Fantasy Army Blog - Dwarves

Well, the club is finally coming back round to Fantasy with a campaign being started in the new year and with this a whole slew of new armies being collected

For my part, whilst i was incredibly tempted by VC's & Dark Elves i've decided to say to hell with it all and go for Empire as a bit of a painting challenge for myself aswell as a real gaming challenge

First things first, the campaign is building up in chunks of 500pts at a time with hefty bonuses for getting it painted... so the gnoblog should hopefully get updated quite regularly as i work on the army and get it completed

I've not got a list down yet but i have got the first purchases out of the way so i'm now sitting on - 10 Flagellants, 6 Knights, 5 Pistolliers, 1 Cannon, 1 Mortar, 2 Mages and 1 Mounted Warrior Priest with 20 State Troops, 20 Greatswords and 10 Handgunners on route

The final part for now is paint scheme... there's a couple i like and really not sure what to go for for the core of the army so i'm turning to you guys (again) to lend a hand and an opinion (i'm really too undecisive at times)
So, poll at the top, cast your votes or throw other suggestions at me... if any particular schemes crop up that i like i'll edit them into the poll (and with that in mind i'm letting people edit their votes too)

I dislike going mono-coloured - it looks a bit naf when done on a large scale, so the middenheim is out for me.

Of the other two, I like the sound of a stirland river patrol army - a mobile defence force hunting along the riverbanks, so I'm going for the green and white option.

Stirland!

I just love the Green/white scheme. I used it on my Vampire Counts, and I'm using it on my Dogs of War ^^

I voted for other, because I've always wanted to see an Empire army done in the style of (insert name here). I can't remember the name, and my book is packed, but these guys are specialist's at hunting down beastmen, and have alot of bull themed imagery.
Of the options you supplied, green/white would be my preference.

Blue white for Middenheim for me!

I voted other im a huge talabheim(spelling?) fan, the red/white that fills the entire empire book. i think it brings nice color to the army.

I always liked the yellow and purple of Bogenhafn, but I suspect that has more to do with the fact that I'm a long time WFRP player and have condemned that town to damnation more than once

Thanks
Corai

I think you should do purple and white!

Im not going to lie to you guys..i know diddly-squat about anything to do with the Empire, but i like purple, and not enough people use it imho

- Warplock

Reg: i think i know the one you mean, but i've temporarily misplaced my Empire book so i can't look up the colourscheme
Bulldog: the red/white is certainly a nice scheme but after seeing it throughout the empire book i'm kind of bored of it if that makes sense

Warplock & Corai: both interesting suggestions, though if i'm going to put one up it'd have to be the purple & white, to me it just seems like that'd be more striking and a bit less garish

Anyway, step one for the campaign is going to be 500pts... and boy is 500pts an insignificant looking empire army... that said most of the other armies in the campaign won't have the points for a full combat block and ranged support so i'm not coming off too badly... the final choice at the moment is whether to run a warrior priest or a Noble and a Halberdier Detachment, personally i'm leaning toward the noble but that may change

Noble - Full Plate, Shield, Halberd - 64
19 Swordsmen - Full Command - 139
9 Halberdiers - 45
10 Handgunners - 80 (might run crossbowmen for the range)
5 Pistolliers - Musician - 97
Mortar - 75
500pts on the nose

You've been playing elves too much.
The guy is called a captain isn't he?

The list is pretty impressive for 500 points.
I wouldn't use halberds as detachment, but come to think of it, I can see the intelligence in that.

You KNOW we need pictures, don't you?

I like the purple and white idea, I thouht about purple and yellow, but that makes it too much in your face.

You've been playing elves too much.
The guy is called a captain isn't he?

Damn  ... indeed i have, and chewing over elf lists with people

The list is pretty impressive for 500 points.
I wouldn't use halberds as detachment, but come to think of it, I can see the intelligence in that.

Halberdiers was to get a little extra strength in there rather than the bonus attacks of Free Company, also more uniform for the look

You KNOW we need pictures, don't you?

There's very little to take pictures of at the moment, waiting for the infantry blocks but i'll get a pic of the now magnetised mortar and the other bits up tonight... that do ya?

Will follow this one closely A good friend, and one of my favourite armies in one blog Sounds good

I voted for the purple and white Although, I quite like the colours of Nordland

JJ

OK, as requested, pics of the start of the army... first to buy is about 30 swordsmen as its all i need to get the initial army running



and a pic of the modular cannon/mortar (didn't come out very well)


The deal ended up slightly different so my start is:
25 Teutogen Guard (i just love the models)
10 Crossbowmen
7 Handgunners
9 Archers
5 Pistolliers
5 Knights
Valten on horse
Ar-Ulric
9 Halberdiers
5 Free Company
and a couple of spare parts that means i should be able to knock out a Noble CAPTAIN on foot, at least the one for 500pt games

if you've got the teutogen guard and Ar Ulrik in there, I'd say go for the blue and white middenheim colours and give us an ulric themed force

Thanks
corai

Will follow this one, mainly because the pics are small and didn't take forever to load

Loving the idea of Purple and White, I think you should go for that

Scroth

@Corai: See, as tempting as it is now i have a block of trutogen guard, i don't really want to run a Cult of Ulric list, i like the Sigmarite priests and flagellents etc... i'd rather have an "allied" contingent of White Wolf on foot and an ulric priest
Particularly as i'm likely to do various knight units lending their support rather than a single scheme on them

Right, quick update before Christmas

First, I'm going to run up a couple of test models in each scheme before i decide so expect Stirland, Middenheim and the Purple/White all to showcase at some point soon

and second, i got a 500pt game in using the list i posted against Warriors of Chaos with the following list:
Exalted Champion - additional hand weapon, Shield
10 Warriors - Full Command, Shields
5 Marauder Horsemen - Flails & Mark of Slaanesh
5 Marauder Horsemen - Flails & Mark of Slaanesh

and the result was a massacre in my favour... i list a handful of swordsmen and my captain and that was it... turn 2 the horsemen moved into handgun range and with 1 kill from the mortar they promptly killed the unit to a man... turn 3 the pistolliers decimated the other unit leaving 1 (who then got shot on the stand and shoot when he charged)... the warriors i chipped 2 off the unit with firepower and then it fell to combat... round 1 me killing nothing got us a draw then round 2 the pistolliers charged the rear and he lost by 3, fled and was caught (pistolliers got the only kills in combat nailing 2 warriors)... game over

Other than some great luck with the handgunners accuracy, the mortar underperformed with 1 kill all game, the noble fluffed his attacks and then got diced up... and the list as a whole REALLY held its own

Good game then mate Well done

the mortar underperformed with 1 kill all game

I tend to find this is their nature anyway, and they rarely see games. I almost exclusively take a cannon or volley gun, and sometimes a rocket battery in fun games...

JJ

Cheers

See, i have a real soft spot for stone throwers in general and the mortar in particular... the biggest downside at the moment is alot of T4 seems to be about
What i run will depend mostly on who i'm facing in the campaign (it's being down as a Mighty Empires campaign i think so i'll know who i'm playing)

as for general lists, 500 pts will be incredibly rare so most of the time i'd probably upgrade it to a cannon for dealing with knights and multi-wound stuff that's likely to show at 1k... at 500pts though, a 75pt mortar to thin out enemy blocks just couldn't be passed up

Wow. Sounds like the Warriors really flubbed their AS rolls against the pistols!

Still, good work beating them down. WoC can be a tough match for Empire with all their cav and magic. Looks like you didn't have to deal with that too much though.

OK, so with my Iron Warriors and Khador taking up my painting time i'm just not getting to the empire at the moment and won't be getting the time to paint them for the campaign... i'll still be working on these when i get the chance but i'll be dredging up my dwarfs (which are infinitely less detailed and easier to paint) for the campaign which starts on the 8th of Feb

Don't worry i promise i'll get at least a test swordsmen up before then and won't give up on the empire

But in the meantime it's beards on and ale to hand... and my 500pt list which is TINY:
Thane - Shield, Rune of Stone, Rune of Cleaving
17 Warriors - Shields & Great Weapons, Full Command
10 Quarrellers
Grudge Thrower

really not sure about it at the moment... the only restrictions are - only 1 Special OR Rare, and only 25pts worth of magic items (also only 1 magic level but that doesn't affect the stunties)

Any ideas onmaking the list slightly nastier or just likely to be a case of struggling through the first couple of games before we reach 1k?

Characters:
   Thane, Great Weapon, Rune of Stone - 74 pts

Core:
   19 Warriors, Shields, Musician, Standard - 186 pts
   10 Quarrelers, Shields - 120 pts

Special:
   2 Bolt Throwers, with Engineers. - 120 pts

Does that work?

Cheers Randroid... much nicer list... and if i'm going into a game where i might need the great weapons i cal always either swap out the bolt throwers or tweak some equipment to get the points... nice one

As i'm trying to make a concious move to finish building the armies i have mini-wise and then concentrate on painting them i figured i'd work out what i have for the dwarfs (another reason i've decided to concentrate on the stuties aswell)

White Dwarf
2 Thanes
Battle Standard
20 Warriors With Great Weapons (converted as hammerers)
20 Warriors with Shields
12 Unassembled Quarrellers
24 Unassembled Warriors
10 Miners
Cannon
2 Bolt Throwers
Grudge Thrower
Organ Gun
Gyrocopter (with WC for weirding)

ok, seeing that all written out makes me realise the army isn't THAT far from being complete buying wise... a handful more warriors, a squad of thunderers, an anvil, ideally but not essentially a unit of Ironbreakers,  and a unit of slayers would probably round out everything i particularly want for the army... well, maybe a second unit of miners and a second gyrocopter aswell

Now to get assembling and painting

Good news is I posted you a shiny new Goblin Hewer two days ago! Slayer warmachines are goooooooo!!

Ah yes, i forgot that needs to go on the list aswell... looking forward to pointing that at Dark Elf units in particular

Mmmm ... crunchy. 

ok, REALLY can't wait to turn on some pointy ears now

had a 1250pt game last night (odd points i know but it's what we both had on us) against Dark Elves

My list
Thane - ASF, +1to hit, +1S, Gromril Armour w/+1save, shield
Thane - +1to hit, +1S, Gromril Armour w/+1save & re-rolls, shield
19 Warriors - Shields, Full Command
19 Warriors - Shields, Full Command
10 Quarrellers - Shields
10 Miners
2 Bolt Throwers - Engineers
Grudge Thrower
Organ Gun

and he was running
Sorceress - Lvl2, +1PD
Noble - Cold one, Crimson Death
5 Cold Ones
2x5 Dark Riders
2x10 Repeater Crossbowmen
5 Shades w/Grt Wpns
6 Shades w/Grt Wpns
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers

First turn resulted in me chinning 1 cold one and 1 flanking dark rider and killed a bolt thrower pursuing into the second (damn), the shades then ripped up 2 of the organ gun crew from a wood, and i lost 1 quarreller to repeater crossbow fire
Turn 2 my miners appearer behind his bolt throwers, the organ gun pulled a disappearing trick on 1 unit of shades and i generally shuffled stuff about, the quarrellers caught a second dark rider but the bolt and grudge throwers let themselves down... 3 riders charged and killed a bolt thrower pursuing to just hit the second, the shades charged and killed the organ gun and his Cold ones and second rider unit shuffled to get charges lined up on the 2 blocks, the sorcereress had wandered back to try black horror on the miners with 5 dice (yes, i know) but a double 6 for dispelling saved me (4 Dispel Dice base just rules), but then the bolt throwers promptly scythed down 7 miners between them, luckily i held though
Turn 3 and the fighting was getting desperate for the support stuff, 3 miners made a meal of 1 crewman who held, quarrellers took 1 dark rider off the unit supporting the cold ones and the shades took out a couple of warriors from one block, oh and the grudge thrower missed
His turn and he risked a charge into a block with his cold ones, unfortunately by declaring the cold ones first he foiled his own flank charge with the riders, the shades moved and peppered the second block (and to stop that block flanking his knights)... my ASF thane went to town on the cold ones, flooring 3, in exchange he killed 2 and static combat res took care of the rest, broken knight fleeing 8" but short little legs only got me 2"... the miners finished off the last crewman and the riders left 1 crewman on the bolt thrower
Turn 4, miners charged and killed his second bolt thrower, the damaged block charged and wiped out the shades, the other block shuffled around to face the dark riders (only 2 cold ones left so no rank breaking), oh, and the riders finished the bolt thrower
His turn and my anti-magic suddenly failed, black horror wiped the 3 miners, repeater crossbow fire then panicked my quarrellers and the recently freed riders charged the grudge thrower
Turn 5, repositioning, thats all, damn mv3 sometimes
DE turn 5 and a space appeared round my block units... 40 crossbow shots and another undispelled black horror later left 6 dwarfs where there were about 18... ouch
My turn, more chasing and repositioning
DE Turn 6, Dark Rider/Cold one charge on the ASF Thanes tiny unit and the cold ones went stupid, ASF thane slaughtered the dark riders... shooting and ANOTHER undispelled horror (i kept that thing on 5-dice castings completely shut down for 3 turns then it all went to hell) wiped most of the second block (left on about 9)


Lesson learned... well, Dwarf blocks are still solid as anything, miners are worthwhile, Organ guns are very pokey, my personally favoured grudge throwers can and will still give me a bad game every once in a while, as will the bolt throwera and sometimes both will happen together... ASF thane with +1to hit and S5 absolutely ROCKS in the front rank of a unit, and with that only weighing in at 70pts worth of runes means the ever useful Rune of Iron keeps him on a 2+save (gromril, shield, Iron)
Don't underestimate DE magic, even without casting the bonus Power dice spell... Don't underestimate the accuracy of 20 shots per unit even hitting on 5's... beware shades

Finally decided to assemble some more of the dwarf bits... but as i tackled this first and it's an absolute SOD to assemble I haven't got any further yet

Malakai Makaisson's Goblin Hewer


And huzzah for magnetic basing

I give you props for assembling the goblin hewer I hear that thing is a bitch to put together.

Now you know why I was trading it away! Hahah .. just kidding. I have one of my own and it was a horrendous beast to put together. Just wait until those tiny axe handles you had to glue on start breaking off. 

all hail the ultimate power of magnetizing bases cool man!

oh yeah, i am loving the fact that the two axes you have to attach by just the handle are on the top and just seem all the easier to break off

I'd have loved to pin most of it but unfortunately i don't have a chuck for the drill bit required at the moment and have run out of rods to fit the drill bit i do have