A pint of Bugman’s best, please: fighting Chaos Dwarfs is thirsty work!

Neither Hell nor high water

Sunday was, we can all agree, a pretty epic stormy day. I battled my way through the torrential downpour to reach the warmth and relative safety of Bugman’s Brewery, Warhammer World. Pint of Trollbrew in hand, I met up with Tom, a friend who has an amazing Chaos Dwarf army. 

We had previously met on one occasion last year, when our armies had deployed opposite each other in a doubles game. Like me, he is still getting used to the rules and mechanics of Warhammer 6^th edition. Unlike me, he wasn’t able to attend any of last year’s tournaments, so this day would be about gently easing him back into it and generally enjoying the splendour of our settings in Warhammer World.

Tom had an immediate victory over me; his army is fully painted to a lovely standard, whereas mine still has bare undercoat in places. Mea culpa.Head over to Instagram to see the Chaos Dwarfs in all their glory: @filmdegminiatures 

The rosters

We decided to play a small 850 points battle. This is a really fun format, as you can play quickly but still have plenty to think about during the battle. 

Here is the list I went with:

· Ludwig the Lost (captain, lance, full plate, shields barded warhorse) [the Fox Lord doesn’t get out of bed for small gigs and was happy to send his lieutenant out into the rain]

· Wenceslas the Wild (Lore of Beasts, Level 2 wizard)

· 7 Knights of the Prowling Fox (Inner Circle, standard, musician)

· 20 Spearmen (full command, shields)

· 6 Huntsmen (scouts, champion)

· 5 Pistoliers (champion with repeater pistol)

· Great Cannon

Tom’s small (in every sense) but solid force was:

· Hero

· Sorcerer (Lore of Fire, Level 2)

· 10 Blunderbusses

· 2 x 10 Warriors (both units with full command, heavy armour, hand weapon, shield)

· 2 x Death Rockets

· Earthshaker 

Over the hills and far away
The battlefield had two large hills on either flank, though woods and ruins blocked line of sight across the hills. Ruins in the middle of the battlefield also meant careful consideration was required at deployment phase to get the most out of artillery. 

I put my two big blocks – spearmen and knights – in the centre, just to the right of the main ruins, with Ludwig leading the knights and Wenceslas next to the spears. I was nervous about having them too closely packed, as the evil stunties had 3 template artillery weapons, but considered it a risk worth taking in order to deliver one devastating gut-punch at his centre. My cannon went on the hill far on the right, to support the action in the centre. 

Tom put a unit of warriors, his blunderbusses, sorcerer and hero in the centre, opposite my two blocks, with a rocket sheltered away from my cannon but in an excellent position to influence the centre. 

My opponent then made a mistake in deployment which would cost him dearly (but then is that not what practice games are for?); he put his Earthshaker and one of the rockets next to each other, right by a small patch of woods, with a unit of warriors in front of the woods. It was too tempting to refuse and my huntsmen deployed as scouts, ready to pounce. I put my pistoliers on my left, ready to make the most of their 16” light cavalry movement to support the huntsmen.

We rolled for turn 1: he got a 1 and I got a 6. This would turn out to pretty much sum up the Dwarfs’ dice luck for the game.

I opted to go first. 

The Tale of Ludwig the Lost
This was not Ludwig’s first engagement. Many and long were the days since his first foray. Now his hair and beard were grey. Wisdom matched the hunger for revenge which ever burned in his heart since he had lost his own army in that ill-fated battle. He ordered the horn-blowers sound the advance. The spearmen marched forward in the centre. He touched his spurs and led the Knights of the Prowling Fox on alongside them, being careful to put a bit more space between the two units. He had no intention of offering the enemy’s artillery too tempting a target.

Though he could not see it, owing to the ruined temple in the centre of the field, he knew that the scouts would have heard the horns sounding and moved out from their hiding place in the woods. Their targets were the crew of the Earthshaker and rocket launcher which they had reported being deployed there. A glance back confirmed this, as Reinhart’s riders, all armed with deadly twin pistols, galloped up towards the same place. He had ordered them to advance as soon as they saw the scouts, to keep the enemy warriors on that flank distracted.

A flash in the pan
He waited for the bang that would tell of the cannon’s first shot; it did not come. He turned to see the master gunner gesticulating at the crew to empty the barrel and reload. He grunted. Wet powder.

Unbeknownst to Ludwig, the huntsmen sent a volley of arrows flying from the woods and took out one of the dwarfs manning the dreaded Earthshaker cannon. The nearby warriors heard the commotion and turned to march towards them, despite the threat of the approaching pistoliers.

Losses from the Earthshaker

Despite the loss of a crew member, the Earthshaker fired. Its name was well earned and the valley echoed with its terrible thunder. As the echoes died away, a new sound could be heard; screams as spearmen writhed in agony. Happily, the rockets failed to hit their targets, giving the centre of Ludwig’s line some respite. The spearmen looked ready to falter, but he bellowed at them to stand their ground. The line of blunderbusses opposite the knights fired. Ludwig grimaced, but luckily the shots fell short.

At last, the master gunner had got his cannon into working order. A ball whistled across the field, bounced ounce, and hit a blunderbuss-wielding dwarf. A bloody wreck showed where the evil wretch had once stood.

Ludwig would have liked to charge the rest down, but his knights were still trying to calm their horses following the Earthshaker’s single blast. Wenceslas muttered an incantation. Out of nearby woods a flock of crows appeared and swooped down as if to attack the dwarfs. A figure emerged from the enemy ranks and chanted some words read hastily from a scroll. A blinding green light shined forth, scaring the crows away.

Ride on time
On the left flank, Reinhart saw the warriors turn their backs on him to face the huntsmen. He shouted a hunting cry and charged into their backs. His men fired their pistols, slaying many of the dwarfs. The rest tried to run, but fell under horses’ hooves to their utter destruction. The crew of the Earthshaker fared no better; the huntsmen ran in among them. The dwarfs panicked and fled the field, leaving the gun silent for the remainder of the battle. The nearby rocket crew decided to err on the side of caution and dragged their weapon away towards the woods. They would later rally and fire a rocket at the huntsmen.  The huntsmen charged them, hoping to dish out the same punishment they had given the Earthshaker. But the Dwarfs stood firm, killing 2 huntsmen and sending the rest packing.

In the centre, Ludwig’s knights suffered a casualty to shooting. In response, the old captain bellowed a war cry and the knights rode down the blunderbuss dwarfs, who stood no chance, despite a desperate last volley against the knights. They were ridden down effortlessly. Not for nothing were these select men known as the Fox Lord’s Inner Circle.

The dwarf’s leader, enraged at what was happening around him, roared an order in his dark tongue. The warriors charged into the spearmen - even the sorcerer joined in the fray. The chieftain himself ran towards Wenceslas, cutting him badly with his axe. It was too much for the forest-dwelling mage, who hurried off to save his life. 

The battle between dwarf warriors and spearmen slogged on, with blow answering blow. Neither side managed to do great harm.

Reinhart's return
Suddenly there came the sound of hooves and of pistols firing. Reinhart had led his rising around behind the dwarf lines to charges the warriors in the rear - this was becoming something of a speciality of theirs, it seemed. The dwarf sorcerer panicked and fled, only to run straight into a cannon ball - ouch!

Eventually the dwarf standard stood alone in a sea of red and yellow tunics. Then it wavered. It fell. And thus the day was won.

Reinhart rode over and handed the fallen flag to the captain. 

“Keep it,” Ludwig said. “And give it to Lord Friedrich yourself. He will reward you handsomely.”

“But what about you, sir?”

The old man chuckled.

“I have my reward already,” he said - and placed a ridiculously oversized hat taken from a dead Chaos Dwarf onto his head. “Let’s see anyone mock my grey hair now!”

When all's said and done
Tom had some really bad luck with the dice. Some of those fights could definitely have gone his way.

The Chaos Dwarfs also strike me as a very tricky force to use. There were no mobile units to cover his artillery. Hobgolin Wolf Riders or archers would certainly prove useful. But then we go to war with the armies we've got, rather than the ones we would like to have or hope to have at a later stage.

The single most important fact, though - indeed the only one which counts in Warhammer - is that we both had tremendous fun. I look forward to seeing Tom return to lead his evil stunties in a bid for revenge!