Zadolix

The interesting thing is with all of the added tools for open and narrative play in the GHB19 playing games in the world that was is much more easier and viable now, especially as you can take the old heroes in the warhammer legends pdf to get your warscrolls for old heroes/units and using things like the open war army generator.

I seem to fail every battleshock roll on my poor Duardin 😭 so to me Kingsguard is an amazing ability, especially on elite offensive units like Hammerers where every model counts

I played a game with my friend the other night and played Battle for the pass against his Legions of Nagash.. We played at an odd point limit as that's what my friend had available and painted. I'm pleased to say I managed to pull off a Victory! 18 Victory points to dispossessed, 13 points to Legions of Nagash. It was a really really fun game for both of us. His list was: Allegiance: Legion of SacramentLeadersArkhan the Black Mortarch of Sacrament (340)- GeneralNecromancer (130)Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade (120)Battleline10 x Skeleton Warriors (80)- Ancient Blades10 x Skeleton Warriors (80)- Ancient SpearsUnits5 x Black Knights (120)Total: 870 My list was: Allegiance: Dispossessed- Grudge: Speed MerchantsLeadersRunelord (80)- General- Trait: Grudgebearer - Artefact: Ancestral Pickaxe Unforged (80)Battleline10 x Ironbreakers (140)10 x Longbeards (100)- Great Axes & Shields20 x Warriors (180)- Axes or Hammers & ShieldsUnits20 x Thunderers (240)Total: 820 The Thunderers were amazing and with forgefire on managed to just delete his unit of Black Knights twice! He summoned them back in twice in the game. The warriors held my right flank for the whole game against a unit of skeletons and a Wight King earning me 8 points over 4 turns. The Ironbreakers held onto my home objective for 4 turns earning me 4 points. Meanwhile my longbeards, thunderers and unforged together held the left flank objective for 3 turns for another 6 points. The Unforged was amazing! I took him just for fun but he turned out to be a menace to my opponent. Running him alongside the longbeards he was rerolling 1s to hit, 1s to wound and wounding on 2+ against Arkhan. The Unforged alone did 8 wounds to Arkhan over 2 combat phases with Forgefire on him, unfortunately Arkhan healed his wounds from killing Longbeards. I ALMOST slayed Arkhan with the Unforged alone as he was on 2 wounds and then killed the Unforged but I didn't get the 4+ for Epic Deathblow to D3 mortal wounds. Maybe next time! I will definitely be taking an Unforged from now on for his price and running him alongside my frontline with the longbeards, that guy does work against multiwound stuff and doesn't really get targeted often when you've got big units of duardin pounding the enemy. I also found that I didn't shield wall much in the first couple of turns. I concentrated on advancing using hornblowers and pulling off charges, to my surprise I didn't get ripped apart and I had enough bodies and armour saves to see it through to the next turn and get my shield wall up. I think that only going 4" and having shield wall up at all times is abit of a trap. Our army isn't that slow if you actually advance and do some charging, don't be afraid! As long as you have some ranged support it's good to advance quickly and using ancestral shield and all out defence can help a lot in mitigating damage.

Had a productive weekend and finished up some more Thunderers and my 2 cannons. I need to paint the crew still. Been thinking about some of the new command abilities and triumphs at the weekend. It's nice that we have other things we can spend our command points on now, all-out defense looks good for us as do some of the offensive abilities if our grudge doesn't affect the unit we're attacking. What do you guys think?

Oh I would just run him as basic and keep the pick axe, use him as more of an opportunist. Speaking of which I finished him up last night

I forgot about that, that's not a bad point in the warriors favour. I think it still stands as well that if you just purely want a screen then warriors are still our cheapest option. That may/may not matter depending on how close to the point limit your list is. Now that he's 80pts I think he might be just about worth the cost of taking even outside of a battalion. I'm going to try some games with him and use him almost as a babysitter on the frontlines, using him to either pile in in my opponents combat phase. Most stuff that rips our screens apart are usually multi wound like cavalry or some form of monster anyway.

Yeah it's certainly a risky strategy with the pickaxe. I haven't seen any of the scenarios yet so I'm not sure if they change up the order that the waves arrive (I don't think so, I think it's only WHERE they show up) but if they are anything like the matched play battle plans then I suspect objectives will be important so having a good part of the main body so being able to pickaxe somewhere may be a necessity. Only moving from the board edge from turn 2 onwards with the main body really hurts our little 4" legs otherwise. I was thinking about the same thing with the Gyrobomber, same points for an extra wound and drop bombs potentially every turn. Could be a good way to harm enemy heroes maybe for the D3 mortal wounds, and the clatter gun still gets to shoot. I've thought about warriors since the points leaks and even though they went up in points I still think they are viable choice when you are trying to cram in as many bodies as possible. Remember warrior units over 20 models reroll ALL failed wound rolls in your opponents combat phase. If you are running a block of 40 that can be quite powerful. I ran a unit of 20 once and they managed to suck up a mawcrusha charge, if they were a unit of 40 at the time they would have had some nasty bite back against that mawcrusha. I still think warriors make good screens and that seems to be what their abilities suggest anyway, and particularly against poorer quality enemy battlelines they can actually have a little punch. They aren't Ironbreakers but neither is their cost. Particularly when building lists for smaller games those 10-20pts saved on using warriors over say longbeards can be the difference between the list being on or under the points limit or going over. I think the big plus for the Thunderers is their built in -1 rend 3+ wound. That on it's own can make punching through basic infantry easy or remove their save completely vs the quarrellers. Combined with forgefire and the warden king it's -2 rend and 2+ wound. Doing that with a 20 man unit that gets +1 to hit for 240pts seems pretty good. I also find alot of the time because of their built in -1 rend I don't always need to bless them with the Runelord and can bless somewhere else instead to spread the rend around the army more. That to me makes the Thunderers a lot more practical and tactical in an actual game rather than just straight comparing the numbers, the target and their save is really important. People tote the 4+ 4+ melee of the quarrellers making them better but if they get in combat they're usually going to die soon anyway, so 4+ 4+ vs 4+ 5+ on Thunderers doesn't really matter much. 5+ rerollable save on both units is amazing though.

Can probably be taken as an ally by anyone from Grand Alliance Order I would imagine. Hopefully a nice source of mortal wounds for us!

I toyed with the idea of a 2nd Runelord but I don't think his impact would be that big on 10 man units to be honest. Whereas with the Unforged he just helps to give that spearhead a little bit of damage and muscle if they get charged early. He always rerolls 1s to hit and wounds on 2+ naturally against anything with multiple wounds so he's a nice little deterrant and my opponent would have to make the choice of targeting him over the other units. I've just realised I can only have 1 battleline unit in the spearhead so what I've done is invalid. You're right with the thunderers, I just realised too that I can't take a 20 man unit of them in the spearhead or main body. They would have to be in the rearguard for a unit of 20 which just isnt worth it. So maybe something like this instead: Spearhead Unforged (80) 10x Ironbreakers (140) 10x Thunderers (120) 10x Thunderers (120) Main Body Warden King (100) - Ancestral Pickaxe - go with the warriors Runelord (80) 20x Warriors (180) - Shields and Axes 10x Longbeards (100) - Shields and 2H axes Rearguard Gyrocopter (80) - Or a Runelord??

I do hope that GW's choice of holding off on making major points and warscroll changes to the dispossessed is a sign of a battletome coming in the next year or so. I have plenty of other games and models to paint so I don't mind waiting but I'd love to see them get some real love. At least GHB19 shows we haven't been forgotten at least.

Messing around with meeting engagements lists, obviously you would build towards the scenario but I find the list building to be a really really interesting part because of the format of sending in 'waves'. I might try this: Spearhead Unforged (80) 10x Ironbreakers (140) 10x Warriors (90) - Shields and Axes 10x Warriors (90) - Shields and Axes Main Body Warden King (100) Runelord (80) 20x Thunderers (240) 10x Longbeards (100) - Shields and 2H axes Rearguard Gyrocopter (80)

So how are you guys playing scenarios that require fighting for multiple objectives over the battlefield? Are you regularly forsaking your shield wall and using your musicians to advance? I feel like I need shield wall almost all of the time just to cope with the damage opponents can throw at us sometimes.

That is very unfortunate... Especially considering all of the feedback we have all collectively fedback to GW through the survey, comments, emails and other things over the past year. I will see how the army plays with the minor minor changes we have received and with the new formats of play and see how it goes. I'm not super optimistic since other armies have also had discounts so whatever we gain is likely negated anyway by what others gain. The only plus side I can see is that us being in the GHB19 at least says that we are not getting discontinued, they are still committed to keeping us around. The biggest change that just seems completely nonsensical is warriors being 90pts. I mean seriously I can have a 4+ save, better bravery and reroll 1s to wound all the time with longbeards for 100pts, why would I even consider warriors anymore?

I'm really hoping it doesn't turn out to be true that our allegiance abilities or warscrolls haven't changed. Minor points discounts are not going to fix the problems our beards are facing

I know how you feel, I've got about 750pts of Gloomspite Gitz but the damage a horde of 40 Stabbas can put out with a few buffs is insane. It's the amount of mortal wounds that you can just pump out which is scary. So what do you guys think about meeting engagements? I like the concept, the prospect of possible flanking beardies sounds fun on some scenarios. Artillery not arriving till turn 3 seems a real setback though. In big match formats artillery will still be great but in meeting engagements this seems like a kick in the teeth and we'll have to rely on our ranged infantry instead.

Perhaps the mercs focus is for narrative play then but still has a matched play option (just more restrictive due to ally points). Hopefully we'll see a preview of our changes this week

I'll be honest the merc company doesn't seem worth it over taking straight up ironweld allies. You lose a command point and need to take a gyrocopter to make it work. War MachinesCannon (160)Cannon (160)Gyrocopters (80) You can have this with cannons hitting on 3+ with no rerolls only as long as the gycopter live and you lose a command point versus... LeadersGunmaster (80)War MachinesCannon (160)Cannon (160) Your cannons hit on 4+ but you get rerolls and it will be more difficult to get at the gunmaster and kill him to stop those rerolls, plus you keep your command point. I don't think this merc company benefits us as dispossessed players but will probably benefit other factions. Mercs count as using your ally points in pitched battles so if you want at least 2 war machines you are going to have to choose between a gyrocopter and a cogsmith/gunmaster. Taking the hero is way better for damage.

Currently with dispossessed warriors you can always carry a shield for both the 1H and 2H options. 2H option can offer good damage but worse to hit, where has 1H has a better to hit profile of 3+. Personally I use the 1H option on my warriors but that's because I use the old skull pass models. I do find though that a benefit to having the 3+ to hit is armies that give me a -1 to hit debuff don't affect my warriors as badly. I also quite like the volume of hits I get with a 3+ especially when combined with a Runelord's buff or other buffs like reroll 1s to wound longbeards. For Thunderers vs Quarrellers when you do math the basically the same, however the Thunderer's rend is an important factor. I use Thunderers because the -1 rend can stop some units from having a save at all, good example is skeletons with a 6+ save and 5+ save if there is no rend, a handgun gives them no save at all while the quarrellers still allow them a 5+ save. Having the built in rend also means you can use your Runelord's forgefire -1 rend buff somewhere else. So for me it's all about the Thunderers.

Why would that be broken? A roll of 1 always fails to wound and you would still need a Runelord's buff, Warden King buff and a gunmaster/cogsmith to get that profile. That's 480-500pts worth of units and a command point right there. And it would mean not using your Runelord's buff on something else. Anything can look broken when you buff it with 3 heroes.

Definitely on the pernickety bus. I was working on my Necromunda Delaque models and didn't realise until after I'd assembled and primed them that you see could parts of the primer under their jackets at the bottom if you hold it at an angle no human ever would anyway. So there I was forcing a brush into a tiny gap to paint an the inside of a jacket no one will ever see...

I'm constantly painting and working towards 100% but happy to field them while they're still grey or in the WIP stage as well. I usually bounce between a few projects and systems and that offsets the fatigue and burn of painting a similar palette over and over again (necromunda, 40k, AoS, LoTR)

I laughed at the 'deal' on the GW website. If I go to my FLGS which gives 15% off it's still cheaper than GW's 'deal'.

I'm hoping for Ironweld to be given the dispossessed keyword so that I can finally run a cannon and a cogsmith in smaller games. Do warscrolls ever get revised in GHB's also or only points and army rules?

Had a 1500pt game vs Ironjawz the other night and managed a victory! We played Grand Slaughter where you basically get VPs for killing units and more VP for killing certain types of units - e.g heroes, general, big units of 20+ etc. So first thing I'm gonna say is the Piledriver Gauntlets are AWESOME. They did so much work for me, I gave them to my Runelord General and bubblewrapped him on the frontline with Longbeards or Ironbreakers and oh man they are so so so good. It made my duardin super durable combined with shield wall and ancestral shield. The fact you can activate it EVERY combat phase, both yours and your opponents makes it really good. During nearly all the combats in this battle my Runelord was near the front line affecting most enemy units with the -1 debuff. Also with shoddy craftsmanship and longbeards grumbling I was rerolling 1s all over the place, getting lots of good quality and quantity hits and wounds. I had the following: Allegiance: Dispossessed- Grudge: Shoddy CraftsmanshipRunelord (100)- General- Trait: Resolute - Artefact: Piledriver Gauntlets Warden King (120)Gunmaster (80)- Allies20 x Ironbreakers (280)20 x Warriors (160)- Axes or Hammers & Shields10 x Longbeards (100)- Great Axes & Shields20 x Longbeards (200)- Great Axes10 x Thunderers (120)Cannon (160)- AlliesCannon (160)- AlliesTotal: 1480 / 2000Extra Command Points: 0Allies: 400 / 400Wounds: 103 My opponent had (I think) the below: Allegiance: IronjawzMegaboss on Maw-Krusha (440)- General- Boss Gore-hacka and Scrap-tooth- Trait: Ironclad - Artefact: Battered TalismanOrruk Megaboss (140)Orruk Weirdnob Shaman (120)10 x Orruk Ardboys (160)- 7x Pair of Choppas or Smashas- 1x Choppa or Smasha & Shields- 2x Big Choppas10 x Orruk Brutes (360)- Pair of Brute Choppas- 2x Gore Choppas3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140)- Pig-iron Choppas3 x Orruk Gore Gruntas (140)- Jagged Gore-hackasTotal: 1500 / 2000Extra Command Points: 0Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 107 I didn't take further photos as I was so involved in the game. But basically he got first turn and his mawcrusha got the free move on a 4+, then did his normal move and charged into my screen of 20 warriors. 19 warriors died but 1 still remaining alive keeping him in combat! The rest of his line rumbled forward. In my first turn I tried to charge to mawcrusha with longbeards but rolled a double 1! I counter attacked with my thunderers, 2 cannons and the warden king and got the mawcrusha down to 3 wounds. It was tough as Ironclad helped the boss to ignore the first -1 rend! In turn 2 his Shaman got foot of gork off on a 10 but my mighty Runelord general stopped it on an 11! His first unit of goregruntas slammed into my 20 man longbeards unit but they held firm. The other gruntas hit my ironbreakers but caused no casualties. The rest of his ardboys and brutes continued to advance. The mawcrusha finished off the warrior and killed the warden king. In my turn ancestral shield went up on the ironbreakers and the thunderers finished off the mawcrusha. The cannons boomed into his gore gruntas engaging the right flank longbeards, killing 2. My longbeards on the left flank charged into the gore gruntas engaging the ironbreakers adding a few wounds. In turn 3 the ardboyz charged into my unit of 10 longbeards on the left flank killing a couple. The brutes hit my line of ironbreakers only killing 2 but losing 2 in return! In my turn the thunderers finished off one unit of gore gruntas while the cannons boomed into the ardboyz, killing 5. In the combat phase the longbeards and ironbreakers continued to smash on the ardboys and brutes felling a couple more. The ardboys fled in the battleshock phase. In turn 4 I got the priority (finally!), the cannons and thunderers boomed into the brutes leaving only 4 remaining, my longbeards repositioned and the Ironbreakers killed another 2 brutes. The brutes killed 2 more ironbreakers and then fled. At this point we shook hands as all he had left was a megaboss and shaman against my 16 man unit of ironbreakers, Runelord, 8 longbeards, 2 cannons, 10 thunderers and gunmaster. Overall thoughts: - Cannons and gunmasters are awesome. Protect them and they take care of monsters and multi wound units with ease. - Piledriver Gauntlets are really good on a non combat hero like the Runelord, it can be activated EVERY combat phase, both yours and your opponents and stacked with shield wall and ancestral shield makes your duardin rock hard. - Although they are mainly defensive a well buffed unit of Ironbreakers can put out some good damage and take barely any, sometimes none in return. - Against certain armies the army grudge + longbeard grumbling + ancestral grude really ups the damage level on the duardin. - Ancestral shield is well worth it most of the time, more than forgefire I find.

This is excellent news, and such good timing as well as I'm pulling out the beards tonight for a 750pt game. Think I'll start painting them and giving them love again!