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Article: Dwarf Rare Choices in 8th Edition

3K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  nigelboyette 
#1 · (Edited)
At the request of Digger after using an atrocious nickname for me, I decided to go for an article on Dwarf Rare Choices in 8th edition, our 3 rare warmachines: The organ gun, the gyrocopter, and the flame cannon.

They all have their purposes, the organ gun tears open heavily armoured foes like they were a tin can, the flame cannon fires a template of doom and slaughters swathes of enemies, and the gyrocopter redirects, marchblocks, and kills enemy strategic assets like lone wizards ( who would deploy a lone wizard against cannon mad dwarfs, however ) and warmachines.


First up a personal favourite: The organ gun. This thing is absolutely amazing and makes a mockery of just about everything that gets close. Yes, sure, in 7th it was great because it would be able to wipe an enemy unit out in a single shot because 7th edition was the reign of 'multiple small unit' and glass cannons. 1 good volley and they were gone. In 8th people will start to take larger numbers so the organ guns maximum of 10 potential kills is somewhat limiting, but it is still incredible and will still put a dent in enemy units and make worth it's points multiple times.Also 8th does not magically bring forth 40-odd extra models, those points are coming from somewhere. Instead of multiple smaler units to target you get to target a few big ones.



It works best on the front lines sandwiched between two combat units, or on a flank as a deterrent. It is an incredible device. No matter how much the college of engineers may boast about their hellblaster volley gun, the organ gun is superior. It inflicts a staggering -3 to armoursaves and is the bane of knights, our answer to horse riding sissies of other races ( looking at you, elves & humans ) . Str 5 is sufficient to bring down a monster if necessary but it is not meant for that. Another thing that makes this thing great is the fact it hits automatically. I do not care a bit that you are waywatchers 20" away behind hard cover, I still hit you.
Always take. It is still epicly awesome in 8th edition.

The gyrocopter. I have only used it before once ( and it got shot down by poisoned darts.. ) but have seen it used plenty of times. This thing is great, it can kill enemy warmachines, be used to run down fleeing enemies, redirect an enemy and block charges into the weak spots of one of your units. You can set it up in such a way that the enemy cannot physically charge the flank or rear of your units because the gyro is in the way, and will be redirected if they charge the gyro. It is also always ready for you to charge in where you need it. If I remember correctly when charging into a flank or rear you get the combat resolution bonus regardless of how big the thing is you are charging with, so a gyrocopter can get his bonus for you if it charges in, giving you so much as 3 extra combat res. ( rear and charge ). It is decent in combat, although don't rely on it killing anything by itself other than warmachines and weak lone characters.
It's old 7th edition use of marchblocking has faded away now that you marchblock only when the enemy fails a ld test nd with a BSB nearby that's not very likey..



However something that was never really considered all that valuable in 7th has come to prominence in 8th ( assuming GW adress it in a FAQ of course ) the steamgun! Only this day I saw a gyrocopter shower a gnoblar unit with bullets, killing 15 out of 30! Now that partial hits no longer exist in 8th edition ( so we hope/assume GW will fix that in the FAQ, our gyrocopter entry still says it has partial hits ) this thing can be awesome. Against anything and everything T3 it will hurt, except maybe 1+ save knights, it is made even better due to the fact it has a -1 armoursave modifier! Throw this thing over a unit of statetroops, skaven, goblins or elves and watch a dozen drop. Especially the units I mentioned because they will have hardly any save left at all, merely a 6+ save. Units like black guard and swordmasters are easy to kill with this thing, killing close to half the models hit, and against such opponents it will easily make back its points.
It is also pretty sturdy ( it's dwarven manufacture after all ) and has T5, 3 wounds and a 4+ armoursave.

The flame cannon, always an unpopular choice. I think GW will wonder what happened to their flame cannon sales, as the nerf they got in the errata is unimaginable. A flame cannon fires in the same way as a fire thrower in the BRB now, which is an artillery dice + the template. For choice that is designed to be a firing platform it just doesn't work anymore, as it can hardly move around, and has a very low range. If you manage to get off a shot with the flame cannon, then the enemy is close enough to charge you reliably next turn.



Luckily it's damage output it still pretty nasty ( a str 5 flame template ) and luckily it still has 1 major advantage over the BRB fire thrower: It does D3 wounds. This thing is therefore very suited to fighting Ogre kingdoms, Minotaur happy beastmen players, Monstrous Chaos warrior lists ( With trolls, ogres and dragon ogres ) , some tomb kings maybe ( chariots kills ) and tree hugging wood elves with treekin units ( even funnier as those are flammable and suffer twice as many wounds ). So it is more specific in what opponents it is worth its money and therefore not very well suited for tournaments where you have no idea whst you will face. It is too early to tell, but if in 8th edition people will start using deeper units ( with more ranks, so they are steadfast ) then the flame cannon might make some sort of a comeback.

Don't underestimate it's potential for death and destruction, str 5 hurts. It also causes a panic test if the enemy suffers casualties, but the new BSB rules will prevent most units from failing. The problem simply lies in it's tiny range, between 10" and 18" ( counting the template itself, an enemy at the edge of the range you rolled will only be hit by the very tip of the template. ) It will get off a single shot or sometimes no shot at all, before the enemy hits your lines.

So there you have it: The organ gun is very precise, very powerfull, has a good range, and gets through most enemy armour. The gyrocopter is used for more complicated tasks and manouevring, and it's template got a big boost. The flame cannon suffers from a tiny range and is propably overcosted at the moment. It's only advantage over BRB firethrowers is that it does D3 wounds. Normal firethrowers however are usuably better at moving.
 
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#2 ·
You make the choice really easy.

im a little bit dazed about which rules are overwritten by the FAQ, it says replace 'Firing a flame cannon" with those new rules, which seems to me like deleting 6 paragraphs , the statline, and the old misfire chart.
meh whatever!

+Rep is on way, i have to rep some others first >.<
 
#4 ·
Basically the entire text of how to fire the flame cannon is replaced by the text of how to fire the fire thrower, except it does D3 wounds. The stat profile of the flame cannon and crew are combined in the same manner as other warmachines ( in the back of the BRB it also has it's profile ) .

@ Romu: That remains unclear, it is not defined what the gyro steamgun kind of weapon is. Also it has some aspects of fast cavalry, so might march & fire like fast cavalry. GW has not explained us properly about the gyro yet, but we hope to be clear when a new FAQ is released. On bugmansbrewery.com we've forwarded a long list of questions to the GW development team.
 
#9 ·
oh great bearded one you are truly a beast and most surely the poet of our time, as it is i need your help with a list i will post it in the proper section but if you can help me work out the kinks i will make sure your name is sung by the bards thru the generations.,,,,..... and ill rep u lol
 
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