Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Dwarfs

For your Dwarfs, so you can play your midget-bearded-scotsmen

Rules are here [1]

Dwarfs Summary

You want fucking Dorfs? Here're your fucking Dorfs. Seriously though, Dwarfs play differently than any other army in the game, being very defensive minded, very slow and very tough. They also rely heavily on internal synergy, so don't expect to win by simply setting up the best units in the army and rolling some dice. Oh, and you have an unusually high number of joke rules.

Dwarfs Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a pinch of salt.

Named characters

High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer:

Thorek Ironbrow:

Kraggi:

Belegar Ironhammer:

Ungrim Ironfist the Slayer King:

Josef Bugman:

Grimm Burloksson:

Heroes

Dwarf Lord: Your rock. This guy hits hard, can take punishment like a champ, keeps your units from running and can make your Dorfs killier with his Command Ability. Never leave home without one of them. They have a choice between Rune Weapon and Shield, Rune Weapon and Pistol or Great Rune Weapon. The Great Weapon has a more consistent damage output of 3 versus the D3 of the normal one, but generally you're better off with the normal Rune Weapon, which has one more swing, albeit at worse Rend. So, the real choice comes down to Shield versus Gun. A quick tip about Pistols, viable throughout the whole army: Your pistols have 8" range. For a slow Dorf, that seems like a lot, for everyone else, it doesn't. And in the case of the Lord, for this meh ranged shot, he has to give up his awesome 3+ save. Stat-wise, your Dorf Lord is a Vampire Lord with a better save. Yes, that's awesome.

Runelord: Here's your... priest? Okay, so he can strike runes to grant effects to your dorfs, giving them either a 6+ save-after-the-save for even hardier units or better Rend on their weapons for even more murder. It should be noted that this latter ability applies to ALL weapons the unit carries, yes, even to your already awesome Drakeguns. Two more things to note about the Runelord: First, he "prays" better than any other Priest, succeeding on 2+ and never hurting himself, second, you can argue (if you're a dick) that he doesn't actually "pray", so things like the Rain of Sigmar, for which Priests have to forgo praying, can be done even after your Runelord struck a rune.

Dragon Slayer: Just as slow as any other Dorf, with only a 6+ save to keep him alive, no buff auras whatsoever and nobody wants him within 50 clicks of their Monsters. Yeah. If he manages to reach a monster, he'll hurt it something fierce, but any army with even a token ranged unit will focus fire him down.

Dwarf Engineer: Take one. Not much else to say. Dorfs love their War Machines, this guy makes them better and can repair them. Sure he's no powerhouse, but almost doubling a Flame Cannon's potential should be good enough.

Thane with Battle Standard: This guy's weird. Like any other BSB, he can plant his standard and grant effects to your guys. This one makes all Dorfs within 18" immune to Battleshock, which is pretty neat, and also lowers casting rolls for YOUR Wizards. Wat. Probably a typo, but for now, keep him the hell away from Wizards you might have brought along.

Infantry

Dwarf Warriors: Your basic infantry and overall not a bad one. They have a choice between weapon and shield or great weapon, with the great weapon swapping To Hit and To Wound and having better Rend. Generally though you're better off with the shield, since the hand weapons are still decent and the shields are amazing: You need to forgo charging and running, but for that you may reroll your saves in melee, going from 33% saved to 52% saved. They also gain bonuses during your opponent's melee phase, so yeah, shield wall the hell out of them and never charge and they're awesome. They also have a choice of banners. The Clan Banner halves the amount of models that flee, which with all your awesome Battleshock abilities is rather meh or a Runic Icon, which negates spells cast at them on 5+, which is rather awesome.

Miners: Miners are amazing, simply put. They can add a mining cart to the unit, which has its ups and downs. On the one hand, it's four wounds that can't really attack. On the other hand, it grants all other Miners a shooting weapon that while short-ranged is basically their melee profile but with better Rend on top of their melee weapons. If they have the cart, they can also shoot its harpoon if they did not move, but given their otherwise very lacking ranged ability, you will only ever use this harpoon when you're already stuck in melee. Aside from the cart, Miners are Dorf Warriors with great weapons who can suddenly appear on the field so long as they keep 9" from the enemy. Their champion can also take a different weapon which has D3 damage and a Rend of -3 aka the "fuck your Sigmarines" Rend.

Quarrelers: Dorfs with Crossbows. They have great range and their weapons are okay, though not stellar. Get 20 or more of them and they can each shoot twice, at which point Sigmarines with Crossbows start feeling insecure. Really though, you use them because they can reliably mow down very light infantry from far away. If you want to fell big game, look elsewhere. They can also take Bucklers to give them the same awesome shield wall ability as the normal Dorfs, but they're shooty, so that's not really their point. However, unlike other ranged units, Quarrelers are surprisingly not awful in melee, being only one point worse at Hitting and otherwise the same as Dorf Warriors.

Thunderers: Thunderers want to be the slower-shooting but more powerful Quarrelers, but they don't really succeed. Sure they Wound better and have better Rend, but that's where the good stuff ends. Get 20 of them together and they don't shoot twice but instead Hit better. Woo. They're also shorter ranged than Quarrelers and left their axes at home, so they Wound one worse in melee, too. Ultimately, their guns look sweet, but that's just about all that can be said for them.

Slayers: Take all the bad about Dragon Slayers away and you get normal Slayers. Since you can have big units of them, they aren't all that fragile and they can distract the opponent very well. They can deal Mortal Wounds when they are killed in melee, they swing twice with a bonus to Wound when fighting something with more than 1 Wound and they don't need to take Battleshock if you can draw line of sight to an enemy monster (though their Bravery is 10 already). If you like them, run them at shit they like to hurt and the worst they'll do is force the opponent to waste shots to down them.

Longbeards: On first glance, Longbeards are simply Dorf Warriors + 1, with a better save and better Bravery, but without the ability to take a Runic Icon. On second glance, the wonky wording in their description allows them to take Great Weapon and Shield together. Then, on a third glance, there's their joke rule, which is awesome. If you start complaining about something, the Longbeards join in and loudly complain about something, too. What this means in game terms is an 8" buff aura that does one of three things, depending on what you picked. You can either give all Dorfs around them an extra 5+ save against fleeing, rerolls of 1s to Wound in melee or let Dorf Heroes use their Command Ability without them being your Warlord. You know what else can do that last one? Settra and Archaon. Yeah, Longbeards are fucking awesome. Unfortunately, this last one is rather limited because aside from named heroes, only the Dorf Lord has a Command Ability. Though letting 2 Dorf Lords pick Grudge targets would be rather sweet.

Hammerers: There is nothing subtle about Hammerers and you wouldn't want them any other way. They swing a big Hammer, which has two swings at 3+/3+/-1/1, a rather nice profile, they have a 4+ save and don't take Battleshock if there's a Dorf Hero within 16". Unfortunately, they are somewhat outclassed by Ironbreakers and Irondrakes. Though really, that's an unfair comparison, because most any infantry is outclassed by them.

Ironbreakers: The actual Dorf Warriors + 1. They get twice as many swings, their saves are one better and they have more Bravery. In addition, they can take a Runic Icon and ignore all Rend worse than -2. These are your anvil. So, they're reasonably save from magic, about 90% of weapons can't rend their saves and in melee, they get a rerollable 4+. Yikes. The only thing that can reliably bring them down are non-magic-inflicted Mortal Wounds, so keep them away from stuff like Paladins, because your Ironbreakers hate Starsoul Maces with a passion. Other than that, they never ever fucking die and can dish out surprising amounts of hurt. Wound-per-Wound, they leave most infantry in the dust.

Irondrakes: If Ironbreakers are anvil and throng, Irondrakes are the hammers. Any unit held in place by Ironbreakers is already dead and only too stupid to realise it if you have Irondrakes nearby. Why? They get a pretty good missile weapon, being pretty much exactly a Judicator with Bow, only with 16" range. If they don't move and there's no enemy within 3", they shoot twice. So, wound per wound, they shoot four times as well as Judicators. Yikes. Their champion can take a Trollhammer Torpedo, which has better Rend and deals D3 damage, but you can't fire that twice, so it's your call whether to use it.

War Machines

Gyrocopters:

Gyrobombers:

Dwarf Bolt Thrower:

Dwarf Cannon:

Flame Cannon:

Organ Gun:

Grudge Thrower: