IN WITH THE NEW

While there are many units in the last version of my Dwarf army that are awesome and will continue to dish out pain to my opponents, I'd like to begin by talking about the new units that I am currently adding to my force. Hopefully these thoughts will be useful to veteran Dwarf players as well as new converts.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

This Thane on an Oathstone will be ready for battle as soon as I carve runes into his family boulder.

There are a few changes to the rules about Dwarf characters that I'm really excited about. The first rule change I'm excited about is the ability of Dwarf Lords to be carried by Shieldbearers. For a measly 25 points, your Lord can be carried into battle by a pair of retainers who add 2 Attacks at WS 5, Strength 4. These extra Attacks alone are worth the 25 points, but when you add in the fact that your Lord gets +2 to his armour save, I don't expect to see many Lords hoofing it ever again. Furthermore, the 25 points do not come out of the Lord maximum allocation for magic items, and the retainers can't actually be attacked. Shieldbearers are a very economical way to beef up your Lord for combat.

Even more exciting than the Shieldbearers is the rule that allows Lords and Thanes to have an Oathstone. For 20 points, a Thane (30 for a Lord) can have a unit of Warriors, Longbeards, Hammerers, or Ironbreakers carry his Oathstone into battle with him. This record of his deeds confers Magic Resistance (1) to the unit, but has a much more important use. When the unit is charged, the "Stone can be set." The unit gathers around the stone and counts as facing in all directions. The effect of this rule is that the unit is now considered to have no rear or flank and can never lose their rank bonus in combat resolution. This effect is huge! One of Dwarfs' biggest weaknesses is their lack of mobility and the fact that they are almost always outnumbered and getting charged from multiple directions. In addition, the Oathstone means you can now deploy in the middle of the battlefield with Slayers on one flank and an Oathstone unit on the other. No more hugging the edge of the board for us!

The new Engineer models can be used as Master Engineers or Engineers of specific war machines.

I'm also very happy with the changes to the Master Engineer. His statistics have been greatly improved, and there is now a load of new great-looking models to represent him. When deployed with a Bolt Thrower, the war machine can use his Ballistics Skill of 5 and can hit as if it were aimed by an elite Elf Archer. Cannons do more damage under the guidance of a Master Engineer, and Grudge Throwers are more accurate. Another interesting addition to the rules is the ability to entrench one war machine for every Master Engineer in the army. This protects the war machine like hard cover when it is shot at and a defended obstacle when close combat ensues.

In addition to the above changes, there are a lot of smaller improvements to characters that are of great value. First of all, Thanes and Dragon Slayers have had their Toughness increased from 4 to 5. This greatly adds to their durability and, in the Slayers' case, the ability to venture out on their own. Speaking of Slayers, both Dragon Slayers and Daemon Slayers are less expensive this time around. Finally, the Royal Blood of Dwarf Lords allows you to field additional units of Longbeards and take full advantage of the Hammerer's Bodyguard special rule (see below for details).

Painted for the Storm of Chaos online campaign, Garagrim makes a great Daemon Slayer of Dragon Slayer for my army.

Having said all this, I will definitely be adding a Thane on an Oathstone and a Master Engineer to my force. Too many times I've been fighting Vampire Counts to have newly summoned Undead charge me in the rear. With the Oathstone in play, I say "No more!" The Master Engineer is great because even if you can't afford to field him as a character, you can still add him to your throng as an Engineer of a war machine (see below). Now that I think of it, I might even opt to paint up a Dragon Slayer to put in the reserves. I think they are very reasonably priced now, and with a few well-picked runes, they can become another great blocking unit, or a killing machine. I will likely not field him in my standard army, but I can think of a few armies that would do well to fear a Slayer character.

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