@Splint:
Those writeups tho. I am in awe.
Why thank you. THe next two rounds may be a bit of an eyesore though. Two rounds, 10v10. Equipment and training was "randomized" (selected arbitrarily random values to assign to skills; armor is a hodge podge of materials picked at random.)
All dwarves will receive a basic pig tail fabric uniform from previous testing.
Shields will be made of wood.
Spawn save leaders will only receive minor skill aid: 2 wrestler/dodge
ROUND ONE
Leader: Axe Lord with Steel Hatchet
x3 Speardwarves
x2 Axedwarves
x2 Glaivedwarves
x1 Swordsdwarf
x1 Macedwarf
STATS
Leader: Axe Lord15 Axe, fighter, dodge, armor, shield, discipline
Steel hatchet
Steel Breastplate
Steel Greathelm
Round Shield
Iron Hauberk, Coif, Gauntlets/Boots, Greaves
Axedwarf 13 Axe, fighter, shield,
4 Armor
2 Discipline, dodge
Bronze Hatchet
Bronze Breastplate
Iron Barbute
Copper Hauberk, gauntlets, greaves
Iron Coif, boots
heater heater shield
Axedwarf 21 fighter, axe, shield
3 armor, discipline
5 dodge
Copper battleaxe
Steel Coif
Copper Hauberk, boots, gauntlets
Iron Barbute, greaves
buckler
Glaivedwarf 1Untrained
Steel Glaive
Iron Breastplate
Steel Barbute
Copper Hauberk, Coif, Greaves
Bronze Gauntlets, Boots
Glaivedwarf 25 pike, dodge
3 discipline, armor, fighter
Bronze Glaive
Leather Armor
Bronze Kettle helm
Steel Hauberk, coif
Iron Boots, gauntlets
Copper greaves
Swordsdwarf3 sword
4 armor, shield
1 dodge, discipline
2 fighter
Iron Short Arming Sword
Bronze hauberk, coif, greaves
Copper scale armor
Copper kettle helm
Iron gauntlets/boots
heater shield
Speardwarf 1&22 fighter, shield, discipline
4 spear
1 armor, dodge
Bronze boar spear
Bronze hauberk, coif
copper greaves, gauntlets, scale armor
Iron barbute, boots
tower shield
Speardwarf 3untrained
copper spear
bronze gauntlet/boots, kettle helm
copper coif, hauberk
Iron greaves, breastplate
round shield
Macedwarf3 Mace, armor, dodge
1 discipline, fighter
2 shield
Steel flanged mace
Steel coif, hauberk
copper gauntlets, great helm
Iron boots, greaves, scale armor
heater shield
ROUND 1 RESULT: Half of the dwarven squad is killed and three of those require medical attention. The spawn however, even their badass elite wrestler, are taken out to a man... Demon... Thing. The speardwarves and one of the glaivedwarves compose the survivors along with a wounded leader who may or may not have been fatally wounded. Polearms again stand tall as most effective anti-spawn weaponry.
The leader was last to receive any serious injury and the glaive and boar spear armed dwarves carried the fight.
ROUND 2: Themed as including basic workers. As such, the miner and two of three axedwarves are untrained except for their weapon skill
x1 Pikemaster
x1 Miner
x2 Swordsdwarves
x3 Axedwarves
x2 Speardwarves
x1 Hammerdwarf
Leader: Pikemastersteel pike
iron barbute
copper gauntlets/boots
steel scale armor, coif, hauberk, greaves
Legendary Miner (legendary fighter subbed for mining)
bronze pick
Swordsdwarf 13 accross board
iron short arming sword
heater shield
full randomized copper armor
Swordsdwarf 22 fighter, discipline, armor
3 dodge, shield, sword
copper short arming sword
round shield
iron hauberk, coif, barbute
bronze gauntlet/boots
copper greaves
Axedwarves 1&22 axe
copper hatchet
Axedwarf 32 axe, fighter, shield
1 discipline, armor
4 dodge
iron battle axe
bronze greaves, gauntlets/boots
steel scale armor, barbute
copper hauberk, coif
Speardwarf 1mirror armor kit to Swordsdwarf 2
iron spear
buckler
4 spear, discipline
2 dodge, armor
1 shield, fighter
Speardwarf 22 across board
full randomized bronze armor
tower shield
steel boar spear
Hammerdwarf5 hammer
2 discipline, fighter, shield
3 dodge, armor
iron hammer
heater shield
iron hauberk, coif, greaves
copper gauntlets/boots
bronze kettle helm, breastplate
ROUND 2 RESULTS: The spawn massacred the dwarves wholesale, but despite facing a partially untrained force, are severely crippled. Only two can still walk and the rest are short multiple limbs. One spawn was killed early on by the dwarf with the boar spear (this weapon above all others seems to work the best out of every single test they've appeared in for some reason.) The difference is pretty stark from round one. Even only a bare bones type of training and full armor (even made from mismatched or poor materials,) can make all the difference from everyone being killed and some people making it out more or less unharmed and victorious. Woodcutters predictably won't have a chance of spawn jump them and miners are a wildcard since that skill isn't applicable in the arena. They may do well, they may fail absolutely miserably.
The Sergeant was last to fall predictably, and did a fair bit of the real damage. Copper armor appears to be painfully insufficient but better than nothing, while bronze worked well enough, meaning we'll need a minimum of bronze armor.
So, I will put forward that if we make degenerate spawn a thing (and why shouldn't we?) the spawn as a whole should probably be taken back towards their roots. They're already obscenely durable, feel no pain, fear, don't need to breath, and don't bleed rendering many weapon either useless (maces and hammers,) or neutered (just about everything else that wasn't a pike-skill weapon or boar spear.) Traps might work, but with the nerf they got (you need
a lot more weapon traps to get the same results from versions past from what I hear,) soldiers are still preferable to remove them as a threat quickly.
Allowing them to be susceptible to stunning and nausea like their forebears would probably make the fights much more enjoyable, less likely to scare away replacement soldiers, and less likely to always result in tantrums and rioting since the majority of tests have resulted in two or more dwarves being killed. To balance this of course there's the option to allow spawn to have trances and potentially include degenerates as a meat shield caste - that is, even the momentary distraction these mutants provide may be all a spawn warrior needs to kill a soldier.
And on the note of degenerate and ubiquitous spawn, Degenerates should be inherently messed up and weak but still very credible threats to an early fort: While they share the durability and no need to breath and lack of blood, proof as something is seriously wrong with these decrepit excuses of spawn is they are susceptible to stunning, nausea,
and brain damage along with whatever other weaknesses they may have, along with much higher striker skill to make use of thier claws (low bite skill/unable to transfer spawn fever, poor agility compared to warriors, and of course the fact they
look like genetic rejects.)