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I have been trying to come up with a good dwarf list recently. I want it centered arround a strong core of infantry (infantry that can hold their own against vamps or demons).

Heroes
Dwarf lord
shield bearers, great weapon, +1 as, +1 at, +1 to hit, reroll armor saves (1+ AS), master rune of challenge

runesmith
greatweapon, shield (chose each combat), 3x scroll

thane
BSB, 1+as, +1 at, +1 str, flaming attacks

thane
+1 as, +1 hit, +1 at, +1 str.

This gives me three good combat chars that are hard for anyone without killing blow to kill (one is immune to killing blow as well) as well as 5DD and three scrolls. Even the runesmith should be able to kill 1 rank and file per turn without breaking a sweat.

core
10 thunders
10 thunders
20 long beards, full cmd, rune of gruni (5+ WS against ranged and magical attacks)

Elite
20 hammers, full cmd, +1 combat res, double US
20 hammers, full cmd, +1 combat res (lord usually goes here)
bolt thrower
bolt thrower (flaming)

rare
organ gun
organ gun


This gives me a good shooting base to make sure people have to come to me and cant fiddle arround setting up perfect charges. It also gives me three good units that can stand up to most rank and file while having some pretty strong chars in there. 1 is immune to fear, one will never be outnumbered (and rarely beaten) and one protects the other two from panic and shooting.

In a game usualy the thunders will pick off rank and file trying to remove rank bonuses across the oposing army. The organ guns will mow down anyone who trys to flank the army. And the bolt throwers will damage any large creatures that get in the way.
Any thougts?

I'd try to fit a rune of penetrating or two on your bolties, for Str 7 chariot popping goodness. I'd also try very hard to fit engineers on both your bolt throwers.

Two Organ guns isn't going to make you any friends, but frankly in the world of dark elves, Demons and VCs making friends isn't priority number 1.

I also don't think your characters are resilient enough. The rune smith has almost zero protection and your Lord has no ward. Re-rolling an armour save isn't going to help if you don't get one!!

Finally, thunderers v xbows. This argument is done to death, I prefer xbows, and in this list the points will help you out with fitting the RoP and the Engi's on the bolt throwers.

The idea is solid enough, just needs fiddling with a bit.

I agree with fitzeh, Xbows have longer range. By the time your opponent is in range of the Thunderers they'll either be

A: A fast unit, so already in CC.

B: Close enough to charge next turn.

Not to discourage you though, +1 to hit is really big.

overall it looks good to me. Fix up your characters though.

To be specific, my current 2250 list contains two bolties both with engineers attached.

A) Rune of pen. Rune of Burning
b) Rune of burning.

That way I get one to shoot chariots with, and both of them can stop things regenerating. (Hydras, Vampires, Chaos Trolls, Nurgle beasties etc.)

Fitzeh's got some good advice here, though you could compromise and go with a unit of each. I've only ever used thunderers and been pretty happy with them. One thing to bear in mind- that armor piercing is real nice on some targets, but is wasted points on unarmored/6+ sv targets, so there's a problem x-bows won't present you.

RZ

Yea, both bolt throwers had engineers in there. forgot that one.

The rune of penetrating is very good but I just dont see that many chariots out there. Only one is vs a vamp friend of mine who always runs the coach.

On the thunder vs crossbows debate, the jury is still out. I have been switching back and forth and just cant decide. The crossbows underperform all the time but the extra points and no first turn shooting hurts sometime.

Could you elaborate on how the quarrellers are underperforming?

At range a squad of 10 quarrelers tends to pump out about one wound on average for me. There are a few times when they let fly and kill 5 elves but they generally kill very little.

Just a note - your lord needs the master rune of wossitsname, to make the great weapon still count as a great weapon and be able to take extra runes too. I'd also look into possibly giving the characters the armor runes that make them immune to fire, mainly for Rule of Burning Iron but also because you can then laugh at things like Bloodthirsters with the flaming sword.

Two organ guns is nasty, but I prefer having a gyrocopter to annoy opponents and help marchblock. Personally, I too think xbows are the way to go over thunderers, but que sera. One unit of each is a nice compromise.

That second unit of hammerers should probably have the rune that makes them immune to fear and terror, as opposed to double US. More valuable, I think.