‘Warhammer The Old World’ – The Dwarf Arcane Journal Changes Up The Army – Review
The Dwarfs have a brand new Arcane Journal out for Warhammer: The Old World. Let’s take a swing at what’s inside the covers of Dwarfen Mountain Holds.
After what wasn’t a short wait we, at last, have our next book out of Warhammer: The Old World. The Dwarf Arcane Journal, along with a ton of minis, is up for pre-order. Now luckily we don’t have to wait any longer to get a look inside this book. So today let’s take a look at what the Arcane Journal offers and if it fixes up the Dwarf army at all.
New Dwarf Special Characters
The book comes with three named characters you can take: Thorgrim Ulleksson, Ungrim Ironfist and Burlok Damminson. At 85 Pts Damminson is cheap and basically an upgraded Engineer. He allows a unit he is with to ignore the -1 to hit for long range and can fight in combat better than most. He seems like a useful option, but nothing crazy. Both Thorgrim and Ungrim are on the other side of cheap however. Thorgrim will run you 250 pts and Ungrim is a cool 315 pts. Neither is really as killy or as though as I’d want for those points, and I’d argue you can build a better Dwarf Lord. Both are held back by Move 3.
Both characters end up paying a lot of points because they can make a unit Unbreakable. Thorgrim can make any unit he joins Unbreakable, but at the cost of not getting to move for the rest of the game. This is such a negative that I really doubt you’ll see him much. Ungrim, on the other hand, can join Hammerers and make them Unbreakable, which is better. Ungrim is also how you unlock being able to take a Slayer army – as if he’s in the Royal Clan army, he unlocks them. This means you are likely to see him as he is a must-take to field a certain army. Still, I don’t think we have anything game-changing here.
New Dwarf Units
Next up we’ve got a bunch of new Dwarf units:
Dwarf Engineer Sappers: A new character for the Expeditionary Force army. They can enhance units and make enemies take dangerous terrain tests. Having one around seems nice as the Dangerous terrain tests can rank over time.
Doomseekers – These are a real stand out. Lone Dwarf Slayers (though there are ways to get them to join a unit) that are whirling balls of death. They do Impact Hits, they have 2d3 Attacks, they can rank tattoos, they get extra Charge range. They only give up points if they live. And Doomseekers are cheap at 50 pts. You can get access to them in any Dwarf army and Empire. A great counterpunch unit or annoyance unit. You’ll see a lot of these.
Royal Clan Warriors- Upgraded Warriors for the Royal Clan army. Their great weapons are AP-3. Given how bad normal Warriors are, these aren’t great but you might see them in the army as the Core choices are limited.
Imperial Dwarf Mercenaries – They can be taken as Mercenaries by both Dwarfs and Empire. They are basically Dwarf Warriors with the option of Spears, Great weapons, Crossbows or Handguns. Honestly, they are a fun unit, but not good. They don’t really bring anything to the table that Dwarfs don’t already have. They might have some uses for getting Empire a T4 unit?
Scout Gyrocopter: An alternate version of the Gyrocopter for the Expeditionary Force. It’s lighter and can choose to flee from combat. They are stuck with the Chattergun but are cheap.
Dwarf Carts: Another real stand-out unit. The stats here aren’t anything to talk about. The unit is 65 pts and must be either a Bugman’s or Miner’s Cart. The Miner’s cart lets nearby units gain a Stand and Shoot attack and blows up when killed. It’s fine, but not crazy. The Bugman’s Cart, on the other hand, gives friendly units within 6 inches +1 move (can’t be stacked). This is big, making a well supported Dwarf army as fast as any other infantry. Combined with an Anvil and Drilled, you can have some very mobile troops. All Dwarf armies have access to them.
Goblin-Hewers: A new/old Warmachine. It does artillery dice + d3 per enemy rank shots. Sadly the current meta isn’t really about running deep units and the attacks are S4 -1 AP at BS 3. It’s just not worth it.
The Royal Clan Army
The Royal Clan army is one of two Armies of Infamy in the book. It has a very restrictive list with basically anything black powdery (with the exception of Irondrakes) or made by Engineers removed. It also can’t take Slayers. For Core that gives you Quarrelers, Longbeards and Royal Clan Warriors, the other sections are similarly small. In return you get +1s if you Charge more than 3 inches or follow up. You also get extra points to spend on runes and standards and can pick an enemy character for your army to gain hatred vs and extra points if you kill.
Overall, this just isn’t worth it. The extra rune points are a kind of trap giving you more expensive heroes. Extra S on the charge seems fine, but Dwarfs just don’t get lot of charges off. For all you lose, the benefits of The Royal Clan are very, very small. This does change a bit if you take Ungrim Ironfist as your general, as he allows you to add Slayers to the list and is the best shot at running a Slayer-heavy army. I still don’t think it’s good– but it has a place.
Expeditionary Force Army
This Army of Infamy is basically the other half of the Dwarf army, with Slayers, and all the Engineer/black powder stuff. It loses the really heavy stuff in the army, like Ironbreakers and Kings. In exchange, you get a much more mobile army. You can upgrade a unit of Thunderers per 1000 pts, to not take penalties from moving and shooting. You can also make your cannons, of various types, be able to move and shoot. Miners also gain the option to put down some markers on the table and appear from them instead of the table edge.
This seems like a much better and more fun Dwarf army that lets you be a bit mobile. Moving and shooting is fun, and you get some new toys to play with. I actually think with the options here, you can run an all-skirmishing Dwarf list and those Gyrocopter Spam lists? Yeah… this army does that to a T.
New Runes and Tattoos
Lastly the book also comes with some new magic upgrades. Runic Tattoos are a new type of upgrade that Slayer characters can take. They cost points but don’t come out of the normal rune point allotment, instead each type of character can take a certain number of them. There are some really good upgrades in here, including one that lets you only give up points if you are still alive, which I love. However… they cost points. And these are points on top of the character and other runes you are giving them. Given that Slayer characters aren’t all that great and are so slow… this feels like a point trap. Yeah, you could give 100 pts of Tattoos to a Doomseeker, but then you’ve taken a cheap 50 pt model made them cost 150 pts.
Engineer’s Weapon runes, on the other hand, work like normal runes but can only go on a handgun or crossbow. While they can also be costly, there are some nice options here. You can make your gun act like a bolter thrower, shoot twice, or do 2d3 hits among a few stand outs. As these are runes, you can combo some of them. With them they let you build some of the deadliest shooting heroes in the game. It expands the options you have for some heroes, and are a fun addition.
Let us know what parts of the new book you like best, down in the comments!
