"The newly forged dwarf lord Golas Flamebeard was quietly minding his P's and Q's trying to relax with a boot o' Bugman's when his thoughts wandered back to the task of arming himself for the anticipated battle on the morrow. With no effort he stood and produced a mighty eructation that echoed off the stone walls for all to hear, then he lurched toward tunnel leading to the clan forge, home to the runesmith Grungni Grudgebreaker, to seek advice on what type of weapon he should bear to the field of battle." "GREETINGS ANCIENT ONE!" shouted the Flamebeard, startling the runesmith and causing him to break his concentration and catch the tip of his thumb under the 6 pound hammer he was forcefully swinging at some small object. "Arrrrroooommmph!" replied the venerable runesmith, placing the injured digit in his mouth for a moment to dull the pain. "By Grungni's Fires! See what you have done you young loudmouthed, oafish, ...oh...greetings my lord. No doubt you are here to select a worthy weapon to bear for the coming battle." The two moved into the runesmith's personal arsenal past the two apprentices stiffly standing guard, trying to hid their nervousness from the two elders who seemed to ignore them, deep in a conversation about runes and weapons.

Dwarf generals are constantly debating the efficacy of various rune combinations, especially when they are being inscribed on their very own axe or hammer. I, being like-minded, decided to apply some good old dwarf mathematics to a few rune combinations in an effort to decide on which runes to inscribe on my own axe, Retaliator, a family heirloom with a long history that I will relate to you another time. Let us look at the typical Dwarf Lord, 4 attacks at strength 4 with a weapon skill of 7. What are his chances to hit an opponent of any given weapon skill? What are his chances of wounding an opponent of any given toughness? How many wounds will he average if all his attacks are directed at a single target? Questions that a savvy fighter should know the answers to if he wishes to avoid becoming a venerable ancestor before his time. To answer the first question let us look at how many hits we can expect to get, on average, facing enemies of differing weapon skills, assuming we direct all of our attacks at a single target. For opponents with a weapon skill less than 7 we have a hit on a 3 or better on a d6, which translates to a 4 out of 6 chance to hit, 4/6 or 0.66. If we multiply 0.66 by our number of attacks we get the average number of hits we can expect. Likewise for opponents with a weapon skill of 7 or more, except we need a 4 or better to hit, or 3 out of 6, 3/6 or 0.5. Again multiply 0.5 times 4 to get the average number of hits for all our attacks. This is all detailed in the table below.
 

Opponents Weapon Skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Hits	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2	2	2	2

Now that we have the average number of hits we can expect to get in a round of combat for any given opponents weapon skill we can look at how many wounds we can expect to score. I could compare 2.67 hits against every increment of toughness and then compare 2 hits against every increment of toughness to get a really accurate view, but I am unwilling to do that because of the amount of room all the tables would take when looking at the various rune combinations and I really just want to get a good feel of how different rune combinations affect hits and wounds. What I am going to do is rely on the correlation between weapon skill and toughness that exits in among the creatures in the Warhammer game. Most creatures with high weapon skill also have high toughness, within two in the vast majority of cases, and exactly equal in many, so I will assume they are equal to simplify the comparisons. So let us look at how we got the numbers in the table below. All we really did was multiply the chance to hit a given weapon skill by the chance to wound the corresponding toughness. So for example against a toughness 3 we get our chance to hit with all four attacks, 4/6*4 times our chance to wound 4/6 to get 4/6*3*4/6=1.77.
 

Opponents Toughness	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Wounds	2.22	2.22	1.77	1.33	0.89	0.44	0.33	0	0	0

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 0.92

So our basic dwarf lord is, on average, good for inflicting 1 wound in any given combat round, and so we are paying about 160 points for that ability. Well, some may argue that most armies consist of creatures with a toughness of 3 or 4, and only a few creatures with higher toughness are present so the lord has a greater chance of fighting lower toughness troops and we should use a weighted average. Some will concede that most troops in an army do have a toughness of 3 or 4, but players usually use their better fighters against tougher opponents rather than the weaker ones. Well, I really do not care, either way it will vary by player and by game, and since we just want a number for comparative purposes we will go by what we have. Let us next see how our numbers are affected when our dwarf lord gets his magic axe inscribed with Snorri Spanglehelm's Master Rune. This 75 point rune gives our hero..er..lord the ability to hit automatically. A very handy ability when facing those opponents behind an obstacle. In all cases you get 4 hits. No duh. So how many wounds will your opponent feel?
 

Opponents Toughness	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Wounds	3.33	3.33	2.66	2	1.33	.66	.66	0	0	0

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 1.4

Not bad, for toughness 3 and 4 type opponents we get about 2 wounds now. Overall though we only increase our average by half a hit and we still cannot damage opponents with a toughness greater than 7. Hmmm, lets see what we can do to improve the situation. Let us see what the numbers look like when we add a 70 point Rune of Smiting to our favorite weapon, giving us more oomph against multiwound opponents. In all cases we still get 4 hits, let us see how the number of wounds inflicted are affected.
 

Opponents Toughness	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Wounds	11.66	11.66	9.33	7	4.66	2.33	2.33	0	0	0

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 4.9

Remember we are putting all our attacks against a single opponent here. We have a fair chance of killing a humanoid character who is not magicked up to the gills with an expected average of 7 wounds against a toughness of 4. But still there is that problem of not being able to damage high toughness opponents. Well dwarf runic magic has an answer for that, the aptly named Rune of Might which doubles the strength of the wielder against opponents that have higher toughness than the wielder, a bargain at 50 points. How does it affect the numbers when added to our already magically gleaming axe, you are asking?
 

Opponents Toughness	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Wounds	11.66	11.66	9.33	7	7	7	7	4.66	4.66	4.66

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 7.46

These are numbers that can warm the cockles of your heart, especially against opponents with a toughness of 6 or greater. Combine this weapon with the Rune of Spite on a talismanic item and you have a fighting chance against the toughest opponents. Still, while quaffing a pint of Bugman's Best one wonders, can we do better? Well as long as your opponent is not behind a defended obstacle the answer is yes. Let us look at another weapon and add runes to it as we go along just as we did previously. First let our local runesmith inscribe on our family heirloom the Master Rune of Skalf Blackhammer, a 75 point rune that automatically wounds an opponent that is successfully hit. Hmmm. Let us review the table containing the average number of hits a dwarf lord can expect to get.
 

Opponents Weapon Skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Hits	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2	2	2	2

Of course since we automatically wound the average number of wounds is identical to the above table but I will repeat it just for completeness and to spite wood elves.
 

Opponents Toughness	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Wounds	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2.67	2	2	2	2

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 2.44

Compare this to the 75 point Snorri Spanglehelm's Master Rune. It gives a definite edge against those pesky opponents with a toughness greater than 7. Ah but how can we enhance this wonderful effect? The obvious answer is the 70 point Rune of Smiting,
 

Opponents Weapon Skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Hits	9.33	9.33	9.33	9.33	9.33	9.33	7	7	7	7

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 8.40

Already we are better than the best combination with Snorri Spanglehelm's Master Rune. But hey, we have a slot open for another rune...hmmm...what to chose....ah....how about a Rune of Fury for 20 points. This will give the bearer of the weapon 5 attacks, which will change the average number of hits and wounds.
 

Opponents Weapon Skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Hits	3.33	3.33	3.33	3.33	3.33	3.33	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5

Opponents Weapon Skill	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Average # of Hits	11.67	11.67	11.67	11.67	11.67	11.67	8.75	8.75	8.75	8.75

Average number of wounds for all toughness levels: 10.50

So what does all this drinking and thinking come to? For 355 points, using the dwarf lord and the Snorri Spanglehelm, Smiting, Might rune combo we get an average of 7 inflicted wounds even against an opponent advantaged by a defended obstacle. For 325 points we get a dwarf lord and the Skalf Blackhammer, Smiting, Fury combo which inflicts an average of 10 wounds against a single opponent as long as they are not cowering behind a wall or some other defended obstacle. For an open field battle I would chose the latter rune combo, for an assault on a fortification I would probably take the former. But is it wise to put so many points into a single weapon? Well it depends on whether or not you can get a return on your investment. If your opponent is in the habit of fielding powerful characters and or monsters and likes to try to kill your general then maybe it is, if you have a good chance to survive your opponents first strike. For many this may be a dubious prospect and the answer would be no. For some though, the satisfaction of seeing the look on your opponents face when Nagash or some similarly powerful character bites the dust at the feet of your victorious general is worth the effort, at least occasionally. After all the name of the game is to have fun.

"Ah..." sighed the dwarf lord, "you are right as usual ancient one, the balance is superb, I look forward to bathing Retaliator in greenskin blood on the morrow! Just holding it gives me a feeling of power and strength!" "No doubt", spoke the runesmith flatly. "Just remember no matter how powerful it makes you feel it does not make you invulnerable. Speaking of which that suit of rust you are wearing wouldn't stop a snotling's blow, let alone that of an orc. Come with me to the armory." "Buuuuuurrrrrrrrrp!" replied the dwarf lord while rubbing his throat, "All this talking has parched my throat, let us pause for a refreshment before proceeding." "I could use a cool draught, and you can buy the first round in recompense for the distraction that lead to my accident." spoke the runesmith, again putting the tender phalange between his lips and feigning a grimace of pain. "DONE!" shouted the lord, again startling the runesmith, causing him to bite down on the wounded thumb and letting out a grunt drowned out by the dwarf lords laughter. The two guards stood silently, marveling at the exchange between the two most powerful members of clan Proudbeard and wondering what the morrow would bring.

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