Up now are several handfuls of Champions for the Free Dwarfs, ready to aid the army with their inspiring presence, spells, or other abilities.
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| The lowly ASB, in need of an item. |
First up is an ASB, which just a Mantic kitbash from their Ironclad sprue. I picked up several ebay bundles of Mantic Dwarfs over the years, and one had a ton of kitbashed characters, in various conditions. For the ASB here, I couldn’t pop the arms off this one easily, and with this already mostly painted, I just chose to just repaint him and put him to use.
On the table, the 4E ASB is back to just being very basic. No Auras or tricks - just a source of Very Inspiring for the army, though with a significant price hike now. I always liked my ABSs to carry items. The Lute is no more, but the Boomstick could be a great call alongside some Dwarf shooting, or perhaps the Shroud of the Saint for some healing for hordes or high defense units. We'll call him finished for now, but if we find an item we consistently like, we might add something to represent that item to his base in the future.
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| A Mantic Stone Priest, with massive hands. |
Next are some Stone Priests! The first one is Mantic, one of their older, metal offerings. His proportions (hands) are a little big, but I like the overall pose, and we're trying to give this army a lot of Mantic-made options, so I did want to have him around. He got a basic paint job, and there's not too much to say about his hobbying. I might give him a similar stone treatment as the Wizkids model coming up, but he's all set for now.
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| A Wizkids Stone Priest. |
The second one is another Wizkids model, the second half of the blister that had my Wizkids Berserker Lord. The manufacturer's primer obscures a lot of the facial detail, but I really like her pose as well, and tried my hand at taking some pink insulation foam scraps and turning them into a rock, like she's manipulating the stones for an attack of her own. I tried using a paperclip speared through the bottom stones for stability, but it was rough, with the clip easily wearing down and expanding the hole whole I fidgeted with the foam. The upper stones were attached bit by bit: PVA glue on the existing stone to attach another, then coating the newcomer rock and hour or so later after things had dried, then repeating.
The Stone Priests obviously pair well with Elementals, as any Elemental Surged by the Priest gets some TC via the new Quake special rule, which is a very nice and fluffy touch! They also Inspire, and have access to Bane Chant, which are great plusses for supporting Champions. Shambling is a little rough right now, and while I have some Earth Elementals planned, they aren't pained up yet. I think the best use of these currently (for me) is Bane Chant plus an Arcane Library Spell, and then just being a versatile supporting spellcaster. Scorched Earth looks great for supporting a turtling and defensive dwarf build, and as long as it remains over-tuned, Blizzard could also see a lot of play alongside a bunch of shooty units, I think.
Continuing on, we have some oddball miniatures, and are honestly all placeholders for now, and are "counts-as" Warsmiths. I want my Dwarfs to tech into cannons and rifles and such, as my Kingdoms of Men do not run any gunpowder, and the Warsmiths look like the clear frontrunners for my Champion wants, brining Elite and Radiance of life to (I think) all of our shooting options.
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| Rangers? Engineers? Warsmiths? |
The first Warsmith models are Mantic kitbashes. We don’t get a rifle option currently, but we did back in third, when the I assembled that mini. I liked the bald head to set him apart from the rank-and-file, and the pointing to me relayed a "you're going down" feel, which I liked.
...The second one came assembled in an ebay bundle, and for better or for worse, had the exact same approach of my model from a few years ago. Ideally, he could be a Ranger Captain with that Crossbow, unfortunately Ranger Captains aren’t a thing right now in the new Edition. Oh well. Both are painted up, and ready for the table.
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| Packmasters! I mean Warsmiths! |
Then we have some Packmaster kitbashes, from that same ebay bundle. I repainted them, but can't take credit for the poses and such. Dwarf Packmasters are unfortunately also not a thing right now. But they embody the Free Dwarf vibe better than the minis above, and also read better as to having a smaller-ranged shooting attack. At least I think so. The Rule of Cool prevails, and we have these around as counts-as Warsmiths as well.
...That's a whopping 4 counts-as Warsmiths, which is significant over-representation considering the new slot rules for list-building, but the variety should hopefully give me a head start on future builds, when the Dwarf rules and roster eventually (hopefully) get expanded and specialized again.
...And then somehow there are still more characters coming! Rounding things out now are some Flame Priests! I didn’t like the techy official model with the flame thrower. I think we could kitbash something from the Ironclad sprue and with some green stuff flames, but I liked the look of these Wizkids Clerics, and will just use them for now.
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| The Flame Priest blesses the hammer. Maybe with Bane Chant. |
The first one is blessing their hammer, which is fun, and she looks quite sturdy to “sell” the Def5. I washed and then re-primed the mini, which covered up the transparent spell bit. The mini got painted up normally, with the spell bit painted white, and then hit with some speed paints and dry brushing to recreate a spell effect.
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| Readying-up for some Burning Hands. |
The second one is doing her best to “summon the fire”, which is an awesome song if you want to pump yourself up (though I like their NPR set with less distortion better). It made sense to me that she would wear some special clothing, so gave her a reddish tunic, with highlights to red and pink, and then a green cloak, to tie her in with the rest of the army. It’s all basic stuff, but I dig it.
On the table the Flame Priests look like a lot of fun! They are one of the few spellcasters that still come with a known spell, but it is Fireball, and I actually like this. They Inspire, and can buy a boosted Fireball (probably worth it), and a Bane Chant for 140 points, and that seems like some good price for some good utility. I want to explore shooting more with my Dwarfs, so their Fireball, plus a Command to have a nearby melee Holdfast unit (Ironguard, Ironclad, Shieldbreakers) toss a Mastiff in too looks like a fun tactic to employ.
Oof, and with all this, I now have all of the current Dwarf Champion options hobbied up! The post is already ridiculously long, but to ramble on and summarize things in one place for my future self:
- ASB. Seems ok with any build, but a low-priority choice since he doesn't do much on his own, and I'll need to find an item that I really like that supports that specific list to make him feel worthwhile (eg. Boomstick with Ironwatch units and shooting; Shroud of the Saint with Ironguard).
- Champion. Another ok option, and is nice and relatively cheap. He is not yielding so can chaff and delay things if-needed, and could help mop-up units wavered by shooting, or just add a bit more damage assisting melee units, or preventing reforms and the like. Like the ASB, also probably fine holding items, if I can find stuff I like, otherwise keeping them basic and cheap seems fine.
- Stone Priest. Great for Surging Elementals, or learning some Arcane Library spells. Since he can get Bane Chant, he seems like a fine support piece all-around, and he best pick if you want to dabble with more serious magic.
- Flame Priest. Has Fireball and can get Bane Chant. Seems best supporting non-shooting units, ideally with the Holdfast keyword, to hand out a Mastiff while he Fireballs things too. Maybe "scenario Dwarfs" with lots of lots of Ironclad could be fun with them.
- Warsmiths. They don't have great fighty stats, and only a short ranged-attack in their profile, but they do give lots of buffs to our shooters.
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