Tactics for using Confrontation Dwarves PART 3

PART 3

This article was written by drimdalon the confrontation forum and he has given me permission to post it

Time to talk about the secrets of the forge and the power of Odnir and Uren.

First there are the thermo-priests. You have two different models with slightly different stats and an alternative profile that comes with the warriors of rag’na’rok pack . The first two are there for one thing only. Hitting and hitting hard. They are really lousy mages. They aren’t able to cast their own spells for sure but they are fearsome in close combat with their high force and steam powered weapons. One has a slightly lower force but causes more fear. The choice all depends on what army you are facing. Don’t be afraid to bring them in close combat and let loose the terrible power that is steam. And when they blow up they usually take some enemies with them.

The third profile is a bit different as it has only an average force (+steam off course) put has a point of power more. This means that he can actually try to cast some spells. He does especially well leading a pack of 2 of the other mages. Using his spells to protect them from incidents/boosting their rolls or just blowing them up when they are to wounded.

Then we have the steam-priest on razorback: The same comparison can be made here. This guy can’t cast any useful spells. But packs a fast moving serious punch.

He is however really expensive and for those points I usually tend to field a Son of Uren. However when you are playing a cavalry based force or a steam-powered force he might fit in just right.

Lithomancien of Tir-a-Bor: another warrior mage (don’t we have a nice wide selection of troops to choose from) One who masters the path of Lithomancie. Problem is that there aren’t to many spells this guy can take. He comes with two spells and I really suggest you buy the grimoire tellurique for some more chose. Except for his poor range of spells to choose from this guy has a lot going for him. He’s cheap, has a decent power rating for a warrior mage, nice all-round stats and best of all he comes with a free spell he can give away to another char. Usually you can use this spell to help your big boss out a bit. Although you don’t always have to give it to him (remember the thing about not being predictable)

One thing to say about all of these guys is that they are combat-mages and therefore have options in combat that a normal warrior doesn’t. This alone sometimes tips the balance in favour of the warrior-mages when choosing troops

Bal-Torg the ancient: first of the true mages. His usefulness really depends on the size of battles you lay. He is not to expensive and can use smaller spells easily. Once you start crossing the line of 300 points however you have better options. His second incarnation is a better choice for only 13 points more. His stats are the same (who are by dwarf standards only mediocre) but he gains some more magic ability. He becomes an adept, can cast fire spells and spells from the path of druidism and gains a power level. This means you have a broader range of spells to chose from, start with more mana, will recover considerable more mana later on and can cast your spells more easily.

But as said before it all depends on your point total. Taking his second incarnation (+spells) in a 200 point game might strain the rest of your army to much.

Fengarr ironhand: a slightly more expensive mage with worse stats then Bal-Torg but he has steam-equipment to help him get around and he also has a discipline point more. This means you can field him as your commander and expect to have a decent discipline. He is also the only serious mage who can cast spells from the forge path. So if you decide to go with a steam-powered force this little fellow can help out a lot.

Magnus the mystic: The actual only TRUE mage for the dwarfs. He has the power to cast the spells you want/need, he has decent stats to survive. A high discipline so you can field him as the leader of your force and a nice selection of spells. Off course all of this comes with a price, 68 points without items or spells. If you aren’t careful this guy can cost you 1/3 of the total build total of your army or more. I almost always suggest giving him at least one familiar to help him recover the gems he need.

Something that will become obvious once I start covering the spells is that all these mages have a few direct spells but that they are best used in helping out the rest of the army. So when fielding them you have to take this into account when building the rest of your army. After all what if you have the greatest mage walking around with spells that can help your troops but if there aren’t any troops to help.

Prevot d’Uren: what can I say? Haven’t used priests that much. But have some solid ideas about them. First of all you get a sturdy warrior for only 27 points. Just like the warrior-mages he can perform tricks in combat no normal warrior can and with his abilities hard-boiled and possessed he can endure combat for the longest time. His best miracles are those that help out the steam-powered warriors in your ranks.

Elghir the resolu (the stubborn ?): A slightly better priest but a worse warrior. If you do take him he is there for two things. These are his miracles and his cauldron to heal your warriors.

PART3B
Before I start this part I would like to say once more that all the cards I have are in French and that I don’t have an English translation for everything. I will always give the original (French) name and then mention the English name (or what I think it is)

Before going on I do have to add something I forgot: as Miracles are called in order of discipline and not initiative this means that dwarfs actually have a very goo chance of going first. This is very important as most dwarf players won’t be used to it and just overlook it (I did)

Let’s see what kind of magical weapons our little guys have.

The skinner (L’echoreuse): For 16 points this on weapon you need to field when you employ Bhor-Hok. Especially when fighting troops with a high resistance this makes all the difference. The ability to count stun results as wounds means that they will cumulate with ordinary wounds and slowly kill the opponent.

The cauldron of Hyffaid: One of the few things dwarfs have to heal themselves. The fact that you have to be in contact with the target isn’t that bad as the only other means of healing (an earth and a water spell) require the same thing. If you expect heavy long distance firing, you can put Elghir with this thing in he second rank and heal those that get wounded.

Regulateur de presion (pressure regulator): this helps your guys from blowing up but doesn’t prevent any accidents. The fact that you have to pay 10 points for each guy wearing this means that you usually are better of fielding a mage/priest with spells to help them. Only if you have 1 guy with steam equipment that’s just to important can this be of any use.

Banner of the pacifier: ok unless you are playing a campaign I an be very short about this. Leave it at home. Aegher just isn’t good enough to put enough counters on this thing to make any difference in the game.

The Bourrin: another item I’m not found of. Yes shooting twice can help you a lot. But unless you are at short range (and let’s face it how many shots ill your enemy let you take at short range) you usually prefer the better odds of hitting then trying to shoot twice (remember you not only loose a point of aim but also can’t make take a prolonged aiming shot. So that means it’s a two point difference).

Alcyone compressor: a rather expensive item but with a nice ability. Not only does it help you not getting blown up but it also makes all of your steam rolls more effective. This means that if you back Lothan up with a mage/priest he can easily scare half your opponents’ forces and kill the others.
Especially when you field the entire clan this can get very ugly (ashe then gets another +1 on his rolls)

Glaive D’alphax (Glove of Alphax ?): This is actually a very cheap artifact. It means that not only can you boost the force of your mage for a couple of times. Your opponent also doesn’t know when you are going to use it. His can be played as a good bluff, putting the fear in your opponent so he won’t charge you mage because you MIGHT use it.

Cimettere d’Alphax majeure (???): This is an upgraded version that is also a lot more expensive. Of course you can keep on using it. It has the added bonus that it can also give you an extra die and some initiative. In the end I still think it’s a bit too expensive and that there are better items for mages for these points. But if you field it just don’t ever use the combine option unless you have to You don’t want to lose your expensive mage because you just rolled that one.

Familier clairvoyant (Clairvoyant familiar): This thing is great. It protects not only your mage against missile troop but helps out he rest of your army and it can spot scouts so your cavalry can chase them down. Unless you are short on points this is a must have for Magnus (unless you know you are playing somebody who won’t use many distance weapons./scouts off course)

Le marteau fussion (the fussion hammer): The item isn’t that expensive but has limited use. It is called the gobbo-killer and indeed that’s what it is best used for (and against some weak undead)

Crossbow of the hunter: a nice distance weapon for the dwarfs. It means that at short range Nerak can wound multiple enemies before they try to engage him. I usually advice on only taking two shots as otherwise your chance of hitting something drops too much. (Unless shooting at big targets). I’m running a bit ahead of myself and will include a combo here. If you field the dwarven armour you can increase the aim of Nerak to 5 for only eight points. This means he can try shooting three arrows and still have good chances of hitting someone.

Arme tellurique (tellurique weapon): first of all it is worth mentioning that ANY dwarf character can take this. For 16 it grants he ability to reroll once each turn an ini, attack or defence roll. This allows you to avoid those unfortunate ones more often and gives a definite edge in combat.

Le heaume du patriarch (???) and Le Poing fusion (???): I’ll talk about these two together as they are both very expensive and only for Tan-Kair. So yes they cost a lot but then again so does Ta-Kair without anything. If you are going to field him, field him in all his glory and buy these items. The extra bonus he gives to the entire army and the fact he can’t screw up his steam rolls means a lot.

These are the dwarf only items. Off course the travel journals also provide us with some general items.

The crown: this thing extends your leadership with 15cm or gives you leadership 10. Unless you want to give it to Pilzenbihr or Magnus to combine with a war-staff so you can have a discipline of 11 (cheapest way of getting it) this item is just to expensive.

The iron: Now here is a real treasure; The possibilities are just to numerous. You can enhance your warriors/priests or mages with this. I especially like the mage option of increasing its power and he can have triple his power of gems instead of double. Off course it is expensive and is best reserved for 300 points or bigger battles. It emphasizes again the strength of an individual in your army. Just watch out you don’t emphasize this too much. (Something to do with the eggs and the basket)

Arme eveillee mineure (minor ‘awakened’ weapon ?): This is one of those surprise items. The fact that you can give it to non-characters means you can give them just that little bit extra in combat. Off course this costs 14 points. So use it only when you are sure that the surprise will be to your benefit.

Consecration: For only three point this is for sure a cheap way of boosting your priests; when you create your army count the number of models you are going to put near the priest. If one or two of these consecration gives you that extra faith point just go for it. This is too cheap to ignore (also because you can put it on non-characters)

Instrument liturgique: another cheap way of giving your priest another point. Together with consecration this means that you can give your priest a decent amount of faith point’s with little troops.

La griffe du titan: For 21 points this thing is a bi to expensive as it will destroy itself after giving a certain amount of force points. So unless you are Hogarth the colossal leave it alone.

La sentence de Nulh (?), La valeur d’Endimvon (?), Le cullinahn: three expensive artefacts with a very specific purpose. Unless this purpose suits your playing style or the army you are creating I wouldn’t advise on taking them.

Offrande the zephyr (offering of the zephyr): A nice artefacts if you have lone hero running around and you want to protect him against missile fire. It also helps when you shoot in close combat because you a chance that even if you hit him you can deflect it to one of the opponents. (Don’t try it with a bombardier, its force is too high for the artefacts to deflect)

Scepter of the Arcans: a nice little artefacts that helps your mages/priests to cast their spells/miracles. If you have some high diff spells/miracles this thing might help out a bit so you don’t have to spend many extra gems/faith points for those extra dice

Vertus mineure (minor virtues): their as some very specific things you can chose all depending on your army or your playing style. For four points these things are cheap and especially the last one ‘vénération/veneration)is especially good. Reducing the cost of all your miracles. This allows you to use more dice or call more miracles.

Vertus majeures (major virtues): Some stronger virtues but also a it more expensive but nothing to costly however. There are some nice virtues but I like the third one best (persévérance/ perseverance) if you have this one miracle you are planning on using a lot you might want to buy this one the fact you can call it twice a turn can swing things in your favour. This should help best in a steam army with the miracle hat prevents you from blowing up. The more people you can protect the better.

Vertus theogonales: There is one virtue for each alignment and it gives you an extra way of gathering more faith points. For dwarves this means that mages and priests count for an extra point. This usually won’t do anything for you that you can’t achieve with consecration, which is considerably cheaper.

Some spells:

A general note is that dwarf spells don’t have great range. If you want to enhance your warriors or heal them it’s all base-to-base contact. Some spells give a 10 cm range but this still means staying close by.

I’m not going to cover every spell they can cast but only those that you should consider taking (in my opinion)

Tellurique slippage: a small spell that allows you to move you dwarfs just that extra bit more. You can easily cast the spell on three warriors close by (because only a part of their base has to be on he card) and then move them 8 cm . This can help avoid charges and engaging the enemy on your terms.

Concentre de fracas (concentrated fracas ?): This is one the main ranged damage spells. It can do some serious damage and it also makes sure your opponent doesn’t like putting his models in base-to-base contact. It isn’t to expensive both in point cost and gems to cost, has mediocre range and a damage that depends how good your caster is (or how lucky you feel with those dice).

Serum de sang de geant (blood of the giant serum): a nice cheap spell that can increase the effectiveness of your troops a lot. You can cast I twice a round so that’s not bad.

Warrior of alphax: the bigger brother, It’s more expensive, it cost more to cast but also provides bigger benefits. You can off course cast both spells on the same target but that seems a bit overkill to me. Just choose one of the two spells depending on your mage and points left.

Thermo destrucion: blowing things up is fun. This is one those spells your own warrior-mages have trouble casting. For this you need the thermo priest of Uren or Fenggar. It’s cheap to but, cheap to cast and chances are your own model can survive the blast a lot better then the enemy. The fact that you can cast it outside the magic phase means even joy.

Thermo-compression: A good spell to avoid your guys from blowing up. Again a cheap, easy to cast spell for Fengarr or the thermo-priest of Uren. If you are fielding a steam heavy force you should always take the priest to help you. But he can only help so much with his miracles. This spells provides some additional assistance.

Illusion christalline (crystal illusion): a nice sell to give to your lithomancer or to but in his box for free so one of your heroes can benefit from it.

Tellurique angel: A nice spell to help out your troops. The fact you can only have one active at the same time and the high cost of the spell means it’s not always that good to take it and you usually end up taking other spells.

Granite javelin: a second distance spell. Especially nice because of it’s nice range, cheap casting cost and he fact you can cast it twice a turn. It’ force isn’t that high and you do have to roll an additional to hit roll based on your power level. Only time and playing with both spells (concentrated fracas) can tell you which one you like best. They each have their advantages.

Farfadet des caverns (??): this is a nice spell. Both because it doesn’t add to the total intensity you can take ad it gives you a free earth familiar. Disadvantage is that you can’t sacrifice it for mana but its three points cheaper and you can cast him again when he dies.

Minor tellurique golem: a nice way of summoning some extra help. You can get only basic help but they are free. This means when you summon a second model you already have more points on the table.

Incarnadine celeste (celestial incarnation ?): a cheap spell. One that you can buy choosing from three different benefits depending on the army you are facing. The fact that you can cast this spell and the effect is delayed to when you need it means that you can start handing out regeneration potions to your entire army while you wait for the enemy to approach. A rather boring but effective approach against an army with nothing a lot of range troops who is waiting for you to come closer. Just refuse to do so until (after turn 20 or so) you have given each of your troops three healing potions (yes yes pretty cheesy I know). The only way your opponent can prevent this is by coming closer to you and that means his ranged troops aren’t that useful any more.

L’ame de la machine (soul of the machine): very nice spell when playing steam armies. Very easy to cast on those team troops who don’t cast fear (Son of Uren )

Off course there are other spells who COULD be useful but in my opinion these are the most important. I avoided the summon earth elemental spell because I feel for 25 points you are better of buying one. Your mage just has to put in too much mana and trouble to keep the summoned guy going that you actually end up paying more then when you buy him.

Miracles:

Forge d’odnir (Odnirs’ forge): it costs a lot of TF and isn’t cheap but I can be ooh so useful. Both the enchanting of the weapon or the armour are nice options.

Protection D’uren (Urens’ protection): THE must have miracle when playing a steam army. It’s easy to cast, doesn’t cost many TF and is cheap. I strongly recommend combining it with the major virtue so you can use it twice in a round.

Convocation and éviction des imposteurs (eviction of the imposters): both of these miracles deserve our attention as they allow you to control the field of battle. One allows you before movement to take a card you choose and put it in reserve (very nice for when you want to charge or perform counter firing) And the other allows you to make your opponent discard his reserve card so he can’t do a stand and shoot. Together with your high discipline this means you can take total domination of the field.

Refus (refuse): A very costly and difficult miracle but one that can have great consequences. If you think you can pull this off and have the points it is well worth the investment.

Arme de clercs (clerical weapon): A nice miracle for your warrior monk. It allows you to seriously damage those high armored foes.

Veret de célérité (?): a nice miracle with two different effects. You can make sure your great hero can make an extra pursuit or make an extra shooting attack and that’s especially nice to give to a bombardier or Nerak (I do wonder if you give it to Nerak an he make 1 attack or can he use his magical weapon to make another 3 attacks ?)

Condamnation du chaseur (condemnation of the hunter): a cheap easy miracle with a great range. And very very good to make sure your bombardiers can hit anything. The best part of this spell is that you can cast it and it stays active until they start shooting. You can off course also use it to protect your troops by making sure your opponent can’t hit a thing.

Fer de la sauvagerie (savage iron ?): another nice cheap miracle that stays active until you actually hit something. And it makes sure you can more easily wound your opponent.

Grace divine: a marvellous miracle, this one is really unbelievable. For only 5 points you have a miracle that can turn battles. You can use to to avoid hose nasty ones or to get really high rolls on those important attack or defence rolls. It can help you cast spells and miracles. Off course you have to use them or take a risk of getting wounded (not that big a chance for dwarves but sill) If you do roll a on one of those rolls you can always use it on another roll where you already have thrown a one. You don’t gain anything but you sure don’t lose a thing either.

These are the miracles I found most useful but off course there may be others.