Dwarf Strategies & Tactics

[nimisgod]

From another POV, we can look at each of the dwarf's racial features.

One such strategy dwarves might use is to use their toughness to their advantage. Dwarves may have a lower base speed, but being tougher means that they can force march with less chances of damage (and enough hps to take it).

They use tactics to tire their enemies while they remain safe and protected. An offensive defense or something like that.

Darkvision= moonless night raids on races with no Darkvision or those with only low light vision. Focus first on removing all sources of light, then come in to interupt the enemies' rest and recovery.

Since they have bonuses vs. poison, this is a better option for (less honorable) dwarf armies to use. Poison the food and the army will fall (exception: enough divine spellcasters/psions to feed the entire army)

Stonecunning: the aforementioned tunnels. In mountainous or subterraneous terrain, dwarven scouts rule.

A Lawful alignment (not a racial feature but typical of most dwarves) generally says that dwarves are less individualistic, each dwarf warrior focusing on the group (his clan) rather than himself. A unified army is a strong army.

Languages: Less honorable dwarf races can use goblins or other humanoids as sources of information about that land. Goblins or orcs are also useful for disrupting supply lines.

Of course, this is assuming a mundane army and not one composed of undead or other unusual monstrosities.

 

[R.T.]

I'm not one to use the dwarven berserker archetype in my games, although I know lots of people do. It's not really something that comes from the core rules of any edition of D&D, it's more of a Warhammer thing... Which doesn't mean it's not a fine concept, just not standard dwarf.

Hmmmm... Dwarves are tied closely to the norse culture (I think that's also where the name "dwarf" comes from). They have much in common: braided beards, a love for combat, horned helmets, a lust for beer, runes, tough and physically very strong, ... I can also easily see a dwarf with a norse name. So both dwarves and northmen are "classical" berserker or battlerager races in my book. In one of the many Drizzt books, Salvatore also presents a whole dwarven battlerager fighting group at one point (they're training on how to bash in a door with their head, if I remember correctly). In many of the wargames, not just GW, dwarves have berserkers among them.

 

[alaric]

You may consider using Du Picq's Battle Studies as part of the dwarven war ethic, the major premise being that warfare has more to do with morale than anything else. I could easily see dwarven militaries expousing the virtue of a small elite force (compared to the goblinoid forces they may generally fight) who overcomes their foes through force of character. Elan for battle and such. Have war priests/bards recite epic poems before battle, and tell the tales of their forefathers that fought on this same ground, that sort of thing.

As for battle tactics, given their toughness and high con, a strategy to wear down the enemy over time seems fitting. Their low speed and generally tight quarters fighting removes tiring the enemy by maneuvering, but forcing conditions that are adventageous to a defensive fighting style (not quite sure exactly how), anything that prolongs the fight, bring endurance more into effect. Maybe fighting in tunnels would be good for that, since you have fairly small frontage, you could constantly switch out the front line. Also it reduces the chance of getting flanked (i would think this is a problem given that they are traditionally smaller in number than their advesaries, and their slow speed makes them less mobile).

 

[mmadsen]

I'm not one to use the dwarven berserker archetype in my games, although I know lots of people do. It's not really something that comes from the core rules of any edition of D&D, it's more of a Warhammer thing... Which doesn't mean it's not a fine concept, just not standard dwarf.

Kid Charlemagne makes the exact point I was hinting at by asking "Do they?" Dwarf berserkers are a perfectly fine idea; they're just not a given. (I'm also not sure who to reconcile a race of engineers with beer-swilling berserkers...)

 

[mmadsen]

Dwarves may have a lower base speed, but being tougher means that they can force march with less chances of damage (and enough hps to take it).

Exactly. Tactically, they may be slow, but strategically they're quick.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I would guess that dwarf battle tactics focus on small units and dwarf strategy focuses and forcing enemies to retreat from untenable positions or move into killing zones. In general, I think that dwarves would see warfare is predominantly a problem of position pressure, afterall, these are primary concepts of mining, stoneworking, and smithing, and they are fighting in situations where space is the most limited and limitable factor.

All of this based on the premise that they would try to make aboveground tactis an extension of below ground tactics.

In tight quarters, small highly coordinated units make maximum use of the terrain. On the other hand, such tight environments and micro organization makes direct assault impossible. To combat this, I would imagine that small forces hold dwarven enemies in a position as other forces work to flank or weaken that position to the point that the enemy either retreats or the dwarves can overwhelm them quickly. The other tactic is to pull enemy forces out of a tight space and into a dwarf controlled killing field. Both of these involve a high level of planning, information control, and well thought out individual initiative.

For that coordination I would imagine that Dwarves would rely on a variety of clever communication systems, but primarily on corps of officers who had a great deal of confidence in the similarity of their training, the quality of their troops, and their ability to draw conclusions from available information.

In the above ground field I think Dwarves would seek to maximize their comparitive strategic advantages through lots of night movement, forced marches, and as much information and knowledge of the terrain as they can get. For that information I would imagine they would rely heavily on clerics. In a battle I think they would take advantage of any and all terrain advantages to create a complicated battlefield which enemies would seek to penetrate only to run into dwarven war machines and killing fields. That and flanking maneuvers/hits on supply trains. At the very least I can see them adopting Swiss broken front tactics, where small fronts of infantry attack the enemy line at different points and times in the hope that a charge by the reserve will break the then deformed line.

Once again a spatial emphasis focusing on destroying an enemies ability to bring pressure to bear properly.

Crossbows all over the place, least amount of room to use properly save for small throwing weapons. Lots of shields, light fortifications, and allies who move quickly.

Earthdawn had a Dwarven empire.

This would also extend from a very pragmatic Lawful Good alignment, they wouldn't be big on needlessly wasting their own men or needlessly slaughtering their enemies.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I don't think anybody has mentioned this yet, but the Monster Manual gives a brief description about how dwarves like to fight.

Basically, it says that dwarves are combat experts who use things like group attacks and their environment to their advantage. They have few wizards and sorcerers, but clerics fight alongside the troops. If the dwarves have sufficent time to prepare before a battle, they'll set traps for the enemy (like deadfalls).

Also, the most common dwarven weapons used on the battlefield are dwarven waraxe, throwing hammer, warhammer, pick, shortbow, heavy crosssbow, and mace.

There, I think I summed it up without repeating it word-for-word.

 

[e3_Jeb]

This is simply my idea of how a Dwarven army would take on the challenge of a lang fight.

If the Dwarves were more primitive, or better yet, tribal in nature I'd imagine them using their Darkvision for night raids to weaken their enemies morale before any real confrontation. I'd also assume (If they were Barbarians) they'd be able to move as fast as your average Drow, so if they engaged in small confrontations and then ran away I think it would be a safe assumption that a Dwarf with a base speed of 30ft. would outlast an elf, with a similar base speed, in a footrace of endurance.

But if these Dwarves were a refined army that fought in ranks I'd imagine much different tactics. Of course the first would be to use your bonuses whenever possible, fighting at night, and in tunnels, but in a field I'd say they would move their troops slowly but surely toward the enemies position using tower shields to provide themselves with full cover (If you've seen Shaka Zulu, or probably many other things, you've seen this. The front line faces their shields forward, the left and right sides face their shields outward, respectively, and all the troops in the middle put their shields above their heads to protect from a rain of arrows.) With a slow march it would also allow the unnerving drone of kettledrums (and) or bagpipes to take effect on the enemy. Finally when they get within range (Assuming their enemies don't retreat, but if they do then your offense is still working) then either a charge to finish closing the ground between the well trained troops and the caster's/archers of the enemy, or they confront the melee units of the enemy at which point only an evil general would continue a barrage of arrows into a mixed battlefield.

Oye... That's basically how I'd imagine two societies of Dwarves dealing with above ground fighting.

Continue this thread please I think it’s keen seeing all of these views on how these characters would react to different situations.

 

[mmadsen]

If the dwarves have sufficent time to prepare before a battle, they'll set traps for the enemy (like deadfalls).

To borrow from the Roman legions, the Dwarves might very well set up a fortified camp every night. They might rely on earthworks more than wooden ramparts though; they're not much for woodwork.

 

[Sanackranib]

dwarves

if it bleeds we can kill it!

if a heavy x-bow is good then a seige x-bow is better!

there is NO such thing as TOO much firepower!

Of course it still works, it was designed/built by Dwarves!