Cities of Sigmar Shieldbands und ihre Aufteilung in 7 verschiedene Städte mit Fähigkeiten und Reaktionen wurde mit der Einführung der aktualisierten Reihe für die Age of Sigmar Armee komplett verändert. Die Regeln sind erhältlich bei Warhammer Community Website unter der Warcry FAQ Sektion.
The warband, that had a whopping 60+ fighter profiles has seen many profiles being removed with some new addition, but more importantly, has been split in 3 distinct warbands, one for each major race populating the cities: the Humans of the Castelite Hosts, the aelves of the Darkling Covens and the Dispossessed Duardin.
This article will focus on the Dispossessed but you can find more about the aelves und the humans in their respective guides.
Background and Lore of the Dispossessed Warband
At the beginning of the Mortal Realms, civilization thrived under the leadership of Sigmar’s pantheon. All gods collaborated and taught the mortals many things ushering a golden age. But Chaos planted its poisoned seeds within mortal minds and eventually managed to take a grip on this new universe.
And so, the Age of Chaos dawned, with the mortals being chased to the brink of extinction from all realms except Azyr, Realm of Heavens, where Sigmar retreated bringing as many as he could before closing the gates and leaving everyone else to fence off for themselves.
Centuries later, Sigmar deployed the Stormcast Eternals, warriors forged from the best mortal souls who died fighting against Chaos, to retake that was lost. A new era started and where before there was only desolation and everything was under control of the Ruinous Powers, now there’s a spark of hope. Civilizations started reappearing in all realms and new metropolises grew from tiny outposts thanks to the blood and sacrifice of the many mortals that flocked under Sigmar’s banner.
Where the aelves bring magic expertise and humans the manpower, the duardin are better known as the craftsmen that build the cities and fortifications. Sturdy and stubborn, they are equally efficient with a hammer crafting some extremely resilient engine or smashing enemies’ skulls.
The Dispossessed are all is left of the Khazalid Empire that once occupied a vast network of mountains. Their leaders are elderly Warden Kings and Queens, as age is extremely revered in duardin culture. Their infantry is famous for their toughness, be it simple Longbeards or elite Hammerers.
If there’s a need for more action, the Ironbreakers, clad in enchanted gromril armour, are veritable walking tanks, while the Irondrakes wield mini-cannons able to fell even the toughest troggoth.
The Ironweld Arsenal provides the war machines that support duardin and Castelite formations alike, with Steam Tanks vaporising anything opposing them and Gyrobombers and Gyrocopters representing the flying scouts, able to identify enemy threats or bombard them from atop.
But how sturdy is a Dispossessed warband on the battlefield? Let’s find out.
Fighters in the Dispossessed Warband
Hinweis: Wenn du die Grundregeln von Warcry noch nicht gelesen hast, bevor du diesen Artikel liest, ist es vielleicht hilfreich zu wissen, dass die Fähigkeiten des Spiels durch 6 Würfel aktiviert werden, die du zu Beginn deines Zuges wirfst.
Zeigen zwei der Würfel den gleichen Wert, können sie zur Aktivierung einer Doppelfähigkeit verwendet werden. Zeigen drei Würfel den gleichen Wert, können sie für eine Dreifach-Fähigkeit verwendet werden, usw.
Wenn also in diesem Artikel von einer Fähigkeit als Double, Triple oder Quad die Rede ist, bezieht sich das auf dieses System. Es mag ein wenig verwirrend klingen, aber man gewöhnt sich schnell daran, wenn man anfängt zu spielen
Die Kriegsbande der Enteigneten besteht aus 14 verschiedenen Kämpfern, von denen 7 Anführer sind.
Warden King: 145 points
Jede enteignete Schar wird angeführt von einem Aufseher König. Seine Basiswerte geben das Gesamtbild der Kriegsbande mit hoher Zähigkeit (5 für ihn, aber der Rest der Kriegsbande geht nie unter 4), hohen Verwundungen (22), geringer Bewegung (3″, die für alle Duardin zu Fuß gleich ist) und Angriffen wie ein Schmied, der in seiner Schmiede hämmert (4 Angriffe bei Stärke 4 für 2/5 Schaden).
On top of that, there are some abilities shared by the entire warband including the reaction that allows a dying duardin to provide a free move or attack to any friendly fighter when he is taken down by a melee attack. Apart being extremely thematic, it is a great reaction as it transfers an action of a comrade that is never going to activate to another fighter anywhere on the board. There’s no compromise here, you are 100% going to use it should your duardin start falling down before exhausting their actions.
The next shared ability is a Double and is also thematic but less useful as it requires at least two duardin to stay still on an objective in close proximity to reduce the damage received by 1. It can be handy, but the next Double sounds much more interesting as Over My Dead Body makes the activating fighter count as 3 when checking which player controls an objective.
The Warden King signature ability instead costs a Quad and allows all friendly Dispossessed within 6″ to make a bonus move action. Abilities that provide free movement when the average is 3″ are always pretty good, but compared to the warband’s reaction, it may be much more situational.
Runelord: 145 points
Die Runenfürst is the master smith of the warband specialised in runes. His ability allows to increase up to 3 (half the ability’s value rounded up) the Strength of melee attacks of a targeted fighter within 9″. While the average Strength of the warband is 4, going even just to 5 can really help, especially considering it costs only a Double and has a 9″ range!
Apart from that, the Runelord is still a valid fighter with 3 attacks for 2/4 damage and Toughness 4. If you need a support hero, he is your duardin.
Cogsmith: 145 points
Die Koggenschmied is less of a support guy a more of a “I-do-everything-by-myself” type. His ability can increase his ranged attacks to Strength 7 (up to +3, half the ability’s value). It costs a Triple, but is valid until the end of the activation so he can shoot twice and with 12″ range and 2/4 damage, he can remove some chaff.
He is equally dangerous in melee with 1 attack more than the ranged profile (3) and is a good option if you need a lonely hero to lead your warband, otherwise he is more of a hybrid between the Warden King and the Ironwarden without excelling in either role.
Hammerers
- Keeper of the Gate: 120 points
- Hammerer: 85 points
Die Hammerer is the basic fighter profile, but also your heavy hitter with 3 attacks at Strength 4 for 2/5 damage and Toughness 4. He is hard to dispose of, and his signature ability, for a Double, provides him +1″ move bringing him to 4″ that is a decent amount for a duardin. In addition, should he be within 1″ of another friendly hero, he adds also +1 attack, meaning that he can easily join your leader and hammer down any resistance.
Die Hüterin des Tores is the leader option and he is a good one, with the same attack profile of a Warden King but less Toughness (4) and wounds (16) for a cheaper profile. He can still use his ability to move an extra inch but is unlikely you’ll have another hero nearby to bring his attacks to 5.
Longbeards
- Old Guard with Ancestral Weapon and Gromril Shield: 115 points
- Langbart mit altertümlicher Großaxt: 85 points
- Langbart mit Ahnenwaffe und Gromril-Schild: 85 points
The Longbeard is the other basic infantry profile with two different loadouts and a leader option, plus a great ability that for a Double increases the Strength of any other Dispossessed fighter within 6″ by 1. Now all your Duardin have Strength 4 or more, so a couple of these can make your Runelord redundant.
Die Langbart mit altertümlicher Großaxt ist die ausgewogenste mit den gleichen Angriffen wie ein Hammerer, aber weniger Schaden bei kritischen Treffern (2/4).
Die Langbart mit Ahnenwaffe und Gromril-Schild verliert 1 in Stärke, um 1 in Zähigkeit hinzuzufügen (5).
Die Alte Garde mit Ahnenwaffe und Gromril-Schild is the leader option that adds an extra attack to the Longbeard profile with the same loadout. He can’t improve his own Strength with his ability, so that value of 3 seems a bit too low for your main Leader, but on the other side Toughness 5 is a plus.
Ironbreakers
- Ironbeard with Drakefire Pistol and Cinderblast Bomb: 110 points
- Eisenbrecher: 75 points
Die Eisenbrecher represents the heavy armoured infantry with Toughness 5 but weak attacks (3 at Strength 3 for 1/3 damage). They are the cheapest option available in the warband and their ability allows another comrade with the same runemark to perform two bonus move actions towards him but needs to end the last movement within 1″ and can’t move for the rest of the battle round. It is useful to double down on an objective, it would have been better if the proximity was 3″ instead of 1″, but with low speed you take any movement buff they give you.
Die Eisenbart mit Drachenfeuerpistole und Schlackebombe is their leader option but with a quite different profile. To start with, he has the same attack but with 8″ range (no minimum range), plus an extra ranged attack at 3-5″ range for 2/4 damage at Strength 4. The lack of melee profile means he is the only duardin in the warband that can’t benefit from the various Strength upgrades.
Irondrakes
- Ironwarden with Grudgehammer Torpedo: 160 points
- Irondrake: 85 points
Die Irondrake is the shooting fighter, with 12″ range for 1/4 damage at Strength 3. In melee they are less scary with 1/2 damage but they are overall cheap to be a missile unit. Their main ability for a Triple reduces by 3 the Toughness of an enemy within 6″. If you ran out of Runelords and Longbeards and want to take down a particular enemy, reducing his Toughness will give you a clear advantage. It can be useful also if you have many Irondrakes as they can’t improve their Strength 3 and could all focus on a single target.
Die Eisenhüter mit Grudgehammer-Torpedo ist ihre Anführer-Option, mit 15″ Reichweite, Stärke 5 und 2/5 Schaden, was ihn zu einem viel furchteinflößenderen Schützenprofil macht. Im Nahkampf trifft er wie ein Ironbreaker, aber wenn du ihn nimmst, ist er aus dem Weg zu halten.
Gyrobomber/Gyrocopter
- Gyrobomber: 215 points
- Gyrocopter: 190 points
The duardin helicopters represent the fastest unit in the warband, with the plus that they can also fly.
Die Gyrobomber has 10″ movement but 15″ range for 3 attacks at Strength 4 and 1/3 damage, with a melee profile also quite interesting with Strength 5 and 2/4 damage.
Die Gyrocopter ist leichter mit 12″ Bewegung und Reichweite, aber einem Nah- und Fernkampfangriff weniger (2) und Stärke im Nahkampf (4). Er ist auch billiger und nützlich, um die allgemeine Duardin Langsamkeit zu kompensieren.
They don’t have specific abilities, but they can use the warband Double to count as 3 models when controlling an objective taking advantage of their speed.
Fähigkeiten für die Enteignete Kriegsbande
- Grim Last Stand (Double, Everyone): Ziehe 1 (bis zu einem Minimum von 1) von dem Schaden ab, den enteignete Kämpfer der eigenen Seite innerhalb von 3″ erhalten haben, die sich nicht bewegt haben.
- Over My Dead Body (Double, Everyone): In dieser Kampfrunde zählt dieser Kämpfer als 3, wenn geprüft wird, wer ein Ziel kontrolliert.
- Back In My Day... (Double, Old Guard und beide Longbeards): Füge anderen enteigneten Kämpfern innerhalb von 6″ +1 Stärke hinzu.
- Königsgarde (Doppelgänger, Hüter des Tores und Hammerschmied): Füge +1″ Bewegung hinzu, außerdem +1 Angriff, wenn er sich innerhalb von 1″ um einen enteigneten Helden befindet.
- Zusammenstehen (Double, Ironbeard und Ironbreaker): Ein anderer Eisenbart oder Eisenbrecher kann 2 Bonus-Bewegungsaktionen durchführen, aber sie müssen innerhalb von 1″ um diesen Kämpfer herum enden und können sich für den Rest der Kampfrunde nicht mehr bewegen.
- Schmiedefeuer (Doppelgänger, Runenfürst): Addiere bis zu +3 zur Stärke von Nahkampfangriffen eines Kämpfers innerhalb von 9″.
- Raking Fire (Dreifach, Cogsmith): Addiere bis zu +3 zur Stärke der Fernkampfangriffe dieses Kämpfers.
- Fleischschmelzender Sturzbach (Dreifach, Eisenwächter und Irondrake): Ziehe -3 von der Zähigkeit eines Feindes innerhalb von 6″ ab (bis zu einem Minimum von 1).
- Furchtloser Anführer (Quad, Warden King): Jeder Enteignete innerhalb von 6″ kann eine Bonus-Bewegungsaktion durchführen.
Reaktion für die Enteignete Warband
Eingeführt in der neuen Staffel von Warcry, Reaktionen sind Dinge, die unter bestimmten Umständen getan werden können, aber immer während des gegnerischen Zuges. Sie kosten eine Aktion, so dass sie nur von Kämpfern eingesetzt werden können, die noch nicht aktiviert wurden oder noch warten. Es gibt 3 universelle Reaktionen und eine spezifische für jeden Kriegsverband:
Grudgebearers (Alle)
- Wenn: Ein Kämpfer wird durch eine Nahkampfangriff-Aktion zu Boden gebracht.
- Was: Ein anderer befreundeter Kämpfer führt eine Bonusaktion für Bewegung oder Angriff aus.
Kampfeigenschaft für alle Cities of Sigmar Warbands
Die Kampfeigenschaft ist ein Zusatz, der in Briar and Bone eingeführt wurde und der eine zusätzliche optionale Regel hinzufügt, die alle Charaktere mit der gleichen Runenmarke betrifft, ohne dass ein Fähigkeitswürfel verwendet wird. Jede Fraktion hat ihre eigene, aber die der Großen Allianz kann stattdessen verwendet werden:
- Bestellung - Mutige Beschützer: Bei der Verwendung von In Deckung gehen Reaktion wird der kritische Treffer bei einer 3+ statt 4+ zum normalen Treffer.
- Chaos - Streben nach Ruhm: Einmal pro Kampfrunde, addiere 1 zum ersten kritischen Treffer eines Nahkampfangriffs eines Kämpfers, dessen Kosten 125 Punkte oder weniger betragen.
- Tod - Unsterbliche Schergen: Einmal pro Kampfrunde wird ein kritischer Treffer eines Dieners durch einen Schussangriff als normaler Treffer gewertet.
- Zerstörung - Unerbittliche Zerstörer: Bei Nahkampfangriffen kann das Ziel nicht den +1 Zähigkeitsbonus aus der Deckung beanspruchen.
Dämmerungsbringer-Eiferer: Am Ende jeder Kampfrunde kann ein einzelner Kämpfer 3 Schadenspunkte heilen oder 4, wenn er sich innerhalb von 3″ um ein Ziel, einen Schatz oder innerhalb von 1″ um ein Hindernis befindet.
Strategy and Tactics for the Dispossessed Warband
The Dispossessed are the duardin side of Cities of Sigmar, so if you have an old Dwarves army from Warhammer Fantasy, converted for a Cities army, chances are that you also have the basis for this warband. Otherwise, the warband is split across different boxes of sculpts 10 years old.
The Dispossessed play exactly as you would expect from a band of duardin: slow but tough to crack. Their average movement is 3″ but the two “copters” can drastically change it with 10″ and 12″ flying respectively. One of them should always be in your list because, combined with the warband Double, Over My Dead Body, they can fly to a far objective and count as 3 models when contesting it, taking over from your opponent that thought that leaving 2 of his fighters there would be enough…
To compensate their low movement, they also have few ranged options, in particular the Irondrakes and their 12″ range, but also several leaders, and of course the 2 “helicopters”. The Warden King’s Quad can give a free move action to all duardin within 6″ and the Hammerer gets +1″ for a Double (similar to the universal Rush but when ending next to a hero, they add also +1 attack).
In addition, the Dispossessed have one of the most interesting reaction in the game so far: once a duardin is taken down, one comrade can perform a bonus move or attack. The best part is that there’s no range, so you can use it to move a Gyrocopter far away, or with a Hammerer to perform an extra attack. There’s no trade off, no roll of dice, you just immediately avenge your fallen friend.
And there’s more abilities centred in improving the duardin movement, but let’s focus on those more offensive. In particular how a simple Longbeard can increase the Strength of all Duardin melee attacks on a 6″ range by 1 at the cost of a mere Double. Sure, the Runelord can increase it up to 3, once again for a Double, but targets a single fighter, although 9″ away, and needs a high value to be more effective.
And if you need to target a single enemy instead of increasing Strength to your guys, you can reduce their Toughness for a Triple with an Irondrake. Useful to single out an opponent and bombard it with ranged attacks or hit it hard with the cheap Ironbreakers.
Each unit in the warband has its own role. Our favourite leader is undoubtedly the Warden King, even just for his Toughness 5 and the only Quad available to the warband. The Cogsmith is a good lonely leader and the Runelord is a nice support guy if you are doing a narrative campaign or if you don’t want to add Longbeards.
The others are straight-forward: the Hammerer hits hard, the Longbeard is a bit more defensive but is also a support unit, the Ironbreaker is the cheap profile and the Irondrake is the missile fighter. A combination of them can help the diversity of the warband, and depending on the points left you can have either a Gyrocopter or a Gyrobomber. Personally we would go for the 12″ of the Gyrocopter, mostly for stealing objectives and covering where the other duardin can’t reach on time.
Compared to the human side of Cities, the Dispossessed are less shoot-y, but more efficient. They are sturdy, but not excessively (apart a single ability that reduces the damage intake they don’t have defensive abilities) and if little bearded fighters are your thing, they can be a lot of fun to play!
Vor- und Nachteile der Enteigneten-Kriegsbande
Vorteile:
+ Tough fighters
+ Variation in the different profiles
+ Good abilities
Nachteile:
- Langsame Bewegung
Some thematic warbands for the Dispossessed
Nur zum Spaß stellen wir hier ein paar thematische Warbands vor, die mehr für den Spaß oder den erzählerischen Kontext als für das kompetitive Spiel gedacht sind. Beachtet, dass ihr im narrativen Spiel eine Quest abschließen müsst, die es euch erlaubt, einen Helden zu rekrutieren, bevor ihr ihn zu eurem Dienstplan hinzufügen könnt.
Duardin Throng: Warden King, Gyrocopter, 2 Longbeard with Ancestral Great Axe, 2 Irondrake, 2 Hammerer, 2 Ironbreaker.
How to buy a Dispossessed Warband
The Dispossessed are part of the Cities of Sigmar range, in particular the duardin side. As any Age of Sigmar army, there’s no easy to collect Warcry box, but you would most likely need to start a Cities of Sigmar army or invest in boxes with multiple models.
The individual blisters that provide you hero options are:
- Warden King for £16
- Cogsmith currently unavailable
- Runelord for £16
- Not a hero, but Gyrobomber and Gyrocopter come from the same individual box for £32.5
Otherwise, the units (and their leader option) are available in the following boxes:
- Hammerers, 10 models including the Keeper of the Gate for £32.5. The Longbeards (and the Old Guard) come from the same kit.
- Ironbreakers, 10 models including the Ironbeard for £32.5. Irondrakes (and the Ironwarden) come from the same kit.
Tips on painting a Dispossessed Warband for Warcry
The Dispossessed are the last remaining models from the Dwarves range incorporated in Age of Sigmar Cities of Sigmar. No doubt they will become more popular in the coming years with the resurrection of the Old World game, but for now, you can use any guide for any fantasy dwarf.
Warhammer Community presents a tutorial for Ironbreakers armour that can be used across the entire range. Miniature Realms offers a guide for dwarves with a bit more cloth textures using Vallejo paints, while Awaken Realms is a bit more colourful and uses Citadel paints (he uses an airbrush but you can achieve the same with normal brushes).