I was thinking about the properties of Dwarfs with Blunderbuss’s. Mostly, that they are just as effective in close combat as regular warriors, sands the shields. I was thinking that maybe they could be put to good use as offensive weapons, rather than defensive ones.
The idea would be to take several units of blunderbuss’ with 3 ranks for the CR and extra strength. Units of 15 or 18 with full command. They would then advance up the center only far enough to fire on the advancing enemy, then they would back-pedal and fire again, all the while with Hobbos protecting them from flank-attacks and artillery pounding on the enemy.Obviously, have to back-pedal and with dwarf movement, the other troops would eventually catch up with them. At this point though, they should be weakened greatly and in a position to be flank-charged by your hobbos.
Basically, your going to aggresivley move your BB’s in order to get more shots in, and potentially draw them into combat with your dwarfs, who are still surprisingly resiliant in combat, and into unfavorable position with flank-charging hobbos. Combine this with an Earthshaker, and you can probably devastate everything before it even gets into combat with you.
Obviously, you need a way to keep shooters/cavalry out of the way, and this wont work on mostly cavalry lists/gunlines, but thats why you can change you strategy.
Anyone think this would work?
Edit: On second though, this might be effective against Cavalry. Usually, sitting on a table edge, your only going to get 1 shot in, maybe two with an Earthshaker’s help, but you could potentially get in 3, maybe 4 shots in with Earthshaker assistance. That might be crucial against heavy cavalry. With a Shadow wizard and some lucky dice rolling, you might even be able to charge whatever your shooting at before they are ablel to charge you.
I think its a intersting idea. Worth trying out even if it could be hard. Sounds similar to the druchii MSU(multi small units) tactic. Try it and come back
I don’t use BBs aggressively, but (as was found out in a nother thread, I’m the only one that sees this as a foolproof method) my CDs will shoot, then stand&shoot, then often draw or win combat resolution (without a musician). If you try this method, put a hero/lord or two in the unit and maybe a BSB as well. I tend not to, but it’s more likely to see your unit survive.
i use BBs agressively, but in my case it involves small units of ten with a musician on the flanks and advanced using lore of shadows to negotiate them into a good shooting position. This is easily arranged as I have two shadow sorcerers, one of which is a lord. The enemy has to make a concerted effort to shift them, as any small chasing units can be fought off, so they need to commit a decent CC unit or degree of shooting to get rid of them, and if they flee they’re almost guaranteed to rally. If the enemy try to ignore them they rake the flank of their army with blunder fire. To see why this is so nasty, measure how many models are hit when you measure 12" across an ememy’s line
For me, aggressive Blundering is the only way to go. Their range is so short and due to Earthshaker fire, the foe will be so slow you might never hit. And if they’re being held in position by Earthshakers then they’re asking to be shot.
