How the heck do you win battles as Chaos Dwarfs?

[Hexagoros]

I feel like a total idiot right now, straight up.

I see people saying how strong these guys are, and then there's me taking a million casualties when I 'do' manage to win, while outright losing like a third of my battles.

This has never happened before. I consider myself a "decent" Total War player. I run through campaigns rarely if ever losing "proper" battles. But this campaign is just throwing me a curve ball that I cannot seem to wrap my head around.

I was doing OKAY early on, but now the late game has hit, and I just don't have enough Dwarfs for my armies, and freaking Hobgoblins run away if the enemy so much as looks at them funny. Though they 'are' a decent unit through the early game and most of the mid game.

Chaos Dwarf infantry overall are 'very' good, and Blunderbusses are great, but are very finnicky and require a frontline that the Chaos Dwarfs just don't seem to have unless you've massed Warriors into like two armies.

Then it feels like every War Machine except the Magma Cannon is garbage.

Seriously, I'm at the end of my rope here.

Please, give me some tips for what these guys are supposed to do on the battlefield.

[Ashley]

Hobgoblins are more than decent with the legendary hero. Hobgoblins punch above their weight even without the hero. But with it they're even better.

I don't use the artillery's. I focus on their blunderbusses and the centaurs. Don't use the K'dais unless you have unbreakable up they banish faster than you can fart.

[Snidy]

1. focus on raw materials then once you got some better buildings up more armarments.
2. Also get the 2 conclave seats that give you armarments and raw materials first
3. Best to fight with using your heroes to absorb blobs of enemies and allowing your blunderbuss to annihilate them.
4. the bull centaurs are amazing once you can get 1 or two.
5. early game is about wisely using your resources and not just spending all of it at once
6. dreadquake mortars are really solid too and blow up entire units

[Verstummeln]

7. Git Gud

[Taifun_Vash]

If you opened the second level of the tower go right for the slots that give you a free unit slot every few turns.

[Mania]

I mix in my lord and heroes into the Hobgobbos, for both that leadership aura bonus and the Contempt trait for the extra six leadership. Alongside the lord’s own capabilities, they should be able to hold unless they’re SEVERELY outmatched. Then, it’s just a matter of getting flanks with blunderbusses and focus firing with Hobgobbo archers. Just seems like it’s all about priority management and making sure you have the right spells for the job.

The War Machines aren’t as great as I expected coming from the faction of industrialism, but they are somewhat capable. The Iron Daemon needs a lotta micro and an infantry screen to get good value, otherwise it’ll get bogged down by anti-large infantry and monsters. It seems pretty janky in my experience, though, despite its 10,001 or so mass, it gets frequently stuck in blobs. The Skullcracker is probably similar. The ROR seems pretty busted with its ranged attack, though.

Deathshrieker is decent, but not great. It can one shot a Chaos Spawn entity or a artillery piece, and combined with its range, it can deal with most things Blunderbusses can’t. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but its burst rocket mode does seem pretty effective. In a settlement battle, enemy infantry usually gets clumped up against my Chorf Warriors, and it’ll do TREMENDOUS damage. Overall, it seems like a siege-oriented weapon, especially with the firing arc.

Dreadquake is amazing, enough said.

G’day/g’night.

[Lamp]

Not sure why people aren't talking up the magma cannons a bit more: They have fantastic range, good damage and they're quick to acquire. I've had them one shot (multiperson) units before, it's like the blast from their projectile sucks things in.

Also they don't have supply lines and the lords themselves are absolute unit wizards that get flying mounts very fast. Oh and Magic: the lore of Hashut is excellent imo. The volcano spell and the hammer just delete things and the special fireball with its swirling impact thing it does is also great.

Also try and use your upgrades situationally. If you gonna be fighting vampire coast, throw on some artillery barriers. You gonna be fighting tons of cavalry maybe throw charge reflection on your infantry and stalk on your gunners. Been loving this over say, Ikit's lab, as it feel's more modular than just tons of permanent upgrades.

GL.

[Fryskar]

Both, magmas and dreadquakes are at least some of the strongest arty in game.

Hobgobbos won't cut it after a certain point.
But hobgobbos backed up by a couple pieces of arty and the tower army/lord abilities can hold pretty well, throw in a mage and that army can decimate a lot of enemies, only monsterous stuff will cause problems.

[Whysoserious]

Draw your dwarven frontline into an elongated line, 4 lines deep left to right. At the end of the line, put the blunderbus line as thin as you can get it to go, then another elongated line of dwarf warriors etc etc. You'll make like a |_|_|_|_| formation.

Goblins and bull centaurs left and right to protect your flanks.

The enemy troops will swarm into the line of fire of your blunderbusses without being able to reach them, because they will get hung up on the warriors. And your blunderbusses rake in the kills.

[Mky]

Focus on producing and boosting these units :

Bull Centaur Renders are busted stats-wise (armor pen, large shield, huge melee def). A tier II unit that can obliterate even griffin halberds when properly supported by tech and general spec.

Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses are overtuned for a T2 unit too. High damage armor piercing missiles (49 base strenght can go up to 60+) on a 90 range.

Skullcracker - Dreadquake Mortar. Absurd Damage/range ratio, totally broken.

Bale Taurus is very tanky and will win against most of isolated or flanking enemy cav units due to its stats and reflect damage passive.

Lammasu are another busted unit. Quite tanky for the insane utility it provides, which is a constant aoe negating magic hits from weapons in a decent radius centered on itself. Apply decent damage on top of that.

RoR The Ice-Forged Legion got an insane range, moral impact and damage for a very short reloading time. Another busted unit but at least it's RoR so acceptable.

Add one or two Bull Centaur Taur'ruk hero to the army, it's an extremely powerfull hero dealing very good damage for how tanky it can become. Another way too strong unit.

These are the most absurd units of their roster due to way too good stats, especially late game if boosted by general, tech and such.
Other units are more reasonnable but yet very solid anyway.

[Taifun_Vash]

Originally posted by Lamp:

Not sure why people aren't talking up the magma cannons a bit more: They have fantastic range, good damage and they're quick to acquire. I've had them one shot (multiperson) units before, it's like the blast from their projectile sucks things in.

They also leave behind a small field of fire which still hurt the enemy.

[Hexagoros]

I don't know, it must me, because I'm at the point of rage quitting my campaign. This is ridiculous.

There's got to be something about them I'm just not understanding mechanics or composition wise.

[ManiacalManwich]

Originally posted by Hexagoros:

I don't know, it must me, because I'm at the point of rage quitting my campaign. This is ridiculous.

There's got to be something about them I'm just not understanding mechanics or composition wise.

Fight like a son of Dorn. :). Firing lines, warriors to intercept approaching melee. Dreadquake mortars to hammer them as they approach. Bullcentaurs on your flanks, they are like cav but way tankier. Focus lords to have lore of hashut, the combat spells are beefy- dont be afraid to throw them into the thick of it.

More than anything; armaments, armaments, armaments. When you can field larger numbers as well as using forge improvements, chorfs get op quick.

[yuzhonglu]

Get heroes.
Heroes tank in the front.
Blunderbusses and artillery kill blobs.
Cast firestorm into blob.
Win.

[Okat]

The hobgoblins are really only for the early game. You will be forced to phase them out eventually, as they get outscaled even if you stack all the buffs that they can possibly get.

The Chaos Dwarfs melee infantry exists purely to hold the line, not to get kills. They are exceptionally durable. The basic Chaos Dwarf Warriors remain viable in the late game, although the Infernal Ironsworn are far superior. The intermediate Infernals are very good too, but I tend not to use them since basic Warriors do the job nearly as well, while Ironsworns are much stronger.

The real stars are the Blunderbusses and the Fireglaives. Make sure not to leave them exposed as they are not great in melee. Place them on the sides of hills to give them a height advantage so they can shoot over your front line. Otherwise, you have to make gaps in your front line for them to shoot through, or manoeuvre them into flanking position. The Blunderbusses have to move around more but deal significantly more damage, while the Fireglaives have longer range and thus don't need to chase or be re-positioned as much, and they can defend themselves better in melee. Which one you prefer is up to you. You can give them magical attacks through the forge.

Here's a good trick: have two or three Blunderbusses/Fireglaives in a line, and melee infantry on the sides like so |___| When the enemy closes in, let your gunners shoot, then move your melee infantry when the enemy gets too close for comfort. You can then move the gunners back a little if needed and have them resume fire, as they will have decent line of sight on the enemy.

The machinery units are a mixed bag. Two or three Magma Cannons will be very effective, and are the most straightforward option. They are standard anti-infantry artillery, just plop them down behind your army. They seem to be a little undervalued in auto-resolve however.
The Iron Demons are meant to be flankers, but they are pretty buggy and generally finicky. They can do a lot of damage, but I honestly don't really see them ever being a great choice.
The Skullcrackers are not really worth using, in my opinion. The only use they have is to blob up enemy infantry so your gunners have line of sight on them.
The Deathshriekers are downright terrible. Do not use them. They will not perform well no matter what you try.
The Dreadmortars are phenomenal against large groups of enemies; they will easily rake up hundreds of kills every battle. Try not to shoot into your front line unless multiple enemy units are blobbed up, use the mortars to take out enemy archers and artillery instead. The mortar variants are purely for the auto-resolve, they are not worth the added cost, in my opinion. The Skullcracker variant gives them a bit of protection if they get swarmed by flyers or summons.

The Bull Renders are gods. You can give them self-healing through the forge and perfect vigour through the military tech tree. The shield version is good but the two variants are straight upgrades. The great weapon variant is an amazing cavalry killer that can still fight everything else very well; the dual weapon variant will annihilate melee and ranged infantry. Either way, their main role is protecting the flanks of your army and running down the enemy ranged units.
You can also replace your frontline of Warriors/Ironsworn with Bull Renders if you want: 6-8 Blunderbusses/Fireglaives in a line and 4-5 Bull-Renders to swoop in from the sides and intercept enemies when they get too close.

The K'Daai are not bad, but also not amazing. I found the best use for both the Fireborn and Destroyer to be going around the main battle and hit isolated targets such as artillery, cavalry, or cheeky flankers. They die pretty quick to concentrated fire. The Destroyer can make for awesome backup for your front line if they're getting overwhelmed, but be careful with it: its huge size means it gets hit by many entities at the same time. You can give them Unbreakable through the forge, which means they will never self-destruct from routing.

Finally, the Taurus' and Lamasu. They are very useful as back-up units for wherever your army is getting beaten; being flyers, they can reach anywhere on the battlefield quickly. They also make for great assassins against casters and artillery. Just have one or two hanging back behind your army, then send them wherever you think they will be most useful. The Lamasu is fantastic against casters and anything with magical attacks, the Taurus' are stronger against everything else.

Here's a standard army: 1 lord, 1-2 heroes, 4-5 melee infantry, 4-8 ranged infantry, 2-4 Bull Renders, 1 Destroyer/Taurus, 2-4 Magma Cannons/Dreadmortars.