Tactica: 8th ed Dwarfs

[warplock]

Kragg IS a master rune, so no.

But it...I... *checks book*
Thank you, I stand corrected.
I really must check before posting

[Xerkics]

Yes what dwarfs really need is d3 wounds non master rune like lizardmen have on one of their weapons.

[DarthV]

Apologies if this seems like I'm hijacking any conversations, I don't mean to!

I've recently picked up the hobby again after years and years out. I've had dwarfs before but never actually played them competitively I just always loved the army and it's feel.

I have bought the following for now to get started on:

1x Batallion
10x Iron breakers (will be bigger but just to get started on them)
1x Dwarf Lord

Is this a reasonable base to build off? What's the best route to take if I am to look for a solid combat force that is going to hammer you at a distance beforehand. I am assuming lots of warriors backed up by organ guns and thunderers.

Might buy another warriors box and make the batallion units slightly larger? Worth it?

[Xerkics]

I would hold off buying any metal dwarfs till thry redo the army book stick to the plastics slayers are quite good from avatars of war

[Tuttivillus]

I would hold off buying any metal dwarfs till thry redo the army book stick to the plastics slayers are quite good from avatars of war

Unless someone likes them ofc. Me for instance love Ironbreakers, 6th.ed. thunderers, miners and longbeards. Seeing what they did with plastic in last edition I got chills. Basically they devasted one of the best miniature rangews IMO :/ . And getting them now will see You getting them cheaper before they will be Finecashed (it is a trend now, right. See DE price differance for exemple).

@DarthV:
It is a good start. Buying another box of Warriors will give You solid base of hard-hitting and quite resilent troops and if you horde them they will crack some nuts . Consider putting Your hands on Runesmith too, he is worth it.

[Xerkics]

I like metal longbeards but other than that i dont really like old metal monopose dwarfs.

[GrandmasterWang]

I think its a great start. I love the metal ironbreaker models.

For the start, try runing 2 units of 5 ironbreakers to get in the way of stuff

[DarthV]

Thank you all for the responses, I think I agree on the solid line of warriors and that will be my next purchase along with a Runesmith. I was looking through the lists last night and felt I should get one of those next too. What would be some advisable load outs for him though? As somebody who has never actually played with them, I could make some fatal mistakes..!

I might try running out two units of 5 Ironbreakers yeah, would that even be worth trying though? To be honest it does seem rather minimal/expensive for that sort of use? Would a strong unit of them not be more valuable option as far as causing damage and holding things up?

[Tuttivillus]

Thank you all for the responses, I think I agree on the solid line of warriors and that will be my next purchase along with a Runesmith. I was looking through the lists last night and felt I should get one of those next too. What would be some advisable load outs for him though? As somebody who has never actually played with them, I could make some fatal mistakes..!

I might try running out two units of 5 Ironbreakers yeah, would that even be worth trying though? To be honest it does seem rather minimal/expensive for that sort of use? Would a strong unit of them not be more valuable option as far as causing damage and holding things up?

As to Runesmith - Master run e of balance for maximalizing his dispell power, shield, Rune of stone and something of your choice to make him more survivable i guess.
As to 5 ironbreakers - I think that GrandmasterWang meant 5 Ironbreakers in a line to hold stuff, adding cheapish banner with stubborn on 4+ and considering their armour save will give them solid chance of holdig Your warriors save from being flank attacked or give You some more time to shoot stuff for example.

[GrandmasterWang]

What tuttivillas said. 5 ironbreakers take up very little room and I have even had this little 65 pt unit break and rundown 4 times their pts worth of spearmen.

Basically these little 5 man drops help you control deployment which is crucial for dwarfs and they make good fast cav blockers. Basically, if they annoy your opponent even a bit they are doing well.

Sometimes I run a 25 strong unit of ironbreakers with a thane w/great weapon. I call this unit "the anvil". More than a few fearsome charges have bounced off their shieldwall with a new respect for dwarven durability.

Re: the runesmith, one build that has done very well for me (in my troop heavy lists). Is a smith with mr of balance and a dispell rune . This is a magic lite defence and is only 145 pts, enabling you to get more bodies on the table. He needs protecting obviously but this guy causes a 3 dice magic swing (enemy loses 1 power, you get 2 dispel) and has 1 dispel scroll. For the price of a dwarf lord he can really dampen an enemy wizards plans at a fraction of the cost. Basically, a lightweight punching well above his weight in the magic phase. Keep him away from combat and snipes though

[D6Damager]

Thunderers are not as good as strength runed grudge throwers, which just wreck ranked units, so often dwarven armies are pared down to the most efficient choices; artillery to thin down the masses and kill monsters, and all great-weapon infantry.

If you want massed shooting, a crossbow/great weapon horde would serve you better in an all rounder list.

Seriously, take both grudge thrower and crossbows/great weapons. Quarrellers with axes in units of 20 (2 ranks of 10) with a musician are awesome on the flanks. That extra range on the crossbows really makes a difference between some enemies being able to dance out of range and wait out the destruction of your warmachines with spells or their own artillery etc... which is the bane of the all gunline dwarf army. Once your artillery is down so is the majority of your heavy hitting. Axe wielding dwarfs can do light mop up duty too.

[cornonthecob]

Hey guys, I'm trying my dwarfs in a different way and wanted to know if it was feasable.

I'm thinking 1 horde (hammerers) , two units of 25 strong H/S dwarfs , two 20 strong units of Quarrelers/Thunderers, one ten strong unit of rangers with throwing axes, two cannons , a Organ gun.

I'm just a bit down that all everyone seems to say is 'Horde Gw Warriors/Hammers overload on artillery and your done !'

Also , the Gyrocopter, is it feasible ? I know the flame cannon has range issues but what about the other rare choice ?

[Godswildcard]

Ok, hypothetical:
Say you are a new dwarf player, and you decided that since you love the models so much that you are going to plunk down the cash on a unit of 30 'special' dwarfs when gathering a new army. So would you purchase...
A) 30 Ironbreakers w/ command
B) 30 Hammerers w/ Command
C) 30 Longbeards w/ command

I'm just dreaming of armies right now, and I'm trying to figure out what a useful unit is that I could buy but wouldn't be a total waste of money. My favorite of the above is the Longbeards... I just love those models, and I like the idea of a LOT of core choices, but if they're useless in game, I'd rather spend the $121.20 (after FLGS discount) on a more useful unit, either the Hammerers or the Ironbreakers. I'm ok with a unit that is just 'ok' so long as the models are good, but I'm trying to avoid 'LOL bad'. Thoughts?

And no, I do not want to convert them out of the box warriors. I'm doing this for love of the models, not for what is most wallet-friendly.

[jet_palero]

Longbeards are great, but you can just paint vanilla warriors with white beards.

Hammerers are my preference over iron breakers. Ibs just aren't as killy, and they cost too much to tarpit imo. But that doesn't mean they're bad.

[Luigi]

What tuttivillas said. 5 ironbreakers take up very little room and I have even had this little 65 pt unit break and rundown 4 times their pts worth of spearmen.

Basically these little 5 man drops help you control deployment which is crucial for dwarfs and they make good fast cav blockers. Basically, if they annoy your opponent even a bit they are doing well.

This seems extremely interesting, I'm guessing no comand/rune upgrades for them.
Do you limit your self to one of such mini-units or do you field more?

[Godswildcard]

to paraphrase Maximus " I want to give them something they've never seen before"

There aren't many dwarf players around my area these days, but the few that are play fairly strict Gunlines. I'm wanting to shake things up a bit and win while doing it. That said, build me an army worthy of Karak-Kadrin! Here are some of my thoughts (I'm a new Dwarf Player, so keep in mind I'm not sure if this will work)

1x unkillable lord in a block of Ironguard. Find the Deathstars, lock them down. Lord challenges and can't be killed, Ironguard die as slowly as possible.
1x Big block of Rangers. Threaten the opponent from turn one. Must be dealt with. (upgrades for these guys? Should they be longbeards? Throwing axes? Quarllers?
1x Magic denial rune lord. Keep the magic phase as tight as possible. I like the 125 point combo listed above
2x Gyrocopters for warmachine/IC/target of opportunity hunting
2x tooled up grudge throwers
1x Organ gun
1x Cannon (getting a little to heavy on the warmachines here...)
2x Blocks of warriors w/ great weapons. Hard Hittin Dwarfy goodness. Protect those war machines, flank as possible!
2x 10 miners. Pop up somwhere on the board just to mess with stuff!

and since I'm at 5000000 points, I'd like some doom seekers. Seriously, how awesome would doomseekers be at protecting flanks and warmachines! GW, make me some Doomseekers in the next book!!!!!

Hyper a bit, but you get the idea. Trying for a fast, unpredictable list that isn't seen much but can still do damage. How would you guys accomplish this?

[Godswildcard]

So I'm looking throught the book that I finally got, and I'm struck by the expense of characters. I'm looking at running a dwarf lord, rune lord, thane BSB and a Killy RoBrotherhood thane.

Is it possible to kit out lords for bot surviving and fighting, or do I pretty much choose one or the other?

What would you guys think about taking the Strollaz rune, the rune of challenge, and then kitting up a dwarf lord on shieldbearers to take on the unkillable Tzeentch lord? I'm picturing this:
Lord w/ shieldbearers, 2x RoSnorri Spanglehelm, RoMight, MRoSpite in a unit of hammerers. Use Strollaz to move up, then target the Tzeentch lord with RoChallenge (not sure where to put this yet). To pull him out of position, then try and figure out a way to engage or shoot the thing to death. Any way this could work?

[amysrevenge]

You're taking one more character than I do, and 2 more than most people seem to. I take one anti-magic smith/lord, one fighty brotherhood thane/lord and one BSB. Most people drop the fighty guy and just go with a Runelord and a BSB.

[Godswildcard]

Runic standard or Armour on the BSB?

[amysrevenge]

I usually do Strollaz, which is generally considered an acceptable second-best to the 1+ armour build.