Can't make out how to play with Dwarves... :(

[IronBrig4]

Bite and hold. Take over a couple regions and keep your armies in the settlement until you get walls, then repeat the process. Dwarfs are a turtler's dream come true.

Also, use the underway. That's especially helpful when fighting vampire counts because they can't swarm you. They'll hit a solid line of ironbreakers while your thunderers and cannon blast them.

[Greasy Dave]

Bite and hold. Take over a couple regions and keep your armies in the settlement until you get walls, then repeat the process. Dwarfs are a turtler's dream come true.

Also, use the underway. That's especially helpful when fighting vampire counts because they can't swarm you. They'll hit a solid line of ironbreakers while your thunderers and cannon blast them.

HOw do you get the vampires INTo the underway? I thought only dwarves and orcs can use it. I agree intercepting an orc stack in the underway is quite a decent approach if you're lucky enough to catch them -but I can't see how you manage to do it for the counts - unless I understood wrong and counts acn use it too?

[AlliedZero]

HOw do you get the vampires INTo the underway? I thought only dwarves and orcs can use it. I agree intercepting an orc stack in the underway is quite a decent approach if you're lucky enough to catch them -but I can't see how you manage to do it for the counts - unless I understood wrong and counts acn use it too?

I just put my army into the underway and move towards a VC army, they almost always intercept me and as such it becomes an underground battle. But no the VC cannot move via the underway, but any faction can intercept.

I am finding that this is the best option to deal with the orcs as well. Suddenly all their cavalry just sort of becomes very useless.

[IronBrig4]

I just took out Archaon in the underway. Quite on accident as I was just trying to reinforce the Tileans, and he intercepted my army. It was a tough fight but even Chaos lords don't like a demolition charge in the face.

[Greasy Dave]

I just put my army into the underway and move towards a VC army, they almost always intercept me and as such it becomes an underground battle. But no the VC cannot move via the underway, but any faction can intercept.

I am finding that this is the best option to deal with the orcs as well. Suddenly all their cavalry just sort of becomes very useless.

Excellent, this is really useful to know - changes a lot of things

[ostendadler]

I'll give my observation from the other side of the battlefield.

I'm playing a GS campaign on Hard and fighting the dwarves has been a bit of random set. One of you guys said it correctly ... if you have to bring the fight to the stunties they can pack a lot of damage during your move forward.

I got my full stack of tier 1 army get punished by some 12 - 14 dwarven armies. Those packs of crossbows really hurt and there's no amount of archers than can change that.


I found out that the "all offensive" style of the orcs can bring some very painful empire slimming moments as the dwarves stop your armies (and waaaag) dead in their tracks and then bunny hop on 3-4 of your puny garrisons and retake a region before you can react.


I'm quite curious to try the "all defensive" style of the dwarves. I guess its not the race for face paced players ...

One love guys.

[xambo]

Dwarfs are amazing to play with. Specially the campaign. Check out this Dwarfs campaign walkthrough with all the tips and help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05As4g4g30

[Yerevan]

As the title says.

You need to drink beer. Lots of beer !

And then you win, or you loose, but you do so as a Dwarf !

.... I see you already recieved more technical advices. And good ones. So I thouhght I could indulge a more roleplay advice.

[♘Top Hat Zebra]

You need to drink beer. Lots of beer !

And then you win, or you loose, but you do so as a Dwarf !

.... I see you already recieved more technical advices. And good ones. So I thouhght I could indulge a more roleplay advice.

Are you talking about manling swill?


If the guy who made it is above three feet tall, and his beard is below three feet long, it's probably manling swill.

[Chromium]

Finally succeeded on wiping out the Orks on turn 90! Whew! H/H with starting lord Ungrim.

Great advice for most people here! Thanks!

I had modded in City walls for Lvl 1 City watch. That's the only change I've done. As per some of the advice here, I only fought in the Underway; don't think I went above ground outside my home territory even once. First I secured my own province, then marched north to take out the Brightstone mine (Gold + Brightstone= 2500 gold per turn ). I made peace with the Orks and pitted them against Grimgor (honour be damned!) and when he wiped them out, I moved in and took their empty settlements treacherously.

I killed Grimgor thrice by Turn 50; haven't seen him since and don't know why. After turn 60, the Orks seemed to lose fizzle and I took Black Crag and Karak Eight Peaks in quick succession, confederated with that southern dwarf faction and squeezed the rest of the Ork territories in the middle. The Savage Ork tribe are still alive but I'm at peace with them and they're constantly moving back and forth around the port settlements, fighting with Barak Varr. I hold Ekrund in the middle to keep a close eye on them as I recover,NA with both and watch the fun. (Don't know if this will come back to hurt me) Around turn 80, I confederated with Karak Kadrin and started to build garrisons and slayer shrines there in preparation of the End Times and will start replacing my Longbeard and Quarreler armies with Ironbreakers and Thunderers soon.

Observations:-

1- Ungrim is a far better starting lord than Thorgrim. The Slayer+Thunderer combo is much better than the Crossbow+Grudgebearer one. My starting slayer unit went up to two gold chevrons before finally being reduced to 6 men after taking on 3 troll units during a brutal Underway battle with Grimgor.

2- Dwarf warriors are useless. Savage Ork Tier I chew through them like paper and they barely manage to stand up to Orks. I don't understand why people are describing them as tanky and defensive. I did very badly with melee units until I started to churn out longbeards.

3- Zhufbar is being sacked very 5 turns by Mannfred. I broke my defensive alliance with them the first time they were attacked, and after 70 turns of killing Orks and assassinating the odd Chaos agent, now the ancient feud between Dwarves and Vampires has been out aside in favour of an alliance against our common enemies and poor Grimnir is spinning in his grave.

4- Upkeep is still a massive problem. I only managed to maintain three full stack armies recently. For most of the time, it was Ungrim's sole good stack, another one with trashy warriors and miners, and another half stack running around. I doubt I'll have to make more though which brings me to my final point.

5- GRIMGOR IZ DA BEST. The Chaos invasion is a joke- especially with that 'Shield of Civilization' trait. I'm sure my garrisons at Karak Ungo and Karak Kadrin can see off anything they throw at me. Norscan doomstacks can be seen off with Lvl 2 City Watch and they're mostly the Empire's concern anyway. The Lord of a Change is a weakling in front of my Lvl 25 Zombie dragon-riding Mannfred and the Everchosen cries like a little girl when Empire handgunners fire at him for a few seconds. In all my campaigns, it's been the Orks who've been the final boss and this dwarf campaign proves it conclusively. This wasn't a fun campaign in the least. There wasn't any challenge but constant drudgery- fighting one silly battle after another, chasing routers around the map until they regenerated and came back with double experience, killing one Black Orc-filled stack led by Grimgor after another, taking, losing and retaking settlement after settlement until barely managing to get some walls around it.

Say what you will, I'm going to find a mod that nerfs Orks or do it myself. Reducing their morale and weakening Savage Orks, Ork Boyz and Big Uns should do the trick.

[Magni]

Dwarf Warriors are far from useless. They're very cost-effetive anvil troops and even later on, with a few Longbeards mixed in and a Lord with three points in to the Axe Lord trait, make up a great bedrock for your second-line armies. Savage Orcs can chew them up, but savages are one-trick ponies in that regard - the entire point is that they hit hard and do not care about AP, but they have no armor, so Quarrellers just murder them. My second-line armies are pretty much Lord, Hero (Runesmith or Engineer) 4*Warriors, 2*Longbeards, 6* Quarrelers, 3-4 artillery (cannons or grudgethrowers) and the remaining slots for either some great weapon Longbeards or Miners with blasting charges. With a Lord skilled into the first tier of leadership skills Axe Lord, Tactician and the army-wide fatigue reduction skill), they mulch stacks that don't bring out big elite units in force.

Also, get barrack Varr soon. The port opens up the possibility of trade routes by sea and dwarf trade is ludicroursly good - gemstones and dwarf ale are the most expensive trade goods in the game. In my current campaign I'm controlling Barrack Varr, Death Pass (the Black Crag province) and the World's Edge Mountains up to Karak Ungor, including Zhufbar and with having invested into economic infrastructure and research, I'm now running ~3.5 stacks of mostly low-tier units and making something like 8k gold per turn after upkeep.

Also, fun little tip for early fights with the Greenskins: Miners are good. They're not good at absorbing charges, but can dish it out well on the charge against early greenskin units and they bring enough AP damage to hurt a Warboss. Also, use the vanguard deployment to get a unit of Miners behind the enemy deployment zone against Grimgor, so you can kill off that annoying Doomdiver Catapult he starts out with. That bloody thing will easily rack up 150+ kills on you if you leave it alone for the whole battle. In my campaign, it went right up to tripple gold chevrons by the time I finally managed to wipe it out.

[AlliedZero]

Excellent, this is really useful to know - changes a lot of things

It is especially nasty if you have a very potent gunline. There is no flanking underground, the narrow passageways allow for total destruction, especially if you know you are going to be outnumbered!

Remember the risk though...whoever loses underground is completely annihilated.

[Chromium]

Dwarf Warriors are far from useless. They're very cost-effetive anvil troops and even later on, with a few Longbeards mixed in and a Lord with three points in to the Axe Lord trait, make up a great bedrock for your second-line armies.

My Dwarf warriors were almost exclusively being used as frontline in underway battles with crossbows focus-firing on indiidual Ork units and taking them out one by one. I was still having casualty rates more than 50%. This was with Ungrim's leadership buffs at Lvl 15. How were you using them?

Also, get barrack Varr soon.

Sounds like a good point. Do I declare war on Barak Varr to get it? They're good allies and seem competent enough to hold off the Savage Orks. Confederacy also seems difficult with them as Grimgor was mostly focussing on me and the other dwarfs in the South. I don't want to risk attacks on my left flank from a potential ally in early game.

[Chromium]

It is especially nasty if you have a very potent gunline. There is no flanking underground, the narrow passageways allow for total destruction, especially if you know you are going to be outnumbered!

Remember the risk though...whoever loses underground is completely annihilated.

Underway battles are the best. In this campaign, I wiped out a full stack of Black Orks at Iron Rock. They had only 10 units at 1/5th strength left in the end- and yet they turned up full strength within 3 turns. No danger of that in an underway. Artillery is also better without danger of flanking.

[Magni]

My Dwarf warriors were almost exclusively being used as frontline in underway battles with crossbows focus-firing on indiidual Ork units and taking them out one by one. I was still having casualty rates more than 50%. This was with Ungrim's leadership buffs at Lvl 15. How were you using them?

That's pretty much their role. They draw a line and hold it while your ranged troops or units with two-handed weapons hammer the enemy. Axe Lord is one of those skills in the leadership branch that gets opened right after the first point. At the maximum three points into it, it gives all Warriors and Miners in the army +12 melee attack and melee defense - they end up with more melee attack/defense than stock Longbeards! And yes, they will take casualties. But that's okay, because they're cheap and replenish fast compared to most other dwarf units.

Sounds like a good point. Do I declare war on Barak Varr to get it? They're good allies and seem competent enough to hold off the Savage Orks. Confederacy also seems difficult with them as Grimgor was mostly focussing on me and the other dwarfs in the South. I don't want to risk attacks on my left flank from a potential ally in early game.

I always got them to confederate. Works if you're on good terms and either much stronger than them or if they're in trouble. At the campaign start, I built up Thorgrims stack and after taking the Silver Road settlements went north to take Mount Gunbad and Grom Peak first while a second Lord with a half-stack defended against anything coming from the south. By the time Thorgrim came back, Barrak Varr was in a bit of trouble and willing to confederate.

[Dallaen]

I'm on my third campaign with Dwarves ATM and from my experience I think it's crucial early on to grab Mnt Gun from the east. Once you do it gives you the income you need to get proper armies fielded. You still cannot expand to fast with Dwarves as they are built to be a slow burn style force but I have very few issues in fights when the time comes. As pointed out many times use the underway to get around and engage with. In most cases you can surprise an army with the flexibility in movement it gives.

Micro on your Artillery and the Rng units is of paramount importance. Make sure you also find their leader ASAP at max rng on your range units. You can wear them down a great deal before they hit your lines. Once they get close enough I always send my general/characters in a mass toward them and try and cut them down asap. The morale effect is devastating to armies especially Undead and more importantly Orcs. As soon as you can get those quarrelers with 2 handers so they can really punish a unit when their ammo runs out or if you see an exposed flank. During deployment also be sure to take advantage of ANY terrain available. It seems silly to say this but a hill is a REALLY big deal with Dwarf artillery and range units. Hell any elevation I tend to see a marked increase in unit effectiveness. I've had many battle where I deployed all the way at the back of my starting position just to get terrain bonuses. If you have boosted your leadership early most units won't run so deploying back that far isn't an issue. The one big problem early on with dwarves that you need to plan for is opposing army artillery. If they have some you need to understand you have almost no way to counter it without putting your own artillery on it. That is a mistake as you should always keep your artillery trained on the opposing army. If you can get miners further up in cover if possible. Otherwise you need to whether it and break their army quick. A decisive attack on their general getting them to flee or better yet dead can wrap it all up pretty quick.

Their tech tree is huge and you need to plan accordingly. I always prefer to start with some small boss to the range units and then get some more leadership bonuses. If you get Mount Gun early the extra income ones aren't needed so early and allow you to be more flexible. When it comes to heroes I prefer Thanes for their extra hitting power and Rune Priests for their ability to counter.

I've read a lot of players saying it's nearly impossible to catch armies that run and it becomes frustrating. I rarely have this issue due to positioning but the heroes upgrades for extra move are something I also take for higher chances at cutting down a hero on the run with my own hero.

[IronBrig4]

I've also found the gyrobombers/copters to be useful if you micro them properly. Wait for the lines to meet and for your warriors and longbeards to pin the Greenskin line. Then put your aircraft right over the Greenskins as they stack up. A bombing run can easily knock the stuffing out of an Orc advance.

[Meneldil]

I haven't played a VH campaign since maybe Medieval II, and I'm wrecking the map with the dwarves. Just make a defensive line, with lots of your best infantry and quarellers (they can shot above your men, unlike the gun dudes). Hold the lines, orks rout, kthxbye. Then, once the orcs are wiped out, get armor piercing men and go say hello to Chaos.

[Beregond]

I started Dwarfs on normal, it was my first campaign in W:TW. Didin't finish it yet and started with Empire on Hard, but from the first 100+ turns I learned to rely on my warriors/ironbreakers to hold the line and on Thunderers to mow down everything pinned down by my heavy infantry. Also, do send Thorgrim into the thickest fight, he wreaks enemy formations with ease and reinforces your Dwarfs fightiness a lot. Later on when you have access to decent artillery you're pretty much unstoppable, as with the solid economy Dwarfs can field a lot of it (on the other hand, as Empire I'm struggling to keep my 4 full stacks fed, owning Reikland, Wastelands, Wissenland, Talabecland and Averland with Stirland).

[Our Al]

I'm loving my Dwarf campaign, started off slowly trying to secure and hold the silver road whilst I built up the infrastructure etc like I've done in most of the previous TW titles but you can't really play that way in this version.

What worked for me was rapid expansion whilst keeping a smaller force behind to keep tabs on each province. With dwarven allies to the west the east and south side of the silver road were largely unsecured so about 12-15 unit stack was sent south asap to push the greenskins back. Once a settlement is captured I allow a few turns to repair/build/replenish troops before moving on again. By the time I took my 2nd full province I had enough cash for a 2nd stack which could push north and take Gunbad. Once that was taken then just pushed all forces south to take on the greenskins before the forces of Chaos start arriving.

I'm up to turn 128 at the mo, Chaos have just sent their full forces out from the wastes and started laying waste to the northern realms. The next 100 turns could be interesting!