269 replies to this topic

[jdripley]

Here's a list I used during open beta, that I've tweaked to work with the official stats. I call it "The Brothers Battlefury" and it emphasizes the two "main" aspects of the dwarves: Rock solid, disciplined soldiery, and no-holds-barred berzerkers!

Here it is:
Troop 1, the Berserkers:
Logan Battlefury (+2MAV, +2DV), Durgam Deepmug, Bear Rider, Berserker, 5x Halberdier, 3x Swiftaxes, (Musician)
Troop 2, the Professional Soldiers:
Logrim Battlefury (+1CP, Cure2, Cure3), Kara Foehunter (+1RAV), 6x Shieldmaidens, (Musician)
1501 exactly, 2 cards, 20 models.

I think this is a reasonably good force. Light on range, to be sure, and not *much* in the way of magic, but the melee potential of this fighting company is fairly substantial. It's done well for me!

[wildbill]

Anyones else pondering the fact that the Bears can charge 15 inches and attack if their troop is carrying a standard (Bear Rider Standard Bearer).

I have already used this ability to quite devastating effect. Just ask Glen what I did to Bile the Wyvern when he misjudged my 15 inch charge range.

I have a 2,000 point army that revolves around as many bears as possible.

King Thorgram + MA
11 Bear Riders
Musician

Ursula + MA + MW
7 Bear Riders
Musician

Totals: 1,989 Points, 20 Models, 2 Troops, 3 Initiative Cards

I played this army against the Vampires. I ended up losing, but it was because my two main weapons in this style of army don't work on the Undead: Fearsome and Shock. Before the Open Beta, they did work on Undead. When Open Beta came out, they didn't. Wild Bill was not a happy camper.

@Jim:

Here's my 2,000 point Berserker list I came up with:

Logan + GMW + GMA
Ivar + Familiar + 2 Cure2 + 2 Cure3
10 Berserkers
Musician
Totem

Logrim + 2 Cure2 + GMA + Holy Weapon
7 Berserkers
Musician

Totals: 1,998 Points, 20 Models, 2 Troops, 2 Initiative Cards

Berserkers CAN NOT stand toe-to-toe with most normal shock troops (Crimson Knights, Bone Marines, Phalanxes, etc) and must swarm to win. If you can get enough models around your opponent, then you can utilize First Strike to great advantage. However, with only two troops I predict that it would be a slaughter, and not in the right way either!

Wild Bill

[jdripley]

Yeah, berzerkers can be tricky. Again, I haven't used them much, I only have one, and I've only proxied for more in one game. Typically I use the one I have as a "free" elite. He's not there to hold the line, as are the rest of the dwarves - he's there to go after special targets, specifically ones with fearsome and etc. Like in the Brother's Battlefury list I put in the thread, he runs well with Logan/Bear/Durgam since those other three can automatically make it into b2b and have good MAV values, and have Improved Charge to boot!

Now, this opinion is relatively unformed due to my lack of experience with Berzerkers, but my initial thought after playing them a couple times, is that they're best used as a small brute squad that can fight essentially "detached" from your main force. You can't rely upon them to hold a position and keep the enemy died down, due to their DV, but they're quick on their feet and brutal in a fight, so use that to your advantage to keep them out of the way during the initial charges, then lend their weight where it'll hurt the enemy the most. Since models now have multiple tracks, I've noticed that the length of the fight tends to last slightly longer, which makes this strategy more effective than previously, when the charge stood a good chance of knocking down 1/3-1/2 of the models, and the next round would see them all dead. Now instead of 2 or 3 turns you have 3 or 4, on average, which means there's more time to bring your Berserkers to bear while it still means something.

[wildbill]

Personally, I don't own any Berserkers and most likely never will. Their MAV 5 is not all that exciting. Hell, the Halberdiers have MAV 5!?! For 3 more points, I'll field Shieldmaidens instead. Much much much better. I only put together that Berserker list because I could. I would never play it because it would get its butt kicked easily.

I have a feeling that despite Reaper's attempt at making every model viable, my army lists are going to revolve around the same core models they always did in the past. The only real exception is the Stone Spirit. That guy is a tank. I like him.

The Miners are neat, and they aren't too bad to field with their sarge, Ukxzcxzkqceq. I know his name isn't that goofy, but that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it. Anyways, there would only be 5 of them on the table, so it isn't a huge point sink, but combined with the Spirit, it will force your opponent to play a little more defensively because they don't want those bad boys screaming to the surface behind them.

I have a whole spreadsheet of army lists developed, and I have already shared a couple of them with you guys. You notice that I am posting mostly 2,000 point lists. That's because after ReaperCon is over with that will become the standard army size for my area. Those just make for some really fun games! I have a list that I really like and think would be brutal. I may share it with you someday.

Wild Bill

[jdripley]

Well sure, of course the core of your army is going to consist of maidens and warriors backed up by halberdiers. By "any model is viable" I don't think Reaper meant "any model can stand toe to toe against any other model." You've got specialty models that will inherently be better in some situations and worse in others. What they did was remove all of the specialty models that were inherently worse in some situations and even worse in others

Use your Maidens and Warriors to hold the line. But every once in a while bring some Berserkers in to add some kick offensively. Sure their MAV is no better than the maidens, but they've got Berserker and Improved Charge, two SA's that lend them a whole lot more usefulness than the maidens when it comes to chasing down and killing enemy models that the enemy won't want killed.

Every model is viable - but not in every situation. Berserkers fall into the "specialty" category I think.

[jdripley]

Has anybody tried out a Piercer army? The most range I've had is a 1501 with 1 piercer, Snorri and Kara. I've toyed with the idea of including more but so far have been too excited about all the rest of the fun models the dwarves have. Maybe I'll try it next time...

What do you think would be the best soldiers and leaders to support/screen for piercers?

[wildbill]

Here's a 1,500 point army I created that had lots of shooty types in it. Notice I said 1,500 points. Yes, that means no warlord required.

Logrim Battlefury + Cure2 x2 + MW
Kara Foehunter
6 Shieldmaidens
Musician
Standard Bearer

Snorri Oathbreaker

Gargram Heavyhand
3 Piercers
Musician

Griffon

Gargram Heavyhand
3 Piercers
Musician

Bear Rider + Outrider

Totals: 1,495 Points, 19 Models, 6 Troops, 6 Init Cards, 2 Spies

No, this army does not have a huge number of piercers, but I have 4 troops that can shoot at least once. If there is some big nasty on the other side of the field, I have Logrim, the maidens, the Griffon, the Bear, and the sarges to take care of it. Then, if I get really lucky, Kara and Snorri can get some Backstab action going as well.

I have not yet had an opportunity to test this army out. Also notice that I actually fielded Kara and Snorri. Kara was worthless in v1.2. Snorri was pretty close to worthless as well. I figured now that everything is new and different I would give them a chance.

Wild Bill

[jdripley]

yeah Snorri and Kara rock. They're part of the reason I haven't fielded Piercers yet... they're sucking up my points that go towards ranged models.

I'm thinking of fielding two Gargram troops, each with Gargram, 2 warriors, 3 piercers and musician. Then maybe a Thorgram troop with a smattering of bear and maiden (or maybe just warriors depending on how points go), with Kara in the troop. If points allow, Griffon and Snorri. Essentially a similar list to yours WB, but with the "meatshield" part spread out a bit more, and toned down to mostly Warriors.

I like the idea of using warriors since they're 30 points cheaper than the maidens so I can have more of them, and they fight pretty darned hard even though they're not adept.

[wildbill]

My main reason for choosing maidens over warriors, despite the numbers advantage for warriors, was #MA 3 and MAV 5 and Warmaster. DV 13 isn't bad either. I figured that if I got charged, at least I would get all of my attacks back. I took on Crimson Knights, one-on-one, and won the battle. Barely. But I won! I've tried with warriors, and lost. So, I'm sticking with maidens.

If you notice, I wasn't playing 1,501 points, so Thorgram isn't required unless you just want to.

Wild Bill

[jdripley]

If you notice, I wasn't playing 1,501 points, so Thorgram isn't required unless you just want to.

Why ever wouldn't you want to?
Sure is nice to be able to say that instead of looking at those 414 points and then at the DV and squirm a bit, huh?

Here's an idea for a piercer screen... Abjorn Hofkeg and his Miner crew! You can burrow them in a picket line 5 or so inches in front of your piercers. Even though they're "there" they don't block LOS since they're underground, so you can shoot away with no LOS issues caused by your own models. Then, as the enemy closes in, you've got all sorts of options on how to respond since the Miners don't need a clear path, just somewhere to come up.

The trouble is you can only have 6 in total. Unless you didn't take Abjorn and took a captain or warlord instead so you could have more, but I'm a "flavor" guy and probably will never take miners in any troop but Abjorns. I guess I'm wierd like that huh?

[wildbill]

Unfortunately, Abjorn can only have a maximum of 4 miners with him since his troop size is 3-5/0.

Just for giggles, I decided to go big and make a 2,000 point army throwing in as many burrowers as possible. Tee hee hee...check this out!

King Thorgram + GMA
11 Miners
Musician
Standard Bearer
Totem

Stone Spirit

Freya + MA
7 Miners
Musician
Standard Bearer

Totals: 1,999 Points, 21 Models, 3 Troops, 4 Init Cards

You are a tad troop light on this build, and while your burrowers are scurrying underground, poor Freya and her dad are desperately seeking cover to keep from getting shot to pieces!! There is one advantage to an army like this: should your opponent be fielding a burrower, like the Spawn or Grave Horror, I guarantee they won't stay burrowed for long! I doubt they would like 19 screaming models swarming their one model with zero chance of help!

Wild Bill

[Soinull]

King Thorgram + GMA
11 Miners
Musician
Standard Bearer
Totem

Stone Spirit

Freya + MA
7 Miners
Musician
Standard Bearer

Please forgive the total Warlord newb question; having played a lot in GW world where everything has to be represented on the mini's - What do you do to represent the musician? I haven't found any musician mini's like GW has so am guessing they aren't necessary but figured I'd clarify.

I've been lurking for a couple weeks learning to play and working on painting/assembling a Dwarf and a Reptus army. Everyone's army discussions have been quite entertaining to read and invaluable help!

Tim

[Qwyksilver]

Many of the WL armies now have a Musician/Standard Bearer Blister pack, however it doesn't appear that the Dwarves have one just yet. Even if it was, they are not mandatory. You just need to have something that differentiates who is the musician.

There are three options you could use:

• Convert your Model using instruments available in:
  0302 Musical Instrument Pack
  2638 Adventuring Accessories
  Or some other source of musical instrument such as a scratch build, cutting one off an existing model or using bits from elsewhere.
• Use some token/pipe cleaner/ring/blob of poster tac as a Marker for the musician
• Using Proxy rules, find a suitable Dwarven Model with an instrument, or something that looks like an instrument as a stand in. For example, the Brewmaster almost looks like he's about to blow into a horn. You could tweak his tankard to look more like an instrument, or just say, these guys are my Musician.

[wildbill]

What do you do to represent the musician?

First off, welcome to the Dwarf family! You have chosen...wisely!

There is a DHL Dwarf musician that used to exist (I can't find the stupid figure quickly ) that I use to represent a musician in a unit. I just plop him down and declare "This musician is actually a Miner as well" or Warrior etc. You get the idea.

I also found a Confrontation Dwarf musician that I will use (it was 50% off at my FLGS ) for a second unit.

However, once I run out of those two models, I will then use a token of some kind to represent the musicians and standard bearers. I just use one color for one, and a second color for the other. And then I make sure to tell my opponent what they represent.

Wild Bill

[Qwyksilver]

Dwarf Command with Horn
Dwarf Command with Drum
Dwarf Command with Standard
Dwarf Command with Spyglass Use him for a Model that purchases Spy

Or just buy the whole darn thing:
6042 Dwarven Command