The Line of Durin

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:25 am

Hey everyone, first off just a quick note, I'm breand new here and only got into playing LotR SBG a few days ago. I'm a veteran gamer (Played 40k for over 3years and WFB over 2), but feeling that I am on slippery ground here.

I am looking to build a competitive, pure-blood Dwarf list (If at all possbile) with a little bit of flavour, just enough to make gaming fun and challenging.
Me and my group normally play between 500-1,000 pts, and I'm not sure how to play a Dwarf list effectively, I was hoping that your guys could give me some pointers on what's good, what I should avoid and such and maybe help me build a decent list and suggest some tactics. I know it sounds like I am asking alot, but I'm just using it to get started for now, you know, shake off the bambi legs and what-not ^^.

The one thing in my list I would like is Dain, he is my all time favourite Dwarf, even if he's not very competitive I'd still like to take him.

Galanur · **Joined:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:28 am **Posts:** 1389

Dain is not bad, hes still very good at it :)

lets try 500 pts then a 1000pts list.

tell me thought people he needs some help :P

500pts

Warband 1

Dain Ironfoot, King of Erebor
5 Khazad guards
3 Iron guards

Warband 2

Dwarf captain with shield
4 dwarf warriors with shield
3 dwarf warriors with 2 handed weapon

Warband 3
Dwarf captain with shield
9 dwarf warriors with shield

thats 499pts 27 models

Want a better for 1000pts?

Warband 1

Dain Ironfoot, King of Erebor
5 khazad guards
3 Iron guards
2 vault warden teams

Warband 2

Gimli, son of gloin
4 dwarf warriors with shield
5 Iron guards

Warband 3

King´s Champion and heralds
12 dwarf warriors with shield

Warband 4

Dwarf captain with shield
5 dwarf warriors with shield
5 dwarf warriors with 2 handed weapons

Warband 5

Dwarf captain with shield
7 dwarf rangers with longbow

Total: 999pts 57 models.

without allies and pure dwarvishness I would go this way I beleive... raw melee almost to the max

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:36 am

Just a quick note, you'll have to move two dwarves from the kings champions warband into another because,as of now, it has a count of 14+hero and can only be 12+hero. I would just move two shields to warband 4. Or get rid of them and downgrade an iron guard so you can get another banner, because with that many shields your going to want maximum re-rolls, and the heralds won't be able to cover the whole line without being separated from the champion.

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

If you want to field pure blood dwarfs then howabout this:

Durin
12 Khazad Guard

Dain
12 Khazad Guard

Thorin with Oakenshield and Orcrist
5 Erebor dwarfs with shield
6 Erebor dwarfs with spear

Thrain or Thror
5 Erebor dwarfs with shield
6 Erebor dwarfs with spear

You will be using every named dwarf king bar 1, and it will be beautiful.

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 4:26 pm

I like that list, its a shame Durin is...lacking, mostly because of his lone fate point, and I always thought of two-handed weapons as a liability because of the -1 to the duel roll, so 24 Khazad Guard seems a little...troublesome.

Though I do love the idea of Erebor Dwarfs, though not sure how to convert them to have spears, or the geometric shields they carry in 'The Hobbit'

Also, how do you deal with Aragon, King Elessar?

whafrog · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 4:32 pm

MrDark12 wrote:

...and I always thought of two-handed weapons as a liability because of the -1 to the duel roll, so 24 Khazad Guard seems a little...troublesome.

Every model has a hand weapon, so they don't have to use the 2H weapon if they choose not to. They can decide each turn in the Duel phase.

I'd have thought to see some banners in these lists, but I guess now that dwarves have some access to spears it's not as essential.

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 4:36 pm

whafrog wrote:

I'd have thought to see some banners in these lists, but I guess now that dwarves have some access to spears it's not as essential.

How would you convert Dwarfs to get spears, would you use Grim Hammer models, I really want to use Erebor spears.

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

Khazad's are the best infantry in the game to be honest. Durin is amazing, i have used him countless times, i'm pretty sure he's never even gone down to 2 wounds on my watch.

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:37 pm

Durin gets a 6+ save after every wound and he's very cheap for what you get add the fact he has a fate point, 3 wounds and defence 9 he's just a beast I'm glad I've never taken him on
oh and If you take on aragorn just throw all your best heroes at him at once he won't last

oh and get floi stonehand he's amazing

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:40 pm

Or use a troll to throw soldiers at Aragon. I wouldn't throw all my heroes against Aragon but rather immobilize him and throw s4 guys at him and a hero. It depends on which profile you are fighting against, if the ranger(without anduril) ide use S4 troops. Against the king, it's immobilize or die. Actually if you have floi get rid of his epic hero ability and take him down with weight in numbers and fight boosted heros.

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:09 pm

I was worried you might say that, I have a friend that pairs up King Elessar and Eledil, its really hard to think of a combo to beat that.
And I like Khazads, I never knew you could opt to use Hand-weapons instead of their two-handed axes, that's why I never considered them (Yet I still bought Grim Hammers), and I don't like the models for the Iron Guard so much but will invest in a few.

But could someone tell me how I could get or convert Erebor Spears, I am currently using High Elf Spearmen and I don't really like it (even if the High Elf spear models are beautiful).

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

Just hold out for the Erebor Warriors to be released, until then i'd recommend using the standard dwarf warriors with 2h axes as your spear men, maybe even cut the axes off and add spear tips to them...

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:46 pm

SuicidalMarsbar wrote:

Just hold out for the Erebor Warriors to be released, until then i'd recommend using the standard dwarf warriors with 2h axes as your spear men, maybe even cut the axes off and add spear tips to them...

Ahhh, I'll just do that, That will really annoy me, I've just bought two boxes of Warriors, a box of Grim Hammers and 6 Khazad Guard, with Dain, Balin and 2 Dwarf Kings, when the Erebor Warriors come out, I'll be over joyed and really annoyed haha.

Also, one last thing, is there a thread about Dwarf tactics, as with 5" movement it will take alot of doing to manoeuvre properly I think. I have a basic list in my head, I'll write it here tomorrow for suggestions.
Thanks for your help so far guys ^^, only thing I'd ask now is there any tips I should know about playing Dwarfs?

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

Army help is essentially the tactica forum. In reference to the 5" movement, i never notice the reduction to be honest, although when i am playing with dwarfs+allies, i do notice the difference. To use your grimhammers you will need one of the dwarf heroes from the hobbit, my favourite is probably Dwalin or Thorin, although if you don't want to buy them you can always field one of your kings as Thror/Thrain.

When using dwarves a banner is pretty important, since you'll have no spears (yet). A banner essentially doubles all your soldiers attacks when determining who wins the fight. HOWEVER if you are not the sort of person who proxies, and you would rather buy a model with a banner before using one, then may i recommend buying a kings champion over the command bos, the kigns champion is incredible, and comes with 2 free banners for less than Dain (woah no way).

One of the weaknesses i have found with dwarves is that, if your opponent does not want you to, you cannot seem to touch enemy heroes. By this i mean that if your opponent is using a shade for example, and they just keep it behind their battle line, a dwarf army has little or no way of removing it without tanking through the enemy troops. By this i mean dwarfs do not not have magic, exceptionally powerful archery, or long range effects that can move enemy models out of the way. The best (and probably cheapest because of how many old sculpts of him you can get on ebay) solution to this is Saruman the white, he is the best magic user in the game, and will sort out any enemy from almost any range. A kings hunstman allied in from rohan is also a decent option for smaller games.

That said nowadays almost all the good armies i field are mash-ups, to which my dwarf contingent is just a single warband of Durin, 9 Khazads, a vault warden, and a banner.

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Feb 17, 2013 3:26 pm

Just saw the post and wanted to add a bit. I own very dwarf unit save for the new Grim-hammers (can't waith to get them). Don't underestimate/undervalue the vault warden teams. I've literally wiped out more than 50 orcs with just 4 teams of those guys. They are rock solid and if you guard their flanks with a few Khazad guard/ Iron guard they are nearly invincible. Also on the Dwarf hero front Murin and Drar are a nice pair. They are 150 points for the pair and have some very nice specials. Plus you have to look at the fact that for an amount of points that's in the same ballpark as Durin and Dain you are getting TWO heros and 6 might points. They are probably my most commonly used heros on th battlefield.

MrDark12 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:21 pm

Yeah, I want to get Murin and Drar, my friend uses the Elf Twins so I want annoy him with the Dwarf Twins. And as for the Grim Hammers, my friends let me count Grim Hammers, Erebor warriors and all the hero's as just part of Durin's Folk.

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

On the topid of Murin, Drar, and the twins, does anyone else think that the four of them would make a tight 300pt list?

philoking · **Joined:** Tue May 17, 2011 12:25 am **Posts:** 26

MrDark12 wrote:

I have a friend that pairs up King Elessar and Elendil

Aragorn and his ancestor from centuries before him? sounds like you need a few friends who aren't into lame uber power-gaming. :roll:

as for converting spears, depending on how much $ you are willing to spend, you could start with Dwarf warriors, or Grimhammers/Iron guard if you want them a little fancier. Cut the hand weapons off, and drill out the hand to add a brass rod. You can either affix a spearhead to that, or file the rod to a point before inserting into the hand.

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

philoking wrote:

MrDark12 wrote:

I have a friend that pairs up King Elessar and Elendil

Aragorn and his ancestor from centuries before him? sounds like you need a few friends who aren't into lame uber power-gaming. :roll:

Calm down, there's nothing wrong with someone fielding those two together (their not even that great a combo tbh just both big models), perhaps his friend just likes fielding kings of men?

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:31 pm

SuicidalMarsbar wrote:

On the topid of Murin, Drar, and the twins, does anyone else think that the four of them would make a tight 300pt list?

Now that you mention it, it does sound like a fairly powerhouse type hero army. 2 3A heroes(effectively) and the other two have neat special rules. You could do some serious damage provided you play it well and considering its only 300pts you probably wouldn't be outnumbered at all. It seems as of it would function quite well at that amount of points :yay:

The Line of Durin

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