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Hi all,

There seems to be a Hobbit/LoTR following at my FLGS, so I figured I'd test the waters. I'm interested in a dwarf-only army. So far I'm liking the look of:

Dwalin Champion of Erebor:

Grim Captain:
12 Warriors of Erebor, Shield, Spear

Dain
12 Khazlid Guard

I think that puts me just shy of 600 points.

Then i've got 12 shield warriors (erebor), Balin CoE, Oin CoE, Balin (Durin's Folk), Thrain, and 2 ballistae to choose from to get me up to 800. Any suggestions?
*EDIT and 24 grimhammers

Thanks in advance!

Well, that's a pretty damn solid core of a list. Low on models, but KG are awesome on the offense and a Dwarf shieldwall is always hard to dislodge.

For expanding, I would personally take another Warband, with Balin CoE at its head for his Priority-shifting trick. Drop the Captain for Balin, then have both him and Dwalin lead a 6-shield-6-spear Warband (no need for Spears on the front rank). Throw in a Ballista if you have the points for a little ranged presence and you're good to go.

Depending on whether you want a Hobbit/BotFA themed army or a later one based around Balin's Moria expedition (or don't care either way) then I'd point out that there is an excellent (though unoffical) BotFA Dain available here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zwergen-Hauptmann-Tabletop-Fantasy-Zinn-28mm-/121575428511

(See my LotR gallery for a painted pic, it's a great mini if you want a BotFA theme)

Hope that helps.

Thanks for both the thoughts and the quick response. It generates further questions:

1. I didn't think the CoE's could lead warbands, as they are their own warriorless army?

2. There's no 'unit coherency' in Hobbit, right? I was planning on having the spears support the Khazlid Guard to max my chances of winning duel rolls, and have any shields holding my flanks for me.

Ah, you are quite right about the CoE not leading Warbands, that was something I house-ruled but forgot wasn't in the actual rules. So while I would say ask your opponents if they mind that (it's hardly breaking the game to allow it! ), just add some Captains if not. If you only have points for one CoE, I say take Dwalin, the guy is a beast!

No requirement for a Warband to stick together past deployment. I see where you're going with te KG+Spears setup, but personally I'd leave the KG to spearhead your attack while anchoring the flanks with 2 shieldwalls with spear support. KG are tough and killy enough to do well enough without backup (remember they all have Hand Weapons as well as the 2-handers, so you can choose not to use the 2-hander and make a normal Duel roll), and your Warriors could frankly do with the extra attack more. In some missions you may find your Warbands get split up, so I like to avoid planning around having 2 Warbands always together.

 Paradigm wrote:
(remember they all have Hand Weapons as well as the 2-handers, so you can choose not to use the 2-hander and make a normal Duel roll)

Good point, I'm used to fantasy's Must Use Special Weapons rule. Thanks again for the thoughts!

Yeah, in general 2-handed weapons aren't that worth it (especially since with Hand Axes, if you really want the Wound bonus you can use a Piercing Strike for the same effect with no Duel penalty and your high F value keeping the odds in your favour). With Spear Support or another guy in the fight it's worth using, but on its own, I'd stick with the HW. S4 still gives you a nice chance of wounding most people.

I see 2-handed axes in their wargear, am I missing the hand axes somewhere? Piercing strike minus the duel penalty sounds great, but I thought I was limited to Dain and Dwalin for that.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Does that mean that the warriors of Erebor with shield and physically modeled with axes have access to piercing strike as well?

All models are assumed to have a Hand Weapon, unless they are specifically listed as being Unarmed. Some (perhaps all) of the KG models have hand axes on their belts so count as having Axes, if you can't see the hand weapon then it can be whatever you want (best to note this in the army list).

So yes, all your KG and axe-wielding Warriors have access to Piercing Strike (just as anyone with a Sword can use Feint, or anyone with a Mace can use Bash). If you can see the type of weapon on the model they can use it, if not then just make a note and you can still count as using that weapon.

Dwalin and Dain have a different rule, one that allows them to use a 2-handed weapon without the penalty, so they will still get the +1 on the Wound Roll. In theory, Dain can also make a Piercing Strike as well (probably at no real risk between his high F, D and A), so you could be looking at +1 on a Wound Roll with S6 or even 7!

iiiiinteresting. That should come in handy. One of the guys at my FLGS has an all troll army, seems like army-wide piercing strike at no duel penalty would be relevant. Thanks again!

Yeah, Piercing Strike is good against Monsters; the drop to your defence if you lose won't really matter to them, but your guys getting up to S5 or 6 when hitting them is brilliant.

All I will say is that Axes are often regarded as the 'best' of the Hand Weapons, especially on high-D models, so while you shouldn't be afraid to use them against tough targets, don't go abusing it against any old army, it might get irritating fast when you basically get a free point of S very time you win a fight,while still ending up tougher than most troops if you lose.

But you do have a lot of options with all this. Just to put it all in one place in case you're not sure:

2-handed normal strike: -1 Duel, +1 to wound
2-handed Piercing Strike: -1 Duel, -D3 Defence (if you lose), +1 to Wound, +D3 Strength if you win

1-handed normal: No changes
1-handed Piercing Strike: +D3 Strength (if you win), -D3 Defence (if you lose)

Interim list:

Dwalin CoE,

Balin (Durin's Folk)
12 Dwarf Warriors: shield

Dain
12 Khazlid Guard

Thorin: orchrist, oakenshield
12 warriors of erebor: spear, shield