i'm thinking of buying a dwarf army (even though i have several army's only half painted ) but i was wondering what ones? i was thinking of the erebor ones but the lack of bows is not that good to me but then the spear support is a great help. then i see durins folk they get good bows but no spear support. both heros are great in there own way both big top dog kings get there fate stuff. both got good killing heros. but before i do make a choice i have these questions.

do the champian's of erebor ( kili, fili ect) can they lead the erebor dwarfs?

are bows for dwarfs that important?

are spears better then bows in a army in more situations?

and what hero's would u pick for both sides if you choose one or the other?

and the only dwarf i ever used was from the fellow ship and he never died for me.

No. They are part of an army of their own (the Dwarves and Bilbo) and cannot lead any troop.



In my experience, once the lines clash, spears are better considering that good models cannot shot into combat. A spearmen can always be of use for someone.
However, is not just a question of Spears vs bow. Erebor lacks units. Durin's Folk has Khazad, Iron Guard, Vault Wardens and even rangers, for those who like them (I do not). Also, the only heroes worth their points in the Erebor list are Thorin and sometimes Dwalin (who is a glass hammer). Durin's Folk has no spears, but has more options.
Plus, you can always ally with a warband full of spearmen, but not a warband full of bowmen (there are, of course, exceptions.)
I once used Ghan and his woses with great success. They cannot be shot by archers when hidden behind the front rank due their rules, and they have blowpipes hitting on 3+, which is a nice touch. They are only S3 but got +1 to wound on orcs, uruks and goblin and their F3 doesn't really matter when the front line is F4 and cannot feint anyway.


Thorin is AMAZING. 3s in all the right places, can get to D8 and get a pony for cavalry bonus.
Everybody loves King's Champion. Is basically a captain with 1 more Attack,1 more strenght and 1 more fight with 2 banners. However Durin's Folk has Gimli and Balin, relatively cheap and reliable heroes with +1 to wound. Floi can remove special rules and I can hardly imagine a game where this skill wouldn't be of use. Dain is nice, with D9 and 3A with +1 to wound. Durin's comes with a warhorn to increase courage, 3A with Durin's Axe and terror, but is way too expensive, when we consider all the many things that can counter him at half his price.

I've seen and played with army that went bowless and in my experience not having a ranged attack will be almost an auto loss if you get the wrong army in the wrong scenario. It's certainly more practical to send all close combat troops and it can work for sure but that doesn't mean it is the best way to go. Though I'd thought Dale had been rolled into the army of Thror. If that is the case you have warriors of Dale with bows to use.

Also don't forget that the Iron Hills is on its way at least. Perhaps you should consider going them.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

a nuther question. thorin king under the mountain and dwalin champian of erebor verion's lead the erebor dwarfs then?

Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Thrain and Thror can lead Erebor Dwarfs, shouldn't make any difference which model version of Thorin or Dwalin you want to use.

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WIP thread: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25860

For the model you use it doesn't matter but the stat lines for the Champions of Erebor versions are exclusive to there own, hero only, list so they can't lead warriors with those profiles.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Im not expert of dwarves, but... I kind of think that Durin's folk is simply more usable and more traditional.

Dwarfs are tricky when asking about bows because they are really good melee units but they walk slow, so enemy with a good archers can cause a lot havoc (depending on scenario) if dwarves don't have bows.
On the other hand, their archers are surprising good damage, and the defence of archers is high. So a few archers could do well at what archers are supposed to do well, and enemy couldn't just shoot them down so easily.

If you like Thorin a lot, I guess you could also make one warband for him (with spears) and the rest for durin's folk, and would not be forced to use only his units.

So yeah, I recommend going for Durin's folk and some archers. Unless there is a specific themic, then go for it.

i think im going to go with the hobbit dwarfs. i can allways ally arnor or somthing if i want bowmen

You don't have to ally anything. The men of dale are integral to the thror list. Dale can be your bow contingent and led by thror's list heroes.

Montizzle is correct, you can actually mix both warriors of Erebor and Dale in warbands as the army requirement allow you to.
Keep in mind that despite Dale its almost as good as the dwarves for a fair bit cheaper point cost, the´re fairly squishy in comparison as the´re identical to numenor in every way except appearance.