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Are the Dogs of War Unfairly Treated? - Dysartes | |
| As we get further through 6th Edition, the players of certain armies put out claims that their specific force is being neglected - Wood Elves, Chaos Dwarfs and Dogs of War being the main ones in this respect. Of the three, Chaos Dwarfs have the most to complain about - they are still using their Ravening Hordes army list, they've not had a hint of any new releases for some time, and thier models are at decreasing levels of availability through Mail Order 1. Wood Elves are in the pipeline to get a new army book, probably later this year. They've also had a preview army list shown in White Dwarf, so that players would have some idea where the army was going. However, it is the Dogs of War of which I would like to speak now. While the Dogs of War had an army book in 5th edition, is this strictly necessary in 6th edition? Both the Regiments of Renown and the vanilla Dogs of War units were two of the earliest Warhammer Chronicles articles published in UK Whte Dwarf, allowing those with a Dogs of War army to continue to use it with, at most, a month's downtime. Why the army was not included in Ravening Hordes has never been made clear, but is probably due to the amount of space it would have required. So, are the Dogs of War in as dire straits as popular would have us believe? I say no. Unlike the other "forgotten" armies, the Dogs of War have had some support, via the use of Regiments of Renown. The initial Regiments of Renown article, published in the issue after the core Dogs of War army list, covered all the regiments released in 5th Edition, from Golgfag's Ogres to Vespero's Vendetta. A later update fetched back the Dogs of War special characters, like Lorenzo Lupo and Borgio the Besieger 2. Even after all the material from 5th Edition has been covered, though, the Dogs of War have continued to receive new units. Three new mercenary regiments have arrived on the battlefield in the years since 6th Edition made its debut - Richter Kruegar and his Cursed Company; Ruglud and his Armoured Orcs; and last, but by no means least, Mengil Manhide and his Manflayers 3. Each of these have fetched new aspects to the Dogs of War General - the Manflayers give you expert scouts, with a high BS and Poisoned crossbow bolts; the Cursed Company is the only Dogs of War unit able to end the battle larger than it started; and Ruglud's Boyz give you a protected missile unit, that can more than hold its own in close combat. As if that were not enough to keep Dogs of War players satisfied with their support, and the wealth of troops at their disposal, the introduction of Ogre Kingdoms has given them some tough troops to play with. The ability to take Buls, Ironguts, Leadbelchers and even Maneaters in a Dogs of War force means that Dogs of War generals can now have a wider variety of Ogres than they previously had, ranging from unconventional shooting to veteran elite guys with big swords. Not bad, when you think about it, not bad at all. I can understand why people who play Dogs of War get annoyed when an army book seems to be getting pushed back into the middle of next week. We've had the same thing, if louder, with the Wood Elf players. However, I firmly believe that the Dogs of War will make a comeback, but probably not for a while. Any who knows, the Giant Pygmie unit may show up then, too..... 1, OK, Direct Sales, but you know who I mean. The Trolls are back in town, back in town..... 2, Borgio the Besieger, now there's a guy. Survived a cannonball to the chest, only to be killed by a poisoned toasting fork..... 3, Though, in fairness, it should be noted that Mengil Manhide's Manflayers have appeared in previous editions of Warhammer, so are properly a rerelease. | |
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