# Dwarf Tactica



## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

OK, as a fantasy dwarf player first (40k second) I will try and out line the dwarf list in an easy to explain way.

First of all some common misconceptions people have about dwarfs

*COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS​*
1. The rune system. You cannot believe how many fools believe you can get an ASF GW. IT CANNOT HAPPEN PEOPLE!!!! To make a GW runic (and not lose all its good bonuses like +2 str) you have to give it the Master rune of Kragg the Grimm, and since a weapon can only have 1 master rune on it you cannot take the ASF rune (MRO Swiftness)

2. GW nerfed a lot of good things when they updated the list but some people haven't cottoned on to this. This includes those people who still believe that Thunderers are Move and Fire, and those who believe that Rangers still have the Foresters rule (no penalty through difficult terrain)

Ok, down to business

*LORD CHOICES​*
The dwarf player has 3 lord choices open to them, the CC dwarf Lord the Runelord (Who you can bet your left testicle will bring the Anvil of Doom), and the utterly useless Daemon Slayer.

Firstly you will not see a Daemon Slayer as anyone who takes one deserves to lose his head. Paying over 100pts for a lord level character who cannot wear armour, can only join slayer groups due to the unbreakable rule and cannot be your general is an act of tantamount stupidity.

Dwarf lords and Runelords however are a completely different kettle of fish and both are taken (and should be feared.)

The Dwarf Lord is a cheap, hard hitting bouncer who cannot die. His only real weakness is that he is movement 3. This is a problem because no matter how hard you try if the enemy doesnt want to talk to / fight him they don't have to. He is often placed in a unit of Hammerers who gain immune to fear/terror due to his presence. THIS IS DANGEROUS. If the enemys underestimates him they can expect to be cleaned up as he soaks up their blows with a usual re-rollable 1+ armour save followed by a possible ward. Many tactics can be used against this, but my favourites are either to avoid the UNIT OF DOOM, tarpit it with cheap stuff (zombies are perftect) or simply hit it with a killy thing in the flank. If they can kill the stuff so nothing attacks back you have tarpited an often 350-400 point unit (20 hammerers plus lord) due to LD9 Stubborn losing.

The RL, is the other Lord choice and (depending on the players skill) usually much more of a threat. His anvil of doom is a powerful warmachine that is un dispellable and able to turn a game. Now you have the choice of playing it safe or going for the big cheese. If he cast on ancient power it is ALOT more destructive but has a 50% chance of miscasting. 
Then, he has 3 choices, the first rune hurts stuff with d6 str4 magical hits. this can hurt but its big draw is if it cast on a flyer they cannot fly and affected units can only move at half speed (nasty stuff for dragons)
the second is not usually struck making units immune/resistant to fear/terror. this is however bad news to VC.
Thirdly he has the option of giving a unit a second movement. YAY. This is often cast on miners that have just come on, and units that have moved into the enemies flank arc. 
Know that they will try to hit it with anything fast, fast cav ambushing beastmen or flying units. Also know that it cannot be used while in combat.

Please be careful with posting points costs - squeek


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## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

*HERO CHOICES​*
now things get interesting and you have to look out.
dwarves have access to some of the most survivable, hard hitting heros in the game (who unfortunately are still only M3)

The first of these is the Thane.
You in all likelyhood will ALWAYS use a thane as he is the only character capable of being the BSB. However do not think him a pushover as a common set up (MRO Gromnil, RO Resistance, Ro Cleaving, Ro Furnace) can put out 4 WS6 S5 attacks with a 1+rerollable armour save. The rune of the Furnace is another thing to look out for, for only a few points the character is immune to fire attacks (THIS INCLUDES THE RULE OF BURNING IRON) no more cheap character sniping.
Another rune to look out for is the MRO challenge, open to any character (but usually on a thane or lord) it act in a similar way to the DOC siren call, forcing a unit to charge or flee.

RS are a dwarfs antimagic people, for cheap he can beat down anything but the most determined magic phase (at 2000 I have 9 DD and you lose 1 PD plus a scroll)
Be warned, these guys are less CC orientated than the thanes but still are s6 with GW and t4. However in a challenge these guys will often fall.

Dragon slayers. usually taken naked I cannot talk to much about them (as I hate them so so much:threaten however I can point you to this, written by one of the greatest dwarf players to grace the internet (The Lord of the Hunt)
http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/index.php?showtopic=23453

ME, less used in a balanced list but often in gunlines, the ME boosts the effectiveness of the allready good war machines. He will make GT and BT's deadly accurate and make cannons cause d6 wounds. His other benefit is the entrench ability allowing him to put a WM in heavy cover this is especially dangerous if placed on the AoD (yes he can do it)

Please be careful with posting accurate points costs - squeek


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## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

OK, Core and Special choices (WM not included coming up next)

*CORE​*
Dwarf warriors: With SH these are the most undervalued infantry around. For only a few points you are recieving a WS4, T4, 3+ armour save trooper with a massive LD9. Be warned although 5-6 str 3 attacks do little more than pop the enemys pimples when coupled with a cheap character like a RS you suddenly have a unit that can dish a little hurt with a passive CR of massive. (full ranks+standard)
To fight these the enemy needs something fast. If they are charged in the flank the combo of losing their parry and their ranks will quickly break them. Perfect for this are things like dire wolves, chaos hounds, fast cav and some ogres however they still need the frontal charge to get those wounds and take down their high Ld9. As such because these fast units are the bane to many of your units they should be shot. literally.

Long beards: While technically an upgrade for warriors these infantry deserve special mention. They are str4 and they old grumblers rule mean they are immune to panic and all units around them get rerolled panic. this is bad news for enemy gunlines and they are often targeted. Another thing to look out for is they can take good magic banners and this can give them immune to fear/terror. double US and others.

Quarrellers/Thunderers: Often debated is which is better value. While some like the longer range and saved points others say the extra couple of points per dwarf is worth the extra accuracy and armour peircing. Personally since Move and Fire Thunderers were nerfed I think the cheaper Quarrelers take top spot as they can shoot you across the board and if bought from DoW (taking up a rare) can be equipped with HA and SH. However DoW quarrelers usually shouldn't be taken as they take up a rare spot

Rangers: An Upgrade to GW weilding warriors, LB and Quarrelers these guys gain the scout rule. however you will find these uncommon as people find them less worthwhile without forresters.

*SPECIAL​*
Ironbreakers: You will not find these often but they take survivable to the next level, with Gromnil armour their save is 2+ with parry so the only way to kill them is WM, Magic other high Str attakcs and static CR, however these are overpriced in comparison to hammerers and you should not really take them unless you really love their models. also like LB and Hammerers these guys can take 50 pts of runic banners making these guys perfect for the MRO grungi giving all dwarf units withing 6" 5+ ward from shooting/ magic missiles

Hammerers: Probably the hardest infantry unit to break their 3+ armour save with Sh or 5+ with GW gives them options. However their big draw is that they are stubborn and when joined by a Dwarf lord they become immune to fear/terror.
No matter how hard they hit this unit 9 times out of ten it will get back up. It will slowly wear them down with SCR and break you although these days small units of 10 are used as tarpits. Remember the enemy will shoot them, these guys have the same save as a block warrior but are worth much much more to the general.

Slayers: This unit is either loved or hated by those that play dwarfs, personally I love them and the enemys reaction of hate and fear is reason enough to take them. These guys are cheap, put out multiple attacks and are unbreakable. On the down side, they are 0-1 without a slayer character and have ZERO ARMOUR. "zero armour" I hear you say, "Oh NO!!"! They will just shoot them to pieces!! true, but more than likely just what you want, with T4 they are still survivable and still bonus from the MRO Grungii if some one else carrys it. All they end up doing is killing a few only to find, "DAM, he only wanted/needed 5 to get into combat anyway" another thing to Think is the multiple giant slayer syndrome. If you take 3 Giant slayer and deploy like this GSGSG where G is the Giant slayer and S is a normal slayer you will 90% of the time find the opponent forget to divide attacks and you can claim everything onto normal warriors leaving you still a very respectable 9 attakcs back that wound on 4's always.

Ok, coming up next warmachines

Please be careful about posting accurate points costs - squeek


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## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

WARMACHINES

Ok, this will cover the Special Choice warmachines. These are the Bolt Thrower (BT), Grudge thrower (GT), and Cannon
Each of these work in different ways and should be feared by all.

OK, I am going to assume that all of you know how the different machines work. But many forget that these three machine are the 3 that can have engineering runes.
This is a problem to flammable creatures in particular as you do not know if they have paid a few points to make the machine flaming.
another thing people forget is that BT can have a rune of penertrating and become str7, 7 is the magic number especially when it turns hulking Chariots into "intimidating" splinters *snigger*

Usually a hill or in-between units are the places to deploy these.

Some races are suited to the destruction of these machines and a crafty general can s
top them, however a few things that really piss of a dwarven general when it comes to war machines are these.

1. The Jaguar Saraus of Doom: Making use of terrain and firing lines these can present a problem, especially when he flies/charges right out of the unit that was giving him a look out sir roll.
2. Fast Cav: Things like Dark riders really are a pain in the ass as the WM are better off firing against big tough stuff and dont want to shoot the LC that have escaped the Quarrelers/ Thunderers firing arc (stupid Move or Fire)
3. Ambushing Beastmen: While a crafty dwarf will deploy right up against the back edge of the table as soon as he sees beasts these still present problems, popping up unwanted.
4. Tomb Scorpions: These are a pain in the ass make no mistake, easily capable of tearing my precious WM crew a new one.
5. Flyers: Things like Harpies are Furies are cheap but can tie up a machine for turns or even wipe it out completely. However laugh if they land just infront of a cannon as they have the option of just using the flame template in a shrapnell attack (cant remember the name). Expensive flyers like Peg Knights are also annoying.
6. Magic/ Counter Battery: These tactics also work due to the uncommonly shit 6+ save of the WM crew.


Hope that helps up last is the Organ gun, Flame cannon and Gyrocopter in RARES (comming to a post near you)

Please be careful about posting accurate points costs - squeek


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## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

RARES

The Rare choices of dwarves are those machines that the engineer guild has only JUST pumped out.
these include the Organ gun, Flame cannon and my personal favourite the Gyrocopter

By far and away the least used of these is the Flame Cannon, this is not because it is in anyway bad. (In my opinion it is one of the best machines in the game) it is simply because the other choices are usually more useful and GW in all their wisdom did not put flaming attacks in it's description/rules and they have not yet issued dwarfs a competent FAQ that answers the questions that dwarfs have on their mind. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr................
Personally I would hit anyone who claims the cannon that shoots a jet of pure flaming oil through the air is not flaming but RAW rats still are out there, especially when at tourny. Otherwise this machine is not to bad If your army is facing low Ld like skaven or O&G if they do have low Ld this will be a big priority as any wounded unit must take a panic test.

The OG is the most used piece of dwarven artillery behind the BT. Unfortunatly the dwarf only has a 24'' range so it is sniped at it with x-bows and artillery. Please for gods sake assualt those skirmishers. They aren't safe as this bad boy auto-hits and will happily wipe them from the face of the earth.

Lastly is the Gyro and this is the most versatile warmachine behind the anvil of doom. It is the fastest thing us dwarfs have and the fact that it flies ads to the our choices, Things you can do are try and march block enemy units with it and charging allready fleeing units. Use its 3d6 pursue rather than 2d6-1.
This should probably be quite high on your priority list especially for O&G with your fanatics.
Good ways to blast it out the sky are: (BEWARE)
1. Many poison attacks. Skinks are the Gyro's bane, as it was FAQ'd that it is indeed possible to kill the gyro with poisen, sure it has a 4+armour save but that wont help against 40 blowpipe shots.
2. Magic: Things like Brain Bursta and other damage spells work really well especially if high str


*THE END*


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Really nice tactica retiye2, thank you for posting it up!  Just one thing, try to avoid being too specific when talking about points and stats, it is against forum rules as it breaks GW IP.


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## retiye2 (Oct 20, 2008)

Gotcha, It annoys me however that people can work it out from the posted army lists but that's ok........ grrrrrrr....... GW

Also, I am working on a bit about tactics and Combos.

EDIT: I still thought it a bit anti-dwarf so I pro-dwarfed it up a bit


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