THE LIST REVIEW


So having the chance to reflect on my first 3 games with the Abyssal Dwarfs and writing the tournament report, I thought I’d have a quick review of my list and share some thoughts on possible future directions.
Abyssal grotesques – these guys are worth their weight in gold, an auto include in my list.  High damage output, decent movement couple with regeneration and brutal meant they go work done for me.  Hitting on 4’s is a downside, but they’ve got the damage output to make up for it.

Lesser obsidian golems – probably another auto-include for me.  I didn’t have them doing a lot of damage output for the tournament, but the sheer amount of damage they took with Def 6, especially when backed up with the healing ironcaster meant they were a valuable addition to the list.

Slave orc hordes – hmmmm, to be honest I’m not too sure on these.  On paper the 19/21 nerve supported by the rallying slave driver made me hope that they would be a bit of an anvil in the list, but with Def 4 only they proved quite squishy.  With them hitting on 5’s as well their 25 attacks didn’t make for good damage output, plus, coupled with their huge footprint, I felt they were a bit unwieldly to move about the table without getting charged.  I’m wondering whether they would be better off taken as regiment or troop sizes and used as chaff and objective camping rather than trying to form the anvil of the force.

Slave orc gore riders – I actually liked these guys, I didn’t expect them to do much and mostly I wasn’t disappointed.  With a 16” threat range and at only 140 points I thought they made a cheap-ish chaff option that could chuck out a little bit of damage on the charge but will die to a stiff breeze due to their horrendous nerve.

Gargoyles – another auto-include as far as I’m concerned.  A nice cheap maneuverable chaff option, that pretty much died each game, but were also good for threatening flanks and providing a road bump to set up counter charges

Mortars – probably the best artillery in the game, as far as I can tell and also the unit I had the most trouble using.  Lack of experience on my behalf meant that in most games I didn’t deploy them optimally meaning they only had one or 2 turns of shooting before I blocked them with other things.  I will definitely persevere with them however, because I can see the potential

Iron-caster – did the job he was meant to in babysitting the obsidian golems.  Heal was useful in bringing back the odd wound or two while in my second game, surge was essential in getting some nice charges off into the enemy.  If I take more golems I will definitely include him, possibly equipping with the shroud of the saint to take him to heal (6) to keep buffing the golems.

Slave driver – did an OK job in supporting the slave orcs and managed to get bane chant off a couple of times, but honestly was pushing it uphill to keep them in the fight when they were faced with determined opposition.  To be honest he’s probably going to get dropped from a revised list.

 Ba'su'su - I enjoyed Ba'su'su - having a quick moving individual that can dish out some damage was a nice addition to the army.  Unfortunately at 210 points, it just feels that those points could be better used elsewhere to get more scoring units on the table.  To be honest, I'm thinking that Brakki for 200 points might be the better choice with almost the same damage output, but with the benefit of inspiring and dread

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

There’s a 2150 event coming up at the end of Feb and I’m planning on keeping the core of the list the same for this – namely grotesques, gargoyles and mortars.  I’m planning on replacing the hordes of slave orcs with a couple of regiments of immortal guard a -17 profile, Def 5, regeneration and being able to be healed by the iron caster means I’m hoping they’ll represent a tougher “anvil” for my force that won’t cave as quickly.  I’ve got 40 of the dwarfs of fire canyon from the Russian Alternative (these guys https://russian-alternative.com/shop/fantasy/the-dwarves-of-fire-canyon-unit/) coming to make my regiments.


I’m also keen to give the overmaster on winged halfbreed a try as I think it will add some ranged threat to what is a slower moving list.  I’ve got the manticore from ranging heroes coming (https://www.ragingheroes.com/products/manticore-with-lady-kashala), with the special “lammasu” head as well.




Finally, I’ve painted up another unit of obsidian golems, so I’m thinking of including them as well.

Comments

  1. The WolfJanuary 6, 2020 at 3:30 AM

    I concur that the golems were painful to deal with. They held me up quite nicely.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Modelling Monday (on Friday) Brakki Barka I’ve wanted to get a Brakki model since my interest in Abyssal Dwarfs started.  His rules are very nice - a moderate beat stick individual (7 attacks, CS3 with vicious!) with good nerve and very inspiring plus dread!  I figured I would slot him in to my list as a support for the faster moving abyssal grotesques as a combo charge with Brakki and a grotesque horde can get some work done. The conversion The conversion was relatively straight forward, I used a GW irongut and juggernaut that I had and cut one on half and the head of the other.  I’m going for a “techno-sorcery” style for my Abyssal Dwarfs, so I like the mechanical style bodies of the juggernaut for the fast moving “cavalry” elements.  The hardest part was cutting the irongut as it’s relatively thick plastic, and taking the gut plate off the model intact for later use. The gut plate and carry bag on the irongut serviced to cover the head gap on the juggernaut and a little gr
Read more
OOPS I did it again....... OK, probably not the latest list change I've done before a tournament (the morning of the event taking that honour!) But I decided to change up my list to fit in the greater obsidian golem at the expense of Ba'su'su and some magic items.  I've also added the Tome of Darkness on to the slave driver to add with surge requirements. My thinking is that I really need to increase the staying power of my battleline with another Def 6 unit, plus, as per the rule of cool, the model I have for my GOG demands I play it! The list has the same number of drops as the old list and 2 increased unit strength for objective reliant scenarios The new list: 260, Abyssal Grotesque Horde --  Sir Jesse's Boots of Striding 245, Abyssal Grotesque Horde 215, Lesser Obsidian Golem Horde 160, Slave Orc Horde --  Staying Stone 160, Slave Orc Horde --  Liliana's Tear 140, Slave Orc Gore Rider Regiment 235, Greater Obsidian
Read more
Image
SUMMER SLAUGHTER TOURNAMENT REPORT! So I unpacked the Abyssal Dwarfs and headed out for my first games with the army for a 3 game event.  I ended up changing my list back to ny orginial choice (I know, I know) as my printer died and I couldn't print the changed one I wanted! so for summary I ran: Army: Abyssal Dwarfs Points: 2000 Unit Strength: 20 265, Abyssal Grotesque Horde --  Maccwar's Potion of the Caterpillar 245, Abyssal Grotesque Horde 215, Lesser Obsidian Golem Horde 160, Slave Orc Horde --  Staying Stone 155, Slave Orc Horde 140, Slave Orc Gore Rider Regiment 85, Gargoyle Troop 85, Gargoyle Troop 210, Ba'su'su the Vile 115, Angkor Heavy Mortar 115, Angkor Heavy Mortar 130, Iron-caster --  Surge (8) to replace Fireball --  Bane Chant (2) 80, Slavedriver --  Lute of Insatiable Darkness www.goodarmylists.com So I had a fair idea of how I wanted the list to run.  Slave orc hordes ba
Read more