Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Dwarfs

Why Play Dwarfs

Because you like to piss people off by legally taking 25 war machines in 3,000 points matches. You also like high leadership and a standard toughness of 4. Also if you have a thing for alcoholic midgets. Also, DEM BEARDS.

To make models look really good is easy. Any detail you don't like just cover it with green stuff beard, and any model will always look better with an extra big bushy beard, on top except for those otherwise stated. Old Longbeard models are a good reference for these conversions. Also, braids on either side of the beard add a Celtic feel to the models which is reminiscent of the previous incarnation of Dwarf fluff when they were a little less viking-y. More beard seems to go a long way, especially because the plastic sculpts don't really compare to any of the newer models coming out. Before I forget, bigger round shields do absolute wonders for Dwarf models. Using thumbtacks or converted marauder shields make your models look amazing.

Army rules

Ancestral Grudge : Hatred Skaven/Greenskins; everyone else has a chart (1-2 : Your general Hates characters / 3-4 : All your characters Hate all enemy character / 5-6 : The entire army Hates the enemy). This is an awesome ability and makes Dwarfs potentially one of the best armies in the game. Yes, it is a table and therefore massively randomizes your success rate, however if you look at it statistically, you can easily predict what it will be useful for. For example, you can completely rely on your characters Hating enemy characters. This is immense. To my knowledge, it affects dwarfs going against Heroes on monsters as well, due to the fact the rule isn't removed. However I am not too sure.

Resolute : +1 Strength on the charge. Epic. Look at Choppas and now see that on your better, more resolute Dwarfs.

Relentless : No Leadership test for marching close to an enemy. Always nice, but Leadership really isn't too much of a problem. Only Gyrocopters will fully use this rule.

Shieldwall : +1 parry when charged, but only on the turn they have been charged. Now you have a reason to use your shield dwarfs. Having a third of all damage blocked in combat is amazing. Ask Daemons. You rarely ever charge first as dwarfs, so you should see this as a bonus. Sadly Great Weapon wielding dwarfs still have better statlines than those using shields. Also that +1 to combat res is rather nice.

Dwarf Crafted : You don't take the -1 to hit penalty when doing a Stand and Shoot reaction. Every Dwarf ranged weapon has this, bar the war machines. Another reason to field the dwarf gunline.

Unit Analysis

Note: A lot of the units in this army perform function that a cannon can do much better, and as dwarfs cannons are so cheap some units you should just drop in favor of another cannon, or in some cases another three (see slayers).

Lords & Heroes

Named Characters

Note: Although no longer true for more modern books, at the time the Dwarfs Army Book was released, named characters were almost always overpriced. In most cases, it's easy to emulate their abilities from scratch and save quite a few points. That's not to say they're worthless; named characters do have some unique abilities and combos, but make sure you're getting your points worth.

• Thorgrim Grudgebearer: At 650pts his is more usable than he was before, but you are still looking in the 3000+ game range. He adds +3 to the roll on the Ancestral Grudge table (if the total is 7 or more he also allows any unit he joins to re-roll all to hit rolls in every round of CC) and when he dies all friendly Dwarf units get Frenzy. His Axe of Grimnir gives him the Always Strikes First rule and wounds anything on a 2+ (3+ if wearing magic armour) and has Multiple Wounds (D6) against any Giants. His Throne of Power and Throne Bearers remain the same, and his Armour gives him immunity to all forms of Killing Blow, Multiple Wounds and has a 4+ 2++ (2+ on The Throne of Power) He also has a Dwarf Version of the Crown of Command that grants Immune to Psychology too. On the downside, he cannot "Look out Sir" when he joins a unit.

• Thorek Ironbrow: 470 points!. You can play him in 2000pt games now. See the entry on the Anvil for why you never will however.

• Josef Bugman: The epitome of a dwarf grudge holder and probably the only named character anyone would/should ever take in this army(Grimm Burloksonn says otherwise). At 165 points he sits between a cheap Lord or a wallet killing Thane with stats more toward the former. He allows his unit to drink from his tankard, giving you a 2D6 table to roll at the start of each turn, heals a wound per turn like Isabella and still carries Ol' Trustworthy. His unit is situation dependent but is no longer mandatory. Whatever unit he does join can gain one of Flammable, Stubborn or +1 Toughness each turn depending how hammered they are.

• Belegar Ironhammer: Seems kind-of confused as to what his role is. He probably won't trump anyone of his cost in close combat at 305 points and a 3+ 4++ save, but won't really make his points back if you send him in for horde killing. He seems mostly designed to take care of heavy infantry because of his effective Strength of 6 on the charge and his double attacks to go along with it, so 8 attacks will probably kill you 4 or 5 Black Orcs (and equivalent) on the charge. I guess with that Always Strikes First he could be pretty nasty against a few heroes. Send him into a flank or a challenge and he might just fuck some shit up when he doubles his attacks, but otherwise just not a great Lord choice. His best unit to sit in is probably Ironbreakers since he naturally gives them Stubborn and his Oathstone gives them a 5+ parry to the flank and rear, this frees up their banner for something like vanguard, together they can waltz up to whatever flank you can't handle and hold them up for a few turns.

• Grimm Burloksonn: The Master Engineer to trump all others. He has a ranged weapon that fires Multiple Shots (2D3) at S4 Armour Piercing (although 18" range is pretty short, but at BS5 it should be okay.) he also has a Magic Weapon which, on a 5+ on a D6 destroys an enemy magic weapon. He is also the highest base Strength Dwarves Character at S6. Also, in a friendly shooting phase on a 2+ he can bestow one of three abilities to a single friendly unit (not himself) whilst still being able to fire his own weapon:
  • Artillery Adjustment: Allows a friendly War Machines to his BS of 5 and the ability to re-roll an Artillery Dice which can be the bounce on a Cannon or a Flame Cannons scatter. Useful for all war machines, esp due to the changes to the Organ Gun, use it if you want to snipe that enemy wizard or kill squishy things with stones.
  • Increased Range: Does what it says on the tin. Increases the units Crossbow and Handgun ranges by 2D6, so your horde of 40+ Quarrels can now hit more things! Use it if that one enemy unit is just out of reach.
  • Superior Volley: Models in the unit may re-roll any to hit rolls. Again, useful for Bolt Throwers and Organ Guns (Organ Guns roll to hit now). Deadly on infantry with a Runelord/Runesmith.

• Ungrim Ironfist Apart from being a the most badass ginger I've ever seen, he's a pretty nice hero or monster killer due to Slayer, Strength 6 and Killing Blow, he's also pretty tough when facing Dragons due to his 2+ Ward vs. Fire. That, along with a slew of other foes because Flaming is omnipresent in tournaments to get rid of regenning units. Other than that he'll fuck up a few Lords and he'll weather a few hits, also his Slayer King rule is useless because Slayers are bloody awful. Overall cool for Slayer-themed lists, but otherwise he'll be fucked because he can only join Slayers in combat. Either way Slayers aren't viable so it's probably unwise to field him despite his relatively good combat potential.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

• Dwarf Lord: Generic combat lord. Good combination of rune items can make him incredibly nasty in close combat. Oathstone is usually a good choice since you're unlikely to be moving around much. Or even better put him up on Shieldbearers, +2 Wounds, +2 to his armour, 2 additional WS5 S4 I3 attacks plus he counts as infantry still so he gets his look out sirs. 40 points never tasted so good. Shame you can only use it on your general. Be advised, putting any kind of runes on his weapon negates whatever that weapon was before, so if you took a great weapon for your beardlord, putting a rune on it will drop the strength bonus and Always Strikes Last. The Master Rune of Kragg the Grimm no longer exists, so no more runed-up Great Weapons.

• Runelords/Runesmiths: Runesmiths are the true heroes of the new dwarf codex. Always take 1 with a dispel rune for 85pts. Though they have lost their free dispel dice, they now channel dispel like wizards, grant Armour Piercing as a generic rule (This does not buff ranged weapons). Grants Magic Resistance 1. Sadly Runelords have taken a serious hit with the new codex. For 60 points more than a smith you gain one more level of magic resistance, +1 to Weapon Skill, Toughness and Wounds and access to an Anvil of Doom. Unless you want the anvil, do not bother taking the lords, as even with the stat increases he's not worth it alone.

Anvil of Doom: This has been completely redone (as it is in every edition). It grants an additional 2 wounds, a 5++, bodyguards, 1 power and 1 dispel dice and is a 170pts upgrade for a Runelord. Multiple Anvils do not stack and it is still a war-machine and can thus be entrenched. The runes are still cast as innate bound spells, but are slightly different. Each rune can be cast once per magic phase. The Rune of Hearth and Home when struck on a 3+, grants 1 dwarf unit within 24" immune to psychology. The Rune of Oath and Steel when struck on a 4+, gives any dwarf unit on the board +1 to their armour save. The Rune of Wrath and Ruin when struck on a 5+ is 24" magic missile that hits 2d6 times at str 4. Though the Anvil can no longer slow down your foes, it can hand out some pretty neat buffs for little to no magic. Still you are probably better off taking a Rune of Valaya Banner Bearer for anti magic.Alternate Opinion: It's now rather bad, don't take it. as said already, runelords dont really do much for the army any more, and as the anvil is considerably worse than before, I'm sure you can see the dots connecting.

• Daemon Slayer: Same as before but forces successful ward saves to be re rolled. It's nice now that when kitted out properly, he can guaranteed kill a Daemon prince. With some weapon runes he comes out at a good price and is a worthy consideration. Be careful as he can get focused and destroyed quite easily, and at much greater impact being a lord choice unlike dragon slayers.

• Thanes: These guys take your BSB, and you must ALWAYS take a BSB. You really cant afford to have dwarves running away. Very solid Hero. Comes in two builds, the 'Thane o' pain' and the 'Tank thane'. Basically, the names say it all. Tank thane concentrates on staying alive, and therefore uses armour runes. A MR of Gromril and a rune of resistance, coupled with a rune of challenge is a good way to tie up an enemy character. Troll the sissy elf wizards with it, especially when they are hiding at the back, near the table edge. The Thane o' pain operates on the philosophy that if the enemy is dead, then it won't attack you back. Use a rune of Snorri Spangelheim, a rune of cleaving, and either a grudge rune if you have it in for one particular character, a rune of FUREH, or, when fighting tough enemies (orcs and ogres etc.), a rune of might for strength 9.

Ammendment: With the introduction of the new codex thanes have become even more useful having dropped to 5 points more than the Runesmiths mentioned below. The new banner runes have made the dwarf BSB more useful as a general army buffer than to be armed with magic items. Almost every master rune for banners give buffs to the army, and they are all good. There are many effective combinations of runes, however one rune of note is the banner rune of valaya. Always, always take this on your BSB, or at the very least include it in your list. Its cheaper than before, and way better providing a much needed buff to the army's nerfed anti magic.

• Master Engineers: Buffs your artillery, and can make one entrenched (counts as being behind heavy cover). Great if you are playing a shooty list. Also gives your cannons and grudge throwers free artillery die re-rolls which can save your ass many times over. NOTE THAT THE ANVIL STILL COUNTS AS A WAR MACHINE. If you take one, they work best with an organ gun, which takes most advantage of their BS 4 and an artillery reroll.

• Dragon Slayer: Better than before as he now has D3 wounds on each attack against monsters. When cheaply kitted out these guys can do some nice damage. Worth taking one and run him alongside the rest of your army as a threat to monsters etc if Cannon's aren't available.

Core Units

• Dwarf Warriors: These are your bread beard and butter. They have Toughness 4, Leadership 9 and Heavy Armour as standard. Give them shields if you don't want them to die or give them great weapons if you want them to kill shit. Always take them in big units of 30+ with full command, they may not be the most expensive units but they sure as hell aren't cheap so you need to make sure they are formed up as a horde to get the most attacks out of them. Normally, as dwarfs tend to be expensive, this will be your biggest unit and thus a large fire magnet; as you're going to be striking last anyway, great weapons are a good choice. If not take shields for the extra survivability.

• Longbeards: Longbeards, an actual unit now, are 4 points more than a dwarf warrior. They are better at killing shit and not running away, being immune to psychology with ld 9. They also allow nearby units to re-roll failed panic tests when not fleeing, which is nice if you haven't taken a BSB (but you always should take a BSB with Rune of Valaya). If you play dwarfs without this unit you aren't playing real dwarfs, you need, I repeat, YOU NEED grumbling old santa dwarfs. Generally better with a hand weapon and shield at s4, but in terms of close combat, hammerers and ironbreakers are better for points in all regards. Longbeards though nice, fill a niche already cramped with options. Pay 2 points more to get some serious Warrior of Chaos equivalent elites.

• Quarrelers: Crossbow dwarfs. They are dwarfs with crossbows with Heavy Armour as standard. That's about it. Take them if you want to be shooty. Also they can take shields and great weapons. Shields are good if you want to get into a shooting match with Wood Elves. Take these guys as your general core as crossbows will generally outrange all other armies at range 30 and great weapons will still allow them to hit any kind of anti archer unit and come out smiling. 40 man horde of these stubbies with great weapons is a scary prospect to charge against especially with new improved stand and shoot.

• Thunderers: Handgun Dwarfs. Upgraded to Heavy Armour and dropped two points makes them useful again. Not useless as someone here keeps insisting, they still put the hurt on units that -1 just doesn't matter much to 1+/2+ armour save, T3 knights. Plus with Shields and a rune of Groth One Eye nearby they make a surprisingly tough anvil to setup a beautiful countercharge with that unit of GW Quarrelers you have sitting beside them.

Special Units

• Hammerers: 2 Attacks now. TWO! Stubborn elite Dwarves with Great Weapons. For 14 points , you get a warrior of chaos stat line, less initiative and a 75-point runic banner allowance. Always. Take. Careful who they fight though, they might attack like a Chaos Warrior but they die far easier than one especially to ranged attacks. They cannot afford to get into a grind, that's what Ironbreakers are for.

• Bolt Throwers: Not terrible, but with a point increase to 55 pts a pop and loss of a 15 pt BS4 Engineer they became far more expensive to use effectively. Don't bother unless you are list tailoring and they serve a specific purpose

• Cannons:At 150 points with a 25 point rune of forging and 5 point rune of burning, cannons are so, so. They are necessary, but aren't worth taking more than twice. Of course the price goes up as you add runes and engineers, which you should do. Give a cannon the Rune of Burning for 5 points so you can ass rape Vampire counts/trolls/tomb kings/treemen from turn one. Give them engineers and you should be fine not watching it blow up, and if you still have the battle for skull pass model (which is a tiny as fuck cannon model), be sure to field those.

• Miners: Have a nifty special rule that lets them enter the game from any table edge after turn 2 on a roll of 3+. A welcome new addition to that rule is that the miners count as being in light cover after turning up, until the next turn . They are very good against static armies that take war machines and the like. Don't spend too many points on these guys as they are still Dwarves with M3 so they are prone to getting stuck on the wrong side of the board. Instead take in small groups of 10 or so and go war machine hunting with them. You can buy them upgrades to help them with their warmachine hunting role if you want. The steam drill allows you to reroll your arrival dice, while the blasting charges remain str 4, quick to fire, flaming, armour piercing, one shot 4" missile weapons. Though the drill isn't bad, don't take charges. Your miners should do the charging. They shouldn't be charged.

• Ironbreakers: Elite Tarpit. For 14 points each you get WS5, T4, Ld10, a 5+ parry that continues throughout combart (Shieldwall of Gromril on the Ironbreakers entry) and a 3+ armour save. Keep them near your BSB and you have a solid unit. Don't expect them to go toe to toe with the likes of Bloodletters or Chaos warriors though (though they can do pretty well with the new rules), but they will hold down S3/4 opponents three times their number and eventually come out on top. Give them the rune of Stoicism for Stubborn or Strollaz's Rune for Vanguard to shove a mean tarpit in your opponent's face right from go.

• Grudge Thrower: Its a standard stone thrower for 80 points. Can be buffed up with runes and engineers, the right combination can make this a very effective war machine. Take one. No take two. These can seriously troll T3 armies. Take a rune of accuracy and penetrating for 65 points to get str 4, re-rolling to hit, blasts, a bit more expensive now but probably still worth that Ironbreaker/Hammerer you paid for it. Alternatively you could take the level 2 version of the rune of penetrating for 50 points to get a str 4 blast with 1 re-roll to wound per game.

• Slayers: This unit has changed a bit, but perhaps not for the better. Slayers now wound on 4+ instead of raising their strength. This is after calculating str and to wound rolls. They have gained aswell, the deathblow rule, which allows each Slayer to strike before they die, in a blue-horror-esque style. This means if they get stomped on, they can still strike back but if they get skewered by impact hits, they can't. They still keep their ton of axes, but since they lost their bonus strength, great weapons will be come more common. After all, charging Slayers using great weapons will be Strength 6, regardless of whether they’re dying before they get to attack. Dragon Slayers do D3 wounds against Monsters, and Daemon Slayers also force enemies to re-roll ward saves as well.

• Gyrocopter: Gyrocopters have completely changed with the introduction of the new codex. They are now the dwarf equivalent of great eagles. For 30 points more than great eagles, you practically get a great eagle with a 4+ armour save, T5, either a str 3 armour piercing template, or a gun that fires d3 str 5, flaming, armour piercing shots. They also carry a one shot, str 3 armor piercing, artillery dice amount of hits, bomb which you can drop during your movement when you march. You can take vanguard for 20 more points, if you want first turn bombing/flaming from the rear or side arc. Considering you can take 6 in under 3000pts and 12 in 3000pts games and above, theoretically you can try to run a list around them, but they do lose out to some lists.

Rare Units

• Organ Guns: Your can do, rage machine against lightly armored troops(if you roll high) to heavily armored elites. (8th ed) Is now BS based, but rolls two artillery dice, rather than one. It can be given up to 50 points of Runes, and there's a +1 to hit Rune. Also, the range is now 30"; I seem to remember that it was 24" before. Stick a spare engineer on this to get BS 4, and then take a flaming rune to kill all VCs and Treekin/men.

Travelling wood elf players opinion: FUCKING ORGAN GUNS ARE FUCKING OP. at least last ed I could outrange them, now they have 30 fucking inch range and it's bullshit. If you're a dwarf player and you don't take these with flaming and engineers you deserve to get tabled by turn 2. Put this bad boy next to a block of ironbreakers, have your BSB Thane in that block, give him 3 runes of slowness and sit back and watch your enemy slowly dragging himself over the battlefield while your Organ Gun wipes the floor with his face. Face it, Dwarfs are shooty now and they have the heavy weights needed for the job, no sane person would want to stay in your field of view for longer than necessary so expect long distance charges which will ultimately fail because of your divine BSB.

• Flame Cannon: Underrated by far! Actually, against Gobbos, Monstrous infantry and Skaven, it can be used very effectively to cause panic tests on any large unit. Being able to throw down a str 5 flamer template is amazing in fantasy especially when it causes d3 wounds. The main problem is the short range (sort of, average rolling still hits 16/18"), but this is ok when you are facing a "run at you screaming" type army. Now you can boost the template again to send that run at you screaming army running away screaming even faster

• Gyrobomber: Released. Same as the Gyrocopter except it costs 45 more points, has a str 3 armor piercing, bouncing large blast bomb that can send out a second small blast on a 4+, and has a slightly stronger machine gun that fires 4 str 4 armour piercing shots. This thing will get shot to death. Nobody will let you get away with a nasty large blast on a flimsy platform. It may have a place in a flight of the bearded valkryies list, however, otherwise, it is too flimsy to field against anything other than Vampire Counts. This thing can be used in cohesion with a block of tasty Dwarfs and a BSB with 3 runes of slowness (read Organ Gun) You only need to fly over the enemy and blitzkrieg him to death while he slowly approaches "safety" of combat from your big guns.

• Rangers: Sadly the days of scouting hordes are over. Having been moved to the rare section, rangers have now the same role as chameleon skinks, shades and shadow warriors, except they do it worse. However if you have any Quarrelers with Great Weapons spare that aren't fufilling your core requirement, then you should swap them for Rangers, because they have throwing axes and scout for exactly the same price. Neat to improve an already decent unit, but still not good.

• Irondrake : They come with special Gromil armour standard which is 4+/6++ normally but grants a 2++ against fire and wield a drakegun for 1 more point than rangers. The Drakegun is an 18", strength five, flaming, quick to fire, armour piercing gun. Their champion can take some special weaponry as well, but the one you want is the Trollhammer torpedo, which is a flaming, non penetrating, slow to fire bolt thrower for all intents and purposes which is an awesome, more mobile monster repellent. Fuck everything else. Arguably other units can do what they do, but these models look badass.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

Buy a battleline set or two to start, you can get a couple for the same price as a battalion from the official site if you know where to look. Do all of the warriors as the same type - believe me, 40 warriors in one unit is far more effective than two units of 20. The shooty dwarfs should be assembled depending on who you usually face. Thunderers and quarrelers should generally have shields. The 4 cannons are really good both ways.

Next, buy a dwarf lord with shieldbearers. Gyrocopters will never go amiss, but make sure that you can afford it if you made the cannon into an organ gun. Keep buying more dwarfs. I usually go for a ratio of 1 shooty dwarf to 1 or 2 close combat dwarfs. A Runelord is no longer a good choice due to barely being better than the Runesmith for 60 pts. more, but a BSB is still ever-useful.

If you feel you need to stretch your converter's wings and make something unique/different or aren't all that impressed by the dwarf miniature range, Learn first and foremost how to green stuff beards.

Army Composition

Repeat after me. War machines and lots of shit that refuses to die.

Runic and Magic Items

Dwarfs have actual magic items now. They still can't pick rule book magic items. But instead they have runes, which are 10 times better, because you can combine various runes to form your own unique Runic items.

Magic Items: None of these save one are worth taking and that is army specific. Skip this unless you really want to read them.

The Hammer of Karak Drazh: For 65 points you get a magic weapon that grants +3I and causes anyone you hit to drop down to I1. Good against dragons, stegadons and.... Wait no not even that. Take runes instead.

The Red Axe of Karak Eight Peaks: Wow all those Goblin and Skaven grudges have to count to something I guess. This axe, for 50pts, gives you rerolls to hit and to wound, as well as terror against O+G and Skaven only. Great if you are going up against those two armies... Otherwise you paid 50pts for making your attacks magic.

The Magnificent Armour of Borek Beetlebrow: For 60 points it gives you a 2+ armour save and a 3++ ward against str 6+ or higher. Leave this one at home guys. Take a rune of preservation and shield bearers instead for those extra 2 wounds and perma 4++.

Silver Horn of Vengeance: Even more grudge holding. At least this one works against other armies. And that is it's only perk. For 45 points it gives for 1 turn, all dwarfs within 6" devastating charge, and once used, causes fear in all elves. Dwarves very rarely charge so this is almost pointless. Hell, atleast the Red Axe is good, when it comes to specific army hating.

The Fiery Ring of Thori: For 35 Points you get a str 4 flaming, breath weapon. "If you really want to kill those Hydras take this!" would be what any optimistic author would say. Leave it and take those far better runes. Why do people on this site still think Hydras have Regen? This is far cheaper than the runic weapon equivalent so if you only have room for one breath weapon, shop here.

The Banner of the Lost Holds. Now dwarfs can reroll to hit and to wound against everything, if you roll right. For 100pts it does just that, giving it's unit rerolls to wound. Leave it and take the Rune of Valaya instead on your banner.

Runes: Runes come in many different flavours now: Weapon runes, Armour Runes, Talismans Runes, Banner Runes and Warmachine Runes. An important thing to note is that apart from Warmachine runes, all characters can use any kind of rune. However some specific runes only allow certain characters to use them (e.g Runefolk) Also remember that Slayers (Dragon / Daemon) can only equip weapon runes. Like before Runes come with rules. They boil down to, only 3 runes a weapon, no rune combination stacking, and runes reset weapon types (e.g Great Weapon into plain hand weapon) unless the rune says otherwise. Runes stack weirdly now. E.g It costs 25 points to get a basic dispel rune but then costs 45 to get 2. And then when you take 2 stacked dispel runes on one character they do not have the same effect as 2 separate dispel runes on 2 different characters. It's not that complicated really, but still might be a little difficult for some to grasp. They got rid of a few Runes too, no more Master Rune of Kragg the Grim, thankfully, but they've changed a few as well, and maybe not for the better.

Weapon Runes:

Master Rune of Skalf Blackhammer: You wound everything on 2+s and everything in magic armour on 3+. Kholek Suneater must be so pleased. It's better taking a great weapon and some other defensive runes.

Master Rune of Smiting: 60pts for d6 wounds per successful wound. Not sure about this one. Could be good but cannons do what it can do better.

Master Rune of Alaric the Mad: 50pts for ignoring armour. All races seem to have this magic weapon. Better off taking strength bonuses.

Master Rune of Breaking: 50pts for breaking magic weapons only on a 2+, when you hit. Not bad against Ghal Maraz say, but still not worth it. The question is: does it work on the fencer's blades? The answer is: yes, as it says in the entry that Paired Weapons count as one.

Master Rune of Dragon Slaying: Even more grudge holding. 50pts for wounding dragons on 2+ and having the multiple wounds 2 rule. Only take if you have serious dragon issues. Does not work against Dragon Ogres.

Master Rune of Flight: 30pts for a 12", 2+ to hit, throwing weapon, combat attack. Can be used in stand and shoot. It applies other runes as well. Neat I guess.

Master Rune of Snorri Spangelhelm: That was a mouthful. Try saying that 10 times quickly. 25pts for ALWAYS hitting on 2+s. Pretty damn good in the right build, just about as good as...

Master Rune of Swiftness: 25pts for ASF on dwarfs. This is amazing. It allows you to strike at the same time as everyone else. Also gives you rerolls to hit against Lizardmen and big slow monsters. The only bad thing about it is that it is a master rune, so only one per army. Oh well.

Rune of Demon Slaying: 25/50/125pts for +1 to Hit and Wound/ +1 to Hit and Wound plus Multiple Wounds (D3)/ Always Hits and Wounds on a 2+, Multiple Wounds (D3) and no Ward Saves. Only works on Daemons so completely useless most of the time. If you're tailoring a list and don't mind you Lord choice being pretty squishy, go ahead and get it 3 times. The first two ranks are good facing Daemons, but the third is crap even then because your Dwarf Lord is still striking after them and is ridiculously squishy so don't even bother.

Rune of Fire: For 10/50/125pts you get flaming atacks/ S4 flaming breath atack/ flaming atacks, s4 flaming breath atack, d3 wounds respectively, buy this one to burn flaming monsters or to get magic atacks... S4 flaming breath is good against s3 enemies, no point really on buying 3 of this.

Rune of Fury: 25/60/100pts gets you +1 Attack/ that plus Frenzy/ the first two plus every succesful hit then generates another attack, this doesn't stack with itself (so no ridiculous horde-raping rounds where your Lords' six attack keep on hitting forever and you wipe out about 3 ranks). One rank of this rune is pretty good but a bit expensive, other two aren't really worth it, because getting the 2nd rank means you'll end up chasing opponents around, getting kited into obvious traps that your Lord-level character just doesn't notice.

Rune of Dismay: 20/45/80pts for Fear/ Terror/ Terror plus enemies in base contact with your unit are at -1 Leadership. If you get this rune any number of times you're an idiot. It's a waste of points, Fear and Terror are nowhere near as good as they once were, move along.

Rune of Cleaving: For 10/35/65pts you get Armour Piercing/ Armour Piercing and +1 Strength/ Armour Piercing, +1 Strength and Killing Blow. All of these are pretty decent choices. A favourite build of mine is actually 2 Runes of Cleaving and a Master Rune of Swiftness on my Dwarf Lord. It packs a decent punch for 60 points.

Rune of Might: 25/60pts. Grants doubled Strength versus Toughness 5 or more enemies/ Same as before and Multiple Wounds against Toughness 5 or more enemies. Stick these on a Dragon Slayer or Thane and he might kill a big gribbly monster, but there are better choices against such monsters (such as cannons, and as Dwarf players we have lots of cannons). You probably shouldn't bother unless you're using this with MRoSnorri and RoParrying for a character-killing Lord.

Rune of Striking: 10/35/60pts for +1 WS/ +1WS and Re-roll misses in Close Combat/ WS 10 and Re-roll misses in Close combat. Grabbing one isn't a bad choice, but the other two levels are kind of crappy. Re-rolling misses is OK, but you've probably got Hatred if your character is fighting another character, and WS10 isn't really that great, very few thing have WS higher than a Dwarf Lord, and things that do will rip him to shreds if he's using the second and third levels of this rune.

Grudge Rune: 25pts. It's OK if you want a heat-seeking missile Thane who just kills one opponent, this and 2 Runes of Cleaving is pretty formidable. Other than that it's not really worth it.

Rune of Parrying: 25pts for enemies to get -1 to Hit you in CC. There are better choices for making your character harder to kill, like Armour Runes. Great if you're making a Lord who murders in challenges.

Rune of Speed: Same as before. +1 intiative. Great way to get magic attacks.

Armour Runes:

Master Rune of Adamant: Gives the wearer T10 for 100pts. Not too bad I guess. It's up there with Ikea Flatpack (the FFF) with being extremely keyed to only certain armies. The problem is that everything still wounds you on 6s, even gnoblars.

Master Rune of Gromil: Unmodifiable 1+ armour save for 30pts. In every army other than dwarfs, it would be epic. Sadly it is only good, since this is achievable through other methods, when you play dwarfs.

Alternative opinion: An unmodifiable 1+ armour is brilliant, especially when you consider that a 1+ is the lowest save you are allowed now.

Rune of Fortitude: For 35/50/75pts you get +1T/ +1T and a 5++/ +1T, a 5++ and a 2+ to ignore multiple wounds, respectively.

Rune of Iron: For 20/45/70 you get +1W/ +1W and +1T/ +1W +1T and a 5+++ Regen.

Rune of Shielding: For 25pts you get a 2++ against shooting. Take it on an Runelord on an Anvil I guess.

Rune of Preservation: 25pts for a 2++ against Killing Blow. Take against Khorne and undead or perhaps on your combat leader, if you are afraid of having your head chopped off. It isn't that good.

Rune of Impact: 10pts for an impact hit. Just buy something else.

Rune of Stone: Same as before. +1 armour. Epic rune that ignores the rule of pride (e.g can take it on each of my thanes) but still doesn't stack.

Talisman Runes:

Master Rune of Balance: 50 points for a 4+ chance of stealing a power dice. Not as good as it once was, and now out-shone by the Rune of Valaya.

Master Rune of Spite: 25pts to deal a S5 hit to whoever gets a wound through your saves. Get some armour instead.

Master Rune of Passage: 10 pts to auto-pass Dangerous Terrain tests. Gets you past 5 Hexes from 5 Lores, stick it on you General's unit just to stop him being ground down.

Rune of Warding: 15/30/45pts for a 6++/5++/4++ ward save respectively. Take the highest on your general if you can.

Rune of Spellbraking: Dispel Scroll that can be taken on more than one Runefolk. Same price as a dispel scroll. For 20 more points you get the stack which is the same except, if you win a roll off, the enemy wizard loses a level and that spell with it. 1 is a must take, though 2 stacked not so much.

Rune of Luck: 15pts to reroll 1 to hit, to wound, armour, ward, or characteristic test per game. Jammy I guess. Depends highly on circumstances but is quite neat. Interestingly regen counts as a ward save and so are Leadership tests, due to it being a characteristic test.

Rune of Furnace: 2++ ward against flaming attacks for 5pts. As ever, a neat trinket.

Banner Runes:

Master Rune of Groth One-Eye: 75 points for 12" stubborn. Normally Dwarfs have good enough leadership.

Master Rune of Stromni Redbeard: 75 points. +1 combat res to all dwarf units within 12". Good in larger games.

Master Rune of Valaya: 65 points. 65 point drop for a +2 to dispel and at the start of each magic phase, each RiP is dispelled on a 3+. I am sorry but if you are not taking this rune, then you deserve to have your foe's Purple Sun of Xerxes run you over every magic phase. What is even better is that, it reliably dispels Throne of Vines every turn, without wasting power dice.

Master Rune of Grugni: BSB only. For 60 points it gives the BSB a 4++ ward and his unit a 5++ ward against missiles. Still going strong and now even harder to snipe the carrier.

Rune of Battle: For 35/70/125pts you get +1 c res/ +2 c res/ +2 c res and the fight in extra ranks rule. I guess this could see use in higher points games, where you want indestructible bricks to throw at your foes. Otherwise don't bother.

Rune of Slowness: For 35/50/80pts you cause foes to reduce their charge distance by 1d6/2d6 and pick the highest dice/2d6 and pick the highest dice and to strike with ASL in the first turn of combat. Neat if you are going for the Dwarf charge horde.

Rune of Sanctuary: For 15/30/45pts you get MR level 1/2/3. Your choice. There are better banners out there.

Rune of Stoicism: 35 points for stubborn, YES, this is just one of several easy ways dwarfs can get stubborn. Think, in most armies to get the rule you need a character with Crown of Command who can then be killed and the ability lost. Here the rule comes from the banner who is the 2nd last to die no matter what, put it on Longbeards/Ironbreakers/Irondrakes (though the latter should have Slowness) and have fun never running away.

Strollaz' Rune: Vanguard for 35pts. Really nice on dwarfs, but without an oath stone, you will disrupt you battle line and leave yourself open to flank attacks. You should see it as 2 turns free movement without being shot at. You can build an army around this banner. Don't bother taking this on Rangers since they still have to remain 12" away from the foe and still can't charge first turn, if you go first.

Rune of Courage: 20pts for Immune to Psychology. Don't bother. Dwarves with a BSB are good enough when it comes to leadership checks.

Ancestor Rune: 10pts for a one use only break test on 1 dice. Neat but I would save up for some better runes. The only use this has is for satisfying the Rule of Pride, take it and Vanguard/Stubborn and a 2nd unit can take the same special rule banner too.

Engineering Runes:

Master Rune of Immolation: The ultimate Greater Good Rune. For 30 points you can detonate your warmachine at will, after combat, to cause 2d6 str4 flaming hits to enemies. Not bad but you really shouldn't be letting your enemies get into combat in the first place. That and if your warmachine gets destroyed, it takes the crew with it.

Master Rune of Disguise: CREEEEEEEEEED! No I joke. For 25pts you count as being in hard cover. Just pay the points for that master engineer instead of wasting points on runes.

Rune of Penetrating: For 40/50 points you get +1S/rerolling 1 wound in the game, respectively. Read the text, the Strength does not stack if you take multiples, do you really think they'd price +1 S at 40pts and +2 S at 50?

Stalwart Rune: For 15/30 you get +1 to combat res for your warmachine/ +1 combat res and unbreaking. Neat if you want a speed bump, but it does eat up your warmachine allowance.

Rune of Accuracy: For 25 points you get +1 BS or reroll the scatter dice if you use one. Neat and almost mandatory on Organ Guns and Grudge Throwers.

Rune of Forging: For 25 points you can reroll an artillery dice whenever a missfire occurs.. Once again neat and almost mandatory on Cannons and arguably Organ guns.

Flakksson's Rune of Seeking: For 15 points your bolt throwers get +1 to hit against flying foes. Good if you want to kill eagles and such. Limited though by the usefulness of the bolt thrower.

Rune of Burning: For 5 points you get flaming attacks. This is arguably the best rune in the book. A it allows you to set up different warmachines with very similar runes, and not break the rule of pride. B it makes anything with regen or flammable wet themselves. You want to prioritise Cannons first, when choosing which units should have the rune, so they get 2xd6 wounds vs flammable units, then Organ Guns and then Grudge Throwers.

P.S: When faced with the difficult choice between a Furnace Rune, Rune of Stone and Rune of Burning for your last 5pts, make sure that your Cannon has flaming attacks first, then your most important heroes and lords have the Rune of Stone second, then Organ guns third, then Grudgethrowers fourth and then finally try to squeeze your Rune of Furnace into an important hero. I hope this helps.

Combinations: Mini-Thor - Master Rune of Flight and some runes of cleaving or burning. While not really that good, could be used for a bit of extra range.

Lord M:3|WS:7|:BS:4|S:4|T:5|W:3|I:4|A:4|Ld:10 Lord: 145 points Great Weapon: 6 points Shield: 3 points Shieldbearers: 40 points (+2 Wounds, +2 AS) Rune of Iron (Level 2): 45 points (+1W +1T) Rune of Fortitude (Level 1): 35 points (+1T) Rune of Warding (Level 3) 45 points (4++)

So, after all that, your stats are now:

Lord M:3|WS:7|:BS:4|S:4|T:7|W:6|I:4|A:4|Ld:10 1+ Armour Save, 4++ Ward Save.

That's pretty sexy. However, there is an alternative. Instead of 4++ Ward Save, get:

Rune of Cleaving (Level 2): 35 points Rune of Striking (Level 1): 10 points

So you become: Lord M:3|WS:8|:BS:4|S:5|T:7|W:6|I:4|A:4|Ld:10 1+ Armour Save, +1S and Armour Penetration

OR

Rune of Cleaving (Level 1): 10 points Rune of Striking (Level 2): 35 points

So you become: Lord M:3|WS:8|:BS:4|S:4|T:7|W:6|I:4|A:4|Ld:10 1+ Armour Save, Armour Penetration, +1WS and Re-Roll Failed To Hits.

Or you can take the advice of Bruenor from Bugman's and take:

Shieldbearers: 40 points Master Rune of Snorri Spanglehelm: 25 points Rune of Might (Level 1): 25 points Rune of Parrying: 25 points Rune of Warding (Level 3): 45 points and the all important Rune of Stone: 5 points

Netting you a Lord that's never hit on better than a 4+, always hits on a 2+, never wounds on worse than a 4+ and has a 1+/4++. This guy, for 310 points, has killed Archaon. I've never seen the build lose a challenge.

How about a Daemon Slayer: Lord M:3|WS:7|:BS:3|S:4|T:5|W:3|I:5|A:4|Ld:10

Rune of Cleaving (Level 2): 35 points Rune of Striking (Level 1): 10 points 1+ Armour Save, +1S and Armour Penetration

Or

Rune of Cleaving (Level 1): 10 points Rune of Striking (Level 2): 35 points Armour Penetration, +1WS and Re-Roll Failed To Hits.

Rune of Striking gives you +1WS (so you're WS8) and Re-roll Failed To Hits. Which SHOULD apply to Deathblow special rule, where you make a single attack when you die.

Magic

Rule one of Playing Dwarfs. Dwarfs have no magic. Dwarfs have runes which can be cast from the Anvil of Doom, in the form of bound spells.

Dispelling Magic

• In 2000 point games and above, try to have a Runelord with the Master Rune of Balance and an Anvil of Doom, and park him behind some dwarven lines. The Anvil provides you with one Dispel Dice and some spells and in addition, the master rune's ability allows the Runelord to steal a power dice on a 4+, all for 305 points. Do not stack him with his Runesmith buddies, unless they are buffing units. Make sure you have at least one dispel rune in your army in case of a Pit of Shades. Yes, you should have more dispel dice, but this codex hasn't been kind to the Runefolk.

• However what the codex has done is give you a cheaper, better Rune of Valaya that shuts down all RiP spells and still provides a +2 bonus.

• Unless you're letting an allied wizard tag along you get +2 to dispel. NEVER EVER FORGET THIS.

Tactics

As the rulebook has set your army up to nearly never make the first move in anything from army placement to attack rolls, it is a good idea to theme your army around getting the enemy to come to you. try for at least 1 dwarven cannon just incase another git brings a cannon then you won't have to take 5 turns of cannonballs to the face (OUCH!).

Because dwarfs have such shit movement (M3), it's a good idea to just let your combat units wait for a bit while your opponent marches towards you, especially against armies like Beastmen, Skaven, OaG, WoC, Daemons and other armies with not much shooty shit. As they're coming towards you, start fucking them up with your war machines, thunderers and quarrelers. Once you've weakened them a bit, charge in for the kill with your combat units. Warning: this tactic will get you bum-fucked against elves, empire and armies with lots of missile fire/magic.

VS monsters of any kind CANNONS. MOAR CANNONS. Side note: Consider flaming Organ Guns, dwarfed by master engineers.

VS Skaven/Empire Kill the war-machines with cannons and then whatever else happens to present itself. Also, Empire will RAGE when you shut down their Magic phase with the Anvil. [Edit: Anvil sucks now, don't take it.]

VS Vampires/Tomb Kings Kill those darn Wizards. Use Cannons, Catapults, Gyrobombs, everything. You cannot win in a war of attrition, if you are going combat, so go in for the challenge with the knowledge you will have hatred and they won't.

VS Wood Elves Artillery (Flaming Cannonballs and Organ Guns) is the name of the game. The new Wood Elves are fast and shoot well, but still have lousy armour and the trees are not as devastating as they were. The problem is that they now have access to the eight magic lores and the Dark/High elves too; their magic buff options have grown a lot; neutralize their magic phase with the Rune of Valaya and some Runesmiths. Shoot the Dryads with Quarrelers. Treeman/Treekin? Use Fire.

Double Ranger/Miner List This specific build does not work as well as before. You can try build up a scouting horde, but the rare and special restrictions limit your success.

Hill Defence Stick a cannon and a grudge thrower on a hill. Array your units so that they are protecting the hill. Behind, and out of sight of the enemy, place your secret vengeance weapons- gyrocopter and anvil of doom. The plan is to use the artillery to whittle down the enemy with your war machines, then break the enemy in CC. At that point, the gyrocopter comes swooping over the hill and smashes into the fleeing units before they get a chance to rally. Beware of shooty armies and spells and template effects. This strategy requires ranks and outnumbering when you reach combat. If you can't break the enemy, the last ditch option is to use the gyrocopter to shred them into little tiny pieces using the bombs and gun.