Anti-Dwarf Tactica for 7th Edition Empire

Contents
Introduction
Army List Overview
Troops
Characters
The Dwarf Magic Phase: Say What?
Types of Dwarf Armies
What to take in an Empire Army
Character Choices
Troop Choices
First Thoughts
General Tactics
The Empire Plan
Credits

Introduction

“Dwarfs don’t have tactics, they have tricks”-Atchman in “Dumping the Dwarfs”

Dwarfs are a hard matchup for an Empire player. Their toughness, high leadership, and special abilities combine to make them a problem. In this tactica we are going to look at the Dwarf army, its strengths and weaknesses and try and figure out a way to defeat them.

Army List Overview

Troops

There are only a few choices for core troops in a Dwarf army. In fact there are only three, the rest are upgrades. For the Dwarf players, even though their core is limited, they are all good choices, and with the upgrades they extend these core choices to near the quality of special choices,

The Core:
Clansmen-The basic Clansmen form the backbone of a Dwarf army. Their combinations of high toughness, armor save, and high weapon skills make them a tough foe. Even Empire Knights will bounce off of Clansmen unless augmented by a character or magic item.

Clansmen normally have heavy armor and shields for a 3+ armor save. Optionally they can be upgraded with Greatweapons to give them a heavy punch in combat.

Thunderers-Thunderers are Dwarfs with guns. A Dwarven handgun gives the Dwarfs +1 to hit at all times. This means the Empire Knights are vulnerable to their firepower. Optionally they can be upgraded with shields. Since they have light armor standard, they can shoot , or perhaps stand and shoot then receive the charge with a 4+ armor save; not too bad.

Quarrelers-Sometimes Dwarf Generals want the extra range of the crossbow. While it lacks the punch of the Thunderer, it is nonetheless an effective weapon to threaten enemy light units. Like the Thunderers, they can also be upgraded with shields to form a potent fighting unit.

Upgrades to Core:

Longbeards-You can upgrade a unit of Warriors to Longbeards, this not only makes them immune to panic, but helps the other units nearby as well. Their stats also increase as their WS goes to 5 and their Strength goes to 4. I suppose the downside is that the unit cost goes up by about a third but truly it creates an elite core unit.

Rangers-The Ranger upgrade gives a unit of Quarrelers the ability to scout. To be honest it is pretty expensive to upgrade a unit in this fashion. However, even when I play my Dwarfs it is nice sometimes to be able to deploy a unit after all the other units are placed. It can help to fill a hole or gap in terrain.

Summary of Core Dwarf troops:

Though the core selections are rather limited, they are all good. In fact you can make an excellent army of just Dwarf Core troops with a couple of war machines and a couple of good supporting characters. Too often Dwarf players focus on the elite troops and the shooting aspect of the game when in fact they have a great value in their Core Dwarf warriors. Four blocks of Dwarf Warriors with a Lord and a BSB is a tough nut to crack for any army. Even the Dwarf shooting units can be outfitted for combat. Dwarf Quarrellers, and Thunderers may be given shields, standards, champions, and musicians. They can reform into melee combat formations and can serve the role of line combat troops.

Special Troops:

Like the Empire Dwarfs have a good number of special troops and like the Empire you’d like to have them all in your army but you must chose. The special choices can be divided into troops and artillery. First we’ll look at the troops.

Elite Dwarf Infantry: an Overview

Never engage the elite infantry unless you have a plan or truly overwhelming force. Their weapon skill is so high even Empire heroes will struggle to hit them. On top of that they are tough Dwarfs with heavy armor (in most cases). This is also true of the Core Longbeards, which are basically specials that fall into the Core category. The addition of Runic Standards makes them almost impossible to beat in melee.

Ironbreakers- Ironbreakers were in higher favor in the last edition than they are in this edition. They are still an excellent troop with their high armor saves, excellent weapon skill and strength. Lacking Greatweapons though, they probably aren’t seen as much as the other choices. The thing to remember with Ironbreakers is that they are all but invulnerable from the front. Normally they will have at least a Rune of Battle (plus one CR), and perhaps other runes as well. Perhaps a Grandmaster with the Sword of Power and the Laurels could break them, but that is still pretty dicey. Their armor save isn’t as high from the flank and that is the best way to engage them.

Hammerers- Hammerers are stubborn, that is the first thing to remember. With the King in their unit they are also immune to fear and terror! The only way to beat them is to totally destroy them-not an easy thing to do. Hammerers are even more dangerous against your knights as they can either use their Greatweapons or their hand weapons and shields. Using their hand weapons and Shields the Hammerers have a three plus armor save. While you might kill a couple on the charge with your knights, it is doubtful you’ll even scratch them on turn two of the melee.

The normal solution to Hammerers is to simply try and reduce them to half points by shooting and magic. They are so costly per model even reduced to half they cost as much as most Empire units. Beware though that it is a normal Dwarven trick to give a hero that is accompanying the Hammerers the Rune of Challenge to force your unit to charge or flee. Just remember there is no real reason to engage them in combat unless it is to simply pin them in place.

Hammerers are so versatile they can fill many roles within the Dwarf army. Firstly, with a Dwarf King and a BSB nearby they are probably the hardest to break unit in all of Warhammer. Secondly, they are a valuable flank protector without having to go to the expense of a character with an Oathstone, even without a standard they are still almost perfect flank protection. Thirdly, they are often a trap unit as mentioned above. The Rune of Challenge is a trick used by a lot of successful Dwarf players.

Slayers- Slayers are much like the Empire’s Flagellants. They are a “tarpit” unit with a punch. Most of the time you’ll find them in small units as flank defenders. Though they are hard to kill they are often one of the “softies” in a Dwarf list meaning that you can beat them up with pretty much anything in an Empire army-you just have to figure that you are going to be stuck for awhile.

Miners- Miners are one of those hit and miss units. They give the Dwarfs an element of surprise since they are not deployed on the table on turn one. Unless the Dwarfs spend some additional points on upgrades, they are 50% to come on during turn two. There are primarily three uses for Miners. Grabbing table quarters or contesting them is a valuable use for the Miners. Dwarfs often find it hard to contest and capture table quarters and the Miners are helpful in this regard. Another use for Miners is to attack your vulnerable War Machines and shooting units. You have to choose whether to worry about defending your guns or just continue firing and take your lumps. Miners are also excellent flankers. Since the Dwarf troop blocks are so tough to defeat it is almost inevitable that melee will continue from one turn to the next. The timely arrival of the Miners can tip the scales in their favor. A small unit of Miners can also be a nice diverting unit to send your troops in a direction they don’t really want to go. Though hard to time just right, a unit of Miners coming on the back of the table can keep you from fleeing due to the “crossfire” rule.

The Empire has a few ways to defend against them. Outriders and Pistoliers can riddle them with fire since they can shoot all around. A Helblaster “should” be able to handle a smallish unit at short range. A small unit of Flagellants held back can hold up the Miners for a long time. Detachments can occupy them or just divert them away from your valuable shooting units. Most Miner units are small without command an Empire detachment of 10 models at least has a chance against them.

Summary of Dwarf Elite Infantry:

One of the best things about elite infantry for us Empire folks is that every shooting casualty or magic casualty nets a significant amount of points per model. The bad thing is that they are really hard for us to handle. Hammerers are just wrong on so many levels. Ironbreakers can be broken with standard rank and flank tactics, but you can just about bet that they will be geared up to prevent it with runes, or characters, or both. Slayers are mostly as mobile flank protection for the force. Miners are multiuse models that are really dependent on the environment and the tactics you are using against them. In other words they have so many roles it is hard to say what they can or cannot do.
Hammerers should be avoided at all times. You simply are not going to break them in melee so why bother? Ironbreakers are also a unit to be avoided. Their armor makes them almost invulnerable to weapon attacks. If you chose to engage either one, use Greatswords and Flagellants. You won’t break them, but you can pin them in place at least. Pinning the elite units and picking on the ones that aren’t so elite is one of the best tactics to use against the Dwarfs.

Really the Empire shouldn’t fear the attacks from the Miners or the Slayers, but should fear their roles. They are in that list to accomplish some mission that is important to the Dwarf player. Take a good look at his army and try to determine what he intends to do with them and then counter. While Slayers are still tough Dwarfs that don’t panic, they also don’t have armor so shooting can take them down quickly. Since Miners are usually encountered in small numbers, most Empire units at least have a chance against them as long as they have outnumber and ranks.

Artillery Special Choices:

Dwarfs have three special choices for artillery, the Cannon, the Bolt Thrower, and the Stone Thrower. Each has a different role to play. It really depends on what the Dwarf player wants to do with his army and what they consider their main threat.

Cannons-Empire players don’t need cannons explained to them. Dwarf cannons, for the most part, are identical save for only causing a D3 wounds on their standard model. Normally you’ll see the Rune of Forging on the cannon to protect it from misfires. That brings the cost of the cannon up higher than an Empire Great Cannon. Dwarf players have almost the same motivations as the Empire for taking cannons:

1. Chariots-one shot one kill.
2. Attacking multi-wound models such as Ogres or Giants. A combination of cannon shots and quarrelers or Thunderers can really send these guys hiding.
3. Sniping lone characters-Without skirmishers or fast characters, lone characters such as the Nike Lizard can dance around a Dwarf army. The Cannon keeps them hiding.
4. Bouncing shots through the ranks-Using the character as an aiming point it is often possible to kill five to six models with a good cannon bounce. Just remember the worst place for placing your characters in your infantry units is in a line where the cannon can hit the character and get a maximum bounce to kill your troops.

Bolt Throwers- These come and go in favorability with Dwarf players. There was a phase awhile back where every Dwarf army seemed to have a S7 Bolt Thrower and another with a Rune of Burning to get Flaming attacks. There are pro and cons for Bolt Throwers. What is important for the Empire player to remember when facing Bolt Throwers?

1. Hide you Steamtank! Nothing messes up your day worse than getting nailed on turn one by a couple of Bolt Throwers. While they aren’t the almost instant wounds of a cannon, a D3 wounds will still nerf a Steamtank. Armies with Steamtanks in them MUST have Great Cannons to counter the Dwarf artillery threat. I would rather hold my Steamtank back and do nothing with it than get it destroyed early in the game. If you have to expose it, make sure you flood the target zone with stuff to make the Dwarf player have to choose. I’ve even had to do the unthinkable-fire the cannon at a Bolt Thrower. The nice thing about normal bolt throwers is that they only wound 50% of the time.
2. Use archers as a screen for your main blocks-For a mere 40 points five archers will mess up a bolt thrower. I’ve even moved them right in front of the Bolt Throwers to force the Dwarfs to have to deal with them.
3. If you use knights (who doesn’t) try and keep your troops angled so as not to present a flank. It is sometimes easy to forget, but remember that a Bolt Thrower can shoot 48”.

Grudge Throwers- Grudge Throwers are mostly used for anti-personnel. Their template can devastate a unit of Knights or Infantry. A high strength and a D6 wounds can end a Steamtank’s day rather quickly. They aren’t as good at killing shallow targets such as knights.
Some Runes you may see on a Grudge Thrower:

1. Rune of Accuracy-This allows a re-roll of the scatter dice. The real effect is an increase in accuracy.
2. Rune of Penetration-By having a higher Strength it insures that most targets are wounded on a 2+.
3. Rune of Burning-While not really having an effect on the Empire, it is used as a cheap rune to allow duplication of runes.
Because of the minimum range, the Grudge Thrower is often protected by other missile units. Once you run under its minimum range you are safe so closing rapidly is the best way to kill it. The damage of a direct hit can be quite severe so move your infantry forward at least a few inches to keep from panicking off the table.

Summary of Dwarf Special Artillery:

There are few builds of Dwarfs that don’t have any artillery. Shooting is one of the strengths of the Dwarf army list. It is one of the few ways that Dwarfs can project power on the battlefield. The Empire has knights, flying characters, cannons, and other artillery. Dwarfs don’t have as many choices when it comes to handling troops that are at a distance.

The nice thing for the Empire is that their artillery is usually expensive. A Cannon or Grudge Thrower, or even Bolt Throwers with Engineer upgrades and runes can add up to a lot of points. It isn’t uncommon for a Dwarf list to spend 20% of their total points on artillery. Taking them out does two things for you. First, it keeps them from taking out your expensive models, and second it nets you victory points in a compact package. While not easy to attack by any means, they are easier to destroy than trying to deal with ranked units.

Rare Choices:

Dwarfs have three rare choices; the Flame Cannon, the Organ Gun, and the Gyrocopter. The last two are the most common and one or both are seen in most successful Dwarf armies.

The Organ Gun- While the other artillery is to be feared and respected, nothing says respect like an Organ gun. A good roll can devastate most Empire troops with a single volley leaving it ready to kill another one next turn. Here are some hints about dealing with an Organ Gun:

1. Swamp it with numbers. It can’t kill everything and even one Empire Knight can keep it occupied for the next turn.
2. Shoot it with a Great Cannon. Seems simple enough, but if you are following sound Empire doctrine a Cannon should shoot at things that threaten your rank and file troops first so an Organ Gun would be one of the first targets of priority.
3. Avoid it all together. If it is deployed poorly just avoid it. You may in fact want to hang back until it is destroyed by your own shooting or magic. It isn’t like the Dwarf player is going to force you to move.
4. Use detachments for screens. Sure it can take out one detachment per turn but better it is firing at them rather than something else.
5. Make it shoot at stuff and hope for a misfire. In other words threaten it as soon as possible and hope that it destroys itself. You really want it to shoot at stuff that costs less than it does.
6. Just remember it is 140 points! That is more than the unit of 5 Knights that can take it out and a high priority bundle of points to kill.

The Flame Cannon- Unless the other player is trying to tailor and anti-Empire list to defeat you, you will rarely see the Flame Cannon. To be honest Empire armies are using less and less infantry troops making it not as valuable as the Organ Gun. Most of the hints about the Organ Gun apply. However it is a little more erratic when it comes to range than most folks think. Understand that the flame template is 8” long. With a guess and a long roll of the artillery dice you could be making a panic test a lot sooner than you would expect in a battle. Since its range isn’t certain, it is more easily avoided than the Organ Gun or other artillery choices. Still it can be devastating against Empire infantry-based armies.

The Gyrocopter- The Gyrocopter are one of the most used items in the Dwarf list. They provide a nice set of skills and abilities that Dwarfs as a race lack. In my personal experience most Dwarf players don’t use them all that well. They get wrapped up with trying to use them as a mobile shooting unit instead of the real threat that they can become. Here are a couple of points for Empire players:

1. A Gyrocopter is a fairly expensive model. It is well worth trying to take out at 140 points and it can cost you many times that much in trouble. Try and plug it with a Great Cannon before it can move during the game. If you can’t hit it early, try and use your cavalry to interdict any hiding places so that you can draw LoS to it. A Helblaster makes an excellent Anti-Gyrocopter device.
2. Really “good” Dwarf players (yes there are a few I’m surprised to say) use it in a different fashion. They will hold it back and use it to escort fleeing units off the table, much like we use our Pegasus Captain. It can also charge into a melee and then use its 3D6” pursuit to run down your units.
3. When used as a mobile shooter, it does make a good marchblocking unit. Pistoliers and Outriders are a good choice to shoot it down due to their S4 attacks and 360 degree arc of fire.
4. You can almost always spot the folks that don’t know how to use it. They will zoom it off towards your lines and use it without any real thought. When you move 6” a turn it is REALLY tempting to zoom off away from your lines. The good players tend to hold it back and use it as part of their battle plan instead of moving just because they can.
5. Beware of Gyrocopter Assassins! Your mages are vulnerable to being picked off by the Gyrocopter. It will hit him on a three and wound him on a three so there is an excellent chance of losing your mage. Sure he will break and run, but his 3D6” flee move will normally let him get away.

Summary of Rare Choices:

Most Dwarf armies will have at least one rare choice. Normally if there is only one it is the Organ Gun. Rarely will a Dwarf General take duplicate rare choices in their army list, but it can be a powerful combination for them and a powerful threat to the Empire. Dual Organ guns will have to be avoided. You simply cannot move forward until at least one of them is put out of action. Dual Gyros can cause a lot of problems as well. They compound all of the problems mentioned above. Dual Gyros charging a mage, dual flame templates on your infantry, one gyro charging and the other one hosing down troops, it would be a nightmare for the Empire to handle.

All of the Dwarf rare choices must be respected. While not the widest selection of rare choices, never the less they are all useful.

Characters:

Dwarfs have really solid characters due to the customization of runic magic. They can configure a character to pretty much handle any melee, magic, or shooting threat by the combinations of runes they take. A Dwarf Lord is one of the best fighting characters in the game! A Runesmith with the Anvil of Doom is one of the most feared characters around, due to its power.

Dwarf Lords-They are truly one of the best combat characters around. With runes, they can be made practically invulnerable to any kind of attack. The combinations are just too numerous to mention, but here are some high points:

1. He makes a unit of Hammerers almost impossible to kill. No fear, no terror, if there is a BSB nearby almost impossible to beat in melee, a unit of Longbeards makes them virtually immune to panic; it is just insane!
2. Shieldbearers give him extra attacks. This might not seem like a lot, but it can help max out overkill if he is fighting one of your unit champions.
3. Beware the Master Rune of Challenge! Normally a Dwarf Lord is the character to carry this. It makes your unit have to charge him or flee. Since a Dwarf army isn’t the fastest, it helps use your own speed against him to bring the target to the Lord. Often times a Dwarf Lord won’t get his points back directly. The Master Rune of Challenge is one of the ways for him to try and gain some points. It also pulls your unit into their lines so that if they break them they will get a new pursuit. (Note: this is a lot like a TVI tactic. You are charging the Dwarf in your turn, and will probably break or get stuck. If you break the Dwarf player is now a free 6” towards your line AND has another 6” charge to disrupt you! If you hold either he has pinned your good unit, or they will counter charge in their turn and break your unit.)
4. You think that unit of Dwarf Warriors looks like an easy target? Think again if there is a Dwarf Lord on the table. His leadership 10 will keep them in the battle for a long time, especially is there is a BSB as well.
5. In games played at 2K the Dwarf Lord usually isn’t as tooled up as they are in the larger point games. They may not be as tough as you think.

Runelords- Runelords are a great support character choice in a Dwarf army. Normally you will see them deployed in two ways, first as a true support character with thanes doing the fighting and then secondly as an offensive character using the Anvil of Doom.

As a support character they give a handy magic defense all in one model. Through in a few runes to protect him, and some dispel runes and you have an excellent magic defense on a tough to kill character. This then frees up the Dwarf player to take the less risky and less expensive thanes to do the fighting and provide support. You almost have to look at it as being able to spread the combat characters evenly across the army. As lame as a Runelord is normally in a fight, he is still probably better than an Empire General (what a sad statement).

The Anvil of Doom gives the Dwarf army a lot of cool capabilities. One of the reasons I personally like playing against it is that it makes the game more interesting; not just the same old thing. There are a few things you need to know about the Anvil:

• Wrath and Ruin is a powerful effect. While its damage causing ability is nice, it is the ability to slow your units and suppress shooting units that make it tops.
• Oath and Honour give the Dwarfs the ability to make a unit charge. This is particularly devastating when used with miners that appear on the table.
• The Runelord and Anvil is very EXPENSIVE! Most Empire armies only have a bit over 500 points in characters and a tooled up Runelord is around 400 points by himself! Add to that the relative expense of Dwarf troops and you generally have a smallish army that you are facing. Some of them are shooting heavy to optimize the ability to slow your troops. I’ve even faced one with the Anvil AND the Strollaz Rune! Talk about narrowing the field quickly and putting you on the defensive early!
• Ancient Power can give the Anvil that ability to do 1 to 3 of these abilities in the same turn. It is rarely used due to the high risk, but it can be potentially devastating!
• Early in the game expect Wrath and Ruin probably for the first two turns. After that it is usually used for movement.
• Though not a combat monster, it is unbreakable and it is tough to reach. One of the ways to keep it from working it so engage it in combat-that is easier said than done since the Dwarf player’s usually hide it in woods or behind a hill. For all of their bravado, they sure hide their AoD like a bunch of girls.

Daemon Slayers- Probably one of the most rare choices in all of Warhammer for a Lord. While nice for a theme, they just aren’t found a lot in games. The lack of armor and ward saves in this world of poison, killing blows, and multiple high ST attacks just makes him a rare sight. There really isn’t a lot to say about this character since it isn’t often seen.

Summary of Lord-Level Characters:

Dwarfs have two really good choices for their Lords. The Dwarf Lord is a usually a fighter. His primary role is to provide leadership for his army, and kick serious butt in melee. A Runelord can bring some variety to an otherwise pretty boring army. He can either be a magic protector, or with the Anvil he can bring some serious heat to the Dwarf army. In many ways the choice of General determines what style of army you are confronting.

Dwarf Hero Characters:

Due to having such high innate magic defense, Dwarf players may end up with three fighting characters in their army and a Runelord or Runesmith that can defend himself as well In this section we’ll look at the Dwarf Hero-level characters and how they are utilized.

Runesmith- Most Dwarf armies have at least a Runesmith to help with magic protection. While he isn’t a combat monster by any means normally he can defend himself pretty well from almost any rank and file troop in the game. Here are a couple of things to just note about Runesmiths:

1. Normally he is the easiest of the Dwarf characters to eliminate. Since his usual position is for magic defense, not of lot of additional points are wasted to protect him. With all of his magic defense kit, he can cost as much or more than an Empire unit. What does that mean to you? One of the ways to beat Dwarfs is to try and take out selective targets and as indicated above, if you are gunning for a character he is probably the easiest one to take out.
2. The faster he goes down the faster your magic phase has a chance of working.
3. He is only T4 so a Hochland can start chipping away at him, though it would be a fluke to totally take him out with one. Once he is wounded though an assassination attempt with vanilla knights wouldn’t be a bad idea.
4. Look for him to be in a unit of Longbeards or near them so he won’t panic and take all of the magic defense with him.
5. Likely kit would include some sort of armor upgrade, and the Master Rune of Balance to further increase dispel dice or a few dispel runes.
Not a lot to be said about the Runesmith save that he is a support character. His stats are about like a unit champion so he will hurt your rank and file troop who will have little chance of harming him. Regardless, he can be one of the relative “softies” in a Dwarf List and a way to gain some precious victory points.

Master Engineer- A Master Engineer is the second of the support characters. He can be a powerful deterrent to attacking Dwarf artillery. Not only does he make the artillery much more effective he can serve as a decent fighter and a way to trap your unit until help can arrive. Here are a couple of quick notes:

1. He can help crew an artillery piece.
2. He can use his ballistic skill to make a Bolt Thrower hit almost every turn.
3. He can entrench an artillery piece to give it cover. Though this isn’t as good as it was in the last edition, it is still pretty decent.
4. Because he is tougher to kill he can often hold up your units due to being stubborn while defending the artillery. Often times this is deliberate ploy so watch out for an under defended artillery piece with a ranked unit adjacent to it, more than likely you are walking into a trap. (Comment: Okay even I appreciate what a good strategy this can be, but thankfully you don’t see Master Engineers all that often).
5. He can increase the damage that a Dwarf Cannon can cause! This makes it a much more accurate equivalent to the Empire Great Cannon, but you have to remember he has probably invested as many points in making a Dwarf super cannon as you did to get two Great Cannons.

Thanes- Probably the most common Dwarf character by far. Sometimes a Thane will even be the army general. Mostly though they come in two forms; the BSB Thane and the Infamous Thane O’ Pain.

The Thane O’ Pain- This simply a Thane kitted out for maximum combat. He helps to give the sturdy Dwarf infantry the kills it needs to win combats and send you running. (In my old Dwarf army every single block had a character leading it so that I could hold against almost any unit. In fact if I saw an enemy about to charge me, sometimes I’d sneak the character from the adjacent unit into the unit and just present the other player with rock hard Dwarf characters!).

One of the configurations is fairly common; Master Rune of Swiftness, Rune of Cleaving, Rune of Fury, Rune of Stone, Shield. This allows the Dwarf character to strike first with four attacks at ST5. In return he has a 2 or better armor save and his high weapon skill to defend himself.

The simple Thane is basically one that is cheap and given really no upgrades except for a Great Weapon. He is much tougher and better than his Empire counterparts. In fact most Thanes can stand toe-to-toe with all of the Empire hero slots (except maybe special characters).

Tank Thane’s usually are maxed out for defense. Their job is simply to challenge your hero and keep him occupied. Sometimes you’ll see a Tank Thane standing next to a BSB to help protect him from getting whacked. This lets the BSB take a Runic Standard without having to worry about being killed in melee

So in summary, the Thane O’ Pain is simply a Thane designed to do damage to you and preserve the rank and file around him so that they can get the vital outnumber and ranks. Dwarf blocks with a Thane should be avoided unless you have your own character to counter him or can combine charge them.

The Thane BSB-There is nothing more irritating than to soundly beat a Dwarf unit only to have them saved by their BSB! Most Dwarf armies have a BSB; and why shouldn’t they? Probably no other character makes a Dwarf army hard to shift than the BSB. In many cases the BSB is more important than the General for preserving an intact battle line.

On the other hand, the BSB can be a victory point bonanza! Some BSBs cost over 180 points add the 100 points for killing him and he is worth nearly 20% of the army points for a single model!

There are even sub-divisions of BSBs! Really only two the others are just variants:

1. Thane of Pain BSB-This means he is setup for combat and can dish it out and take it as well. No magic standard for this guy, he is looking for you to try and take him out and trap you or eliminate you in melee.
2. The Flag Waver-A Thane is pretty tough on his own and in some units he is almost invulnerable anyway. So a Flag Waver has a standard encrusted with runes. Let’s look at some common runic standards:

a. The Strollaz Rune is a common selection. This allows the Dwarf army to get in your face early in the game. A couple of things you need to look at when you see the Strollaz rune. Firstly, you have to beware of the Master Rune of Challenge. They want you to charge break you pursue, and then they can move again next turn! Secondly, look out for a Tank Thane that is protecting him if you feel like he is vulnerable Thirdly, he may BE vulnerable go ahead and have a go at him just beware of the type of unit he is in and the ramifications of your failure or success.
b. One of my friend Chaos Dave’s favorite runes is the Master Rune of Valaya. He can shut down a magic phase with this rune, which has preserved his army on many occasions against the Skaven and the High Elves.
c. The Master Rune of Stromni Readbeard can be a surprise. Though it is expensive in points, it keeps each unit for having to take something that gives them additional CR.
d. The Master Rune of Grugni to give a ward save on the units around him is seen at times, especially if the Dwarfs know you are bringing a lot of shooting. The Ward Save combined with the toughness, armor, and leadership of the Dwarfs is truly hard to overcome.

Other Rune combinations are often found in elite units in the Dwarf army. Since most of these abilities stack, the combination of unit Runic Standards and the BSB can be quite difficult to overcome.

Summary of Thanes:

One never knows what kind of Thane you might encounter but beware of them nonetheless. BSB Thanes that are setup for combat and preservation are common. Rarely do you see the Flag Waver Thanes anymore simply because of giving up so many points if he dies. If there is one present you can depend that he has some sort of bodyguard Thane or ever the General himself.

Combat Thanes are mostly to protect the valuable rank bonus of the unit. Some of the time he may have an Oathstone making the unit even harder to shift. At times a Thane is assigned as a bodyguard to protect the other support characters in a unit such as the Runesmith or BSB.

The Master Engineer-Unlike Empire engineers the Dwarf Master Engineer is USEFUL! Whether it is giving his BS to a bolt thrower, re-rolling the scatter dice, or just adding to the protection of the artillery, the Master Engineer is a nice support character.
Here are some points to remember:

1. 1. He can entrench an artillery piece making them harder to break and to kill.
   2. Some of the time he is setup for combat to try and trap your artillery hunters. He then either waits for help to arrive or just slowly grinds your unit down.
   3. He gives the Dwarf Cannon additional damage, making it a great counter-battery weapon. As mentioned above (somewhere) he can cost more with the cannon than two Great Cannons put together.
   4. He may be one of the rarer hero choices encountered because he is competing for slots with the Runesmith, the BSB, and the Thane O’ Pain.

The Dragon Slayer- Unlike his more expensive cousin, you may actually encounter a Dragon Slayer in a game. He really has two roles for which is most known. The first one is as a tarpit unit with a bite. He would normally be equipped with the MR of Swiftness to strike first, a Rune of Might to give him more strength, and perhaps even the Rune of Snorri Spanglhelm so that he hits most units on two! A Dragon Slayer equipped in this fashion is daunting for an Empire unit to try and defeat.

Another common use for the Dragon Slayer is to help protect the artillery. Because he is normally deployed alone, he tries to intercede between the weapon and the potential charger. Even if the charge succeeds he can enter the melee and more likely than not, turn it in favor of the Dwarf player.

Summary of Dwarf Characters:

Unlike the Empire, all of the Dwarf character choices have their place and role. Whether it is support such as a Master Engineer or Runelord/Runesmith, or fighting such a Dwarf Lord or Thane O’ Pain, Dwarf characters fit well in their list. No matter the choice, they all have something in common; protecting the army in their own unique fashion.

The Dwarf Magic Phase: Say what?

Okay, so Dwarfs don’t have a magic phase for real, but they do play in your magic phase. Let’s look at how the Dwarfs participate in the magic phase.
Which Lore for Dwarf busting? Every Magic Lore has something that works in the magic phase, but which one is the best? Which one is second?

Fire: The direct damage spells of Fire Lore will work against the Dwarfs. With their linear shooting Dwarfs even suffer from Wall of Fire. However, I wouldn’t think that you could dominate them in anyway. An average Fireball (1D6 S4 Hits) would be lucky to kill two Dwarfs on average. Even then they should be aimed as something that doesn’t have much armor like Slayers, artillery crews, and missile units.

Metal: Metal is probably the best selection of spells for combating Dwarfs. ALL of the spells are useful against the Dwarfs. Just be aware that many Dwarf players are taking immunity to flaming attacks now so some of the spells may not work. Burning Iron can put a wound on a BSB or Runesmith. Commandment of Brass can keep the Organ gun from shooting you long enough to charge it or a Gyrocopter. Transmutation of Lead can help give you a chance even against the most heavily armored Dwarf troops. Distillation is a good spell to use against the lighter armored troops. Law of Gold can keep a BSB’s magic banner from working, a ward save to not work, or a set of magic armor to become mundane. Lastly, Spirit of the Forge can devastate units due to their high armor save.

Shadow: Though pretty hard to cast there are some spells that will work. Creeping Death may be able to pick off a few models if cast correctly. Shades of Death can help you autobreak their units due to fear. Unseen Lurker can help catch that Gyrocopter or give you a timely flank charge. The Pit of Shades can kill most of a Dwarf unit or a character with ease. Shadow is a decent lore to take against Dwarfs especially if you get Pit of Shades.

Beasts: This isn’t all that great against Dwarfs; avoid it.

Heavens: Lore of Heavens can be good if you get the right spells. The spells can be hit or miss. It is best to have a Lore where the Dwarf player doesn’t want to let a single spell through.

Light: Not horrible, easy to cast, can work if you with the right spells. Pha’s Illumination would seriously hack off a hero with a Runic Weapon.

Lore of Life: Dwarfs are one of the best armies to use Life Lore against. Mistress can slow down even Dwarf units. Master of the Wood can hurt Dwarfs that venture too close. Gift of Life could restore some wounds to your Griffon or hero. Howler Wind can devastate a Dwarf shooting line. The Rain Lord, though useless against many armies, work great against Dwarfs. Since Dwarf like to perch their artillery on hills, use Master of Stone to take out the crew or even the weapon if you get lucky.

Lore of Death: Is a decent generic Lore it works against most armies save Undead and even then some of the spells still work. It would be in the top few for choices. Steal Soul, though short-ranged can pick wounds off of hard to hurt characters. Doom and Darkness makes the Dwarf units as bad as goblins for leadership. Drain Life is nice because it doesn’t allow armor saves though it is low in strength.

So to sum it up, I would chose Metal first and either Shadow or Life next. Death, Heavens and Fire are all average and the rest I would avoid.

Dwarf Magic Defense:

Really the answers for Dwarfs with magic is really go big with the phase or just forget about it. The minimum you need is probably eight casting dice and a bound spell to even have a chance of having an impact in the magic phase. Two level two mages can do it if one has the Rod of Power, but still you almost need one more spell, whether it is a priest’s spell or a bound spell to divert some dice away from your primary spells.
Some of the Dwarf magic defense items are as follows:

1. Normally you will face five dispel dice and two Runes of Spellbreaking. That would infer that it will be three turns before you can consistently slide spells by and that is only if you can cast them easily.
2. Sometimes you will encounter the Rune of Balance, this steals a spell dice from you and gives it to the Dwarfs for dispel dice. If you have low casting phase truly you may as well just pass if they have more dispel dice than your casting dice.
3. The Rune of Spellbinding gives them +1 to the score of the dispel dice.
4. The Master Rune of Valaya mentioned in the BSB section can make magic futile to try and cast.
5. The Rune of Warding gives magic resistance and is stackable.
6. Don’t forget the normal amount of armor saves, Dwarven toughness, and Ward Saves like the Rune of Spite.
7. Remains in play spells are hard for a Dwarf army to handle. The Comet is particularly hard once it is cast. The Howler Wind is a 50% or so that they can dispel it with their two casting dice.
8. The Archlector and his War Altar can make your other mages count even more. Once he is engaged he is spamming three bound spells in a row, two that can cause damage. Remember to throw all of your bounds first because the normal spells may end the phase!

Types of Dwarf Armies:

One of the first things you need to be able to do is to figure out which model of Dwarf army you are facing. The tactics to beat each one may be different or they may in fact be exactly the same. However once you figure out the model, then you can determine the tactics you need to win.

Anvil Armies:
Probably nothing has changed how Dwarfs play more than the Anvil. Its abilities to slow enemy units and give Dwarfs unexpected charges have given them an entire new dimension-surprise!

All you have to do is get to the Anvil; easier said than done. Once it is in melee it can’t be struck. You can do a couple of things to distract an Anvil army:

1. You can force him to use it on a target that he really doesn’t want to use it against. By saturating the movement phase the Anvil will have to pick and chose which target to affect. Remember the Anvil doesn’t work against characters, so a lone character may be the easiest way to get through to the Anvil.
2. Keep key units away from the table edges or have a flee path planned. The threat of Miners and an Anvil charge is real. In other words give them nothing if possible. Units such as fast cavalry or throwaway infantry units are the exception. The last thing a unit of Miners wants to encounter on a flank is an unbreakable unit or a fully ranked unit of just about anything.
3. Anvil armies tend to be smaller than normal due to the cost of characters. It also usually means that there aren’t as many or any combat characters in their units. For the Empire player that is a huge plus. Though our characters are weak, it means that their blocks can be worn down and perhaps broken.
4. Many Anvil armies lack a BSB, that is HUGE when it comes to beating Dwarf units in combat.
5. The Anvil’s special attacks don’t work against the Steamtank.
6. During deployment remember that the Anvil will be placed during the character drop phase. If you have a choice of terrain pieces, keep it out of the Dwarf deployment zone at all costs to keep them from hiding the Anvil behind it. Lastly, move fast units aggressively with the idea of trying to get to the Anvil to at least keep it occupied.

Looking at a Good Anvil List:
This one is by David L from Bugman’s forums. Let’s analyze it and see how it works and the possible counters:

Runelord on Anvil, shield, great weapon, Stone, Resistance, Preservation, Spellbreaker
Thain BSB, MRoGromril, Preservation, MRoChallenge, Furnace, Fire
Thain (general), shield, Stone, MRoSwiftness, Fury, Cleaving

20 warriors, shields, banner, musician
24 Longbeards, shields, full command, Battle, Stoicism
10 crossbows, shields
20 Hammerers, shields, full command, Stoicism
9 Miners, Steam Drill
bolt thrower, engineer, Penetrating
bolt thrower, engineer, Burning
Stone Thrower, engineer, Accuracy, Penetrating, Burning
Organ Gun

Characters-The Anvil is equipped in a pretty standard fashion with some magic protection, a rune to prevent poison attacks, and a Rune of Stone to boost the armor save. Normally not found in many armies, but a BSB with the Rune of Challenge, and a high armor save. This is no weak BSB to pick off unless you are seriously outfitted for combat. A Thane O’ Pain with pretty standard kit for the General, he may even be found next to the BSB just in case a really serious combat threat arises.

Core Troops-Only three core blocks, the weakest one is the Warriors and may be target you could select for elimination. However, it will probably be sandwiched between the two other blocks for protection. The crossbows are to handle your light units and hold a table quarter if necessary. The Runes on the Longbeards make them almost unbreakable to standard Empire units. For the most part they are starting at CR 7, more if the BSB is in the unit, and even more if there is a combat character in the unit.

Special Troops-A unit of Hammerers means you aren’t getting any points unless you shoot them to half. Miners with a Steamdrill is a serious second turn threat. Two Bolters are a threat both against your troop blocks and your Steamtank or War Altar. The Grudge Thrower can devastate almost anything it shoots at with its runic equipment .
Rare Troops-The only rare selection is the Organ gun.

How it probably plays:

On turn one it probably plays like a Gunline. That means the Anvil will likely be used to slow down your greatest speed threat so that the artillery can take it out. Turn two mean Miner time and that means you don’t have to worry so much about your units being slowed and damaged. The rest of the turns are crap shoots as it depends on what you did to counter the early turns. The number one thing for the Dwarf player will be to protect his shooters and his Anvil.

How you might can beat it:

Truly this is a tough Dwarf army. Three solid blocks of troops and lots of artillery shooting will make this a challenge.

• If you have a couple of cannons (most Empire armies do) try and take out the shooting threat before moving into their short range. If it were me, I’d target the Grudge Thrower first since it is a more serious threat to my infantry blocks. There are a LOT of points in shooting in that army, try and get them all.
• Protect your cannons at all cost! Since you pretty much know the Miners are coming on, deploy something in a line behind them to protect them. It could be an archer detachment or a free company detachment deployed wide to deny the table edge. Flagellants are a great unit to protect your guns since they are unbreakable. Don’t leave any artillery by themselves when facing an Anvil army.
• Only advance if you have a covered and concealed route, otherwise sit back and shoot the soft stuff.
• Most Empire players think they need to advance to beat an army like this. You could just try and shoot the artillery and stuff and try and contest table quarters late for the win or draw.
• A Helstorm could work nicely since for the most part the units will be clustered around the BSB.
• Unless the terrain was just perfect for it, I would just go for a draw and not worry about attacking.
• If somehow you could take out the artillery by turn two, a Steamtank could have a fun time against this army! Under NO circumstances should the Steamtank be in the open while the bolt throwers and the stone thrower is still active, the same goes for the War Altar. Both of these models are immune to the Anvil effects so they are high priority for the Dwarf player.
• Do not move past the deployment line with your infantry while the Organ Gun is still active. You could however flood it with targets to try and take it out eventually. Remember though points will be hard to come by in this game so don’t just sacrifice units.
  Sorry no real pearls of wisdom here, it is just so solid of an army that you don’t want to make any mistakes that can be exploited. Better to play defensive and conservative and try for a draw. Who knows you could get lucky with shooting or magic and win the game.

Mobile Dwarf armies:

Surely this must be a mistake? A Dwarf army that MOVES! Oh the insanity!

There are Dwarf armies that actually move to combat instead of just sitting still. The Strollaz rune has given them an excellent way to put them into an attack position early in the game.

The Strollaz Rune is an excellent choice for Dwarf armies. It puts them in your face early in the game. Deployment is the key to defeating the Strollaz army. Put nothing in front of them! Because they must remain near the banner it is pretty easy to figure out where the main axis of attack will hit.

1. Deploy nothing opposite of their main forces. This makes them have to fan out to attack your army possibly allowing you to flank them.
2. If you must deploy opposite of them, deploy back as far as possible to negate their early movement.
3. Don’t allow them to “jam” your army and thus dictate where you must charge.
4. Beware of the Rune of Challenge! Most Strollaz armies have this Rune.
5. Beware of Oathstones! I’ve never seen a good Strollaz army that didn’t have its flanks protected by units with an Oathstone. If the army doesn’t have an Oathstone hero, it probably has Slayers or small units of Hammerers in much the same role.
6. Remember mobile armies are meant for combat so it is even more important to pick and choose your battles.

Other Mobile Armies:

Even without the Strollaz Rune some Dwarf armies are designed with the attack in mind. These armies will have usually four blocks of good troops, a BSB, marginal magic protection, and a couple more fighting characters. Some of the same things apply as the Strollaz army except that usually the BSB is a better fighter.

• Since they aren’t starting in your face you have a little more time and space to move. Don’t waste it. Move high point value units away from the main axis of attack.
• Be aware that most mobile armies will have one or two units of miners to slow you down, or crossfire you if you flee.
• Another thing to think about are Rangers as they can help by starting closer to your lines.

The Balanced List:

Playing against a balanced Dwarf list can be difficult for the Empire as the Empire is a balanced army as well! Most of the tactics above still apply. For the most part a balanced Dwarf list will have a Warlord or Runesmith sans Anvil as its leader.

Here is a good example of a 2250 point balanced Dwarf list:

Runesmith, Shield, Rune of Stone, Rune of Spellbreaking, Master Rune of Challenge
He is leading, 17 Hammerers with shields, the Rune of Courage

BSB, Master Rune of Gromril, Rune of Striking
He is leading 19 Longbeards with Shields, Full Command, and the Rune of Stoicisim

3x 25 Warriors with shields standards and musicians
2 x 10 Crossbowmen with Shields

2x Bolt Thrower with engineers, runes of penetrating and one rune of burning

Grudge Thrower with the Rune of Accuracy
8 Miners
10 Rangers

This army has five good fighting blocks. A nice balance of characters and an effective shooting phase.

How can you beat it?

• This is one of those “kill the soft targets armies” as there are quite a few points invested in the shooting phase, the rangers and the miners.
  · You could also try a hammer unit against one of the Warriors blocks if you could isolate it.
• If the warriors are sandwiched between the two elite units, try attacking just one of the elites and try to ignore the rest of the army if possible or at least hold it up.
• If you have a lot of infantry you’ll need to move away from the baseline. Against a balanced list you could try a steady attack. Don’t piecemeal your forces though.
• This Dwarf army would be fun to play against since it has the potential to actually do something besides sit still because if you set back he’ll shoot you up. If you move forward too slowly he’ll shoot you up and then advance so that you can’t just avoid him. I like it! It plays a lot like a balanced Empire army.
• This is actually a TVI-style list in that they would want you to charge them. That way they can counter in their next turn and gain a movement advantage by using pursuit.
• If you have a shooting advantage or can gain it early in the game, let him come to you. That will give you some time to position your forces and take advantage of his slower speed.
• Don’t forget the Challenge rune! It is a nice dirty trick in a pretty vanilla list so it may catch you by surprise.

The Dwarf Horde List:

Dwarf horde lists work in a couple of ways. Firstly they usually have minimal points spent on characters, sometimes just some magic defense and that is it. Secondly, they have LOTS of models! Lastly, they will have some tarpit units and some shooting as support.
Lots of models in a Dwarf army is around 150 or so. While that isn’t the same level of models as say a Skaven or Orc horde, it is formidable because of the high leadership, toughness and armor save of the Dwarf army.

• Standard anti-horde tactics apply against a Dwarf horde just like any other. That is concentrating your attacks on a small frontage and maintaining security against the rest of the army.
• It is hard to gain points against a horde army. Unit standards, soft targets (like artillery, slayers, etc), and softer than normal characters may be the best way to win.
• Against Dwarfs setup your charges with your cavalry closer than normal that way you can for certain catch any bait units.
• Take a lesson from the Dwarfs and put a stubborn or unbreakable unit on your flank for protection.
• Use shooting to try and reduce or take out the tarpit units such as small units of Hammerers or Slayers. You need to be able to hit them and keep going. If you ever get stuck a horde will swamp you.

Summary of Army Types:

There are more sub-types than this but some the principals on how to handle them can be found within these other types of lists. Gunline armies aren’t all that common due to peer pressure. Against them just hang back as far as you can and try and kill the worst artillery pieces first while rushing up one of the flanks with massed cavalry. Most of the lists you encounter on a regular basis are probably mentioned above.

What to take in an Empire army?
Note: some of this is a repeat of earlier articles.

Character Choices:

Lord-level Characters:

·Empire General-The Empire General is always as solid choice. While he can’t go toe-to-toe with most characters, his leadership ability and an ability to preserve combat resolution is quite handy. Most experienced Empire players will outfit him for maximum protection. This usually means a 1+ armor save either from the being deployed mounted or from the Armor of Meteoric Iron. Additionally, having a ward save is valuable. The Shroud of Magnus, White Cloak and Holy Relic are the normal choices. Lastly, he will need a weapon capable of causing damage. The Sword of Might or Hammer of Judgment is a good choice due to their low cost. One of the other popular choices is the Rod of Command just in case of a having to take a charge from a hard unit.

Templar Grandmaster-If knights are your “thing” there is no better choice than the Templar Grandmaster. His is the one Empire hero that can take the fight to the enemy and destroy them. The most common choices for outfitting him are the Laurels of Victory and the Sword of Power. This gives him four high strength attacks per turn, and two points of combat resolution per wounding hit. The role of the knights in this force is to simply get this powerful hero in melee with rank and file units he can easily break and destroy with his high pursuit moves. Every turn his is out of combat is a wasted turn. Don’t be afraid to allow his unit to be charged as the Grandmaster equipped in this fashion hits just as hard whether he is charging or not. You should however avoid the certain heroes such as Tank Thane, Dragon Slayer, and the Dwarf Warlord. His skills are wasted trying to wound one of these hard heroes and his very life could be in jeopardy.

Wizard Lord-These powerful spell casters are always a threat. If you desire to use a Wizard Lord consider making as much of the rest of your army leadership 8 by using combat heroes, knights, and Greatswords. The arcane item the “Luckstone” is an excellent choice to keep the spells going without interruption. Dispel magic scrolls and Powerstones are other good choices for this hero. Normally he would have a lower level assistant to bolster his casting. Additionally, other heroes with bound items such as the Ring of Volans, Orb of Thunder, or the Doomfire Ring make his abilities even better by draining valuable anti-magic resources.

Arch Lector of Sigmar-This is by far the most common choice from the new Empire book. He combines the leadership of the Empire General with the magic defense and casting of the Wizard Lord. He is a weak fighter but he can be outfitted with several combinations to make him lethal. Most of the time, the Arch Lector can be found on a War Altar. While making him a bit more vulnerable to shooting, the sheer power and mobility of the War Altar plus its valuable ward save is handy.

Suggested combinations for the Arch Lector

• Van Hoorstmann’s Speculum and the Shield of the Gorgon-Allows the Arch Lector to attack with the enemy hero’s stats while only having to take one attack (at the Arch Lector’s weak stats) in return
• Another interesting choice would be the Sword of Sigismund to make the Arch Lector’s attacks even more potent, while attacking first even if charged.
• Armor of Meteoric Iron and the Mace of Helsturm-This gives the Arch Lector (if on the War Altar) a 1+ armor save and a 4+ Ward Save. Though he only gets a single attack, the power of the Mace of Helsturm combined with both the hatred, and prayers of the Arch Lector will destroy most enemy models ins a single swing.
• Dawn Armor, VH Speculum, and the Sword of Might. This is the same as above, but costs a little less.
• The Jordan Braun combination of the Sword of Fate, VH Speculum, and the Armor of Meteoric Iron can go toe-to-toe with any Dwarf character. Pick the target of the Sword of Fate carefully.

Warrior Priest Prayers and their use against Dwarfs

• Hammer of Sigmar-This is very useful when fighting the high toughness of the Dwarfs. It is also an excellent idea when you have the Mace of Helstrum in case you roll the dreaded “one”.
• Healing Hand-Nice on the Arch Lector in case he is wounded, but rarely used if he has the normal protections of this valuable character.
• Unbending Rightousness-Totally useless if deployed on a War Altar, unless it gets smashed and the Arch Lector can join another unit.
• Soulfire-It is always nice to reduce the odds against you. A D6 S4 hits is nice against the tough Dwarfs..

Summary of Lord Characters:

All of the Empire Lord-level characters have their uses. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. Whatever you do, build your army around the theme created by the character. This makes the character work better as the army plays to its strengths.

Hero-Level Characters

Captain of the Empire-There are two common ways to deploy the Captain of the Empire: as a battle standard bearer and on a Pegasus. As a BSB, the Captain is usually deployed with one of the following: the Imperial Banner, Banner of Sigismund, or Griffon Banner. All of these banners have their uses against Dwarfs A fighting BSB with a magic weapon in say a unit of Greatswords is another good idea. On foot, it is very hard to beat the Armor of Meteoric Iron, and the Sword of Might.

Warrior Priest-The Warrior Priest has became much better with the advent of the new Empire Book. He is a little cheaper, his spells work better, and he has hatred against any foe of the Empire, instead of just a finite few. There are many ways to use the Warrior Priest. Some find him best leading a unit of Spearmen where his hatred ability combined with the extra attacks of the spearmen can be maximized. Others find him most useful in hard hitting cavalry units where the re-rolls from hatred and his spells project his power the best.

Battle Wizard-A Battle Wizard is another dual-purpose model. With a couple of scrolls he forms the center cog of a good magic defense. By having two wizards and a bound item or two, the Empire magic phase becomes potentially lethal. The ubiquitous Doomfire ring is almost so good that no Empire army should be without it. Mount the Battle Wizard on a horse and try and fire the ring down a line of missile troops or slayers for a good effect.

Engineer-The character is so useless against everyone that it almost shouldn’t be mentioned. Having the Engineer help man a vital war machine is a plus, especially against the Dwarfs. (Taking an Engineer is a mistake, but every once in awhile it might work).

Troop Choices

Core Army Choices:
The Empire has some of the best core army choices in the game. In fact you can make a completely viable list utilizing just core army choices. Which choices are the best against the Dwarfs?

Halberdiers-Halberdiers suck less bad against Dwarfs than most armies. Halberdiers should be detachments only where their S4 attacks can be appreciated since they are almost always charging.

Swordsmen-The best Empire infantry period! It doesn’t matter which army you are facing, Swordsmen work against them all. If you only have one type of states troop; take Swordsmen. Their high armor saves, high weapon skill and better than normal initiative make them a solid choice.

Spearmen-Spearmen are the second best Empire infantry. The biggest obstacle of any Empire infantry is the Choppa rule on turn one. It doesn’t really matter when you are S3 if you charge or you are being charged, the odds of hurting a T4 Orc with a 4+ Armor Save aren’t very high. The fact that you have two ranks only makes a slight difference in the odds of actually causing casualties. So in that respect it is probably better to be charged and have a detachment ready to counter or a plan to hold and counter in your turn with something that can hit hard such as cavalry.

Knightly Orders-What is not to like about core inexpensive 1+ AS Knights? Unless you have a serious combat character or are extremely lucky you will rarely break any blocks of Dwarfs and will likely struggle against a most Dwarf units.. What they do have is the ability to engage with impunity.
Their best use is as flankers once you have pinned the Dwarfs in melee. They can also take charges from chariots and other flanker units and have a decent chance of surviving.

One or two units of knights in an Empire army are simply a must. They are just too valuable to leave behind.

Use your Knights to take out shooters-How? Well don’t deploy exactly on the 12” line. Deploy opposite of the Thunderers or Crossbowmen you wish to engage. At your first opportunity, move them their full 14”. Hopefully your armor will protect them from most harm. In the next turn charge if possible as they will usually be in range. It only takes a couple of Knights to hold up a Dwarf shooting unit.

Free Company-Free Company makes the best detachments. They really have no business being an infantry block in your army.

Archers-Archers are also excellent detachments. As units their lack of hitting power and the fact that they can cause panic when they flee makes them a non-desirable choice as a core unit. However, they come into their own as detachments serving many roles. They can screen against missile fire, provoke charges, and even give a nice +1 CR with a timely flank charge.

Crossbowmen-With the changes in the new Empire book, Crossbowmen are even more valuable than before. Their slightly longer range gives them the ability to outshoot or stay with most other archers in the game. Crossbowmen are good against the Dwarf shooting units, Slayers, and artillery crews.

Handgunners-Handgunners work best where the armor of the enemy is heaviest. They can deal death to the tough Dwarf units. The additional armor save modifier is just enough to make them a valuable addition to the army. Lastly, Handgunners can take upgrades to their champions. By far the most common upgrade is the Hochland Long Rifle. Use it to try and take out unit champions especially if you are going to use the Speculum. Also picking wounds off of a Thane is possible making them almost have to dispel your Metal Magic sniper spell.

Summary of Core Choices:

What are the best core choices? I would say a large block of Swordsmen with a detachment of Free Company or Halberdiers, supported by a unit of Knightly Orders and a unit of Crossbowmen. As a combat force this is a serious obstacle for a Dwarf player. Take two of these and you have as solid core for your army.

None of the core choices in the Empire are useless. They all have their roles whether that is as a mainstay infantry unit, as a detachment, or as a means to screen more valuable units. Take what makes you happy, but understand that some choices are better than others.

Special Choices:

One of the greatest changes in the new Empire book had to do with Special Choices. The Empire has GREAT special choices. Deciding which Special Choices to take can be difficult and has a lot to do with the theme of your army. For example it is hard to picture an Empire General without a unit of Greatswords, or a Templar Grandmaster without his bodyguard of Inner Circle Knights. Chose wisely!

Great Cannons-These have so many uses it is hard to imagine an Empire army without at least one, and it is rare to see a force without two of these valuable assets. Against the Dwarfs their primary role is as counter battery against Dwarf artillery, snipers to attack lone characters, and in a pinch anti-Dwarf weapons (not the best use but a good cannon bounce will often kill four to five Dwarfs).

Greatswords-Greatswords are an excellent choice to use against Dwarfs. Their high armor save, weapon skill, and strength make them one of the few units that can face down Dwarf infantry at any kind of even chance. The fact that they are stubborn even makes them an even better choice. They can hold an charge and wait until more troops can arrive. There is really no reason to field a unit of Greatswords without a BSB. The best choice of magic banners in a unit of Greatswords is the Banner of Valor. Being able to ignore panic is just excellent. A BSB with the Imperial Banner is even more solid since you can re-roll any failed psychology test.

Mortars-Mortar are useless against Dwarfs unless you take two and even then they are questionable.

Inner Circle Knights-This upgrade to the Knightly Orders makes them one of the hardest hitting units in an Empire army. A unit of five, full command, the War Banner and a combat character are one of the only units that can take a full sized block of Dwarfs with any kind of chance for success. Only upgrade them to Inner Circle if necessary. For example a Templar Grandmaster needs the knights to get him into combat; the knights are simply a vehicle to get his awesome combat power into play. Sure making them Inner Circle would give him a little extra but you are really counting on him to break the unit anyway. One of the best bets for IC Knights is five with a full command and a War Banner, being lead by a Warrior Priest. Either this combination or the Templar Grandmaster kitted out are probably the only chance of breaking a Dwarf unit from the front and even that is slim.

Pistoliers-Pistoliers have changed a lot since the earlier edition and their role has changed. No longer can you expect to break enemy units with flank charges with powerful pistol attacks. Now their role is more of a traditional light cavalry unit. One of the few ways you can use Pistoliers is to do a form of march blocking. Just move up, make the Dwarfs charge, they fail, you rally and repeat. Just make sure to stay away from the Dwarf missile troops.

Outriders-Outriders are an excellent choice against Dwarfs. Their high rate of fire, decent strength, and armor piercing capability make them a unit that the Orc commander has to address. Once an Dwarf mainstay unit reaches the long range band of the Outriders he can expect to lose two to three models per turn and more when he reaches the critical 12” short range band. As an Empire commander it is vitally important to be able to fight depleted units instead of those a full strength. Outriders are an excellent means to that end. The wise “TVI” aka Tim Walker always says to take things in multiples of six. Six Outriders will virtually guarantee three casualties per turn at long range and between four and five at short range with no chances of armor saves versus normal Dwarfs. Because of their shooting arcs, they can also help guard the rear of your army against Miners.

Summary of the Special Units:

The Empire has so many excellent special choices it is very difficult to choose the correct ones. Picking units that go with the theme created by your Lord choice is a good idea. An Empire General or Wizard Lord makes a unit of Greatswords a good choice. Their stubborn ability fits well with the General and their leadership of eight makes them less of a liability for an army lead by a Wizard Lord.
An army lead by a Templar Grandmaster needs to have at least one unit of Inner Circle knights. This will commonly allow you to field two hard-hitting units in case one gets stuck in combat.

There is no right or wrong choice when it comes to picking special choices versus the Dwarfs except for mortars. It is hard to go wrong with two cannons and a decent sized unit of Greatswords (with detachments). The fourth choice might be Outriders or Pistoliers to add to the mobility and firepower of the army simultaneously.

Rare Choices:

The Empire has many rare choices now. Some of these are better than others but all are quite useful versus the Dwarfs. Dogs of War choices vary on whether your opinion is they are legal or not with the new Empire Book. Many tournaments have banned the Empire from taking Dogs of War units due to this ambiguity. Looking at the Dogs of War rules posted online, it seems clear that they are legal, but it is up to each person, group, and tourney to decide for themselves.

Helblaster Volley Gun-This weapon changed greatly in effect from the previous edition. No longer is it the weapon of death it was in the past. However even with its rules change it can be effective versus Dwarfs. Its high strength attacks make it perfect for destroying tough heavily armored Dwarf units. The problem is that it is unreliable and with the roll to hit you can’t count on it having a positive effect all of the time.

Helstorm Rocket Battery-Though highly inaccurate, this weapon can work against Dwarfs. Even a slight hit is likely to kill several models Most Empire players that use this weapon use them in pairs as it isn’t consistent. A direct hit may kill have a unit of Dwarfs!

Flagellants-Though slightly weakened in the new edition, they are also slightly cheaper and an Empire player may have up to three units (if he has a Warrior Priest or Arch Lector of Sigmar in his army). They still hit quite hard on the charge and with the fact that they are faster than the Dwarfs they have a good chance of serious damage to a Dwarf infantry unit.

Steamtank-For the most part folks are happy the new Steamtank. Gone are the pages of special rules, but also gone are some of its key abilities. Dwarfs have many ways to deal with a Steamtank. Cheap Bolt Throwers, and Grudge Throwers, high strength characters and units all can easily handle the Steamtank.

Proper support is the key to using the Steamtank. Fast moving units that can pursue fleeing targets are essential to making it work. Small units of knights, Pistoliers, or perhaps a flying character are all good choices for support.

Taking a Steamtank against the Dwarfs will at a minimum cause them to alter their plans.

Summary of Rare Choices:

There are no bad rare choices when confronting the Dwarfs. All of them have their uses. With so many powerful rare choices a Dwarf General will be hard pressed to address these threats. Three of the Empire’s rare choices are a significant shooting threat. The Dwarf General will have to have a way of dealing with these. It is vitally important that as an Empire General you build in the proper support structure to maximize your valuable special and rare choices. Just selecting them because they are powerful is a mistake. An Empire army depends on teamwork and making the proper choices makes these units even better.

These were a few thoughts I jotted down when I first read the book:

1. Kill the “softies” i.e. soft units-Many Dwarf armies have units that are easier to kill than others. These are usually war machines and linear shooters such as Quarrellers and Thunderers.

2. Get rid of the Gyrocopter ASAP-A Gyrocopter is the one unit that can consistently run down fleeing units so it needs to go. The Flame Template can also devastate squishy Empire guys.

3. Use Assassination techniques-Depending on the Dwarf army, two characters really need to go; the BSB and the Runesmith. Both of these will usually have lower than normal (for Dwarfs) armor saves. Use vanilla knights, Hochland Long Rifles, Metal Lore, etc to try and take these two models out. These two characters go a long way to keeping the Empire from being the most effective.

4. Good army design-Dwarfs are an infantry army. For the Empire this is mixed problems. The real way to beat Dwarfs is to take out their war machines and linear shooters, hold their main combat units in check, and flank with knights or detachments to give valuable CR and take away ranks. A good balanced Empire army can do all of these things.

5. Know their list!-Dwarfs have many units that you should stay away from at all costs. Hammerers, are just about invulnerable with their King around. Slayers are irritating in numbers. Ironbreakers can’t be hurt. Longbeards are just plain tough to break. Don’t waste with the stubborn or unbreakable units except to shoot them below half. Unless you can count on winning the melee by three or have unbreakable/stubborn units of your own don’t attack any Dwarf unit from the front. You simply won’t break them. Combined arms is the secret of Dwarf busting.

6. Know where the Dwarf Lord is and avoid him at all costs!-There are a few really good combat lords in the game and I rank the Dwarf lord right up there near the top with some of the others. The reason is that they have excellent stats and normally are well outfitted with runic weapons, items and armor. Lastly, they sometimes have the rune of “charge me or flee”, which means that you need to know where he is at all times. That rune isn’t that good if you’ve put a nice CR unit in front of him with a detachment, but you sure don’t want your vanilla knights charging in and fleeing back through your army.

7. Understand the threat of miners-Miners are a fantastic unit for a Dwarf player. Unlike other tunnellers, they don’t scatter and come on the table as if they pursued an enemy off the table. To have stout Dwarfs in front of you and rank-cancelling, artillery killing miners behind, isn’t a good thing.

These are pretty much sound things to remember no matter what type of Dwarf armies you face. Normally at the end of my battles against Dwarfs I evaluate my efforts with the following list:

• Always know the location of the Dwarf King!
• Go after the softer support units first
• Never setup right in front of the Dwarf battle line with troops of any consequence
• Bring overwhelming force to ONE part of the battle line!
• If it is going bad, go for the draw; Dwarfs are terrible at projecting power

General Tactics:

Now that you have a frame of reference let’s look at general tactics that you can use to help Defeat the Dwarfs.

Only attack with overwhelming force! If you are going to attack their lines coordinate your attack with other units and prepare for the inevitable counter-charge. Normal Empire units cannot break a Dwarf unit from the front. Even the elite units will probably struggle as well. Here are some ideas to break through the Dwarf lines:

• Concentrate missile fire to reduce rank bonuses as much as possible. Allowing a Dwarf unit to start out four or five CR ahead is a recipe for failure.
• Most Dwarf infantry units have a character leading them. If they don’t there is usually a BSB or General nearby to help them hold. You can try and assassinate the character in a couple of ways. The BSB and the Runesmith are usually not as well armored as the other Dwarf characters, so they are the easiest to take out. Try and put a wound on them using spells and/or shooting. If your cannon has nothing better to shoot at, take a shot at the character; ones happen. Charge a unit of vanilla knights into them and put a couple whacks towards the hero; you might get lucky. Worst case you run away-and they’ll rarely if ever catch you.
• The Empire has a couple of ways to punch through a Dwarf line, but they are not common. A unit with the Griffon Standard can take a Dwarf unit head-on. A Grandmaster with the Laurels of Victory can often do enough CR to break and run down most normal Dwarf units.
• Combination charges are hard to pull off on Dwarfs because they normally are spaced closely. Having a unit of say Swordsmen for CR and a unit of Cavalry for the higher strength punch, may be enough to break a unit of Clansmen or Longbeards. Still the above applies about taking out the character and depleting it before contact.
• Block any countercharges by supporting your attack. This can be a detachment or unit of vanilla knights, just something to keep the adjacent units from getting into the melee to assist.
  

  Here the Empire player has moved up a detachment of archers to help protect the blue unit of Swordsmen from a Dwarf countercharge. A combination charge of the Swordsmen and the War Altar has a good chance of breaking through the Dwarf lines.

• Don’t be in too much of a hurry to engage! Use your artillery to take out their artillery as they are a threat to your blocks of troops. Try and take out the Gyrocopter if they have one with artillery, cavalry shooting, and linear shooters. Poor everything into it if you are going to shoot it with Handgunners, crossbowmen, etc as it is a tough target. The Helblaster is a good anti-gyocopter weapon. Don’t give the Dwarf artillery valuable targets early in the game; you’ll need them in the end game.
• When using a Steamtank hide it until the artillery threat is diminished. That means any bolters, cannons, or grudge throwers. Once the threat is gone, move it aggressively to try and punch through the Dwarf lines at a single point. RESIST, the urge to shoot the cannon! In fact I would say never shoot it, unless you are trying to rush the Dwarf lines and need it to try and take out their artillery. Even then unless that artillery was previously wounded, it is still better to just move more inches. The Steamgun looks good on paper, but against Dwarfs you’ll be lucky if you kill anything with it. Only use it if you know for certain you can’t charge or you are using it to provoke a Dwarf charge to trap them.

So what is the plan Empire man?

A Generic Battle Plan:

1. DO NOT setup your army right in front of theirs! Nothing of consequence should be in front of their blocks. IF they move, this will force them to fan out and possibly open themselves up to be singled out or flanked.

2. Every Dwarf battle report where I’ve seen Empire lose to Dwarfs, the Empire player just moved forward without a plan and with the Dwarf army’s shooting intact. Now you know why they lost.

3. DO NOT MOVE an inch forward until your artillery has a chance to take out theirs! The only way you should move is to move to cover.

4. Remember that your job is to arrive alive. If you can’t attack without too much attrition then go for the draw instantly. This means that your knights may need to make a suicide attack on the linear missile units of the Dwarf army. Their job it to be a missile magnet to protect your other troops, especially infantry.

5. Put pressure on their softer support units. You can win the game in many cases simply by killing them and avoiding the rest of their army. Sometimes a Dwarf army will have over a third of their points in softer support units.

6. Look for easier to kill characters. No Dwarf character is easy to kill, but some are easier than others. My first target is the Runesmith and then the BSB, those are usually the too easiest to engage. Just beware of the tips mentioned above.

7. Use your faster speed to position for a decisive engagement. Do not be in a hurry though and get yourself shot to bits. Plan your attack to hit a single point with overwhelming force.

8. Practice the rule of One. That means your job is to kill one Dwarf Character, one Dwarf infantry block, one unit of missile troops, gain one additional table quarter, and kill one Dwarf artillery unit. Do that and avoid losing too much and the worst you’ll get is a draw. DON’T try and do too much, just isolate one unit with magic, shooting, and melee and do your best to take it out. If you get lucky early find another one and repeat.

9. Never attack Hammerers; it is foolish. Shoot them below half and leave them alone.

10. Avoid the Dwarf King unless you are setup to assassinate him with the Sword of Fate, VH Speculum, magic etc.

Though these are mentioned in the Dumping the Dwarfs article and some are restatements of other sections, these are good rules to remember:

1. Only attack with overwhelming force! If you are going to attack their lines coordinate your attack with other units and prepare for the inevitable counter-charge.

2. Bait them out of line. .

Here the Empire player has offered a flank charge on his Swordsmen unit. If the Dwarf player takes the bait, it will open the orange unit up to a flank charge. Baiting a unit may be the only way to pull the Dwarf unit out of line.

3. Feigned Fail-You declare a charge on a Dwarf unit that you know is about ½” too far away. You then put on your best poker face, curse, whine, etc that “I thought I was in range!” Since Dwarf players hardly ever get to charge hopefully he’ll take the bait and pull his unit out of line.

4. Kill the softies! In my first forays as a Dwarf player I used to use a lot of artillery (this was 6th edition though). All my foe would do is grab the soft targets, missile units, artillery, slayers (soft to shooting at least) and ignore the blocks all together! This can be a winner strategy as the Dwarf soft units are often expensive. An Organ gun costs as much or more than a unit of Empire Knights! However, you’ll need to swamp them to keep them from destroying the attacking units piecemeal with missile fire.

5. Defending against Miners: The real threat of Miners happens when they move onto the table in time to affect you tactical plans such as a flank or rear charge into melee. Deployment is the best time to react to Miners. Place a cheap unit right on the table edge so that the Miners can’t move on to the table. Empire archers, Skaven Nightrunners, Night Goblins with Fanatics are all good ways to keep the Miners from coming on and ruining your tactical plans. It needs to be said that they are only an occasional threat.

6. You can outshoot them. The secret is to concentrate fire on the unit you want to break. If the Dwarf player starts using counter-battery to stop you that means you are doing the right thing. In the Empire the thought pattern for artillery is to try and stop the things that are going after your rank and file troops. So reducing the ranks, outnumber, etc of the opposing forces is the desired outcome. By reducing these things you actually have a chance once melee arrives. Your shooting priority should be things like the Organ Gun, Gyrocopter, Flame Cannon, Stone Throwers, etc, in other words anything that can ruin your outnumber ability. You need advantage you can gain before melee as Dwarfs excel in that department.

Credits:

First of all I’d like to thank the fine folks over at Bugman’s Brewery for making my research for this article fairly easy. If it is written about Dwarfs, it is on Bugman’s. Secondly, for my friends that play Dwarfs for so many semi-enjoyable games. I’ve learned a lot from these games. Lastly, I’d like to thank the folks on Warhammer Empire for tolerating my ramblings.

Warhammer Empire.com

Bugmans Brewery

The Warhammer Forum

Tennsoldiers.com

Atchman

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