Fielding the Throng of Nog: Dwarf rules
Dwarfs appears in the Cities of Sigmar battletome, but as with the other species inside, it's a rather curtailed list in comparison with previous standalone armies. Despite this, the Age of Sigmar rules appear to be very flexible, and most of my army can be fielded as-is, with a fair bit of 'counts-as' and a seasoning of discussion with the other players.
Where possible, I'm using the most up-to-date rules. In strict game terms, the Throng of Nog will be a Cities of Sigmar army, that uses Dwarfs as Allies. In a worst-case scenario, it will simply be an Order Grand Alliance force.
In general, I'm using the Cities of Sigmar battletome rules (accesible through the free Warscroll Builder on GW's website) as my first port of call. As a second line, I'm using the Dwarf Warscroll Compendium, again on the GW website. This includes the Pitched Battle profiles (that is, the points values) for a lot of the old models that no longer have rules, like the Grudge Thrower. There are one or two things still missing from that, and that's meant a dive into the older Dwarf Warscrolls from the first edition. This is a more complete lists, but doesn't include Pitched Battle profiles.
To that end, I wanted to 'show my working' in the rules I've chosen to represent the models I like best in the game – and hopefully avoid any nasty surprises or unintentional interactions. I've listed them as follows:
[Name] – [Warscroll being used] [(source]) XXpts
The source is either the Cities of Sigmar (CoS), Dwarf Warscroll Compendium (DWC), or Original Warscrolls (OW).
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LEADERS
Cyng Nurnanog – Dwarf Lord (OW) 130pts*/Warden King (CoS) 110pts
The most difficult model of all, unfortunately, is the army's leader! For this, I'm using the Dwarf Lord battlescroll from the first release of Age of Sigmar, as this is oddly the only way to get access to the Shieldbearers:
More conservatively, he'll count as a standard Warden King (the shieldbearers presumably being too tied up to add much to the fight!).
Either way, he'll be the army's general whenever he makes an appearance.
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The Runesmith Tremblestave – Runelord (CoS) 90pts
A lovely model, I really wanted to field this wizard back from the days when dwarfs had elementalists and similar wizards. A Runelord seems entirely appropriate.
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Eorlcyng Nialon the Disapproving – Warden King (CoS) 110pts
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Coln – Unforged (DWC) 80pts
Trollslayers etc. don't exist in the same way in the Age of Sigmar, but there are up-to-date rules for their spiritual successors, the grief-driven 'Unforged' in the Dwarf Warscroll Compendium.
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Snorri Spilaf, Thegn of Nog – Thane with Battle Standard (DWC) 80pts
The lack of characterful models like this is the main reason for me diving into the older rules. I could use him as a Warden King, but as you'll see here, I've loads of models better-suited for that. I guess treating him as a Runesmith – based on the banner bearing terrible runic magic, rather than Snorri himself – could work, but I'd prefer to use the Dwarf Warscroll Compendium rules, copied below:
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Eorlcyng Broggi Diamondback – Warden King (CoS) 110pts
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| Work-in-progress |
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BATTLELINE
Thegn Kazasturn, Gesith of the Cyng – 30 Ironbreakers (CoS) 330pts
Background-wise a lieutenant to Cyng Nurnanog, Kazasturn will lead a unit of Ironbreakers.
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The Weartling Cwichelm – 20 Ironbreakers (CoS) 260pts
Not to be outdone, Cwichelm will bring his snazzy Crimson Few into battle as Ironbreakers.
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Jorj Svensson – 20 Longbeards (CoS) 220pts
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| Work-in-progress |
Jorj will lead a motley collection of models I like, being fielded as Longbeards.
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Klimt of the Eastern Woods, Far-Ranger – (DWC/OW?) 20 Quarrelers – 240pts
(If taken as a Far-Ranger – 100pts)
Depending on how the model comes out when painted, he may be promoted to a Leader, using the 'Not-Bugman' Far-Ranger rules. For the moment, however, he'll simply be the leader of the crossbow-bearing Quarrelers. These are in a weird place, as they appear in GW's warscroll builder, but the only Warscroll I can find is the original one. Perhaps an oversight? For the moment, I'll use the Pitched Battle profile from the DWC, and the Warscroll from the OW:
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ARTILLERY
They've not yet arrived, but I've been able to source a stone thrower and bolt thrower, the rules and points for which I include here for completeness:Bolt Thrower (DWC) 120pts
Grudge Thrower (DWC) 180pts
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Phew! A last reference image, from the Dwarf Warscroll Compendium:
Well, that wraps up the basic stuff. I'm pleased to see you can field a dwarf army by the letter of the rules without too much counts-as or fiddling around with Allies (with the possible exception of the Lord riding on his ancestor's shield; but I'm confident the PCRC won't worry too much about him. We've done custom special characters before, so effectively he's that).
Of course, this still leaves things like Artefacts and Command Traits. I'm not really au fait enough with how Age of Sigmar works, so I'm open to any thoughts on how to approach this. Use the Cities of Sigmar ones? The older dwarf ones? Something else? Make up our own?
I suggest you use the CoS battletome and ally in all the plain order units such as the artillery (we can hand wave anything which goes beyond the 20% points limit). I suggest you pick Hammerhal as your proxy city selection within it as you get a bunch of very characterful and fitting rules with that which favours infantry, especially generals on foot.
ReplyDeleteHammerhal gives you some fitting choices for COmmand and artefact as well. I would suggest you pick 'Blood of the Twelve' which gives a nice aura to your ironbreakers and the armour of Malus which gives you an extra save which is evident from the shield bearers.
ReplyDeleteAll makes sense to me. I'm of the view that we should try your suggestions and see how they work.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of relics, it really depends on what flavour of dwarf army you are building. Cities of Sigmar splits the relics and traits between various themed cities as others have touched upon. Greywater fastness is a decent fluff choice for dwarfs as it is based largely around boosting artillery, though given your previous posts, you strike me as someone who favours the belt and braces approach with an emphasis on your atypical dwarven throng. The dispossessed rules and relics from the old generals handbook aren't appalling but Omicron may have hit the runic nail on the head with Hammerhal.
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