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So we've got a 2999 local tournament coming up, and after talking with some folks I was wondering about trying something a little wacky. It's somewhat exploitative but has its weaknesses. The players around here wouldn't bat an eye, but I think it might invite dry heaves in other areas.

Dwarf lord w/shield bearers & shield, Runic armor: MR of Steel, Rune of Resistance, Rune of Preservation, Runic Talisman: MR of Challenge, Rune of the Furnace, Runic weapon: Rune of Fire
Placed in a two wide unit of 5 hammerers.

The armor counts all hits as a maximum of strength 5, and grants a 1+ re-rollable armor save, immune to killing blow, poison, and heroic killing blow. Hammerers grant him stubborn (and immune to fear/terror for what it's worth). If you're feeling saucy, you can give the hammerers a runic banner- perhaps with 3 runes of sanctuary for MR (3) for death magic snipe protection.

There's some room to play here. For example, the MR of Challenge and Furnace are 30 points that are flexible- maybe going for rune of might on the hand weapon to actually let him do something other than not die. This will also probably be used in conjunction with an anvil- so send him into that big stack of grave guard (or whatever) and hang out, not dying. You'll even get to have the hammerers swinging a couple support attacks.

Vulnerabilities?

Massed shooting shredding the handful of hammerers away.
Thunderstomp can crush the hammerers from around him.
Dreaded 13th (so don't deploy him with this unit against Skaven sporting this spell.

I think it's probably just a little too gimmicky. Just tried to pick up someone else's idea and run with it a bit, and interested to hear thoughts on the matter...

You could try to bulk out the Hammerer unit s'more, to negate some of those vulnerabilities, but that's kind of self-defeating. Plus, your flank is about as big as a normal unit, so getting hit there would spell disaster too.

I think it's funny. I do not, however, think it'll do a whole lot on it's own. Except tie up a big scary unit for a long while. Which is all you're looking for, right?

Dwarfpedo.

Sort of a missile brick. Masonry missile? Flying fortification? Projectile Parapet? Hard Stop?

Proper nomenclature aside, that makes a good bit of sense, as at that points level death star units might start spawning twins, and even being able to stop one big scary unit for 2-3 turns might buy you time to grind down the other and refocus. I really like the idea, as there is still the weakness of failing stubborn to combat res after a bad fluff, but all in all it is a clever way to make an unmovable unit, which seems pretty dwarfy to me.

Bonus points if you model the entire unit as the hammerers holding the lord out in front of them on long sticks, while hiding behind pavises.

I can see the idea here, certainly. It's...interesting! I'd say how it works will depend on the local meta, and there are plenty of lists where it may not have a worthwhile target to charge...

Edit:
Just thought of something- couldn't somebody just challenge the lord, thus forcing the hammerers into combat with the main block, potentially getting them wiped and robbing you of your stubborn?

That's actually a really good question... the rules seem to assume your front rank isn't just one man on a big shield! It says to move the accepting model into base with the challenger, but that you can ignore that if you can't. I think yu would really just slide the whole unit over, since challenges can't change your frontage (at least it doesn't say it can) so your unit would be stuck one way or the other until you can combat reform.

That's a tough one though... and probably will get people in a tizzy.

@Warpsolution: Flanks are definitely an issue and one to watch out for. How well you can protect against that is something I'd actually have to play out a bit to get a feel for.

@Wehrkind: I suppose it would need to get a name. You've got some good ones. I'll see how it plays out, see what works. Hopefully it's not "Zeke's folly".

@Da Boss: Not sure I follow- he could get pulled out of the front by a challenge, but only if someone was engaged in the flank and not already in contact with him. And if they've got the flank of this unit, then it's problem times anyway.

Edit: Didn't see Wehrkind's second response. I don't think you'd ever move the whole unit for a challenge. If someone *does* challenge and you can't move over, they move to you.

You could protect your flank with...another Dwarf Lord with five hammerers!

This concept might work with a Strollaz-theme. If you march up your whole battle line, this thing can charge the Deathstar while your other units go around to the rest of their force.

I'd call it an ICBD.

Hehe, I've seen this talked about elsewhere, can't quite remember where though.

IIRC they called it the "Lordpedo"