Beat the drums of war, Mounthaven is on the march! Do you like spreadsheets, schedules, and having your units never be killed? Do you like feeling like a tactical mastermind who planned it all along, debuffing your enemies, and having your opponent complain about your special rules? If so Mounthaven are for you. They might not be the fastest, but boy howdy are they the dwarfiest. If you wanted speed, you’d be a pointy-eared leaf-eater like me.
Let’s start with their basic infantry, the Militia.
Those jumpers are actually crochet, dwarves just love being comfy.
Here is our first taste of what Mounthaven feels like – moderately costed, tough, and reliable, but slow and with poor morale.
25 points is slightly higher than the usual 20 for basic infantry but brings with it a whopping 3 wounds per model (12 instead of the usual 8 for the unit), backed by an excellent conquest of 2 which doesn’t degrade, and a solid defence roll. The attack roll has low dice, but a reliable output. Their main drawbacks are the 2-2 (8) speed, and the poor morale of 1. Clearly these guys will need a joined character if they are to be used offensively, but they will certainly do a great job holding any objectives they can get their stubby little legs to.
Next up are the Raiders, the jump-boot carrying scouts.
Double axes, double cool.
The Raiders have very similar base stats to the Militia, but have two main differences – Scout, letting them deploy on the board edge even during the game, and Propulsion Boots – letting them place themselves 10 as a short action. Place does not require line of sight and can jump over obstacles. They can also use this for free when they deploy with Scout thanks to Make Way!, letting them get into the action immediately. Unfortunately, their melee attack is terrible despite having four axes between them, instead they have an interesting short ranged attack which can give out vulnerable and then place yourself 3 as many times as you roll !. They’ll probably acts in a harassment role – jump in to give vulnerable and maybe 1-2 damage, then jet away to avoid the counterattack. Morale 1 certainly hampers them without character backup, but luckily there are lots of good options there. I imagine they will also function purely as a character delivery service – scout in, jet boot into range, shoot and jump back into safety, then have the officer charge out next activation if anyone comes to deal with them.
The last infantry option we know about yet are the mighty Hearthguard.
The helmets double up as stools to rest on if they get tired from walking their tiny little legs
Now these dwarves can hold an objective like nobody’s business. Although the attack roll appears middling, the first switch allows a bit of flexibility, and the second switch means you will guarantee pushing someone off an objective (if they are not Immovable). Their defence roll is excellent, particularly with their 12 wounds, and their switch to gain Immovable means they can just choose to stay in place (unless being attacked by a Large unit). Notice that their stress modifier is exactly what they need for their switch, so if they have the morale you can always just choose to use it. Combining this with You Won’t Extinguish the Flame! to reduce enemy conquest by 1and their ability to not get stressed when losing combats with We Are a Wall, it’s going to be hard to take objectives from them. If they can get there in time with their dawdling dwarven legs of course. They again only have morale 1 so will require a character to look after them.
So let’s get to the officers, because we’re probably not going to see many Mounthaven units without them.
First up is the toastiest dwarf in town, the Keeper of the Sacred Flame.
A hand held bellows doesn’t seem to be the most effective military implement, but what do I know, I’m not a dwarven engineer…
We have here a cheap support who boosts wounds by 1 (but not morale or conquest), and gives an excellent red die on attack, and green die on defence. Exalted by the Flame means all allied units within 12 (including his own unit) will add one modifier to their attack and defence roll for free – so at least one red and one green respectively. This partly makes up for the lack of direct morale boost, it’s overall an improvement if you use it multiple times in the round, but it doesn’t stop someone stressing you out of being able to activate.
Scarred by the Fire is crazy good given his +1W, meaning a squad of Hearthguard will be basically unkillable with 16 wounds plus the Keeper, and recovering a troop each round. In Warcrow being unkillable doesn’t always matter that much, particularly if the unit is not holding a key objective, but it seems pretty powerful at first glance.
I doubt he will be run much solo, but if he is The Fire From the Hearth seems a reasonable ability, reducing stress AND healing all units within 12. Normally healing in Warcrow doesn’t mean much with 2 wound models but given Mounthaven’s 3 wounds it might finally be relevant.
Next up is the War Augur, head nerd of Mounthaven.
Third place prize winner in the annual world George R. R. Martin lookalike competition.
Wow, this guy is pretty damn good. I Knew You Were There straight up makes your opponent deploy two units before normal deployment starts, effectively letting you counter deploy them completely.
Then As It Was Written is a free activation each round (for the cost of one command token), with the caveat that the activation happens at the end of the turn, two turns from now, and the target had to be within 12 when you cast this. So, turn one you move-move this unit forward and use it on a friendly unit (including yourself). Then on turn three after both players have activated, the targeted unit will activate. Extra activations are enormously important in Warcrow, I imagine this guy and this ability will be in every list, and high up on my “kill him before he activates” ranking every game I play. Unfortunately, with 4 wounds, and sitting in a 12 wound squad, killing him is going be quite a task.
Adding insult to injury, To Know All the Details turns off all enemy modifiers against this unit, which can be a moderate debuff to many units, particularly those from the Northern Tribes.
However, like the Keeper of the Sacred Flame, he doesn’t add any morale, so the squad is still morale 1. At least unlike the Keeper, he is an officer instead of just a support.
This brings us to what I consider the core part of the Mounthaven’s identity – planning, debuffs, and action cheating, Hrodreik, Thirteeth Executor of the Master Plan and ultimate insult to Sÿenann .
I read now from the Book of Poetry, page 312, stanza 6:
“There once was a dwarf from Deeprock…”
There’s quite a lot going on here, so let’s break it down starting with his astoundingly good abilities.
Guide Destiny – once per round, at the start of the turn, you decide who goes first. I am floored. Getting double activations in Warcrow is so important I often choose to forgo victory points in round 1 just to double activate between turn 5 and 6, and this guy gets to do it EVERY ROUND! You don’t even have to telegraph it, you can decide flexibly at the start of the turn, so your opponent never knows when you might choose to pop it. Add to this the other action cheats available to Mounthaven and you might reliably triple or quadruple activate to absolutely devastate your opponents.
Prepared for the Worst is also astounding. Whenever you kill a Mounthaven unit, another Mounthaven unit will reduce stress by 2 and assault, charge, or attack. No once per round, no line of sight. Thankfully it’s not permanent so at least if you kill Hrodreik it turns off. Killing Mounthaven units isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but solo characters and Raiders will be prime bait to let you double or even triple activate. The main thing missing here is the activated unit cannot move, so if you can keep your distance from the short-legged dwarves you can avoid the free charge. This ability seems to partly explain the otherwise poor morale of the Mounthaven units.
They Won’t Take Me By Surprise however, is permanent and makes me as a Sÿenann player feel disgusted deep in my core. All enemy Scoutand Ambusher units who deploy outside of their deployment zone get disarmed. No counterplay, no mitigation – if the Mounthaven player takes this guy in their list (which they will) this ability is active, even if Hrodreik himself is not yet deployed (eg scouting with Raiders) or already dead. Disarmed isn’t in itself the end of the world, but given Mounthaven’s natural resilience it certainly won’t feel good.
Whew, ok so that’s his abilities out of the way. His attached profile is great, giving the much needed +1 morale, as well as good dice and excellent switches, with extra conquest and WIP to boot. His solo profile is fine, and given it’s the only way to get Guide Destiny I can see it being a tough choice to attach him or not. You probably will, then charge him out near the enemy to immediately use the ability next turn to charge his entourage in directly behind him.
When I read all this I just assume he must be a 35+ point High Command with 3 wounds, but no, he’s 25 points, 5 wounds, and doesn’t even block the High Command spot. I am going to need to play against him a lot to make it make sense.
We’ll cover the Folder, the only solo character, before moving to the High Command waiting down below.
“My paper friends are real, don’t judge me…”
The Folder is Mounthaven’s only spellcaster so far, even if she trades real magic for origami sorcery.
For a measly 20 points she does one thing, and one thing well – cast her buff on an ally within 12 strides, and then effectively give that ally her second action (although notably the ally can do a long action instead). This second part is really important as it lets you activate the Folder (for stress) to move up near the ally and then give her ally the real action (without stress). Note the action can be move, a skill or a spell, unlike the bonus from Hrodreik.
The buff itself is cool but simple, as the main bonus of it is the free action during the Folder’s turn given by The Memory of the Orichalcum.
The Bear lets you melee better with an extra orange and compensates for your tiny little legs when you push someone back.
The Owl gives you a 10 stride jump as an action, a nice defensive switch to place, and a blue die on defence (as if you needed it). Both can switch to the other at the being of your activation, but NOT at the beginning of action, so if you are using the Folder’s donated action you can’t switch. The jump action here is excellent for Mounthaven, giving a much needed speed and agility boost. However, you want to stay within range and line of sigh of the Folder for her free action, so there is a bit of a restriction.
Overall a very elegant support piece who I look forward to assassinating as soon as possible.
Last but not least comes the two High Command options – Hammer and Olga. Interestingly Hammer is tactically the anvil option, and Olga is the hammer. These crazy dwarves and their upside-down terminology.
At a whopping 40 points Hammer does bring an excellent profile. With 5 Wounds, Elite, and excellent offensive and defensive dice and switches her solo profile is a force to be reckoned with.
Unwavering is an excellent permanent skill that affects every friendly dwarf everywhere, letting you ignore the gang-up penalty just like Aggressors. Given the high durability and easy access to action cheats, my initial plan against Mounthaven was to focus fire on individual units one at a time, and this ability directly weakens that plan. Classic dwarven negativity.
Her attached profile is also great, adding durability and offensive power to any squad she joins, as well as that much needed +1 morale. The offensive switch to turn shields into hits pairs well with Hearthguard who have a blue die, but even better with Militia who can turn ! into shields (and then with her switch into hits). If you rolled max hits, shields and !, you could churn out 12 hits! Ridiculous.
Courage is nice, effectively making your units fight at full strength at all times, so have fun spending 3 rounds grinding down a unit of Hearthguard only to have them never die. Disgusting.
Olga, Princess of Mounthaven is our last profile today.
Where Hammer gives you armywide durability, Olga gives you speedier dwarves, as well as an extra action cheat because why not, Mounthaven don’t have enough already.
Ice Bear’s Torque lets 3 nearby units (including yourself) do a move during the No One Gets Left Behind step, in addition to whatever they normally did. This is not permanent and so is only on her solo profile.
To Battle! on the other hand is permanent and lets everyone add 2 to their charge (but not assault!). Simple, straightforward, good.
Her solo combat profile is reasonable thanks to Elite and 5 wounds. Her combat switches are excellent and a rare source of vulnerable for Mounthaven. Attached is where she really shines though, adding great dice (especially the modifiers with the switches), +1 morale, +1 conquest, +WIP, AND the mighty Battle Bonds. Another sneaky little action cheat to round off the faction, this ability lets you activate a friend at the end of Olga’s activation, assuming you charged, assaulted or attacked. Your friend gets to do whatever they like with their activation, of course.
If somehow you were a fashion idiot and didn’t know what a torque was. Cough cough…
Overall we have a faction that plays very well into the promised fantasy – slow, durable dwarves who are passionate about planning, organisation, and strict social hierarchies. The disgustingly easy access to action cheating seeks to make up for the slow speed and poor morale and allows a level flexibility that helps you feel clever, like you planned it all along. Their abilities are often restricted to a 12 stride range, so they will need to move together like good dwarves do down in the mines. If you plan your battle out well and keep your units working like a well-oiled machine, your innate durability and action cheating will probably overwhelem your opponents with pure efficiency. If your units get isolated, bogged down, or overstressed, you may not have the speed or agility to regain control of the situation. I expect Mounthaven will do very well at hold and control kinds of missions like Consolidated Progress, but will suffer needing to being tactically flexible, like in Tracking.
The profiles are fun, thematic, and the models look fantastic. I can’t wait to see them on the battlefield. If I missed anything write here below or on the Discord, and I look forward to hearing about your experiences with them!
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