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A call to battle for all you Stuntie lovers out there:

I've been trying to do better with my dwarves as I sincerely enjoy playing them, but I think I'm in need of some tactical advice.

I was doing well with them early on but now as my opponents collections have started to grow I'm having some difficulty with certain items (Big Monsters, infiltrators, Magic Users)

I'm debating if I should be dipping into other Order based armies or focus more on expanding out the dwarves to gain some strength.

As of right now I own:

Dwarf Lord
Runelord
2x Engineers
Thane with Battle Standard
40 Warriors
40 Thunderers
15 Hammerers
40 Miners
3 Cannons
1 Organ Gun

I'm thinking special characters seem to be a must as well. Any suggestions?

As is always the question with AoS, what comp are you using? It may just be a matter of getting your opponents to tone down their lists a bit. Do you normally run most of that artillery? Because 3 cannons with engineer support shouldn't have too much trouble gunning down big monsters or magic users.

We're trying to move in the direction of SCGT as that seems to be the way the game is moving.

That being said, we've generally been house-ruling No Shooting Into/Out Of Close Combat and have been doing a more standard 40k style turn sequence (You go/I go)

Ok, well with no shooting into/out of close combat you simply won't want to take any ranged units. They are priced in SCGT with melee shooting factored in, so they will be well overcosted playing without that. Also with SCGT you will want to move towards running more heroes/monsters since units of regular troops tend not to be as good for their cost. Unfortunately that doesn't match well for Dwarves, so you may need to dip into other factions. Trying out some of SCGT's scenarios might help as well since they mix things up and make straight-beatstick models not quite as effective.

What version of no shooting into/out of close combat are you using?

version a: shooting unit in melee has to shoot enemy in melee; can't shoot enemy not in melee with shooting unit.

version b: unit in melee can't shoot.

If you are using version a, then scgt prices are close to ok. If you are using version b, then you definitely need to change scgt prices for ranged units.

I notice you are lacking the elite dwarven units. Dragon Slayers, troll slayers, iron breakers, iron drakes, longbeards, flame cannon, gyros.

Special characters: the high king, thorek (+2 at unbinding 2 enemy spells per turn), Kraggi (re-roll unbinding attempts), Bugman's rangers can infiltrate, the slayer king, etc.

Not to mention the possibility of trying out some of the new fyreslayers (which include big monsters).

The problem that Dwarves have with unbinding spells in AoS is not a problem with rolling high enough (+2 works); its more a problem of positioning the unbinding unit within range (18") and having visibility of the enemy spell caster.

Burloksson and Thorek seem like definite characters I want to get.

Bugman I'd like but I'd also need to invest heavy into Quarrellers which is something I'll have to do eventually, but I don't mind waiting a bit.

I'll talk to the people I've been playing against and I don't think they'll mind with the shooting in close combat only the unit that's in close combat.

That being said, how does that work with artillery? If a unit assaults my gun and crew, can I shoot them with the gun?

You can shoot unless the war scroll says you can't.

So, as long as you have a crew member within 1" of a cannon, you can fire a cannon (with 2+ crew models within 1" giving you two shots).

Are 3 cannons not enough to deal with all the big monsters they can throw at you!?

If you're still playing with the Compendium rules then Grimm Burloksson is a must buy, especially if you are running such big units of thunderers/quallerers- his ability to add 6" to the range of one of them is massive. Enables the unit to shoot from Battle Round 1 even if you get the first turn (which you probably want with a gun line).

 Bottle wrote:
Are 3 cannons not enough to deal with all the big monsters they can throw at you!?

Normally, I would say yes; however they are usually the target of my opponents ranged war machines and weapons teams (My regular opponent plays Skaven). I usually get them for maybe a turn or so before they get taken out.

 IronMaster wrote:

 Bottle wrote:
Are 3 cannons not enough to deal with all the big monsters they can throw at you!?

Normally, I would say yes; however they are usually the target of my opponents ranged war machines and weapons teams (My regular opponent plays Skaven). I usually get them for maybe a turn or so before they get taken out.

Can you deploy to try and secure the first turn and then direct cannon fire on the enemy warmachines for a round before moving onto the big monsters?

What do you usually face in a single game?

So generally speaking what I see from my Skaven opponent regularly is as follows:

Large blocks of Storm Vermin
Gutter Runners with Assassin
Lightning Cannon
A couple weapons teams
Queak Headtaker
A Skaven Warlock Engineer
Grey Seer
Rat Ogres
Thanquil with BoneRipper

I know he's getting some Jezzails as well.

He does have a lot of clan rats but I think he's getting away from them to focus on more elite choices.

Just a heads up, Jezzails are extremely powerful.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Just a heads up, Jezzails are extremely powerful.

Here in lies my problem. Between the Jezzails, Warp Lightning Cannon, Thanquil, and 30 rat blocks of storm vermin, I'm having difficulty with target priority.

Honestly I'd ask your opponent to tone down his list or switch to a comp with tighter balance. The problem is the army you have now simply isn't equipped to deal with what he is bringing. The best advice I can give is to shoot the cannons at the stormvermin (kill banner first if he brought one) because without them acting as a front line you can beat down the rest of it with weight of numbers (against Skaven lol). I say turn the cannons on the stormvermin because they get +1 save against anything with damage characteristic 1, which I'm sure gives your base infantry trouble. Also, cannons can re-roll their 1d6 damage against big units as I recall. Toss in some battleshock and you should be able to clear them out quickly, hopefully fast enough.

Also, do you roll for initiative? Because I can say right now if he gets a double-turn its pretty much game over for you. I'd suggest rolling for initiative first round (+1 for whoever finished deployment first) then alternating from there.

We generally go with whoever puts down first ends up going first but then alternate each turn (so no double turns).

I know he has an extreme fear of my miners so other possible strategies to look at that I'm thinking of is: Bugman's Rangers. WIth them I'm hoping I can hit some of his weapons teams.

Flame Cannons seem to be must buys that could be helpful in dropping some of those things.

Skaven don't send to be amazing on saves so shelling out for a short-range Flame Cannon may not get you as much mileage as something like an organ gun (though note an organ gun really needs an engineer in range to shine). As for the miners, I expect that they pop up and get shot to hell, which is fine because it buys the rest of your army a turn, but with both them and bugman's rangers you could really have something.

If you add in a runesmiter and some fyreslayers you could have half your army pop up on his side. the runesmiter also has this ability

 Madmatt wrote:
If you add in a runesmiter and some fyreslayers you could have half your army pop up on his side. the runesmiter also has this ability

I'd say that is the best bet as well. If you can't go through them you got to go over them or under them. It would also have the added benefit of making him need to hold some of his units back to protect his artillery.

Similar Order units with this kind of ability include certain Stormcast formations and the Shadowblades.

I do have Stormcast Eternals and Empire I can mix in. That might be my strongest bet if Dwarves alone can't handle the power creep.

Warscroll Builder - www.warscrollbuilder.com
HEROES
Belegar Ironhammer (6)
Kraggi (2)
Thane with Battle Standard (4)
Thorek Ironbrow (6)
Ungrim Ironfist The Slayer King (5)
Grimm Burloksson (4)
Runelord (4)
High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer (10)
UNITS
Ironbreakers x 20 (16)
Hammerers x 10 (8)
Longbeards x 10 (7)
- Great Axe
WAR MACHINES
Dwarf Cannon (13)
Dwarf Cannon (13)
WOUNDS: 99 TOTAL POINTS: 98 / 150

Hey man this is my dwarves list if it helps you. The strategy I use is to spread the 20 ironbreakers out in a line to take any charges, and buff their armor 2x with Thorek/Kraggi, which gives them a rerollable 2+ save ignoring rend of -1. I highly recommend getting some ironbreakers. The second part of the strategy is using the longbeards special ability to allow all of the heroes to use their command abilities, which they use on the hammerer's to give them 4 attacks 2+/2+ rend -2. This will destroy anything in the game in melee. The final part is burloksson in between the two cannons to give them reroll to hit, which is incredible. You're gonna average almost 3 wounds at rend -2 D6 damage every turn. If you're facing much more ranged then I'd take maybe 2 more war machines and surround your engineer with them. Bolt Throwers can be amazing if you run the dwarf lord to buff their to wound rolls.