With the release of the new Dwarf army book I have decided its time to resurrect & dust off my army.
They have been sitting on a shelf dutifully waiting since mid April last year.
To ensure my name is not engraved in the Book of Grudges any further its definitely time for them to see some battles.
The first thing I have done after getting my hands on the new army book is to do a quick comparison of my last army list.
I wanted to find out have things got cheaper, or more expensive from an overall point of view.
I have to admit that going into this I was pretty sure I knew the answer - things got more expensive. Now do not take me saying things got more expensive as bad, because the army got a shed tonne of different rules that nearly all the models get, meaning they are better than they used to be, and thats why they cost more points (in some cases).
You can find the list I am doing my comparison of (and a quick overview of the tournament itself here.
For those of you no interested in my mediocre performance at the tournament, this is the list I used.
Dwarf Lord: Shield Bearers,
Runic Weapon: Master Rune of Swiftness, Rune of Cleaving x 2
Runic Armour: Rune of Preservation, Rune of Stone
Runic Talisman: Rune of Furnace.
Thane: Battle Standard Bearer,
Runic Standard: Master Rune of Grungi
Runesmith:
Runic Talisman: Master Rune of Balance, Rune of Spellbreaking
Thunderers x 10, Standard Bearer
Thunderers x 10, Standard Bearer
Thunderers x 10, Standard Bearer
Longbeards x 30, Veteran, Standard Bearer, Musician
Hammerers x 30, Gatekeeper, Standard Bearer, Musician
Cannon, Rune of Forging
Cannon, Rune of Forging, Rune of Burning
Cannon, Rune of Forging, Rune of Reloading
Organ Gun
Organ Gun
Total: 2400 Points.
So lets work our way through this and see how we do.
Starting at the top, the Dwarf Lord. Overall he got 20 points more expensive. Mostly due to the price hike on Shieldbearers. Although his runic Weapon was cheaper, Runic Armour, more expensive & his talisman the same. 
Next up we have the Battle Standard Bearer, yes he carries the Master Rune of Grungi. Most of you will be happy to hear that this little trinket still exists. Is 10 points more expensive, and now for only Battle Standard Bearers. However the point increase does buy you a 4+ ward for your BsB, I think this will be even more of an auto include moving forwards. Overall he comes out at 10 points more.
So all up that means that my Heroes & Lords choices come out at 20 points more in the new book. Not too bad for all their funky new rules, and the BsB I think actually comes out cheaper because in the Old book you could give him the Rune of Guarding for 20 points for a 5+ ward save, now for 10 points less he gets a 4+!
Onto my Core choices.
Three units of Thunderers, with a Standard, now come in at 60 points less than they used to. I think this is about right given the loss of the +1 to hit that Dwarven Guns used to get.
Longbeards, as a separate choice now, with no Dwarf Warrior tax (regardless of taking the Dwarf Lord or not) you pay a little bit more for these guys. So my unit of 30 with full command comes in at 35 points more than they used to be. Net change - 25 points less
Moving along to my Specials and we have the standard three cannons. Cannons themeslves took a 33% points cost increase which is slightly frustrating, but given that they are now D6 wounds rather than D3 I think most people saw this coming.
Two of my cannons have exactly the same runes, while one no longer has any. Overall these guys rock in at 25 points more.
My Hammerers took a points increase as well, and this brings the units price up by 60 points!
Overall the Specials section of my army costs an additional 85 points now!
Finally onto my Rares,
The Organ Guns have had no price change, even though I quite like their rules meaning no net change.In conclusion this list now costs an additional 80 points in the new book. Admittedly I think I could trim 80 points out of the list with no real problems and get myself playing again pretty quickly, so its no where near as bad as it could have been.
I will be doing a full review of the book in the coming days, but I would like to know if the lists you used to use for your Dwarves have gone up or down with the new book?
Comments
I wanted to do something I usually never do, buy another companies models and use them as a "counts as" force. I have a thing for Roman Legions, I saw a few other people where able to find some 28mm roman legion models and play them as dwarfs (since they're the closest in play style that is similar to how the legions fought).
The lists I had seen were based around 4-5 war machines (representing the advanced siege equipment Rome had) and 3-4 blocks of basic warriors representing the legionaries. A runelord was taken to shut down the enemy magic phase, and that was pretty much the list.
Now I'm a bit at a loss, as things got more expensive (understandably), with the changes to how runelords/smiths work, and the raise in points of cannons and warriors, I'm not too sure if I can make the build work (decently). I'm not looking to win tournaments, but something that wont lose every time either.
Any advice?
So while things did get more expensive in some areas they are some nice point savings to be had too.
First up is that Warriors are now no more expensive than they used to be, but have three bonus rules which is kind of cool. So those units in your army are not changing.
The RuneLord is cheaper now than he used to be (don't have the old book with me but I am sure its a decent whack we saved).
The Warmachines may not be too different, depends if you used Runes on them, if not then they are more expnesive, if you do use runes then they come in about the same at a basic cost and you just need to drop the runes.
For Magic Defence you may find yourself better taking a Runesmith with two runes of Spellbreaking (which basically gives you a rune of Spelleating for the same cost). He comes in cheaper than a basic Rune Lord, and allows you to more points to spend elsewhere.
The buffs that Runesmiths throw out will be useful to your warriors so may prove a boon to your force if you can squeeze a couple in.
Enemies are going to get more spells off against us, no two ways about it, but in my experience the really scary ones they always got due to Irresistible force anyway. The Anvil is worth considering for the +1 Dispel dice, and the ability to augment your army each turn, not the cheapest option but something to consider.
If you let me know what you look at I can propose some changes to it in another post maybe?
Right now I'm trying to figure out a way to have a banner with a Master Rune of Groth One-Eye. The only way I can see if happening is taking a unit of hammers and giving it to them, or a BSB (but if I'm reading the rules correctly, if I give a BSB a magic banner, I can't give him any other runes).
So the only way I can think of right now is committing to buying a unit of hammers, (or at the very least get a small unit of them and stick them in the rear) or have a naked BSB.