After playing HE for quite a while, i decided that i wanted a second army for variety. I considered Tzeentch chaos, undead, and dwarfs, and i have finally settled for dwarfs. So, what should i get? I have got the army book, and i have decided to theme my army around an army that relies on combat much more than shooting, and ive decided only to throw in the occasional shooting unit. My thoughts for an army are roughly:

A strong combat Lord with alot of runes
A runesmith for magic defense
A thane bsb (no magic banner though)
2 or 3 warrior units
Longbeards as a bodyguard for the lord (the coolest dwarf models IMO, and im not a huge fan of the hammerers, and i downright hate the ironbreakers)
A unit or two of thunderers (no crossbowmen, hate the models)
A cannon or two

Thats basically what i want, but i need some help fine-tuning. Also, i have one rules question im unsure about: if a character has a great weapon and uses weapon runes, does he still retain the abilites of the GW, ie would a rune of cleaving+great weapon+ +3 strength? Thanks for any help.

Good choice to take dwarfs :thumb: ^_^

as answer on your question no, if you put a rune on a gw, all the rules will be gone, no 2-handed, no +2 strenght, no always strike last

I know you dont like hammerers but if you want a bodygaurd for you're lord I would take hammerers, just because the bodygaurd rule

and you dont always need a runesmith, agianst non-magic armies it would be a waste of points but if you take 2 units of thunders and 2 cannons, you are quite shootie I must say, if you drop a unit of thunderers for slayers to protect the flanks it would be better ^_^

anyway, I wish you luck with your dwarfs B)