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I've been a huge fan of Dwarf armies and fluff for a long time, and I think one of the force organisation lists at the back of the PDF war scrolls may offer me a fairly cheap and effective way of starting off with a new Dwarf army. The Dwarf's Dispossessed Artillery Battery consists of an Engineer, and three war machines of the following: Bolt Thrower, Cannon, Flame Cannon, Organ Gun or Grudge Thrower, and that's it. Friendly on my wallet and it'd be easy enough to expand on from there with some Slayers, Thunderers and extra characters for synergy once I can fund it.

I was thinking a list along the lines of:

Engineer with brace of Pistols
Cannon with three Crew
Flame Cannon with three Crew
Organ Gun with three Crew

For anyone playing Dwarfs who may have tried running something like this, or any Dwarf players in AoS at all: Can this list hold it's own in the new game?

The only problem with running a list of mostly artillery is if someone gets in close with you (which frankly isn't that hard now) you're probably screwed, as 3 dwarves per gun won't do much in combat. That being said if you play your cards right you'll do a fine.

This is something I've considered, and quite the obvious concern having played in 40K as Eldar for quite some time. I think it'd be a good starting point, coming in at just over £60 for the three war machines and character, and then expanding from there with some Slayers and a Giant Slayer.

From what I've experienced with my local club meta, there's a great emphasis on mid range shooting that decimates everything else before it gets anywhere near combat. Having Night Goblins as my other army, the only way to stand a chance is in combat, which I simply wasn't getting the chance to do. I think in taking a Dispossessed Artillery Battery, I could play competitively against some of the painful mid-range synergy that's going on in a lot of the armies at the moment.

I've been looking at adding the Dispossessed Artillery Battery to my Stormcast list, along side some magic users, to bring it up to 100 wounds.

Looking what you can bring, in an ideal world I would have:

2 Cannons
1 Grudge Thrower

Cannons would be for that big -2 rend and d6 damage. The grudge would be for hitting wizards that sit in cover, with an engineer near by that is throwing 2 re-rollable 3+'s to hit with 3 damage a peice. Hit both and the wizard is dead.

I plan on using the Kings of War cannons and magnetizing them for organ guns as well. Will set me back maybe £40 for everything.

That's a good point. I've re-read the rules for the Grudge Thrower and you're completely right. I'm still very quite interested in a Flame Cannon, and lucky for me, it's not crushingly expensive to get one too.

What would be a good addition to the firing line is Grimm Burloksson and a unit of Thunderers. 3+ to wound with -1 rend at 22" is nothing to sniff at. Plus, Grimm can take over the engineer role as things expand.

I had two games just the other day using Grimm along with a cannon a grudge thrower and an organ gun. other units included thunderers, Ironbreakers warriors and slayers with a dragon slayer and Ungrimm.

The cannon was probably the most effective, usable against characters and infantry. All were very good though especially with the engineer close by.

I wouldn't bother taking thunderers unless you take Grimm as well because they definitely need that extra range.

An artillery battery will require troops to defend as some other warscrolls allow for run+ charge shenanigans.

On a side note slayers are definately worthy and the Dragon Slayer is a weapon. I had Ungrimm sitting behind the slayers giving them a buff and they turned super-saiyan. Against multi wound models cavalry/monsters/elite infantry they get bonus to wound. With this and Ungrims bonus they were a 3+/3+ with 3 attacks and the Dragon Slayer 3+/2+ 4attacks all with D3 damage. I took on 5 boar riders a giant and ten black orcs with 15 slayers and Dragon slayer and won easily.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also looking at adding the Flame cannon instead of the organ gun because all you have to do is roll for how many wounds it deals with a possibility of it happening twice, thanks for coming

 Madmatt wrote:
I had two games just the other day using Grimm along with a cannon a grudge thrower and an organ gun. other units included thunderers, Ironbreakers warriors and slayers with a dragon slayer and Ungrimm.

The cannon was probably the most effective, usable against characters and infantry. All were very good though especially with the engineer close by.

I wouldn't bother taking thunderers unless you take Grimm as well because they definitely need that extra range.

An artillery battery will require troops to defend as some other warscrolls allow for run+ charge shenanigans.

On a side note slayers are definately worthy and the Dragon Slayer is a weapon. I had Ungrimm sitting behind the slayers giving them a buff and they turned super-saiyan. Against multi wound models cavalry/monsters/elite infantry they get bonus to wound. With this and Ungrims bonus they were a 3+/3+ with 3 attacks and the Dragon Slayer 3+/2+ 4attacks all with D3 damage. I took on 5 boar riders a giant and ten black orcs with 15 slayers and Dragon slayer and won easily.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also looking at adding the Flame cannon instead of the organ gun because all you have to do is roll for how many wounds it deals with a possibility of it happening twice, thanks for coming

Thanks for the response. I appreciate it coming from someone who's already had some experience in what I'm going for.

My reason for looking into the Dispossessed Artillery Battery is due to the cheap start up cost and effectiveness in small games. After getting further into the war scrolls, I did plan on getting a unit of Thunderers backed up by Grimm as something to get in mid range and avoid the war machines getting charged so easily. I've always loved the aesthetic of the Slayers, and backing them up with another character would be great. They would be the only forth going unit in the army though, which is mildly concerning but not a great issue at this very moment.

From the previous feedback, the combination of two cannons and a grudge thrower seemed an excellent combination. I do love the flame cannons, but I'm split over their effectiveness against the standard Dwarf cannons. The Organ Gun… I've lost a lot of interest in it.

Thanks for responding.

Cannons are easy to come by cheaply as well which will help your cause, and the main benefit of the grudge thrower is firing indirectly so nothing can hide. All the war machines are quite similiar in damage output now so use whatever you can get your hands on. It is a cheap battlescroll.

The Flame cannon is a lot more reliable than the cannon but with shorter range. i can't see this being to much of a problem because most armies will probably want to get to grips with you as quick as they can.

Correct, it is indeed a cheap start up that has a viable use with some minor benefits when taken as an organised force.

When taking into account how fast a unit can possible get across the table, 24" isn't so short. And the possibility of 12 mortal wounds is pretty impressive.

It does mean having to strategically place three war machines within an inch of the Engineer though.

"It does mean having to strategically place three war machines within an inch of the Engineer though."

I think this is key and why I would like more than the 24 inch range of the flame cannons. As soon as a unit gets into combat with the battery, it will be in combat with the entire formation since they are all so close.

The extra 8 inches you get with the cannons is going to be another round of shooting before they get charged.

gradyhawks wrote:
"It does mean having to strategically place three war machines within an inch of the Engineer though."

I think this is key and why I would like more than the 24 inch range of the flame cannons. As soon as a unit gets into combat with the battery, it will be in combat with the entire formation since they are all so close.

The extra 8 inches you get with the cannons is going to be another round of shooting before they get charged.

My thoughts exactly, especially with the turn allocation in this game. There isn't anything against war machines shooting in the combat phase to my knowledge, but obviously getting charged will be the be-all-end-all of the game for me using only the Battery.

Do you think Thunderers would be the best for holding the line?

With shields. they would synergize well but against anything of note they won't last long.

If you want to expand after your artillery and need an anvil unit ironbreakers do it best.

 Madmatt wrote:
With shields. they would synergize well but against anything of note they won't last long.

If you want to expand after your artillery and need an anvil unit ironbreakers do it best.

The extra 6" of range granted by Grimm would make them a pretty good mid-range unit too. Although Ironbreakers are an effective defensive unit, I'd quite like something going forward to cause some damage. definitely don't want to be 'that guy' who stays at the table edge and just shoots without moving all game. I've played a few guys like that, and it seems to be a bit of a fun-sucker.

Obviously that's a little contradictory coming from someone who's looking at starting off with an artillery battery, but it seems to be the best way to effectively start with Dwarfs on a budget.