[Archive] Suggestions for a 500 pts. CD Army (Ravening Hordes)

Hashutsep:

Well, so I returned recently to this hobby, and I need A LOT of suggestions. I decided to take it easy, and start with an small army of 500 points, to get accustomed to and make the troop mustering more easy. My main opponent will be a friend of mine, who returned alongside me to Warhammer. He chooses to play with Skavens (he mumbles something about a Skryre-heavy list), so any help to optimize my army against those foul rodents will be more than welcome…

So, there is my less-than-beta list:

----HERO----

Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer Level 2 Lore of Fire*

Points: 100

----CORE----

14 Chaos Dwarf Warriors Full Command

Points: 156

10 Chaos Dwarf Warriors Blunderbuss

Points: 120

12 Hobgoblins Bows

Points: 60

----SPECIAL----

2 Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower

Points: 60

----TOTAL----

Points: 496

Perhaps a little shooty, I know, but against skavens I think that I need all the firepower I can muster. My single hero follows that doctrine, being a sorcerer. I choose the Lore of Fire, as even one spell passed will be able to do enough damage and as all the spells are useful.

Any thoughs?

chiccovr:

just today I tried your list against orcs and goblins!

well have had bad luck did just sucks! remove the blunderbuss, and reinforce the unity of dwarf warriors, or put some bullcentaurus 5, or you can put some sneakygits …

But I tried them, do not make my mistake … not use 10 blunderbuss … so few are useless!

monkeigh:

Blunderbusses are difficult to use in smaller games, they are expensive to begin with and usually need to be fielded in units of 15+ to be effective. I would drop them, and either upgrade the warriors to great weapons, beef up the warrior unit’s numbers, or both. Fire is a good lore with low casting values for a Lv 2 Wizard, though I might suggest death (for the default assassination spell which is generally handy against fighty heros/monsters) or possibly metal since you then have the potential to wipe out a whole unit of cav (chucking 6 dice at the 2nd level of the default spell has saved me more times than I can count from a large unit of knights!).

dromar:

That’s true, blunderbuss are expensive but in 500pts they can do a lot of damages so keep them.

bowgobs are too expensive, you should take a big unit of 25 in order to lock the ennemy.

Give a musician to the blunderbuss, just to have the possibility to reform.

You should take the lore of shadow, it’s better.

Baggronor:

War machines are risky at low point battles, as they are difficult to protect and won’t wipe anything out apart from large monsters which are too expensive at 500pts.

He chooses to play with Skavens (he mumbles something about a Skryre-heavy list)
So Engineer with Doomrocket then :~ rats are very tough at such small sizes. He will likely have lots of slaves and fire into combat…

I would do exactly what he isn’t expecting and turn up with loads of troops and mob him.

I would take something like:

1 Sorcerer general with Death magic and Ruby Ring of Ruin. Spirit Leech the Warlock Engineer (Ld 9 vs Ld 5 lol) asap, Fireball any weapon teams/Gutter Runners.

200pt-ish unit of great weapon Dwarfs.

2 Large block of Hobgoblins.

10 Archers, just to kill weapon teams and to ensure his characters don’t leave their units.

Edit: Chiccovr, is that artwork in your sig from Blizzard? If so, please don’t use it, we’re keen not to infringe IP laws here (already been smacked by GW once).

Nicodemus:

I’ve had great success with modest size Blunderbuss units in small armies, anywhere from 500, 750 to 1000pts. You really have to carefully plan and make sure you deploy them effectively as well. They’re usually my last infantry units to get deployed. If it’s Skaven you’re facing then the blunderbusses should work well, especially if you can get enough of a Strength bonus against weaker infantry with poor armour. Even if your blunderbusses get caught in close combat they will be tough enough to stand their ground against most of what a 500pt Skaven army could throw at you… not that close combat with them is an effective use of their points cost.

The Doomrocket is nasty just business. Hope he mis-judges how many dice he needs or screws the pooch on the roll.

As for Baggronor’s suggestion for the Sorcerer… I like it and will try it out next game. Usually I have a Lv2 with Lore of Fire, but this gives some leeway with the ring.

~N