Rathnards True Dwarfs - The Fists of Golloch

[Rathnard]

So this weekend I’m flying across the state for a 2-day tournament (MOAB, in Sydney). So i finally get to put my efficiently packed, “Travel Friendly” Dwarves to the test!

The event is 2300pts, which comfortably fits into the two boxes above. It’s small enough that i could have packed it in my carry-on luggage, but I wanted to bring the display board so it’s in my check-in bag instead.

In the meantime, I’m still making slow progress on my second Ironguard Regiment (no pics yet), but I’ve also assembled & undercoated a few extra bits…

That will be Battle Driller #3, plus another 5x Throwing Mastiff markers. These new units were inspired by an absurd MSU Dwarf list with 9x Throwing Mastiffs and 3x Drillers that I’d like to try. It should be a quicker project than the Ironguard at least!

[Gerrcinn]

good luck in the tournament and can I say once again how great that army looks, I love that you’ve doubled down on Mantic even drafting in the sci-fi and footballers to keep the consistency.

It’s a fantastic looking force when viewed en masse (even more so stacked up )

[Boss_Salvage]

Happy travels and good luck! Hope the airline treats the Fists well. Also the army really fills up that display board, what a mass dark armor and light beards

[Rathnard]

Update Time!

So first up, the MOAB tournament a few months back was great! I mean, yes, i lost 5/6 games… but that’s beside the point! Here’s some random pics of me getting trashed in all those games.

I think my losses mainly came down to inexperience with the army (I’ve not played alot of games this year), combined with some solid opponents, the innate slowness of Dwarfs and a bit of bad luck (especially in my last game!). After the event i took lots of notes though, so hopefully I’ll be better prepared for next time!

The army itself travelled well for the most part. About half a dozen models came off their multibase after each trip, but they were easy repairs to make. However the display board didn’t fare so well - it basically came apart on the flight over and i had to hold it together with sticky tape during the event. The display base itself was just a modified cheap picture frame, but i clearly underestimated how rough check-in is on ones luggage!

My next event (and test for the army) is Cancon on the 21-22 Jan - located across the country in Canberra and probably the biggest KoW event in the country (64 players at last count). It’s 2000 pts, so this time I’ve been able to fit the army into a single 3.5L storage box…

I’ve also decided against taking my display board, so I’ll be able to fit my army, plus clothes etc into a single carry-on bag! This should hopefully minimise the risk of any breakages on the flight over.

I do still need something to carry my army around though… maybe something more functional, like a small tray or sheet of MDF.

Finally, with it being the holidays i managed to get some more painting done;

Second Regiment of Ironguard. Nothing much to say here, I’m just glad they’re done!

5x Throwing mastiffs and a Battle Driller, bringing my total to 10 and 3, respectively. I’m one step closer to the all-Throwing Mastiff, Max Battle Driller, MSU Dwarf Army.

Flame Priest #2. I wasn’t expecting to paint a second one but he ended up in my Cancon list and, well, here we are!

Next up for painting are a horde of Shieldbreakers and a Regiment of Crossbows. Although given how busy i was last year with family business, it could be a while before those are done!

[Boss_Salvage]

Thanks for the battle shots, great to see your army in action Commiserations on the record but so it goes. Good luck at Cancon! I continue to be a big fan of the army, props on somehow continuing to add to it - new flame lad looks great, proper sci-fantasy bad ass

Also I will never stop high fiving you for taking any battle drillers, let alone maxing them out

[Cyberactivity]

The army looks great.

Instead of a display board, have you considered a display mat? Fabric or neoprene mat that can be folded or rolled up small to take with you. You can then unroll and display the army on top.

Idea was from a friend of mine that just had a thick bit of black cloth and displayed the army on top. It was simple but effective and think it would be a travel friendly option. Now that you can get custom mats printed it could have several applications.

[Rathnard]

Time for another of my infrequent updates!

So when i last posted, i was poised to go to the January Clash Of Kings event here in Australia - a 2-day, 6 game tournament and the largest in the country. After my abysmal performance at MOAB, my expectations were pretty low. Basically if i managed to win at least 2 games then I’d consider it a success.

In the end i did FAR better than i could have hoped, winning 4/6 games and placing 6th out of 62 with my Imperial Dwarfs!

My only losses were on the second day, against the eventual tournament winner (with Northern Alliance), and a Flyer heavy Salamanders list - both very tough but enjoyable games.

The list I took is below, but basically I went with an all-infantry army with alot of mid-range shooting (Flame Belchers, Flame Priests and the Mastiffs). The shooting helped alot with ranging out my opponents units and dealing with chaff, while the Infantry proved to be incredibly tenacious, usually grinding through the enemy once they finally connected.

I don’t think I could pick out a single unit or upgrade as possible dead weight - everything had its place in the army and proved its worth at least once throughout the weekend. The biggest issues I found were the slowness of Dwarfs for achieving scenarios, and the lack of long ranged shooting for threatening similar ranged units (both of which came into play against those Salamanders). So I’ll have to think about how best to deal with that. In the meantime, I’m VERY happy with my 6th place!

Dwarfs [2000]

Berserkers Troop [105]
Berserkers Troop [105]
Ironclad Regiment w. Mastiff [125]
Shieldbreakers Horde w. Chant of Hate [235]
Flame Belcher [90]
Flame Belcher [90]
Berserker Lord w. Brock & Blade of the Beast Slayer [160]
Flame Priest w. Fireball (10), Bane Chant (2), Scorched Earth (2) & Conjurer’s Staff [130]
Flame Priest w. Fireball (10), Banechant (2) & Inspiring Talisman [120]
Faber Ironheart [1] [175]
[F] The Hammers of the King, Bulwarkers (The Royal Guard) Regiment w. Throwing Mastiff [165]
[F] The Hammers of the King, Bulwarkers (The Royal Guard) Regiment w. Throwing Mastiff [165]
[F] Anvils of the Mountain, Ironclad (The Royal Guard) Horde w. Throwing Mastiff & Brew of Strength [255]
[F] The Lord’s Bannerman, Standard Bearer (The Royal Guard) [80]

Part 2 to follow…

[Rathnard]

One last thing i wanted to add before i go to sleep…

With Cancon being held across the country in Canberra, this was my second opportunity to test how well my Stackable Dwarfs go on a plane!

This time, my 2000pt army was able to fit in a single 3.5L container! This meant i didn’t even need to check in a suitcase for the flight - everything i needed was able to fit snugly into a single backpack.

Overall, the dwarfs travelled extremely well, with no breakages at all. I also took a very simple “movement tray” made from an MDF placemat (pic in the last post, but here it is again below). It turned out to be a great decision, fitting easily into my bag and it making it very easy to move my army between tables.

BTW, I still love the suggestion from @Cyberactivity to source a neoprene mat for a display board. I’m currently keeping an eye out for some options i could use!

[Boss_Salvage]

Awesome result! And a very cool list, quite the carpet of stunties looking to flex their short range shooting if not their sprinting muscles.

The army continues to look great, and its stacking powers are second to none

[FredOslow]

Impressive tournament result, congrats!

[Rathnard]

That’s for the feedback all! @Boss_Salvage it’s been a while since I’ve taken a picture of the stack - i might have to pull all my Infantry out and see how high it is now.

Anyway, the painting is continuing whenever i get time. Here’s the latest…

Free Dwarf Pack Master. That’s right, I’m doing Free Dwarfs now. I decided to commit to an Australia-wide Slow Grow league this year. But rather than paint an entirety different army for once, I decided I just couldn’t get away from painting more Dwarfs!

This was the first unit for the League. I’m still leaning into the technological theme for this army, so the Pack Master needed a mecha-spider friend to hang out with.

Shieldbreaker Troops. I’ll almost always be using these as a Regiment or Horde, but this way I’ll have a little more flexibility in Ambush games.

Regiment of Lesser Earth Elementals, to be used as Ironguard. The Dwarf is a placeholder… hopefully I’ll replace him with a Dwarf Druid or Wizard at some point, to guide his unit of constructs!

This was an experiment of sorts, but i quite like how it turned out. With my Free Dwarfs going further down the technological route, I’m starting to think i might add some more “Traditional” units to the Imperial Dwarfs. Especially in the shape of some magically charged constructs like these!

Ironwatch Crossbows. Nothing much to say here. With this second regiment done i can finally take a nice big horde of them.

Spear Levy for my Free Dwarfs. The idea being that these are Halfling Conscripts, pressed into service to fight for the Mighty King Golloch. I’ve used a Forge Father Brokkyr to lead them, which I’m hoping helps tie them into the rest of the army!

That’s it for now. I’ve got a bunch of stuff ready for me to tackle next, including Craggoth & Kholearm, Shieldbreakers and two of the only units I’ve yet to paint for the Imperial Dwarf List - a Steel Behemoth and Jarrun Bombard!

[Rathnard]

… and here it is, the Dwarf Stack as it stands today;

13x Regiments at 16" tall. But it’s not finished yet. I’ve got at least another 3x Regiments to paint for it (2x Ironwatch Rifles, 1x Shieldbreaker). After that I’ve got the models on sprue for at least a further 2x Ironwatch, but I’m really not sure I’ll need more than two Hordes.

[Boss_Salvage]

Someone stop this madman before his Dwarfs tower over us all!

[wilberforce]

Dwarfed by dwarfs!

[Rathnard]

So a few weeks back I had to travel for a bit and didn’t have access to paints. Sooo, instead i did a bit of assembly…

Horde of Ironwatch Rifles. I wanted a chunkier and more modern look than the standard guns, so i bit of converting was required. The champion got a shotgun because, well, i just wanted too!

Dwarf Lord on Large Beast! This marks a return to the cork-built elementals i made a couple of years ago, when i started this army. This is going to be part of a “Traditional” Dwarf contingent, along with all the other magically powered units and standard fantasy Dwarf minis.

The lord is a placeholder until i find a more appropriate mini. I’m torn as to whether to find a Mantic Dwarf Lord, or just use a third party mini.

[Rathnard]

…also, here’s some stuff i painted since i got access to my paints again.

Steel Behemoth/Golloch’s Fury, using a Forgefather Half-Track. It might look unconverted, but trust me, it isnt! Those tracks had to be sliced in half to ensure they wouldn’t spill over the 50x100mm base. The less brittle restic material actually made this an easier process than it would have been with any other material, but it was still a pain in the ass to do!

Jarrun Bombard and Banick Kholearm for my Free Dwarf expansion - both using Forgefather Brokkyr minis.

I’ve heard great things about using Banick for the Free Dwarfs, but not so much for the Jarrun Bombard. Granted, the Jarrun does get that upgrade for the Shattering/Iron Resolve Aura in the Free Dwarf list, but it’s still hard to justify its inclusion.

First batch of Ironwatch Rifles. I’m glad i gave them all cloaks - it looks cooler and importantly, makes them easier to paint!

[Rathnard]

This month i finally cracked 6000pts of Imperial Dwarfs, so i figured some shots of the full army was needed…

Not pictured are my most recent finished units - Bannick and the Jarrun Bombard.

The real tragedy of this army is that nobody i know has a KoW army even approaching this size. So a it might be a while before i could field the lot of them in a 6000+pt megabattle.

In the meantime, I’ve got another 4 Dwarf units lined up to paint. So expect to see a 7000pt army pic in a couple of months…

…and yes, i might be slightly addicted to painting Dwarfs.

[Cyberactivity]

It’s a shame we don’t live closer as I’ve got over 13k pts of painted Nightstalkers, thereby “dwarfing” your 7k pts.

We might be doing a mega battle later in the year in either Bexley or Hemel Hempstead. 5k pts per player.

[Boss_Salvage]

Lots of great new stuff, highest of fives for the painted Forgefather behemoth, bombard and Kholearm. The tube guns of the Ironwatch certainly came together with paint - and respect on the shotgun requirement

Also 6k! Yowza!

[Rathnard]

Thanks @Boss_Salvage - I’m pretty pleased with how the rifles have turned out. Well worth the effort i think!

13k of Nightstalkers hey? That sounds like a challenge to me.

In all seriousness though, my optimistic, long term goal is to eventually hit 10k of Imperial Dwarfs, which i think is achievable given what i still have to paint, and plan to buy. Beyond that will probably depend on what Mantic has on offer when they redo the Dwarf range next year.

I’d love to come to a 5k megabattle, but unfortunately Bexley is a bit far for me travel - about 14,750km from my home in Kalgoorlie.