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So, I'm about to wrap up a conversion for Dwarf on shieldbearers for my Strollaz list, which will require some shifts.

Here's the list as it stands with the quick change (i.e. dropped the MR of Gromril and Rune of Preservation for Shieldbearers and rune of stone):

Dwarf Lord w/shield bearers, Rune of Stone, Rune of Resistance, Great weapon, MR of Challenge: 231
Thane BSB, Strollaz Rune, Rune of Guarding: 175
Runesmith, Shield, GW, Rune of Stone, Rune of Spellbreaking: 106
Dragonslayer, Rune of Striking, Rune of Fire: 65
25 Warriors, shields, full command:250
25 Warriors, shields, full command:250
10 Rangers, GW, Veteran, Musician: 125
19 Longbeards, shields, full command, Rune of Courage: 283
11 Slayers: 121
6 Miners: 66
19 Hammerers, shields, full command: 277
Bolt thrower, engineer, rune of burning: 65
Bolt thrower, engineer, rune of penetrating: 85
Gyrocopter 140

This leaves me with 11 points left over. Some thoughts:

- Easiest thing to do would be to put a rune of the furnace on the Lord and Runesmith's talismans.
- I'd like to find a way to get the MR of Steel on the lord for that nice build.
- I don't find the runic weapon on the dragonslayer to be very efficient, but the army lacks magic and flaming attacks
- Another possibility would be to find points for MR of Kragg + Rune of Fire on the lord to keep his GW attacks, but let him work against ethereals, regenerators and flammable targets. Doing so in conjunction with the MR of Steel would make me move the MR of Challenge, with the only option being the Runesmith. If I do this, I could drop the dragonslayer back to mundane weapons since I'll have magical/flaming elsewhere.
- I can drop a hammerer easily now that the lord is going up on shield bearers too.
- Could conceivably replace the longbeard standard with something slightly cheaper, like Rune of Battle, Stoicism, or Determination
- I can drop one from another block as the runesmith doesn't have a default location at this time.

Anyhow, seeing the deficiencies, what kind of item tweaks do you think are in order? I'm looking to keep the units in general as is- that is, I know that the rangers and miners in particular are weak choices, but I'm fond of the models I've done up for them.

RZ

It looks pretty good Zeke.

I like your idea of "Another possibility would be to find points for MR of Kragg + Rune of Fire on the lord to keep his GW attacks, but let him work against ethereals, regenerators and flammable targets. Doing so in conjunction with the MR of Steel would make me move the MR of Challenge, with the only option being the Runesmith. If I do this, I could drop the dragonslayer back to mundane weapons since I'll have magical/flaming elsewhere." If you know you are going against a lot of high toughness monsters you could go with the rune of might instead for that extra punch. If you had the points, I might try to get the rune of preservation back on him too.

I would go with one of the other banners for the longbeards since they are ItP, or is that only for checking for panic when a friendly units flees next to them?

I don't mind the rangers or miners since you have a use for them (to contest quarters that your dwarfs usually couldn't get to) however, I like to have my rangers have crossbows. I know they lose some AS, but I have found the crossbows to give them some versatility.

That is all I can really suggest, not sure if it is valid or not.

The longbeards are immune to panic, but not fear and terror which is my main concern.

I'll take a look and see if I can scrape the points for crossbows, but it's an extra 30 points.

The rune of preservation isn't really necessary anymore because shieldbearers give US 3 and US 3 is immune to killing blow. I'm not worried about poison.

This is going to be all comers- so I am concerned about monsters. Besides the Lord, the only things that can really do much are the slayers (and only if they're not all killed first) and the bolt throwers.

It *would* be nice to have some more shooting from the rangers, and the heavy armor doesn't come in to play very often. I'll take a look. Thanks for the comments.

Doh. I forgot about the US 3. My bad. And I knew something was nagging me when I typed ItP, (panic not psychology), also my bad. I need to go back to my dwarf book.

Losing a hammerer and a warrior plus your 11 points would get you the crossbows, granted I didn't do the math with the other changes if you went with them. You could get a couple of points if you went with the rune of might and flaming weapon by dropping the rune of stone for a shield.

Am I right in thinking that you can only get a +3 rank bonus so you actually have an extra rank just for wounds and numbers? If you needed more points you could drop a couple more warriors here and there. Too bad that rune of determination can't be used on any leadership test. I think I would drop another hammerer and put that runesmith with MR of challenge in with them too. This way your general can still issue a challenge. Wait, not sure if that would work. Does the charging unit get to issue challenges first? So they could still call out your runesmith or can you substitute your champ instead? I guess that is why people throw in chumps into units anyway. Sorry thinking out loud again.

I will be looking for the next report to see how it goes.

I could probably afford to shave some dwarfs off the big blocks. I find it helps to let them absorb shooting and still arrive with their full SCR intact. And they need it, 'cause they sure aren't killing anything.

I was actually thinking of bringing the runesmith up to run with the hammerers. When necessary, he can swing a strength 6 GW like the rest, and, if I keep the rune of stone, he's at a 1 up save. Being in the same unit as the Dwarf Lord helps for challenge protection too.

As far as challenge rules, the person whose turn it is has first opportunity to declare a challenge, but you can always pick who accepts. There's some interesting things that go on with the tactics of positioning and challenging, so it's a good part of the rules to get more comfortable with.

Next battle should be Sunday unless I can sneak one in tomorrow some time. Report to follow shortly thereafter!

RZ

You seem to have such a balanced list, and to know the tactics of that style of army very well. That's not my strong suit, and I have yet to play Dwarves! So all I can say is that I'm watching with interest as you tweak your list.

I would like to ask, what do you think are the deficiencies of your list? It makes the most sense to me to start out by trying out whatever wargear addresses that best, even if it's inefficient (such as what you mention about the runic weapon on your dragonslayer- inefficient, but seemingly needed).

For example, right now I'm giving one of my branchwraiths a bound spell that can be used every turn because I think I'm a little light on being able to cast treesinging. I don't think it's the most effective spite he can take, but I'm trying it out to see if it draws opponent's dispel dice or not. If it turns out not to be doing that, I'll switch it out to something more optimal for him (a close combat spite).

Similarly, if you're not seeing the runic weapon meet the need you're taking it for (hurting things that only fall to magic attacks I'm assuming) then maybe it's time to change it out for something that fits what he's best at, and not worry about trying to fill that gap. Every army has gaps, after all! It doesn't look like he needed the magic weaopn in your last matchup- is there something that would have helped him more?

I'm trying to make these decisions and tweaks for my army, too, and that's the thought process I'm in right now. I look forward to hearing how these fellows do in their next engagement!