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Hey all,

Looking to start a small Dwarf force to take on mainly Lizardmen, Empire and High Elves at local store, but want to make it at least moderately all-comers. Nothing is bought so open to all suggestions. Will admit up front I need to spend a bit more time studying the rules in depth but from forum lists I've seen and a bit of my own instinct this is what I'm thinking:

Hero:

Runesmith, Great Weapon, Shield, Rune of Balance (anti-magic defence, since he has runelore anyway more is better right?!) 126pt

Core:

20 Warriors, Shields, Full Command 225pt (Likely Runesmith goes here)

10 Quarrellers, Shields, Full Command, 2 Great Weapons (To go forward with warriors, anti-elf bow range unit, that has some flank protection) 159

10 Thunderers, Shields, Full command (I know many say no need to run both, but I see them as Gun Emplacement protection from calvary/skinks but don't want to give up quarreller range) 175pt

Special:

Cannon: Engineer, Rune of Forging (Like the high strength vs monsters just in case, just seems so innaccurate, which rune is best if any?) 145pt

Rare:

Organ Grinder: (Doubt this needs explanation!) 120pt

This puts me 50 pts under, and I don't feel like I have a lot going forward, but then I'm playing Dwarfs! Heard good things about miners and ironbreakers but not sure what/if to drop something for either? I like the idea that I have (I think!) Good magic protection and good firepower, but not sure if either is overkill at 1000pts.

Any help much appreciated! Thanks guys.

Pretty sure the unit of quarrellers must all have great weapons if you want them, not just two of them.

In addition your quarrellers and thunderers don't need any command as you don't want them in combat so don't need the champion or banner. Use the extra points, with your spare points, to buy another organ gun, those are just lethal.

Make a choice on the runesmith, shield or great weapon you have to use the great weapon in combat and unless you move out of a unit the shield won't help with protection from shooting.

Can't get much accurate with a cannon than add a rune of forging. IMO drop the thunderers to bulk out the warriors and quarrellers and use great weapons on both.

IMHO get a grudge thrower it is the best war machine dwarfs can field.

You want great weapons, not shields. Dwarves are already tough and can take a decent hit, but they need to hit back HARD to win.

As for cannon runes, you want the one that lets you reroll the artillery dice and flaming.

Definitely take the great weapons. Also, Dwarves are not the most mobile army, you might consider hunkering down and making a scary gunline. That seems to be one of their best strategies of late.

Pretty tough points level for dwarfs. Its about impossible to get a BSB in at this level without doing something pretty goofy. More on this later.

Plenty of people weighing in on the great weapons vs. shields debate for your warriors. I'll leave that to them, but I will say that I've had some luck with the shields. Sometimes its nice to be able to soak damage as well.

Biggest thing is that you don't need full command in the shooters. I'd usually recommend a musician at most.

With the command savings, you can upgrade those quarrelers to rangers- 145 points gets you 10 with a musician. Its pretty nice to be able to put a block of shooters down once you've seen where the enemy is set, particularly since our shooters aren't move or fire.

I think you're overkill on magic defense at 1000 points. +1 dispel die and your natural dwarf ability is plenty- probably more than you need in a lot of cases. I'd save the 50 points from the rune of balance and put it into something else. (Note that its a very, very handy rune at higher points).

You seem to have overpaid for your cannon by about 5 points. Did you take a rune of burning you haven't listed?

One problem you have right now is that there's not any leadership re-rolls. While Ld 9 is great (really it is!) it still fails 1 in 6 times, and it looks like with this army you'll spend most of your time sitting pretty close to your board edge. That makes it particularly dangerous.

One way I found around this is to bring some longbeards. They're kind of a BSB Lite. They themselves won't panic, and friendlies are now down to just a 1 in 36 chance of legging it.

I've not been a fan of thunderers, but they work for some, so I'd say feel free to give them a shot.

With spare points, you could consider a small unit or two of miners. If the enemy has war machines or light units in their backfield, you can tunnel the miners. If they don't, they work as a delaying unit, or a block to keep warhounds and the like off of your warmachines. It can suck if your organ gun has to shoot something crappy like chaos hounds just to keep itself alive while jucier targets are prancing around.

Here's a list I used recently. I was going for an atypical, more fighty build, but you can trade the gyro for a cannon/grudgethrower/organ gun if you want a little more punch. If you're more worried about magic than I was, you can also trade the thane for a runesmith.

General: Thane, great weapon, master rune of gromril, rune of resistance, master rune of challenge -144 pts

21 Warriors great weapons, musician - 215 pts

15 Longbeards, shields, standard, musician, rune of determination, ancestor rune - 225 pts

10 quarrelers, greatweapons, musician, ranger upgrade -145 pts

5 ironbreakers, musician -71 pts

5 miners, musician - 60 pts

Gyrocopter -140 pts