[PvK]

Yes, I'm with you on the armor-piercing weapons. I'll have to check out the balance mod.

Seems to me axes are the signature stereotypical dwarven weapon, and these dwarves are apparently expert weaponsmiths, and yet their non-magical axe weapons are inferior to plain hammers or swords. As a player, I'd probably rather recruit hatchet versions at 5 0 0 1 than axe versions at 7 -1 -1 1 (and I essentially never recruit the axe dwarves because of the hammer dwarves). Really it's just a flavor/thematic thing.

...

Especially since they are ultra-strong already simply due to their stacking double the number of figures per square in melee combat.