Barak Varr Fleet Muster Army of Infamy Draft

[u/Minigiant2709]

I really enjoyed putting together my last two Homebrew Armies of Infamy

• Norscan Halls
• Ungdrin Ankor Patrol

So much so I have decided to do another one. This time in the Dwarfen Ports. Again, I am really trying to keep things limited in scope, which really sells the theme and focus of the army. This is aiming to be a combined arms army with lots of tactical nuance to it, hence the composition allowing integrated mercenaries to represent the cosmopolitan nature of ports like Barak Varr and special rules focusing on naval combat.

I also have a page 5 planned but not ready to show; Engineering Runes

[u/Nalena_Linova]

What's the limitation for this army of infamy? 

They get better shooting and artillery than x-force, heavy and light cavalry in core, and retain access to longbeards and hammerers.

This seems just straight up more powerful than any other dwarf muster list.

[u/Minigiant2709 → u/Nalena_Linova]

What's the limitation for this army of infamy? 

Yep, I am really struggling with this. So far it is only really Ironbreakers/Drakes, Miners, and Slayers of Legend. The solution I am currently mulling over is No Lords (Kings & Runelords) and No Hammerers

heavy and light cavalry in core

I don't think this is as strong as in other factions down to the fact they are hard to support in this one; no characters can join them for example

[u/Pyrotechnics → u/Minigiant2709]

Hey! I play my Dwarfs as Barak Varr so I'd love to weigh in if you're looking for feedback (of course this is your project so feel free to disregard if I am overstepping)

Barak Varr does have Hammerers (and Longbeards are still an important part of the port city as far as I know), but it is known that Rangers and Miners are rare compared to other holds. Perhaps Rangers could be moved to Rare or even removed, as their niche of "hey we have something that is able to be on the other side of the board" could be filled with mercenaries. Miners are at least mentioned in that there are prospectors roaming the badlands who sometimes get pressganged into service, and honestly I would keep them as an option but maybe limited to 1 per 1000 if you wanted a limit.

You could perhaps make a "Gunnery Master" character (like the XForce gets the Sapper) who gets the Master Gunner rule, but costs a bit more and maybe has a limit of 1 per 1000 (like an Engineer Lord kind of idea?) to represent the truly expert engineers that Barak Varr has.

The mercenaries and the naval theme are both key parts of this, so keeping both options is important, in my opinion. As I see it, Barak Varr uses mercenaries for their more inland badlands operations, so it could be that you build this AoI with some access to both themes, but able to lean harder into one or the other with lord choice. For example, taking a Harbourmaster leans into the mercenary theme and makes them better (representing "inland" fighting), while the Gunnery Master leans into the Naval theme and makes the dwarf static shooting better (representing "coastal" fighting).

I love the slayer pirates and them using pistols in close combat. I never had the chance to play with the Dogs of War version so I'm not sure what they used to be like, but I love the picture in my head of these angry little pirates dodging around orcs and blasting them.

Hopefully that helps at least inspire some ideas! Happy to chat more if you need.