Hi guys,

Most of you have seen my goblin army, well, my brother uses Harad and that's cool, but fighting evil on evil sometimes feels like a waste. I mean, there's all those namby pamby good guys out there to beat up on.

Well, with a Moria/underground board, who better to put in the way of the goblins than the dwarves!

Anyway, I've really been enjoying volley firing at the Haradrim, but to do that when starting a new army would mean buying multiple boxes for just the two you'd need to volley with!

I quite like the idea of rangers, I would paint their cloaks camoflage grey like the terrain. I'm not so keen on the 10 points for the bows and the two boxes I'd have to buy for the volleying.

Am I missing something though, or could I give rangers dwarven bows so that they can mix with the warriors with dwarven bows to volley? If so, would they just be +1 point each for a dwarven bow instead of the longbows? Or are they that way for GW money making purposes =)

In any case, my basic plan was this:

I already have Gimli from my Mines of Moria set.

At the moment we play with 461 points (that's how many Haradrim models my brother has.)

I really wanted:

Gimli ( 90 )
8 Dwarves with shields ( 72 )
6 Khazad Guard ( 66 )
6 Iron Guard ( 90 )
Banner Bearer ( 38 )

Then I still have about 105 points and thought either:

So far I would need 1 box of warriors, 2 blisters each of KGs and IGs, either a converted banner bearer or the blister banner that comes with a captain too.

So to finish off the points:

Blister banner purchase for a Captain with shield and throwing axes (70) and the remaining points as a few bows.

OR

8 bows and some 2-Handers.

OR

buy a box of rangers and stick in 8 rangers with bows and a couple of others.

Now if you're still reading by this stage I thank you!
If Rangers can use dwarf bows then I'd get a box of rangers and use 8 of them and two of the other dwarves so that I could volley fire. Otherwise I'll probably save my money for now and just go with the one warriors box.

I just really like the idea of the camoflaged ranger archers, but not quite enough to part with the money if I can't volley without buying an entire second box of them!

I also love the idea behind the shieldbearers, but might save that money until we play with larger forces.

Anyway, would really value your advice!

I wouldn't volley fire with Dwarf Rangers-you lose out on the extra accuracy and most of the range. However, the throwing axes on rangers are really cool, but you have IG, so you already have some. Glad you put in Gimli, as he is one of the best Dwarven heroes you can get, but Balin is also really good. I would include a captain with shield+Throwing axes, as they do a lot of damage points-wise. So I would go with option number 1.

Dwarf rangers do not get Dwarf bows. I think it is okay, as Dwarves are not made for standing a couple hundred cm behind and shooting into the air.

P.S. Can't wait for your next report!

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"Woe to the Vanquished!"
-Brennus-

Rangers can't have the normal dwarf bow and you can't volley underground anyway! If you are using subteranean caverns a lot, why not go for vault warden teams, thats what they are designed for. If you do need some more bows, why not convert a couple of the 2-handed axe dwarves, a bit of bent wire replacing an axe and maybe a roll of green-stuff for a quiver and you are done.

Vault wardens are only very good if the terrain is going your way and they also cost a lot of dosh: £8 for 1 team isn't too cheap...

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Thanks for the advices!

I must confess that if I thought I could go without archers at all I would. I just kinda like the look of the rangers (assuming I can paint them at all worthy).

I have to have some in there, just because with short, stumpy legs, my brother is quite good at using his extra movement against my goblins, which is why my first goblin army had no archers, my second had 8 and my current has 13!

That'll teach him to dance around!

I think at the moment I'm leaning towards grabbing two boxes (1 rangers, 1 warriors) on Monday and seeing if I can have a whack at some converting. I've never used greenstuff, but my brother gave me some. I might try making face-shields for some of the 2-H guys to turn them into Khazad Guards.

And the other suggestion to make some more 2-H into bowdwarves was a great idea too, if anything, my efforts will at least provide some humour =)

I'm for sure keen on Balin, but might try the more cost-effective methods first, see how I go, then splash out on the more expensive purchases.

As for why I like volley fire? Well, with my goblins with their shorter movement distances, it means that right from the start of the game I'm killing one or two troops per turn. Once the enemy comes into range, I'm usually already in close quarters range anyhow, so I often find myself with as many volley kills in a game as direct fire. It also seems to work well psychologically. I've had him hanging under cover and spending troops to try and disrupt my archers. I guess the big difference here is that for my goblins, they only ever hit on a 5 or 6 anyway, so it's not as big a drop as most other armies get. It's also effectively free kills, all you have to do is add two bows to the 8 you have already and, voila, free kills in the early stages of the game. I swear they made it 10 archers just to make you buy second boxes of minis =)

Thanks for the help deciding!

Rangers are very fun to paint. They are rather expensive to field but their shooting, especially the throwing axes, is very effective. You'll want to do a lot more direct shooting than you did with the goblins though I would still suggest getting a second box of warriors for volley fire as well as to add numbers and options to your army.
Don't convert too many two-handed axe men because they're a great way to add numbers as well as kills.

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“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

Store had no metals, so "just" got a box of warriors and a box of rangers. Will WIP them on my blog:
http://simbattleboard.blogspot.com/

Will give me some time to get my painting skills back up to scratch before the more expensive purchases!

I think if you want some khazad guard, it would definetely be a good idea to convert all of the 2H dwarves into Khazad Guard with green stuff and get another box of dwarf warriors, it would be cheaper than getting 3 blisters of Khazad guard.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel