Well it's a slow news day - what with the American election and it being voting day here in New Zealand - so I thought I might as well wax lyrical on getting back into Dwarfs for a bit.
I caught a game against Stuart who is new to the club but has played Fantasy before (like a hundred years ago or something) so it was mostly a bit of a retraining exercise for him learning to play and a retraining exercise for remembering why Dwarfs suck. No, not suck. It's just so hard to kick some serious ass and control the game with Dwarfs. Problem is, even with a new army book (which will be out sometime in the next 25 years... one can but hope) I very much doubt they will change the movement value of 3. This is absolutely crucial to the nature of the race but at the same time, combined with the fact they have no monsters or cavalry and the only thing that can move decent distances is the Gyro, despite the fact they can always march the low movement really cripples the army. You really are forced to castle up and play defensively and pretty much anything else (including a Strollaz Rune setup with the pre-first turn 6" move) is just a variation on that theme.
Anyway the game was a massacre win to me despite my Cannon and Organ Gun exploding in classic reliable old Dwarf fashion (someone please explain why it feels like Skaven shooting is more reliable than Dwarf shooting please). This was definitely due in part to some good luck on balance, the relative inexperience of my opponent, and the ridiculous hardness of the Longbeards in a 1500pt game.
Still, having come from playing Lizardmen and Brettonians recently with their fantastic mobility and hard-hitting charges... well, Dwarfs are more than a little frustrating.
So Big Nick is running FluffyCon and, given the natural comp boost Dwarfs will get in this environment (see earlier and my "Dwarfs suck" comment) I thought it prudent to not only take advantage of the comp boost they are likely to receive by taking the army but, due to the nature of the "Hard Caps" at the event (and knowing as a result I won't be facing anything too heinous), I could run a slightly more adventurous list than might otherwise be possible.
Here is the list as it stands (with much playtesting to be done - everything that follows is theoryhammer I'm afraid):
Thane (General) - Runes of +1 str (str5), +1 attack (4 attacks total) and Always Strikes First, Rune of Stone, Shield (1+ save in combat)
Thane (BSB) - Runes of 1+ rerollable armour save, magic resistance (1), immune to fire
Dragonslayer
19 Longbeards - full command, rune of double unit strength, shields
20 Warriors - full command, shields
10 Longbeard Rangers - musician, shields, throwing axes, great weapons
10 Warriors - shields
10 Warriors - shields
10 Thunderers - no shields
10 Quarellers - no shields
15 Hammerers - full command, rune of immune to fear/terror, shields
10 Miners
Grudgethrower - rune of accuracy, rune of burning
Cannon - rune of burning
4DD and a magic resistance (1) character
2PD
125 models
2000pts exactly
Flicking through the list, a couple of things stand out:
- no Lord option
- no Runesmith (and therefore no scrolls or pool dispel dice)
- no Rare choices
- 53% is Core choices (7 Core choices in total)
- 11% magic items and runic tricksiness (difficult to keep this down I felt)
- Longbeard Rangers (!)
- 3 units of Warriors
For me the big part of the list is the Rangers and 2 small (10-man) Warrior units. My feeling here is to absorb the charge with the big blocks and counter attack with the smaller units. Alternatively the small Warrior blocks can bait and flee (as much as Dwarfs can) in order to setup the aforementioned counter-charges (they don't have musicians but they do rally on a '9' sp hopefully...). The Longbeard Rangers have the potential to be AWESOME - if they don't get shot up and magicked to bits. They are hideously expensive but a str5 stand-and-shoot reaction (str5!), great weapons or hand weapon/shield, and WS5/str4(6) in combat makes them actually quite versatile. And they can Scout although I don't expect they will ever be able to do so.
Hopefully I still have enough shooting to force my opponent to move and engage. The Cannon is there for the occasional big nasty and to take out chariots. The grudgethrower is there for anti-infantry, anti-heavy cav or counter-battery fire (good guess ranging and the scatter reroll makes this an awesome all-round warmachine).
I'll be playing a series of games over the next couple of months to figure out how the army works and whether my theories are just pipe-dreams or if I'm really on to something.
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