Dwarf Tactica: Archery is Everything

EDIT: If you found this page, you should know we've posted an update for the new MESBG rules (2018)! You can find the updated page here.

At TMAT GT 2014, I took my beloved Dwarf army. Since starting the hobby, I knew I wanted Dwarves - I always loved the Dwarves. I still think my Wood Elves are the most sophisticated army that I own, but the Dwarves are my hardiest group (and are not lacking in strategy). They are also very, very fun. Coming into this tournament, though, I knew there was one critique that all Dwarf players must face: how do you fight armies of spears/pikes with no spears of your own.

I must note here that I believe (and will endeavor to show) that the Durin's Folk Dwarf list is better than the Army of Erebor Dwarf list. Though the army from the Hobbit SBG can get spears (D7 spearmen to boot), they cannot get any ranged weapons. Having D7 across the entire army is great, but I hope that at the end of this post, the merits of having archery options instead of spear options is at least as competitive for a Dwarf list as a high defense, spear-toting army.

I must also caveat that more than half the units I brought in my army had ranged weapons: 10 Dwarf bows, 2 Dwarf longbows (normal bows), and 9 throwing weapons in a 39-unit army means that you should have some archery at all times (not to mention the lowest Defense of these units is D5, what is considered to be a good Defense value for archers in the game). This build for a Dwarf army could be viewed as anomalous, but I find it to be the most practical build for a Durin's Folk list.

Terrain Project: Weathertop, Pt 2

After long, long, LONG last, I finally have a post for the blog. Many thanks to Glenstorm for keeping the blog on life support - really appreciate the views!

While my wife and I wait for my daughter to arrive (due date is Thursday), I've been working on a ton of stuff - I've been GMing a fantasy roleplay series (product not yet released, but we'll keep you posted if it ever hits the online stores), painting some High Elves from Warhammer Fantasy (might get a picture update in when at least one set is kind of done), and been learning the art of broadsword fighting for support of a rather successful teen camp that was held in the area recently (themed by the Lord of the Rings).

But today is about Angmar - yes, this report comes in two parts: Weathertop painting and Ringwraith conversions.

Battle Report: Hold Ground: The Dragon Battalion v. The Chill of Angmar

Hey Reader!

Greetings again from all of us at TMAT!  As I get the final preparations done for a high school summer camp at my workplace in a few weeks (and probably won't be posting for the next few weeks because of that, fyi), I decided on Saturday night that I needed to unwind, so I got together with Donatello to get in a quick game with my new Angmar list.  This is the list I'm planning on bringing to the THRO October Tournament this fall (with some possible tweaks), so getting a handle for it is important to me.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this army is a "toolbox" army, doing all kinds of things in a 600-point list, with lots of different angles for attacks.

Don is rocking a modified version of my Host of Rhovanion list (Easterling Army), as he really likes Easterlings (and for new characters it is both very forgiving and gives a good introduction to most of the game mechanics that people will constantly use and face in a given tournament, so I like giving it to casual players), though he's planning on changing up the strategy and casting Fury with his War Priest this time (should help to charge all of those terror units he's got).  Also, he's opting not to take Khamul the Black Easterling, and is instead going with a Dragon Knight, 2 Easterling "Bunker" Captains, and a War Priest, and adding more archery to the list (something about fighting two trolls, a smattering of undead warriors, and a big block of orcs, I think, contributed to that decision, :) ).

A Different Project: Bretonnia and Beastmen

Hey Reader!

So I posted something like this a few months ago, but every now and then I work on miniature projects that are not from The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, so I figured I'd do a Forge update to show you some of the things we've been working on over here at the How.  The following units are from GamesWorkshop's Fantasy series, and in the future (read: in six months or so) I'll also be doing a Forge update on my growing Infinity collection as well.

Introducing the K-Comp System!

Hey Reader!

So, for the past year or so Tiberius and I have been hard at work (well, hehe: actually, "hard" being defined as "on-and-off-as-we-got-ideas") on a comp system for LOTR SBG.  For those who have a background with tournaments for Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k, you're familiar with the idea of a Comp System - for those of you who are less familiar with it, I hinted at some of the basics of the comp system in my post regarding "soft lists" in LOTR.  Here, I want to very briefly acquaint everyone with what the K-Comp System is designed to do, what it is not designed to do, and what its possible uses could be for the blogosphere at large and the microcosm of a gaming community.

You can find the most up-to-date copy of the K-Comp System on Scribd here.  I uploaded it to Scribd 1) because I am a firm believer in the wonderful resource that is Scribd, 2) it is available so far as I know in all countries, so it shouldn't cut out any of our viewership, and 3) it's much easier to upload documents there than it is to upload a document through the HTML on this site, and I'm lazy that way, :)  So as you read this post, you'll be able to see what we're talking about via the document on Scribd (though I'll also be including screenshot photos in relevant sections below).