Dwarf artillery tactics

The best feature of a Dwarf army is its massive array of artillery. Dwarf troops are expensive, and your elite units will probably be outnumbered by most of your opponents. Blocks of 30-40 Goblin and Skaven spearmen can look pretty intimidating. You'll also be up against faster troops than Dwarfs, as everyone else can have cavalry of some sort in their army. This is not something to be upset about as most cavalry units are small and vulnerable to artillery. Superior toughness, weaponskill and leadership won't do you much good if your men are out ranked, out flanked and overrun by goblin hoards, wolves, rat ogres, flesh hounds, chariots etc etc. The best thing a dwarf can do is shoot everything before it gets close.
Choosing Artillery

Bolt Thrower

Don't bother with bolt throwers. A dwarf's Bow Skill is too low., needing 5+ to hit. The Rune of Seeking is tempting to hit fliers, but again you only hit on 5+, and then you'll only do D3 damage which isn't enough to shoot anything out of the sky.

Organ Guns

One of the best things in the dwarf army. Five cannon shots into large units can cut them down to size and up against big monster can do up to 15 wounds, so even Blood thirsters can be blown away. Organ guns are also very cheap - 60pts. The downside is they have a good chance of blowing up. Unfortunately Jervis Johnson has recently said on the Web (and in White Dwarf) that the Rune of Forging is only allowed on Cannons so you can't reroll misfires. The only useful rune is the Rune of Fortune which makes misfires less of a worry.

As a whole turn is needed to reload I prefer to split my firing, three shots in the first turn, two in the second (unless there's a very obvious target, like a Bloodthirster or Dragon in which case fire all five). By the third turn your opponent will have either destroyed your artillery or be in combat.

Flame Cannon

My favourite piece of all. With a 10" long (wahay) template a lot of skaven can be covered. A good hit can cover up to 15 troops, all of whom are hit automatically, and with a strength of 5, most people get wounded on a 2+. If your opponent has some tough troops, add the Rune of Penetrating. Unfortunately, like the Organ gun the Flame Cannon cannot use the Rune of Forging, so you should chuck the Rune of Fortune to give it some protection.

Although the Flame Cannon doesn't appear to have the range of some of the other war machines available, it can still reach the enemy in the first turn. You can guess up to 12", the template itself is 10" long and rolling the artillery dice can add up to another 10", giving maximum range of 32". So long as your fairly accurate at guessing ranges, the flame cannon will hit its target most of the time. Estimate the range, take 8" off and your guaranteed at least an inch of the template hitting the enemy.

Cannon

The cannon isn't as devastating as the organ gun or flame cannon, but has a greater range, can do more wounds and is a lot more reliable. Giving it the Runes of Forging and Fortune make it unlikely to blow up. Although it can't do as much damage to large units, it can be pretty devastating to large monsters, or expensive characters and troops, and is especially useful for picking off enemy war machines.

Stone Throwers

These are very useful, especially if you have two or three firing at the same target. With the Rune of Accuracy allowing you to reroll the scatter dice you have better chance of a hit, and with a couple of shots at a unit it'll soon be running. If your fighting a large battle, with lots of units about, even misses have a good chance of hitting.

Gyrocopters

This seems to be everyone's favourite war machine, but I think its quite over-rated. If your opponent has any fire power, its very easy to shoot them down. Even half a dozen goblin short bows can wipe out a gyrocopter. The Steam cannon is the most accurate dwarf artillery - you can place the gyrocopter up against the target , so there's no chance of missing. Unfortunately anyone under the template is only hit on a 4+, and then you still have to wound, unlike the Flame cannon which automatically hits. The big advantage of the Steam cannon over the Flame cannon is that there is no armour save allowed. The best use of a gyrocopter is to put the Rune of Disguise on it, and never fire, or drop your bombs. Sit the gyrocopter in the middle of the battle, and then charge into fleeing units. The gyrocopter isn't much use in hand-to-hand combat, but as a fleeing unit doesn't fight back, this isn't a problem. This isn't a very nice way of playing, and you won't win many good sportsman points.

Fire Throwers

Games Workshop used to do Dwarf Fire throwers, which are two man portable flame cannons identical to Skaven warpfire throwers. As there are no longer any rules for them we use House Rules, and assume they fire in the same way as Warpfire throwers. Unfortunately as they aren't solid war machines we also don't allow runes on them. Fire throwers can be used in a units of 5 or more teams, deployed in skirmish formation, or any elite unit ( Iron breaker, Hammerer, Longbeard) may have one associated to it. A Fire thrower team has a movement of 3" and can march. It can also stand and fire if it, or the unit it is associated with is charged. It can't move and fire. I deploy mine slightly forward and to the side of my elite units. This means they can stop and fire and not be left behind while the unit carries on marching.

My Choice

In a 2000pt army, I generally have two or three pieces of artillery - 2 Flame Cannon with Runes of Fortune and Disguise, and 2 Organ gun with a Rune of Fortune, and one without runes.

In my 8000pt army I have

Using Artillery

Choosing targets.

Most people fighting dwarfs will try very hard to stop your artillery, and so you've got to make the most of your artillery. Its important to choose your targets carefully. I choose targets in the following order:

1. Big, powerful monsters, characters etc
2. Big units.
3. War machines and chariots. (Chariots should be an easy target for crossbows as well)

Obviously, this order can change during a battle, and with different enemies. Also the Flame cannon is better going straight for big units than war machines and large monsters. Enemy war machines can cause problems for your troops, but if you start targeting them at the start of the battle, you waste your own artillery. You're better off ignoring enemy artillery (yours is a lot better). A unit of crossbows is a lot more effective against artillery. a line of 12 crossbows will cause on average 3-4 wounds. That won't hurt a unit much, but will wipe out an artillery crew, and bring a chariot to a standstill.

Defending your Guns

As your artillery are one of the best bits of your army, everyone else will try to kill them. You'll have to watch out for magic, flyers, infiltrators, bowfire and war machines.

Magic

Artillery crews aren't very big and are more vulnerable to magic than your other units and will be an obvious target. Your best defence against magic is to have runesmith in your force and give him an amulet with three Runes of Spellbreaking. Wizards usually only get one decent spell off each magic phase, and with the dispel cards from the power deck the Runes of Spellbreaking should see your artillery through your first two or three turns of the game. Remember, if your opponent has only one wizard, and you don't have any, then you only roll one D6 for the Winds of Magic, so there's less chance of a magical attack.

Flyers

An easy way to defend your artillery is to set your war machines up with a clear line of sight to each other, and far enough apart to shoot at each other (about 10"). if a flyer attacks your crew from flying High, flee. A flyer attacking from high can't pursue, and is left beside an abandoned war machine. You can then blow it away with your other artillery (especially as you know the exact range to the flyer). As your crew have a leadership of 9, you should be able to rally them next turn, and go back to their machine. Alternatively you can use the Rune of Immolation and blow up the flyer and machine together. If a flyer charges your crew in the conventional way, this is probably your only chance of doing any damage, but if your brave crew are all wiped out, your other gunners can avenge them.

Infiltrators

To stop infiltrators picking off your crews you can use small units as a screen. Slayers are good for this job as they are cheap for dwarfs) and don't run away. It's usually obvious where infiltrators will come from, so deploy a screen of troops between your guns and the sly back stabbers.

Bowfire and War Machines

In a small 2000pt army there's not a lot you can do about being shot. A unit of crossbows can be used to distract the enemy fire, but it's a waste of your artillery if you spend the battle in a shooting match with the enemy's war machines. In a larger game you can use allies to get back at your enemies with flyers, magic and infiltrators.

Back Up

In a larger game, it's a good idea to have some back up for your crews. Deploy small units behind your war machines, within charge range. When your crews get attacked, they can flee and the back up units can charge in and do all the damage. I like to use small groups of slayers, led by a dragon or daemon slayer with a big monster killing axe, like a frost blade, or Rune of Death. if I'm using allies any sort of cavalry are excellent for this job, as they can charge a lot further and cover more than one war machine. This tactic works very well, as expensive characters on expensive monsters are always tempted into attacking big cannons, and become very vulnerable to a maniac with a dangerous Frostblade & Potion of Strength.

Finally

Your artillery can become the focal point of any battle. This isn't a bad thing, as it means your opponent is going to spend most of his time trying to stop your guns, while you get on with winning the game. Your artillery can win your battle, leaving your troops to mop up survivors, but can also be used to lead your enemy into parts of the battle field where your men can chop him down. Although dwarf troops are very slow, your artillery will force the other player to hurry his men into combat.

Final tips

Make sure you shoot the most worthwhile target and get the hang of guessing ranges. All of your artillery will be utterly crap if you can't tell how far 12" is. (Girls tend to be pretty poor at guessing ranges, but this is proberly because they've been told 12" is a lot shorter than it really is.)

Written by David Stone