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 you have a thing for alcoholic midgets who carry axes as big as themselves... Even WOC can't boast that! Also, DEM BEARDS.

One thing to wacth out for is the model range, generally all the dwarf models are horrible but for most of the character models, ironbreakers, bolt throwers, grudge throwers, thorgrim, a few slayers and old 5 pack longbeards.

To make anything else look really good is easy though. Any detail you don't like just cover it with green stuff beard and any model will always look better with 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 vikingy. more beard seems to go along 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 thumbtacs or converted marauder shields make your models look amazing, thumbtacs especially as they make the shields look like the cover art of the current dwarf codex. Sidenote: The current dwarf codex is so FUCKING OLD that the FIRST FUCKING LIZARDMAN CODEX didn't FUCKING EXIST when it was released. Lizards were in 5th edition. GW will only update it COME THE APOCALYPSE. Or you know, February late-February.

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: Not even once, don't even try. Firstly you cannot even try fielding him unless the game is 3,200 points minimum and even then he isn't worthwhile. Almost 800 points for a guy who's abilities will never all be needed at once and can be bought for much cheaper.

• Thorek Ironbrow: A big pile of "Meh", yeah he can get off all your ancient power runes no problem but at a hefty price tag that puts him solely in the +2000 game range. Aside from his abilities at striking runes with impunity he has literally nothing else to offer so don't try unless its a big game for lulz.

• Josef Bugman: The epitome of a dwarf grudge holder and probably the only named character anyone would/should ever take in this army. Most notable is his ability to let you take two units of rangers and an extra unit of longbeards (which his rangers must be.) At 155 points he sits between a cheap Lord or a wallet killing Thane with stats more toward the former. Plus he counts as a Hero so for casual games he is worth considering for a double ranger + unit of miners and a thane list. Note: An Anvil is necessary to pull the aforementioned list off successfully.

• Belegar Ironhammer: Details soon to come

• Grimm Burloksonn: Ditto the above

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 to his armour, 2 additional WS5 S4 I3 attacks plus he counts as infantry still so he gets his look out sirs. 25 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. There is ONE rune to negate this effect, the Master Rune of Kragg the Grim, but taking this is a bunch of points just to make your two-handed axe a two-handed axe again. Why would you ever do this? Either take a hand weapon and rune it up, or take a great weapon and leave it alone.

• Runelord: A more expensive and better version of the Runesmith. Can take an Anvil of Doom, which you should do because the Anvil is amazing.

Anvil of Doom: A very nasty piece of kit. An extra dispel dice never hurts, whereas the Anvil does. The Rune of Wrath and Ruin happens to be my personal favourite, as I play against all three types of elves. The D6 magical strength 4 attacks aren't bad, and can be pretty devastating against skirmishers, but it's real forte is the ability to halve move rates. This can slow the enemy down enough to give you an extra round of shooting at 'em. RO Oath and honour is nice if you want a FAST MOVING army! No seriously, a fun trick to try is Strollaz's rune+Rune of Oath and Honour. 1st turn, the enemy laughs at your move of three. He doesn't know that it is actually move 6. So before you start, you move 6 straight towards him, another 6 in the movement, then get a Rune of Oath and Honour off in the magic phase, charge 10 (a perfectly average score). Correct me if I'm wrong, but 22 inches - with dwarves!? Don't even get me started on the possibilities with miners and rangers.

• Daemon Slayer: Not completely useless! A master rune of swiftness and a few other runes make him a very good monster killer. The reason for the MR is that then you can jump in ahead of the rider/handlers. Otherwise, you may as well kiss your stubby nutter goodbye.

• 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.

• Runesmiths: You want to keep these guys around for good dispel dice, the more the merrier. And field them with dispel runes or have them inside thunderer units or something not likely to blow up in your face to keep those sweet dispel dice coming in.

• 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 COUNTS AS A WAR MACHINE.

• Dragon Slayer: Maybe put one in your gunline, otherwise avoid like the plague. If you know your opponent will be ogres these guys are great for trolling. Put on the rune that lets him inflict D6 wounds and send him into the flank of any of his core units just to watch the bodies fall, before he gets the shit stomped out of him by some pissed off fatties.

Core Units

• Dwarf Warriors: These are your (beard) bread 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.

Alternative opinion: Dwarf warriors suck absolute testicles. 9 pts with a shield and 10 points with a great weapon, you are better off paying 2 points more for hammerers, who have +1ws +1s and stubborn. You are better off taking ranged core units.

• Longbeards: Warriors can be upgraded into Longbeards for +3 points each. They are better at killing shit and not running away, being immune to panic. They also allow nearby units to re-roll failed panic tests, which is nice if you haven't take a BSB (but you always should take a BSB). 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.

• Quarrelers: Crossbow dwarfs. They are dwarfs with crossbows. 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 stubby little shits with great weapons is a scary to charge against especially with stand and shoot.

• Thunderers: Handgun dwarfs. Dwarf handguns have a +1 to hit modifier and have Armour Piercing. So they are better at shooting armoured foes and are more accurate than Quarrelers. However they have less range and are more expensive. Once again, take shields if you're going to get in a shooting match.

• Rangers: Dwarf Warriors, Quarrelers and Longbeards that are armed with great weapons can be upgraded to Rangers for +1 points per model allowing them to scout. Take them if you want a scouting horde of dwarfs. This can be pretty funny. Also, Warriors and Longbeards can take throwing axes. A bunch of Longbeards w/ shields, hw and throwing axes can fuck shit over, if used correctly. PSHHHH Rangers need great weapons so a Longbeard Ranger w Throwing axes and a shield runs up to 15 pts a model, fuck that.

Special Units

• Hammerers: Stubborn elite Dwarves with Great Weapons. For 1 point more than a GW Dwarf warrior, you get +1S, +1WS, Stubborn, and a runic banner allowance. Always. Take with MR Grungni for 5+ shooting/magic missile ward save.

• Bolt Throwers: Always take in units of 2 (or just take another cannon), and field 6 of them if you want to troll your enemies. Give them an engineer if you want to burn points in higher games and make them flaming to fuck with dark elves.

• Cannons: These are amazing, you need more of them. At 90 points they are a bargain. 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 Hydras 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 4+ on turn to with a +1 modifier being added every turn they don't appear.). 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. (Taking them with a Thane that has Rune of Challenge is a good way to fuck up your opponents bowlines.) Shame that you can't charge before turn 3 though: they would be truly scary then. Unless of course you took an Anvil of Doom. Strike its Rune of Oath and Honour to hear its delicious tone mix with the anguishes screams of your opponent.

Note.(NEVER TAKE BLASTING CHARGES! One use D6 S6 attacks as a stand and shoot only for 30 pts?!)

• Ironbreakers: Elite Tarpit. For 13 points each you get WS5, T4, Ld9, a parry save 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, but they will hold down your enemies horde of High Elf Spearmen or Gors. Alternatively give them the Master Rune of Grungi and march them towards a bowline.

• Grudge Thrower: Its a standard stone thrower. 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.

• Slayers: They suck, horrendously. Sure the idea sounds great, and what's there not to like about Unbreakable? But the only thing they do well is kill monsters, and you have cannons so why would you spend 11 points a Slayer for movement 3 infantry who against a smart opponent won't even get to see combat. They are as durable as Gors, so will get shot to pieces, and are initiative 2, so will get hacked apart before they can bring their, at most, 2 attacks each to bear. And as a Dwarf player you really do not need an Unbreakable unit. Pity they have such great models. Drop them and take more cannons, they are cheaper and much much more effective at everything slayers are supposed to do. Especially seeing as to get anything out of slayers you will need to take at least 30, the points with which you could buy 3 fucking cannons. Which do you think will kill monsters faster?

Rare Units

• Organ Guns: Your can do, rage machine against light armored troops(if you roll high) to heavily armored elites, but be sure as hell to make sure an engineer is nearby.

Using artillery dice, and automatic hits are pretty lulzworthy along with a -3 armor save and strength 5 hits can pretty much decimate enemy blocks of units if you take two, but

costing 120 points with no runic upgrades can be tricky and is better to take in units of 2 or 1 with 2 cannons.

• Flame Cannon: Underrated by far!

Actually, against Gobbos and Scaven, it can be used very effectively due to panic tests on any unit that takes a casualty. The main problem is the short range (sort of, average rolling still hits 24"), but this is ok when you are facing a "run at you screaming" type army.

• Gyrocopter: Do you hate elves? Of course you do! Then you will like the Gyrocopter. Now that march blocking isn't a viable tactic the Gyrocopter is not nearly as useful as it used to be, but it flies and shoots a flame template of Strength 3, -1 Armour save modifying elf killing goodness. Great for blasting apart Swordmasters. Anyway its a fucking helicopter, what more do you want? Still not as good as Organ Guns though.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

Buy a batallion set to start. Do all of the warriors as the same type - believe me, 32 warriors in one unit is far more effective than two units of 16. The shooty dwarfs should be thunderers, unless the only person you play is a SISSY WOOD ELF, who has no armour and stupid amounts of shooty stuff. Thunderers and quarrelers should generally have shields. The cannon is really good both ways.

Next, buy a universal Dwarf Thane/Lord. 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 2 close combat dwarfs. A Runelord and a BSB are good choices.

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 Items

Dwarfs don't have any actual magic items as of yet. They have runes instead, which are 10 times better, because you can combine various runes to form your own unique magic items.

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.

A nifty little combination for an almost unkillable Dwarf Lord: Master Rune of Steel (attacks at above strength 5 count as strength 5), Rune of resistance (re-rollable armour save), Rune of stone (+1 to your armour save) and Master Rune of Spite (4+ ward. Stick him on some shield bearers and give him a great weapon and you've got a lord who, in combat, at best can be wounded on a 4+, has at worst a 4+ armour save (and that's only if they have armour piercing at their strength 5) re-rollable followed by a 4+ ward. I take him as my general in 2000 points (at 301 points he's too expensive to consider before) and he has never been killed in combat (though any character who ignores armour, or killing blow still makes me a little nervous for a second). Be sure to stick him in a unit of hammerers though because if his unit loses by combat resolution and they run he WILL be killed.

Magic

Only anvil of doom got anything casty like.

Dispelling Magic

• In 2,250 point games and above, always, always, always have a Runelord with the Master Rune of Balance and an Anvil of Doom, and park his stubby ass behind some dwarven lines. The Runelord gets two dispel dice, and the Anvil provides you with another one, in addition to the master rune's ability to steal power dice, all for 380 points. Stack him with his Runesmith buddies, who should have dispel runes, and you are looking at 7 bonus dispel dice and the enemy losing a power dice for about 600 points total. Yes, you could easily have more dispel dice than they have power dice. They can kiss their magic phase goodbye.

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

• Alternately if you decide for some bizarre reason that you want to play a game of Storm of Magick take a Truthsayer, give your BSB the Master Rune of Valaya and give a Runelord the Master Rune of Spellbinding. Said Truthsayer now has +7 to dispel. Now you can play a game of Storm of Magick without the magick. Hooray.

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 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.

VS vampires/tomb-kings see that wizard over there? Kill it, kill it with fire and do it now.

VS wood elves Artillery is the name of them game. Tree hugging sissies are everywhere, but don't worry, good armour will keep you safe. The trees on the other hand are devastating. Shoot the dryads with thunderers, if I recall correctly, they are magical and thus dryads will drop like flies. Where did you get that idea? LOOK OUT! IT'S A TREEMAN! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE! Same goes for treekin. Flaming cannonballs are the name of the game.

Double Ranger/Miner List This specific build works well at around 3,000 points when you can afford all the toys needed to make it work. Start with Bugman and give him a big horde of his rangers, then take a tank thane with the rune of brotherhood and put him in your other ranger unit. Take an Anvil of Doom and stock up on some magic defence. For the rest of your core you should take some missile troops since almost all your cc stuff will be far from the rest of your line. If needed, another horde of GW dwarfs is never bad. Special you take Miners, 20+ of them and take stuff to anchor whatever battle line you have, cannons, ironbreakers, grudge throwers. A Gyrocopter or two is also needed to make this list work well so set aside those points from the start. Your plan should be to use your advanced rangers to delay and annoy the enemy, give your Prospector a steam drill so he can get on the board turn 2 for sure. While they contend with two beefy units ahead of them and a third coming from behind use the anvil to keep them mobile (as mobile as dwarfs can be.) Your war machines and missile troops blast anything that tries to get through. If all works out well then you should have an opponent whose army is divided and can be defeated in detail by your battle-line back in your zone.

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 steam gun.