As some of you might have noticed, Ive been posting a bit in the Dwarf forum recently. The reason is that I won an auction for a dwarf army on ebay a few weeks ago that was a real bargain. Combined with the 40 warriors I still have from way back (1st edition, I believe) I have a decently sized army.

However, I still lack some troop types. I have plenty of normal warriors (80 alltogether) in three different model styles from different editions, so using some of them as proxies wont be a problem. On the long run I will want to get the real models for the units though. As Im rather short on cash (my friend is paying half of the deal, but I got a TK army not too long ago - via ebay the prices are tolerable, but it still cost a bit), I want to consider carefully which models I need most.

Those models are most important to me which would be the most unrealistic to replace with warriors. Ironbreakers for instance I think could easily be replaced with normal warriors (using a model style that differs from the models I use for the actual warriors in the army) because they carry hand weapons and shields, like the warriors. But then, Iron Breakers were included in the ebay army deal anyway.


I have:

as infantry

80 Warriors (with three command groups)
15 Crossbow Dwarves
18 Iron Breakers (with command group)
11 Slayers (with command and two giant slayers)
11 Slayer Pirates (with command, from an older edition, I believe)

and three extra champions,


as warmachines

3 bolt throwers
1 organ gun
1 flame cannon
2 gyrocopters


and as characters

4 fighter models (all lords I think, but can be used as heroes, Kazador, Ungrim, Helga and another whos name I dont have present)
1 runesmith
1 runestone with a runesmith
1 demon slayer


Thunderers I think are great troops, but I could use my friend's chaos dwarf blunderbusses to represent them. I dont have any cannons, but they can be replaced with other warmachines or my friend's empire cannons.

Longbeards, Hammerers and Miners seem the most important units for me to get at the moment, but as Im new to dwarves (I havent played a single battle yet) I thought Id ask the more experienced players for advice.

It would be great if you could help me and say which troops you'd recommend to get next!


Thanks! :)

Ahh, a yungbeard at last!!!
Welcome to our clan Funky the Elf, i am sure that you will find playing dwarfs amusing.
Now back to reality.As i can see you have plenty of models.I recomend you to take 19 Hammerers for company of your dwarf lord(These guys are his bodygurd you know.)With these models i think you are fuel.I don't use Longbeards because i think that their only advantage is that they are immune to panic,+1 strenth,acess to R.Banner.They don't diferent from an ordinary worrior.And if you take a worrior with full gear is 3Pts cheaper,so i don't see why the reason to take them.
Another good unit is Miners.These lads are game winers,their underground advantage can help you a lot.15 of them is a good choice.
Iron breakers?Only when you face Elves.Their luck of high strenth such as Hammerers and Longbeards,even Worriors, it makes them good at units on foot with ''light'' armour.
Cannons?Well i don't use them at all.I think that cannons are useless,but this is my opinion.Don't take cannons with same points you can take 2 bolt throwers.
I hope i help you with my ideas.If you want tips,army lists for hated enemies or enything else about dwarfs you can pm me. :thumb:

Though I don't claim to be an expert with Dwarfs I have played the with sucsess so I'll help:
- IMO the best set up for a dwarf core choices is this:
16 warriors: shields, heavy armour, fc: 169
16 warriors: shields, heavy armour, fc: 169
10 warriors: great weapons: 80
10 warriors: great weapons: 80
10 thunderers: 140
10 thunderers: 140

The basic idea is you have to +4 combat res units which have a 3+ save, t4 and Ld!! Then you deploy the GW warriors to peotect your flanks and give flanky charges, I don't think heavy armour is a good option because it's points badly spent. Finally the thunders add some shooting, you can replace them with crossbows but you like thunderers.

- As for special I advise strongly against a big unit of hammerers, why? Because they cost a lot and frankly they're relativley easy to kill if you throw your shooting/magic agaisnt them and then use speed to destroy them. My suggestions for special are these choices:
16 slayers- They hold the enemy and can do damage as well
16 ironbreakers-fc- They can hold the line and do damage as well!
2 bolt throwers: No runes because they're nasty and can cause a lot of damage.
Finally I'd proxie that flame cannon as a cannon as they can take out big nasties and destroy chariots in a shot!!

- For rare all you need are 2 gyrocopters as they're annoying and slow the enemy down.

Finally all you really need is a scroll caddy runesmith and either a moderatley runed up dwarf lore or 2 thanes as you should always put faith in troops.

I am not a dwarf player, but my friend plays them.
I just wanted to say that the setup Prince Cal has given is a good one IMO. I totally agree about the Heavy Armour (since they will strike last if they wont break the enemy instantly), and with 2 units of thunderers and 2 blocks of warriors you have a nice core to build your army around.

Good luck with the beardmen! :thumb:

Personally, I don't like Cal's setup, though it's mostly for aesthetic reasons - while units of 16 and 10 dwarfs work fine within the rules, I find that units of 20 or 25 just look a lot better on the table, and fit the idea of rank upon rank of unmovable warriors much better.

On the other hand, I'm starting to find myself agreeing with the anti-hammerer crowd. While they can be amazing if you get them stuck into combat, they're pretty easy to pick off with mid-strength shooting and magic. Putting them on a flank to take advantage of being stubborn just makes it worse, as you opponent can move his ranged units out of their charge arc and pepper away til they're too weak to affect the battle. For a ~500 point unit, once you've added a lord, they just can't affect the battle enough.

Ironbreakers are solid, and their 2+ save often means they'll do as well on a flank as the hammerers would, the lack of wounds taken about equalling the effects of stubborn, especially with a BSB around, and they won't suffer nearly the same rate of horrific attrition the hammerers do, particularly when using their great weapons.

I like thunderers, but probably only one unit. They're expensive, fairly short-ranged, and odds are they're going to have some pretty specific targets, meaning a second unit would be less efficient than the first.

Warrior units, IMO, should be equipped with all available equipment. They're more expensive than bare-bones, and they won't always use it all, but it's not like you'll be picking their encounters with M3, so you might as well be able to deal with whatever your opponent designates to take them out.

Slayers are iffy. They're good against undead, being immune to autobreaking with a bad round, and able to deal wounds to T3 skeletons and zombies in horrific numbers. For the most part, though, they suffer from the same problem as hammerers, in that they won't be picking their fight, so they won't do what they're best at. They're almost never entirely useless, but they very rarely do anything spectacular, either.

Bolt Throwers I like. At least two, one with RoPenetrating and MRofSkewering, the other with a RoPenetrating. Two S7 machines, one of which can hit on a 2+ once per game, means that you don't really need to worry about chariots, unless there are a lot of them. They can do just about everything a cannon does, without the chance of blowing themselves up, and only take up one special slot. If nothing else, your opponent will get to be afraid of them, once he watches his chariots explode for a couple of games.

Characters, I'd recommend a relatively cheap lord at 2k, probably with GW, RoStone, RoResistance, MRoSpite. 228 points for 4 WS7 S6 attacks, and the 100 VP bonus for killing your general is protected behind 3 T5 wounds, with a 3+ rerolling save and a 4+ ward. It's a nice balance between cost and safety, and he can deal some damage as well.

Scroll caddies are not needed in a Dwarf army, whatever anyone tells you. Your troops are all T4 with at least a 6+ save, so they should be able to shrug off magic missiles and the like, and you've got 4 basic dice to stop a big spell if you need to. It's all about selective dispelling, and you can get a fair number more models for the cost of a runesmith, who adds nothing else to the force.

I don't think I'd suggest more than one gyro most of the time, either. It does some nice stuff, but they'll be doing the same thing, and the points'd probably be spent covering a different role in the force. Maybe sometimes for fun, or if you play against a lot of T3, but not in a general army.

So, there are my disjointed thoughts on some of the Dwarf units. Take it for what it's worth, and feel free to ask any specific questions you may have. The topics Ulrik's been starting have looked pretty good to give some idea of what the units are capable of, so you should definitely read through those as well.

Good luck with the Dwarfs - they're solid, and they'll never disappoint you as long as you play them well. Just don't expect them to be getting many massacres for you.

Thx guys! :)

After reading your replies, it seems like there is no unit I dont have (or cant replace easily with proxies) that is a total must, which makes me (and my billfold) happy. :P

I guess Ill watch for cheap ebay deals for miners, hammerers and thunderers (using chaos dwarf blunderbusses for them isnt that appealing...). First Ill play with the models Ive got now a bit and get used to the beardies.

Ill be posting an army list soon (though unfortunately I wont have time to play in the next few weeks).