For the Third instalment of Dwarven Combat I will be trying my Ironbreakers out against Chaos Warriors.
So lets have a quick look at the Stats of Chaos Warriors:
WS: 5
S: 4
T: 4
I: 5
A: 2
Sv: 3+
Ward: 6+
These guys are the Heavily armoured behmoths of the Warhammer would, in fact as you can see their stats are exactly the same as my Ironbreakers, except in their Initative and Attacks.
So what is their chance to cause a Casaulty? Well the same as mine actually as all of the stats we are comparing are the same both ways.
Both units have the following chances:
To Hit: 50% (WS5 vs WS5)
To Wound: 50% (S4 vs T4)
Failed Armour: 50% (3+ Save vs S4)
Failed Ward: 83% (6+ Parry)
These all combine to an overall chance to cause an unsaved wound of 10% that is for both units.
This basically means that whatever happens, the statistical winner will be the side that has the most attacks.
Here the Chaos Warriors are likely to win. With 2 attacks per model in the front rank as long as they can get nearly the same number of models in combat with me they will cause more wounds, then factor in that they attack first, then in some circumstances I will have less men to attack back.
So the purpose of this post is to find out which formation will buy me the most time against the Chaos Warriors… because only with a lot of luck on my side will I be winning combat against them.
So what is the unit size? Well this time I am pitting my Ironbreakers against a unit of Chaos Warriors that is 30 strong. This translates to 430 points, this is exactly 10 points more than my Ironbreakers.
Once again the Chaos Warriors are on 25mm bases, so I will be using [---] to represent each Chaos Warrior.
Scenario 1.
Normally I would do this scenario as two horde formations. However the Chaos Warriors would most likely deploy in a unit 6 wide, and 4 deep, so this is what I will test my unit against.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::
This gives the Chaos Warriors a total number of attacks equal to 19. These would translate to 2 wounds.
This in turn means the Ironbreakers would get 27 attacks back, and this would give them a total of 3 wounds.
When it comes to combat resolution it would look like this:
Chaos Warriors Ironbreaker
Wounds 2 3
Ranks 2 2
Standard 1 1
Overall result… a win for the Ironbreakers by 2 if they charged, and a draw if they did not. The advantage of the Horde formation really pays off here as they can throw out so many more attacks. However every wound caused by the Chaos Warriors reduces the Ironbreakers retaliation whereas the Chaos Warriors will keep getting 19 attacks until 13 of them are dead.
Scenario 2:
So this time my Dwarves line up 7 wide and 4 deep.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::
This time the Chaos Warriors still get 19 Attacks, again causing 2 wounds. The Ironbreakers are down to a total of 15 attacks, causing 2 wounds as well. With everything else being even (which it is) it will come down to who charged to determine a winner in this 1st round of combat. The loser will not be steadfast as both units will still have 3 Ranks
This would be a very even fight with the luckier player wining this combat as it is too close to call otherwise.
Scenario 3
So this time the Ironbreakers have formed up 5 wide and 6 deep.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::In this scenario the Chaos Warriors will be getting a total of 19 attacks again. Still throwing out 2 wounds in the opening round.
The Ironbreakers will instead be throwing out 11 attacks and should only be causing 1 wound.
Now in this case combat resolution will look something like this.
Chaos Warriors Ironbreakers
Wounds 2 1
Ranks 3 3
Standard 1 1
So the Chaos Warriors will be winning combat by 2 if they charge, and drawing if they did not. The Ironbreakers will be Steadfast if they lose combat, and should be for several turns.
This means that in this case the longer the combat goes on the more the Ironbreakers are favoured as it will take 5 rounds of combat before they lose any of their Rank bonuses. However the Chaos Warriors will drop to 2 ranks after 3 rounds.
This does mean the Ironbreakers need to pass 3 Break Checks and not be charged in the Flank or rear by another unit.
Conclusion:
Well in conclusion the best formation for the Ironbreakers against an equal pointed unit of Chaos Warriors is the Horde Formation.
If the Chaos Warriors were 30 strong they would be getting the following number of attacks per turn, this is compared to the number in brackets that they got in the scenarios listed above:
Scenario 1: 41, (19)
Scenario 2: 29, (19)
Scenario 3: 25, (19)
From this I am sure you can see that they would have won the combats far more comfortably with these attacks.
So lets have a quick look at the Stats of Chaos Warriors:
WS: 5
S: 4
T: 4
I: 5
A: 2
Sv: 3+
Ward: 6+
These guys are the Heavily armoured behmoths of the Warhammer would, in fact as you can see their stats are exactly the same as my Ironbreakers, except in their Initative and Attacks.
So what is their chance to cause a Casaulty? Well the same as mine actually as all of the stats we are comparing are the same both ways.
Both units have the following chances:
To Hit: 50% (WS5 vs WS5)
To Wound: 50% (S4 vs T4)
Failed Armour: 50% (3+ Save vs S4)
Failed Ward: 83% (6+ Parry)
These all combine to an overall chance to cause an unsaved wound of 10% that is for both units.
This basically means that whatever happens, the statistical winner will be the side that has the most attacks.
Here the Chaos Warriors are likely to win. With 2 attacks per model in the front rank as long as they can get nearly the same number of models in combat with me they will cause more wounds, then factor in that they attack first, then in some circumstances I will have less men to attack back.
So the purpose of this post is to find out which formation will buy me the most time against the Chaos Warriors… because only with a lot of luck on my side will I be winning combat against them.
So what is the unit size? Well this time I am pitting my Ironbreakers against a unit of Chaos Warriors that is 30 strong. This translates to 430 points, this is exactly 10 points more than my Ironbreakers.
Once again the Chaos Warriors are on 25mm bases, so I will be using [---] to represent each Chaos Warrior.
Scenario 1.
Normally I would do this scenario as two horde formations. However the Chaos Warriors would most likely deploy in a unit 6 wide, and 4 deep, so this is what I will test my unit against.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::
This gives the Chaos Warriors a total number of attacks equal to 19. These would translate to 2 wounds.
This in turn means the Ironbreakers would get 27 attacks back, and this would give them a total of 3 wounds.
When it comes to combat resolution it would look like this:
Chaos Warriors Ironbreaker
Wounds 2 3
Ranks 2 2
Standard 1 1
Overall result… a win for the Ironbreakers by 2 if they charged, and a draw if they did not. The advantage of the Horde formation really pays off here as they can throw out so many more attacks. However every wound caused by the Chaos Warriors reduces the Ironbreakers retaliation whereas the Chaos Warriors will keep getting 19 attacks until 13 of them are dead.
Scenario 2:
So this time my Dwarves line up 7 wide and 4 deep.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::
This time the Chaos Warriors still get 19 Attacks, again causing 2 wounds. The Ironbreakers are down to a total of 15 attacks, causing 2 wounds as well. With everything else being even (which it is) it will come down to who charged to determine a winner in this 1st round of combat. The loser will not be steadfast as both units will still have 3 Ranks
This would be a very even fight with the luckier player wining this combat as it is too close to call otherwise.
Scenario 3
So this time the Ironbreakers have formed up 5 wide and 6 deep.
:: POOR IMAGE QUALITY DELETED... TO BE REPLACED SOON ::In this scenario the Chaos Warriors will be getting a total of 19 attacks again. Still throwing out 2 wounds in the opening round.
The Ironbreakers will instead be throwing out 11 attacks and should only be causing 1 wound.
Now in this case combat resolution will look something like this.
Chaos Warriors Ironbreakers
Wounds 2 1
Ranks 3 3
Standard 1 1
So the Chaos Warriors will be winning combat by 2 if they charge, and drawing if they did not. The Ironbreakers will be Steadfast if they lose combat, and should be for several turns.
This means that in this case the longer the combat goes on the more the Ironbreakers are favoured as it will take 5 rounds of combat before they lose any of their Rank bonuses. However the Chaos Warriors will drop to 2 ranks after 3 rounds.
This does mean the Ironbreakers need to pass 3 Break Checks and not be charged in the Flank or rear by another unit.
Conclusion:
Well in conclusion the best formation for the Ironbreakers against an equal pointed unit of Chaos Warriors is the Horde Formation.
If the Chaos Warriors were 30 strong they would be getting the following number of attacks per turn, this is compared to the number in brackets that they got in the scenarios listed above:
Scenario 1: 41, (19)
Scenario 2: 29, (19)
Scenario 3: 25, (19)
From this I am sure you can see that they would have won the combats far more comfortably with these attacks.
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