Def vs Arm in light of new stuff

[moddball]

I have been having lots of success with High DEF infantry lists especially with Ashlynn, Fiona and MacBain. (my other lists are Steelhead or Pirate so not really high DEF or ARM but rely on numbers).

Looking over my collection I have no high ARM infantry apart from Greygores. As WM moves forward and the amount of anti infantry options will higher ARM infantry become more important?

At the moment none of the main Merc high ARM options are that appealing as I have avoided Dwarfs and Morowan options.

Now I will not touch Morowan stuff but is it time for some Dwarfs to wade though the AOE's, Flak fields, electro leaps, and covering fire templates that I will soon be facing.

[hamsandwich50]

It might be worth it to take a cue from the term anti infantry and take more jacks or lessers.

[DocMerc]

Higher defense is almost always going to win out over higher armor.
The only time high armor is better is with scattered templates and auto hit stuff. Every other scenario, being harder or impossible to hit will work out to your advantage.
That being said, I do believe there are certain sweet spots. ARM 19 or higher, for example is a good place to be, as it means avg strength of 12 will need to roll better than average to do 1 point.
There are not too many infantry options out there that fit this criteria, however.

[Aylw]

Higher defense is almost always going to win out over higher armor.
The only time high armor is better is with scattered templates and auto hit stuff. Every other scenario, being harder or impossible to hit will work out to your advantage.

If Colossals is any indication, 'almost always' is going to change soon. Metas will vary, but 'blast damage' and 'auto hit' are in, and they only seem to be getting more numerous.

[MagnustheJust]

I have always ignored the "trends" in what the new shinies bring...

I prefer to go with a balance of DEF/ARM at a ratio of 40/60. High defense is nice for taunting, but armour is what keeps you alive longer in my experience.

[StJason]

DEF is defiantly more frustrating. "Okay, with all the bonuses added in, I should be doing 300 damage with this next hit... *rolls*"
"Missed me!"

However, I know quite a few people who are frustrated by the high-armor dwarves that I run. 'Takes forever to kill those guys off!'.

Damage boosts seem more common then accuracy mods. There are a very few double-digit RATs out there, but hardly any sub-10 POWs. Damage is always higher.

[baronvonchaos]

I swing an equal mix of def-arm because I need both for use against other tactics. It's sad when you face an all arm list or all def list, because I tend to pick them apart fast.

The only thing I've had problems with is Shae's Pirate's life vs. Kharchev of equal points in jacks. Gross stuff. But really that's just a pirates life problem as there are no armor cracking infantry in the Pirates life.

Anywho. Def is superior imo, but I give no advantage to either in my lists (tailoring things to handle high def and high arm). This also keeps my meta fairly balanced between the two so no meta shifts towards either.