New Dwarf Runes Summary

The following is a summary of the new Rune system for Dwarfs upcoming Army Book. They are fairly solid and confirmed by multiple sources now. Although several points values are know for them I have left them out. There are definitely some very interesting combinations to be had and at first glance it appears that the main strength in the new Dwarf Army Book will be Banner Runes combined with heavy infantry...

Runes & Magic items:

Banner Runes (11 runes)
M. Rune of Stromni Redbeard: +1 Combat Res for all friendly units with 12"
M. Rune of Grungi: Ward save against missile attacks
M. Rune of Valaya: +2 to dispel attempts
Strollaz Rune: Vanguard.
Rune of Stoicism: Stubborn.
Ruen of Courage: Immune to Psychology
Ancestor Rune: Once per game, take test on single d6
Rune of Slowness: One rune, charging enemy unit subtracts 1d6 from their charge distance rolled.
                              Two runes of slowness, you roll 2d6 and take the highest for the charge distance reduction.
                              Three runes of slowness still use the 2d6 roll (pick the highest) for the charge distance reduction, and if the charging unit still makes it into contact, it has ASL until the end of the turn.
Rune of Battle: One rune of battle grants an extra 1 point of combat resolution.
                         Two runes of battle grant an extra 2 to combat resolution.
                         Three runes of battle grant an extra 2 to combat resolution and grant the unit the Fight in Extra Ranks special rule.
Rune of Sanctuary: One rune, MR(1)
                               Two runes, MR(2)

Engineering Runes (8 runes)
Rune of Forging: Reroll misfore on artillery dice.
Rune of Disguise: Warmachine counts as being in hard cover.
Rune of Immolation: Detonate your warmachine to hurt enemies; automatically blows up if killed in close combat.
Rune of Penetrating: Increases strength, can be taken twice.  If on grudge thrower, affects both S values, as in x(y).
Rune of Stalwart: Grants bonus to machines combat resolution score
Rune of Accuracy: +1 to hit for warmachines.
Rune of Seeking: +1 to hit against flyers for WM.
Rune of Burning: Flaming attacks.

Armor Runes (8 runes)
M. Rune of Adamant: Grants T10.
??????: 5+ regeneration save.
??????: 2+ ward save against KB/HKB.

Weapon Runes (18 runes)
M. Rune of Skalf Blackhammer: Wounds on a 2+ unless target in magic armor, wounds on 3+
M. Rune of Alaric the Mad: No armor saves
Rune of Breaking: Destroys magic items on target character on roll of 2+.
Dragon Slaying: One rune, wounds dragons on 2+ with Multiple Wounds(2)
                          Two runes, +1 to hit and wound anything from Daemons of Chaos book + Multiple Wounds (d3)
Rune of Fury: One rune, +1 attack
                       Two rune, +1 attack + frenzy
                       Three rune, +1 attack + frenzy + every hit generates extra attacks
Rune of Cleaving: One rune, +1 S
                             Two runes, Armor Piercing
                             Three Wounds, Killing Blow
Rune of Smiting: Multiple Wounds (d6)
Rune of Might: One rune, double S v +T5 foes.
                        Two runes grants Multiple Wounds(D3).
Rune of Striking: One rune, +1 WS
                           Two runes, WS 10
                           Three runes, Reroll failed to-hits in combat
Rune of Fire: One rune, flaming attacks
                      Two runes, S3 breath weapon(50)
                      Three runes, Multiple Wounds(d3)

Talisman Runes (7 runes)
M. Rune of Balance: Steal PD on 4+.
Rune of Spellbreaking: One rune, dispel scroll.
                                     Two runes, same as before
Rune of Dismay: One runes, causes fear
                           Two runes, causes terror
                           Three runes, causes terror and enemy units take -1 ld penalty
Rune of the Forge: One rune, 2+ ward vs flaming
Rune of Warding: One rune, 6+ ward
                            Two runes, 5+ ward
                            Three runes, 4+ ward
Rune of Luck: One rune, one re-roll per game
Master Rune of Passage: Auto pass difficult terrain test

Heirloom (6)
Heirloom: Hammer that grants +3 initiative, and if you wound an opponent, they have I1 until the end of the combat phase.
Heirloom: Axe that grants re-rolls to hit and to wound against Orcs & Goblins and Skaven.  Cause Terror against those opponents.
Heirloom: Armor of 2+ save and 3++ vs attacks of S6 or higher.
Heirloom: A horn that is one use only and grants all units with 6" the Devastating Charge rule til the end of turn.  After using, that character causes Fear to High Elves, Dark Elves, and Wood Elves for the rest of the game.
Heirloom: Ring that grants a S4 breath weapon with Flaming Attacks.
Heirloom: Banner to Re-roll failed to wound rolls.

Source: Dwarf Army Book, Bugmans Brewery, White Dwarf

Dwarf Third Wave Pictures

Better quality pictures are hitting the airwaves of the third White Dwarf Weekly along with the new Dwarf Irondrakes/Ironbreakers

Week 3 WD cover

Irondrake command group 

Irondrake close ups

Trollhammer torpedo, a 24" range Strength 8 flaming missile weapon causing D3 wounds!

  

Ironbreaker command

Ironbreaker close ups

More Pictures of Dwarf Book leaked - Updated with more rumours

Some pictures of the new upcoming Dwarf book are starting to appear. Below is some that have surfaced including a picture of some Runic Talismans...

It has been reported that there will be the following amount of runes (excluding the options to stack them)

18 Weapon runes

  8 Armour runes

11 Banner runes

  7 Talisman runes

  8 Engineering runes

  6 Ancestral Heirlooms

  3 Bound spells (Anvil of Doom)

Anvil.  5++ save. Gives 2 extra wounds to the Runesmith.  One extra casting and dispel dice each respective turn.  One bound spell grants Immune to Psych for all friendlies within 24", the second gives one target unit +1 AS, and the last is 2d6 S4 magic missile.  The casting values are 3+, 4+ and 5+ respectively. 170 points.

Base costs for characters:

Lord:  145

Runelord:  120

Daemon Slayer:  140

Thane:  65

Runesmith:  60

Master Engineer:  70

Dragon Slayer:  70

If a runesmith joins a unit he grants then AP

On the downside, it appears that Longbeards and Hammerers only have heavy armour. This is a huge let down. There is such a huge disparity between the 1+ As armies and the supposed best weapons and armour manufacturers in the old world...

Cannons have been mentioned to be d3 wounds and 120 points. Apparently the Empire can make better armour and war machines than the masters...

 Longbeards at 12 points and Hammerers at 14.

1.  Hammer that grants +3 initiative, and if you wound an opponent, they have I1 until the end of the combat phase.

2.  Axe that grants re-rolls to hit and to wound against Orcs & Goblins and Skaven.  Cause Terror against those opponents.

3.  Armor of 2+ save and 3++ vs attacks of S6 or higher.

4.  A horn that is one use only and grants all units with 6" the Devastating Charge rule til the end of turn.  After using, that character causes Fear to High Elves, Dark Evles, and Wood Elves for the rest of the game.

5.  Ring that grants a S4 breath weapon with Flaming Attacks.

6.  Models in unit can re-roll failed to-wound rolls.  (I like this one, but it's priced to be BSB only.)

Not long now!

Dwarf rules leaks starting to filter through

Some rules leaks are starting to filter through now. Some have been posted over at Bugmans Brewery from someone claiming to have seen the book. They sound fairly legitimate. Unfortunately, he claims no large centerpiece model, and nothing new after the Ironbreaker/Irondrake box set is released.

• The bomb that the Irondrakes Champion can get is an 8" range weapon that functions kind of like a Stone Thrower.

• Ironbreakers and Hammerers are both 14 points, base.  'Breakers can get a shield for 1 point. 

• Sheildwall is a rule that on the turn the unit is charged, they get +1 to their Parry save.  There's another rule that's like "Gromril Shield Wall" This gives the +1 to Parry save at all times.

• Most things have Heavy Armor now, even the artillery crew.  The new units are the Bomber and the Iron Drakes. No others were spotted.

• Slayers didn't really change much.They still have the Slayer Axe rule.  They can never wound anything on worse than a 4+.  There's a special character Slayer (Ungrim Ironfist) that has a 3+/4++, and if you take him, he can be the Army General.

• The Organ Gun is now BS based, but rolls two artillery dice, rather than one.  It can be given up to 50 points of Runes, and there's a +1 to hit Rune.  Also, the range is now 30"; I seem to remember that it was 24" before.  Is my memory correct in that.

• The 'Copter has a once per game Diver Bomber attack that is kind of similar to the Drop Rocks attack of that flying unit in the Lizardmen book have.  The basic weapon for the 'Copter is a S3 Flame Template, but can be traded for free to a 18" S5 Multiple Shot (4) gun.  I'm pretty sure it's 4 shots.  Up to half of the 'Copters in the army (rounded up) can be given a 20 point upgrade that allows them a Vanguard move.  I'm really liking the idea of Vanguarding up a couple of them to move into position to five the template down the length of units from outside their charge arc.

• The Master Rune of Balance only steals a die on a roll of 4+.  All the rune-guys can channel.

• I wasn't really impressed with the Anvil.  The first power makes all friendly units within 12" (or it might be 24", can't remember) Immune to Psychology for a turn.  The next one buffs a target unit's Armor Save by one (I think, really not sure on this one, can't remember for sure).  And the last one is a S4 magic missile that inflicts 2d6 hits, I believe.  They all work like bound spells.

• Daemon Slayers make their opponent re-roll successful ward saves. 

• Dragon Slayers have the Multiple Wound (d3) rule.

• The Gyrocopter is a Special choice, and you can take up to 6.  They are not squadrons; there's just a little note that says you can take six of them.

• The Gyrobomber is a Rare choice.

• Rangers are a Rare choice, as well.

• Gromril armor  is just a 4+ save

• Forge proven Gromril armour has an additional 6+ ward save, and 2+ ward save vs flaming attacks

• Dwarf Crafted is a rule for missile weapons.  It allows the weapon to be fired as a Stand and Shoot reaction without the -1 penalty.

• The book has a large number of ways that you can get the Multiple Wounds (d3). 

• There is a Rune that's a better version of Red Fury.  If you take three Runes of Fury, the model gets +1 Attack, Frenzy, and for every successful To-Hit roll, the model makes another attack roll; these bonus attacks do not generate additional attacks.  If you put that on a Lord, it would have 6 attacks that could theoretically generate another 6.  In case you didn't notice, the extra attacks are generated by successful To-Hit rolls, not wounds.

• The Flame Cannon now has two firing modes.  The first is just like a regular Flame Cannon from the main rule book.  Alternatively, it can be overcharged so that you can nominate a point up to 12" from the Flame Cannon to be the point from which the artillery die roll originates for determining where the template ends up.  But, if you fire in this mode and roll a misfire, you subtract 1 from the roll on the black powder weapon misfire table.

• Dwarf dispelling has been toned down. Runesmiths can channel for Dispel Dice now, but don't automatically provide them.  The army gets a base +2 to attempt to dispel, regardless of what's in the army.  The Master Rune of Valaya adds another +2 to dispel, and will dispel any RiP spell on a roll (can't remember the target number, I think it's a 3+) at the beginning of the Magic Phase.  There's no range, so any RiP spell on the table has to be rolled for.

• Can still take multiple Runes of Spellbreaking.  The Spelleating rune still exists, too.

• The Oathstone doesn't now prevent the unit from moving.  The unit can use Parry saves in any direction and cannot have their ranks Disrupted.

Week three Dwarf Pictures + Rules Leaked!

New Irondrakes

Irondrake Command

Dwarf Second Wave Pre-orders are up

The second wave of pre orders are up for Games Workshop's Dwarf release. We now have some much better quality pictures to look at.

Wooden bombs krak me up =)

I'm really starting to like this controversial model... It is indeed a special option for the Dwarf army now!

Interesting note, the package says it makes 2 bombers and 4 choppers. Does this mean Dwarfs can take 4 gyrocopters in special like Dark Elves can take Reaper Bolt Throwers?

For all the new pre orders and previews, you can view the complete collection here at GW's website

Updated! - New Dwarf Pictures Leaked! Gyrocopters, Runelord etc

Grimm Burlockson

Dwarf Cover art

Runes are still in!

Grimm again

Ltd edition cover

Gyrocopters/Gyrobombers!!!

Gyrobomber rules! 125 points with a bouncing bomb...

Side view

Runelord

Runelord alternative build

Blurry picture of new alternative build for the (unreleased) Iron Breakers

Special Character Rules

New underway battlefield supplement...

NZ Pricelist & week 3 releases

New Zealand Prices as follows:

1 Dwarf Runelord - $27
1 Grimm Burlockson - $27
1 Dwarf Gyrocopter/Gyrobomber - $70
1 Dwarf Army Book - $98

There is a collectors edition but it is direct only like all the others have been thus does not appear on the EDI. It will be limited to 1000 copies and be twice the price of the normal one.

The cover of the new Dwarf Army book is likely to be as I blogged here the other day, as many people claiming to have seen the latest White Dwarf are describing it.

Add to that, I hear local Games Workshop deliveries to independents are now being marked for Thursday/Friday delivery now, instead of the previous Tuesday/Wednesday when they would turn up (this goes alongside another trade agreement they had to sign recently). It appears GW are still trying to tighten up their distribution. Good way to hide the lack of content and doubling in price...

Possible New Dwarf Army Book Cover + Rumor Roundup

The above is possibly the new Dwarf cover art. It is taken from the new Games Workshop video on the Dwarf release. It can be viewed here

The below is taken from the digital version of the first edition of White Dwarf Weekly and is linked to the Belegar rules. They appear to be army wide special rules.

Ancestral Grudge: Dwarfs always have the Hatred (Orcs and Goblins) and Hatred (Skaven) special rules- this means any unit taken from Warhammer Orcs and Goblins or Skaven. To determine the level of bitterness the Dwarves feel towards other armies, after deployment but before Vanguard moves, roll a d6 and consult the following chart:

1-2 Personal Vendetta. The dwarf general has hatred special rule against the opposing army's general3-4 Rancorous Resolve. All friendly character models with Ancestral Grudge special rule have the hatred special rule against all character models from the opposing army. 5-6 Seething Score to Settle. All friend models with the Ancestral Grudge special rule have the hatred special rule against all models in the enemy army.

Resolute: Models with this special rule have a +1 strength during a turn in which they charge into combat

Relentless: Units composed entirely of models with this special rule do not need to pass a leadership test in order to march, regardless of the proximity of enemy units. 

Revenge Incarnate: Once per game, at the start of any Close Combat phase, Belegar can harness the power of his ancestors. For the remainder of the turn, he doubles his attacks characteristics.

Keen eyes have also spotted that the new Hammerers will have 2 attacks based on what one of the White Dwarf articles stated in relation to Belegar. 

Fresh rumours are circulating about the second weeks release. The following has been mentioned:

Week 2: Runelord clampack, Engineer clampack, Gyrocopter/Gyrobomber dual kit

If the box is a Gyrocopter squadron as has been mentioned, whats the bet Gyrocopters will be classified as Monstrous Cavalry with the 'hover' special rule. They would also be 'skirmishers' IMO. Either that or they become hovering chariots like the Tzeentch one if sold individually.

The next is pure conjecture.  

Week 3: Armybook, Ironbreakers/new ranged unit (dual kit)

Week 4: New giant cannon/giant drill (dual kit)

I am not sure how plausible the week 3 and 4 items are. The rumours I've been feed are a week 3 release for the Army Book, and a week 4 being the balance of the plastic kits. This makes sense as when the Army Book officially goes on sale the WDW will then show pictures of the final part of the release (as will the Army Book). There most definitely going be a large centerpiece model in the release cycle, as per all the 8th edition WHFB releases. What it may be is another question, however since the Throne and the Anvil are still available on the webstore I think we can discount these at this time.

This possibly leaves the plastic Slayer dual kit and plastic Throne/Anvil kit for a second wave, or months release in the future, although I wouldn't hold my breath on this happening any time soon. GW need to get a 40k release off the blocks for the first part of the year (and second half of their financial year)

Dwarfs unlikely to see new Slayer models

The evidence is there. Games Workshop has just gone live with the new releases and theres a new package (I wont call it a deal, you don't save anything) with the old metal slayers in it...

You can go here to see the full product page 

The rest of the pre orders are here

Crystal Ball Gazing - Dwarf units missing from GW Website

The Games Workshop website is missing several current army book entries from their website, all previously available last week.

The big one is the venerable Gyrocopter. Its a strong endorsement that we will see the rumoured new plastic kit, hopefully backed up by some rules that will give them a greater presence on the battlefield.

Gone are the Ironbreakers of old. Most people predicted these would be replaced, and current rumours are indicating they will be a dual kit with a new unit of ranged troops. My source had originally indicated to me that these where to be in a dual kit with the Hammerers, possibly getting Longbeards and Ironbreakers confused. Harry from over at warseer is indicating the new Ironbreakers are like little tanks, not even showing a beard. 


Hammerers and Longbeards we already know about. They disappeared and we have all seen the replacements. If not go have a look here.

But what is maybe more interesting is what still remains...

The Throne of Power and Anvil of Doom are still up and in finecast... My sources told me that they would become a dual kit. He is normally very reliable however this may be a kit for a future release. Games Workshop are well known for having several kits shelved and ready to go.

And then there is a the slayers... The old metal slayers are still available and in special section in all three regions around the world. Now it is possible that these kits may be later in the month or even next month, as with the change to White Dwarf Weekly it stands to reason the website will not be updated all at once as in the past. In saying that we did experience the second wave Dark Elves being removed (and relocated) on the website the month before they were released. My money is still on seeing these guys this release, as not only my source but many other reliable rumour mungers have cited this kit was a go...

The other observation I make is that there is no existing kit (plastic, metal or finecast) that has found a new home under a different section of the army - yet. Its not to say this still will not happen, as once again, the new weekly release cycle throws the cat among the pigeons. It is very possible that we will see things change when the book is released, so 2 weeks from now.

So the question still remains. Will Dwarfs be the first army in years to not receive a major centrepiece model? The army book will reveal all.

Its safe to say that the Dwarf release has had the lid kept on it tighter than any other in recent times. Not even a single rules rumour for a book that is out in 2 weeks.

Updated - More Dwarf pictures leaked from White Dwarf

Some very bad pictures of the first wave of Dwarfs has been circulating the past few hours

Hammerers Dual Kit

Longbeards Dual kit

More Longbeards

Belegar

Hammerers Command

Hammerers compared to warriors. The Warriors look like a very old cut now...

Hammerers closeup

Longbeards command

I have some better quality pictures coming soon