Dogs of War

how do they perform? what do you mainly use them for?
just looking at the stats, i see them as a wood elf waywatcher type.

These guys perform very well. Depending what you use them for. I use them against normal troops (T3) usually. A lot of times I will move and trade shots with other missile troops. They have better BS then most and Skirmish so its easier for them to hit and harder to be hit by others.

Downside - St 3 higher touchness enemies are a problem.
Dont get them charged by enemy -- T2 is just bad.

There are several people in my gaming group that have put a bounty on the heads of the Croops because they hate playing them so much. It has yet to be collected.

Use: Keep at range and shoot whatever gets close. Move and shoot. I use 15-18 of them and place 1 or 2 wizards in them. You need to kill 5 of them in order to cause a break test on Ld 9. If they break they rally on a 10.

They are a staple of my army.

They have an equal BS to other elite skirmishers, such as Elves, and cost about half the points, which, in the overpointed Dogs of War army, is a wonderful thing.

As well, that Leadership of 9, being one of the highest in the entire army, makes them less likely to run from any form of psych, making them a great place for mages to bunker in.

They really start to sputter out against heavily armoured armies, as well as those who are not so much bothered by disruption. Thankfully, few heavily armoured foes have many units to take them out!

Overall, their best defence is that, often, your enemy cannot be bothered to go deal with them, leaving them fairly free to reign supreme!!!! (or, more likely, kill a few fast cavalry)

(05-26-2010 09:50 AM)tarastop Wrote: [ -> ]Downside - St 3 higher touchness enemies are a problem.
Dont get them charged by enemy -- T2 is just bad.

If I had rememberd about Lumpin Croops full command, Lumpin and his boys would've beaten a Tomb Prince on chariot.
True story.
It's actually kind've frustrating now that I forgot, as Lumpin and his gang decided to flank charge the Prince's chariot to help out the Duellists who were fighting it from the front (I tried to stand and shoot to shoot out his chariot). At the very least, the Prince would not slam into the flank of my Bearmen.
But to both mine and my opponents surprise, Lumpin and his gang would not flee. Lumpin even had the nerve to stick around when he was the only guy left. Held up the Prince for more than half the game.
So yeah, would've killed the Prince on combat resolution if I had remember (It's hard to beat flank + outnumber + standard + musician for a lone character on a chariot if he fluffs a few rolls).

To be honest, I don't take enough Lumpin Croops for them to be hugely deadly with missile fire. I need to bulk out the unit more. But I generally target light infantry, or any juicy targets that decide to stick their head out (Lone wizards, skaven weapon teams, etc). I find it hard for strength 3 bows to do real damage.

Another true story. Lumpin Croop and his gang took a wound off a steam tank.

However, depending on skirmishing rules. 8th edition may see more regular halflings than Lumpins. With shooting in 2 ranks, there may not be a huge amount of reason to be skirmishers for the Flings (Depends on the perks of being a skirmisher of course).

idk, i think the maneuverability of skirmishers is eternal. coming from dwarfs, who have no maneuverability, to wood elves, who have lots of skirmishers, then finally to dogs of war, where you can make a whole skirmish army without fear, i gotta say, it's always a nice feeling. even just to run around in the corner of the field and do nothing.

Skirmishing rules WILL change drastically in the new edition, but so will EVERYTHING else, their core concept of manueverability will remain the same, and so they will still be worth it, as a whole, though they may need to be played a little differently.

I play a unit of 18 lumpins. They work extremely well. But if the new rules are true about 2 ranks of bowmen firing I defenitely forsee my having a unit of 20 halflings 10 wide and 2 deep with musician for 130 pts. would defenitely be a better buy.

18 shots = lots of dead t3 troops, or 1 dead giant every other turn so.

I have been using Tilean crossbowmen (Core) for 160 points. Their crossbows have better range, and they are a Core unit. But, their Leadership is only 7, as opposed to Halflings' 8 (or Lumpin's 9), and their BS is only 3, as opposed to 4 (or 5).

So, thanks to your recommendations, I think I'll try a unit of Halflings, instead of the Tileans!

i'd be willing to bet the fluff is a good span more clever too! have you read his origin story? it's hysterical.

Do not exchange x-bows for halfling. I have both a 13 man unit of Marksment BS 4 and lumpin croops guys. They fulfill 2 different roles.

Lumpin shoot at things that are a secondary objective -- weaker units, single characters, stuff like that.

X-bows are for the toughness 4+ enemy units, chariots, monsters, big block of tough troops with armour saves.

They compliment each other. Use both if you can find the points