Hey guys,

My friend and I have a regular weekly game and last week, after getting destroyed in an Empire mirror match, I went back to my original love -- the stunty little buggers.

I try to avoid gunlines these days because it's extremely boring for my opponent, so I went with a Strollaz list that featured zero war machines. This didn't stop my opponent from complaining about how much shooting I had.

My list:

[SIZE=12px]Lords

[SIZE=12px]Dwarf Lord

[SIZE=12px]Shieldbearers
[SIZE=12px]Shield
[SIZE=12px]Master rune of Snorri Spangelhelm
[SIZE=12px]Rune of might, crushing disappointment when things are only Toughness 4
[SIZE=12px]Rune of warding x3
[SIZE=12px]Rune of parrying

[SIZE=12px]Heroes

[SIZE=12px]BSB thane

[SIZE=12px]Banner: MRo Grungni, Strollaz
[SIZE=12px]Shield
[SIZE=12px]Actually shouldn't be anywhere near combat ever [SIZE=12px]

[SIZE=12px]Runesmith

[SIZE=12px]Ro spelleating
[SIZE=12px]Ro stone
[SIZE=12px]Shield
[SIZE=12px]Disposable once his Dawi dispel is gone

[SIZE=12px]Runesmith

[SIZE=12px]Spellbreaking
[SIZE=12px]Ro Stone
[SIZE=12px]Shield
[SIZE=12px]See above re: disposability

[SIZE=12px]Josef Bugman

[SIZE=12px]In the kingdom of Always Strikes Last, the Initiative 3 Dwarf is king

[SIZE=12px]Core

[SIZE=12px]34 x Shieldbeards

[SIZE=12px]Shields.
[SIZE=12px]FC.
[SIZE=12px]Ro Stoicism

[SIZE=12px]Special

[SIZE=12px]30 x slayers

[SIZE=12px]Strollaz
[SIZE=12px]Standard, musician
[SIZE=12px]A desire not only to die in battle, but die in the most unwinnable battle possible

[SIZE=12px]4 x gyros

[SIZE=12px]2 x VG.

[SIZE=12px]Rare

[SIZE=12px]20 x Irondrakes

[SIZE=12px]FC.
[SIZE=12px]Trollhammer torpedo
[SIZE=12px]Ro slowness x 2
[SIZE=12px]Pretty much tailor-made to ruin WoC's day.

[SIZE=12px]5 x rangers

[SIZE=12px]Musician to keep things light.

[SIZE=12px]5 x rangers

[SIZE=12px]Musician to keep things grim.

[SIZE=12px]19 x Bugman’s Rangers

[SIZE=12px]Standard, musician.

[SIZE=12px]-------------------------------------------

[SIZE=12px]His list, roughly:

[SIZE=12px]Daemon Prince of Nurgle, 5++, sword of doing something nasty to stunties, talisman of underestimating Dwarf Lords

[SIZE=12px]BSB, Tzeentch I guess, wrecker of Dwarf characters

[SIZE=12px]19 x Tzeentch warriors, halberds, ridiculously good at passing 6++ ward saves

[SIZE=12px]20 x Nurgle warriors, great weapons, banner of Eternal FOMO

[SIZE=12px]5 x Chaos Knights, Tzeentch, intense hatred of gyrocopters

[SIZE=12px]5 x Chaos Knights, Khorne, not really sure why they're hanging out with all these Tzeentch and Nurgle dudes

[SIZE=12px]3 x skullcrushers, [SIZE=12px]unfortunately not flame-proof

[SIZE=12px]6ish Dragon Ogres, [SIZE=12px]bracers of arrow attraction

[SIZE=12px]Level 4 Metal Sorcerer on disk, also not overly fond of gyrocopters

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We both deployed as far up as possible because we were all about getting into combat. He had no vanguards or scouts so I didn't need to screen with my ranger darts. After Strollaz, the battlefield looked like this:

Our terrain was largely mundane buildings, although we had some arcane ruins (near the ranger darts) and an altar of Khaine (next to the Nurgle Prince). The altar was to prove very important.

My opponent had one drop less than me and easily won the roll-off for first turn (he usually does). Maybe it has something to do with his beautifully painted miniatures that actually represent the actual units he's using, unlike me and my proxying Rat Ogres for gyros.

Chaos Turn One

My man wanted to restrain his units from charging. Too bad for him that his Daemon Prince failed his leadership roll and was forced to charge, which meant that he charged everything in to prevent him from fighting unsupported. He was on fairly long rolls to get his infantry blocks in, and his Nurgle warriors didn't make it and got stuck behind the melee.

His Tzeentch warriors charged my Slayers but there was no way to fit everything in without them making contact with the Shieldbeards, so it ended up being a huge free-for-all between the Daemon Prince, Tzeentch warriors, Skullcrushers and Khorne Knights versus my Slayers and Shieldbeards.

The only magic of note was Plague of Rust, which he threw 3 dice at and got something like a 12. I ought to be able to get 10 on four dice, right?

No other magic of note went off, as far as I recall.

My BSB, now looking woefully under-protected at 4+/4++, was directly opposite his very scary BSB. I challenged with him, hoping that he'd accept with his unit champion and my BSB would be somewhat safer. He accepted, all right -- with his BSB. I sighed and prepared to lose my break test re-roll. My BSB lost but didn't die, staying on a single wound.

I lost 10-15 Slayers and a handful of longbeards (5++ parry save FTW). My Slayers didn't manage more than a couple of wounds (S5 ain't cutting it against Skullcrushers or Knights) and I lost combat by quite a lot, but was stubborn/unbreakable.

On the left flank, his Chaos Knights charged and easily killed one of my ranger darts. The Dragon Ogres charged the other dart, but failed to make it.

My Irondrakes kinda shuffled around without much to do. That was OK, because they would more than earn their keep later on.

Dwarfs Turn One

I swift-reformed Bugman & Co., forgoing shooting his Sorcerer because I figured he'd save any wounds I managed to sneak through and the central combat needed the Rangers more. The Slayers would soon be dead and the Shieldbeards' flank would be threatened.

The leftmost gyros swept in to annoy Chaos Knights and redirect the Dragon Ogres. My surviving Ranger dart shot at the Dragon Ogres to no effect, and the gyro that steamed the Knights predictably did no wounds.

On the right flank, one of my gyros charged the Sorcerer to keep him tied up for a turn or two. He even managed to put a wound on him (+1S bonus on the charge rocks).

My BSB was never surviving another round of combat with the terrifying Chaos BSB, and he predictably went down. The Chaos BSB earnt himself a one-time re-roll on the Eye of the Gods table.

We figured out my Lord was in contact with the Daemon Prince, and he tooled him up pretty good (he was in range of the Khaine shrine, so 5 re-rollable WS7 attacks hitting and wounding on 2's). His DP took 3 wounds and started to look pretty worried.

The Slayers took another battering and put a wound or two on the Skullcrushers. The Shieldbeards took 6-7 casualties from the Daemon Prince and the Tzeentch warriors. I was now without a BSB, so every break test was a pretty terrifying proposition, but I held.

Chaos Turn Two

The Dragon Ogres licked their chops and charged the gyro blocking them, who predictably got smashed into itty-bitty pieces but did his job of delaying them. The Chaos Knights on the left, unconcerned by the gyro, swept down and around to reach the central melee.

The Slayers finally got wiped out, having done maybe 6-7 wounds and making me realise that they are not the optimal unit to deal with high-armour targets. My Lord killed the Daemon Prince by putting through another 3-4 unsaved wounds. Time to get that BSB!

In the gyro-sorcerer combat, both sides continued to whiff.

The Skullcrushers and Khorne Knights, now free from combat, came around to threaten the flank of my Shieldbeards.

Magic was uneventful, with me shutting down anything particularly dangerous with a spellbreaker.

Dwarfs Turn Two

My gyro finally bit the dust in the battle with the sorcerer. I charged the remaining ranger dart at the Dragon Ogres to slow them down a bit. My other two gyros swept in to play the redirect game with both units of Knights.

My Irondrakes starting earning their keep by completely obliterating the Skullcrushers (the Trollhammer torpedo did three wounds alone!). My opponent loudly lamented how good their stats are for the rest of the game.

My Lord, fresh off the high of murdering a Daemon Prince like it wasn't no thing, proudly danced on his shield and issued a challenge, ready for an epic battle with the BSB. The BSB sent the unit champion like the snivelling coward he was.

The Ranger dart put three wounds on the Dragon Ogres before they got wiped out, which I was more than happy with. The Ogres reformed to face the flank of the Shieldbeards.

Bugman's Rangers marched up for a supporting charge scheduled sometime in turn 9.

Chaos Turn Three

Both units of Knights charged my gyros, which held for the redirection lulz. The left-flank Knights smashed the gyro apart and headed off the board, and the rightmost one killed his own gyro and overran a little I guess (they were Khorne, so they must have).

The sorc, having killed his gyro, floated up to the flank of the Shieldbeards to cast nasty nasty spells on them. I let blades of Aiban go and dispelled glittering robes or whatever it's called.

My Lord, having killed the champion, issued another challenge. The BSB had nowhere to run now.

My Lord wound his Ro Might axe up, ready to chop the BSB into itty bitty pieces... and found the Ro Might didn't activate! I was absolutely amazed that a Chaos Champion was only T4, but apparently so -- and with that, my Lord was in a lot of trouble. He was taking 4 WS8 strength 7 attacks every round and it looked like he was actually going to die to a mere hero-level character.

Luckily it was a moot point, as I finally failed my Ld10 break test and fled. The Tzeentch warriors pursued and caught the Shieldbeards, and it was bye bye Lord.

I might have conceded here, but I figured that Bugman's Rangers and the Irondrakes could do some damage before they got pulled down. I wasn't wrong.

Dwarfs Turn Three

The Irondrakes lit up the sorcerer, easily killing him (my opponent had to save around 6 wounds and the Sorc was already injured from the gyro). Bugman's Rangers put 4-5 wounds on the Dragon Ogres.

Chaos Turn Four

Everything tries to close the gap as quickly as possible to avoid the withering hail of drakegun and crossbow fire. The Chaos Knights come back on the board after having overrun following the death of the gyro.

Dwarfs Turn Four

Bugman's Rangers wipe the Dragon Ogres out. The Irondrakes back their stumpy little bums up an inch and a half and put the hurt on the Khorne Knights, who are reduced to one model.

I popped my Runesmith out of the Irondrakes a turn or two back, actually, in order to maximise shots.

Chaos Turn Five

The Rangers and Nurgle warriors were both ASL and so swing simultaneously. I also got a 10 on my Bugman roll, so the rangers were at T5! This helped with the GW warriors, who were now wounding on 3s instead of 2s.

Bugman accepted the champion's challenge. He wasn't ASL, so he wiped the floor with him. In the main combat I lost something like 7-8 Rangers but put the hurt on the warriors swinging back, killing 11-12 despite hitting on 5s. The warriors passed their break test but were in trouble.

The single Chaos Knight didn't want to die horribly charging the Irondrakes, so he charged the lone Runesmith who was pottering about. They both whiffed something awful.

The other Chaos Knights marched up and the 10 or so Tzeentch Warriors shuffled cautiously towards the Irondrakes, not wanting to risk a failed charge.

Dwarfs Turn Five

The Irondrakes obliterated the Tzeentch warriors and I got the satisfaction of watching the BSB burn. Bugman and his Rangers wiped out the Nurgle warriors, and that's pretty much that. With 6 Chaos Knights left, my opponent was unlikely to claw his way back and conceded.

Post-game thoughts

I thought the Slayers were going to shine in this game because WoC are pretty low on shooting (except, of course, for the utterly broken Hellcannons), but they really didn't get their points' worth. I would have much preferred a unit of Hammerers there, as S5 (without AP) wasn't getting anything done against the Skullcrushers or the Chaos Knights.

The Rune of Might is great when it hits that T5 sweet spot, but it badly gimps your lord when he's fighting T4 or lower. I'd have preferred a great weapon plus a whole bunch more armour runes (The T7 6-wound tank build is a favourite). Had my Shieldbeards not broken, he would have eventually lost to the Chaos BSB -- strength 4 is super wimpy and wasn't getting through the BSB's saves.

Having to take Strollaz on my BSB badly hurt his tankiness. Relying merely on T5 and 3+/4++ really doesn't cut it against scary opponents like the Chaos BSB.

Irondrakes were definitely MVP here. They took down Skullcrushers, Chaos Knights, the Tzeentch Warriors (plus BSB) and the Sorcerer Lord. My opponent had no answer for them at all, and their statline is already pretty insane: S5 AP quick-to-fire weapons, a 4+/6++ save and Ld10 (the only non-character unit in the game -- along with their brother Ironbreakers -- that has Ld10?). The trollhammer torpedo also makes for a useful mini-cannon in a list where my only other monster-slayer was the Lord.