Hey guys, so after a bit of play testing and lots of theory crafting, here're my thoughts on the New Dwarf Book:

Overall I think we got a nerf or our army's effectiveness in really competitive play, but I think we got a huge buff to our play style and the fun aspects of the army.

Losses:

Magic Defense: This one is pretty obvious and quite huge, we used to generate +3 Dispel Dice every magic phase with a natural +2 or a buffed +3 to dispel, while also taking one of the opponent's dice away in many cases. Now we get basically +0 dispel dice in all cases unless you roll that 6. This means a couple of things, first off, we are more at the mercy of an enemy magic powerhouse like Dark Elves or VC. Secondly, this IMO, basically makes M. Rune of Valaya an auto include otherwise you have no chance against anyone with a decent magic phase. Third and finally, this means that it might be necessary to put some magic resistance on our units/characters. Spelleaters might also become 1+ in the new book.
The Anvil: Basically useless now, easy to stop and even if you get it off, very low impact on the game. Never, ever, worth 320+ pts.
Castling with Anvil + 2 S5/S4 Grudge Throwers: This is what made us quite strong in many tournaments, and is no longer a reliable strategy. You can still castle but not as effectively as before. This is also kind of a good thing IMO because it was pretty boring for both players.
Fighting Lords: Personally I feel that these guys aren't worth their points in most all-comers armies. They have very little combat impact and cost a lot of points. I would rather just take 20 more Hammerers or 2 Flame Cannons than these guys.
Some combat units rendered obsolete: 2A Hammerers are just so good I can never seem to find a place for Ironbreakers in my list, if I want a defensive unit I usually just do HW/Shield Longbeards, who are very similar, cost a point less and count towards Core.

Gains:

Nice army wide rules for both defensive and offensive potential.
Huge buff to Gyrocopters: This makes our army play quite differently and gives you some fun stuff to do in the Movement phase.
Huge buff to Flame Cannons: These guys are one of my favorite new additions to the book, easy to hit with Turn 1 and now can be buffed to S6. Wipe out Infantry and Monstrous Infantry with incredible ease and can also do quite a number on Calvary and Monstrous Calvary.
2A Hammerers!: Really nice buff, but does kind of make them a 1+ choice, and with a 75pts magic banner allowance, they can carry one of our stronger banners (like Valaya).
Irondrakes: I've been enjoying these guys in all of my games and they haven't let me down once. While expensive, they pack a really strong punch and enjoy very high fighting stats alongside a scary shooting profile. They can even have a magic banner (take slowness on these guys its amazing, it allows for multiple stand and shooting rounds alongside normal turns of shooting). I'm actually starting to think that these guys might perform best as another combat block. They are quite expensive in small units so they can give up points quite easily. Instead I think a unit of 25+ of these guys with rune of slowness and musician can be quite scary. They still can fire 14-16 shots a turn and you can move backwards and fire without penalty. This plus slowness makes it quite difficult for an opponent to land a charge and each time he tries you get to do a stand and shoot. Once you get into combat you are basically fighting a unit of Gromril Armor Longbeards with a 6++ and 2++ vs. Fire. Really nice unit.

Overall, I would have liked to see a bit less of a nerf in competitive play, as we are really weak against strong magic armies, but I'm very happy with the play style changes.

What do you guys think?
Triddion