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Dwarf Swordsmen
Tactical DwarfSwordsmen
Race Dwarves
Req. Town Buildings Barracks,
Smithy
Construction Cost Icon Production 50
Upkeep Cost Icon Food1
Unit Properties
# of figures Icon MultiFigureUnit 6
Moves Icon Movement Ground1
Melee Attack per figure Icon Melee Normal 3
Defense per figure Icon Defense 2
Resistance Icon Resist 8
Hit Points per figure Icon Hits 3
Unit Abilities

Ability Mountaineer Mountaineer

Ability LargeShield Large Shield

Dwarf Swordsmen are a type of Normal Unit that can be recruited in Dwarven Towns containing at least a Barracks and a Smithy. Swordsmen are a basic combat unit available to all Races, with a signature trait of being better defended against Ranged Attacks than other low-tier units. Dwarf Swordsmen, in particular, are also incredibly sturdy and, as a result, may be able to take on more advanced units, although their offensive power does leave something to be desired. They can become somewhat stronger with Icon Experience Experience though.

Dwarf Swordsmen have a Construction Cost of Icon Production 50. As the most basic military unit of their Race, they only have an Upkeep Cost of Icon Food1, and require no Icon Gold Gold to maintain. However, failure to pay this cost will still result in the unit being disbanded automatically.

Unit Properties[]

Physical Description[]

Dwarf Swordsmen are a group of short, stocky, bearded humanoids. They wear colored leather tunics, wield swords for close combat, and carry large, dark-grey shields to protect themselves from arrows and other ranged attacks. Dwarves have a terrific constitution, and do not succumb easily to either damage or ill magic. They are at home in mountainous terrain, although this comes at a cost of being unaccustomed to open spaces.

Dwarf Swordsmen are a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure unit, containing up to Icon MultiFigureUnit 6 soldiers.

Attack Properties[]

Dwarf Swordsmen possess a Melee Attack that will initially only be threatening to other low-tier Normal Units. They have an Attack Strength of Icon Melee Normal 3, which yields an average "raw" Icon Damage damage output of Icon Damage 0.9 per Swordsman. While this can be decent against lighter armor, it's not quite enough to consistently hurt well-protected opponents. Dwarf Swordsmen do get better with Icon Experience Experience though, both in strength and accuracy. At the Icon ExpLevel 3 Elite level, the maximum normally attainable, their attacks will do over twice this much – Icon Damage 2.0 points of "raw" Icon Damage damage, on average, per Swordsman.

Defensive Properties[]

Dwarf Swordsmen are lightly armored, possessing a Defense score of Icon Defense 2. They can deflect about Icon Damage 0.6 points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average. Unfortunately, this is rarely enough to avoid anything but the weakest attacks. Like all Swordsmen however, they carry Ability LargeShield Large Shields, which grant an extra Icon Defense +2 against all types of Conventional Damage that is delivered at a range. This brings their average Icon Damage damage reduction up to Icon Damage 1.2 against Icon Ranged Bow Missile-, Icon Ranged Boulder Boulder-, and Icon Ranged Magic Ranged Magical Attacks, as well as Icon Thrown Thrown Attacks, Icon Breath Breath Attacks, the hidden Conventional component of most Gaze Attacks, and all spells and effects that deal Conventional Damage, including Area Damage.

Dwarves are exceptionally sturdy. Even their common foot soldiers, such as Dwarf Swordsmen have Icon Hits 3 Hit Points. This gives them very good survivability in battle, and means that they can sustain a higher Icon Damage damage output for longer, since it takes more Icon Damage damage to kill each individual Swordsman. Their base Resistance score is also the best in their tier – with Icon Resist 8, they stand a good chance at shrugging off Unit Curses and other combat maledictions. Their Icon Defense Defense, Icon Resist Resistance, and even Icon Hits Hit Points also improve with Icon Experience Experience.

Other Properties[]

Dwarf Swordsmen move at a slow Icon Movement Ground1, and can only traverse land tiles. Like most Dwarves, Swordsmen also possess the Ability Mountaineer Mountaineer ability, which allows them to traverse Hill, Mountain, and Volcano tiles for a movement cost of only Icon Movement Ground1. However, since their Movement Allowance is only this much too, this by itself will not grant them any tangible benefit. On the other hand, they also move slower on Grassland, requiring Icon Movement Ground3 to enter each tile. Fortunately though, this will actually not affect them either for the same reason, unless their base speed is increased through magic.

Basic Strategy[]

Unlike other Races, Dwarves can not train Spearmen, making Dwarf Swordsmen the most basic combat unit available to this Race. This has some important consequences. First of all, it means that Dwarven Cities need to construct Town Buildings to be able to produce any military units at all, and even then have to settle for one that has an archetypal Construction Cost that is twice as much as the norm.

On top of this, Dwarves have a racial multiplier of Icon Production ×2.5 on the cost of "standard" units, which makes Dwarf Swordsmen, their cheapest unit, cost a total of 5 times as much as the first unit available to some of the Arcanian Races – Icon Production 50 versus Icon Production 10. Even though this is offset somewhat by the increased productivity of Dwarven Workers, it still results in a much slower unit training speed in the early stages of the campaign.

On the other hand, Dwarf Swordsmen are quite durable, and take three times as much Icon Damage damage to destroy than most other Swordsmen, promoting a strategy of preservation over replacement. That is, it is often more efficient to try and withdraw any heavily injured units from the frontline than to recruit new ones, provided that the rest of the army can still win the battle. They can then either reinforce or replace Town garrisons to promote their recovery.

Another consequence of being the most basic military unit of their Race is that Dwarf Swordsmen cost no Icon Gold Gold to maintain. This alleviates some of the expenses of Dwarven empires, while also lending itself to a different recruitment strategy. Namely, the purchasing of units instead of waiting out the normal production time. Although this is a more generic approach that can be taken with any other Race too, it comes more naturally to Dwarves due to their townsfolk generating twice the normal amount of Icon Gold Gold.

Ability Overview[]

Ability LargeShield Large Shield[]

Ability Mountaineer Mountaineer[]

  • This unit, and any others grouped with it on the overland map, may move through Hill, Mountain, and Volcano tiles at a rate of 1 Movement Point per tile. On the other hand, Grassland tiles cost them Icon Movement Ground3 to enter.
  • Should the stack also contain a Ability Forester Forester, the Movement Type of the group becomes Ability Pathfinding Pathfinding instead, allowing them to enter any tile that they normally could for a cost of only Icon Movement Ground0.5.

Experience Table[]

The following table illustrates how Dwarf Swordsmen improve with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by Icon Experience Experience in any way.

Level Icon Level Name EP Melee To Hit Defense Resist Hits
Experience 0 Recruit Icon Experience 0 - Icon Experience 19 Icon Melee Normal 3 Icon ToHit 30% Icon Defense 2 Icon Resist 8 Icon Hits 3
Experience 1 Regular Icon Experience 20 - Icon Experience 59 Icon Melee Normal 4 Icon ToHit 30% Icon Defense 2 Icon Resist 9 Icon Hits 3
Experience 2 Veteran Icon Experience 60 - Icon Experience 119 Icon Melee Normal 4 Icon ToHit 30% Icon Defense 3 Icon Resist 10 Icon Hits 3
Experience 3 Elite Icon Experience 120 Icon Melee Normal 5 Icon ToHit 40% Icon Defense 3 Icon Resist 11 Icon Hits 4
Experience 4 Ultra-Elite Icon Experience 120 * Icon Melee Normal 5 Icon ToHit 50% Icon Defense 4 Icon Resist 12 Icon Hits 4
Experience 5 Champion Icon Experience 120 ** Icon Melee Normal 6 Icon ToHit 60% Icon Defense 4 Icon Resist 13 Icon Hits 5

* To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Icon LifeCrusade spell must be in play.
** To achieve this level, both Warlord and Icon LifeCrusade must be in play simultaneously.

Average Damage Output[]

The table below details the average amount of "raw" Icon Damage damage that each Icon Figure Figure in a Dwarf Swordsmen unit will deliver based on Icon Experience Level Experience Level. It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target.

Select weapons:
Level Icon Level Name Melee Ranged * Thrown Breath
Experience 0 Recruit
Experience 1 Regular
Experience 2 Veteran
Experience 3 Elite
Experience 4 Ultra-Elite
Experience 5 Champion

<img src="Icon_Melee_Normal.png"><img src="Icon_Melee_Magic.png"><img src="Icon_Melee_Mithril.png"><img src="Icon_Melee_Adamantium.png">

Acquisition[]

Dwarf Swordsmen may be recruited in any Dwarven Town that has both a Barracks and a Smithy already built. The Construction Cost of this unit is Icon Production 50, which is two and a half times as much as that of the archetype. This means that even with the Production bonus of Dwarven Workers, they take nearly twice as long to train as the Swordsmen of the more mundane Races, at least until the City's Icon Production Production output gets high enough to create them in a single turn.

Dwarf Swordsmen may also appear as Mercenaries, provided that the player has a presence on Myrror. In this case, they cost between Icon Gold 100 to Icon Gold 150 to hire per unit, based on their Icon Experience Experience – or half that much for Charismatic Wizards.

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