It has taken
me a while to work out what on Earth you're meant to do with Dwarf
Rangers. I've had a dozen or so games now with my Dwarfs, mainly
against Matt's Skaven, and I think I have finally worked these guys
out.
The basic
deal of these fellows is that they're a Scouting unit with crossbows,
great weapons, throwing axes and heavy armour with shields as an
option. Up until now I've been using them as a Death Or Glory Suicide
Squad and it turns out that was a terrible idea. For the most part
I've been setting them up using Scout the minimum twelve inches away
from the scariest things my opponent has (usually Rat Ogres or
similar monstrous infantry) and hope to get in a first turn volley of
crossbow fire in before being charged.
For the most
part this tactic ended in death. Mine, to be specific.
On Sunday,
again against Matt's Skaven, I tried something different for no
better reason than there was already a 16 model Thunderer unit
staring down the Rat Ogres. More by luck than judgement I discovered
what Rangers are for: creating an exclusion zone.
I set them
up roughly at the centre of the battlefield with a piece of
impassable terrain protecting their left flank. To their right was
empty space but, crucially, it was empty space that my Dwarf Lord and
his Ironbreakers were going to be moving up into in the very near
shortly. The presence of the Ironbreakers provided me some protection
from being charged by Matt's larger and more powerful units who would
have had to weigh charging against the possibility that they'd be
countercharged by the scariest infantry unit in my army.
Meanwhile,
the crossbows were in short range and whittling down one of Matt's
infantry blocks until something more valuable, such as his Doomwheel,
came into my arc of sight.
Once my
Ironbreakers and Warriors had caught up with the Rangers, the Rangers
became a supporting unit to them effectively returning the favour and
being the scary unit Matt didn't want in his flank if he made a badly
judged charge against the larger rank and file units.
There's a
lot more synergy between Dwarf units than I thought there was and I'm
looking forward to exploring these mechanics a little more deeply.
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