Dwarves

[rgtriplec]

This the list from VC's tutorial on Reaper Games and the others from the thread it spawned.

 

Dwarves - 999 points

Troop 1

Herryk Aesir, High Cleric

Book of Tactics

Durgam Deepmug

Mithril Armor

Hammer of the Mountain God

Margara Firetongue

Piercer x 3

Warrior x 3

Swiftaxe x 4

Halberdier x 2

 

Troop 2

Abjorn Hofkeg, Miner

Gilam, Rune Spelunker

Miner x 4

Musician

 

Troop 3

Griffon

 

Luck Stone

 

 

We have graduated from 1,000 point games to 1,500 point games here in Tulsa. But, I have two different lists that have different play styles. I'll let you decide how to use them properly.

 

Army 1

King Thorgram Grimsteel + Magic Weapon + Mithril Armor

Ivar Silverfist

Durgam Deepmug + Magic Weapon

7 Shieldmaidens

5 Halberdiers + Musician + Standard Bearer

 

Stone Spirit

 

Tohil Steadyhand

4 Piercers

Musician

 

Griffon

 

Abjorn Hofkeg + Armor of Courage

6 Miners + Musician + Standard Bearer

 

Totals: 1,498 Points, 29 Models, 5 Troops, 6 Init Cards, 1 Spy

 

 

Army 2

Abjorn Hofkeg

Gilam, Rune Spelunker

4 Miners + Musician + Standard Bearer

 

Snorri Oathbreaker

 

Tohil Steadyhand

Kara Foehunter

4 Piercers + Musician

 

Annasha Tomebreaker

 

Durin Pathfinder

Klaus Copperthumb

4 Pathfinders + Musician + Standard Bearer

 

Griffon

 

Ursula, Bear Rider

Durthen, Boarmaster

4 Bear Riders + Musician + Standard Bearer

 

Earth Elemental

 

Luck Stone

 

Totals: 1,498 Points, 28 Models, 8 Troops, 8 Init Cards, 2 Spies

 

 

Enjoy!!

 

Wild Bill

 

There are three primary factors to building any Warlord army: meat, mobility and engagement.

 

I disregard attack factors because they're pretty comparable across all armies.

 

Meat: The ability of your army to soak up damage. This is primarily a combination of damage tracks/point cost and DV. It is important to pack as much meat into your army as you can get.

 

Mobility: The ability to get where you want to go. The obvious way to get that is with models that have a high MOV. A less obvious way - and more effective, I believe, is to have lots of models on the map.

 

Engagement: The ability to hit your opponent when & where you want, on terms that you dictate. Ranged attacks (whether weapons, or magic, or whatever) are an important factor in dictating engagement. Dominating the range game is a primary means of engagement control. Dominance of the initiative deck is another important means of dictating engagement. Expendable troops are also very useful in dictating engagement.

 

When I begin building a Warlord army - any Warlord army - the first thing I consider are the soldiers and leaders that I want to have as the backbone of my army. You want the most cost-effective melee combined arms and ranged attacks that you can get. Generally speaking, those come from the cheapest troops on your list - and the dwarf army is no exception.

 

The best soldier buys on the dwarf list are the Mancatchers and the Halberdiers. They're excellent troops for the point cost. My Mercenary scrubs wish they were this good.

 

The only real ranged attacker on the dwarf list is the Piercers. They're reasonably competent for the points cost. Not quite as good a buy as the Merc crossbowmen that I usually use, but not bad.

 

Leaders: I look first for the cheapest ones. If you want to have a high card count in the initiative deck (who doesn't?), you'll have to have a captain or a warlord - and captains are cheaper. On the dwarf list, Fulumbar Ironhammer is the clear pick for that role. Valana, Forgemaiden is a solid melee sergeant. Tohil Steadyhand is a passable shooting sergeant.

 

Putting all that together, here is an optimized 1000 point dwarf list that (properly played) will dominate most other lists I've seen.

 

Troop 1: Fulumbar Ironhammer

Armor of Courage

4 mancatchers

6 halberdiers

unit standard

 

Troop 2: Valana Forgemaiden

Armor of Courage

2 mancatchers

4 halberdiers

unit standard

 

Troop 3: Valana Forgemaiden

Armor of Courage

2 mancatchers

4 halberdiers

unit standard

 

Troop 4: Valana Forgemaiden

Armor of Courage

2 mancatchers

4 halberdiers

unit standard

 

Troop 5: Tohil Steadyhand

3 piercers

 

Troop 6 Tohil Steadyhand

3 piercers

 

Troop 7: Luckstone. Always take it. Don't argue. It pays.

 

Giant Slayers doctrine. Love it.

 

Final tally: 6 initiative cards. 40 models. 8 shooters. 81 total damage tracks. It's got meat, it controls the map, it dictates terms of engagement.

 

It wins.

 

-Lionheart.

[ktyler09]

ok my first try at a Dwarf Army, let me know what you think.

 

I really like the Bear Calvary so I tried to fit them into the army.

 

Dwarves - 996 points

 

Troop 1

King Thorgram Grimsteel

Ivar Silverfist

Mancatcher x 3

Warrior x 2

Mithril Armor

 

Troop 2

Ursula, Bear Rider

Bear Rider x 3

Durthen, Boarmaster

 

Troop 3

Logrim Battlefury

Mancatcher x 3

Swiftaxe x 3

 

Troop 4

Earth Elemental

 

Troop 5

Luck Stone

[ktyler09]

anyone?

[spiritual_exorcist]

Alright Boys, considering throwing my lot in with the rest of you stumpy legged freaks. Assuming I do, I want a fairly small point army (say 1000) with as many of those bloody Elementals as I can get. Win or Lose I will have fun stomping those fellows around. (I guess I want at least 2 lesser and one stone spirit, plus I guess I need some decent healers to keep them going). Given this notion, can I make a decent army that will hold up in general?

 

Something like: (although I sure would like to make Aesir a mini elemental by giving him Mithril I can't see where I can scam the points, the troops are bare bones as it is in my mind)

 

Dwarves - 999 points

Troop 1

Swiftaxe x 3

Warrior x 3

Herryk Aesir, High Cleric

 

Troop 2

Warrior x 3

Gargram Heavyhand

Ivar Silverfist

Halberdier x 2

 

Troop 3

Tohil Steadyhand

Piercer x 3

 

Troop 4

Earth Elemental

 

Troop 5

Earth Elemental

 

Troop 6

Stone Spirit

 

Gee, two posts in like 1 day after not showing my face in this place in soooooo long, shock horror!

[ktyler09]

I like the idea you are going for. And that list looks good. I put together a similar list but 1 less LEsser Elemental and a troop of miners with a musician.

 

Play it a few times and let us know how it works out.

[Stubbdog]

As long as you are able to tie up models so that the elementals can work 1 on 1 with the enemy then this type of list works. The use of provoke on the warriors helps because even if the enemy is in btb with an elemental when you attack him he will stil have to use his defensive swings on them (assuming you hit of course).

 

The piercers force the enemy to make a choice between ganging up on the elementals or taking some across the board to your shooters. But, at the same time, for this particular list I am not sure if 3+sergeant might be too many. I might keep the sgt and 1 and swap the other two for more "tie up" models.

 

Herryk is the toughy on the list. With him you get a great healing caster and all the Warlord benefits. Without him you could take either:

 

1. the King (with his WA Bane for the entire troop) with Mithril Armor and trade the 3 swift axes for one Halberdier

 

or

 

2. Logrim, Margara and trade a swift 1 swift axe for luck stone and either armor of courage or book of tactician.

 

 

All three combos sound good to me for different circumstances.

[ktyler09]

As long as you are able to tie up models so that the elementals can work 1 on 1 with the enemy then this type of list works. The use of provoke on the warriors helps because even if the enemy is in btb with an elemental when you attack him he will stil have to use his defensive swings on them (assuming you hit of course).

 

The piercers force the enemy to make a choice between ganging up on the elementals or taking some across the board to your shooters. But, at the same time, for this particular list I am not sure if 3+sergeant might be too many. I might keep the sgt and 1 and swap the other two for more "tie up" models.

 

Herryk is the toughy on the list. With him you get a great healing caster and all the Warlord benefits. Without him you could take either:

 

1. the King (with his WA Bane for the entire troop) with Mithril Armor and trade the 3 swift axes for one Halberdier

 

or

 

2. Logrim, Margara and trade a swift 1 swift axe for luck stone and either armor of courage or book of tactician.

 

 

All three combos sound good to me for different circumstances.

 

Here is my list using elementals

 

Troop 1

King Thorgram Grimsteel

Mithril Armor

Ivar Silverfist

Mancatcher x 4

Warrior x 3

Swiftaxe x 4

 

Troop 2

Abjorn Hofkeg, Miner

Gilam, Rune Spelunker

Miner x 5

Musician

 

Troop 3

Stone Spirit

 

Troop 4

Earth Elemental

 

Troop 5

Luck Stone

[Stubbdog]

This one is what i call a one and a half trick list. If the trick works, then its a great very formidible list that will work quite impressively. If not, then you put yourself in a bad spot.

 

Obviously your trick is burrowing and to a point controlling when and where the combat will happen.

 

The Miners have a ranger 9 move which is great. It gets them started out a decent way towards the enemy. But, then they only have a move of 4 from that point on. If your opponent has any speed or simply forces your burrowers to go to one side or the other then you are now gonna be playing catch up the rest of the game.

 

So, in the end, even with the great ranger move you will most likely be forced to play a defensive game of letting the opponent run across the board to you and then try to attack from all sides instead of going to the opponent since you really wont have the speed, unless of course the opponent lets you...

 

I guess, it comes down to this list is a great list until the enemy figures out how to bring out the weakness of the burrowed speed.

[ktyler09]

Actually I gave them a musician so they have the same MOV as a normal Dwarf of 5" so I am not really losing anything by having them burrowed :)

 

Also I was planning on keeping the Elementals off the board until I wanted to summon them into the game with the burrowed caster.

 

Also dwarves are always going to be out manuevered since they have a 5" MOV all the time Well with the exeption of Bear Riders...

[HANZO]

Alright Boys, considering throwing my lot in with the rest of you stumpy legged freaks.

 

That made me LOL for real.

[spiritual_exorcist]

With the above list I am trying to break the general mold of most of my armies in that I usually focus on a huge number of troops, often neglecting Warlords, Elites, and Solos in favor of mass numbers. If I intend to start a new armyI want it to go against this trend.

 

Off the top of my head I included the 2 clerics just to keep the my stone boys alive. As to whether or not I would burrow, summon, or just tromp them across the board I suppose it would be largely situational. My real dislike in the army I posted was having to put all my piercers into a single troop, I love spreading them out in general so I can have firepower in every activation. That being said I felt forced to have them in a single troop as spreading them out would have diluted the number of melee soldiers in each activation to what I figure are probably ineffecive levels (as it stands I'm fairly unsure I have enough in the two melee oriented troops). But of course to field the 3 Elementals I need the 3 Leaders, so I can't afford to put a nice meaty troop of 10-12 onto the board.

 

As for playing a bit with the leaders, this isn't a problem, while I've got no Dwarf Soldier models, I have heaps of Character models, so there are plenty of options. Thanks Jason, I've got a little to think about, but leaders aside I think it is about as well rounded as I can get it without losing an Elemental, and that might defeat my purpose of go Solo heavy. Hmmm...now I just have to play a few games again...only been like a year or so...

[jlttrl93]

Hey guys, I'm new to the game and I was wondering if I could get some advice on the 1000 point army I put together. Right now it looks like this.

 

Dwarves-998 points

 

Troop 1

King Thorgram Grimsteel

Mithril Armor

Durgam Deepmug

Hammer of the Mountain God

Shieldmaiden x2

Warrio x2

 

Troop 2

Logrim Battlefury

Margara Firetongue

Mancatcher x2

Kneebreaker x3

 

Troop 3

Abjorn Hofkeg

Miner x3

 

Troop 4

Stone Spirit

 

Troop 1 is the main attack troop, used to deal most of the damage, quickly. Troop 2 is the support team, helping to fill in the empty spaces and distract the enemy. Troops 3 and 4 are the shock troopers, they help to cause a sort of confusion and panic, and can also deal with ranged opponents, seeing as I opted out of the piercers.

[rgtriplec]

I like the list. If it were me I'd exchange Logrim for Valana and Kara. Then I'd put Margara and Kara in the King's troop and Durgam in the second. That would give you a really strong backbone troop. IMO one of Margara's best spells is Barrage and with Kara's unhindered and pierce that is a great combo. The second troop is more of a diversion or nuisance and probably won't interest your opponent as much as the other. So it will probably be able to move about and flank without much concern, which may give you a better opportunity to drop Durgam's Earthquake.

[ktyler09]

Honestly after playing with them the troop of Miners will not be much of a threat with those numbers. I played with Leader, burrowing caster and Miners x5 with a musician. They did ok but I don't think they pulled their weight. The list I used with this is posted above. Here is the latest list I have been playing and I like it a lot.

 

Dwarves - 999 points

 

Troop 1

Logan Battlefury

Mithril Armor

Book of Tactics

Gilam, Rune Spelunker

Berserker x 3

Mancatcher x 4

Warrior x 2

Musician

 

Troop 2

Ursula, Bear Rider

Armor of Courage

Bear Rider x 3

 

Troop 3

Logrim Battlefury

Armor of Courage

Swiftaxe x 4

Kneebreaker x 2

Musician

 

 

Bear Riders are amazing and I don't think I will play Dwarves again with out them in my lists.

[Stubbdog]

The hard part of giving opinions about lists is that the answer is always, "it depends...". It depends on what type of game you are playing and who you are playing it against. Even if you are simply asking about a straight forward kill em all type of game, the opponent makes a huge difference on my opinions.

 

But, the main thing in my mind is that when you build a list, you need to know what your building your list around and maximize that aspect. Are you building the list around the Warlord's Ability? Are you building your list around a certain Special Ability? Are you building your list around a spell or two? It makes a difference.

 

RGT said he thinks Maragara's best spell is barrage. That is a nice spell indeed. Personally, I prefer using a combination of fireball, mindblast, and fiery hammer. But, a barrage capable Kara is obviously pretty nice too (especially if you give her a magic bow and then have her focus before shooting). See its all in the combos and how you can make them work together.

 

The stone spirit and his DR work awesome as long as you can keep him from getting surrounded. He is also almost impossible to kill with ranged weapons or magic. But if he is swarmed then he usually doesnt last long. So, if you are gonna take him then you also need to make sure you plan part of your army build around how to keep him from getting swarmed (once he surfaces).

 

Mancatchers are awesome with their disable. But, they dont do much good against models with 3 swings. So, again you have to plan accordingly and balance them with other models.

 

Yes, Bear riders are pretty darn awesome as well. Fast, powerful, and fearsome. But they also require the trade off of model count so you have to consider that in your list.

 

I think your list is a pretty good list to start with. Just make sure you take mental notes how things go for you during the game and tweak it as needed.