So I played two 750 pts games today, my Mordor vs a friends Dwarves.

Victorypoints:
To the death! Mordor 8, Dwarves 0
Hold ground! Mordor 18, Dwarves 1

Pretty daunting results, go mordor
He doesn't have much experience playing SBG but is familiar with the rules.

On his behalf, I'm posting the models he's got.

Balin, Dain, Murin & Drar, Gimli, Captain, Shieldbearer
Dwarf warrior with bow, shield and two-handed weapon. 28 each
Dwarf rangers, bow, two-handed, hand weapon. 12 each
Dwarf warrior with banner. 2

And we'd like to know: how do you play with an army built from this or what would be good models to add?

Note: keep it Dwarves, we want no business with allies

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Operation future in full swing.

Alright, to make a dwarves SBG force that is capable of holding its own without allies- I would advise picking up a couple of things.

First, for range, use ballista. Yes, actually do- if your friend decides to go that route, he can go with less bows, because the presence of the ballista(s) will many times force the enemies to come to you (which is ideal if you are the slow-moving dwarves). When I say less bows, I do not mean no bows- I simply mean take less and use those to concentrate on targets of priority, while the ballista gets the enemy troops moving at you.

Now, for basic troops- there are a couple of things here. First, I would get several Iron Guard and Khazad Guard. The Iron Guard are brilliant troops and help the dwarves make up for the fact that they have almost no spears, while the Khazad Guard, en masse, are capable of dishing out and taking a lot of damage. A King's Champion would be highly useful, and Valut Wardens, if used right, are excellent for holding fores in place.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

Yeah, Iron Guards seem to me the most useful.
Not so sure about the ballista though, playing the six scenario's from the new books the chance of deploying really close to the enemy is kinda big.

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Operation future in full swing.

Definitely get some Khazad Guards. They have very good defence, and S4 2-handed weapons amazing (S4 with a +1 is equivalent to S6). And they're not too expensive for what you're getting. Use them wherever the fighting is the worst, or around your big heroes to take on the enemy's heroes, trolls, big baddies, etc. The Bodyguard rule will ensure they will always charge those terrifying enemies. They can take and dish out a lot of damage over a long time.

Iron Guard are also very good, though with slightly lower defence (still high for normal people though, ). And with 2 S4 attacks, they can do quite a bit of damage. Paired with Khazad (IG wins fight, KG uses 2H), they can be deadly.

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God bless you!

Forth Eorlingas!

Khazad guard,iron guard and vault wardens are all a must in my opinion. Vault wardens especially seeing as how the new scenarios tend to have you start out closer to your eneny then in earlier versions of the game, however I would advise having some iron guard and/or khazad guard to protect their flanks. In regards to dwarf rangers I would suggest briging as many throwing weapons as possible. Dwarf ballista are good though thanks largely to the changes in scenarios I would say bring one or two just for their ability to break up a shield wall if you should be faced with one. For named heros I would have to say durin, dain and gimli would have to be my favorite ones. Other then them I would definitely agree with valamir about bringing a kings champion. Another hero with three attacks and f6 can come in handy not to mention the two banners you get at well. Last but not least don't forget about the lowely dwarf warrior with shield, d7 f4 and the ability to shield can help him outlast many armys.

Iron Guards combined with Khazad Guard... ohhh yeah

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Operation future in full swing.

Thank you all for all the information you give me .. i defenetly going to upgrade my army now for a rematch!

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Moria: 185 units
Durin's Folk: 181 units

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but Dwarves have suffered from the new warband rules. All the Dwarf Heroes are pretty expensive, which means you model count is severely limited. Contrary to what most of the other people here have said, I would not focus on the elites. I think the only elites worth taking would be Khazad Guard, 'cause they won't take up a huge chunk of your points. Also, the ballista is rubbish. It's going to spend half the game not doing anything (due to rolling less than 4 to hit) and when it does work it will rarely hit what you want it to hit.

Here's an example list:


Warband 1
Balin, son of Fundin with Durin's Axe
1 Dwarf Warrior with Banner
10 Khazâd Guard

Warband 2
Dwarf Captain with Shield
4 Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf bow
4 Dwarf Warrior with Shield
4 Dwarf Warrior with Two-handed weapon

Warband 3
Dwarf Captain
4 Dwarf Warrior with Dwarf bow
4 Dwarf Warrior with Shield
4 Dwarf Warrior with Two-handed weapon

Warband 4
Dwarf Captain with Two-handed axe
4 Dwarf Ranger with Dwarf longbow
4 Dwarf Ranger with Two-handed weapon
4 Dwarf Ranger with Throwing axes


746pts, 51 models, 12 bows, and 9 Might

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

I always liked Dwarf Rangers with normal bows over the (short) dwarf Bows

Dwarf heros are not overpriced, they may be expensive, but THEY NEVER DIE. Even a lowly Shieldbearer will keep your army around AND kill alot of stuff. Dain and Durin are just plain indestructible, with Durin also adding courage to his entire force. A KC comes with 2 banners, who have 2 pts of Fate, and gain defence for being base to base with the Champion.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Funny you should say that. In the last game I played, a couple of weeks ago, I did kill Durin.

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

In the mentioned games, my tactic of neutralizing one captain with cavalry, Gimli with hordes of Orcs and Balin/Durin with a Mordor Troll Chieftain was effective.

But yeah Dwarf heroes are durable, no question about that.

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Operation future in full swing.

Of course, but they're by no means invincible.

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

I was exagerating. The most success that I've had at getting rid of dwarf heros was with the Golden King. When I broke my opponents army, I used up all of his will to bribe Dain to flee. He was then quickly chopped down by Durin. 30+ goblins with a few Blackshields work well too.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Just as a quick note, it seems that the most efficient way for remedying the King's Champion is separating him from the banners via compel and then flattening him with a troll or two.

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"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”