So I have been known to run Alarielle, bolt-thrower, Karl Franz, and Hellblaster, and I was thinking about a new siege-range gunline. How about the following:
Queen Helga (34)
Runic Cannon (12)
Master Engineer (8)
Master Engineer (8)
Venerable Runesmith (6)
Karl Franz (33)
Hellblaster (10)
Swordsmen x3 (15)
Greatswords (8)
Cards:
Rally
???
???
???
Nothing revolutionary here, as the Helga regiment is exactly what is suggested in the preview, but mixing it with an empire list could make it crazy. So basically, the runic cannon with Rally, Karl Franz, and engineer support can shoot five times per round. The Hellblaster can chip in a further three attacks per round. That is a LOT of siege-range hurt being thrown at the opposing army each turn. Of course, you would have to do some serious damage before they closed with you or you would most likely be in pretty big trouble. That said, it’s probable that you would land some serious hits, especially with the potential scatter-tastic area damage thrown by the cannon.
Alternatively, would it be viable to just essentially double up the above regiment with a different dwarf hero and go for two cannons shooting four times each? This would sacrifice most of the already limited CC capabilities being provided by the empire.
Problems:
The Hellblaster will blow itself up, and Alarielle isn’t there to heal it. Also, you would have to work the activation tokens correctly to get the most out of it, and reinforcing disks the first round is a poor use of those tokens, but you need to get them in so Karl Franz can do his thing. Maybe you would need to take three of the 4x activation cards to get you the maximum amount of leeway with activation. This army will also suffer in close combat, and Queen Helga is mostly wasted in this build. Cover will hurt this list in a big way—but imagine it rolling with rain of arrows!
Thoughts?