Great night at the Office!

[joshuaslater]

Well, after my whining and moaning in last weeks' thread, I have some excellent results. I followed my fellow Warlord enthusiast's advice, and BEAT the Dwarves!!!!

 

Like an idiot, my digital camera, fully charged, sat on the game table and was not utilized. Pics will start soon as the paint flows. I'm really making progress on my force.

 

 

I took two troops:

Xeldorian, proxied with a D&D prepaint undead beholder

D'Khul, with a familiar

3 Bathalian Exarchs

11 Broken Fodder

1 Ice Demon

 

Bathalian Primarch

2 Bathalian Centurions

5 Demon Imps.

1 Flask of Hellfire.

 

I had 3 cards to Dalton's 6. It was not easy for initiative, so I slow played it. I let him get close enough, and then, wham! D'Khul let fly with his Hellfire spell, and the Primarch used his flask. Ka Boom!! His spellcaster was blowing through his points healing, and I thought I was in trouble. D'Khul used the Barrage spell on Xeldorian and the Pain Tokens started to add up. Amazingly, the Broken Fodder survived a bit longer than I thought possible!! Xeldorian got taken out in the last turn by a Berserker, but he kicked butt for the most part.

 

Action packed game, and a victory to boot!!

 

Thanks to wildbill and psyberwolfe1 for coaching me to a win.

 

Cheers!!

Edited September 18, 2013 by joshuaslater

[wildbill]

Who better on how to know how to beat the Dwarves than the Dwarf Grand Master himself?

 

Congrats on the victory! I think you guys ought to play best 2-out-3. Now that you have each beaten the other, this third and final game will determine who is king of the ring between Darkspawn and Dwarves!

[joshuaslater]

I'm happy you saw this thread. We phase in and out of Warlord, and right now, it's ON. Sometimes the painting kicks into high gear, and right now, my army is tournament legal by the three color rule, with some detailing picked out. I'm surprised at how amped up I am, but it's all good.

 

I'd like to thank you and psyberwolfe1 again for your coaching, and everyone who helps out with questions on the boards.

 

Rock on.

 

We plan on a third game, where I will play the same army and he will try to take it apart. I'll change my force eventually as I convert/build and paint models.. One thing I love about the Darkspawn is that they are a dream to convert and proxy. Don't like the official model? Proxy that OOP GW Chaos model and have fun.

[wildbill]

Sorry about the delay in my response! Work has been crazy busy lately and I did not feel like getting on my computer at home (sacrilege, I know!).

 

**soap box time**

I admit I really miss playing Warlord on a weekly basis. Warwick and I would trade dozens of emails on army designs, what would work best against what, etc. I don't care what type of dice system a game uses (as I've seen argued in other threads): ultimately, it depends on having fun playing the game with your friends. That's it. The dice types don't matter. For me, the majority of the fun is spending lots of hours customizing army lists to try and anticipate what my opponent is going to field. And then, I get to play my army list and see if I was correct! That is all kinds of awesome! Warlord is perfect for this customizing trick. There are NINETEEN factions. TWENTY, if you count the Halfings (and why wouldn't you? They're mini-Dwarves. ). That is a heck of a lot of options for customizing. And Warlord is cheap cheap cheap to get into compared to other wargames.

**steps off soap box**

 

Wow, I haven't gotten that riled up in a while.

 

Josh, if you don't care, I am going to go through my army lists later and post a 1,000 point Dwarf list on this thread. I will do my best to choose one that is fairly well-rounded, hopefully able to take on all-comers, and not one designed to specifically tear you a new one. I am not a fan of that. I want the win to because I am a better general than you (with a little luck on the dice ) vs my army beat yours because it was 100% custom tailored that way. That is a hollow victory in my book.

[joshuaslater]

If you build it, we will play it!! We may have to proxy a few models, but with the gazillion plastic models (D&D prepaints & Bones) we should be able to put it together.

 

I'm having a blast, and that's the key. I've now added Darkspawn to the armies I play after Reptus, Mercs, and Overlords. All seem to have enough variety for me.

 

I'm going to have to demo the game at a store in Philadelphia, just to see if I can encourage some recruits.

[wildbill]

This is going to be a long post, so be forewarned.

 

Warwick and I have a grudge match that we have trying to find time to get together and play, and this is what I made this army for. I know he is fielding Mercs, and he knows I am fielding Dwarves. These are known quantities. I attempted to make a well-rounded Dwarf list as I know the Mercs can field all kinds of crazy combinations of troops. And that is before he might utilize Change Of Heart!! Yikes! Anyways, here is my list:

 

Freya Fangbreaker

4 Shieldmaidens

3 Warriors

1 Piercer

 

Griffon

 

Fulumbar Ironhammer

4 Berserkers

4 Mancatchers

1 Piercer

 

Stone Spirit

 

Luck Stone

 

Totals: 999 Points, 21 Models, 4 Troops, 4 Init Cards

 

The model count is a tad on the low side, but the Shieldmaidens and the Berserkers are walking tanks, especially with Tough/2 and Tough/3 respectively. Thrown in the Griffon and the Stone Spirit and look out! You will notice two things about this list: no mages and 2 random Piercers. I have plenty of lists that use magic, and sometimes it works very well. While healing is an option, I felt that between the Piercers and the big guys they should hopefully be able to neutralize any mage threat (assuming an Elite mage, not a warlord mage). The Piercers are there more as an harassment option than anything. I have tried taking the large troop of shooters and it never seems to pay for itself. But, if I take 1 shooter in each troop they usually hit everything they aim at, which then allows the rest of the troop to take advantage of it. You just have to remember to use shooting at the appropriate time during their Activation.

 

Also, pay attention to the synergies offered up by the Special Abilities. The Warriors have Provoke. You definitely want to have at least one of them attacking your target if you have a Shieldmaiden or two attacking the same target. The Provoke will prevent the Shieldmaidens from any retaliation, at least for that turn. The Mancatcher can Disable your target, and then the Berserker swoops in for the easy kill. Take advantage of the Stone Spirit's Burrowing capability to maneuver easily around the battlefield. The Griffon will unfortunately be an easy target as a Flyer, but if the opponent has minimal shooting, then Griffon runs wild. Be sure and review any shooting penalties against flyers.

 

While this army is somewhat designed to go toe-to-toe, there is still some finesse involved. There is no warlord, although you do have two big guys. You have no mage, but you do have a couple of shooters that can plink and hurt an enemy mage fairly easily. While 4 init cards is not huge, it is not small either. I feel it is about average, considering you only have 21 models. So, short story long, be sure and study up on the Special Abilities before playing to ensure you know how they are to interact within each troop and I think you can give those pesky Darkspawn a nice run for their money.

 

Wild Bill

[DanyBoy]

Very nice list Bill! You are right about spreading the Piercers I had similar experiences and by having them surrounded by melee models it makes them harder to take down. You can go for targets of opportunity such as a wounded enemy that you don’t want to get defensive strikes from or an unwary caster.

 

Regarding healing… well the dwarves have two healers: Herryk and Ivar. Although I like Herryk, I find Ivar a little bit too expensive. At 71 points there is something missing to this model to make it worthwhile. This does not stop me from fielding him when I want healing for models like the King or the Stone Spirit.

 

Warriors might be my favorite model of the Dwarven Faction. Using them along with the Berserkers and the Maiden is a good way to manage your opponents de defensive strikes, which we all know is important in this game…

 

Anyway, go kill some mercs and win another victory and we will have the hall ready for a feast! We could use the skulls of your victims to make the place lively

[joshuaslater]

I'll type your list into the Army Builder and print it out for Dalton. I'll give him enough time to read up on it and we'll try it out. Report to follow. : )

[wildbill]

Once again, good ol’ WB has put up another long post.

 

**thread hijack time!**

 

I disagree with you, Danyboy, about Herryk. In a 1,000 point game, I do not want to spend warlord resources for a model that is going to sit in the back and hope that someone gets hurt and does not die afterwards. Yuck! He does have Tough/2 but has no real offensive power (as compared to a lot of warlords). If I was playing in a 1,500+ point game then I might consider fielding him. Otherwise, he will most likely never be used by me.

 

Regarding Ivar, why is he so expensive? That is easy: his DV goes all of the way to 11! He only has 1 attack, but it is at a 4. There are soldiers that are worse. But, like with Herryk, I tend to not field models that sit back hoping to be able to do something, especially in 1,000 point games. However, there are exceptions to everything.

 

A year ago or so a buddy wanted to play Reven and field 3 Hill Giants in a 1,000 point army. That is nasty at best. I countered the only way I knew: I fielded 3 Earth Elementals, 3 units with nothing but Warrior/Halberdier combinations, and every elite magic user in the Dwarf ranks (Gilam, Margara and Ivar). My buddy created the terrain that we used for the game. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what he was trying to do. He had created three lanes of attack, that just so happened to be 2” wide. This would enable him to plug that hole with 2 Goblins, line up a Hill Giant behind, and then use Swingthrough without fear of retribution. Well, those lanes work both ways. I went and plugged them from my side with an Earth Elemental in each one. I decided to put that DR/2 to good use! I lined Ivar up so he had LOS to all 3 of the Elementals. I had a mage on either side of Ivar ready to fling Fireballs as needed. Then my Warriors and Halberdiers were ready to swoop in and clean up the leftovers.

 

Now, that was the plan I executed in my head. My luck with mages in the past is not good. I could lob a Fireball onto 18 Bondslaves, needing a 2+ to hit, and roll seventeen 1s. LOL! Ok, it would not be that bad, but you get the idea. So, while this plan looks awesome on paper, I fully expected it to fail at some point. Imagine my surprise (and my buddy’s!) when not only did it not fail, but by the end of the 4^th turn, I had expended all spell points for all casters, had only lost 2 Earth Elementals with the third on its last damage track, had killed 2 out of 3 Hill Giants with the third on its last damage track, and had killed over half of his Goblins. My buddy cried uncle after that because he knew it was over. I had planned to disengage my remaining Elemental and let the Warriors/Halberdiers kill the Hill Giant while the Elemental took out some squishier Goblins.

 

But, I figured I expended all of my magic luck in that one game so I decided it was time to put them away for a while. Most of the time if I do field a mage it is either Margara or Gilam (usually with Miners for protection). I have slowly warmed up to the positives of a mage, but it took a few years to get to that point.

 

**end thread hijack**

 

Josh, I am definitely excited to hear how my army fares against the Darkspawn! It sounds like a blast to play to me!

 

Wild Bill

[joshuaslater]

I'm already worried about the list. That Stone Spirit will give me trouble!! It may be a few days before go time, but I'm looking forward to it.

[wildbill]

Why, that Stone Spirit is just poor widdle misunderstood force of nature. **insert pouty bottom lip and puppy dog eyes here**

 

 

As Warwick can attest to, I like fielding the Stone Spirit. Yes, it is expensive. But, it has 4 attacks, DV 11 and DR/2. Oh, don't forget! It can Burrow!

 

I felt that list was pretty well rounded which is why I plan on fielding it against Warwick's Mercs. There are so many different ways that faction can go it is impossible to plan for them all in one list.

 

Wild Bill

[joshuaslater]

I called Dalton on the phone and he checked out the list. Now we both know what's going on, and we shall see......

[wildbill]

Just to be fair, make sure he knows your list too. That way everything is on the up-and-up!

[joshuaslater]

He knows it. I'm not changing it yet. I've got models on deck, but they need to be washed, primed and painted. Some of the ones I have planned require converting after components are stripped. Back to the salt mine.

[wildbill]

You good at writing stories? Maybe you or Dalton can weite up the battle like a story!