6 wounds, double S vs T5 and gives +1iniative (so it takes the lord to I5) while leaving 35pts for defensive runes (just enough for a Ro Fortitude for +1T).
I love the dwarf lord but it's worth noting that you can get 28 great weapon warriors with full command for the same cost as a fully tooled up one!
Slayer Lord & Hero
I've lumped these together as both are similar in so far as can only take weapon runes and have the same weaknesses. The only difference is the value of runes they can take.
With the lack of armour, offense becomes pretty key for him so MRo swiftness for ASF is probably the primary rune to take. The other runes are down to personal preference. Some swear on the Ro parrying (basically mark of nurgle) to help protect him. Ro Might for the Str boost isnât bad as he also suffers from S4. (On the lord, this comes in at 215pts â 140 + 75). You could potentially pass on this last rune though, as most monsters donât have a good save and he always wounds on a 4+ but with M3, most monsters will avoid him so you have to kit him out to take on high armour foe!
I quite like the MRo Swiftness and 2*Ro Cleaving. This comes in at 60pts and so on a lord model, in total, comes in at a nice round 200pts. That isnât badly priced.
I could also see myself trying 3* Ro Cleaving for a bit more of a fluffy build, for AP, +1S and KB
I would always put a lord in a slayer unit, else he will become a pin cushion.
HEROES
Thanes
The cheap option is MRo Gromril (30pts for a 1+ save) and a great weapon. Hits hard and is well protected. Combined with an oathstone you get the standard loadout for putting in an Ironbreaker unit and his Str 6 helps offset their S4. Seriously consider a Ro Iron (especially if you are mounting him on an oathstone), to take him up to 3 wounds. This makes a big difference on a hero character and makes him as good as many other races lord level characters. Again Ro Preservation can also be added (I face a lot of KB in my meta, bloody executioners, hence I squeeze this in as much as possible!) This build only costs 146pts (without oath stone).
Runesmiths
These guys are there to support your units with AP and anti-magic with channelling and dispelling. They also only have 2 attacks as standard. As such they should normally be kitted for defence.
Shield and Ro Stone will give them a 2+ save and parry (60+5+3 = 68pts). Then a compulsory Ro Spellbreaking (I normally take only one per runesmith, as I hate paying 25pts for only a 50% chance of removing a spell). This makes him 93pts.
That said, spending the additional 25pts to potentially remove a game changing, dwarf army destroyer such as Purple Sun, could be
If a Runesmith is my general, I nearly always give him 1* Ro Striking for +1 WS (it takes him to WS6). It only costs 10 points and ensures most non-lord foes will only hit him on a 4+ and gives him magical attacks for ethereal foes.
This build also gives you 35pts left to spend, handily, just enough for the fiery ring of Thori (breath weapon â 2D6 S4 flaming attacks in combat, because itâs unlikely youâll ever use it as a template).
Engineers
Cheap is best with these guys. A Ro Stone for 5pts. Perhaps a pistol for an extra attack when on guard duty (70+5+6 = 81pts).
The pisser is you canât take heirlooms as heâd be a prime candidate for fiery ring. You could take the double rune of fire (50pts) on his weapon though.
Banner Runes
I used to go all out on Master Runes but now I try and keep them to a minimum as they cost a considerable amount.
MRo Valaya â Itâs good to allow you to always dispel on a +4 (so you negate most other armies level 4 advantage) but it costs 65pts! For 15pts more you can take another Gyrocoptor (a much better investment). I now ignore this one. You still get a +2 to dispel (and you canât lose concentration so ALWAYS get +2 unlike other armies). Iâve found the difference between +4 and +2 isnât that great in the long run, especially if opponents are chucking large numbers of dice at things.
MRo Grungi â Again many players swear by it as it gives the BSB a 4++ ward and other units within 6â a 5++ ward vs shooting. Again I always used to take it but find it too conditional. It can be worthwhile if taking a large unit of slayers and can help vs counter battery fire but 5++ only gives you a 1/3 chance of stopping that cannon killing yours and you must ensure careful placement to make the best use of it. It is definitely worth taking in a strollaz list, as it gives the bsb protection whilst allowing him to give strollaz to a warrior unit.
MRo Groth One Eye â this is the money shot. 12â stubborn bubble is fecking awesome. It is almost always placed on hammerers and I like having MSU shooters (or irondrakes) next to the hammerers and slightly forward to take advantage of the stubborn. When opponents hit your small unit expecting to blow through them, stubborn (and shield wall) inevitably means they stick around allowing the hammerers to counter charge!
Iâve seen a number of people take units of 10-14 hammerers with this banner and place it behind their lines (sometimes with a MRo Grungni BSB) to give complete support bubble protection, rather than use them as a combat unit.
Other banner Runes to consider
Ro Slowness â Almost compulsory on Irondrakes to ensure you get another shot or two off. Iâve also seen it used very effectively on hammerers with the silver horn of vengeance (though itâs hard to pull this off).
Strollaz Rune â epic rune for melee lists. You really need to take 2 units of rangers so you can block opponents vanguard moves as if they get them off, you will likely have wasted the points as it will block your vanguard!
Ro Stoicism â Gives a unit stubborn â another fucking epic rune. Take it on everything that doesnât have strollaz or stubborn already
Ro Sanctuary â only exists for one purpose, to avoid the rule of pride when taking the above two runes
Couple of other things to raise about dwarves
CORE â If you are taking Great weapon longbeards, consider Great weapon warriors instead. 30 warriors with full command is 330pts vs 450pts for Greatbeards. In an army that struggles for bodies, it makes a big difference.
Minimum unit size â hand weapon and shield armed troops should be 25 at minimum and Great weapon 30. This allows the units to maintain combat effectiveness for longer (especially as GW troops only have a 5+ save!)
Ambush list â As an alternative to a strollaz list (and for fun) consider, 40 Longbeards with strollaz, 40 Rangers and 40 Miners. Sprinkle with gyroâs and heroes.
|
|
|
Post by Horace on Jul 13, 2018 10:23:40 GMT
Those Organ Gun stats are interesting. I always opted for Forging but it seems Accuracy is marginally better if you are trying to cheap out.
The Rare options for Dwarfs are really awesome! I can't wait to get my Bugman's Rangers painted up and give them a whirl. I absolutely love Flame Cannon's or anything along those lines which drop templates. I should love the Bomber but I completely agree with your assessment. I might give it another go at some point.
Irondrakes are a unit I have never used simply because of 1 reason: I hate the models. I really want to use these though, I like the concept and the rules are awesome. I am slightly considering trying to convert the GW models or something since decent alternatives are also lacking.
|
|