Thunderers is a Dwarfs missile infantry unit in Total War: Warhammer. Although new, and therefore suspect, a Thunderer's handgun can punch through the heaviest of armour at short range.
Description
Standing in closely packed ranks, Thunderers take aim and then discharge their handguns - unleashing a thunderous fury and a cloud of gun smoke. Although not quite as long-ranged as a crossbow, the sturdy Dwarf handgun packs an even deadlier shot, its bullet fired with such velocity it can tear through armour and better take down more heavily protected foes, such as Chaos Warriors. Being methodical, the Dwarfs continue to load and fire in a disciplined manner, so long as their foes are within range. Even when the enemy advance close, almost right up on top of them, Thunderers will seek to get off one last shot. While the onset of bloodthirsty foes might cause lesser races to rush their aim, the steady coolness of the Dwarfs, not to mention the precision of their weaponry, ensures that every volley is fired with the same lethal accuracy as the last, until the moment the Thunderers take up their axes and meet the foe's charge in the bloody press of close combat.
Abilities
Missile Infantry- ▲ Armoured & Shielded: Armoured units can block damage from any source apart from Armour-Piercing damage. Shields have a chance of blocking arrows, bolts, rifle shots and similar small arms fire - but only in a forward facing arc.
- ▲ Armour-Piercing Missiles: The damage of armour-piercing weapons mostly ignores the armour of the target, making them the ideal choice against heavily-armoured enemies. They are often heavier and attack at a slower rate though, making them less efficient against poorly-armoured targets.
- ▲ Decent Melee Combatant: Despite being primarily a missile unit or spellcaster, this unit can also hold its own ground when fighting in melee.
Strategy
With high armour-piercing damage, good range, a shield, high armour and respectable melee stats the Thunderer is a unit with few weaknesses and lots of strenghts. One of their main weaknesses is that they fire in a straight line, this means that they have trouble shooting over their allies and need elevated ground to get a clear shot of the enemy or stand at the front of the formation of the army which they will later fall back behind or they might even need to flank behind the enemy which can be dangerous. Alternatively they can shoot flying enemies or large enemies safely from behind the frontline infantry and are often very effective when doing so.
Heavy cavalry should be a huge threat to them, Thunderers only hope is to rout a cavalry with a volley before they can charge. A good way to counter heavy cavalry is by spreading out multiple Thunderers, this way when cavalry manages to penetrate your formation and get to your Thunderers they can cover each other making swift work of the cavalry unit. This technique is also just a good idea in general but it is especially effective against heavy cavalry.
Multiplayer spam strategy
A strong multiplayer strategy is to bring a lot of cheap dwarf infantry, 2 to 3 Slayers, 4 to 6 Thunderers and situational 1 unit of artillery. Sit up on a slope where the Thunderers can shoot down at the enemies while the infantry holds them at bay using the Slayers to keep flanking cavalry and monsters at bay. The strength of this strategy is that unlike artillery, which much be closely defended, the Thunderers are respectable in melee, bring a lot of them means it is often impossible for the enemy to engage them all leaving the some of the Thunderers to shoot away without hazard. No expensive infantry is needed as Dwarf warriors and Miners can hold the line quite well while the Thunderers deal damage. The situational artillery unit is useful for forcing the enemy to come to you but unneeded against factions that like to rush anyways such as the Vampire Counts or Beasmen. This strategy is weak against enemy artillery or long range high damage missile units as they can force you off the high ground. This strategy might be impossible on maps without slopes for your thunderers to shoot down at. At lower funds you might need to cut the Slayers.
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