KoW: Army Guide – Dwarfs
Starting a new army is always full of hard decisions. Here’s Mantic’s take on building up your Dwarf army.
Bensome from the Direct Misfire podcast shares his top three choices for the new dwarf player…
The dwarf army as a whole is a slower moving but highly resistant and reliable force. The choices available to a dwarf player are wide and varied allowing many different and effective builds. I’ve seen the all cavalry army, the gun line, the massed ranks of infantry, the monster-mash, and even the Multiple Small Unit (MSU) list decked out with Throwing Mastiffs. So I guess it’s no wonder that when a fresh dwarf player is confronted with options available, they ask for help.
Berserker Brock Riders – £24.99
These crazy badger-riding dwarfs are an excellent unit for any list, be it as a troop or regiment. They bring the much needed speed the dwarfs generally lack and can also pack quite the punch if left unhindered.
In addition to their speed and the high amount of attacks (not to mention Thunderous Charge and Vicious) they are also fearless – giving you piece of mind that they are never going to be waivered. As a result, it forces your opponent to focus fire onto unit in an attempt to cause enough damage to rout them, this in turn spares the rest of your army allowing them more time to move into position.
A troop of brocks are great for removing small units and clearing the way of chaff as well as hunting war machines and squishy lone characters. That’s not to say they shouldn’t fight hordes of troops though. Just make sure you can pull off a flank charge if you’re that way inclined – 26 attacks for a troop of cavalry? Yes please!
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Earth Elementals – £19.99
These sexy rock monsters can stand as a road block to your enemy. As with the Brock Riders the Elementals are fearless. Unlike the Brock Riders though, the Elementals are Defence 6! Teamed up with a Healing Charmed hero, these pet rocks should be able to hold against everything but the most egregious of damage dealers.
While they can be perceived as slow, with only movement 5 and Shambling, their speed isn’t a factor to worry about as playing the role of road block means they only need to get into a good spot and wait for the enemy to attempt to crack through.
Both sizes of Elementals, regiment and horde are viable, with the horde just being a more offensive unit (as it has more attacks, naturally) and are able to be surged into a flank easier. Same goes with the Monster variant, the Greater Earth Elemental; while it has fewer attacks, it has a higher nerve and smaller unit footprint, allowing surge tricks to be more easily attained (just make sure to hire a Stone Priest so you CAN surge!)
Ironbelcher Organ Gun – £9.99
One of the shorter ranged war machines available at 24”, the Organ Gun compensates by having a high number of Piercing 2 shots. This is made even more effective when a Warsmith hero is nearby as the Organ Gun then gains the Elite rule, making the package a deadly little battery.
The Organ Gun, though not specifically designed to take out high defence units (unlike the Cannon), can still pepper those targets for reasonable results. Damaging on 4+ or 3+ vs Def 6+ and 5+ is still a decent chance to substantially damage such units. That said, the prime target for the Organ Gun is the swift light to medium cavalry (those with defence 3+ or 4+) or similar infantry as you’ll be damaging on 2+ and those particular units generally have an average rout value of 16. A decent round of shooting from one Organ Gun should give you a pretty good chance of taking them off the board.
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