Chaos Dwarfs

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NO HAT SHALL BE GREATER THAN MINE!

In the deep past of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the Dwarfs spread far and wide across the Old World. Along the way, they reached a place they called the "Great Skull Land", after all the ancient bones (and especially skulls) scattered there. Though it was rich in minerals, most of them decided that this place was best left alone, but a few were so stubborn, even compared to their fellow Dwarfs, that they decided to live there, to prove that they could.

Unfortunately, this place was infested by Chaos. Though the Dwarfs that chose to live in the blasted wastes were hardy, even they were not immune to corruption, and they slowly changed over time. The transformation was not simple; for many long years, they only barely survived, as they abandoned or were abandoned by their own gods, but eventually they found favor with Hashut, the bull-like Father of Darkness, learning the secrets of daemon-smithing in exchange for sacrifices. While nobody would describe the Dwarfs as a friendly people, the present-day Chaos Dwarfs are tyrannical and merciless, driven by a need to subjugate all before them, while retaining their mastery of craftsmanship and industry, and backed by stubbornness. Their land is now dominated by Zharr-Naggrund, the obsidian City of Fire and Desolation, and it is from there that they send armies to conquer the land.

Like the regular Dwarfs, their armies are composed of small, elite units, backed by powerful war machines, but Chaos Dwarfs employ Hashut's sorcery where their cousins instinctively distrust magic. Chaos Dwarf machines often have daemons bound inside, and their ammunition may be charged with dark alchemy. To round out the army, Chaos Dwarfs employ legions of slaves, especially Orcs and Goblins, both as meat-shields in battle and as an expendable workforce in the mines and forges. And yet, a group of six Norscans led by a Chaos Champion can easily slaughter their way through one of their cities (Yet only because the writer of that story gave the Norscans EXBAWKSHUEG Plot Armor).

Unlike regular Dwarfs, they make use of terrible magical powers, gifts from their bull-god Hashut. However, because Dwarfs were never meant to use magic, its power slowly but inevitably turns their sorcerers to stone. At first, they regard these changes with pride, glorying in them as badges of honor celebrating their victory over the very forces of nature. As time goes by, though, they start to worry more and more about it. In-game, the rules mirror this: miscasting with a Chaos Dwarf requires a toughness check. At first, failure means gaining a permanent point of Toughness, but as time goes by the side effects stop being cool.

The Chaos Dwarves, while evil and all, are not really expansionist and have more than enough slaves as is. They make their way economically by selling weapons and armour to the Norse. They also got a Mesopotamian thing going for them.

Despite how awesome these guys are, they were ditched by GW because they weren't selling as much as vanilla Chaos, Orks or Elves were to newbie players. For ages they existed only as a dim fond memory to the veterans of the hobby; they did one new model set (the Hell Cannon and its attending Chaos Dwarf crew) but little else. Lo and behold though, Forge World has flown to the rescue. You can now buy some brilliant new Chaos Dwarf models and get the rules to use to play with them. Hopefully a full army of these will be over the horizon soon enough.

Units

The most up-to-date ruleset for Chaos Dwarves, sadly, is that found in a Forge World publication; the Chaos campaign Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos, but it's fairly extensive and has some fairly nifty units, so it can stand up on its own. Though the book itself suggests they work best when incorporated into a Warriors of Chaos army, used as part of the Chaos Great Host ruleset provided in the book, or used as allies.

Common Chaos Dwarves, surprisingly, are not the mainstay of the army, being relegated to roles as warmachine crew, even though they have stats for a champion version (the Overseer) included. They're pretty much the same as Dwarves, even sharing the Resolute and Relentless rules, but they have unique gear in the form of the Hailshot Blunderbuss and a unique rule, Contempt, which means they only take Panic tests as a result of the Breaking or destruction of Chaos Dwarf or Bull Centaur units. This may seem unusual, but since the Chaos Dwarves are explicitly only interested in slave-taking, it makes sense that the common Chaos Dwarf fights only at the side of a huge death-spitting doomsday machine.

Infernal Guard are the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Slayers, being Chaos Dwarves who have suffered dishonor and seek to atone for it. To do this, they forsake their names and identities, strap mask-helmets of bronze and iron heated red-hot over their faces, and fight for the glory of Hashut. Unlike Slayers, the Infernal Guard is not a death sentence - in theory, anyway. They aren't Frenzied fighters like Slayers, and an Infernal Guard who wins great renown has his mask formally removed and is discharged, his old shame forgotten. They go into battle sporting Blackshard Armor, a unique Chaos Dwarf-devised armor that is proof against flame, and wielding Fireglaives, which are basically repeater-rifles with axe-blades on them so the Infernal Guard can split skulls in melee as well. There are two kinds of Infernal Guard; basic ones, who make up your Chaos Dwarf Core units, and Infernal Guard Ironsworn, who use up Special slots but trade their fireglaives for magic handweapons.

Leadership, naturally, belongs to the magi of Hashut; the Daemonsmiths (Heros who use the Lores of Fire, Death or Metal) and the Sorcer-Prophets (Lords who use the Lores of Fire, Death, Metal or Hashut). Miscasts are deadly (suffer a Miscast, then make a Toughness check; failure costs you a Wound, though the first failed Miscast does give +1 Toughness for the rest of the game). These are nasty characters with a lot of special tricks and gear, including randomized unique magical weapons, naptha bombs, and granting re-rolls to your war machines.

Bull Centaurs are the fastest-moving, hardest-hitting infantry the Chaos Dwarves having, coming in the form of a Special unit choice or the Taur'ruk, a Hero character.

Naturally, the Chaos Dwarves have a variety of dread, daemon-infested warmachines that fill up the Special and Rare slots; the Magma Cannon, Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher, and Iron Daemon War Engine in Special, and the Dreadquake Mortar and Hellcannon in Rare.

Several twisted beasts are further added to the Chaos Dwarf armies; daemonic bull-things of living magma called the K'daai, burning winged daemon-bulls known as Taurus, magic-eating monsters called Lammasu, and armor-plated Giants modified for use as living seige weapons.

Finally, if all else fails, the Chaos Dwarves can pad out their ranks with expendable cannon-fodder in the form of Hobgoblin; fleet-footed wolfriders, great mobs, even conniving Khans as Hero-grade characters.