Herman slouched on his throne. Dejected, apathaetic, demoralized. Due to the countless ork and dark elf raids the population of his clan had dropped by almost 20%. Trade was almost impossible with the raiding bands of beastmen and now his son, Sherman, gives his news of a recent defeat at the hands of a marauding ogre troop.

What had happened? What had knocked one of the most lucrative and strongest clans in dwarven history? Herman heard worrying explosision down the hall, follwed by the boom of what once was a flame cannon slamming into the celing and a series of muttered curses: his engineering son, Berman, must be experimenting .....

That was it.

The use of blackpowder and strange magics was to blame. Befriending the feeble elves and forces of Hashut were to blame. Herman was inspired. He immediatly called his war council and laid plans for an immediate counter attack, taking back all the lands confiscated and sending out daring expeditions to retrive some of the clans lost treasure. No more black powered, only the tools his great grandfather, Kerman had used to forge his once grand empire.

Dwarves
Lords
Kerman Moonfist – The Blade of shining Death, light armour – Master rune of Gromril –228

Heroes
Runesmith – Hand weapon, Gromril armour, shield, Master rune of Balance – 130

Core
19 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 186

19 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 186

20 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 195

20 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 195

10 Miners – Great weapon, heavy armour – 120

10 Rangers – Great weapon, heavy armour – 120

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour – 120

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour – 120

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour – 120

Special
2 Bolt Throwers – 90

2 Bolt Throwers – 90

2 Bolt Throwers – 90


Total = 2000 Models = 147 Dispel = 6

I must admit, I do like traditional dwarf armies. Here's a few suggestions for you.

Swap two bolt throwers for a stone thrower, if only for variations sake.

Drop a unit of crossbowmen, and equip the other two units with shields and a unit or two of warriors with great weapons.

Drop a unit of crossbowmen and a unit of warriors, and get a unit of Longbeards. It would make sense to have a unit of grumpy, grumbling traditionalists when the army is a traditional one!

And also, only two characters? :blink:

Cheers,
DLJ

I agree with all DJL's suggestions, especially the longbeards.

I would have thought that you would have given your lord the master rune of spite or the two runes that give him a 5+ ward. You seriosly don't want to be going into a 2000pt battle with only a 1+armour save. when most players would take a no armour weapon.

I agree alot with the DJL's comment on the lack of characters. I would drop the rangers or miners to make way for a Thane.

One comment on the lord... shouldn't his name (on the army list) be Herman not Kerman (I am a perfectionist).

Hmm.... I shall add the longbeards, however I don't like them as they are very offensive, as an enemy charging them will slaughter them. I hate dwarves with great weapons .... but it would be terribly fluffy to have them. Another idea I had (inspired by the guy who said I shoulld have a thane) is to have a ABSB with the master rune of stromnired beard, giving my line some staying and winning power.

Do you like the whole look of the army thought? Looooads of dwarves on the front line covered by 30(!) crossbowmen an 6 bolt throwers? The winning tactic is to get the miners and rangers to counter chanrge in the flank. If I do get some long beards I will get my dwarf lord to always strike first to defend the unit from knights.

JD

The list is ok, but a bit too shooty for my tastes. Also both the miners and rangers? I'd use one or the other, then use the extra pts for combat units. Like it's been said you lack in combat prowlless, and GW armed dwarves rock. Really, S5 core troops costing 11pts each? And you say no.... :huh:

I agree with more characters, maybe an extra runesmith and a thane. The runesmith would be better off with a couple RoSpellbreaking, you lack that ability (don't always trust DD to do the job). And the thane as either a combat thane or a BSB. If your going for more misile based, then I'd suggest a BSB. The chance for the units to stay longer and the abilites from the runes makes him quite invaluable, but combat I'd go for well either... The BSB will again keep them in battle, whilst the Thane will add to the kills. As for how to arm him, I'd say the "Thane Of Pain" is always a good choice (GA, Shield, MRoSwiftness, RoCleaving, RoStone) and in the LBs he should knock a few down first. On a side note, never used it but I don't really like the BoSD. Seems ok, but not dwarfish enough for me (ie not an axe or hammer ;) )

I also think dropping two BT is a good choice, adding a ST will give you something capable of cause havoc among block formations or even cav, whack on the RoAccuracy and RoPenetrating and you have something that's capable of kiling even large targets.

Or you could add the RoSlowness to the banner, this will leave them within your charge range. Thus next turn you use the GW and strike first (via charging), and WS5, S6 dwarves are ntohing to say no too.

Aha, the rune of slowness! I forgot about that! I did once give that to a unit of logbnbeards and it worked terribly well (against some plauge monks) .... just I have not played with ym dwarves for a long time (I am too used to empire!).

I now feel terribly insuccure if I have less than 130 models in my army and a whole load of core ... maybe it's best I drop the lord and 2 bolt throwers .... but only 4 bolt throwers? I must get rid of all these empirical ideas ...

Here is the updated list:

Herman slouched on his throne. Dejected, apathetic, demoralized. Due to the countless Ork and dark elf raids the population of his clan had dropped by almost 20%. Trade was almost impossible with the raiding bands of beastmen and now his son, Sherman, gives his news of a recent defeat at the hands of a marauding ogre troop.

What had happened? What had knocked one of the most lucrative and strongest clans in Dwarven history? Herman heard worrying explosion down the hall, followed by the boom of what once was a flame cannon slamming into the ceiling and a series of muttered curses: his engineering son, Berman, must be experimenting .....

That was it.

The use of blackpowder and strange magic was to blame. Befriending the feeble elves and forces of Hashut were to blame. Herman was inspired. He immediately called his war council and laid plans for an immediate counter attack, taking back all the lands confiscated and sending out daring expeditions to retrieve some of the clans lost treasure. No more black powder, only the tools his great grandfather, Kerman, had used to forge his once grand empire.

Theme: Horde, defensive, expendable unit, hideous amounts of bolts.

Concepts: Old fashioned, flank attacks, crouching ranger/hidden miner.

Possible ideas: A unit of longbeards, adding a thane w/ ABSB & MRSRB.

Rating out of 10??

Dwarves

Heroes
Runesmith – Hand weapon, Gromril armour, shield, Master rune of Balance – 130

Thane – Great weapon, light armour – Master rune of Gromril, Run of resistance – 109

Core
19 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 186

20 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 195

20 Dwarf Warriors – Hand weapon, heavy armour, shield, standard, musician – 195

10 Miners – Great weapon, heavy armour – 120

10 Rangers – Great weapon, heavy armour – 120

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour, shields – 130

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour, shields – 130

10 Crossbowmen – Crossbows, light armour, shields – 130

Special
19 Ironbreakers – Hand weapons, Gromril armour, shields, standard, musician, Rune of Battle – 290

2 Bolt Throwers – 90

2 Bolt Throwers – 90

2 Bolt Throwers – 90


Total – 2005 Models – 147 Dispel – 6

Artillery – 6 Bolt throwers, 30 crossbows

Combat Characters/units – Not much L

I like the list and the fluff... here's my critique:

- correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Rangers come with light armour, not heavy armour. ^_^
- I would suggest 2 dispel scrolls over the Master Rune of Balance. ispel dice always have a chance of failing and you will almost always want that one or two spell to just go away :D
- definitely a BSB would help in a defensive army but not sorely needed - I think you have enough characters. I play the same way too - more units is better than more characters.
- I wouldn't worry about giving your general a ward-save. I don't think many opponents are crazy enough to charge a character leading a block of hardy dwarves -esp. Iron Breakers. I suggest giving him an item that would enhance his combat prowess and give the Iron Breakers more hitting power instead.
- have you considered giving one of your bolt thrower a Rune of Penetrating? I don't know about your gaming community but in mine, there's a lot of players who love fielding chariots. ;)

Rating: 9/10 (just 'cuz it doesn't have my favourite unit - the Flame Cannon!) hehe.

U dropped ur lord? the one ur fluff centered around? ic
also....yeah rangers have light armour
i thought u were gonna give the rune of slowness to some longbeards? i just wanna c why u decided to take ironbreakers instead...i have a unit of ironbreakers and i am contemplating getting some longbeards.

I find that Ironbreakers can survive almost anything on their own without the aid of a magical banner. To field longbeards effectivly you need to give them the rune of slowness, or even the charge of some Knights Errant will break them 8/10 times. Ironbreakers are what I have always used and what I wiull always use. All the dwarf elites are excellent and I want to take them all, but this army is meant to be a horde one and I needed a cheap shck troop, so Ironbreakers are perfect.

Good point, I shouldn't have dropped the Lord .... I lurve my Herman Moonfist! I have used him in countless battles! Countless campains! Yes, he shall come back, however with cheapened down wargear.

How about I just drop the rune smith and get a Dwarf lord and a battle standard thane? Or get rid of the rune smiths wargear or just tone down some units so I can afford him? I am coming to the final version of this army that I will collect, so nothing in the army is going to be changed apart from the disposable point to upgrade my charcters.

Yeah, the one reason why i would keep the runesmith would be the extra disepl dice, 4 is nice but 5 is better and it could make a world of difference depending who ur fighting, like if they were magic loaded or not really