Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Legends/Chaos/Legion of Azgorh
Well, lookie here! Forge World actually remembered that people liked those Chaos Dwarfs they made all the way before they sold out for the Horus Heresy! Ain't that nice of them!
Legion of Azgorh Summary
Much like Tamurkhan's Horde, this list is also available on the new FW website. The entire army has some rather scary weapons, with a good number of the weapons getting Rending, thus making most mobs a joke to a properly-equipped squad of Chaos Dwarfs.
Legion of Azgorh Warscrolls
Named Characters
Drazhoath the Ashen: Lookie here! A named character! This guy is mounted on his Bale Taurus (Which flies and has either his horns, which give more damage but decrease as he takes damage, or his hooves, which give more attacks, but declines as he takes damage, both of which can re-roll to wound if he charged before attacking), totaling him as a flying 4+ save with 13 wounds. Any time he takes a mortal wound, he can roll a d6 which either denies it on a 5 and throws it back on the sucker who dealt it on a 6. He also has an ability to potentially cause enemies within 3" of him to spontaneously eat a Mortal Wound (Unless they're a Great Taurus. Then they're fine). He also has two other weapons - A 16"/6A/4+/4+/-/1 Projectile and a 1"/2A/4+/3+/-1/3 Melee weapon to fall back on if you took damage. In addition to all that, this stuntie's also a wizard (Who gains +1 to cast in the realm of Fire), capable of casting 2 spells, one of which could be his special spell, which has a Casting Value of 8 and causes a unit within 18" to take d6 mortal wounds, inflicting -1 Bravery if it kills someone (Which it usually will)
Shar'tor the Executioner: Initially sold during the HH Open, this counts as the second model made for AOS and it's a big Bull Centaur Tar'uk +1 Bravery/Wound. His weapons are a mean big axe with 5 attacks at -2 Rend/3 Damage that also can score another hit at a 6 on hit rolls and his slightly less-impressive 4A hooves that can go from Damage 1 to Damage 2 if he charges. He also has a once-per-game ability to give nearby (2D6") Ba'Hal units (other Bull Centaurs) re-rolls on the charge and a 1/2 chance to instantly trigger mortal wounds on enemy models (using him right you should get around 5-10 wounds with this, because you roll the dice for each MODEL, not unit, within range). His Command Ability is at least handy, as it gives a single unit within 12" a 6+ Ignore wounds/mortal wounds, which might allow your line to survive a fusillade before rushing their asses.
Heroes
- Infernal Guard Castellan: These are the guys you want stuck into the fight with 5 Wounds, 8 Bravery and a 4+ Save. Their weapons are frightening (Either a Hand Weapon with -1 Rend and d3 Damage or a Great Weapon that has -2 Rend and 3 Damage at the cost of an attack) and their armor allows a re-roll for their saves unless they get hit with -2 Rending. As a sidearm, they can either take a pistol that can inflict double damage on a Wound roll of 6 or a shield that can reflect a wound if they save it with a 6. If you feel a need to bog something big even further, he also has a Command Ability that makes all Chaos Dwarfs gain +1 to wound a single unit within 12".
- His Command Ability is more amazing than that. It's not that all Legion of Azgorh models within 12" get +1 to wound the target unit. Rather, the target unit has to be within 12" of the Castellan, and then ALL Legion of Azgorh units IN THE ARMY get +1 to wound against that unit, including the war machines! For when you absolutely, positively must delete something from the board....
- Infernal Guard Battle Standard Bearer: A Castellan who trades in a Wound and Bravery point to equip a Black Banner of Malice and armor that re-rolls a save roll of 1. Planting this makes you unable to move for the rest of your turn, but you can give anyone within 15" both +1 Bravery (Making them as tough as their non-Chaos brethren) and a re-roll 1s to wound any Order or Destruction units. Either way, he's handy, but not needed.
- Daemonsmith: The closest thing to a Wizard with a mix of engineer you'll get. For combat he has either his Darkforged Weapon (Which gives 2 attacks and 2 damage) or his PyreRune staff (Which can cause d3 wounds, but wounds on a 3+). He has a special spell, Ash Storm, which casts on a 6 and causes a target within 20" to suffer -2 to any run or shooting hits they may cause for the rest of the turn. To add on this, he also gains +1 to unbind if he kills someone, which can be facilitated by his single-use weapon which causes anything within 3" to take d3 Mortal Wounds (or d6 on a war machine). He's the guy you want if you need to distract the enemy long enough to get close enough to kill.
- Putting him on a Balewind Vortex gives the Ash Storm a 40" range.
- Alternatively, leave one or two in the backfield. All of your war machines get a very useful boost of some kind when they're near a Daemonsmith, and his abilities seem tailor-made for screwing with people who try to get close enough to your war machines to charge them.
- Bull Centaur Tar'uk: The Bull Centaur hero. He has the same melee weapons available to a Castellan (though if he takes hand weapons, he can re-roll hits of 1), but also adds to that his hooves, which inflict 4 attacks and can inflict d3 damage for each hit if they charged before attacking. His Commabnd Ability allows him and any other Bull Centaurs within 15" to charge even if they ran.
NOTE: Sayl the Faithless is not the awesome ally to Chaos Dwarfs he was once upon a time, because his "fly and move a unit" spell was (rightly) nerfed to affect only Slaves to Darkness units. So there is no point in fielding him, unless you're playing with the old Battlescrolls.
Troops
- Infernal Guard Ironsworn: Your basic Chaos Dwarf unit, their hand weapons get -1 Rending, but only get an attack and Spiteshields as well as armor that gives them a re-rollable save on a 1. Their leaders can equip pistols instead of shields and get 2 attacks with their hand weapons (Which you might just as well keep the shields as there's only one gun) and you can add Icon Bearers (which remove any penalties to Bravery caused by the enemy) and Drummers (Who can add +1 to runs). Use these guys to screen your war machines, let the enemy come to you. They are ideal to screen other units from missile fire, too, because for each 6+ Save roll the attacking unit suffers 1 wound, even outside combat, which coupled with their ability to re-roll ones can make shooting them with no-rend units pointless.
- Infernal Guard Fireglaives: The shootier dwarfs, they all grab Fireglaives, weapons that can either have 16" range and -1 Rending (which inflict double damage if they roll a 6 to-wound, so use the Castellan's Command Ability with them (and everything else in your army; see above)) or hand weapons that wound on a 5+. Considering this and that their leaders can re-roll shooting hits of 1, it's pretty clear that their job is to shoot. They could grab a hand weapon and Ashsteel hand weapon, but that's not a good move for a shooty unit. Adding to this, their leader always gets a Naptha Bomb, which can inflict d3 mortal wounds on an enemy within 6" if it hits (And it usually will; it hits on a 2+). If you take a big 10+ block, throw it at a monster so they can fire twice at it and kill it faster. Put these behind Ironsworns to tear into the enemy while they hold them off.
- Their anti monster ability sounds great, but the fireglaives weakness comes from a short range and move (20" effective range for their guns). Not only that but a 10man unit gets 20 shots at the monster, half will bit and a further half will wound, so 5 wounds at -1 rend and 1 damage means that monster will probably get 2 wounds, maybe 3 on average. If the monster gets close to you it's a bonus, but not one you should aggressively exploit.
- Razorgor Another not Chaos Dwarf. These piggies help this army a lot so should be mentioned 4w and 10" move plus they can be taken in units of one. Use a few to bog down the enemy so your Warmachines can barrage them from behind the safety of a line of Ironsworns, far from the front lines.
Monsters
Only the Giant actually has the Monster keyword
- K'daai Fireborn: If you're running against chaff, take some of these. They may only have a 5+ save, but if the enemy has no rending hits, then that save is upped to a scary 3+. Stacking onto this, anyone within 3" of one at the end of combat has to take a mortal wound because of the fire. Combat-wise, they're not bad; they only have 3 attacks, but they also get d3 damage too. They also fly and move 8", so use them like they were cavalry.
- Summon K'daai Fireborn: These beasts can be sumoned by any Chaos Dwarf wizards. The spell has a casting value of 7 and can set up 3 fireborn within 18" of the summoner but 9" of an enemy. Raise the casting value to 11 and you can now summon 6 of them.
- Bull Centaur Renders: Smaller Tar'uks that have weapons with slightly weaker power, but they can equip Spiteshields if you feel insecure. If they're within 8" of a Tar'uk, they add +1 to their charges. Great to guard your flanks and kill anything that comes too close to your war machines.
- Chaos Siege Giant: He's a giant somewhat worse. his hand weapon is slightly better than that of his average counterpart, but his second weapon is somewhat worse. In exchange, though, he has a 4+ save that can be re-rolled in shooting and that's really all that's better about him (well, it's a lot, if you think about it). If he ever topples over during the charge, he'll take a Mortal Wound and can be used as terrain as well. Same thing if he dies.
War Machines
- Iron Daemon War Machine: A mid-range engine of doom, it's main weapon is its steam cannonade, which delivers 2d6 hits at 14", all with -1 Rending. If this shot's within 6", then the hits can be re-rolled for extra devastation, which coupled with its decent melee capabilities, makes the Iron Daemon pretty good at CQC combat, too. In addition, during the Hero Phase you can goad the Daemon Engine and roll 2d6: if your result is higher then its current wounds, then you suck up d3 Mortal wounds. If it's lower, then you get to re-roll any random value you want. This means that keeping this thing alive is really important if you don't want it to blow up in your face. Lastly, because it's a steam locomotive possessed by a Daemon, it can pull with itself other Legion of Azgorh war machines, which can be pretty useful with its good (if random) Move.
- Skull Cracker War Engine: The melee war machine. It has a flurry of weapons that will absolutely hurt if they hit, with each hit offering d3 damage. If pitted against War Machines, you also re-roll wounds with its main weapons. It also has the re-roll and war-machine-hauling capabilites of the Iron Daemon Engine. Use this beauty to move around the battlefield your other war machines and be its bodyguard, then charge the enemy when it reachs your lines. Alternatively, you can use it as an uber powerful chariot, using its good (if random) Move to kill oposing cavalry/flanking units, or charge the flank of an already engaged/pounded unit to up the kill count and make half of them flee with the Battleshock of that turn.
- Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher: Ordinance power made evil (like 3 attacks, -1 Rend, d3 Damage evil). While you can move it (and even get towed by a fellow Azgorh War Engine if you start the movement phase within 3" of one), keeping it still suits it better as it has crap mobility by itself. It, as well as the other war machines, gain a +1 to its save in the shooting phase (no rule saying it has to stay still to benefit). On top of that, it can fire on any model within range even if it can't see them, and a Daemonsmith can give it a +1 to hit if he's within 3". If you slam a 10+ blob with them, you can re-roll wound rolls of 1 and any casualties you cause inflict -1 Bravery for the unit until your next Hero Phase. Keep it as far away as possible, as it has no up-close weapons available except for it's piddly crew. At first doesn't seem as awesome as the other war machines, but its cheapness (120 points), great Range and the fact that it can make up to three enemy units lose Bravery each turn (but more likely two) makes it very useful indeed.
- Magma Cannon: Another heavy weapon with mobility like the Deathshrieker. The big pull here is that it's Magma Cannon can inflict mortal wounds anyone it sees...within it's 18" range, with the ability to roll twice and pick the higher result on a mob of 10+. Taking a Daemonsmith here makes it shoot 24", which is handy. Like the Order Duardin Flame Cannon this always deals mortal wounds, so it's wonderful against elite troops or big Monsters.
- Dreadquake Mortar: More heavy trailer artillery like the Deathshrieker, now hauled by an
OgreOGOR, though both this and the crew weapons are pretty shit. Its real draw is its impressive indirect-fire mortar, which inflicts d6 damage (or 2d6 damage against a 10+ mob) and forces a unit that suffers casualties to not run for the next turn. The Daemonsmith gets a rather special synergy with this unit - He can roll a d6" if he's within 3" of the mortar: On a 1, the unit suffers d3 Mortal Wounds, and on a 4-6, it can fire twice while only suffering one mortal wound. If you need to grab some artillery, it's probably safer to grab the rockets, but this is for the guy who wants to let it all loose. Use its ability to deny Run moves and the Daemonsmith's spell judiciosly and by the time the opponent reachs your lines he'll have half the guys he started with.
Formations
- Blackshard Warhost: a Castellan and Standard Bearer grab 2 units each of Ironsworn and Fireglaives. Everyone here re-rolls for battleshock and if any unit doesn't move, they can re-roll hits of 1.
- If you can take it then there is no reason not to. Keep in mind that you get reroll 1s if you don't move in the movement phase...you can still pile in or charge and get the bonus.
- Hashut's Wrath Artillery Train: A Daemonsith grabs 2 Iron Daemon engines and grabs 2 units out of the list containing the Deathshrieker, Magma Cannon, or Dreadquake. The Iron Daemons gain +1 to run or charge, but any War Machine that doesn't move during the turn gets +1 to hit with their guns, which is just as well considering two of your units have shitty mobility.
- Pretty awesome. Keep one Iron Daemon War Engine back with your warmachines, to help get them 2d6" away if your enemy breaks your lines and gets too close. Use the other Engine to harass and screen up midfield. Use Ironsworns as a wall for your Warmachines, because a 4" movement doesnt make for an aggressive tact. The Daemonsmith should be hiding out of LoS behind your Warmachines, but close enough to both to benefit from his 3" range for making them better.