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Hello Dakka!

I'm starting a dwarf army for a tale of 4 gamers type deal at my FLGS and, having bought the battalion, am building up my warriors.

So my question to you all, is which would you say is worth its salt more? Hammerers or longbeards with great weapons?

And if hammerers, anyone got any decent, simple conversion ideas (specifically for the hammer part )


Cheers!

Von Chogg

Both are very good. Longbeards are a point more expensive... but come out of your mandatory core points, so it's not like you could use the points for more specials or rares.

A basic hammer conversion would be to trim off the axe blades, and use a strip of balsa to make basic sledgehammer heads. If you're feeling fancy, balsa is very easy to carve...

I'd say Hammerers purely due to stubborn, but I like Longbeards as well.

As for the hammerer conversions, there's a few hammer bits on the Dwarf Warrior kit you can throw on there.

 Vulcan wrote:
Both are very good. Longbeards are a point more expensive... but come out of your mandatory core points, so it's not like you could use the points for more specials or rares.

A basic hammer conversion would be to trim off the axe blades, and use a strip of balsa to make basic sledgehammer heads. If you're feeling fancy, balsa is very easy to carve...

That's what I was thinking, pay a little more but more points elsewhere, and easy to build.

Balsa wood is a good idea, I'll look into that! As after looking at the sprue, there isn't a great deal of hammer choice


Von Chogg

Never had much joy with any. With great weapons you're essentially relying on T4 and a 5+ save to keep enough of your troops alive long enough to get a few hits back.

It all depends on what you're going to be fighting against. Longbeards are hitting last on S5 but are considerably cheaper than Hammerers, but then Hammerers have higher strength and better staying power.

My advice would be get a bloody great big unit of Ironbreakers, stick your BSB in there and direct everything at it. HW & Shield + Gromril Armour + S4 = best combination of staying power and hitting power. Against slow stuff, like Orcs, you might even get to strike simultaneously. Controversial!

For hammerers, one of the banners (I think from the Warriors kit, but maybe the thunderers) has a hammer-shaped anvil on the top i found very useful for conversions.

Even those Ironbreakers are going to be striking AFTER just about everything (only Saurus Warriors come to mind). So if you're going to be taking lumps before you swing anyway, you may as well let the survivors hit as hard as they can. There's a BIG difference in active CR with S6 vs. S4.

Bugman's Brewery is the best place to look for advice on Dwaves, but in the end it boils down to 'blocks of 30-40 with Great Weapons.'

Have to disagree on GW, I'd rather keep as many of my troops alive as possible. I can see the benefits of higher strength but the survivability of HW & Shield is always my preferred option when playing Dwarfs.

Plus, if you've let anything that you need S6 to kill survive all the way to combat, you haven't taken enough artillery!

I'd have to say in the end it boils down to "shoot 'em, then watch them smash into your blocks of 30-40....GW optional".

See, I'm going a more combat theme. I fin dwarf gun lines one of the most boring lists I've ever played against. It felt futile, useless and life draining. So close combat it is! My opponents are vamps, high elves, and a couple of others I can't remember.

I heard dwarves are up for change soon too, so maybe we'll become less 'gun line auto'


But I hadn't considered iron breakers, and survivability is nice... only problem is making more armour for my guys


Von Chogg

Dwarf gun lines are boring, no doubt, but you'll need some missile troops to thin the enemy out before they hit you - in my experience all-combat dwarf armies aren't all that great.
Thunderers are absolutely lethal for quelling infantry, and a combination of stone thrower (preferably 2) and a flame cannon is always very useful.

While gunlines are clearly no fun, you don't want to restrict yourself to melee either.

That's just limiting your tactical potential. Tactical games always suffer in the fun-department from taking away the tactical part by making your army a one trick pony. I don't know your army at all, but get some mobile ranged weapons and support your melee with them instead of just getting an army that can only attempt to run down your enemies. That's no fun either.

Hammers are better , but lately I found that it is better to just run warriors. The game stoped being about survival and started being about how many mpt you can kill with your guys and for less points warriors are not that much worse then hammerers. Crossbow +GW on the other hand served me very well a lot of times .

Purifier: Dwarves have ONE mobile unit AT ALL, much less with a ranged weapon - the Gyrocopter. Everything else they have is M3, and either Move OR Shoot or is a war machine.

That's the ultimate problem with Dwarves right now. They are always outmaneuvered by everyone, even M4 infantry. They are depressingly soft in combat. They can't even get meaningful buffs in combat from magic. Shooting the ONLY thing they do well... which is boring as heck.

Hello New Dwarf,

Hammerers with shields are an extremely valuable and flexible force. When joined by a lord-level character, they are stubborn and immune to fear and terror. The old lead Citadel and GW miniatures can still be found on eBay and look/feel better than the cheap plastic ones.

Old dwarf