I often find myself reflecting
that you can learn a lot (arguably all?) of life's invaluable lessons from within
the pages of a good (actually, let’s face it, they definitely don’t have to be good)
mystery novel. Sure, the nuances of said lessons will depend on the noir-ness
of the work at hand, but some of the hard hitting inescapable truths include:
- Eloquent arguments are far more important than evidence - guilty people find it cathartic to readily admit their guilt upon receiving a suitable verbal put down (as opposed to - crazy thought here – calling their lawyer?)
- Protocols are for weak-chinned inept civil servants. To get the job done you ignore all that nonsense (implications on the likelihood of ever getting a conviction are definitely someone else’s problem).
- Hot uptight ladies who don’t like you *will* sleep with you in a matter of days of meeting you.
- A brilliant protagonist will inevitably have to go up against a brilliant antagonist – no noobstomping here.
- NEVER answer the door if an elderly crime novelist and amateur detective decides to visit you.
- Everyone has a dark secret that they would potentially be prepared to kill to protect.
This last point, the founding principal of the
Agatha Christien school of philosophy, is hitting me far too close to home as I
sit down to address the topic at hand:
You see... Dwarfs were my first love.
First encountering them in the
very first book I read The Hobbit and broadening out from there into
the likes of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, Lord of the Rings and
other books that I came across in the sprawling libraries of my family’s house,
until, some years later, I walked into Games Workshop in Oxford as an eleven
year old and discovered their take on them. Of course, many, if not most, of
the depictions of these stout fellows vary wildly, but some of core concepts
resonated strongly with me.
They are a noble and tragic race
(nobility without tragedy is very passé). A people who know their best days are
long behind them are far more interesting that the optimism of a glorious
future.
They believe in doing things the
right way, not the easiest or the cheapest. In this day and age there is a real
beauty to this. We are all consumers, and our society builds things to be
consumed. Do we build anything now that will last like the wonders of Egypt,
Greece or Rome now do? Heck, castles built in far less enlightened times stand
proudly to this day.
As with most things, this is
probably best summed up by the late, great, Terry Pratchett his Boots’
Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness.
When you boil it down, there is
something rather Samurai-esque about Dwarfs. Martial prowess welded in the
heart of mountains with unbending iron honour.
All in all, they are pretty damn
cool (in The Hobbit films a dwarf even pulls a hot Elven lady, so they
obviously have game too…).
Unfortunately, all the promise
that is embodied in the dual aspects of Dwarfish Warhammer lore – the never ending
sieges from bestial evil (and the incredible heroics no minstrels would ever learn
to sing) on the one side, and the unbowing drive of the High King to set forth
and set right the ills done to his people over the eons - has forever been let
down by the execution of their rules and the impact of the game mechanics.
Far from the martial prowess of
one of the most ancient and noble of powers (a race that had driven GW’s very
own favourite sons, the Elves, from the shores of the Old World no less)being replicated
on the table what we have had is an endless processions of the most boring armies
to face ever.
The last 8th Edition
book arguably came the closest, allowing some vanguarding, and plenty of
helicopters, but it was as subtle and flexible as a yoga-ing longbeard.
I had no hope whatsoever that the
9th Age cabal (powerful though they unquestionably are) would
successfully make an entertaining pie out of the gristle and toe nail ingredients
on offer.
I was wrong (write it down, take
a picture, it happens occasionally).
As with several armies in 9th
Age, my view is largely academic and resulting to watching some games on
Universal Battle – I wouldn’t actually interact with people using dwarfs
on the table, obviously.
I think I am slightly in love
with this book.
Particularly:
The ability to triple march; to
buy Vanguard as an upgrade for a core frontline unit; a magic system that appears fitting (who ever
thought that would actually be a thing); Anvils doing something!; items
remaining customisable; and a whole new unit never seen before!
Top that up with:
The ability of Seekers to bring
people down in their death spasms; new rules that Daemon Seekers; Skirmishing
Seekers!; Vanguarding Seekers!; Vengeance Seekers! (hint: Seekers are cool!)
And finish it all off with my
favourite thing:
The Grudge system that so
fittingly picks out key units to be the target of pent up furious vengeance.
Of course, fundamentally, this a
is M3 army that does not appear all that laterally mobile. Also, pure (boring)
economics means that when choosing between warmachines and cool things, you
will still see warmachines – but the potential is there – bravo!
So… the updates. It seams the
Cabal wanted to improve infantry and make warmachines effective. I guess I can
get behind these things.
Dwarven
Special Rules
•Shieldwall
has seen a redesign to make it more valuable against high strength attacks. It
now provides a 6++ Ward instead of +1 Armor, which is increased to a 5++ on the
turn a unit is charged.
Booo. The mathematicians out
there may tell me this is better, but for me +1 armour feels so very good.
•Hewn
out of Mountains changes from a safety net effect to one that instead slightly
increases the casting value of all enemy spells. A problem with the old rule
was that it would not help an army that already contained Runic characters, and
thus would do little to aid it unless characters had begun to die off/lost
focus.
Sensible
•Relentless
has changed, in that Dwarves now take LD tests like all others but may triple
march even if enemies are closeby. This change was made because it was too easy
to hinder under the original rules, which resulted in a trend toward defensive
gunlines again. The new rule will promote offensive lists by allowing them to
not have to worry about some goblin wolfrider slowing the army.
Sensible
Magic
•The
battle runes have been adjusted so that Runic Smiths may take up to 2 Battle
Runes, while Runic Masters may take up to 4 Battle Runes. While it's a nerf for
the Smith, the Master becomes more capable of handling a magic phase on his
own. Furthermore, it means more spells at a 6-12" range, and items such as
the Rune of Brilliance have a greater effect.
I was expecting this – seems ok.
•The
Anvil of Power had too long a range and as such it complemented the defensive
gunlines the most. Consequently, the range on all spells have been reduced to
36". Lorewise the Anvil shouldn't be a commonplace sight on the
battlefield either, and thus it's been moved to rare. Additionally, the Anvil
Runes of Shattering and Storms now have to be bought for a small cost.
Both range and slot are changed,
and they needed it, so all good.
•The
same Battle Rune may not be taken more than twice in an army (either by Runic
character or Anvil). This change was to reduce spell spam.
Good. I hate Spam. I just don’t trust
it, whatever my American friends say…
Runes
•Some
Runes have had the limitation of One of a Kind added. These same Runes have had
their costs tweaked to include a Hero version, as well. This change was made
because there was a potential for skew builds featuring an abundance of double
strength and multi-wounds. One of a Kind was chosen to prevent the spam, but
still allow for the bigger effects to be used together.
•In
a bid to increase the anti-magic of Dwarves, the rune of brilliance now give a
bonus to dispelling (at no increase in cost), however it can't go above a +3.
Both cool.
Close Combat
•The
Thane gets LD9 instead of LD10, but becomes cheaper. Additionally, it gains access
to an upgrade (which can't be combined with BSB) that grants a unit of Clan
Warriors the Thane has joined the special rule of Fight in extra Ranks. With
the reduction in cost the Thane becomes a bit more viable for different
purposes. With the new hero cost for certain Runes and a Non-BSB upgrade tied
to Clan Warriors, we're hoping to make the Thane a presence on the battlefield
in his (or her!) own right.
Boooo. Thanes should be ld10. End
of. Some things are more important than cost balance.
Fight in extra ranks is cool –
though not sure cool enough to take Clan Warriors over Greybeards?
•The
biggest focus of the reviews was to make sure Dwarven infantry is up to snuff,
so almost all Dwarven melee units have had substantial price reductions. A low
flat cost for the unit and a slightly higher PPM. Certain equipment options
have a had a drop in price, as well. This means that small-to-medium sized
units are favored since bigger units are less cost effective.
Nice.
•Seekers
were just about the only melee unit not to partake in the melee buffs, and as a
result "Yer comin with me" has seen several important changes.
Seekers were too strong for both internal and external balance, and have been
toned down to become more geared towards hunting monsters. We'll have to see if
the collective changes get them to a balanced level, but one thing is for sure:
we wont let Seekers sink into obscurity. Some changes include:
•YCMW
no longer works on impact hits.
•The
unit needs to be 5 wide to make use of the YCMW attack (to prevent congas).
•The
max strength of the YCMW blow is 5.
•Skirmishing
and Vanguarding have increased in per-model cost, and Swiftstride no longer
works against all targets
This makes me sad, whilst I
understand at the same time it probably makes sense.
•As
part of the bid to make aggressive armies more desirable and viable, Miners are
moved to Special in order to make them a bit more accessible. While they do
lose the useful 5+ unit size (increased minimum unit size), their cost
reduction for unit and weapon options means they're cheaper now than before.
This move also makes it easier to use more Rangers in conjunction with Miners.
Love it
•Rangers
pay more for skirmish, but per model cost has been lowered along with certain
weapon options being cheaper. Given a bit more room to play with now that
Miners move to Special, Rangers see a cost increase for skirmish but a cost
decrease in base PPM (resulting in no change if you still want skirmishers).
While still a but of an unknown, Rangers also get slightly cheaper equipment
options.
Sure I guess?
Shooting
Troops & Weapons
•Marksmen
have had their minimum unit size increased. Forge Guns and Forge Repeaters lose
their AP properties. The Wyrmslayer (Forge Wardens & Engineers) goes from
S8 to S6. 5-man Marksmen units in Core were a bit too much of a boon for
gunlines, creating an abundance of cheap diverters. Wyrmslayers were
potentially too powerful, with a Dwarf army capable of putting out very skewed
lists easily (an Engineer would almost always auto-buy one, since they can be used
while aiding a warmachine).
Good!
War
machines
•Catapult,
Cannon and Volley Gun have been moved from Rare to Special and share one slot.
Max 2 may be fielded of each. Bolt Throwers move to Rare, and share slot with
the Flame Cannon. Depending on how you see it, it's a buff/nerf. Most people
used no more than 3 War machines, and thus the move to Special means more Rare
allowance opened up. You can also choose to field 3 of the long range War
machines to win gunline shoot-outs, whereas before it'd be limited to two.
Overall the total number of available War machines have been reduced (From 7 to
5), however we think this change will benefit Dwarf armies when it comes to
list variation and competitive builds. Gunlines can still pack enough shooting
to remain a daunting task to charge, but it's likely they will need to have
more fighting infantry to back them up.
More war machines makes Rad a *very*
sad puppy
Copters
•The
base Steam Copter is now cheaper, but has to pay for the Flame Culverin
upgrade. Steam Copter units also have an option to buy a bombing upgrade that
lets them do 2d6 S3 AP hits to a unit they pass over (note that this is per
unit and not per copter, meaning units of copters still only do 2D6 hits). This
is because the Steam Bomber in Rare has been redesigned and has lost its
capacity for bombing. Still, this mechanic is of great importance for Dwarves
to help deal with chaff/avoidance, and thus Copters gained a slightly reduced
version of it at a cost.
•The
Steam "Bomber" has been redesigned to become a tool for melee armies,
and looks very different from before. It's now a flying chariot (both rules and
base wise) with a fairly high cost. It is tough and durable, with a big focus
on grinding attacks but little in the way of shooting. This represents another
shift for Dwarves towards taking the fight to the opponent, and it's also a
great opportunity for modelling! The current working name is the "Grudge
Buster", but that might change if the B&A team find a more suiting
name.
So excited!
So, overall it all looks good to
my inexpert eyes. I am sure dwarf players are busy complaining about something or
other, which is undoubtedly a Good Thing.
Until next time!
Raf
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