Dwarf Warfare (Open Book) by Chris Pramas

Creature Warfare

by Chris Pramas

Despite their short stature, Dwarves are amongst the toughest fighters of all the races. Thanks to their great strength and stamina, Dwarves march to battle in thick armor and carrying numerous heavy weapons. This book compiles all of the information known about these grim warriors and how they practice war. From an initial examination of the fighting methods of the individual Dwarf soldier, it expands to look at how they do battle in small companies and vast armies. It covers all of their troop types from their axe men that form the front lines of battle to their deadly accurate crossbowmen, and noting their specialist troops such as their famous siege-engineers. Also examined are their tactics in specific situations such as underground fighting and fighting in mountainous terrain. Finally, the book examines a few specific battles in great detail in order to fully demonstrate the Dwarven way of war.

Genres: Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Fiction, Gaming

Paperback

First published October 20, 2015

Reviews

[Chris Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book after buying Chris Pramas's Orc Warfare also published by Osprey Adventures like the Orc it not canon to LOTR or the Hobbit but similar. Like the Orc Warfare book it divided into four sections Origin, Troop types, battle tactics, and stories of great dwarven victories. I like the Ranger and Grenadier troop type. The ranger was complete out of left field for me as I when I think ranger I think elf. I also like the different cavalry mount if you think about it, it makes more sense than a boar or ram. I'm look forward the the Elf Warfare book in this series and hope Mr. Pramas makes a Warfare book on Centaurs. reposting of Amazon review

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through the Orc Warfare book from Osprey and it was great. I am a gamer and love my Dwarves, so this one was a no-brainer. It was worth the wait and has the same quality and superb art of the first book in this line. How Dwarves go to war, how they mine and are prosperous, even a little on how they think and rationalize is in here. A very good read and a new and unique view on the race from an awesome publisher. It seems these books are coming out about every six months, as the next in the series Elf Warfare, is due out June of this year. Great read!

Danny

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does pretty much as it says on the cover, offering a potential source of ideas on how a race like the standard tolkienesque dwarves popular in fantasy may operate both socially and militarily. A good resource for someone looking to create a fantasy story or a pen-and-paper campaign involving the little guys, who might want to give them a fresh(er) twist and need a strong baseline to work from. It provokes interesting thoughts on how biological constants of fantasy races might inform their military planning. Dwarves here, for example, have very low fertility and might take decades to fully replenish their numbers after a disastrous battle, so dwarven generals try to focus on keeping campaigns short and casualties low. This way of thinking about how a race can have their attitudes formed logically by their particular 'facts of life', without it degenerating into them being genetically programmed to act different to each other in a way reminiscent of racist pseudoscientific theories of phrenology, has much merit.

I only give it three stars because it is such a specific kind of book, those looking for something like it are going to find it near-perfect, though I think it could easily have done with some maps for the battle described, and maybe illustrations of the war wagon laagers and the underground galleries in the strategy and tactics section.

[Declan Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a departure for Osprey, this is a series of short books which looks at the tactics of fantasy races. Perhaps initiated by the 'Frostgrave' skirmish wargames rules (advert in back of this book), this is an interesting idea but falters because there is no world to hang the information onto.

This book is the second in the series, following the first 'Orc Warfare'. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same problems of the first book. Guiding us through a modern interuptation of Dwarfs (ie mountain dwelling Engineers and warriors - not help for Norse Gods), Pramas explains the Dwarfs, troops, tactics and battles. In this format it was nice and simple to follow and read and the pictures are - as one would expect from Osprey - are very good. However, it missed the option of maps of some of the fictional battles (a shame, as this is often the best part of other Osprey books), and as there was no world and it was generic there was no investment in the information.

With no 'real'... by which I mean properly imagined world ... the stories in here are just short stories of relatively low quality (more flash fiction in length). There is some fun within, but not enough to get me excited, or wanting to learn more - which is my normal reaction to good Osprey books.

Perhaps Osprey should have associated this more closely with their Frostgrave world.

[John Somers · Rating 3 out of 5]

10/20.