Armies of Middle Earth SBG: Iron Hills Dwarves (Profile, Wargear, and Basic Tactics)

Photo Credit: Wargameterrain

Iron Hills Dwarves are a personal favorite of mine. Beyond their aesthetics (which are stunning in Forge World resin), they boast very good statlines and a host of customization options and special rules for function and theme (or both). They can also be fielded in two separate army lists—The Iron Hills and Erebor Reclaimed—which offer loads more thematic material in addition to many capable heroes, including some of the fiercest and most resilient combat heroes in all of Middle Earth. Wherever they are found, Iron Hills dwarves are second to none when it comes to stubbornness and staying power.

We discussed the big-picture strengths and weaknesses of Iron Hills dwarves in our summary of the Armies of the Iron Hills and Erebor Reclaimed, but if you finished that unsatisfied and craving more, this is for you. In this detailed expose, we’ll spend far too much time breaking down the profile of Iron Hills Dwarves, running through their basic combat probabilities, and exploring how we can customize their wargear options to mitigate some of the weaknesses common to dwarves, or to further augment their prowess in combat.

(Combat Stats, Tactics, and Maths ahead...)

Iron Hills Warriors: The Basic Profile

Photo Credit: gizoshowbiz.com

The standard Iron Hills dwarf is an elite warrior (the same points cost as a high elf warrior with shield and spear), but for that point cost you get a warrior armed with sword, shield, and an exceptional stat-line. The sword is an interesting choice for traditional dwarves, but does allow Iron Hills warriors to feint. This is not a bad choice, given that Iron Hills Dwarves have that coveted Strength 4. As anyone who’s played with (or against) Uruk-Hai knows, Strength 4 will carve through most armored troops with relative ease, wounding D5 or D6 troops on a 5+. The option to reroll 1s doesn’t dramatically increase our damage (we go from wounding 2-of-6 times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), or 33%, to wounding 4-of-11 times (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), or slightly over 36%), but in an attrition war, any second-bite at the apple can be huge. And these dwarves love attrition wars.

In addition to that Strength 4, Iron Hills warriors also come with the Fight 4 / Defense 7 we’re accustomed to with armored dwarves. This means Fight 3 warriors will struggle to win fights against them when the numbers are roughly even, and S3 or S4 opponents will only wound them on the roll of a 6 (while the Iron Hills warriors will usually be wounding on 5s or 6s, which means twice as often). This combination of killing power and staying power gives these dwarves a favorable kill ratio in shieldwall-to-shieldwall combat, which they really love. Here’s how two Iron Hills warriors (one with shield, one supporting with a spear) fare against some of the more common shield/spear combinations in the game; specifically, how likely they are to win the duel (Duel Win %), how likely they are to deal at least one wound before any dice are rolled (Kill %), how likely they are to suffer at least one wound before any dice are rolled (Death %), and what their kill ratio is overall (Kill % / Death %):

Iron Hills Shield / Spear (F4, S4, D7) vs. Opposing Shield / Spear Ranks
	Orc         Sh/Sp       (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills Sh/Sp     (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	61.03%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	38.97%
Kill %	33.91%	33.91%	37.50%	27.78%	33.91%	15.28%	15.28%	21.65%
Death %	11.91%	11.91%	15.28%	15.28%	11.91%	15.28%	15.28%	18.65%
Kill Ratio	2.85	2.85	2.45	1.82	2.85	1.00	1.00	1.16

For how to read these tables, click here.

Overall, these are pretty favorable. None of these opponents are more likely to wound the Iron Hills warriors than they are to be wounded, although the heavily-armored dwarves manage to keep it even. High Elves also do very well because of their higher Fight Value. This means they’re more likely to win fights (more than 60% of fights, in fact), but even so, they have a much more difficult time wounding than the dwarves do (the elves only wound on 6s, while the dwarves wound on a 5+). The end result is that even though the elves win a lot more fights, the dwarves are actually slightly more likely to produce kills, giving them a slightly more favorable kill ratio (1.16). Uruk-Hai are almost twice as likely to be wounded as the dwarves (again, the dwarves are wounding them on a 5+, while the Uruks wound only on 6s), and orcs (with their Fight 3) are getting wounded at almost a 3-to-1 clip (2.85)--that applies to both generic orcs and the much-vaunted (and rightly so) Morannon orcs, because the Defense 7 of the dwarves effectively neutralizes the Morannon’s impressive Strength 4.

Of course, all of this is before we start applying Shieldwall, the special rule that gives Iron Hills dwarves +1 defense (Defense 8) if they’re in base contact with two or more other Shieldwall models who aren’t prone when strikes are made. In our introductory post on standard infantry formations, we looked at just how difficult a wall of shields and spears can be to move and to overwhelm, especially if they get entrenched in a favorable position where they can’t be flanked. Shieldwall can elevate this basic formation to a whole new level of grit/grind/obnoxious-ness, depending on your point of view. It doesn’t do anything against Strength 4 opponents (on Iron Hills dwarves, at least—it’s a lifesaver against Strength 4 for Minas Tirith), but Strength 3 opponents will struggle to punch holes in an Iron Hills shieldwall, even in melee combat, resulting in even more favorable kill ratios than the favorable ones we’ve already seen:

Iron Hills Shield / Spear with Shieldwall (F4, S4, D8) vs. Opposing Shield / Spear Ranks
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	61.03%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	38.97%
Kill %	33.91%	33.91%	37.50%	27.78%	33.91%	15.28%	15.28%	21.65%
Death %	6.22%	11.91%	7.99%	15.28%	6.22%	7.99%	15.28%	9.75%
Kill Ratio	5.45	2.85	4.70	1.82	5.45	1.91	1.00	2.22

The High Elves, Strength 3 orcs, and Strength 3 men all see a marked decrease in their effectiveness against the Iron Hills in Shieldwall. While the dwarves are still wounding them on a 5+, these opposing ranks would need a 6/4+ to deal a wound in response, which is a tall order. In practice, Shieldwall can be hard to keep up in the midst of the melee battle, although there are some formation tricks that can make it easier to keep it up. But when you can manage it, you’re looking at favorable kill ratios as high as four- or five-to-one against some armies—and that’s without the support of a banner (which results kill ratios bordering 9:1 against Fight 3, D5/6 opponents):

Iron Hills Shield / Spear with Shieldwall (F4, S4, D8) + Iron Hills Banner
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	71.93%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	47.16%
Kill %	39.96%	39.96%	44.66%	33.08%	39.96%	18.19%	18.19%	26.20%
Death %	4.48%	8.58%	6.46%	12.36%	4.48%	6.46%	12.36%	8.44%
Kill Ratio	8.91	4.66	6.91	2.68	8.91	2.82	1.47	3.10

Shieldwall is far easier to keep up against ranged attacks, where it offers the Iron Hills dwarves excellent protection (more on that in a minute). While crossbows (or the Great Bow) don’t suffer any negative penalties from Shieldwall (S4 wounds D7 and D8 on 6s), elf bows and regular bows see a marked reduction in their effectiveness, as now only a fraction of their “6s” (which were rare to begin with) actually do damage (6/4+ for elf bows, 6/5+ for regular bows): 

	Iron Hills Dwarves vs. Ranged Attacks
	vs. 10 Bows (4+, S2)			vs. 10 Elf Bows (3+, S3)			vs. 10 Crossbows (4+, S4)
	Wound %	Wounds / Round	Wounds / x3 Rounds	Wound %	Wounds / Round	Wounds / x3 Rounds	Wound %	Wounds / Round	Wounds / x3 Rounds
Basic Infantry (D5)	8.33%	0.83	2.50	22.22%	2.22	6.67	16.67%	1.67	5.00
Armored Infantry (D6)	8.33%	0.83	2.50	11.11%	1.11	3.33	16.67%	1.67	5.00
Iron Hills Infantry (D7)	4.17%	0.42	1.25	11.11%	1.11	3.33	8.33%	0.83	2.50
Iron Hills Shieldwall (D8)	2.78%	0.28	0.83	5.56%	0.56	1.67	8.33%	0.83	2.50

For how to read these tables, click here.

It’s not reflected in the above chart, but I should also add that Shieldwall offers some sneaky protection against siege weapons with odd-Strength values (like the dwarf Ballista and Isengard siege ballista). Some of these may be hard to achieve in practice (I’m thinking specifically about the Strength 5 hits from the Mordor catapult, since Shieldwall only works when you’re in base contact with two or more Shieldwall models who aren’t prone, and the catapult knocks surrounding models prone), but one that isn’t hard to pull it off against is the Gondor Bolt Thrower. Usually its Strength 7 shots make it an effective troop killer (wounding most heavy infantry—including regular Iron Hills dwarves—on a 4+), but the jump from Defense 7 to Defense 8 means it goes from wounding on 4s to wounding on 5s, which is a massive survivability buff to our troops (assuming the bolt thrower gets to shoot at all). 

Lord of the Iron Hills (Fearless)

There’s so much packed into Dain Ironfoot’s profile that he deserves his own write-up. For now, we’ll focus on just one small part of it: his Lord of the Iron Hills special rule, which makes all Iron Hills dwarves, goat riders, and captains Fearless if they are within 12” of Dain.

This may be the best part of what is a top-tier profile for dwarves (if not good heroes). Not only does it allow every single one of our dwarven warriors to reliably get into combat with Terror-causing warriors or heroes (where their Fight 4/Strength 4 combat stats can do damage), but it also means any one of them can hold key positions and objectives on the battlefield well after your force breaks (if your force breaks). Yes, dwarves with Courage 4 will usually pass their courage tests (72% of the time if they stay Courage 4, 58% if they go to Courage 3 because of Harbinger), but why settle for what’s probable when you can take the guesswork out of it entirely?

In addition, because Shieldwall is so powerful against armies with odd-Strength values, mobility for your basic warriors can be huge. Trying to set-up a Shieldwall with dwarves who move only 5” can be challenging enough; the job becomes even more difficult if even a single dwarf in the formation fails a Terror check, rooting him in place right where the rest of your dwarves are trying to go. Having those extra spears rooted out of combats is bad enough; having to sacrifice the integrity of the line because you can’t physically move models into gaps created by those rooted warriors could be even worse. And, of course, there's nothing worse than having gone through the trouble to set-up a solid Shieldwall, only to see some key dwarves bolt and run on a break test. 

That 12” range is not quite Bodyguard (it’s not battlefield-wide, after all), but it will still cover a lot of a standard 4x4 board, especially if Dain is near the center (as you generally want him to be). And it's worth noting that all dwarves within range of it will not only auto-pass their break tests, but they also pass any tests by spectres, wood elf sentinels, or sorcerers casting Instill Fear, who could potentially cause them to move or flee (this is particularly devastating if an opponent forces a banner to move away from a contested front). There are ways to deal with this if you know what model the opponent is likely to target (like surrounding your banners so they can’t physically move), but that still doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to move the model where you want and it can still mess up your battle line. Auto-passing those tests prevents both problems at once.

Lord of the Iron Hills means that if the enemy wants to move your basic warriors, they have to do it the old-fashioned way: by spending Will on Command/Compel (which, against most armies, will be limited to just one or two of your models being compelled per round), or by beating you in combat to either kill you or force you to back away. Either way, once you get your battle-line where you want it, it’s likely to stay there; and there’s very little the opponent can do to prevent you from getting your battle-line where you want it, other than physically engaging you in combat.

That's just one of the many reasons you should consider taking Dain... but it may be the most important one. It's that good.

Customization and Theme: War Gear Options

In addition to their strong basic stat-line, Iron Hills warriors can also take four additional war gear upgrades: spears, banners, crossbows, and mattocks. There isn't a single force that wouldn't want these war gear options: we can support models in ranks (spears), we can boost the chance of winning the duel for both heroes and warriors on offense and defense (banners), we can get devastating firepower at a full 24” range (crossbows), and we can take two-handed weapons that can both Piercing Strike or Bash as needed (mattocks). The only other options we might want but don't have are shields (because our basic warriors have them built into their base profile), War Horns (still good, but less important if we have Dain), and the option for mounts (fortunately, Iron Hills dwarves have a separate cavalry profile). But the options we do have allow us to customize each force to taste and theme, and give us tools to mitigate some of the weaknesses common to dwarves (or to further exploit our dwarves’ prowess in combat).

Spears

This is the go-to upgrade option for Iron Hills dwarves (they come modeled with spears and shields, after all), and an exceptional one. What’s better than having Fight 4 / Strength 4 on offense? Having Fight 4 / Strength 4 on a stick, so you can get extra to-wound dice where you need them, when you need them. Strength 4 spears will wound most enemies on 5s (or better), which is excellent, especially when considering the dwarves in front will only be wounded in turn on a roll of a “6” (or more, depending on the strength of the enemy and whether you’re in Shieldwall formation). This formation is especially strong if combined with a banner, to maximize our chances of out-rolling our opponent to win the duel.

Speaking of Shieldwall, while spears are a great upgrade in any list, they’re especially important to the Iron Hills because Shieldwall is a whole lot easier to keep up in combat the more dwarves you have equipped with spears. They’re also very useful in an Erebor Reclaimed list, where even a handful of Defense 8 troops make excellent screeners for your Defense 8 heroes, buying them the time they need to tear through opponents. The spears are also very valuable in an Erebor Reclaimed list that doesn’t include Dain Ironfoot—while Courage 4 is usually dependable against Terror models, sometimes you roll badly (especially if the enemy has Harbinger of Evil). Having a spear equipped allows the Dwarves to support one of the Erebor Reclaimed heroes (all of whom have either Fearless or are Sworn Protectors of Thorin Oakenshield, and thus are Fearless whenever Thorin is alive). Getting even a single additional Strength 4 die into a hero’s combat (one more duel die, one more to-wound die) can make all the difference.

Banners

I’m on-record as a major proponent of banners, especially on high-fight troops who can shield. Iron Hills dwarves fit the bill on both counts, and derive tremendous benefits from a banner, especially if they can keep Shieldwall up, too:

Iron Hills Shield / Spear (F4, S4, D7) + Banner
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	71.93%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	47.16%
Kill %	39.96%	39.96%	44.66%	33.08%	39.96%	18.19%	18.19%	26.20%
Death %	8.58%	8.58%	12.36%	12.36%	8.58%	12.36%	12.36%	16.15%
Kill Ratio	4.66	4.66	3.61	2.68	4.66	1.47	1.47	1.62
Iron Hills Shield / Spear with Shieldwall (F4, S4, D8) + Banner
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	71.93%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	71.93%	59.54%	59.54%	47.16%
Kill %	39.96%	39.96%	44.66%	33.08%	39.96%	18.19%	18.19%	26.20%
Death %	4.48%	8.58%	6.46%	12.36%	4.48%	6.46%	12.36%	8.44%
Kill Ratio	8.91	4.66	6.91	2.68	8.91	2.82	1.47	3.10

Even without Shieldwall, Iron Hills dwarves backed up by a banner are incredibly resilient. A single dwarf with a banner has a better than 60% chance of winning the fight against two orcs (without shielding), and if he does decide to shield within range of a banner (or has a spear support behind him), it takes eight Fight 3 orcs to get better than a 50-50 chance of beating him in combat—and even then, only slightly better than a 50% chance of winning (50.6% to the dwarf’s 49.4%). An army whose warriors have a 50-50 chance of winning when they’re outnumbered just 4-to-1 has incredible staying power; bringing a banner makes Iron Hills dwarves almost twice as resilient.

Iron Hills Dwarf (F4, S4, D7, Shielding) vs. Multiple Orc Warriors (F3, S3, D5)
	Without Banner				With Banner
	vs. 1 orc	vs. 2 orcs	vs. 4 orcs (Trapped)	vs. 8 orcs (Trapped)	vs. 1 orc	vs. 2 orcs	vs. 4 orcs (Trapped)	vs. 8 orcs (Trapped)
Duel Win %	74.54%	61.03%	47.43%	37.18%	82.64%	71.93%	59.72%	49.40%
Kill %	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Death %	2.12%	6.22%	26.36%	47.20%	1.45%	4.48%	20.20%	38.02%
Kill Ratio	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Crossbows

If you’ve ever used crossbows with Corsairs or siege Uruk-Hai, you’re probably familiar with their limitations. Unlike regular bows or throwing weapons, you can’t move and shoot with a crossbow, which can make your army far more stationary. And because they’re large, two-handed items, carrying a crossbow in combination with other wargear usually incurs penalties. For example, an Uruk-Hai warrior who carries a crossbow and a pike (so they can support the front ranks once combat is joined) gets a -1 penalty to their duel roll (Rules p. 85), which is a massive penalty. Defense 6 offers very good protection against most infantry models (Strength 3 enemies need 6s to wound), but because shields are Cumbersome (Rules p. 91), an Uruk-Hai warrior with a crossbow who also takes a shield stays at Defense 5, and doesn’t get the +1 Defense bonus. And while Corsair Arbelisters get Defense 6 from their Pavise shields against ranged attacks, they drop all the way down to Defense 3 if they’re engaged in melee combat (which really hurts their staying power).

While Iron Hills dwarves are theoretically subject to these same limitations, practically-speaking they manage to avoid most of the negatives. Unlike their Uruk-Hai companions, Iron Hills dwarves have to exchange their shield for their crossbow, which makes taking a crossbow tantamount to renouncing Shieldwall. This isn’t ideal (we can’t do what Gondor can do with their bow-and-shield-wielding Minas Tirith warriors, for example), but because they wear heavy dwarf armor, Iron Hills crossbowmen still get to that critical Defense 6--even with the crossbow--which makes the loss of the shield less extreme. And unlike the Arbelisters, the Iron Hills get to keep Defense 6 in melee combat as well as at range, making them as survivable as most enemy front-line units. Iron HIlls crossbowmen also avoid the -1 duel penalty that Uruk-Hai suffer if they equip pikes; there's no duel penalty for carrying a crossbow and a spear, which means we can take full advantage of our crossbowmen's impeccable Fight 4 / Strength 4 once the battle lines have clashed.

While the Iron Hills are rightly considered a combat force, crossbowmen give the Iron Hills several key advantages in prolongued shooting wars against other factions. Against most armies, Strength 2 bows will only wound Defense 6 crossbowmen on the roll of a “6”; and if the crossbowmen are standing behind a rank of Defense 7 Iron Hills warriors with shields, that to-wound roll jumps to a 6/4+ (or 6/5+ if the front rank is in a Defense 8 Shieldwall formation). Elf-bows will be wounding only on 6s as well (or 6s/4+ against a Shieldwall front rank), and even other crossbows will need 6s to wound a front rank of dwarves with shields. The Iron-Hills crossbows, by contrast, are likely to be wounding on 5s (against Defense 5-6), or maybe 6s if they’re very unlucky (if the enemy is Defense 7 or Defense 8… which is non-existent for basic troops in evil factions, and extremely rare in good factions).

This offense-defense disparity leads to some… very lop-sided shooting outcomes. Just to illustrate, here’s how six Iron Hills crossbows with spears (about 80 points all together), protected by a front rank of Iron Hills dwarves in Shieldwall formation, would fare against 80 points of some of the more common archers in other factions, supported by their highest-defense front rank:

		Iron Hills Dwarves (Front Rank D8, x6 Crossbows)                vs. EVIL Ranged Attacks (~80 points)
		vs. 20 Orc Trackers (3+, S2, D3) + Morannons (D6)		vs. 9 Uruk-Hai Scouts (4+, S3, D4) + Uruk-Hai Warriors (D6)		vs. 8 Corsair Arbelests (4+, S4, D6*)
		Iron Hills	Orc Trackers	Iron Hills	Uruk-Hai	Iron Hills	Corsairs
Targeting Front Rank	Wound %	16.67%	2.78%	16.67%	4.17%	16.67%	8.33%
	Wounds / Round	1.00	0.56	1.00	0.38	1.00	0.67
	Wounds / x3 Rounds	3.00	1.67	3.00	1.13	3.00	2.00
Targeting Back Rank (4+ ITW)	Wound %	20.83%	5.56%	20.83%	6.25%	16.67%	12.50%
	Wounds / Round	1.25	1.11	1.25	0.58	1.00	1.00
	Wounds / x3 Rounds	3.75	3.33	3.75	1.75	3.00	3.00

		Iron Hills Dwarves (Front Rank D8, x6 Crossbows)                vs. GOOD Ranged Attacks (~80 points)
		vs. 6 Riders of Rohan, Stationary (4+, S2, D5)		vs. 7 High Elf Archers (3+, S3, D5) + High Elf Warriors (D6)		vs. 10 Gondor Rangers (3+, S2, D4) + Fountain Court Guard (D7)
		Iron Hills	Rohan	Iron Hills	High Elves	Iron Hills	Gondor
Targeting Front Rank	Wound %	16.67%	2.78%	16.67%	5.56%	8.33%	3.70%
	Wounds / Round	1.00	0.17	1.00	0.39	0.50	0.37
	Wounds / x3 Rounds	3.00	0.50	3.00	1.17	1.50	1.11
Targeting Back Rank (4+ ITW)	Wound %	16.67%	5.56%	16.67%	8.33%	16.67%	7.41%
	Wounds / Round	1.00	0.33	1.00	0.61	1.00	0.74
	Wounds / x3 Rounds	3.00	1.00	3.00	1.83	3.00	2.22

For how to read these tables, click here.

Note that all these scenarios only involved models with average (4+) to very good (3+) shoot values. There were no 5+ shoot values, even though those are common in the game, especially when we take throwing weapons into account. The Iron Hills Dwarves were also generally outnumbered, sometimes extremely so (20 Orc Trackers to six Iron Hills dwarves, for example). The only exception were the Riders of Rohan (to whom we gave the same numbers, even though they cost more), who I included only because mounted cavalry who can attack at range are usually considered the worst-possible draw for dwarf armies because they enjoy a decided mobility advantage. (Any advantage the Riders would usually enjoy from kiting is essentially neutralized here, by the way.)

Because of the high-defense from Shieldwall, most opponents actually have a better chance of dealing damage if they try to target the crossbows, even with the in-the-way that comes from having the Iron Hills warrior with shield in front. The numbers would be higher still if the opponent also called Heroic Accuracy, allowing them to reroll failed in-the-way rolls once which, when trying to pass an in-the-way against a model on a 4+, should lead to a successful in-the-way roll 75% of the time (and even if you “fail” the roll, the shot doesn’t miss; it just hits the front rank model instead), although we should probably note that for most of these enemies (Strength 2 and Strength 3 bows), the “reward” we get for passing that in-the-way test is wounding on a “6” instead of a “6+.” This is definitely something, but maybe not worth one of our precious Might points... especially since even, the Iron Hills still come out ahead on the wound-totals against most factions, even when when the back rank is targeted. (The Corsairs are the only faction to pull even at three rounds, and those twenty Orc Trackers are likely to pull ahead in another round or two as well. For what it’s worth, those kiting Riders of Rohan are not...)

Two can play at this game, of course; the Iron Hills Crossbows also see some benefit from chancing in-the-way rolls  as well anytime the archer is Defense 4 or below (Orc Trackers, Uruk Scouts, and Gondor Rangers here, although there are plenty of D4 archers in the game) or the front rank of shields is D7 or higher (Gondor Rangers again). And just like their opponents, they’d benefit even more from Heroic Accuracy. But they’re already far enough ahead in the shooting war that unless the entire battle devolves into only a shooting war for more than three turns we probably get more benefit out of spending our Might on other things (like forcibly Marching our dwarf infantry up to 24”).

Finally, note that the basic numbers we’ve run only include six crossbows. In a 700 point list, an Iron Hills force could field as many as twelve (or thirteen, in an Erebor Reclaimed list with Balin as a Hero of Valor), and as many as seventeen or eighteen could be in play at a thousand points, doubling or even tripling the potential killing power. While that still only means two or three kills per turn, any kill we can accomplish before battle is joined (especially if we’re picking off back-rank spear supports, or better yet, banners!) is only going to help us when we get to melee combat (which our dwarves are already exceptional at). The more dice we’re rolling to hit, the greater our chance of an above-average number of hits and wounds (if we manage to wound 5 or 6 enemies in a single shoot phase, that’s very hard to recover from, even if it doesn’t happen again).

All of this is to say that if our force includes a healthy contingent of crossbows (and it only takes 5-6 to make an opponent sweat), our opponent has to make some difficult choices. If he tries to out-shoot us, and we wound on 5s while he only wounds on 6s (or worse), the odds are pretty good that we’re going to win that shooting war—or, more likely, induce him to abandon it in favor of melee combat (especially if we’ve also brought along, say, a certain feat of dwarven engineering). And if he is successful in closing the distance quickly before the crossbows shoot him out, he gets to fight high-fight, high-strength, high-defense dwarves, potentially in an entrenched position if we’ve chosen the ground carefully. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.

Which leads us to the most important observation: the best contribution crossbows make—even in small numbers—to an Iron Hills list is that they force our opponents to do something they’d rather not do (come at you to fight in melee) in order to avoid something they’d rather not do even less (get blasted to death slowly, or not so slowly, by crossbows a full 24” away). Even if you don’t actually fire your crossbows (because you’re moving them into a more advantageous position, or your Ballista successfully scores a hit on a battlefield target), that threat is ever-present (especially if your opponent wins priority and has to move before you do—meaning he’ll have to move before knowing if your crossbows will move as well or stay stationary to fire). Heroes (especially if they’re mounted) want to be nowhere near you. Banners are now three ranks deep or more (instead of two), if not cowering behind a wall or stone far from the battle’s fray. Enemy archers stay dutifully close to terrain features. Enemy infantry are thinking hard about burning their Might early to March at you. Enemy cavalry are especially tentative. Everything—maneuvering, approaching, shooting, and spending resources—is harder for your opponent. As they’re working through these harder choices, they’re steadily moving towards you (perhaps consciously, perhaps unwittingly) because they know they have to do so to survive. And with each step they take, the dwarves’ -1" movement penalty—which is so often a disadvantage—matters less and less.

Mattocks

Like crossbows, Iron Hills dwarves have to exchange their shields to take this weapon, which means we’re also renouncing Shieldwall (which I admit sounds very bad, especially after just talking about how much Shieldwall buffs the effectiveness of our crossbows). Unlike crossbows, equipping a mattock doesn’t offset that loss by extending our threat range; they’re close-range weapons. And unlike the Grim Hammer’s pick-axes, which are hand-and-a-half weapons, a mattock is a two-handed weapon only, which means we’re getting -1 to our duel rolls whenever we use it. So why take them?

If we do manage to win the duel, a two-handed weapon will reliably damage most high-defense units regardless of the bearer’s stats (a S3 orc using a two-handed weapon will wound D5 units on 4s, and D6-7 units on 5s). A two-handed weapon on a Strength 4 model (like an Iron Hills dwarf) will wound a standard heavy-infantry battle line (D5-6 models) on 4s, and even Defense 7 or 8 heroes can be wounded on a 5+… which is insane for basic troops (even if they are elite). The swap-a-shield-for-mattock also helps: yes, we have to make a tough choice between that Defense 7, Shield, and Shieldwall in exchange for Defense 6, using a two-handed weapon, and wounding Defense 6 troops on 4s, but at least we aren’t paying any more points for lower defense and that duel-roll penalty, like most other factions with two-handed weapons are forced to do.

As a result, the points cost of a standard Iron Hills warrior is a pretty decent price-point for a Fight 4, Strength 4, Defense 6, two-handed model, and about on-par with other dwarf shock infantry. Standard Grim Hammers cost the same points with the same option to Bash or Pierce, although their option to use that pick hammer one- or two-handed arguably gives them more flexibility. Grim Hammers are also more forgiving on the battlefield thanks to their Defense 7 (giving them more staying power against S4 opponents), and their throwing weapons open up some nice tactical options (a S3 weapon that can wound with 6” range in either the move or shoot phase is always nice to have, especially on a model that can only move 5”). Where the Iron Hills make-up ground are with their S4 (which makes them S5 when they Pierce, which is enough to wound D7 troops on 4s when going two-handed), as well as their Fearless buff from Dain, which allows them to automatically pass any courage tests they need to take when charging the sorts of big, bad, scary things you'd like to be hitting with two-handed S4 axes (or bashing with two-handed S4 hammers).. Grim Hammers can make up the Strength difference for an extra point when paired with Thror, but can’t quite get to automatically passing courage tests (though they can take a War Horn to buff their Courage 4 stat). Depending on what you're fighting, the jump from successfully charging 58% or 72% of the time to 100% of the time may not be more valuable than having an extra point of defense and throwing weapons… or it could be infinitely more valuable.

Iron Hills mattocks aren’t quite Khazad-Guard either, because they aren’t Defense 7. But they do have the core ability that makes Khazad’s so reliable, as Dain’s Lord of the Iron Hills is essentially Bodyguard with a slightly more limited range. The Iron Hills also can’t touch the Burly Hearthguard, though Durin’s elite warriors pay a hefty points premium for that ability (which I would still pay by the way, 100 times out of 100). Unlike Khazad’s, the Iron Hills mattocks do have the option to Bash, which not only gives them a semi-reliable way to dismount mounted heroes, but (to borrow the Green Dragon Podcast lingo) also gives them a non-lethal strike option in case you need to change tempo.

Interestingly, swapping a shield for a mattock in two-on-two combats (Mattock supported by Spear, versus an opponent in shield-spear ranks) doesn’t actually improve the Iron Hills’ chance of killing in most cases, and actually results in an increased chance that the Iron Hills will suffer casualties, which reduces their kill ratio (in some cases, significantly):  

Iron Hills Shield / Spear (F4, S4, D7)
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	61.03%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	61.03%	50.00%	50.00%	38.97%
Kill %	33.91%	33.91%	37.50%	27.78%	33.91%	15.28%	15.28%	21.65%
Death %	11.91%	11.91%	15.28%	15.28%	11.91%	15.28%	15.28%	18.65%
Kill Ratio	2.85	2.85	2.45	1.82	2.85	1.00	1.00	1.16

Iron Hills Mattock (F4, S4, D6, 2H) / Spear (F4, S4, D7)
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	51.39%	51.39%	41.51%	41.51%	51.39%	41.51%	41.51%	31.64%
Kill %	34.26%	34.26%	34.59%	27.67%	34.26%	18.45%	18.45%	21.09%
Death %	14.85%	27.01%	17.87%	32.49%	14.85%	17.87%	32.49%	20.89%
Kill Ratio	2.31	1.27	1.94	0.85	2.31	1.03	0.57	1.01

The only situation where our kill ratio has improved is against standard dwarves (F4, S3, D7), because that two-handed strike really helps against Defense 7 (wounding on a 5+ instead of 6s). Everywhere else, it’s gone down, due to two factors: (1) against Strength 4 opponents, a D6 front-line dwarf is far more easy to wound than a D7 dwarf; and (2) that -1 penalty to win the duel is drastically reducing our chances of winning the fight (which, by extension, increases our opponent’s chances of winning the fight, which increase their chance to wound). Unsurprisingly, the biggest reduction in kill ratios correspond with opponents who see both an increased chance to win the duel and an increased chance to wound D6 (Uruk-Hai, Morannons, and Iron Hills Dwarves who are smart enough to stay in Shieldwall formation).

What did surprise me is that of the two penalties, the Duel roll penalty is far more severe than the drop from D7 to D6. Fortunately, we can mitigate that duel penalty somewhat by adding a banner reroll. This is enough to restore the balance of power in the dwarves' favor against most enemies (though those enemy Iron Hills Dwarves are still slightly ahead, even without a banner), especially when we have the higher fight value:

Iron Hills Mattock (F4, S4, D6, 2H) / Spear (F4, S4, D7) + Banner
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	65.43%	65.43%	53.76%	53.76%	65.43%	53.76%	53.76%	42.08%
Kill %	43.62%	43.62%	44.80%	35.84%	43.62%	23.89%	23.89%	28.05%
Death %	10.56%	19.20%	14.13%	25.69%	10.56%	14.13%	25.69%	17.70%
Kill Ratio	4.13	2.27	3.17	1.39	4.13	1.69	0.93	1.59

A warning: the table above assumes that we have a banner supporting our mattock-spear combo, and the enemy’s shield-spear combo does not have a banner. That won’t always be the case. If our enemy also has a banner, we may still have an advantage if we have the higher Fight Value (against Orcs, Morannons, and F3 men in our examples), but that kill ratio is going to shrink again. And against Fight 4 opponents, we're still more likely to lose combats than to win them:

Iron Hills Mattock (F4, S4, D6, 2H) / Spear (F4, S4, D7) + Banners on Both Sides
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	56.91%	56.91%	43.59%	43.59%	56.91%	43.59%	43.59%	30.26%
Kill %	37.94%	37.94%	36.32%	29.06%	37.94%	19.37%	19.37%	20.18%
Death %	13.17%	23.94%	17.24%	31.34%	13.17%	17.24%	31.34%	21.31%
Kill Ratio	2.88	1.58	2.11	0.93	2.88	1.12	0.62	0.95

The best way to limit these losses is to use the mattock only when we have a numbers advantage (adding even a single additional Iron Hills dwarf who isn't two-handing works wonders), preferably when the opponent is also trapped (where wounding-on-4s becomes devastating). The penalty is also a lot less sharp if we get the Fight Value advantage thanks to a hero. I probably wouldn't spam mattocks in most Iron Hills forces, but the option to go two-handed at Strength 4 is valuable enough that I'd take at least a couple in each force, especially if you're looking to drop a spear or two anyway to save on points.

Lastly, there’s the option to Bash with our two-handed mattock. Because Bash (like Heroic Strike) rests on a 2d6 roll-off, it probably deserves its own separate discussion. For now, let me just say that the chance of successfully bashing a Strength 3 or Strength 4 model with a Strength 4, two-handed dwarf is surprisingly good (70-80% odds if we win the duel)—especially if we have a banner in the combat to mitigate that -1 duel penalty: 

Iron Hills Mattock (F4, S4, D6, 2H - 2H Bash) / Spear (F4, S4, D7) + Banner
	Orc         Sh/Sp          (F3, S3, D5)	Morannon        Sh/Sp       (F3, S4, D6)	Corsair           Sh/Sp       (F4, S3, D4)	Uruk-Hai           Sh/Sp      (F4, S4, D6)	Men           Sh/Sp         (F3, S3, D6)	Dwarf         Sh/Sp           (F4, S3, D7)	Iron Hills          Sh/Sp          (F4, S4, D8)	High-Elf           Sh/Sp          (F5, S3, D6)
Duel Win %	65.43%	65.43%	53.76%	53.76%	65.43%	53.76%	53.76%	42.08%
Bash %	54.50%	47.25%	44.79%	38.82%	54.50%	44.79%	38.82%	35.07%
Kill %	34.32%	32.88%	38.67%	27.02%	34.32%	15.27%	14.49%	22.07%
Death %	10.56%	19.20%	14.13%	25.69%	10.56%	14.13%	25.69%	17.70%
Kill Ratio	3.25	1.71	2.74	1.05	3.25	1.08	0.56	1.25

It’s not quite good enough in my opinion to merit doing it against basic troops, but against priority targets (like banners, who don’t give the reroll bonus when they’re prone, or especially heroes on mounts—and there are plenty of S4 heroes), a 35-45% chance to dismount that hero is definitely worth taking a flier. And that assume the enemy hero has tied or higher fight--if we have a hero in the combat as well, and we have the fight value advantage, the odds of Bashing are going to be 50% or better (and the odds of that hero taking wounds from subsequent double-strikes while prone will be higher as well). 

The lesson, as always: take banners, people! (No, duh!) If you’re going to run Mattock dwarves, they (literally) help them stay alive. And if you want to kill mattock dwarves in a hurry—or whittle down Iron Hills dwarves in Shieldwall, or keep your heroes mounted—you’re going to want to bring along a banner for support.

Concluding Thoughts

Well, that's what I think--but don't just take my word for it. Let us know what you think in the comments! And if you've liked what you read and want to learn more about  Iron Hills dwarf warriors, check out our Iron Hills / Erebor Reclaimed Army Page for more from the TMAT team and other members of the Middle Earth SBG community (along with battle reports, podcasts, and more).