Dwarf Formations: The Tiberius King's Champion Specials

Good morning gamers,

I recently played with my "beared fellows" (Khazad-Dum Dwarves) at a 550-point tournament, and at it, I got to run one of my favorite formations: the "King's Champion Special." Or at least, I used a variant of one of my "KC-Special" formations. I've been running Khazad-Dum Dwarves since I got started in the game back in 2010 and I've been running the King's Champion for most of that time. While I am a huge fan of the core troops available to Khazad-Dum (Dwarf Warriors and Dwarf Rangers - the units you can get en masse in plastic), the three formations we're going to look at today are formations you can run that lean more heavily into the elite troops that Khazad-Dum has to offer. Why? Because there are few force multipliers that compare to the King's Champion. Let's see why that is.

Understanding the King's Champion "Model"

The King's Champion is a 140-point trio of models, containing the King's Champion himself and two "Heralds." Heralds are basically Dwarf Warriors with shields and banners (F4, D7, 1A, 1H, C4, with axe/shield/banner/Dwarf armor) and get +1 Strength (S4), +1 Will, +2 Fate, and special rules that boost their Defense when in base contact with each other or the King's Champion (up to Defense 9) and the ability for the King's Champion to use the Fate points of a Herald that is in base contact with him. Since a Dwarf Warrior costs 34 points with a banner and shield, it would be generous to say that they are valued at 35 points each (though the Will/Fate should make this closer to 50 points each).

IF you consider these guys to be 35-points in value, the King's Champion costs "only" 70 points (40 points if you bump up the cost of the Heralds to 50 points each) and has a stellar profile. With F6, S5, D7 (which can be up to D9 if in base contact with both Heralds), 3A, 2H, C5, 2M/1W/1F and Heroic Strike/Strength, he's basically a cheaper Dwarf King with better Strength and Attacks, potentially better Defense, and lower Courage and Will (and a different set of heroic actions - both sets are quite useful). With at least one banner at his back, the King's Champion will be rolling an absurd number of dice to win the fight (as will friendly models around him).

The King's Champion set of models is one of the best values for points in the game and the low Will and low movement (no mount) are really the only things detracting from the profile (3 Might would be welcome too, but I can't think of any generic, non-monster heroes that have 3 Might). As far as generic heroes go, this is about the best you can get and for Khazad-Dum, he's commonly viewed as a staple before the likes of Durin or Balin. Paired with a hero who can March him around (Dwarf Kings, Dwarf Captains, or Balin), he's a force to be reckoned with. But with 10 warrior slots in this Hero of Fortitude's warband (since the Heralds take up two of the twelve slots), what do you bring alongside this guy to get the most out of him? Well, let's take a look at a few of them, shall we?

KC-Special #1: Iron Guard and Dwarf Rangers

The first formation is my go-to formation since it pairs the King's Champion with a skirmish-heavy emphasis (you know how I love shooting). The King's Champion himself can't skirmish, but with D7-9, he doesn't mind standing around waiting for the enemy to close. In the formation below, we've paired the King's Champion with models that can shoot: Iron Guard and Dwarf Rangers.

• The King's Champion
• 2 Heralds
• 4 Iron Guard with weapon-swapped axes
• 4 Dwarf Rangers with bows
• 2 Dwarf Rangers with throwing axes
  

For 258 points, this is a dangerous warband to engage: you have four bows that hit on a 3+, two throwing axes that hit on a 3+, and four throwing axes that hit on a 4+. While the throwing axes don't have great range, the fact that they can do damage on the charge means that whatever is receiving a charge from this squad is going to be reeling from the assault BEFORE the fighting starts. 

I've swapped the swords for axes in this squad - you want the ability to Piercing Strike with these guys since you already get the benefits of Feint from your army bonus (assuming you kept it). Even if you allied Conveniently, you still want axes on these guys. You could also swap the two Rangers with throwing axes with more Iron Guard if you wanted (+7 points/model if you swap the swords on the Iron Guard for axes, +6 points/model otherwise). 

If you're facing an army that doesn't bring any shooting, you have the advantage of having throwing axes in this formation (in addition to your bows). If the enemy happens to have 5" move, you can also stay just outside of charge range in order to deny them of their max movement AND be able to pick models off from the front rank. You may have to leave your bowmen behind, but that's fine - they don't have to shoot from the second rank if they don't want to.

One of the best things about this formation is the flexibility it gives you with the Heralds. While having both Heralds backing up the King's Champion is good, you waste a lot of benefit from the second banner by having the two banner fields overlap so much. This formation really don't need the King's Champion to be D9 - instead, he can be D8 with one Herald in base contact, while the other goes to back up Durin/Balin/whoever so that they and their escorts can win more fights and do more damage. I tend to keep this errant Herald within walking distance of the Champion, though, in case something goes south - you want your heroes concentrated in one area, though, so their damage compounds and so they can stay safe.

I recently ran a reduced version of this formation at THRO 2021 (no Rangers with throwing axes, Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows instead of Dwarf Rangers with bows) and it's a lot of fun to use - it hits hard and is pretty resilient. The big concern is the D5-6 on the warriors - against a dedicated shooting attack from the enemy, this formation can fall to pieces (especially crossbows). In a Good vs. Evil tournament, shooting can show up (Isengard, Azog's Hunters, Corsairs, and Serpent Horde love their bows, as do certain Mordor builds), but many Evil factions take a token amount of archery if any because they aren't good at it. When facing those kinds of armies, this kind of formation can dominate. For those of you who don't like shooting as much as I do, I have a second option . . .

KC-Special #2: Vault Warden Teams and Dwarf Warriors

For the exact same price as our previous warband, you can go with a heavily armored, melee-only warband that will crack through the opposing forces as well as the previous list. With access to the only spear warriors that Khazad-Dum has to offer, we can throw supporting attacks into the front rank and carve through the enemy - all while enjoying the bliss of a D9 front line simply by taking Vault Warden Teams:

• King's Champion
• 2 Heralds
• 4 Vault Warden Teams
• 2 Dwarf Warriors with shields
  

The key to this warband are the Dwarf Warriors with shields: Vault Wardens, like Easterling Pike Blocks, are good at fighting things directly in front of them, but if they get flanked, they're in trouble. So, the trick is to make sure flank attacks don't happen. We can do that by spacing our guys out a little and having Dwarf Warriors with shields able to defend by shielding on the exterior. In this way, each Vault Warden Foe Shield has 2 Attacks (1 Attack + 1 supporting Attack from the Foe Spear) and each Dwarf Warrior gets 2 Attacks (doubling their normal 1 Attack via shielding) AND all of these guys will get a banner reroll thanks to having the Champion around. Unlike our last formation, you want both Heralds touching the King's Champion so he's D9 (same as the Vault Wardens) - otherwise, he becomes a very tempting target for any archery on the board. He may still be a tempting target, but much less of one now that he's got more wounds/Fate than the Vault Wardens nearby.

Photo Courtesy: East Grinstead War Gamers
I don't own four Vault Warden Teams . . . maybe I should change that . . .

This formation can also be really long by spacing your models out by 0.5" - it might mean that more models engage you, but your battle line turns from a 7" line to a 10" line, which covers an absurd amount of space. Thanks to the way circles work, if you curve your line backwards, you can actually reach all of these models with the two banners and provide a huge front for your opponent to have to go around/engage before they can tag your vulnerable models. For just over 250 points, I think this is awesome.

There is one more application of a King's Champion that you can run - and this one is intended to support the biggest hero Khazad-Dum has to offer: Durin.

KC-Special #3: Hearthguard and Dwarf Warriors

Do you know how to get the most out of Hearthguard (F4/S4-5, 1 Attack models with two-handed axes that can be wielded without penalty)? Banners. Do you know you get banners easily into your army? A King's Champion. Since Khazad Guards can only be upgraded to Hearthguard in Durin's warband, we'll be looking at two warbands this time, with the intent of the King's Champion warband supplementing Durin's warband and making them better. The list would look something like this:

• Durin, King of Khazad-Dum
• 14 Hearthguard
• King's Champion
• 2 Heralds
• 2 Dwarf Warriors with shields
  

For 500 points, we have a solid D7+ Dwarf force that has enough heavy-hitting warriors that your opponent will be cut to pieces quickly. We could have run Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows, but we're leaning hard into the Hearthguard in this configuration (and 20 models). We'd want 6 Hearthguard to bulk out the King's Champion's warband and have one of the Heralds come to the aid of Durin (and the 8 Hearthguard that are near him), but the plan for this army is pretty simple: walk as swiftly as possible towards the enemy, weather archery, and kill stuff.

Photo Courtesy: Delta Vector
I should also get some actual Khazad Guards (not just my converted Dwarf Warriors with two-handed axes)

But I must emphasize the "walking" part of the previous statement: one of the primary reasons I prefer to run Balin over Durin is that Balin has 3 Might and Heroic March, while Durin has 3 Might and Heroic Strength. While Heroic Strength has its place, Heroic March is probably the most valuable heroic action available to a Dwarf player and running the 500-point list above without a Dwarf King at higher points levels (or a Dwarf Captain if you can't find the 10-25 points for the Dwarf King upgrade) could be a big limitation. Still, Dwarves are Dwarves and this will be a grim line to fight even if you show up second to the party.

If you're a Khazad-Dum player and have additional thoughts, let us know in the comments! I love my Dwarves and just got my hands on Durin, so expect to see him tested out at points levels above 500 points (really need to get more Khazad Guards, though, before I start using him). We'll have another formations post next month - until then, happy hobbying!