AoS Advice for Battling Dwarves

[mememan]

Alright so my friend runs a dwarf army and I've had trouble battling him. We play 3500 point games and our house rule goes that if you qualify for a battalion, you automatically receive the bonuses. Since I run a mostly defensive army with Saurus Guard as the core bulk, I stay idle to get the bonus from the Eternity Starhost Battallion while I send Chameleon Skinks to take care of artillery, but he always recks me with his Gyrocopters, so what can I do?

 

[mememan]

Alright so my friend runs a dwarf army and I've had trouble battling him. We play 3500 point games and our house rule goes that if you qualify for a battalion, you automatically receive the bonuses. Since I run a mostly defensive army with Saurus Guard as the core bulk, I stay idle to get the bonus from the Eternity Starhost Battallion while I send Chameleon Skinks to take care of artillery, but he always recks me with his Gyrocopters, so what can I do?

Here's my Army List
General: Lord Kroak
Heroes: Eternity Warden, Starpriest, Astrolith Bearer, and Engine of the Gods
Battleline: 3 Units of 20 Saurus Guard, 1 Unit of 6 Ripperdactyl Riders, and 2 Units of 5 Chameleon Skinks
Behemoths: 2 Bastilodons with Arks of Soteks

Because of our house rule, I also have the bonuses of the Heavenswatch and Eternal Starhosts.

 

[Bodestig93]

First of all; next time you two battle please upload it here! that table must be crowded

My friend is also playing dwarfes, and they pose no particular threat to me to be honest. I ALLWAYS field the Balewind vortex. for only 100p your Celestrial deliverance topped with the astrolith range buff has enough range to cast almost across the board. either focus on killing his key targets (cannons, irondrakes and heroes) OR maybe the copters, and you pop up the chameleons after killing a few of them so it's safe enough for them to do their work.
I would also recommend fielding the thunderquake instead of the heavenswatch, to keep your bastiladons even sturdier!

 

[mememan]

First of all; next time you two battle please upload it here! that table must be crowded

My friend is also playing dwarfes, and they pose no particular threat to me to be honest. I ALLWAYS field the Balewind vortex. for only 100p your Celestrial deliverance topped with the astrolith range buff has enough range to cast almost across the board. either focus on killing his keytargets (cannons, irondwarfes and heroes) OR maybe the copters, and you pop up the chameleons after killing a few of them so its safe enough for them to do their work.
I would also recomend fielding the thunderquake instead of the heavenswatch, to keep your bastiladons eeaven sturdier!

Thanks I might reduce my Saurus Guard to Only 2 units of 25 so I can make space for some Kroxigors so I can qualify for the Thunderbeast Starhost and so it's easier to cast mystic shield on my units to give them a 1+ save

 

[Bodestig93]

nah, keep the Saurus Guard 20 units of 3. I would reduce / cast away the rippers and field the salamander and skink handler since its much cheaper

 

[mememan]

nah, keep the Saurus Guard 20 units of 3. I would reduce / cast away the rippers and field the salamander and skink handler since its much cheaper

I don't know about taking out my Ripperdactyl Riders cause I've seen them wreck my friend's Quarrerlers but I'll try it out for the next game.

 

[Killer Angel]

Unless you're facing unusual lists, dwarfs live on shooting (heavy and light), then CC with sturdy units.
The fact is: they are slow, and the only things with nice move are 'copters... but those are also weak, and it shouldn't be a broblem to blast them away with shooting (bastiladon, razordons).

You can also deal with cannons with relative ease. Chama skinks are a great solution, but also magic isn't bad: unless they are fielding grudge throwers, they need LOS: use cover for your wizard, bring a BSB for increased range, kill the crew with arcane bolt. Or Kroak them, at 3500 pts you can afford him.


Lately, I'm building a list of dwarfs (easily playable at 1500 pts) with 2 units of miners, 2 gyrocopters, and 20 quarrelers w. Bugman. I've got nice move and three popping units (with the quarrelers being absolute killers), so distant objectives are fair play. Then I'll have my solid shooting castle with a couple of long ranged warmachines, runelord, general and melee battlelines.


What kind of units do you face? Dwarfs are costly, but 3500 is a lot of points.

 

[mememan]

Unless you're facing unusual lists, dwarfs live on shooting (heavy and light), then CC with sturdy units.
The fact is: they are slow, and the only things with nice move are 'copters... but those are also weak, and it shouldn't be a broblem to blast them away with shooting (bastiladon, razordons).

You can also deal with cannons with relative ease. Chama skinks are a great solution, but also magic isn't bad: unless they are fielding grudge throwers, they need LOS: use cover for your wizard, bring a BSB for increased range, kill the crew with arcane bolt. Or Kroak them, at 3500 pts you can afford him.


Lately, I'm building a list of dwarfs (easily playable at 1500 pts) with 2 units of miners, 2 gyrocopters, and 20 quarrelers w. Bugman. I've got nice move and three popping units (with the quarrelers being absolute killers), so distant objectives are fair play. Then I'll have my solid shooting castle with a couple of long ranged warmachines, runelord, general and melee battlelines.


What kind of units do you face? Dwarfs are costly, but 3500 is a lot of points.

My friend uses Ironbreakers as his main battleline and brings a unit or two of 20 Quarrelers. As Support he brings Longbeards and Irondrakes. He usually brings a Unit of Vulkite Berserkers and artillery wise he brings flame cannons. He uses a Warden King, a Runelord, an Engineer, and a Battlesmith. And not to forget Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers.

 

[Killer Angel]

Flame cannons are nasty but with a relatively short range; crews are your first target. A unit of chama skinks costs 120, a Flame cannon 200. Even popping them as kamikaze unit, you’ll end with a good gain.
Quarrelers are annoying, but a unit of 20? You only need a single kill (arcane bolt) to make them lose their bonus.
Really, lord Kroak will easily snipe their Key units and at that point, your buffed saurus guards and basti should dispose of them easily.

 

[Bowser]

I would drop the guard to 3 units of 15. (Technically 3k+ needs 4 battleline, byt not an issue for your houserules.) Take a balewind Vortex, some salamanders and you have:
Leaders
Lord Kroak (540)
Skink Starpriest (100)
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
Engine of the Gods (240)

Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline

Units
5 x Chameleon Skinks (120)
5 x Chameleon Skinks (120)
3 x Ripperdactyl Riders (140)
2 x Razordons (120)
3 x Skink Handlers (40)

Behemoths
Bastiladon (300)
Bastiladon (300)

Battalions
Shadowstrike Starhost (120)
Thunderquake Starhost (120)
Eternal Starhost (80)

Scenery
Balewind Vortex (100)

Total: 3500/3500

If you aren't paying for the battalions, that frees up 320 points. Which means you could add a scar-vet carno and another salamander.

 

[Killer Angel]

If you aren't paying for the battalions, that frees up 320 points. Which means you could add a scar-vet carno and another salamander.

or a third bastiladon!

 

[Bodestig93]

I would drop the guard to 3 units of 15. (Technically 3k+ needs 4 battleline, byt not an issue for your houserules.) Take a balewind Vortex, some salamanders and you have:
Leaders
Lord Kroak (540)
Skink Starpriest (100)
Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
Engine of the Gods (240)

Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline
15 x Saurus Guard (300)
- Seraphon Battleline

Units
5 x Chameleon Skinks (120)
5 x Chameleon Skinks (120)
3 x Ripperdactyl Riders (140)
2 x Razordons (120)
3 x Skink Handlers (40)

Behemoths
Bastiladon (300)
Bastiladon (300)

Battalions
Shadowstrike Starhost (120)
Thunderquake Starhost (120)
Eternal Starhost (80)

Scenery
Balewind Vortex (100)

Total: 3500/3500

If you aren't paying for the battalions, that frees up 320 points. Which means you could add a scar-vet carno and another salamander.

this list is missing the Eternity warden, which is crucial to this list.

 

[Bowser]

My mistake astrolith should have bwen eternity warden.

 

[mememan]

My mistake astrolith should have bwen eternity warden.

The thing about the Astrolith Bearer is that it helps support Lord Kroak in casting Comet's Call which is crucial in my strategy and I'm trying to bring as little amount of big units of Saurus Guard so I don't waste spell casts on Mystic Shield to give them a 1+ save.