Librarium Online - View Single Post - Arise and Reclaim Your Empires: A LO Tomb King Tactica

Spector · October 24th, 2007, 16:59

Written by: Carnifexus, Undead Bonzi

Taking on Dwarves
How to make sure your at the top of the book of grudges

Unit Choice

Core:

Skeleton Warriors
Dwarves have a high toughness and a good save. Do not take bows against Dwarves. With 20 skeletons if you cause 1 wound with shooting then you should count yourself lucky. Personally I find Hand Weapon Shield and Light Armor to be the perfect combo you can get a squad of 20 with a Champ and Standard for 200pts Nice easy and round and we out distance Dwarves and so we can get the Charge.

Skeleton Cavalry
Most people will have already skipped this section if your still reading you obviously have not played with our “waste of ink in the codex” cavalry. All nastiness aside the cavalries main bonus is its movement speed with Dwarves being so slow you don't really need it stay away the are expensive arrow magnets which will find it very tough to wound a dwarf before they even try and get through that armor.

Tomb Swarms
Against Dwarves is where this Unit really shines. Great at taking out war machines with a high number of poisoned attacks 3-4 in a unit works well against Dwarves use against Warmachines and then shooters

Chariots
Whether Special or Rare chariots are very good against Dwarves they hit hard and are fast and manoeuvrable. Just make sure that you don't line them up for cannon damage and maybe keep them out of sight till the scorpion or carrion have removed said cannon.

Special

Tomb Guard
A Great unit will foot it with the toughest Dwarf, the killing blow rule is especially useful as it negates Dwarven armor. Their extra toughness makes it hard for Dwarves to kill them great to use against Dwarven Heroes no one likes to die vs killing blow. These guys are a great place to hide a Tomb King, they won't let you down

Ushabti
Another Good unit versus Basic Dwarves you'll be wounding on 2's and generally they will be saving on 6's (5's for iron breakers) I suggest taking them in units of 4 this will mean that all 4 get to attack thats 12 Str 6 attacks hitting on 4+. Hopefully with some decent rolling no one will be left to fight you back. Watch out for Dwarven shooting these are a prime target and if not looked after will fall quickly.

Tomb Scorpion
An absolute must taking on these nasty Dwarves. They are great at killing heros, mages or warmachines.

Carrion
Again great at removing War machines they can get a first turn charge on War machines note these only have US 1, so take 4 or 5 to outnumber the pesky Dwarven crew so that they run.

Rare

Screaming Skull Catapult
This is one of the few armies where you might want to think if its worth putting the Skulls of the Foe Upgrade on (I still think it is). The Catapult is the only viable rare choice versus Dwarves and allows you to pummel their main heavy hitters removing ranks. Str 4 allowing no armor saves was a recipe made to kill Dwarves.

Bone Giant
Its not that the Giant is Bad its just it sticks out like a sore thumb to Dwarven artillery of which there is generally alot. Hes not Bad just not as good as a SSC.

Casket
Not worth the points while not only tying down a priest in one place so that he can't help the rest of your army move fight and raise, owing to the Dwarven Trait of extremely high leadership it is unlikely that the casket would cause much fear among the ranks of the Dwarves.

Heroes
While Dwarves start off with 4 Dispel Dice They are unlikely to get much more as their Runesmiths, Runelords cannot cast in the magic phase. Therefore it can become quite easy for you to dominate the magic phase ressurecting the fallen getting that crucial charge or eliminating a rank of that Dwarven Warrior unit.

I would suggest going with a Magic heavy Hero set when taking on Dwarves Below is a hero combination i use quite often

I find a Tomb King (destroyer of eternities, Collar of Shapesh) on foot in my Tomb Guard unit (give the unit the Icon of Rapakh or Icon of the Sacred Eye). (Main goal with this guy is to get the incantation of smiting off once in close combat)

Tomb Prince in a chariot, (Chariot of Fire, Sacred eye) the chariot squad should just have a standard bearer and the standard IMO should be the banner of Undying Legion.

Lich Priest Put this Guy in the Tomb Guard where he will be nice and safe.

Lich Priest Heirophant (Cloak Jar)
This guy is to fly around and support your chariots incantation of smiting is lethal on chariots as you get so many extra attacks. Word of Caution, Dwarves can rune there bolt Throwers up to give a one time shot of hit anything on a 2+, just be certain when flying a priest or your Heirophant around that you don't leave him open to that option for the bolt thrower, it may be the point which turns your game.

General Tactics Against Dwarves.
Dwarves are a slow army this leaves you with all the tactical options for Close Combat and since they are not immune to fear Flank charges with large blocks of our skeletons become particularly Devastating.

Play the Dwarves at their own game

Perhaps my Favourite tactic. Dwarves Have a lot of Warmachines, with awesome firepower and a lot of lists are built around the use of that artillery to whittle down opponents while the dwarves wait for them as they march across the battlefield

Our Sneaky Scorpions and Tomb Swarms, Combined with a first turn charge Carrion, should mean that the War machines can be silenced quickly and efficiently. Once you have taken out his Warmachines then you can pound him to dust while he marches slowly towards you before you charge him and finish him off.

There will no doubt be a grudge they form after that one for the enemy stealing a tactic the dwarves took years to perfect (3000+)

Run rings around them

Movement is one of the most important stats in the game with it comes the ability to catch your opponent off guard, charge, flank and set up combat on your terms, charge, escape enemy traps, and of course CHARGE.

One of our most common tactics the refused flank works particularly effective against dwarves as even our basic infantry should get charge on the little buggers. By running Chariots and ushabti up the flank and blocks of infantry up the middle you will be able to easily flank the Dwarven units and smash through them.

For this tactic to work effectively you must fake out the Dwarves in the Deployment. You want Most of his forces to be in the centre of the board and even the opposite flank making it hard for him to defend the opposite flank with his low movement. To Achieve this place your blocks of skeletons first in the centre even a little towards the bad flank to try to get him to line up with you. If he doesn’t line up with you its probably because he is trying to maximise the distance you have to walk to his gunline, you may have to rethink your strategy or make sure you move rapidly with the incantation of urgency.

Note this strategy works best if you use carrion to knockout any cannons or organ guns which are waiting to rip apart your flanking force.

Fear has no Ally like a tooled up Hero!

Dwarves generally rely on there static combat res and high survivability to win the combat. Few armies boast the number of T4 2+ and 3+ armour saves like dwarves do. They are particularly adept at holding the charge and then flanking your units crushing it. To beat a Dwarven unit head on is not inconceivable but it does require using your units best suited for the job accompanied by a wielder of death.

2 units stand out best for this task the Tomb Guard and Chariots.

The Tomb Guard are lethal with killing blow and toting S4 and T4 will generally tie most Dwarven units on the charge. However chuck in a Tomb Prince with a flail of skulls or blade of setep and you will cause enough casualties to not only win but hopefully outnumber and autobreak, and with any decent pursuit most Dwarven units will be caught and cut down. Even if they manage to roll well your most likely out of the flank charge trap due to the 6” charge range.

Chariots I generally suggest 3 chariots with an accompanying Prince in a chariot give them a standard for CR. I generally run with flaming chariot and a flail on the prince so that he is Str6 on the charge and does D6 +1 impact hits giving you a mass of impact hits. Chariots will kill ¼ of there impact hits as deaths against most Dwarven units added to that the 11 str3 attacks 3 str 4 attacks and 3 str 6 attacks which should prevent the Dwarves from fighting back and hopefully take down a few more the US of this group is 13 and so with good rolling should cause autobreak and the dwarves will easily be cut down. Where this unit really shines however is in the flank of any Dwarven unit negating its rank bonus.

Dwarven heroes are extremely customisable and you should assume that they are generally more than capable of taking on your hero in 1 on 1. Charge these units in the flank or make sure that the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor (Flail of Skulls) etc.. of Particular note is the Tomb King with Destroyer of Eternities as long as you get a smiting spell off in the magic phase he should be able to deal with any Dwarven Hero Killer.

Sneaky Dwarven Tactics to Look out for.

The Dwarven Runes Provides endless tactics for eliminating certain foes. here are some good ones against us

-Flaming Weapons
for a small point cost all Dwarven heroes can cause our tomb prince and tomb kings double wounds (i can't say exact points cost sorry)

-Double Strength against toughness 5 (the rune of might) watch out for characters in War machine crews as an experienced Dwarf player knows full well that the scorpion is coming and this rune combined with the rune of immunity to poison and killing blow will mean that a scorpion will have a tough time. Its also great against our characters who are T5.

-War Machines of Bait and Blow up. Ever wondered why that warmachines has only 3 crew?? Dwarves get a *Champion* for there warmachines which gives each type or war machine a different bonus. Beware Warmachines that don't have this Champion, they might be runed to blow up destroying your scorpion or tomb swarm. Note that while Engineers can be present in the crew and the machine still has this rune, alot of players don't want to waste the points on self Sacrifice.

-Banner of Slowness.
Dwarves can have a banner that subtracts d6" off your charge when you declare a charge against the unit that has said banner. While there is not alot you can do in this circumstance as you want to be 7" away from a Dwarf unit so they can't charge you, one option is to try and position yourself so that your failed charge occurs in the movement phase so that in the magic phase you can enchant yourself into combat.

-Quarrelers
Dwarven shooters have amazing good range 30" Decent ballistic Skill and shoot at str4. They are ideal at taking out constructs, Make sure that you position your troops in such a way that he can't target Ushabti or Scorpions as he will do significant Damage

Beware of Oath Stone Thanes.
Dwarfs Thanes and Lords can take Oath Stones when they join certain units. As a charge reaction they can opt to "set the stone" making the unit they are in have NO FLANKS and retain FULL RANK's even if charged from every side. (My personal favorite combo for this is a full 20 Iron Breakers with the rune banner that makes the unit immune to fear, join them with an Oath Stone Thane and laugh at fear causing armies. You dont know the definition of a bog unit till you've seen this one in action.)

-Organ Gun of Doom
Artillery dice number of str 5 hits. Very evil Very good at taking out all our special choices in the army which are our real strengths. If you see one charge with a scorpion, tomb swarm, or try and magic your chariots or carrion into it no matter what you don't want it lasting till turn 3

October 24th, 2007, 16:59	#10 (permalink)
Spector KILL THEM ALL! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Maryland, United States Age: 22 Posts: 1,908 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Rep Power: 58	Written by: Carnifexus, Undead Bonzi Taking on Dwarves How to make sure your at the top of the book of grudges Unit Choice Core: Skeleton Warriors Dwarves have a high toughness and a good save. Do not take bows against Dwarves. With 20 skeletons if you cause 1 wound with shooting then you should count yourself lucky. Personally I find Hand Weapon Shield and Light Armor to be the perfect combo you can get a squad of 20 with a Champ and Standard for 200pts Nice easy and round and we out distance Dwarves and so we can get the Charge. *Skeleton Cavalry* Most people will have already skipped this section if your still reading you obviously have not played with our “waste of ink in the codex” cavalry. All nastiness aside the cavalries main bonus is its movement speed with Dwarves being so slow you don't really need it stay away the are expensive arrow magnets which will find it very tough to wound a dwarf before they even try and get through that armor. *Tomb Swarms* Against Dwarves is where this Unit really shines. Great at taking out war machines with a high number of poisoned attacks 3-4 in a unit works well against Dwarves use against Warmachines and then shooters *Chariots* Whether Special or Rare chariots are very good against Dwarves they hit hard and are fast and manoeuvrable. Just make sure that you don't line them up for cannon damage and maybe keep them out of sight till the scorpion or carrion have removed said cannon. Special *Tomb Guard* A Great unit will foot it with the toughest Dwarf, the killing blow rule is especially useful as it negates Dwarven armor. Their extra toughness makes it hard for Dwarves to kill them great to use against Dwarven Heroes no one likes to die vs killing blow. These guys are a great place to hide a Tomb King, they won't let you down *Ushabti* Another Good unit versus Basic Dwarves you'll be wounding on 2's and generally they will be saving on 6's (5's for iron breakers) I suggest taking them in units of 4 this will mean that all 4 get to attack thats 12 Str 6 attacks hitting on 4+. Hopefully with some decent rolling no one will be left to fight you back. Watch out for Dwarven shooting these are a prime target and if not looked after will fall quickly. *Tomb Scorpion* An absolute must taking on these nasty Dwarves. They are great at killing heros, mages or warmachines. *Carrion* Again great at removing War machines they can get a first turn charge on War machines note these only have US 1, so take 4 or 5 to outnumber the pesky Dwarven crew so that they run. Rare *Screaming Skull Catapult* This is one of the few armies where you might want to think if its worth putting the Skulls of the Foe Upgrade on (I still think it is). The Catapult is the only viable rare choice versus Dwarves and allows you to pummel their main heavy hitters removing ranks. Str 4 allowing no armor saves was a recipe made to kill Dwarves. *Bone Giant* Its not that the Giant is Bad its just it sticks out like a sore thumb to Dwarven artillery of which there is generally alot. Hes not Bad just not as good as a SSC. *Casket* Not worth the points while not only tying down a priest in one place so that he can't help the rest of your army move fight and raise, owing to the Dwarven Trait of extremely high leadership it is unlikely that the casket would cause much fear among the ranks of the Dwarves. Heroes While Dwarves start off with 4 Dispel Dice They are unlikely to get much more as their Runesmiths, Runelords cannot cast in the magic phase. Therefore it can become quite easy for you to dominate the magic phase ressurecting the fallen getting that crucial charge or eliminating a rank of that Dwarven Warrior unit. I would suggest going with a Magic heavy Hero set when taking on Dwarves Below is a hero combination i use quite often I find a Tomb King (destroyer of eternities, Collar of Shapesh) on foot in my Tomb Guard unit (give the unit the Icon of Rapakh or Icon of the Sacred Eye). (Main goal with this guy is to get the incantation of smiting off once in close combat) Tomb Prince in a chariot, (Chariot of Fire, Sacred eye) the chariot squad should just have a standard bearer and the standard IMO should be the banner of Undying Legion. Lich Priest Put this Guy in the Tomb Guard where he will be nice and safe. Lich Priest Heirophant (Cloak Jar) This guy is to fly around and support your chariots incantation of smiting is lethal on chariots as you get so many extra attacks. Word of Caution, Dwarves can rune there bolt Throwers up to give a one time shot of hit anything on a 2+, just be certain when flying a priest or your Heirophant around that you don't leave him open to that option for the bolt thrower, it may be the point which turns your game. General Tactics Against Dwarves. Dwarves are a slow army this leaves you with all the tactical options for Close Combat and since they are not immune to fear Flank charges with large blocks of our skeletons become particularly Devastating. *Play the Dwarves at their own game* Perhaps my Favourite tactic. Dwarves Have a lot of Warmachines, with awesome firepower and a lot of lists are built around the use of that artillery to whittle down opponents while the dwarves wait for them as they march across the battlefield Our Sneaky Scorpions and Tomb Swarms, Combined with a first turn charge Carrion, should mean that the War machines can be silenced quickly and efficiently. Once you have taken out his Warmachines then you can pound him to dust while he marches slowly towards you before you charge him and finish him off. There will no doubt be a grudge they form after that one for the enemy stealing a tactic the dwarves took years to perfect (3000+) *Run rings around them* Movement is one of the most important stats in the game with it comes the ability to catch your opponent off guard, charge, flank and set up combat on your terms, charge, escape enemy traps, and of course CHARGE. One of our most common tactics the refused flank works particularly effective against dwarves as even our basic infantry should get charge on the little buggers. By running Chariots and ushabti up the flank and blocks of infantry up the middle you will be able to easily flank the Dwarven units and smash through them. For this tactic to work effectively you must fake out the Dwarves in the Deployment. You want Most of his forces to be in the centre of the board and even the opposite flank making it hard for him to defend the opposite flank with his low movement. To Achieve this place your blocks of skeletons first in the centre even a little towards the bad flank to try to get him to line up with you. If he doesn’t line up with you its probably because he is trying to maximise the distance you have to walk to his gunline, you may have to rethink your strategy or make sure you move rapidly with the incantation of urgency. Note this strategy works best if you use carrion to knockout any cannons or organ guns which are waiting to rip apart your flanking force. Fear has no Ally like a tooled up Hero! Dwarves generally rely on there static combat res and high survivability to win the combat. Few armies boast the number of T4 2+ and 3+ armour saves like dwarves do. They are particularly adept at holding the charge and then flanking your units crushing it. To beat a Dwarven unit head on is not inconceivable but it does require using your units best suited for the job accompanied by a wielder of death. 2 units stand out best for this task the Tomb Guard and Chariots. The Tomb Guard are lethal with killing blow and toting S4 and T4 will generally tie most Dwarven units on the charge. However chuck in a Tomb Prince with a flail of skulls or blade of setep and you will cause enough casualties to not only win but hopefully outnumber and autobreak, and with any decent pursuit most Dwarven units will be caught and cut down. Even if they manage to roll well your most likely out of the flank charge trap due to the 6” charge range. Chariots I generally suggest 3 chariots with an accompanying Prince in a chariot give them a standard for CR. I generally run with flaming chariot and a flail on the prince so that he is Str6 on the charge and does D6 +1 impact hits giving you a mass of impact hits. Chariots will kill ¼ of there impact hits as deaths against most Dwarven units added to that the 11 str3 attacks 3 str 4 attacks and 3 str 6 attacks which should prevent the Dwarves from fighting back and hopefully take down a few more the US of this group is 13 and so with good rolling should cause autobreak and the dwarves will easily be cut down. Where this unit really shines however is in the flank of any Dwarven unit negating its rank bonus. Dwarven heroes are extremely customisable and you should assume that they are generally more than capable of taking on your hero in 1 on 1. Charge these units in the flank or make sure that the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor (Flail of Skulls) etc.. of Particular note is the Tomb King with Destroyer of Eternities as long as you get a smiting spell off in the magic phase he should be able to deal with any Dwarven Hero Killer. Sneaky Dwarven Tactics to Look out for. The Dwarven Runes Provides endless tactics for eliminating certain foes. here are some good ones against us *-Flaming Weapons* for a small point cost all Dwarven heroes can cause our tomb prince and tomb kings double wounds (i can't say exact points cost sorry) *-Double Strength against toughness 5* (the rune of might) watch out for characters in War machine crews as an experienced Dwarf player knows full well that the scorpion is coming and this rune combined with the rune of immunity to poison and killing blow will mean that a scorpion will have a tough time. Its also great against our characters who are T5. *-War Machines of Bait and Blow up.* Ever wondered why that warmachines has only 3 crew?? Dwarves get a Champion for there warmachines which gives each type or war machine a different bonus. Beware Warmachines that don't have this Champion, they might be runed to blow up destroying your scorpion or tomb swarm. Note that while Engineers can be present in the crew and the machine still has this rune, alot of players don't want to waste the points on self Sacrifice. *-Banner of Slowness.* Dwarves can have a banner that subtracts d6" off your charge when you declare a charge against the unit that has said banner. While there is not alot you can do in this circumstance as you want to be 7" away from a Dwarf unit so they can't charge you, one option is to try and position yourself so that your failed charge occurs in the movement phase so that in the magic phase you can enchant yourself into combat. *-Quarrelers* Dwarven shooters have amazing good range 30" Decent ballistic Skill and shoot at str4. They are ideal at taking out constructs, Make sure that you position your troops in such a way that he can't target Ushabti or Scorpions as he will do significant Damage Beware of Oath Stone Thanes. Dwarfs Thanes and Lords can take Oath Stones when they join certain units. As a charge reaction they can opt to "set the stone" making the unit they are in have NO FLANKS and retain FULL RANK's even if charged from every side. (My personal favorite combo for this is a full 20 Iron Breakers with the rune banner that makes the unit immune to fear, join them with an Oath Stone Thane and laugh at fear causing armies. You dont know the definition of a bog unit till you've seen this one in action.) *-Organ Gun of Doom* Artillery dice number of str 5 hits. Very evil Very good at taking out all our special choices in the army which are our real strengths. If you see one charge with a scorpion, tomb swarm, or try and magic your chariots or carrion into it no matter what you don't want it lasting till turn 3 __________________ Last edited by Spector; October 24th, 2007 at 17:09.