Dogs of War: Marksmen of Miragliano WIP

Hello all, Slick here. It's been quite a while since I've updated the Dogs of War. Fantasy has kind of been on the back burner since the new edition has come out. Between 40K, Uncharted Seas, and FoW there really hasn't been time or interest in 8th ed Fantasy. The Marksmen have been on the to-do list for quite a while so that has been my focus lately. These guys have always been clutch when I've used them and I think they have some potential in 8th if paired with the right magic lore. I will have to do some testing once I feel like playing Fantasy again.

For now, they're getting close to being finished. The faces still need detailing as do the bases. Shading and highlighting will finish the unit up. Comments welcome!

Fantasy Tournament: Dogs of War vs Empire (Game 3)

Hello all, Slick here. Today I am going to add a recount of the final game from the Fantasy tournament where the Dogs of War took home the top spot. I knew that after winning the first two games I would be playing one of the other two top players. I ended up being paired against Empire. His army list featured quite a few troops. I was definitely going to be outnumbered. His list was something like the following:

Lvl 2 Wizard
Captain on a warhorse
6 Knights + FC
Mortar
Archers
2 large blocks of infantry: Spearmen and Halberdiers
Each infantry block had detachments

Deployment for this battle was diagonal. He put all of his infantry on one flank while the mortar was in the middle with a commanding view of the battlefield. His archers were up on a small hill on the other side of the table along with the unit of knights + captain. I deployed my duellists close to where his knights were, my x-bows were arranged along the center and my pikes were on the flank, hoping to somehow beat over 40 empire troops. To support them, my other duellist unit deployed in a forest on this flank hoping to get through it quickly and march block his troops so that the pikes could at least get a one on one battle. My cannon was deploy towards the center of my line at the edge of another forest. Although I should have gone first, my opponent ended up stealing the first turn and promptly ended up declaring a charge against the duellists with his knights. After debating the stand & shoot I decided to flee and came within an inch of the duellists running off the table! Not a good beginning. The failed charge brought his knights past the hill his archers were holding (this will be important on my turn). His mortar and archers kill off a few x-bows and marksmen. His magic phase was uneventful.

My pikes advance along the flank, moving onto a low hill, edging along the forest my other duellists were advancing through. Checking the angles, I reform the marksmen so that my cannon now has a clear flank shot on his knight unit led by the captain. My duellists rally at the table edge. My magic phase saw a fireball blast apart a few spearmen. I opened my shooting phase with a cannon shot against his knights. The ball lands just in front of the knights and then bounces the full 10 inches! All of his knights and the captain die! This was the shot of the tournament and it took my opponent a good minute or two to pick his jaw up off of the table. He had lost nearly a third of his points with that unit and this left only his archers on that side of the board.

His second turn sees his mortar scatter off and his magic killed a pikeman. His infantry blocks advanced toward my pikemen with a spearmen unit making a successful charge against them. He decided to buff his wizard with the flaming sword. Shooting saw the archers kill 2 duellists. In combat my pikes ended up killing about 12 spearmen altogether and the paymaster eliminated his wizard while taking a wound in return. I ended up losing about 5 pikes in return. He broke from combat and I pursued and caught the spearmen. My turn saw the duellists advance to be able to shoot the archers as well as the xbows move up to support that attack. My cannon tried a shot at the morter and stuck in the ground 1 inch before the machine. The duellists killed off two archers while the other duellist unit shot up a detachment which promptly panicked and fled off the board. I decided to be proactive and charge with the pikes against a detachment. The detachment held, were wiped out, and I overran into his big block of halberdiers. The halberdier detachment then got the flank of the pikes. This was making the best of a bad situation as he could have positioned himself to surround the pikes on three sides if left alone. The pikes hot streak cooled down as they only killed about 8 halberdiers total (including attacks from the captain and paymaster!). In return the pikes lost another 7 but altogether combat ended up as a draw (lucky for me).

His third turn saw the mortar misfire and explode! His archers killed a duellist. Combat saw the pikes get bloodied further with only a few more halberdiers being killed. This was finally too much for the Leopards and they promptly fled through the woods with a lot of angry empire soldiers in pursuit. My turn saw the x-bows and duellists kill 8 archers who did not panic. The pikes continued to run through the forest. My wizard blasted his halberdier detachment while my other duellists put a few more shots into his big halberd block, killing 2. His fourth turn saw the infantry blocks charge the pikes who fled further, emerging the forest near the xbows. His archers whiffed. My next turn saw the archers finally eliminated, the pikes rally and a few more shots against the halberd blocks. Time was called and we tallied up points with a hard fought victory going to the Dogs!

With a massacre and two wins, plus good soft scores, the Dogs won the tournament by a comfortable margin.

Lessons learned:

The lessons from game 2 and really the entire tournament were reinforced here. Pikes simply cannot compete as a main combat unit in 8th. It may seem counter-intuitive, but pikes (if used) will be best served as smaller units to hold flanks. In my opinion Pizarro's becomes the premier RoR pike unit now and they should be able to handle most opposing flankers. I really like the buff spell available from lore of metal (+1 armor save). I am going to see if this will work well with Ricco's: 4+ save pikes could at least provide a measure of resiliency albeit still a points sink.

Getting a flank shot with a cannon is pure awesomeness. The fact that Dogs of War cannons are no longer D3 is a major boost and for a mere 85 points, they are virtually mandatory in any list.

Overall Impressions of 8th:

There are many changes to the game brought about by 8th and surprisingly, almost all of them good. The game is quite balanced at the moment and I sincerely hope that the next crop of army books does not destroy this. The game does not need a second coming of the issues that resulted from the Demons codex. While GW has all but officially disowned the Dogs of War, 8th edition actually made our list more competitive. Taking away our ability to use Ogre Kingdoms ogres is a real blow, but overall the positive changes with this edition tend to outweigh this dark spot. Dogs of War players have a lot or rethinking to do with regard to our army list. The tournament was definitely a learning experience and it will be fun to delve deeper into the varies strategies and tactics that this new edition allows.

Fantasy Tournament: Dogs of War vs Dwarfs (Game 2)

Hello all, Slick here with a summary of my game 2 match vs Dwarfs in our recent 8th ed tournament.

Going into the game I kept reminding myself that Dwarfs can actually get off charges in 8th and it would be best to not underestimate them. I ended up playing against one of my favorite local players. We've had several battles in the past so I was eager to see how things turned out in the new rules. Our scenario for game 2 was the Dawn Attack scenario which ended up having quit a large effect on how the game played out as virtually all of our units were deployed on the flanks and only 1-2 in the middle on both sides. My left flank had my large xbow unit, the center had a unit of duellists and the Marksmen and the right had the Leopards who deployed in a forest as well as the cannon and the other duellists. My opponent took a quite shooty army with 2 bolt throwers, a stone thrower, 2x10 xbows, 19 warriors, a runepriest, and 5 miners. My opponent ended up rolling a 6 and so he got the first turn which gave him a chance to do some serious damage with shooting. My right flank was facing xbows, warriors, and a stone thrower. His bolt throwers really didn't have any good angles the entire game and basically just nipped off an xbowmen or duellist a turn. The left flank saw my big xbow unit running up the flank to hopefully charge into his concealed bolt thrower. His turn was saw the stone thrower hit the pikes (rune of rerolling scatter is evil), taking out 3. His xbows killed another despite long range and me being in the woods. His warriors advanced toward the Leopards. I was hoping to have enough left alive to eventually fight them at this rate.

For this game I had taken Lore of Metal. Everyone had forgotten that you choose your lore while making your army which is a major change and really requires you to consider how you want to use magic in your army. I ended up getting Glittering Robe and Enchanted Blades of Aiban, which proved to actually make a significant difference in the performance of the pikes this game. My first turn saw the big xbow unit racing up the left flank, the Marksmen advancing left-center (they really got shafted by the deployment). Both my duellist units raced to a hill on my right-center to seek cover from the stone thrower and to intercept an advancing dwarf xbow unit. The pikes advance through the forest and to the left hoping to cut off the dwarf warriors a bit while still staying in cover. Magic proved fairly powerful and I cast Glittering Robe on the Leopards which gave them a solid 4+ save. The duellists, the Leopard Company captain and the Paymaster took potshots with their pistols at the Dwarf warriors and dropped 2 of them. My cannon was hoping to take out the stone thrower but stuck in the ground an inch in front of it!

His turn two featured more advancing and a little more shooting with the stone thrower thankfully scattering off the pikes. The xbows again managed to hit 2 Leopard company but I made 1 of their saves! Scaly skin ftw! He had marched his one xbow unit to the top of the hill, presumably to shoot down into my Leopards and duellists but this would prove to be a bad move. His miners also failed to show up. My turn two saw both duellist units take out 7/10 of the xbows but they passed the panic test. I had buffed one of the duellist units with the Enchanted Blades which was pretty damn cool. My xbows advanced as did the Marksmen. Their goal for the game was to get in range of a bolt thrower and hopefully kill off the crew (which they very nearly did!). My cannon decided it was a good time to try out the new and improved grapeshot and I rolled an 8, and killed as many warriors! They did not panic however.

His turn 3 saw the miners arrive behind my big xbows as expected. His dwarf warrios decided to charge my duellist unit rather than the pikes which was really the tactical blunder that cost him the game. The deuellists fled and his charge wasn't enough to catch them so they ended up moving just far enough to present a perfect flank charge for the Leopards! The duellists later rallied and then found a good place to hide. Despite that, I was worried after their lackluster performance in game 1. My big xbows reformed so as not to face a rear-charge. The Marksmen moved into range of one of the bolt throwers. The Leopards declared their charge and with a loud battle shout charged out of the woods into the Dwarf flank! They ended up rolling 11 on the charge which easily got me to the Dwarfs. To help the Leopards out I buffed them with both spells, giving them +1 to hit and scaly skin again! My cannon decided it was a good time to misfire but thankfully it would be ready again next turn. The duellists blasted the remaining xbows and wiped them out. In combat the pikes took out 6 dwarfs off of 11 hits with the captain taking out 2 by himself. His runepriest decided to challenge and so the paymaster stepped up to the plate and killed off the rune priest who rolled snake eyes for his saves! The warriors in turn knocked off 2 pikemen despite the 4+ save. Nevertheless I had racked up enough combat resolution to force him to test on insane courage which he did not get. The dwarfs ran and were caught by the Leopards! Their pursuit however put them in a really terrible position as they were up against the lip of the hill which had a tower on the second level (impassable). They were now wide open for the stone thrower.

His turn 4 saw the miners charge the xbows who did not have time to stand and shoot. The miners killed about 4 xbowmen, losing none in return. The xbows apparently had had enough and promptly fled with the dwarfs in hot pursuit. His bolt throwers picked off a few random duellists. The stone thrower landed dead center on the pikes killing 7 Leopard Company. The scaly skin save prevented this shot from wiping out the whole unit right then and there.

My turn 4 saw the one duellist unit move down the other side of the hill and head towards the stone thrower. The Leopards adjust their position and started to walk around the back of the hill to hopefully get out of the LoS of the stone thrower soon. My big xbows rallied and checking the battlefield I saw an opportunity for a long range flank shot on the miners to hopefully give the xbows a chance. The shot took out 3/5 of the miners who of course did not panic. In the magic phase I had buffed the Marksmen giving them +1 to hit. This was so successful that it may become a major combo piece for my army in the future. BS4, +1 to hit and armor piercing for the Dogs of War is really amazing. It was a costly spell though as it was IF and my wizard took a wound. The result though was that the Marksmen shooting at the bolt thrower took out 3/4 crew (engineer was there) and even put 2 wounds no the machine! Against RnF troops I can see this turning the Marksmen into a real menace. My cannon crew decided it was time to earn their pay and got a perfect shot on the stone thrower landing on the machine and rolling a 6 on the number of wounds!

His turn 5 saw the miners again charge the xbows. His 2 miners killed 2 xbows while I failed to kill either of the miners in return (very frustrating). The xbows run and are chased down by 2 miners! Still having an outnumber bonus for combat res would have been nice... He had no more combat troops and so was only able to take a few more pot shots at my units taking off a duellist and a Marksman. My turn 5 saw the Marksmen finish off the miners while the duellists ended the threat of the previously damaged bolt thrower. I decided not to risk shooting with my cannon as it could only have killed 2/10 xbows (not enough to panic them) - no need to risk blowing it up and giving away free VPs in a close game. The game ended and it turned out to be a good victory for the Dogs. The loss of the warriors and his general in combat really tipped the game in my favor. Still, his shooting was brutal, taking a heavy toll. Deployment really made for a wacky but fun game. This scenario really forces you to make the best out of potentially bad situations.

Lessons Learned:

• Lore of metal is really good!
• These two buff spells (Robes and Blades) really provided a stimulus for rethinking my approach to the Dogs. I will most likely be retiring the Leopards for the time being and switching to Ricco's as their heavy armor combined with the 5+ scaly skin will make for 3+ save pikes. They still will not be a center unit for me. There are in fact so many useful targets for the scaly skin spell in our army. It really annoys me now that we can no longer use Maneaters --- can you imagine a 3+ armor save unit of these guys?
• The Blades spell as mentioned above is simply awesome! Whether you're buffing shooting or combat units this is really a powerful tool for us. It makes mediocre units good and good units great. S5 armor piercing marauders? Yes please. 30" armor piercing xbows? You bet!
• Deployment wins battles. As I mentioned above, this scenario can really mess up your 'regular' deployment style. Working with the limitations imposed upon you by the deployment in this scenario really forces you to plan out the battle several steps in advance. This is another phase of the game that really requires some skill and will help level the playing field vs stronger armies and/or opponents.
  
• Once again, duellists are so good now!
  
• D6 wounds with cannons is a big step up in power for us.
• The new grapeshot is really good imo.
  

Fantasy Tournament: Dogs of War vs Demons (Game 1)

Hello all, Slick here. Today I'd like to provide a recap from our recent premiere 8th Edition Fantasy Tournament. There was a good mix of old and new players and everyone was still in the process of learning the ins and outs of 8th! I decided to take my Dogs of War although I was pretty uncertain about how they would perform in the new edition and the fact that I haven't had any practice games with the new edition prior to the event itself.

Round 1 vs Chaos Demons - Demons are always a tough match. My opponent had a Tzeentch herald and a small horror unit, a fairly big unit of bloodletters, and a smaller unit of daemonettes with a herald, and a unit of fleshounds. I was running a big unit of xbows, the Marksmen of Miragliano, a big unit of Leopard Company, 2x units of duellists, a cannon, paymaster and a lvl2 wizard as the general. Deployment was fairly straightforward and I did have a nice hill to setup on near the center. Turn 1 saw some extremely good results in the magic phase. The one thing I noticed playing these three tournament games was that even 1 wizard can cause a great deal of damage now! I decided to use lore of light against the demons and I managed to get a boosted version of a damage spell (can't recall the name right now) which my opponent failed to dispel. The spell ripped up 9 of the 12 daemonettes as the spell required my opponent to re-roll successful ward saves :) Shooting saw me concentrate my big unit of xbows at the remains of the daemonettes, wiping all but the herald out! My cannon rolled through the horror unit but the tzeentch herald jumped out the way and instead 2 horrors died. The Leopard company and duellists both advanced during the turn with both duellist units making use of woods to stay out of charge arcs or LoS for spells.

In his turn he advanced with everything and decided to blast away with a few spells, taking out 4 of the xbows. The flesh hounds were coming in on my right flank and I would either have to face the bloodletters or them head on while getting flanked by the other. Shooting needed to thin one of the out as much as possible. He moved his solo slaanesh herald to join the bloodletters (a mistake which we didn't catch until late but no big deal). We were both still in the mindset of 7th ed, thinking that units charged double their move value which really takes some effort to rid yourself of.

My turn 2 sees both duellists advance, the left flank duellists advance for shots on the horrors while the right flankers move to block the hounds through the woods. My wizard angles for better sight of the bloodletters. The Leopard Company advance more to the bloodletters. Magic proves effective again with my wizard putting a wound on the fleshounds and taking off a couple of bloodletters. My cannon burned through a fleshound as well. The xbows tore into the horrors and bloodletters dropping a fair number of them. The duellists also accounted for a horror. The new longer range of pistols is AWESOME! His turn 2 saw some more advancing. His magic picked off a few Leopard Company and a few of the duellists in front of the horrors. Thankfully they didn't panic. His hounds advanced to within likely charge range of the Leopards. Here I made a mistake as on my turn 3 I moved my duellists alongside the hounds to take shots at them when I should have moved in front of the hounds so that they would have to charge the duellists in order to prevent the flank charge on the pikes. My turn 3 saw the Leopards charge the bloodletters. Magic wasn't too effective this round as I only had a few power dice. I did put another wound on a flesh hound luckily, leaving 3 remaining. Shooting saw my cannon explode. The xbows put another wound on the hounds while the Marksmen and duellists dropped the horror unit enough to negate their wizard status.

Combat was pretty brutal with the pikes only dropping 2 bloodletters, while the Paymaster and Captain dropped 3 more. The bloodletters in turn savaged the pikes dropping something like 7 but thanks to my bonuses I won this round and he lost a few more demons. The tournament provided some interesting insight into pikemen usage in 8th which I will discuss at a later time. They definitely cannot perform in the center anymore. I think my dismal rolling helped this along but still, they just didn't have the staying power as we will quickly see. On his turn he manages to get the flank charge off with the hounds. His magic phase saw the loss of a few Marksmen and thankfully I blocked his attempt at my duellists. Combat was extremely bloody (Khorne get it?). I lost all but my front rank of pikes who did kill a bloodletter. The Paymaster finally took out the Slaanesh herald with a mighty swing from the Sword of Power, sending her back to Slaaneshi heaven. The captain also killed off the bloodletter champion. Despite these heroics, I broke and was caught. Thankfully, none of my units panicked at the loss of the paymaster.

My turn 4 saw the xbows blast the remaining flesh hounds. My flanking duellists on the right moved back to the center to help support. My wizard got off a spell which dropped another horror. My duellists sensed it was the right time and charged the horrors passing their fear check, eager to extract some payback for the loss of the Paymaster. The Marksmen reformed to face the remaining khorne units. Combat was pretty quick as the duellists cut the horrors to pieces. The tzeentch herald whiffed and then subsequently popped. His turn 4 saw the bloodletters charge the xbows who killed a few on the S&S. The bloodletters dropped like 8 xbows although the xbows struck down 3 bloodletters in return. Essentially they fought as well as the pikes. The xbows broke from combat but managed to elude the bloodletters who were now within short range of the newly reformed Marksmen. My turn 5 saw the big xbows rally. both duellist units moved up to unload into the bloodletters. The wizard again found the winds of magic favorable and blasted the bloodletters with 2 spells this turn. He got irresistible force on both spells, but luckily only put a single wound on himself. The Marksmen finished off the job wiping the last of the Daemons off the board.

Whew! That was a tough game. We were both surprised at how much damage a single wizard can do as both the herald and my wizard were dishing out some serious spells the entire game. I think the only thing really hurting my opponent was his overall lack of experience playing. He scored some big points by wiping out the pikes and paymaster. I think he was a bit timid in advancing, forgetting that charge ranges are generally much further in this edition which gave me an extra turn to thin his numbers out. Getting lucky the first turn and wiping the Daemonettes off the board also really put me in a position to compete in this game as there is absolutely no way the pikes could have withstood his 3 combat units. I was fortunate to beat him though, as he went on to get massacres in his next to games. He would have in fact won the tournament were it not for his unpainted army. A great opponent all around, who took losses in stride. A good learning game for both of us.

Lessons Learned

• Lore of Light helps level the playing field against Daemons
  
• Pikes cannot function in the center of the battlefield anymore
• Duellists are even better than before - I might build another unit in fact
• Magic - is deadly even with just one wizard, but still more balanced than before
• The new spells are all excellent and the revamped lores, boosting spells, signature spells, and lore features make the magic phase far deeper than ever before
• No longer having to guess with cannons is just plain evil :)
  

Dogs of War: Rhinox Thunderlord

Hello all, Slick here. It's taken forever, but the Rhinox Thunderlord is finally finished! This was one helluva model to paint and there are so many details. Since this was going to be a centerpiece for my Dogs of War I figured his base should be fairly special too so I decided on adding a little stream down the middle and hit that with water effects. There are still a few details that need to be tweaked (eyes etc) but he is definitely 90% complete. Sadly, thanks to the new FAQs, Dogs of War now have to do without Maneaters and other units from Ogre Kingdoms (Thanks GW! Not!). Comments welcome!

Dogs of War: Gold and Glory #4!

Hello all, Slick here. I'm happy to announce that Issue #4 of Gold and Glory is finally out! It is the biggest and best issue to date! You can download it below:

DOWNLOAD GOLD AND GLORY ISSUE #4 HERE!

Dogs of War: Maneater with 2 Handguns

Hello all, Slick here. It's been quite a while since the Dogs of War had an update. Here is the first of three Maneaters I converted to have the dual handgun option. He still needs a bit of touching up but I'm pretty happy with the overall result. Comments welcome!

Tactica: Dogs of War Heavy Cavalry RoR

Hello all, Slick here. In the last part of the Dogs of War cavalry tacticas we will be taking a look at the Heavy Cavalry Regiments of Renown.

Voland's Venators
Let us begin by taking a look at Voland's Venators which is easily one of the best Regiments of Renown available and should find a spot in most Dogs of War armies. For 195 points you get five knights including Voland himself. Best of all, the Venators are a Core choice and thus they keep those important Special and Rare slots open. The Venators differ from regular mercenary cavalry in that they have a base strength of 4, thus you will have Strength 6 on the charge! The Venators are definitely capable of being a hammer unit. Voland himself is a standard Captain-level hero and as far as gear is concerned the Venators come fully loaded: heavy armor, shield, barding, and a lance. The minimum unit size is five and it's worth paying for some extra Venators so that you can take a few casualties and not lose combat effectiveness. While these guys may not have the 1+ armor of Empire knights or the customization of Bretonnian knights, the Venators are the premiere mercenary heavy cavalry. Unlike most Regiments of Renown, the Venators are reasonably priced so that you are not sinking excessive points into them to build an effective unit.

Voland's Venators can pack a lot of power in a charge but they are best used in a combination charge, flank charging in support of one of your anvil or tarpit units or in concert with another hammer units such as Maneaters. As most players have experienced, cavalry always seem to suffer from rubber lance syndrome when you really need them to inflict serious damage on a charge. With so many 'ard units out there now, you really have to be careful about which ranked units you send the Venators at. For added punch you could try sticking a Captain with a lance in the unit for 9 S6 attacks on the charge. One tactic I have used with success is to have the Venators go for the frontal charge while I flank charge with my Captasus (Captain on Pegasus).

Tichi-Huichi's Raiders
Anyone who has read the rules for Tichi-Huichi's Raiders might be a bit surprised to see them discussed in a tactica on heavy cavalry. Indeed, the Raiders do lack several important characteristics typically associated with heavy cavalry, such as the ability to withstand attacks thanks to good armor saves and the ability to dish out serious damage. Instead, the Raiders are something of a hybrid light-heavy cavalry unit with a few interesting tactical wrinkles. Let me preface this portion of the tactica by saying that this is another one of those Regiments of Renown that have an excellent conceptual idea that is let down by rather mediocre rules and points cost. Let's start with the essentials - for 250 points you get six riders including Tichi-Huichi himself. Additional riders will set you back 22 points per model. The unit is equipped with spears, a scaly skin bonus (6+), and shields. Their lack of heavy armor is balanced by the fact that the Cold Ones grant a +2 armor save bonus rather than the typical +1. The unit does not come with barding, thus your expensive heavy cavalry clocks in with a 3+ save. Surely the Raiders can dish out damage? Not quite. A quick glance at the stats reveals the true weakness of this unit - at least in the role it seems intended to fill. Skinks are not meant to be close combat powerhouses and that is certainly the case here. While a 3+ armor save is decent, the paltry Toughness 2 of the riders (Tichi-Huichi is a whopping T3) means that the expensive Raiders are easily wounded. Their average strength is only Strength 4 on the charge so they definitely lack the punch to breakthrough most ranked units.

Let's take a quick look at the Special Rules the Raiders have as these do add some value to the unit. As with other Lizardmen, the Raiders have the Cold-Blooded special rule meaning that you should be able to pass most psychology tests with relatively little worry. Break tests are another matter as Tichi-Huichi only has an average leadership of 7. Taking a look at the mounts we see the aforementioned armor save bonus granted by the Cold Ones. Additionally, Cold Ones also casue fear but are subject to stupidity. Having Cold-Blooded here is really a blessing. The Cold Ones also have 2 attacks at Strength 4! Clearly the mounts are better than the riders in this case. Thus, the unit can actually dish out a respectable amount of medium strength attacks on a charge. Against light units they do have the ability to cause some mayhem, although your best to-hit roll with the regular riders is sadly going to be 4+. Nevertheless, if you can cause some casualties and make your armor saves, the autobreak from fear could see the Raiders defeating light units such as skirmishers, light cavalry, and smaller units of light infantry.

The Raiders also feature one more Special Rule that adds some interesting tactical possibilities if only the unit had some better rules, stats, and/or equipment to better suit this ability. If the Raiders are broken in combat, opponents will never pursue them. Thus, the unit is always guaranteed to escape. This is fortuitous as the unit will keep its banner since the enemy unit cannot pursue. The Raiders could have potentially been the ultimate hit-and-run unit. Unfortunately, to effectively use the unit in its current incarnation you really do not want to put them in positions where they will be easily broken. Do you really want to sacrifice really expensive cavalry? No, of course not. The types of units that the Raiders should be engaging are ones that should pose little danger of breaking them in combat. The types of units that can break you are likely to seriously maul the Raiders so that you will be left with a largely ineffective unit once they escape. If the Raiders had poisoned weapons I could see the value in sending them at an otherwise tough to beat unit and then run away. However, most killy units in the game nowadays can dish out copious amounts of high strength attacks, and there there are those which also have the Always Strikes First rule. You would have to take quite a few Raiders to have enough left against such units once you flee. This of course would be a serious point sink and would push the unit close to 400 points or more. I do think the Raiders could have some application although it would take some serious playtesting to get it right. Even then, the Raiders are simply overshadowed by the cheaper and better Ogre units available. If you have used the Raiders with any degree of success please feel free to share!

Hopefully you have found the above tactica useful!

Tactica: Dogs of War Light Cavalry RoR

Hello all, Slick here. Continuing with the mercenary cavalry tacticas, we now move to a review of mthe various Light Cavalry Regiment of Renown units available.

Al Muktar's Desert Dogs
The minimum unit comes in at 245 points for 6 cavalry (technically 5). Extra riders may be purchased for an additional 13 points per model. The Desert Dogs actually feature three named characters, however Ibn the standard bearer actually does not have any attacks so you are actually losing some offensive punch with this unit. Although he is named, Ibn cannot be specifically targeted (read challenged). The other two named characters are Al Muktar himself and Sheikh Shufti. While Al Muktar is the unit's captain, Sheikh Shufti acts more like an overpowered champion. The Desert Dogs are also one of the few Regiments of Renown that come with magic items - the Scimitar of Dakisir and the Black Banner of the Muktarhin. You might think that the unit's captain would be the one to wield the magic weapon yet the Scimitar actually belongs to Sheikh Shufti. The Scimitar provides Sheikh with an additional 2 strength on the charge and +1 strength bonus at all other times. Having S6 attacks in a light cavalry unit does provide some serious offensive punch. Unfortunately, Sheikh is hampered by only having a measly 2 attacks. The other item is the Black Banner which adds D3 to the Desert Dog's combat resolution.

With two solid combat characters as well as two magic items one would think that taking the Desert Dogs would be a safe bet. Unfortunately, the Desert Dogs suffer from some serious flaws that make them a second rate unit and best left to casual games and/or themed armies. As mentioned above the Desert Dogs are expensive! You are paying a hefty price for the characters and magic items. The Desert Dogs also seem to have a bit of an identity crisis: Are they a combat unit or a fast cavalry unit? Aside from the characters the regular Desert Dogs riders have an average human statline and their equipment is also generic. They do count as fast cavalry and so are quite maneuverable. Like all other light/fast cavalry, the Desert Dogs are fragile. Generally speaking, expensive units that are extremely fragile are a gamble and rather difficult to use well. As discussed in the Light Cavalry Tactica, the role of such cavalry is generally to serve as flank units, march blockers, bait & redirection units, and on occasion to engage targets of opportunity. While the Desert Dogs can certainly fulfill this role, you certainly do not need to spend an exorbitant amount of points for such a unit. To really recoup your invest would require getting the Desert Dogs into combat. While they do have some offensive punch and should be able to break small and lightly armed units (many skirmishers, war machine crews, vulnerable non-elite infantry flanks etc.), they simply do not have the staying power for protracted combat. If you were to just take the minimum unit you could lose a total of three regular riders before you get to the named members of the unit and losing any of them will essentially spell certain doom for the Desert Dogs. The Black Banner should tip combats against weak units in your favor (on the charge) and between Al Muktar and Sheikh you should be able to wipe out a front rank. Unfortunately neither Al Muktar nor Sheikh have any better armor than the rest of the unit so you really want as few attacks coming back at the Desert Dogs as possible. Like similar units, the Desert Dogs also will not stand up to shooting or magic. Sadly, the Desert Dogs, like many Regiments of Renown, are a really cool concept with excellent minis, that are let down by mediocre rules. Taking enough Desert Dogs to ensure that you can deliver a solid charge will push the unit close to 300 points. Are you really going to invest that many points on a fast cavalry unit? Should you be unlucky and the Desert Dogs break from combat you will of course be handing your opponent a 100pt bonus for losing their banner. They are simply too much of a liability when you can accomplish more with generic mercenary Light Cavalry and for far fewer points.

Oglah Khan's WOlfboyz
The other Light Cavalry Regiment of Renown are the infamous Oglah Khan's Wolfboyz. This unit provides some interesting tactical wrinkles for the mercenary general. The basic unit comes in at an hefty 190 points with additional Hobgoblins costing 15 points per model, however you are also starting out with 6 models like the Desert Dogs sans the standard bearer who doesn't attack. Oglah Khan's unit is unique that you are actually fielding a unit of Greenskins but do not have to worry about that pesky Animosity rule. This is also the fasted Dogs of War cavalry unit as the Giant Wolves have Movement 9 which helps to close the speed gap against armies that also have access to M9 cavalry (see Elves). As far as stats go, the unit is average across the board, although their leadership is a paltry 6 (good for Greenskins though!). Oglah Khan essentially has Captain-level stats although he only has BS4, and is quite slow with I3, and his average leadership of 7. You certainly do not want to put these guys into situations where they have to take leadership tests! The Wolfboyz are also one of the few units that have a capped unit size. A unit of 20 would be rather unwieldy but it is nice to have that option for those crazy enough to try it! As for equipment, the Wolfboyz are loaded and come with spears, bows, light armor and shields! They also have the fast cavalry special rule. Their equipment provides them with an armor save of 4+ which does grant them some solid protection. The Wolfboyz also benefit from a rather cool magic item, the Pelt of Wulfag, which lets them pursue an additional D6 inches. Yes, that means they can pursue 4d6 for a potential total of 24 inches! You should be able to catch any fleeing unit.

On the tactical level, the Wolfboyz present some interesting options. They can fulfill all the roles of Light Cavalry while also having solid offensive punch (for Hobgoblins!). If the Wolfboyz can find a beatable enemy unit on the flanks, their pursuit roll should place them well within your opponent's deployment zone where they can wreak havoc. If an opponent is unlucky enough to have units along the Wolfboyz' pursuit route, they may face a dual threat - a potential panic check from the fleeing friendly unit (if the Wolfboyz do not catch them) and the Wolfboyz slamming into them off of the pursuit roll itself. The Wolfboyz would also seem to make an excellent flanking unit to support charges of your hammer units, as you can be fairly certain that the Wolfboyz will catch broken units while you can attempt to restrain pursuit with your hammer unit(s) if pursuing with everything would place the other units into vulnerable positions. I would certainly recommend trying Oghlah Khan's Wolfboyz. For those of you who do not want to shell out a large sum of money for the actual models, it is entirely possible to make the unit out of the plastic Goblin Wolfriders set. A little bit of conversion work to give the unit a more unique appearance would not require a great deal of work. The money you save by going this route will go a long way towards completing your army! Hopefully the above tactica has been helpful to you.

Tactica: Light Cavalry

Hello all, Slick here. Today I would like to continue the Dogs of War tactica series and finish up the core selection by discussing Light Cavalry. Mercenary Light Cavalry are one of the little gems in the Dogs of War list. At 11 points permodel these guys are a steal. Their stats are average across the board so if you are used to having units like Dark Riders you may be in for a bit of let down. Nevertheless, they do have a solid place in mercenary armies. What makes them a key piece in most armies is that it allows the mercenary general access to cheap and plentiful core fast cavalry.

Light Cavalry have several options to make them a very flexible unit in mercenary armies. There are essentially two builds with this unit: scout/light combat and scout/light missile. The missile variant equips Light Cavalry with a bow for an additional 4 points per model. Small units of missile armed cavalry can make solid flanking units for harassing lightly armored enemy flankers, flyers, war machines, and the occasional lone character. They are of course also useful as march blockers regardless of how you build them. With only average skill you should not expect too much from their shooting attacks unless you take a large unit. However, Dogs of War can field enough missile troops that makes going overboard on a fragile light missile unit inadvisable. Their primary targets should be small and lightly armored units or to try and get a kill or two on heavier units to take away 1pt of rank bonus (assuming a unit if 5 wide of course). It is not always possible to soften up all of your opponent's units before you meet in close combat, thus being able to pick off the odd trooper here and there can pay dividends later on in a battle.

The more common and in my opinion more useful build for Light Cavalry is to equip them with spears for just 1 additional point per model. You can also add shields for an additional 2 points per model. Thus equipped, a unit of Light Cavalry can provide a solid flank or even rear charge on occasion. It is fairly easy to field 2-3 units of Light Cavalry in a standard game (2000 points) so that you can lose a unit or two and still have options. These guys are the premier flanking unit available to mercenary generals unless of course you care to try the more hybrid medium (non-barded heavy cavalry) version of heavy cavalry. Command groups are an debatable for this unit, although I personally would advise against ever using a standard bearer in one of these units. Light cavalry are simply too fragile to include a potentially free 100 victory point bonus for your opponent. A champion and/or musician are more worthy options and I would tend towards just running a musician if you plan on hit and run tactics. You cannot and should not rely on these guys to take on anything tougher than other light cavalry or infantry (skirmishers). Avoiding ranked units and heavy cavalry are essential. Light Cavalry do make excellent bait units which you can use to redirect your opponents units. Just make sure to have a musician so that you are not relying on Ld 7 for rally tests.

Tactica: Dogs of War Heavy Cavalry

Hello all, Slick here. Today I would like to continue the tactica series on Dogs of War units. I have previously covered Pikemen, Crossbowmen, and Duellists. To finish off the review of our Core units it is now time to take a look at mercenary cavalry. First off, I will review Heavy Cavalry, one of the few 'hammer' units available to Dogs of War generals.

For a mere 19 points, Dogs of War have access to core heavy cavalry which come with a solid stat line. The heavy cavalry feature a Weapon Skill of 4 as well as Leadership 8, which is certainly above average for generic troops. The remaining stats for heavy cavalry are 3s. Their initial cost includes good equipment which gives them a 3+ armor save. Typically this still falls under the medium cavalry category. However, with rumored changes to cavalry in 8th edition, having access to both heavy and medium cavalry as core will certainly be beneficial to mercenary generals. Currently, rumors are that cavalry with a 2+ or better armor save will not be able to march. You can imagine how this will impact armies that feature heavy cavalry deathstar units. The only upgrade options for heavy cavalry aside from a command group are to add barding for an additional 2 points to bring the total to 21 points per model. In most cases this is the preferred route to go as you can field several 5 man units of heavy cavalry that will hit with Strength 5 on the charge. They lack the 1+ armor of Empire Knights or the pure skill of comparable elite cavalry units in other armies, but they are also fairly cheap.

Command groups for these units depend on which role you want them to fulfill on the battlefield. Small groups of 5 heavy cavalry do not need a full command and are typically best served by adding a musician and/or champion. If you intend the unit to be sacrificial then no command is needed at all of course. If you plan on building a hammer unit then a full command group becomes viable. A typical hammer unit would optimally run between 7-9 heavy cavalry with full command and would typically be joined by a Captain as well for extra punch.

Using heavy cavalry without barding does not seem to be too popular or widespread from what I have seen in Dogs of War builds. This seems to be more of an issue with the current state of Warhammer Fantasy than the Dogs of War rules. There are so many high strength units/spells/etc. currently in the game that any competitive Dogs of War build (DoW are competitive?!) is better off forgoing this option. Personally, I think it would be fun to try and make this variant work as you trade 1 point of armor for an additional 2 inches of movement. This can add some interesting tactical wrinkles to your battle plan and your opponent may be caught off guard if they are used to slower moving heavy cavalry. The extra movement afforded by not using barding should be enough to setup more advantageous charges or for getting up the flanks. Note, you are still Strength 5 when you charge with this variant.

A unit or two of heavy cavalry is always a welcome addition to a Dogs of War army and is one of the few units with good armor and high strength (on the charge) that mercenary generals have access to. Again, they are core, and have no other restrictions on them whatsoever. Take them! Hopefully you have found the above tactica helpful. Stay tuned for a review of Light Cavalry.

Gold and Glory Issue 3!

Hey all, well it's been a long time coming but here is Issue 3 of Gold and Glory, the Dogs of War ezine. Click the picture for the download. Enjoy!

Dogs of War: Scratchbuilt Maneaters Complete Unit

Hey all, here they are, the complete unit of scratchbuilt Maneaters, reading to tear apart just about anything they face on the battlefield. Next step will be to paint these guys up. Stay tuned. Comments welcome!

Dogs of War: Scratchbuilt Maneater 3

Hey all, here is the last of the three maneaters for my Dogs of War. This guy has served in various armies and has also seen combat versus Bretonnians. His hat emblem is actually one of the tiny Terminator shoulder icons. This maneater is also loaded with 3 pistols! Comments welcome!

Dogs of War: Scratchbuilt Maneaters 2

Hey all, time for the next Maneater. I ran out of green stuff and decided to give grey stuff a try. Wow, what a difference! It was so much easier to work with. On to the Maneater, he is similar to the first one although you'll notice his shoulder armor are Bretonnian knight shields. Since the Brets do not hire mercenaries that means he likely took them off of some poor knights that got in his way while fighting against the Brets. His guns are from the Empire Pistoliers box set. Comments welcome!

Warhammer Fantasy: Objective Marker

Hey all, here is an objective marker I have created for my Dogs of War and Empire armies. I made it using two 20mm square bases and then green stuff to build up the shape of the sarcophagus around it. A spare tombstone from old Tomb Kings bits and an extra standard from Empire plastics complete the marker. A warhammer also from Empire plastics was added on top of the grave to commemorate a famous Empire general (who was rumored to have stashed away a fortune). Comments welcome!

Dogs of War: Scratchbuilt Maneaters 1

Hey all, time for another Dogs of War update! I finally decided to get around to scratchbuilding a unit of Maneaters. The unit will all be armed with the 2 handgun/pistol option, as these guys are just pure badass when it comes to dishing out the pain. I definitely did not want to get more of the metal Maneaters - they are far too expensive and there is really only 1 model that would be suitable for this weapon option. What better way than to put the ever useful Ogre Bulls box to good use? This was also a chance to practice working with greenstuff which I have little to no ability with. All 3 ogres in this unit will be decked out with the tools of their trade and enough souvenirs from the various places they have fought. This guy decided to pick up some shields and use them as armor, taking both a marauder and empire shield off of the fools who decided to get in his way. I did say he was using two pistols/handguns right? He is holding handweapons but strapped to his back are a couple of pistols, ready to put a few S4AP caps in unsuspecting fools. Being a rather worldly ogre, he had to pick up a hat off of some silly Paymaster who had the nerve to withold payment. I will be working on the other 2 Maneaters for the unit before getting around to painting them up. Comments welcome!

Dogs of War: Leo's Leopard Company

Hi all, it's been quite a while since the Dogs of War have had an update. Time to change that! Here is the completed unit of Leo's Leopard Company. Finally cleaned them up and made a few color changes as well as getting them based. I still need to go back and do their facial details but for now they're ready to get back into action. Comments welcome!

Mini-Tactica: Vespero's Vendetta

Hello all, time to focus a little bit on Dogs of War as I've been neglecting them as of late.

For this mini-tactica I’ll be discussing Vespero’s Vendetta. As with many other Regiments of Renown (ROR) it is a case of cool minis that suffer from mediocre rules. Vespero’s Vendetta are both overpriced and lack any rules or stats to make them worth taking (unless it’s just a casual game or themed list), especially when compared to the superlative regular duelists which you could purchase more of for your army list instead. All of the negative aspects aside, let us take a look at what Vespero’s Vendetta can do.

The members of Vespero’s Vendetta are essentially standard duelists led by Vespero, a captain level hero who has slightly higher Weapon Skill than an average captain. The duelists of VV have two hand weapons and throwing knives as well as cloaks, giving them some small protect in combat.

As with regular duelists, VV have the skirmish special rule.

Unlike most Regiments of Renown, Vespero’s Vendetta has a magic item, although its use is rather limited. Vespero himself has a mask that causes fear. This ability is only for Vespero himself and is not conveyed to the rest of the unit. A unit strength (US) 1 fear causing model is practically useless and a clear sign of the age of this Dogs of War army list. It will only have a very limited effect if any.

If you are intent on using Vespero’s then they would be used much like regular duelists, although they are nowhere near as useful across as many situations as pistol-armed duelists. They are as fragile as regular duelists with an increased cost to boot. Even in combat, Vespero’s higher than average weapon skill will not mean much in today’s Warhammer environment as many unit champions from newer books could easily deal with Vespero.

As with regular duelists they would excel at protecting lone characters or the precious few war machines available to mercenary generals. Alternately, you could play this unit more aggressively and try to hunt down lone enemy wizards and their war machines. With as much shooting and magic as most armies currently bring to the table, the chances of survival for Vespero’s on the tabletop are rather bleak.

I could see the unit being used in a themed list and casual play but certainly not in any type of competitive list. Sadly, Vespero is best left on the shelf.

Tactica: Duelists

Hello all, it's time for another Dogs of War tactica. This time I would like to discuss perhaps the best unit in the entire army, namely Duelists. If you think of Dogs of War, the terms 'elite' or 'powerful' are not typically associated with the army. Nevertheless, Duelists occupy a key spot in the Dogs of War army and are a true multi-tasking unit, and to top things off, they are also a Core choice. In short, you can have as many units as you can afford. There are no restrictions as with Special and Rare choices, and no army-specific constraints such as the 'mainstay unit' rules. Quite simply, Duelists are the best unit available to the Dogs of War general for a variety of reasons which I will discuss in greater detail below.

As I mentioned, Duelists are a Core choice for Dogs of War and are an infantry unit. Unlike the rather static blocks of pikemen, Duelists are much more mobile as they have the Skirmishers special rule. Statistically, they also stack up favorable to other generic Dogs of War units as they have both a Weapon Skill (WS) and Initiative (I) of 4. In an army where 3 is the average stat, it is quite an improvement. Their other statistics are all average and their leadership is also the average 7 for most humans. What makes them such a useful unit then?

Their equipment options for duelists, one option in particular, make them an indespensible unit for the army and one of the few mercenary units that actually stacks up fairly well against other armies out there. Duelists come standard with a hand weapon but may purchase an additional hand weapon, pistols, and throwing knives. Duelists are also extremely fragile (as are most skirmishers) in that they have no armor, but may opt to purchase bucklers for a scant bit of protection in combat.

Of the 3 main weapon configurations, purchasing throwing knives is perhaps the least desirable choice (unless you are doing this for fluff or thematic reasons). For a few points more than throwing knives you can purchase a pistol for your Duelists. Armed in this manner, Duelists become quite a fearsome unit as they provide a bit of punch (albeit short-ranged) in the shooting phase while also getting an additional attack in the close combat phase again, thanks to the ruling regarding pistols in the most recent Warhammer FAQ. What makes the pistol-armed Duelists so special? Let us briefly examine the profile of the pistol. You have a range of 8", Strength 4, and as with all firearms, you also benefit from the Armor-Piercing special rule. Lightly armed troops and even medium cavalry will come to fear a big volley from a Duelist unit. To make things even better, a unit armed with pistols may ALWAYS stand-and-shoot, regardless of how close the enemy chargers are, thus an opponent will have to weigh their options before recklessly charging the Duelists. The major downside with the Duelists' shooting, is that they languish at the average ballistic skill (BS) of 3, which means you'll be hitting on 5s at best, on a Stand-and-Shoot. Nevertheless, their potential damage should give opponents pause unless they're charging in with a Deathstar unit.

In combat, Duelists armed with pistols or an additional hand weapon are no slouches. They will be throwing out 2 WS4 attacks each which means most enemy troops will need a 4+ to hit them. If charged, you cannot expect the Duelists to survive in combat as their lack of real armor means they will be dropping fast. Even equipping a buckler only provides the bare minimum of armor saves, and let's face it, there are so many S4 or greater attacks in the current Warhammer environment that those points would be best spent elsewhere. Where Duelists excel in combat is against small or lightly armored units, or weak individual characters such as wizards, or in certain cases getting a flank or rear charge in support of other units such as pikes, ogres, and cavalry.

Where Duelists can truly excel is in the role of baiting enemy troops into bad (read failed) charges. Duelists work well as screening units, keeping lightly armored units such as pikes and ogres safe from direct missile fire for a few turns. As part of the screening role you can employ the Duelists as bait, only to flee when charge, hopefully setting up good charges for your main combat units on your turn. Allow me to provide a few examples of using the Duelists to devastating effect as baiting units:

There are two parts to effectively using this tactic and it requires 2 of your units - it can contain more units, but at its heart, 2 units are at the heart of it.

You need both a screening unit and the hammer unit.

Ideally the screening unit will be a group of skirmishers --- for me this is almost always going to be pistol armed duellists. While we do have other skirmishing units available (Lumpin Croop's, Mengil's Manflayers etc), the RoR skirmishers are far too expensive to be used as front line shields for the hammer units.

I do use Lumpin Croop's in my army (much to the annoyance of my opponents), and they have never failed to perform. Their role is one of harassing and annoying the enemy, hopefully putting wounds on small weak units (fast cav, and generally anything T3 within their range, and of course as marchblockers).

Why duellists? Why not? They are one of the best units available to a DOW general. There are several different equipment options available. Lets break these down briefly:

Vanilla Duellists - comes with a handweapon - not really good for much of anything - these guys will struggle to kill anything

Duellist w/2 handweapons - 2 WS4, I4 attacks are great, and they can chop up small weak units with relative success, although they lack staying power

Duelist w/Pistol - I realize there is some debate as to whether this version should count as having 2 attacks in close combat - I certainly think they should, and most opponents will see the light of reason. Now we have a duellist with 2 WS4, I4 attacks in close combat, but perhaps most importantly, we have a fairly powerful and often underestimated ranged attack (several of my opponents learned this when my duellists proceeded to tear their units apart in the shooting phase). One key ability the pistol armed duellist possesses over other ranged units (bows etc) is that you can always stand and shoot with a pistol (-1 to hit still applies). Opponents will often reconsider charging for fear of potentially getting whiped out on the charge. Yet for me, close combat is not the primary role for the duellists, unless the situation is just too good to pass up (judgment call).

Duellists w/Buckler - give you a wimpy 6+ save vs shooting and 5+ in CC - While the 5+ in CC could give you some survivability vs your average S3 footslogger, it really isn't worth it IMO, as their primary purpose for me is to be shooting the enemy and acting as tempting bait.

Duellists w/Throwing Knives - the other missile option for these guys - with a range of 6" at S3, is it really worth it over the pistol? NO! Unless you're going this route for fluff reasons, leave the knives at home and pack on the black powder.

Duellist w/maximum equipment - This will easily bring your duelists past the 10pts/mini margin and frankly isn't worth it either. Yes, they will be a shooting and CC threat, but with their average T3 and 6+ AS while out in the open they just will not survive, despite being at -1 to hit from being skirmishers. Your points are really better spent elsewhere.

As DOW, I would say we have access to perhaps the most diverse array of troops among the various Warhammer Fantasy armies (if not always the best or flashiest troops). Its always fun beating down opponents with their power units, decked out with magic banners, and expensive characters and their various magic items. No sir, we win with skill and a few common magic items.

In my army I use what I will refer to as 'hammer' units. I'll explain my reasoning behind these choices, and possible alternatives.

Hammer unit 1 --- 20+ Leo's Leopoard CompanyHammer unit 2 - 3 Maneaters.

What do both of these units have in common?

Both are immune to psychology.

This is crucial on various levels. Both units are also very capable of beating most units that they will face.Leo's Leopard Company - now I know many will say to just use vanilla pikes, or even go for Ricco's, Alcatani, or Pirazzo's, but I have found the Leopard Company to be winners. Their cost (most expensive pike unit) can be prohibitive, but I have found them to be worth it. My first few outings with DOW were without duellists and after Leo's demolished one of my opponent's units, they began drawing heavy fire in subsequent games, leaving them to be less than effective. Be well aware, with only light armor, pikes will die in droves to handguns and xbows, to say nothing of warmachines. Hence, the duellist screen. Yes, opponents, can still target them from hills etc. I try to make sure my opponents have so many things to worry about, that if they focus too much attention on eradicating the pikes, other parts of my army can and will make them pay dearly.

Now, back to the immune to psychology ability. You will get shot at and you will lose pikemen, but you will not be running away from these losses. I also find the ability extremely valuable, as I play against WE (who uses a lot of dryads, treekin, treemen), VC (undead - duh), Ogres (more fear). I can't have an expensive block of troops failing a fear check and leaving a gap in the battle line.Pikes oddly enough work best vs infantry, light cavalry, ogres, and units of that size/toughness. Pike will struggle vs 1+ or 2+ save knights (even with the +1 str bonus). I find that the sheer number of attacks + the fact that you go first (except versus HE and magical ASF) allows you to easily wipe out the front rank if not 2 ranks of most infantry units.

I should also mention I place my paymaster in my Leopard Company unit - if the paymaster dies (likely in CC) then you will have pikes + hatred vs the unit that killed him - very nice! We also can't ignore Leo himself, a fairly generic captain, although he 'technically' gets an additional attack as he carries a pistol. Leo also carries heavy armor so he has a bit more staying power than the rank and file pikemen of the unit. I also arm my paymaster with the following wargear: pistol, heavy armor, shield, morningstar. This makes the entire pike unit able to throw out 2 pistols shots at nearby units to either boost the duelist shooting or put a few wounds on another unit. These two shots may not seem like much but anything casualty you inflict on your opponent is worth it. Most opponents also don't expect to be shot at from an infantry unit, so its just another little surprise I use. These two shots will also hit most of the time - Leo is BS5, and the paymaster comes in at a respectable BS4. Again, they can always stand and shoot as well which can take out a couple of enemies before you unleash the massive number of pike attacks in CC.

Hammer Unit 2 ---A unit of 3 maneaters. I have seen lists use units of 3 with a braces of handguns (pistols for the maneaters) to great effect and I might build of unit of these in the near future. My unit of three contains 2 maneaters with cathayan longswords and one with a great weapon who is placed in the middle. Maneaters already come with an impressive statline and several nice abilities (immune to psych, stubborn, cause fear). I find the WS + I boost of the longswords nice because it lets these guys compete with most hero level characters in terms of speed and the extra WS ensure you should be hitting most enemy units on a 3+, and with a S5, you can expect to usually wound on a 3+, and often a 2+. The one maneater with a great weapon is there to have a S7 chariot killing machine (4 S7 attacks is nothing to scoff at). With a S7 this guy will also put fear into heavily armed cavalry with a nice -4 modifier to their armor save.

On to the actual implementation of the tactic: I deploy my duelist units as screens directly in front of my hammer units to prevent them from getting shot up as much as possible. During the first few movement phases the duelists units advance so that they are anywhere from 5-8 inches in front of the hammer units. I also try to keep the rest of the batteline roughly even with my hammer units so that flank charges on the hammers do not present themselves.What do I do with each unit?

The duelists will engage enemy units within range using their pistols, hopefully inflicting a few casualties. I will rarely charge with duelists unless I see a strategic advantage in doing so which will help me in the following turns. There is no point in wiping out an enemy unit only to get yourself out of position in their turn. If the duelists are in range to shoot then anyone but dwarfs should be able to charge them. Depending on the enemy and the opponent, you will likely get charged. If its a weak enough enemy or if my shooting phase has inflicted a decent amount of casualties, I might stand and shoot. Typically, I will choose to flee (remember - 5-8 inches away from the hammers). I typically roll fairly high, so my duelists will flee through either of my immune to psych units who will ignore the fleeing troops. Make sure you do not have any other friendlies in their path who might be affected. It will also take some careful positioning so that your duelists flee through your hammers and not in a direction which will cause other units to panic. Depending on the type of unit that charged the duelists, the enemy will either get a failed charge or carry on through to your hammer unit. I should mention I leave a tiny gap so that my hammer unit can see the enemy unit in question so that they could be a legal charge target.Preferably, I want my pike unit charged, whereas I want a unit getting a failed charge and stopping short of my maneaters who will of course charge that unit in my turn. Thus I usually leave the duelists screening the maneaters a bit further out than the ones screening my pikes.

As outlined above, the combat prowess of these units ensure they will win most fights, and hopefully the duelists will have put some wounds on the opposing enemy units. If everything works well, the duelists will rally in the subsequent turn and will again work their way forward to support the battleline. It can of course happen that you do not flee far enough with your duelists resulting in their death. If the duelists die, then they die.

The pikemen who will have their static combat resolution (paymaster helps here as well) in addition to the wounds they cause in combat will likely break most units. The maneaters undoubtedly can dish out lots of punishment which should mean that they will face few if any return attacks depending on the situation of course. As they cause fear and with a starting US9 they should auto-break a lot of opponents (in the unlikely event someone rolls insane courage). I've used this tactic quite successfully. My opponent can either charge the duellists, shoot them (which is their major weakness), or try to maneuver around them. If they are ignored, I continue to put pistol shots into whichever enemy is in range.

Keep in mind that none of this is occurring in a vacuum - the rest of the army is there as well as the rest of your opponent's forces + the terrain. Every unit in my list works in concert with the other units of my army. I try to make sure that any of my opponent's units which I try to draw into these baits have been shot at by either my xbows, cannons, halflings, duellists, and if possible by either of my wizards. The tactic isn't going to be a guaranteed success, as anything can happen at any point in the battle. You also shouldn't limit yourself to one strategy. It takes a combination efforts in all phases of the game to be successful. There are many issues within the metagame which can help make you a more successful general, but that is for another tactica.

As good as the pistol-armed Duelists are, they are not the only option in fielding Duelists as multiple such units can get expensive. If you are worried about protecting your war machines such as Mercenary Cannons and Hot Pots yo could take a small unit of bare-bones or two hand weapon equipped Duelists to protect your vulnerable war machines. These Duelists can then serve to either harass, redirect, or directly engage units such as scouts, miners, waywatchers etc.

Duelists are suited to virtually every army build for Dogs of War armies. They complement infantry heavy armies as well as more mobile armies, as their skirmishing rule allows them to keep up with the fast moving elements of an army. Beginning generals may find them hard to use but with experience and practice you will learn how to employ them to devastating effect. Hopefully the above tactica has been helpful to you.