Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Dwarfs

Why Play Dwarfs

New Book Coming! stay put for revisions and updates on this page.

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 old, but fire up your forges because you boys are getting a mid-February update! Plus it looks like there getting a freaken Luftwaffe this time around. But only a zeppelin or diving bell with arotor blade.

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).

Army rules

Note: These are completely confirmed now.

Ancestral Grudge : Hatred Skaven/Greenskins; everyone else has a chart (1-2 : Your general hates the enemy independant 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 massively randomizes your sucess rate. However if you look at it statistically, then you can easily predict what it will be usefull for. For example you can completely rely on all your models getting hatred against those enemy ics. This is immense. Not only does it make dwarfs, in base contact with lords and heroes better but also in challenges it also effects your characters. To my knowledge it affects dwarfs going up against heroes on monsters aswell, 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 for marching close to an enemy. Always nice but leadership really isn't too much of a problem. Only Gyrocopters will really use this rule fully.

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 and another reason to not field Thunderers.

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 ever round of CC) and when he dies all friendly Dwarf units get Frenzy if he dies. 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.

• Josef Bugman: The epitome of a dwarf grudge holder and probably the only named character anyone would/should ever take in this army. 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 another d3 table to roll at the start of the game, heals a wound per turn like Isabella and still carries Ol' Trustworthy.

• 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 generals. I didn't write most of this article and, whilst not a noob, I don't match up to most of you elegan/t g/entlemen in terms of experience, so bear this in mind when berating me for idiocy due to my additions.

• 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):
  • 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, on a unit of Quarrelers with a Runesmith/Lord it is hilarious.
  • Superior Volley: Models in the unit may re-roll any to hit roles. Again, useful for Bolt Throwers and Organ Guns (Organ Guns roll to hit now). Deadly on Quarrelers with a Rune Priest at close range, as a volley is sure to cut down infantry at -2 to their Armour Saves. Use this on Irondrakes for extra deadliness.

• 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, but, like Belegar, he's only got 3+ 4++ so he's a little bit of a glass-cannon but alright all in all. He seems to be pretty funny against Dragons because that 2+ Ward against Flaming is pretty funny and will be useful against them. Other than that he'll fuck up a few less combat-oriented Lords and he'll weather a lot of hits, also his Slayer King rule is useless because Slayers aren't very good at all. I wrote Belegar's entry too by the way, so once again please don't kill me.

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 and power like wizards (the only use I can see for the power dice is if you are using an anvil of doom), grant armour piercing as a generic rule (yes this does make buffed quarrellers better than thunderers) and grant magic resistance lv1. 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. It grants an additional 2 wounds, a 5++, bodyguards, 1 power and 1 dispel dice and is a 150pts upgrade for a Runelord. Multiple Anvils do not stack. 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.

• 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.

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. There are many effective combinations of runes, however one rune of note is the banner rune of valaya. Thanes are the only models in the game which can take it apart from Hammerers, because their Runic Standard allowance is 75 points. See below for more details.

• 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. Still does with the new rules

• 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.

• Longbeards: Longbeards, an actual unit now, are 3 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 4 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 to charge against especially with new improved stand and shoot. Put a Rune Lord/Priest to give them Armour Piercing Shots, laugh as you now effectively have 30" range handguns. Also use Grimm Burloksson and his abilities, to potentially have 42" range handguns!

• Thunderers: Never take Thunderers if you can. The only benefit they have over Quarrellers is that they have armour piercing. Quarrellers are exactly the same price and have 6" extra range. Now that Smiths can grant armour piercing to quarrellers,Thunderers have been made mostly redundant.

Special Units

• Hammerers: 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.

• Bolt Throwers: Always take in units of 2 (or just take another cannon), and field 4 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:At 150 points with a 25 point rune of forging and 5 point rune of burning, cannons are so, so. They are neccessary, 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 Hydras/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 4+ on turn to with a +1 modifier being added every turn they don't appear). 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 save even when charging 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 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 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 light 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.

• 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.

• 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 d6 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.

• 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 so much worse. They still have the same items as before, but still have the same hefty price tag. ATM it looks like you should leave this unit at home.

• Irondrake : They come with special Gromil armour standard which is 4+/6++ normally but grants a 2++ against fire and wield a drakegun for the same price as rangers. The Drakegun is an 18", strength five, flaming, quick to fire, armour piercing gun. Their champion can take some special weaponry as well.One of these is a Trollhammer torpedo, which is a flaming, non penetrating, slow to fire bolt thrower for all intents and purposes. The others are drakefire pistols and cinderblast charges. I am unsure about the usefullness of this unit. With Grimm Burlockson they may be very nasty, abusing the bonus range he can give them. They seem to be all rounded but others do specfic jobs better.

Building Your Army

Buying Your Army

Buy a battleline set or two to start, you can get one for £70 from totalwargamer.co.uk for the same price as a battalion from the official site. 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 Quarrelers since Thunderers are redundant when you have a Runesmith or Lord, which you'll get two of in the packs. Thunderers and quarrelers should generally have shields. The 4 cannons are 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 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 Items

Dwarfs have actual magic items now. But they also still have runes, which are 10 times better, because you can combine various runes to form your own unique magic items. NEW RUNES!

Runes: Runes come in many different flavours now: Runic Weapons, Runic Armour, Runic Talismans, 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). Like before Runes come with rules. They boil down to, only 3 runes a weapon, no rune stacking, when those runes specifically don't stack (but most runes can be), no more than 1 master rune 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 now to, no more Master Rune of Kragg the Grim, thank fuck, but they've changed a few as well, and maybe not for the better.

Dispel Rune: Dispel Scroll that can be taken on more than one guy. 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 Speed: Same as before. +1 intiative. Great way to get magic striking

Rune of Stone: Same as before. +1 armour. Epic rune but still doesn't stack

Master Banner Rune of Valaya: 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.

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.

A kind-of nice change is that the Master Rune of Adamant gives you Toughness 10, and combined with a great Weapon, Shield-bearers, a Rune of Stone (+1 to your Armour Save) and a Rune of Iron (+1 Wound) you can get a Dwarf who'll be wounded at 6's most of the time, with a 1+ Armour Save and 6 wounds, and Killing Blow doesn't work (I think) due to you being Unit Strength 3. This'll cost you 316 pts. The only thing you've got to worry about is me being dead wrong and shit that ignores armour, but then you've got 6 wounds and Toughness 10 so...

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 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 (uncertain). Do not stack him with his Runesmith buddies, unless they are buffing units. Make sure you have atleast one dispel rune in your army incase 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 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.

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 is the name of them game. Elves are everywhere, but don't worry, good armour will keep you safe. The trees on the other hand are devastating. Shoot the dryads with Quarrelers and hope. LOOK OUT! IT'S A TREEMAN! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE! Same goes for treekin. Flaming cannonballs and organ guns are the name of the game.

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.