[Archive] Played a game with Chaos Dwarfs in 8th Edition

elrodogg:

I played two games yesterday (though one had to be called for time, as the store was closing).  2400 Points

My list (indy gt)

Level 4 with dispel scroll, helm of azgorh (+1 dd), fire magic

BSB w/ GW, hailfire gun, hexacon, one of the new 5pt magic shields which he didn’t use

2x25 chaos dwarf warriors, w/ gw, shields, FC

2x20 blunderbuss, w/ FC

45ish rabble

3 demoneaters

2 earthsakers

death rocket

2 bolt throwers

His List (dark elves)

lvl 4, dagger, ward save w/ death magic

bsb w/ ward save

hag w/ couldron

30ish spears

20 repeaters

20 repeaters

~16 black guard w/ asf

2 hydras

2 RBT

5 harpies

chariot

5 dark riders

The first game was fairly evenly matched until he got the purple sun off.  holy smokes that spell is brutal.  he killed the lvl 4, bsb, all but a few CD warriors and a demoneater with that spell.

Thoughts on my army’s performance:

Death rockets are alot of fun now.  even though i didn’t have the best of targets to shoot at outside of the spears, simply placing the large template and then rolling an artillery dice to see where it goes is great.  

Level 4 - first off he needs to have his initiative changed, or he is absolute fodder (it’s a 1).  there are too many spells which are initiative based and result in death with no saves.  His performance was good, but not spectucular.  magic can be brutal, both in the actual lores themselves, as well as the fear of spells not going off isn’t there anymore.  we both ended up just throwing two spells a turn, with half our dice pool at each.  and yes, fireballs still kill elves.  :cheers

demoneaters - i don’t see taking more than one of these, possibly two.  with the whole 1" away bit, i found i had to spread my battle line out more than I would have preferred to already, with 3 of these throwin in it’s just too much.  I am thinking that keeping one of them in a reserve/counter charge capacity is the move.

bolt throwers - aren’t nearly as effective as before.  the loss of +1 to hit large targets means that bs3 bolt throwers need to get lucky to hit (especially if there is cover).  go for 6 or go for none.

annhilator/blunderbuss - i was worried about these guys being overlery good in the new edition, just because we’re gonna see so many ranked units.  However, from last night’s games, I realized that if they are shooting, then they are in every single unit in the game’s charge range.

rabble - a total mixed bag.  first off it was hilarious to see 9 ranks deep of troops.  that said a single hydra mushed these guys horribly  between his 7 million attacks, breath weapon into h2h, the handlers 6 attacks, and the thunderstomp he managed to kill about 18 troops in a single turn.  the rabble of course held being steadfast.  but a 9 rank deep unit is unweildly.  the tail half of the unit simply got in the way.  

dwarf warriors - they performed as expected.  his chariot got really lucky killing 9 troops during a combined charge of the chariot and black guard w/ army standard, but we chopped down 5 black guard in return and held because of steadfast.  

That’s all on my thoughts from last night.  There are some changes that the indy gt list will have to go through, but i know that kevin is waiting on seeing what gw does with their erratas/faq’s and going from there.

Breten:

I’ve had a couple of games of 8th myself yesterday, 1 at 2250 vs. Skaven, and the other at 2500 vs. Warriors of Chaos. Both players were two of our top players, with the WoC player, being the guy people rarely beat. I’ve been using the Indy GT list.

In the Skaven game I used a typical load out I’ve used in 7th with some success, though I took the lord on Taurus and 40 Rabble to try things out. My Rabble worked awesome, and I still need to figure out how to use the Taurus. My warmachines were the stars of the game killing rats by the dozens. Sadly, once he got into HTH, I didn’t fare as well. Did manage to take out the Plague Furnace with a couple well-placed Earthshaker shots. I ended up losing that one, but last time I played those Skaven I was still using the RH list.

My game against the WoC was using the Watchtower scenario, and 9! pieces of terrain, so the board was a bit cramped. Would have been better for me, but we had a river dissecting my DZ, so I was just as cramped. In this game I swapped out the Lord for a High Priest Lvl 4 using Metal. So awesome. Also tried out Inferno Golems for the first time. Super expensive, but I don’t think I will ever leave that unit at home again. We need them in the new edition, and since every other army has similar creatures in Special, I would highly recommend making them a Special slot for the 8th update. But I am biased. :wink:

I’m finding Bull Centaurs difficult to use in 8th as they are like cavalry, they can hit hard, but don’t have the staying power. I’d like to try out a unit of 10, giving them a 2nd rank, as I think they need it. Admittedly I’ve never been good at getting the best of my Centaurs. I often end up letting them hang back too long and being generally useless, or I stick them to far ahead of the army that they get annihilated before the rest of the army shows up.

Earthshakers are awesome, but I don’t think anyone really needed to be told that. I usually take 4 Bolt Throwers and they usually perform 50\50 for me. last nights games were unfortunately on the sucky side, thuogh in the 2nd game, they had a tough time targetting due to the DZ’s. I love my Eruption Guns too.

Uzkul Werit:

From my experience, the great weapon will be become standard issuse kit on Warriors and Immortals. Taking a shield just isnt as handy in combat as it used to be. Give the basic Warriors Chaos Armour to boost their save up a bit and they’re as durable as the elites. The Ward Save just isn’t as useful as adding a pip to your armour save.

richard barby:

2 hydras strike first black guard 40 repeter crossbows coldron bsb and 2 bolt throwers. and a few other toys thats a hard list to play against no matter what you took in your army. you did well to compete for as long as you did

the no large target rule is canceled out by the true line of sight rules means your bolts will get more shots just not as good a dice roll

best thing i found for dealing with the black guard is golems the t5 and 3+ save holds up heaps of there attacks and you hit back at 4s to hit 2s to kill. have had good luck with them vs great wepion warriors of chaos

elrodogg:

Being honest, the repeaters didn’t do all that well. They were almost always at long range, with the moving penalty and double tapping, he was looking for 6’s to hit and then 5’s to wound.

Hydras are simply a scary proposition (especially when they are staring juicy unit of blunderbuss). they make taking additional bolt throwers almost mandatory. I still think that the lack of large target bonus is game changing for bolt throwers. at long range and with a cover bonus, you need 6’s to hit which coupled with regeneration (there is alot of regen on targets that the bolt thrower would want to shoot at) almost makes the shot worthless.

The lesson of the day is dispel the purple sun and don’t let your mage get within 30 inches plus a template range of an opposing wizard who has that spell. Losing a level 4 on a 2+ roll is not the move. Lets just hope people play elves and the metagame is not death magic.

mattbird:

 

Level 4 - first off he needs to have his initiative changed, or he is absolute fodder (it's a 1).  there are too many spells which are initiative based and result in death with no saves.  

elrodogg
I addressed this in the warmonger forum thread, but wanted to say it here as well. I feel that both the fluff (wizards turning to stone) and the existence of other initiative 1 wizard lords in the game (slann) justify keeping him at initiative 1.

Just because the new edition penalizes some stuff, doesn't mean we should change the army book rules to make things more powerful/less vulnerable. :hat off

If GW changes the Slann's initiative to something besides a 1, then we can consider changing the high priest, too. Otherwise, beware of vortexes!

elrodogg:

If GW changes the Slann's initiative to something besides a 1, then we can consider changing the high priest, too. Otherwise, beware of vortexes!

mattbird
I'll to disagree with you.  Other ini 1 wizards in other armies shouldn't matter.  Fluff should matter, but fluff and only fluff should be balanced against the playtesting results.  At a minimum, Astrogath should have his ini bumped up as he isn't being turned to stone he's turning into a terminator.  

I do believe that demonsmiths should be changed to straight level 1/2's so the need to field a level 4 is lessened.  I very much feel that the demonsmith is not a viable caster knowing only a single spell.  Especially, when you consider the rule that you can only cast any one spell just once per turn.  Plus it lowers the "this book is filled with special rules" problem that the book encounters.

I am curious to see what GW does with that spell (if anything).  It's just an awful spell that is so ludicrously powerful that GW should never have introduced to the game. I sincerely hope that GW rules that it does hit the caster every time it is cast.

Grimstonefire:

@elrodogg

Did the rabble kill the hydra in the end? I presume you had them as a horde?

elrodogg:

The rabble never came close to killing the hydra.  he’s only 50mm wide, which meant only 8 attacks back since I did not have them as a horde.  8 attacks (or even 12) shouldn’t even do a single wound to a hydra let alone kill it. I wanted their frontage as constricted as possible to prevent a unit of spears from charging in and removing models wholesale, which of course is what a single hydra did on his own. Once you factor in his 7 attacks, 6 from handlers, d6 from thunderstomp and an additional d6 from his breath weapon, you’ll find that the rabble went “Poof!  All gone!“

My biggest problem with hordes rule conceptually is the width of a unit coupled with the not being within 1” of a friendly model nonsense.  10 wide 20mm models i about 8” wide.  Add in an inch on each side and you have a 10 inch zone where you can’t really put models.  If a single 50mm wide unit goes in the middle, once you factor in the random charge distances and wheeling, I didn’t feel comfortable that i would be able to guarantee a flank charge. To get the most out of hordes, you need a unit which is armed with spears. 4 ranks of fighting back is the move for cheaper troops, not just 3.