You return to an army on the march, and though only the forces from Karak Gantuk and Karak Azgaraz have reached you, the others will catch up and have sent messengers ahead. Belegar thanks you in that gruff and understated way that dwarves have: quietly, but with steel in his voice.
This is the dwarf equivalent of the look on Abelhelm's face here isn't it:
This time Anton has managed to make it down, fresh from Ostermark, and is deep in conversation with Van Hal. "Now, Anton," he's saying, "when I said that I was authorizing payment for mercenaries, did you note the plural?"
"Well, technically..." Anton begins.
"A steed doesn't count."
"I think this one does," you murmur. Once more, you look out the window at where an enormous jade-green dragon is being fed whole roast pigs by awed troops, under the watchful eye of an elf clad in bejewelled armour.
Military Forces of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition, Sorted by Leader
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 Longbeards
800 Runed Warriors
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 Rangers
2,000 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 Longbeards
10,000 Warriors
2,000 Miners
2,000 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
10,000 Warriors (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
6,000 Miners (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
10 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymen of the Amber Order
2 Journeymen of the Gold Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves - 250 Wolf Riders, 2000 dismounted knights.
10,000 Nordlanders
8,000 Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
So lets see, in terms of force breakdown:
-Force Ironhammer
--Dwarf King
--Dwarf Champion Hero
--200 dwarf elites
--800 dwarf elites in magic gear
--2000 berserkers
--1000 heavy infantry
--1000 crossbows
--10 Ballistas
This unit is a chisel. Small but wherever it hits, its going to punch through. Period.
Also unlikely to be committed except in crucial battles, as Abelhelm has shown us. Play the King card as a last resort, even if it means tying up your best units.
-Force Ranger
--Dwarf Ranger Hero
--3000 heavy infantry
--3000 crossbows
--5000 scouts/crossbows
This unit is quite clearly intended to be an archery battery in main battle, but otherwise irregular.
8,000 dwarf sharpshooters behind a shieldwall of 3000 heavy infantry. With 5000 rangers it can also configure for ambush tactics, given the right terrain, since the rangers can deploy to very unusual places and probably can lead their number of non-stealthy units with some degree of discretion
-Force Grimbrow
--Dwarf champion
--2000 dwarf elites
--20000 heavy infantry
--8000 heavy infantry combat engineers
--2000 dwarf gunners
--10000 support staff
--10 cannon
This would be the main line of battle,
Quick build fortifications, hold off anything that comes, then advance and repeat once the cannons and gunners mount the walls and sweep the field clear.
-Force Artillery
--30 Ballista equivalents
--100 Direct fire Mortar equivalents
--20 Catapult equivalents
--20 Cannon equivalents
The artillery battery. For the larger battles, its pretty much going to be all about getting them into position, because with this many bolt throwers they can crack just about anything made of meat.
-Force Wizards
--1 Shadow Magister Knight
--2 Amber Journeymanlings
--2 Gold Journeymanlings
--1 Jade Journeymanling
We have a somewhat more...irregular force here.
Mathilde has a broad range of stealth options, and can serve as an armybreaker between her Torc and Dread Aspect, though this has a high chance of her being prioritized for sniping afterwards.
She's also okay at AoE when you need to fry a lot of low hp targets at once. Great for shock.
Now that her Magic is at 7 I believe her Aetheric Armor spell is now worth as much protection as heavy armor as well, so she could really act like a knight unit in a pinch.
The Amber Journeymanlings should be able to:
-Heal/tame animals.
-Become a bird
-Wolverine claws
Main use that I can see would be discreet scouting, though they might be able to shut down warbeasts(like those spiders goblins like so much, and the squigs orcs use, or whatever crime against nature the Skaven might use).
The Gold Journeymanlings should be able to:
-Sabotage equipment.
-Grant out-of-combat roll bonus
-Turn anything into steel for a moment
-Revolving parry-balls
Main use for two Gold Journeymanlings that I can see would be to boost the planning rolls for the war council, ambush placement, scouting rolls and other setup stuff.
You COULD do some crazy things with a sufficiently long string however.
The Life Journeymanling should be able to:
-Turn water to beer.
-Remove the need to eat for a week on a target.
-Wilderness tracking(not sure if this works in tunnels)
-Buff target's climbing skills
A good opportunity for them is probably logistics, we have five hundred demigryphs eating a shitload of meat...but casting even a simple spell 500 times is asking for a botch. The dwarfs probably have more than enough beer(and magic beer may or may not be heresy).
So basically they are scout boosters.
Noting that Journeymen coming here may know a spell above the Relatively Simple stuff, if they're into war.
Put all this together and the primary role of the wizards in the pre-battle portion is recon. All six wizards present has significant scouting related options, provided they have the mundane skills for it.
In battle, if theres no enemy spellcasters, then it'd be sabotage/forward recon. If there are any enemy spellcasters, then the single best use bar none is to dispel.
-Force Demigryphs
--Monstrous cavalry champion
--500 monstrous cavalry
--1000 heavy infantry
Pure shock. Whatever this hits is going to fold. Not many things stand up to 500 demigryphs.
-Force Wuff
--Monstrous cavalry champion
--250 monstrous cavalry
--2000 heavy infantry elites
--18000 medium infantry
Secondary line of battle. Probably securing the flanks while the dwarfs hold the center.
-Force Miscelleneous
--10000 randoms
--5000 crossbows
--5000 archer/scouts
Looks like we have an irregular screen of randoms backed by 50% ranged attackers. This force is probably used to push on any exposed targets after the knights hammer the enemy lines open. More mobile than the dwarfs, but their defense is weak and should not be tested.
-Force Halflings
--5000 Halfling archer/scouts
--5000 support
Pure recon/supporting archery element. Great ambushers, should be fielded with the rangers.
This army is going to be using VERY irregular tactics for a dwarf expedition. 5000 each of Human, Halfling and Dwarf scout units.
Theres enough scouting elements on the field to run ambushes non-stop if only they can get in position!