Dogs of War

So... question. I've seen plenty of reports of Pike's sucking hard in combat. Low WS, low T, no real armor. They die in droves and as expensive as they are they are easy big points for your opponent. The question I ask is has anyone tried them in small gap filling units?

I toy with the idea of running 15 man regiments with nothing more than a muso. Puts the unit at 160, not too expensive; plus regardless of you charging or being charged everything get's to attack. No command so no extra 100 points for losing a banner. Might be worth throwing a champ in just to suck up a challenge and keep a big character from smashing through R&F, but what does everyone else think? I'm sure I'm not the first person to question this idea.

For the same 160 pts, you can buy two units of Duellists, with Pistols.

I know what I'd rather have!

I like the idea. Its just, for that many S3 attacks, they are very expensive. You might as well make them 20 strong and get even more attacks. Problem is the price.

Unfortunately there are always more efficient things to spend those points on.

I use a detachment of 15 spearmen in my empire army to great effect, and I can see these guys functioning similarly. I use them to fight light cav, dogs, and horde enemy units (slaves, zombies, goblins, etc) while my better equipped infantry take on their better equipped infantry.

Though comparing them:
15 pikemen:
Always strike first
S4 against cav (but cav will never charge them unless they are hammers)
Less armour
More expensive

15 spearmen:
Don't cause panic
Detachment support/counter charge ability
More armour
Almost half the cost

Overall, they do a similar job, but they are much more expensive. Not sure the cost os worth it, to deter enemy horde units (that will also be less than half the cost of the unit) and when they die, they will cause panic.

Give them a try though, Dogs of War do struggle with decent infantry choices...