[Stillgar Stormbeard]

1250 Points vs Vampire Counts

Hello all, a beardling here who’s thankful to have found this forum, and is back at WHFB after a departure of over a decade. It’s great to be back and I’m glad I have a local community with which I can pit my skill and axes.

I’m new to Dwarves, and have played a couple of low point “learning” games, and have faced Skaven and Vampire Counts. I’m expecting to face DE and HE soon. My friend that plays VC and I are planning a 1250 point game this weekend. Without further ado, here’s the list:

145 Thane BSB (Ro Fury, Ro Fire, MRo Gromril)

141 Runesmith (Shield, GW, MRo Balance, Ro Warding)

150 10x Thunderers (shield)

150 10x Thunderers (shield)

151 14x Warriors (shield, FC—Thane goes here)

257 14x Hammerers (shield, FC, Ro Courage, Ro Sanctuary—Runesmith goes here)

135 Cannon (Ro Forging, Ro Reloading)

120 Organ Gun

====

1249 Points



He’s making his list but I know it’s got 2x Vamps, Necro, Corpse Cart, 20 Zombies, 20 Skeletons and 10 Crypt Ghouls.

He likes to use “Invocation of Nehek” and “Wind of Undeath” a lot. So, my 6 DD and the MR [1] on each of the two CC units should be good. The Spirit Host from the “Wind” spell can get annoying, but I’m pretty good at firing my cannon. (Knock on wood…)

My major plan is fairly straightforward; pepper him with artillery and gunfire until CC ensues. Try to get the Thane into CC with one of the vamps and start issuing Challenges.

I welcome all suggestions, and will hopefully be able to have an ale after my next battle.

This post has been edited by Stillgar Stormbeard: 19 March 2010 - 07:16 AM

[Southern Dwarf]

G'day mate,

I'm not a particularly experienced player either, but I do have a few pointers that might be useful. See my comments below in blue;

Stillgar Stormbeard, on 19 March 2010 - 07:13 AM, said:

145 Thane BSB (Ro Fury, Ro Fire, MRo Gromril)

RoFury is good, but RoCleaving will be better. S5 is better for wounding and for penetrating armour, and is more of a bonus than an extra attack. It might be even better if you got a Great Weapon and gave it the MRoKragg and the RoFire if you want flaming attacks. That's S6, and while you'll be always striking last, low initiative is generally going to mean that anyway (against anything that counts). If you can find the points, then RoPreservation will help against the Poison and Killing Blow that VCs can bring.

141 Runesmith (Shield, GW, MRo Balance, Ro Warding)

This looks fine, though 5 points for the RoStone never goes astray. As it is, he'll be relying on a 4+ armour save if you use the Great Weapon; it's worth that 5 points to drop it to 3+, or to a 1+ if you go hand weapon and shield. It might be a typo above, but if he's in the Hammerers, then one of their MR runes is wasted; they don't stack, only the one with the highest value (or just one in this case). From what I understand, MR won't be a bonus, as the VC player is unlikely to target you, and will likely look to use Invocation and Vanhels Danse, neither of which can be affected by MR.

150 10x Thunderers (shield)

While the +1 to hit is good, most of his targets aren't armoured, and will therefore be just as vulnerable to crossbows. Their greater range also means Turn 1 shooting. More importantly, changing at least one unit of Thunderers to Quarrellers means you'll get 30 points back.

150 10x Thunderers (shield)

151 14x Warriors (shield, FC—Thane goes here)

I think that this block is far too small, and should either be 10 only, or be 20+ with full command. The former will allow you to act as a flank guard, the second to fight as a combat unit. As it is, one casualty gives this unit 1 CR, and against a VC unit which will outnumber and likely has 3 ranks, it has to kill 3 minimum otherwise it will autobreak. I strongly recommend 20+ with full command.

257 14x Hammerers (shield, FC, Ro Courage, Ro Sanctuary—Runesmith goes here)

This unit should be fine, though a few more bodies never go astray if you can find the points. RoCourage is essential, good choice.

135 Cannon (Ro Forging, Ro Reloading)

I can see that this would be useful against his Corpse Cart, but you might do better with a simple bolt thrower with the RoBurning. Not as effective, but 40 points cheaper, and will give you some S7 attacks if you add the (almost compulsory) RoPenetrating.

120 Organ Gun

Worth it's weight in gold. Target the ghouls with this, skirmishers hate S5 autohits.....

I hope you found that useful.

Cheers.

[Stillgar Stormbeard]

Thanks for the advice Southern Dwarf. Great to meet you.

I took your advice and did some recalculating and came up with the modified list. And nice catch, the RS and the Thane were in the wrong units, this has been corrected. Also, going through my math... the unit of Hammerers SB was equipped with only 45 points in Runes (not the 50 point Ro Battle, Ro Stoicism combo i plan to use on the DE army battle coming soon) so that freed up 5 points. If if swap the 10x Quarrellers for the Thunderers that gets me 30 points and dropped the Ro Reloading on the cannon for 10 and that gave me just enough to up the Warriors from 14 to 19 models.

1250 Points vs VC

135 Thane BSB (Ro Cleaving, Mro Gromril)

146 Runesmith (GW, MRo Balance, Ro Warding, Ro Stone)

150 10x Thunderers (shield)

120 10 Quarrellers (shield)

196 19x Warriors (shield, FC)--Runesmith here

257 14x Hammerers (shield, FC, Ro Courage, Ro Sanctuary)--Thane here

135 Cannon (Ro Forging)

120 Organ Gun
===
1249 Points

Also, I do see your point about the MR on the units. I'm playtesting this as my VC friend loves to cast the "Wind of Undeath" spell (taking Master of the Black Arts even) and seems to get the 12+ spell off on a regular basis. And as this spell targets ALL enemy units I want to see if the increased chance of dispelling it is worth the MR points.

Thanks again for the advice, as this battle will be the first time I've used Hammerers, Quarrellers, and the Organ Gun, hopefully all goes well.

[Ulric Stoutheart]

One thing to keep in mind, for the same points as your cannon you can take two bolt throwers. Give one an engineer and penetrating, and the other just fire, and that's 135 pts. That gives you two shots per turn, neither of which will ever cause the machine to blow up. Just something to think about.