Deep Dwarf Faction

[gornhorror]

Here is a faction that I've been fiddling with for a little while now.  Ask anybody that games with me and they will tell you that I never play the dwarves.  I like elves.  That being said, I didn't think it was fair that the elves had 3 factions and the their was only one dwarf faction.  Yes, they're slow, but they can hang in there with the best of them.  Changes might have to be made, more command cards must be thought up, etc.  I will make proxies and start play testing them soon.

DEEP DWARVES

Deep Dwarf Hammermen (core) (4) 6/6 1/3 R-0 C-13 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 4/4/3

Deep Dwarf Spearmen (core) (5) 6/6 1/3 R-0 C-13 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 4/4/3
*(-1) +0/+0 while charging
*(+0) +1/+0 vs cavalry and/or large units
*(+0) +0/+2 while holding vs charging cavalry and/or charging large units

Deep Dwarf Crossbowmen (core) (3) 6/5 1/3 R-14” C-12 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 4/3/3
This unit gains (+1) 0/0 when engaged.
*Poison shot(if this unit does two damage in one ranged attack, target gets (-1) 0/0 and takes one additional damage at the end of the turn.
Line of sight

Deep Dwarf Initiates (core) (4) 5/5 1/2 R-0 C-12 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 3/4/3

Deep Dwarf Strike Squad (core) (5) 7/5 3/1 R-0 C-12 M-3.5”
Health Bar: 3/4/3

Deep Dwarf Rothe’ Herder (4) 3/6 1/2 R-0 C-12 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 3/3/3

The Enslaved (core) (4) 5/5 2/1 R-0 C-11 M-3.5”
Health Bar: 4/3/3
*Every turn that this unit is engaged roll a 6 sided die and divide by 2 and round up.  Take that number and add it to any attack stat or defensive stat you choose.
(Example if a six is rolled, you can raise 3 different stats by 1.)
*when the enslaved fail a rout check they automatically reform at the end of the turn
*Rebellion: when this unit routs, once reformed, the opponent may control this unit. Command cards may be played on this unit from the controlling faction.

Arachnid Cavalry (Spider Riders) (6) 6/5 2/2 R-7” C-11 M-6”
Health Bar: 3/2/3
*Can move sideways without movement penalty
*This unit is still considered charging even if engaged on either flank
This unit gets (+0) +0/+1 +2/+0 while charging
*Counts as cavalry
*If this unit is not engaged at the start of the turn and becomes engaged on its front side, it makes a range attack at (3) 6/5 at the start of the combat phase, before normal attacks are rolled.
Does not suffer move and shoot penalty

Rothe’ Herd (large, fearsome, elite) (5) 5/7 1/3 R-0 C-12 M-5”
Health Bar: 6/3/3
*This unit does 2 impact hits
*This unit is still considered charging even if engaged on either flank
*You must discard one command card to play a command card on this unit
*This unit is on permanent close unless Deep Dwarf Rothe’ Herder is in play

Deep Dwarf Bombardiers (elite) (2) 7/7 1/2 R-17.5” C-11 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 3/3/3
*Cannot move and shoot
*This unit gets (+2) -2/-2 when engaged
*If this unit does two damage with it’s ranged attack, target is stunned.
*Stunned units do not move on their next turn and receive a (-1) -1/-0 attack penalty
*Command cards cannot be used for ranged attacks

Durnim Elite (5) 7/6 1/3 R-0 C-14 M-3.5”
Health Bar: 5/4/3

Giant Xorn (large/fearsome) (3) 7/7 3/3 R-0 C-13 M-5”
Health Bar: 7/2/3
Opponents do not receive any bonuses for flanking or rear attacking this creature.
This creature suffers no movement penalty for backwards or sideways movement.
This creature suffers no attacking with flank penalty.
You cannot play command cards on this unit
You must use two command actions to change this units objective.

Deep Dwarf Clerics (elite) (4) 5/5 1/2 R-*(Spells) C-13 M-2.5”
Health Bar: 3/4/3
Spells:

Dome of protection: Place a counter on target unit within 10”.  As long as target unit is unengaged this unit gains +2/+1 against ranged attacks.  Once this unit engages, remove this ability. This spell cannot be cast on cavalry.  Only one of these counters can be on any unit at a time.

Haste:  Target unit gains (+1) +1/+0 +1/+0 this turn.  This spell is cast during movement and command phase.  This can only be cast on engaged units.  Target unit takes one damage at the end of the turn. You cannot play command cards on this unit this turn.


Army Ability:

Adrenalin Rush---Mark the adrenalin rush box.  Remove this mark before any combat turn to make a yellow box green. Or, remove two red boxes and make them yellow.  At the end of the combat turn this unit takes one damage. This damage cannot cause a rout check. This ability can only be activated during a turn when this unit makes an attack.


 
Faction Specific Command Cards:

Going For Broke: (green) Whenever one of your units fails a rout check, instead of facing your rear flank to the opponent on the post rout free attacks, play one more round of combat.  Destroy your unit at the end of the turn. (2)

Hold Your Ground: (blue)Play this card after your opponent rolls to hit.  For every hit roll a die.  For every one or two rolled, remove that hit. (2)

Sure Strike: (red) Play during your attack.  Target unit gains (+0) +0/+1 and you may sacrifice 2 attack dice to gain an impact hit. (2)

Mortal Enemy: (green) This unit gains one of the following abilities once it engages a specific opponent’s unit of your choice. (+1), +1/+0, or +0/+1. This ability lasts for the entire combat.(2)

Deep Dwarves final rush at 3.5”

Short backstory:

Far, far, below the surface of the earth.  Deeper than even the great mountain halls of Rungard, exist the Durnim, an ancient race of dwarves.  Over the centuries their numbers and powers have grown while constantly battling the denizens of the underdark.  Forging armor and weapons made from the precious metals in the vast caverns they inhabit, they can defeat any army they face.  

[Hannibal]

So my knock just from a glance is that the units feel like 'Dwarves who went goth.'  Both have hammermen, spearmen, shortbeards (i.e. initiates).  I'd want to see these Dwarves be fundamentally different.  Something like psionic Dwarves who have monsters & slaves because they psychically dominate them or make the monsters more integral to the army, so that these guys maybe use twisted alchemy to breed these beasts.

The Enslaved (core) (4) 5/5 2/1 R-0 C-11 M-3.5”
*Rebellion: when this unit routs, once reformed, the opponent may control this unit. Command cards may be played on this unit from the controlling faction.

For that rule alone I'd never take these guys.  They'll fail the Yellow check 50% of the them and now I have a unit under my opponent's control for free pinches?  No thank you.

[gull2112]

So my knock just from a glance is that the units feel like 'Dwarves who went goth.'  Both have hammermen, spearmen, shortbeards (i.e. initiates).  I'd want to see these Dwarves be fundamentally different. 

Well, DE, Ravenwood, and HE all have swordsmen and spearmen. They should (or at least, could) still feel like Dwarves, just twisted.

[RushAss]

These Hammermen are waaaay different than Runegard Hammermen.  Those guys wield 2 hammers, based on their stats these guys seem to wield 1 big hammer.  Maybe they should be called Battle Hammermen?

I think the Enslaved are a pretty cool unit flavor-wise.  To prevent the high chance of them being controlled by the enemy perhaps their courage should be boosted?  Or maybe remove the die roll thing for the attack stats and have the die roll apply to the chance of an opponent gaining control of the unit if it routs.  Or how about this:
When this unit routes, roll a die.  If the result is 4-6, the opponent gains control off this unit.  Now there is only a 25% chance that the opponent will get to control it when put into the yellow.  If this is still too much make the die result have to be a 5-6 or maybe even just a 6. 

Arachnid Cavalry getting a defensive stat of 4/2 on the charge in addition to all the other abilities is going to catapult this unit into the 400+ point stratosphere.  Maybe just keep it with the normal (+1)/+0 for the charge turn?  With 3 green hit boxes I think this would be just fine IMO.

Question - Does the Haste spell only apply for 1 attack turn, or is it permanent?

[gornhorror]

Marcus,

The Haste spell is only for one turn.

I guess I could lower the charge bonus on the arachnid cavalry to only a +1 defensive skill.  That would be ok with me.  I would want the unit to be affordable.  Also, this unit will still get the charge bonus if it's flanked(like chariots), so nerfing the charge bonus is not that horrible.

I do agree that my line units are pretty different from normal Dwarf units.  I just gave them generic names like hammermen and spearmen.  I could change those easily.  Maybe to something like Blasthammers, Halberdiers, etc. 

Remember everybody, this is just a rough draft....Things will most definitely change, playtesting must be done, and comments are appreciated whether I agree or not.  Even you Zelc, with your lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objections.............Overrulled!!!!!  Heh, just kidding.  No really, I like when you try to put me in my place with your numbers and percentages.  I just go with my gut usually.  I think the answers are somewhere in the middle however.  But what do I know, you kick my ass most of the time anyways.  I only remember beating you once(the first time we played, and that was a multiplayer game)so that doesn't count.  I'll get you eventually.  Probably when your not playing Carthage or the Dark Elves or beating my head in with some rule I don't know about.      Peace to you, all my brothers.

[leemie]

added dwarfs to your spiders but I just noticed i did 3/3/2 not 3/2/3 owell