The Dwarves - Army Tactics

Army Strengths

  • A dwarf general can field pikemen and axemen with an armour save of 4 with the shield ability. This means that his core battle-line is able to resist all but the most punishing missile or melee assaults.
  • Dwarf infantry have a wide array of weapons at their disposal. They can field basic axemen, dual weapon warriors, double-handed weapons, pikes and halberds. This gives the dwarf general the options to deal with most threats just from his core army.
  • Dwarf generals can field three types of cavalry: bear riders, ram riders and berserker boar riders. Bear and ram riders are both excellent heavy cavalry options as they have armour 4, many attacks, magic resistance 4, high morale and the ability to move through certain terrain features without penalty. Boar riders have high wounds and a huge number of attacks, but unlike other dwarfs are unarmoured.
  • All Dwarf units have a magic resistance of 4. This makes it very hard for the enemy to use hostile magic on them.
  • The dwarf army list is composed entirely of high leadership troops as all units are morale 9 or higher. Dwarf lords are morale 11, making any unit they lead very hard to break.

Army Weaknesses

  • The dwarf army lacks fast moving units. Their infantry move 5 inches and cavalry range from 10 inches to 14 inches a turn. For quick assaults on the enemy line, a dwarf general will have to resort to using up his elite allowance on flying monsters.
  • Although basic dwarf infantry are very well armoured, brave and protected from magic, their ability to inflict casualties on the enemy is fairly average. Most of their troops are skill 2 and only the berserk units and cavalry units have the ability to inflict high casualties in melee.
  • The dwarf army lacks infiltrators in its core army. The dwarf player would again have to use up his elite allowance to field infiltrators.
  • The dwarf army has a limited choice in magic as their wizards can only field earth magic. Their wizards are also quite vulnerable in melee as they do not have any evasion.
  • Dwarfs have very weak long-range shooting. They use crossbows primarily, which are only effective at short/medium range. Their handgunners are powerful troops and have a respectable range ... however, as they require a turn to reload, they are not suited to prolonged missile duels with enemy archers. Clever dwarf generals can off-set this weakness by screening his missile troops with cheap, well-armoured axemen units in skirmish until his missile troops move within ideal weapon range.