Dwarf Swag Hunters
I don't know how to greet people on the internet so hi and welcome to my awkward abandoned mordheim building. We recently started running a Mordheim campaign at my local GW store and I had great success with my little stunties so I thought id have a bit of a run down of the set up and the general idea behind the warband as there can never be enough guides!
I'll give a rundown of some pros and cons etc then ill get into the actual build and why I chose certain things then some tactics and skill builds.
Also I get that dwarves are not 'Empirey' and this is Warhamme-Empire but I lurk here a lot so it just seemed best to post here.
--Cons--
The first thing that turns people off the dwarves is usually because in Mordheim Armour sucks and movement is important, since the dwarves move slow and one of their advantages is the cheap Armour this is an Issue. A common trap that I've found people fall into is buying that god forsaken gromril Armour at the start of the game in bulk and having like two people warbands (bit over the top but you get the idea). DON'T DO THAT, every second item in Mordheim makes a mess of Armour and with the gold spent you could just get another body that gives you a 100% save since you can use it as cannon fodder. The movement is a bit annoying and it can be devastating if on the wound chart a hero looses movement points but as long as you are careful about deployment you should be fine, it also matters very little if you are defending since most Mordheim games will have clutter and you can just hold choke-points. It should also be noted that dwarves have a teeny tiny warband size and you pretty much have to get the halfing scout to compensate but you'll be rolling in cash (see below) by the time you need him. Speaking of cash dwarves are EXPENSIVE all that gold and expensive ale really makes it hard to get the ball rolling at the start of the game.
--Pros--
The best thing about dwarves is their over powered racial traits, Hard to kill is probably the BEST thing in the game, it makes it twice as hard to kill these stubborn little drunks a 1/6 chance rather than 1/3 is brilliant. The plus one Wyrdstone and the resource hunter skill is a wiz bang combo (it has been deemed the 'money on my mind' combo) and you'll find that the dwarves quickly get very wealthy from the op same number rolls and extra wyrdstone, I found that this makes it not so important that they lack the full list of heroes (should probably put that in cons) and I completely forgot I didn't have 5 at the start. The dwarves also have solid stats, the leadership is an obvious one and I am yet to fail a test, that plus the extra toughness on beardlings makes them that little bit harder to take down. The dwarf axe is probably the only thing id start of with that is specific for dwarves, the parry is helpful but id only give it to one hero that you expect to throw down a lot and i like the idea of having a dwarf axe cause it looks pretty. The engi giving range weapons extra range can make your quarrelers pretty insane and I had one really successful game with one of them where the extra range actually won me the match. All and all the dwarves are a solid choice and were probably one of the most successful warbands in the campaign.
--Build (starting)--
Should be noted that all these stunties have daggers but they are free so there is no need to mark it as far as I'm concerned
HEROES
LORD
Dwarf axe
Hammer
ENGINEER
Pistol Brace
Hammer
SLAYER #1
2h Hammer (optional crit rules make you specify. I think the bludgeoning weapons are better but axe works too)
SLAYER #2
Dwarf axe
Hammer
HENCHMEN
Beard force one (BEARDLINGS) x4
Hammer x2
Thunderbeards (QUARRELER) x1
Cross Bow
That should be 500 coins on the dot I think (I'm running off memory here so cut me some slack if it's off ill edit it or whatever)
--Why--
So as you can see I went quantity over quality. This is because in Mordheim it is important to have map control and you really cant run a viable warband with like 5 guys with heaps of gear because they will just get out diced. It was tempting to get clansmen over the beardlings but they were to expensive for me. The four beardlings provide enough support for my heroes if the get in a sticky situation and are replaceable pretty easily so I can loose one or two and not mind so much. The one quarreler is questionable, It may have been better to skimp on the brace of pistols and the dwarf axes/2h weapon to get an extra one but the pistols do come in handy and I had to have at least one dwarf axe just because they sound cool, the 2h weapon I got partially because I foam over big dwarf axes (I cant say that in a non dirty way) and if there is a big enemy that needs to be taken down the extra strength is helpful.
After the initial games I get another quarreler just for them to take a side each then max out my beardlings and cross my fingers until i get a this lads got talent roll. once i reach the max size for my warband (12) I get a halfing scout then the next unit will depend on who the next strongest band is and what I feel needs bolstering (range or HTH).
--Tactics--
My quarrelers block off an area each to try and kill off some weaker foes before they get to me while my warband is defending or if they are advancing to attack/taking objectives the quarrelers just prop up on a building and take pot shots until they either die or the game ends If they can't hit anyone I'll just slowly move them more towards choke points or to cover open areas to box an enemy in. Good placement of these two crossbows can make it a pain to cross even the tightest bit of open space for the baddies.
Then the beardlings will take the brunt of ranged fire and move up into choke points and take the objectives with my lord and engi near by, the engi will generally go towards the more open area to make use of his pistols and the op shooting skills I give him (I use him as ranged because he is too important to loose In HTH with that bonus ranged perk). When they all get into position my beardlings will be in range to intercept charges on my lord/engi and hide from shooting as much as possible. My slayers where hard to place, they generally just split off with the groups but are the most likely members to go astray as I want them to get the most xp because of their death-wish and slayer skills and the profile fits well if I'm in a role-play mood, the 2h slayer will go to whatever side the most well armored enemy is and if there isn't one they will often go together to hunt heroes if I see an opportunity or they will just hide and provide support for each group when needed.
It's SUPER important with dwarves to make sure you deploy tactically, because of their low movement you really need to get your neck-beard on and pick your spots carefully to avoid loosing movement, they should be okay to take a shot or two in the open because of hard to kill but I'd avoid it whenever possible just as much as with other warbands. If you are defending just castle an area or choke points, this is where the dwarves shine, a line of dwarves is pretty hard to break through, the only thing to be careful of is loosing the heroes, just keep a dwarf or two at the ready to reinforce when you need to.
As the games go on you can change the beardlings to clansmen or whatever for the extra stats and hire whatever mercenaries (hired swords) you think you'll need. Again don't buy the Armour until you have a full roster and at least hammers for everyone, it should be used as an extra not be put before anything else.
Once you get about 6 or so games in this warband is very hard to beat and even if you loose you can replace most anything with the money you have hoarded. When running it at the GW store I played against all manner of warbands and I didn't loose one game, the hard to kill and leadership is just too strong. In contrast another person played dwarves the polar opposite to me with 5 people that had crazy good gear and they didn't do very well (they also are much better at Warhammer than me so this was surprising).
--Skill Builds--
Get resource hunter on at least two heroes early, it helps replace beardlings and slowly get more troops up. My lord Id probably build to HTH, its easier to kill in HTH and you will want him near your troops just in case a leadership test goes bad for the beardlings. The engi as said earlier go shooting, he does start with a higher WS but his ranged bonus is invaluable and loosing him early can be devastating. The 2h slayer obviously get the strongman first then just go towards HTH with both of them whatever you feel is necessary depending on how you've been going and the enemys you'll face, another good one is to get the sprint and leap combo for big charges on them (big for dwarves that is) but only do this if you are finding a lot of openings for charges on heroes and if you have trouble holding lines or are getting overwhelmed so they can run to the aid of the throng. As far as the 5th hero goes it will depend on who levels up, you could run a hybrid ranged/HTH which is what your engi will probably end up as also but it really is up to you.
--End--
So the MAIN POINTS are, get as many units as you can and don't bother with the cheap Armour and such because it costs too much and can be canceled out super easy. Deploy tactically to make the most of what little movement you have. Make use of resource hunter and you should be rolling in cash. All and all the dwarves are a strong bet and will steamroll to victory if you give them time, if you follow this or at least use it as a guide you wont fall short (I had to I'm sorry).
Sorry if the guide jumps around a bit and I probably repeated myself a lot but this is the first guide I've done!
CC is welcome of course
Bare in mind I can see the appeal of having small but powerful warband (again the puns) but I don't think it is as fun or as strong.
I'll probably put up another guide soon and maybe start a running thread with some pictures of mordheim scenery/warbands and just general conversions painting etc (I'm no good at painting but yolo) so keep an eye out if you like this thread.
Enjoy
