This is the first LCG I've played, so I don't have much experience building decks and the like. I've been playing Empire exclusively so far and was just wondering what elements of Dwarves I should add in to boost it.

Anythingwith Toughness, grudge effects or healing should be up for consideration for including.

If your deck works on developments the trollslayers and the engineer that comes with a free development can work quite well for you.

I take you are running empire as your capital.

I use 3 slayers, 2 stubborn refusals, 2 Dwarf Rangers, 2 keystone fortresses, 2 Iron Breakers of ankhor, 2 hammer of karak azul, and 2 demolitions.

I combine those with 2 contested fortresses and defend the borders for resilience and shrine to taal and city gates to build up powerful units.

Do you have extra copies of each of those cards or do you just use a single core set?

I have extra copies. I've bought two core sets so far and we do draft events in my area where each player buys into a kingdom and gets a equal share of the neutral and draft cards to boot.

Once you have two core sets worth of cards new strategies open up. Like on the chaos side using 3 rip der heads off and 3 blood thirsters so that at key points during the game you can whipe out a zone in one fell swoop. With empire I actually find myself going through the deck super fast and hoping I find those shrines to taal early enough. With those you can make super units. Iron breakers become toughness x with bonus power equal to the # of developements in the zone for the attack. The game changes gears from you being on the defensive to having an almost unstoppable grinding attack.

It's true . . . dwarves can get very nasty on the offensive . . . . if you think they are just a turtle faction you are sorely mistaken.

The Dwarf card Demolition is very useful. If you are going for a heavy development strategy then Wake the Mountain can be your best friend. It has a pretty high loyalty cost, so only include it if you are planning to run a goodly mix of Dwarf and Empire cards. Also, don't forget to bring along Innovate. If you are planning on generating a large number of resources then don't overlook my good friend the Runesmith. Oh, and Dwarf Rangers are one of my absolute favorite cards. If I'm trying to play Dwarf/Empire I always try to include them and Free Company. Nothing makes your opponent cry like getting rid of RANDOM cards from his hand. Oh, I'm sorry, was that YOUR Waaagh!?

I agree that "scout" is a key ability for the early game with the dwarf/empire combo. You have to keep disorder from drawing & keeping enough cards in their hand. By the time they generate enough resources and card draw you should hopefully have either enough defense to hold out or enough attack power to overwhelm them.

I like the idea of combining the Empire's counterstrike cards with Keystone Forges and Contested Fortresses. With enough in play, your opponent gets heavily penalized for going on the offensive - your counterstrike units do free extra damage, and even the damage that your opponent does has to get past your restoration and cancellation abilities. With a few Forges/Fortresses in play and a counterstike unit in your Quest and Kingdom zone, you can go nuts loading up your Battlefield zone for massive offensives. It's just a theory as of yet, and I haven't tried it out - but it seems to have potential.

Trying running a few of the warrior priests and the defend the borderlands quest along with what you mentioned. This really puts the hurt on them and helps telegraph where the disorder single target tactics cards get played.

Here's a deck I pieced together today. Rip it apart!

Units (20)
Troll Slayers x 3 (3)
Dwarf Masons x 3 (3)
Ironbreakers of Ankhor x 3 (5)
Peasant Militia x 3 (0)
Reiksgard Knights x 2 (3)
Hammerer of Karak Azul x 2 (2)
King Kazador x 2 (6)
Johannes Broheim x 2 (6)

Support (21)
Shrine of Tal x 3 (2)
City Gates x 3 (2)
Contested Stronghold x 3 (4)
Armory x 2 (2)
Forgotten Cemetery x 2 (2)
Keystone Forge x 3 (2)
Contested Fortress x 3 (3)
Organ Gun x 2 (0)

Tactics (19)
Will of the Electors x 3 (1)
Judgment of Verena x 3 (4)
Demolition! x 3 (2)
Wake the Mountain x 3 (3)
Innovation x 3 (0)
Pilgrimage x 2 (4)
Burn It Down x 2 (2)

I definitely put a couple Keystone forges in.

JayDe said:

His list already has 3x. You're not suggesting he make an illegal deck, are you ?

No no, I wasn't referring to a particular deck, i was just commenting on them being a simple and valuable addition from the Dwarf cards to... any deck!

Yeah, Keystone Forges are crazy good.

Especially when stacked and combined with... Contested Fortress, the neutral card? Cancel the first point of damage (or two), then heal some damage at the start of your turn - by the end of a game, a darned strong defense can be built up.

JayDe said:

Orcs are SO looking to complete "Smash 'Em All!" Quest against that setup !

Yeah, had that happen to me this weekend. Blech. I'm paying more attention to Orc quest zones from now on