warhammer - chaos dwarfs
TRANSCRIPT
CHAOS DWARFS
3.18
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................3 THE DAWI'ZHARR ................................................................4
Chaos Dwarfs ...........................................................6
The Road to Ruin .....................................................8
Zhargon the Great ...................................................10
An Age of Malice ...................................................12
The Dark Lands ......................................................14
The Invention of the Dawi'Zharr ............................18
A Legacy of Cruelty ...............................................20
Timeline - Centuries of Contempt .........................24
THE INFERNAL LEGIONS .................................................26 Army Special Rules ................................................28
Sorcerer Lords ........................................................29
Overlords ................................................................30
Despots ...................................................................31
Pyrophants ..............................................................32
Daemonsmiths ........................................................33
Chaos Dwarf Warriors ............................................34
Stormcallers ............................................................35
Hobgoblin Warriors ................................................36
Slaves ......................................................................37
Immortals ................................................................38
Acolytes of Hashut ..................................................39
Petrified Sorcerers ...................................................40
Mortal Engines ........................................................41
Hellborn Constructs .................................................42
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders ...........................................43
Black Orcs ...............................................................44
Ogres .......................................................................45
Bull Centaurs ...........................................................46
THE INFERNAL LEGIONS .............................................cont. Bull Centaur Doom Harnesses ...............................47
Altars of Hashut ......................................................48
Doomcannon ..........................................................49
Infernal Engines .....................................................50
Great Tauruses ........................................................54
Lammasu ................................................................55
Palanquins ..............................................................56
Ghorth the Cruel .....................................................57
Zhatan the Black .....................................................58
Astragoth ................................................................59
Lord Bhaal ..............................................................60
Hothgar Daemonbane .............................................61
Rykarth the Unbreakable ........................................62
Volgar the Mad .......................................................63
Ghuz Slavetaker .....................................................64
Gorduz Backstabber ...............................................65
THE LORE OF HASHUT ....................................................66 DAEMONIC UPGRADES ....................................................67 CREATIONS OF THE CURSED FORGES .........................68 A CALL TO RUIN ................................................................70 CHAOS DWARFS ARMY LIST ..........................................88 Lords ......................................................................91
Heroes ....................................................................93
Core Units ..............................................................95
Special Units ..........................................................96
Rare Units ..............................................................98
AFTERWORD ......................................................................100 SUMMARY ..........................................................................101
CONTENTS
Written by: Thomas Heasman-Hunt. Cover Art: John Blake.
Art: Apricotsoup, John Blake, Forgefire, Grupax, Ishkur Cinderhat, Igorvert, Marcus Leitdorf , M3lvin, Skink. Book Design: Thomas Heasman-Hunt, based
on original work by the Games Workshop Design Studio. Figure Painters: AngryBoy2K, Arekarkadiusz, Kris Aubin, Bassman, Paul Batchelor, Adam
Benesz, Blackgonzo, John Blake, Borka, David J Clarke, Dino, Exquisite Evil, GeOrc, Ghrask Dragh, Ghost, Ross Gillespie, Grimstonefire, Hammerhand, Thomas Heasman-Hunt, Ishkur Cinderhat, JMR. johnsen0107, Kendert, Kubasa, M3lvin, Malcolm Neill, Obsidian, Skink, Snotling, Spiky James, Third Eye
Nuke, Tobias Torstensson, Vexxus, Vulcanologist, Warh. Additional Material: John Blake, Alan Bligh, Peter Michael George, Rick Priestly, Gav Thorpe.
Previous Editions: Alan Bligh, Allesio Cavatore, Rick Priestly, Jake Thornton, Grant William. Special Thanks to: aka_mythos, John Blake, ChungEssence, David J Clarke, Kevin Coleman, Cornixt, Geoff Davies, Galadorn, Peter Michael George,
George Georgiou, Grimstonefire, Mark Harter, JMR, JonJon, Karmilis, Daniel Kleeman, Servius, Slev Sleddeddan, Spartacus, Vulcanologist and everyone at
Chaos Dwarfs Online, without whom this book would not have been possible.
"Black Orcs" rules taken from Warhammer: Orcs & Goblins by Jeremy Vetock. "Ogres" rules adapted from Warhammer: Warriors of Chaos by Phil Kelly,
"Great Taurus" and "Lammasu" rules taken from Warhammer: Storm of Magic by Jeremy Vetock and Matthew Ward.
Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo, GW, Warhammer, the Warhammer logo, the Twin-Tailed Comet Device, Citadel, the Citadel Device, The
Game of Fantasy Battles, Warhammer: Chaos Dwarfs and all associated marks, logos, names, places, characters, creatures, races and race insignia, illustrations and images from the Warhammer world are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000 – 2011 variably registered in the UK and other countries
around the world. All rights reserved. 'Volgar' is © Dwarf Tales. The author is not legally affiliated with Chaos Dwarfs Online. All original artwork remains
the property of the individual illustrators and is used with permission where possible. All text is the author's original work and may not be reproduced or used without explicit permission. No challenge is intended to any of the above copyright holders. This book is a non-profit work for the purposes of entertainment
only. The author is not responsible for the distribution of this document or for earlier versions of it that may contain copyrighted or other removed materials.
All attempts have been made to ensure this version is the only one accessible to the public. This book may be printed for personal use only and should not be sold under any circumstances. Any monetary transactions involving this book or any of its content are done without the author's knowledge or consent and he
is not a beneficiary of any such breaches of copyright and intellectual property laws. If you wish to contend or discuss any of the above, or for general
feedback and clarifications on the content, please contact the author through Chaos Dwarfs Online.
www.games-workshop.com www.chaos-dwarfs.com
2
WHY COLLECT CHAOS DWARFS? Chaos Dwarfs are as vile and black hearted a race as any in
the Warhammer world. No other army holds the rest of the
world in quite the same contempt, and so Chaos Dwarfs will
appeal to anyone who likes to play a true villain. There is
almost nothing admirable about the evil Chaos Dwarfs – their
society is built on misery and cruelty, kept afloat only by the
slavery of thousands of innocents.
A Chaos Dwarf army is unlike any other in Warhammer. Not
only do they possess huge blocks of elite infantry in the form
of Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Stormcallers and Immortals, but
also more unusual troop types like Bull Centaurs and
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders. But the real strength of the Chaos
Dwarfs lies in their mastery of the arcane, for they have a
variety of war machines and monstrous daemonic
constructions that they can unleash on their unfortunate
victims.
HOW THIS BOOK WORKS Warhammer Armies books are split into sections, each of
which deals with a different aspect of the army. Warhammer:
Chaos Dwarfs contains:
The Dawi'Zharr. This section describes the history of the
Chaos Dwarfs – their twisted society, the blasted hellscape
of the Dark Lands in which they make their home, their
most notorious leaders and the cataclysmic wars they have
fought.
The Infernal Legions. Each and every unit type in the
army is examined here, with a full description of each
entry, alongside its complete rules. This section also
contains the unique magical artefacts available to Chaos
Dwarfs and the powerful Lore of Hashut.
A Call To Ruin. Here you will see photographs of the
range of miniatures available for the Chaos Dwarfs army,
gloriously painted and converted by passionate gamers
from across the world.
Chaos Dwarfs Army List. The army list takes all of the
troop types, war machines and infamous Dawi'Zharr
individuals presented in the previous section and arranges
them so you can choose an army for your games. Units are
classed as either Characters (Lords or Heroes), Core,
Special or Rare, and can be taken in different quantities
depending on the size of game you are playing.
FIND OUT MORE While Warhammer: Chaos Dwarfs contains everything you
need to take your Chaos Dwarfs army to the field of battle
and play a game, there are always more tactics to use,
different battles to fight and painting ideas to try out. The
quarterly magazine Word of Hashut contains articles about all
aspects of the Warhammer game and hobby and you can find
out more at Chaos Dwarfs Online:
www.chaos-dwarfs.com
INTRODUCTION In their citadels of black obsidian, the cruel and industrious Chaos Dwarfs plot the enslavement and
destruction of every other civilised race. With fire, iron and the most demented and inventive
imaginations in the world, they are truly a force to be reckoned with. This book provides all the
information you need to play a Chaos Dwarfs army in a game of Warhammer.
3
THE DAWI'ZHARR
A pall of acrid smoke hangs
over the bleak realm of the
Dark Lands where, in the
depths of the ruinous Plain of
Zharr, far from the
knowledge of Men, the Chaos
Dwarfs make their home.
Phalanxes of soldiers clad in
black iron march shoulder to
shoulder with hulking Bull
Centaurs, masses of cowed
and defeated Slaves and,
behind them all, the
brooding might of terrifying,
half-sentient Daemon-
machines.
For centuries they have been
content to wait out the ages,
but these are the End Times
and as the Realm of Chaos
waxes strong and vomits
forth its fell legions, the
Blacksmiths of Chaos have
come to make war. Ruin and
hatred is their birthright
and, holding all other
creatures in contempt, they
will not baulk at reducing the
entire world to desolation
and slavery.
The Chaos Dwarfs are a cruel and industrious people. Like
their kin in the Worlds Edge Mountains, they respect age,
wealth and invention. But unlike them, they are a bitter and
twisted race, their values a mockery of the respect that
Dwarfs have for ancestry and artifice. Their history is a
holocaust of suffering and destruction, and it has warped them
into a vile and demented society, paradoxically obsessed with
both order and anarchy.
Once, the Chaos Dwarfs were just like their cousins who
make their homes in the Worlds Edge Mountains, and the two
peoples share much in common despite their ancient
sundering. Both respect wealth, age and prowess in battle, and
both lust for the mineral wealth of the earth. Both races are
masters of cunning artifice and engineering, producing
machines that seem wondrous to less skilled peoples, such as
Men and Orcs. However, this is where the similarity ends, for
the Chaos Dwarfs are a dark and twisted parody of their
western kin: their sense of honour and racial pride is warped
into slavish devotion to their society and their evil god
Hashut, their craftsmanship is turned to the construction of
engines bound with the souls of Daemons and their strength
and martial prowess is used to enslave anyone who dares to
cross the lands they claim as their own. The Chaos Dwarfs –
or Dawi'Zharr as they call themselves, meaning ‘Dwarfs of
Fire' – are utterly evil, and despise all other living things. It is
fortunate for the rest of the Warhammer world that they live
in the Dark Lands, surrounded on all sides by desolate wastes
and towering mountain ranges, and their desire to conquer
and subjugate all other races is mediated by the presence of
vast mineral wealth in their own lands.
LIMITLESS GREED For all their ambition, Chaos Dwarfs are remarkably short-
sighted and rarely stop to consider the long-term implications
of their plans. Their rulers, the conclave of Sorcerer Lords
who watch over the realms of the Dawi'Zharr from the
Temple of Hashut, are afflicted by a terrible curse that slowly
transforms their flesh to stone so that they live relatively short
lives – though the span of their years still eclipses that of
short-lived peoples like Men, Goblins and Skaven. Because
the Sorcerer Lords know they are doomed to die a horrible
death, transformed into lifeless statues, they ensure they
spread as much chaos and destruction as they can during their
lives, caring nothing for the generations that follow.
To this end, the twisted industry of the Chaos Dwarfs has
reduced their vast empire to a barren wasteland of smoking
slag pits, lakes of thick tar and mountains of smoking coal
and reeking refuse. Each Sorcerer Lord has an entire Legion
of warriors, engineers and craftsmen at his command, as well
as lesser Sorcerers like the Pyrophants who aid his rituals and
the Daemonsmiths who bend their warped talents to the
creation of tainted artefacts, and the labour of all these
unthinkingly loyal servants is spent on furthering whatever
maniacal aims their master may have dreamt up. All Sorcerer
Lords are at least slightly insane, not only from the horrifying
effects of the Sorcerers' Curse, but also from exposure to the
dark magic of Hashut, which is centred around the
summoning of Daemons and other fearsome spirits of the
Realm of Chaos. Even those who have managed to escape
relatively unscathed are rendered dangerously unstable thanks
to good, old-fashioned megalomania.
INFINITE CONTEMPT All Dwarfs believe themselves to be better than other
creatures. They are, they reason, simply tougher, stronger,
braver, cleverer and more lavishly bearded than any other
race, and so their innate superiority is simply undeniable. In
the evil Chaos Dwarfs, however, this understanding has been
truly perverted into outright xenophobia. Such is the power of
the Chaos Dwarfs in their own lands, that they consider all
other creatures to be completely expendable. As there is no
shortage of greenskins and other miserable folk in the
desolate Dark Lands, the Chaos Dwarfs have an almost
inexhaustible supply of captives whom they work to death as
slaves in their mines, quarries and factories, as well as using
them in battle.
Chaos Dwarfs will enslave anyone or anything that is
unfortunate enough to fall into their clutches. Ogres from the
Mountains of Mourn labour beside Men of the Old World and
Cathay and Skaven, Orcs and stranger creatures from far off
lands. The Chaos Dwarfs range far, fighting in their great
Legions on land and at sea, but almost always with the aim of
taking more slaves to be dragged back to the Dark Lands in
chains, to end their days choking in the sulphurous air of the
Plain of Zharr. The Chaos Dwarfs are not too proud to trade
with some of their neighbours, and produce many of the
weapons, armour and engines of destruction used by the other
mortal servants of the Dark Gods. But a bargain with the
Chaos Dwarfs is never undertaken lightly, for they may turn
on a supposed ally as soon as it is more profitable to do so,
and they always keep the secrets of their arcane engineering
to themselves, lest their own weapons be used against them in
turn.
A GOD OF DARK FIRE The Chaos Dwarfs worship but one Chaos God, and he is
known as Hashut, the Father of Darkness. What his origin and
his relationship to the pantheon of Chaos may be is known to
none but the oldest and most powerful Sorcerer Lords, and
they guard such secrets with their lives. What can be surmised
is that Hashut is a terrible god of fire and destruction. He
appears to his followers in the form of a mighty bull,
wreathed in flame and shadow, surrounded by roiling clouds
of smoke and ash. His breath is thunder and his eyes glow
with a furious malice.
Hashut does not take an interest in his servants like the other
Chaos Gods, and it instead falls to his priests, the Sorcerer
Lords, to interpret his will as they see fit. To their ancestors,
Hashut taught the secrets of his magic, and his foul
incantations are still practiced to this day. Chaos Dwarfs do
not wield magic in the manner of Elves and Men,
manipulating the raw force of the Winds of Magic, but
instead use complex rituals to summon and bind Daemons
and fire spirits known as K'daai to their will. With such
entities at their command, Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers can blast
their enemies with spectral flames, or cause the ground to
erupt in a storm of molten rock. Alternatively, the
Daemonsmiths may instead bind their infernal captives into
machines or weapons, creating artefacts of terrible destructive
power, or use their darkly won knowledge of metallurgy to
melt and control solid iron or steel. Only in the mighty
Sorcerer Lords are these two branches of Daemonic mastery
brought together to produce the awesome Lore of Hashut.
CHAOS DWARFS
6
The origin of the Chaos Dwarfs lies in the same place as their
Western kin, for once they were a single people. The Dwarfs
rose in the Southlands when the Old Ones still walked the
world, and slowly migrated north along the Worlds Edge
Mountains, becoming a hardy people with a great love of
mining and craft. In these early times the Dwarfs were guided
to their eventual homelands by the Ancestor Gods, and they
were guided well for it took only a relatively short time for
them to conquer the mountain lands and found holds below
the peaks. The Dwarfs fought against the Orc and Goblin
tribes that infested the caverns and they became the mortal
enemies of these creatures, but they never posed a serious
threat to the intelligent and powerful Dwarfs in those days.
For the Dwarfs, this would always be remembered as a
golden age, a time of unsurpassed glory and wealth, before
the terrible and destructive wars of later ages.
Though the Dwarfs had travelled far and fought hard for their
new homelands, there were still those among them who were
not satisfied. These brave – some would say foolhardy –
individuals argued that the Ancestor Gods had led them this
far, yes, but why stop here? They broke from their kin and
journeyed north, passing beyond the Worlds Edge Mountains
and onto a vast and desolate northern plateau. This land was
barren and cold, lashed by bitter winds that prevented
anything but sickly, stunted thorns from growing. The bones
of primordial monsters that littered this region caused the
Dwarf explorers to name it ‘Zorn Uzkul' – the Great Skull
Land. The explorers kept in contact with their kin in the
Worlds Edge Mountains all this time, but years began to pass
as they crossed Zorn Uzkul, surviving as best they could, and
eventually it became impractical to send messengers so far.
The explorers began to build their own settlements, making
the best they could of the poor land, but it was a meagre and
hard existence, and they became an increasingly tough and
embittered people. But all this hardship was as nothing
compared to what would follow.
THE COMING OF CHAOS Unbeknownst to the lesser races, the polar gates of the Old
Ones were about to collapse, enshrouding the world in the
tides of Chaos. No one knows what caused this cataclysm, but
it altered the Warhammer world completely, forever polluting
it with the unnatural taint of Chaos. This was the darkest time
any of the young races had ever experienced as the winds of
pure magic engulfed their lands and they were assailed by the
monstrous Daemons of the Chaos Gods. Many creatures were
mutated and warped by the power of Chaos, and it was during
this time that many strange beasts such as Chimera, Griffons,
Beastmen and Skaven were created.
The Dwarfs proved resistant to the taint of Chaos and
remained secure in their mountain fastnesses, waiting out the
storm of magical energy. However the Dwarfs of Zorn Uzkul
were not so fortunate: exposed on the great plateau, they had
nowhere to hide from the warping tides, and Chaos began to
visit terrible changes on them. The unfortunate Dwarfs were
mutated, slowly at first, but then more and more, until fully a
tenth of their number sported some example of the curse of
Chaos. Some of the Dwarfs even turned to worship of the
Chaos Gods themselves and migrated further north to join the
growing hordes of the Dark Gods. Most of the Dwarfs of
Zorn Uzkul simply tried to survive.
Abandoned by the Ancestor Gods, whose voices were
silenced by the tides of Chaos, they called out for salvation,
praying for some deity or hero to save them from the
mutations and the daemonic attacks.
THE FATHER OF DARKNESS Their call was answered. What Man, Dwarf or Elf can say
who Hashut truly is? Tales abound in ancient tomes; some say
he was once a Bloodthirster of Khorne who rebelled against
his master, and grew in power in his prison below the earth,
mastering fire and rock. Others say that he is the spirit of a
mighty volcano, given life by the power of Chaos; perhaps
brother to the Fire Mouth worshipped by some Ogre tribes, or
even the very same entity. Others claim he fell to earth in the
heart of a huge meteorite – the very same that created the
Plain of Zharr – and that he is some disgraced and jealous
Chaos God who once haunted the black orb of Morrslieb.
The truth will most likely never be known, all that is certain is
that, in their time of need, Hashut came to the Dwarfs of Zorn
Uzkul and offered them an alternative to death and suffering.
Hashut is a god of fire and darkness, and he came to the
Dwarfs in the form of a mighty bull whose hooves sparked
thunder: at first they were terrified of this Daemon-lord, but
his promises were their only hope of salvation. No one knows
the true nature of that terrible bargain, and what the Dwarf
explorers had to sacrifice in the name of their new god, but
when the Time of Chaos ended they were changed forever:
their mutations had stabilised, but they still bore the taint of
Chaos on their bodies.
Many of the Dwarfs bore long, snarling tusks, and their
overall complexion and demeanour was more dark and
glowering. Their beards, previously lustrous and brightly
coloured, were now bristling and black. Some of their number
sported small vestigial horns, or even hooves, and some were
mutated even to the point of becoming a new kind of creature:
the monstrous Bull Centaurs, who had the upper bodies of the
Dwarfs they had once been, but the lower bodies of fearsome,
red-skinned bulls. The explorers were Dwarfs no longer: they
had become the twisted servants of Hashut and named
themselves ‘Dawi'Zharr' – the Dwarfs of Fire. To the rest of
the world, however, they would become known simply as the
Chaos Dwarfs.
Hashut told the Chaos Dwarfs that he would lead them to a
promised land of great riches that was just beyond Zorn
Uzkul. Speaking through his envoys – Chaos
Dwarfs with whom he imbued some of his dark power – he
led his people on a second exodus through the desolate lands
to the Falls of Doom in the foothills of the Mountains of
Mourn. There, they followed the River Ruin south until they
came to a vast crater that had been created in some primordial
impact thousands of years ago. The crater was rich in
minerals, gems, oil and other things the Chaos Dwarfs needed
to survive in the harsh lands and the only inhabitants were
Orcs, Gnoblars, Goblins and a sub-race of greenskins that
would come to be called Hobgoblins. These creatures were
primitive and savage, and were unable to make use of the
mineral wealth of the crater, so the Chaos Dwarfs had no
compunction about driving off or killing them all. In time,
they spread across the area, which they named the Plain of
Zharr, or 'Zharrduk'. The Chaos Dwarfs had abandoned all
THE ROAD TO RUIN
8
their old ways, just as they felt the Ancestor Gods had
abandoned them, and cast aside their runic heirlooms. In
giving themselves over to Hashut, they had given up their
ancestral magic, but gained something powerful in return:
sorcerers of their own. The envoys of Hashut were able to use
the magic of their god, whom they now called the Father of
Darkness, to summon magical creatures from the Realm of
Chaos, and a certain percentage of the Chaos Dwarfs who
were born each generation had the same powers. These
individuals quickly became a separate group in the fledgling
Dawi'Zharr society, held apart from the rest and keeping their
own counsel. They lived in their own walled communities and
emerged only rarely to offer advice to the Chaos Dwarf
Overlords who were beginning to grow in strength.
This period, beginning some three thousand years before the
birth of Sigmar, was known as the First Kingdom. The Chaos
Dwarfs were ruled over by the powerful Overlords who
commanded armies of their own kinsmen known as Legions.
Amongst these kin were also numbered the dreaded Bull
Centaurs, who were still being born to ordinary Chaos Dwarfs
at the time: they formed their own units of shock cavalry, and
revolutionised the way Chaos Dwarfs made war. Unlike their
western kin, they did not rely on stalwart defence, but
developed a style of warfare that relied on charges by the Bull
Centaurs using arcane engines known as Doom Harnesses.
Ranging across the Dark Lands, the Chaos Dwarfs began to
subjugate and massacre the greenskin tribes, sacrificing large
numbers of them to Hashut.
For four hundred years, the First Kingdom was unopposed,
but eventually a coalition of greenskin tribes joined together
and defeated the Grand Army of Lord Khrazathk in the
Howling Wastes and drove them back to the Plain of Zharr.
Emboldened by this victory, the greenskins started to fight
back against the Chaos Dwarfs and eventually forced them
out of the Dark Lands, but stopped short of advancing into the
Plain of Zharr, which was now choked with fumes and
pollution from the furnaces of the Chaos Dwarfs.
THE RISE OF THE SORCERER LORDS The power of the Overlords was finally shattered, and the
Sorcerers of Hashut emerged from their isolation to usher in
the next period in Chaos Dwarf history. The Sorcerers were
the Priests of Hashut, and promised to lead the Chaos Dwarfs
to glorious victory. They told the Legions that the Dawi'Zharr
were not destined to rampage across the land like the hordes
of the north, but instead must organise themselves so they
might become a force to be reckoned with. They began to
reconstruct Chaos Dwarf society with themselves at the top,
each taking command of one Legion, all housed in a great city
which they built with their sorcery from black obsidian. So
began the Second Kingdom period.
The mighty tower of Zharr-Naggrund was large enough to
house all the Chaos Dwarfs, but the Sorcerer Lords demanded
more, and all the labours of the Dawi'Zharr were bent to
constructing the vast edifice. They strip mined the Plain of
Zharr, turning the ground into slag and building thousands of
acres of workshops and factories. When the demand for
labour outstripped what the Chaos Dwarfs themselves were
capable of, they began enslaving the tribes of Orcs and
Goblins. This time they expanded their sphere of influence
steadily so that the fractious greenskins could never unite
against them again. The furnaces of the Dawi'Zharr burned
bright with the fires of industry and the city of Zharr-
Naggrund grew larger every day.
By this period, the so-called Sorcerers' Curse was already
well documented. The magic of Hashut wrought terrible
changes on its practitioners, gradually subverting their Dwarf
nature and transforming them into solid stone. This limited
the lifespan of the Priests and meant that no single Sorcerer
Lord was ever capable of wielding too much power –
invariably, they would turn into stone and their own followers
would outlive them, so the Priests were forced to cooperate
with one another to run Chaos Dwarf society. All this
changed with the birth of the mightiest Sorcerer Lord of all:
Zhargon.
9
Fully nine hundred years before the birth of Sigmar, a
Sorcerer of rare power entered the Priesthood of Hashut. His
name was Zhargon, and he swiftly outstripped his masters in
knowledge of the rites of the Father of Darkness and magical
potential. Within a century, Zhargon was ordained as the
High Priest of Hashut and began introducing sweeping
reforms to Chaos Dwarf society. Inspired by the ziggurat
shape of Zharr-Naggrund, he codified the system of Castes
that restricted certain professions to certain layers of the city.
Highest were the Priests, who lived in the Temple of Hashut
atop the city and they were served by the Bull Centaurs, who
had now begun to breed true, becoming an entirely separate
sub-race of the Dawi'Zharr. The warriors lived in the level
below, followed by smiths, masons and other craftsmen, then
finally the labourers. The numerous greenskin slaves
occupied the very lowest levels of all. Under Zhargon's
direction many fortresses were built along the River Ruin and
the Dark Lands were utterly subjugated by the Chaos Dwarfs.
To celebrate this conquest, the Gates of Zharr were built as a
demonstration of power: alone in the most desolate part of the
region, serving no purpose and hundreds of miles from any
other Chaos Dwarf enclave.
Zhargon was obsessed with one thing. He knew that all his
labours would come to nothing in a few hundred years when
his body was transformed into stone. With this in mind, and
the Second Kingdom at the height of its power, Zhargon
locked himself away in his inner sanctum and began
researching methods to stave off the Sorcerers' Curse. The
realm of the Chaos Dwarfs continued to expand, and untold
millions of slaves were brought to the Plain of Zharr. The
Chaos Dwarfs began trading with the Goblin tribes in the
foothills of the Worlds Edge Mountains and, through such
means, first came into contact with their estranged kin at first
as prisoners which they took into slavery and then in small
groups ranging from their strongholds. These early meetings
were not civil, for the western Dwarfs immediately identified
their cousins as corrupted by Chaos and the Dawi'Zharr still
remembered their ancient abandonment by the Ancestor
Gods. The two races would always despise one other, and
attack each other on sight in every future encounter.
THE GHOUL KING In the far south of the Dark Lands, a new threat arose. The
degenerate Crypt Ghoul tribes lurking below Cripple Peak,
the descendants of the ancient tomb-scavenging servants of
Nagash, united for the first time under Vorag Bloodytooth,
one of the cursed scions of Lhamia who had fled the defeat of
Nagash, the great Necromancer, a millennium before. Adrift
and alone in the desolate southern Dark Lands, Vorag had
degenerated into a foul, bestial monster, the first of the Ghoul
Kings. Vorag and his vile followers made war on the Goblin
tribes of the Worlds Edge Mountains, and several bands of
Chaos Dwarf slavers also became involved in the conflict.
Vorag was victorious in his wars, and enslaved the Goblin
and Chaos Dwarf survivors, forcing them to build the Fortress
of Vorag in the Plain of Bones. The Chaos Dwarfs called
upon Zhargon to avenge this affront and, though he had not
been seen outside the Temple in over a century, he emerged
from his isolation. Most had assumed he had succumbed to
the Sorcerers' Curse, but he showed no sign at all of
petrification. He was encased in a suit of golden Chaos
armour and it was clear he had used some enchantment to
preserve himself and now led the combined Legions of the
Chaos Dwarfs atop a huge golden altar carried by dozens of
slaves. Zhargon also went to war accompanied by a
bodyguard of elite veterans he called the Immortals – perhaps
showing the depth of his obsession with prolonging his life.
The greatest army of Chaos Dwarfs ever assembled marched
across the Dark Lands, led by Zhargon on his golden altar.
The great volcano Azgorh was especially active that season
and shrouded the host in roiling clouds of black ash, which
Zhargon called a sign of Hashut's favour. However, Zhargon
had underestimated Vorag: never before had the Dawi'Zharr
encountered the undead and their mighty Vampire lords.
Repelled by vortices of dark magic and skies filled with
screeching, skeletal beasts brought into an unholy facsimile of
life from the raw material of the Plain of Bones, Zhargon's
mighty army was decimated and forced to retreat to the Plain
of Zharr. Only when Vorag was slain by a random shot from
a Goblin bolt thrower during the siege of Mount Grey Hag
would his dominion finally be ended.
THE FALL OF THE SECOND KINGDOM The Chaos Dwarfs were embarrassed by their crushing defeat,
and blamed the arrogance of Zhargon. He was forced to put
down rebellions using increasing force, and began to rule
Zharr-Naggrund with an iron grip. He suppressed the
advances of Chaos Dwarf technology, strangling progress and
stagnating his society. Eventually this policy became too
much for even the Sorcerers to take: the Dawi'Zharr had
become the dominant force in the Dark Lands thanks to their
superior weaponry and magic, and the Chaos Dwarfs rebelled
en masse, beginning a devastating civil war.
ZHARGON THE GREAT
10
At this time, Zhargon was pursuing rumours about a prophecy
regarding the Everchosen of Chaos, a champion of great
power who would lead the hordes of the north in open war
against the rest of the world. Zhargon hoped to become the
Everchosen himself, but he would need to stave off the
Sorcerer's Curse for several more centuries in order to fulfil
the conditions of the prophecy. The rebellion of his subjects
infuriated him – he required absolute loyalty and unity in
order to bring his plans to fruition. As the battle raged
throughout Zharr-Naggrund, Zhargon hid himself in his
chambers again and prepared a great enchantment that would
turn the tide of battle in his favour.
The Chaos Dwarf rebellion was, ironically, led by the
Immortals, who had suffered the greatest in the ill-conceived
war against Vorag, but had received little sympathy from
Zhargon who blamed them for the defeat. The Bull Centaurs,
on the other hand, remained loyal to Zhargon and defended
the Temple of Hashut with their lives. In the final battle, the
Immortals fought the Bull Centaurs at the golden gates of the
Temple and finally broke through at the cost of many lives.
To this day there is still a fierce rivalry between the two
groups of elite warriors.
Lord Khal Drakaz, the leader of the Immortals, led the charge
into the Temple wielding the magical Hammer of Zharr, but
Zhargon was ready for him. The High Priest emerged from
his inner sanctum and faced down his former lieutenant.
Drakaz made to strike off Zhargon's head, but the mighty
daemonic incantation that Zhargon had prepared was
unleashed at that moment. What that terrible enchantment
might have done can never be known, though Drakaz was
vaporised instantly by its power. However, any further effect
was prevented as the spell backfired and caused Zhargon to
lose control of the wards that protected him. In one horrifying
instant, the ravages of time took their toll on Zhargon and he
was transformed into stone, which then crumbled into a dry
pile of lifeless dust. Zhargon's reign of terror had ended, but
the Second Kingdom was in ruins, and the Dawi'Zharr would
take many years to recover from the effects of the civil war.
ZHARGON'S LEGACY After Zhargon's death, Chaos Dwarf society was in turmoil.
Zharr-Naggrund itself was heavily damaged, with fires raging
on every street and fully half of the population killed. The
Sorcerer Lords began to coordinate the repairs as soon as
possible, and the Bull Centaurs, despite being on the losing
side, put themselves at the Temple's disposal once again: their
first loyalty had always been to Hashut, after all. In order to
repair Zharr-Naggrund, the Sorcerer Lords ordered the
acquisition of tens of thousands of slaves and bands of Chaos
Dwarf warriors scoured the Dark Lands for captives. Though
there were already numerous slaves working in the mines,
forges and workshops of the Plain of Zharr, from this point
onwards the Chaos Dwarfs themselves were outnumbered by
their slaves and their society became completely dependent
on them. Within fifty years, Zharr-Naggrund had begun to be
restored to its former glory and the Dawi'Zharr were
ascendant once again.
Zhargon's legacy was to convince the Sorcerer Lords that no
one of them should ever rule Zharr-Naggrund unopposed
again, and they began to govern as a Conclave, each with
their own followers and Legions drawn from their own kin.
These ties of blood and honour meant that Chaos Dwarf
society became divided into many disparate realms known as
Clans, each of which occupied different areas of the city, but
they were nonetheless unified by the same broad aims: the
maintenance and construction of Zharr-Naggrund, and the
empowerment of their twisted race. Though Zhargon had
made many mistakes, most of his reforms were kept in place,
most notably the strict Caste system. Even now, Chaos Dwarf
society is divided both vertically down the terraces of Zharr-
Naggrund and radially by the dominions of the Sorcerer
Lords. The Bull Centaurs continued to guard the Temple of
Hashut, serving at the command of the Priesthood, while the
Immortals remained an independent unit, deployable only by
a majority vote of the Conclave, made up of veteran warriors
and serving for a strictly defined period of seven years before
returning to their previous masters.
CHAOS
CHAOS DWARFS DO NOT USE THAT NAME
AMONGST THEMSELVES, BUT INSTEAD
REFER TO THEIR PEOPLE AS THE
DAWI'ZHARR. OTHER RACES ASSOCIATE
THEM WITH CHAOS BECAUSE OF THEIR
OBVIOUS MUTATION AND CORRUPTION AND
BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMMON CAUSE WITH
THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE DARK GODS. THE
CHAOS DWARFS ARE WELL AWARE THAT
HASHUT IS PART OF THE PANTHEON OF
CHAOS THOUGH, AND THAT IS WHY THEY USE
SOME OF THE ICONOGRAPHY OF CHAOS. THE
CHAOS DWARFS BELIEVE THAT HASHUT IS
MORE POWERFUL THAN THE OTHER GODS,
AND HOLD THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE
SUPPOSED LESSER DEITIES IN CONTEMPT.
THIS IS WHY THEY ARE SO WILLING TO USE
CHAOS FOR THEIR OWN ENDS, TREATING
DAEMONS AND MAGIC AS ANOTHER
RESOURCE TO BE RUTHLESSLY EXPLOITED.
11
Freed from the oppressive traditionalism of Zhargon's rule,
the Chaos Dwarfs began to research technological
advancements. They blended their skills as craftsmen with the
dark magic of Hashut and created Daemon-engines of
terrifying power. Their increasing reliance on slaves also led
them to research magically-aided breeding programs so they
could create an improved variety of slave that didn't squabble
in the manner of other greenskins. The results of these
experiments were the Black Orcs, a new race of Orc that was
hardier, stronger and less prone to infighting. Unfortunately
for the Chaos Dwarfs, the Black Orcs rose to their natural
position of leaders over the other greenskins and their ability
to plan and coordinate their brethren led to the largest Orc and
Goblin rebellion ever seen.
THE BLACK ORC REBELLION While there had been other slave uprisings in the pits before,
they had always proved easy to quash, and the fractious
greenskins were incapable of maintaining their momentum
after the initial breakout – denied their banners, warlords and
shamans, they were unable to harness their intrinsic Waaagh!
energy that made them such a force to be reckoned with
elsewhere. Under the command of the intelligent and
resourceful Black Orcs, however, it was a different story. So
powerful and oddly charismatic were these brutes that other
Orcs instinctively obeyed them, putting aside their infighting
and taking up arms en masse. Even the cowardly Goblins
were swept up in the excitement and soon thousands upon
thousands of slaves were rising up together, both literally and
figuratively, advancing up the levels of Zharr-Naggrund battle
by bloody battle, slaughtering Chaos Dwarfs and liberating
other greenskins as they went.
A second civil war engulfed Zharr-Naggrund not two-
hundred years after the end of the first one, and it seemed that
the Chaos Dwarfs would be exterminated as they fought
further and further up through the layers of the city. Finally,
salvation came from an unlikely source: the Hobgoblins, who
were intelligent enough to see that the Chaos Dwarfs could
potentially reward them in a way that the brutal Black Orcs
would not, switched sides and helped to defeat the other
greenskins.
The rebellion was ended and the Hobgoblins were indeed
rewarded by their masters; though they remained slaves, they
were no longer required to work in the mines and forges, and
instead served in Chaos Dwarf armies as warriors and as
overseers for the other slaves. The Black Orcs were driven
from the city and out into the Dark Lands. Chaos Dwarfs no
longer use Black Orcs as slaves, but they did leave several
tribes roaming the nearby lands so that they could recruit
them into their armies in the future. Groups of Black Orcs are
still found in the warbands of their creators, though they are
rarely slaves, but instead mercenaries bought with the
promise of loot and pillage.
EXPANSION AND SUBJAGATION The Chaos Dwarfs were even less numerous after the
rebellion, and so the lust for slaves to work in the forges and
pits became even greater. The Chaos Dwarfs expanded their
influence, mining deposits far to the south at Gorgoth and
building a great fortified complex there. They also established
the Black Fortress near the Flayed Rock to watch over the
Desolation of Azgorh and a fell citadel at Daemon's Stump.
They quarried stone from Gash Kadrak, the Vale of Woe, and
recruited the vile Sneaky Gitz tribe of Hobgoblins into their
armies. Increasingly, the Chaos Dwarfs became the masters of
industry, and built massive engines of war as well as huge
ships that began to ply the River Ruin. They excavated a great
tunnel beneath Zorn Uzkul – a labour that took almost a
century and claimed the lives of millions of slaves – and built
Uzkulak on the coast of the Sea of Chaos. This gave their
fleet an exit to the north, so that they could plunder even
further. They also began to trade with the Ogres in the
Mountains of Mourn, and established ties with many tribes.
Now, the Chaos Dwarfs only care about acquiring more
slaves so that they can mine more mineral wealth from their
lands. The Chaos Dwarfs are outnumbered many times over
by their captives, but the Hobgoblins are loyal to them and
keep the other slaves in line. By this method, the two races
have evolved a symbiotic relationship, as they are both
dependent on each other to survive. The disparate nature of
Chaos Dwarf society means that they never unite in wars of
conquest as they did in the past and each Sorcerer Lord plots
against the others in hopes of increasing his influence. Chaos
Dwarf society has become a self-sustaining nightmare of
consumption, greed and service to the all-powerful state.
Individual Chaos Dwarfs are not expected to have their own
ambitions outside of what is proper for their Caste, and they
are bound by blood and unbreakable tradition to their
Sorcerer Lord masters. Only the Warrior Caste has hope of
wielding true influence by securing promotion through feats
of arms and demonstrations of unswerving loyalty to their
masters. Because of this, the Dawi'Zharr are deadly on the
battlefield, fighting with merciless hate, unleashing years of
repressed fury. They also have to constantly make war
because of the slaves required by their industry; without
slaves, the Chaos Dwarfs' empire would grind to a halt, and
so the cycle of violence, captivity and cruelty continues with
no end in sight, save for the distant time when the resources
of the Plain of Zharr are at last exhausted. Then, perhaps, the
world will tremble as the Chaos Dwarfs surge out of the Dark
Lands searching for wealth and slaves.
A NEW POWER In recent centuries, the most powerful Sorcerer Lord has
become Ghorth the Cruel, whose increasing influence has
begun to alarm the other Sorcerers. He has placed his own
loyal servant, Zhatan the Black, in command of the
Immortals, and so now wields power almost on a par with
Zhargon millennia ago. He has already begun to subtly
influence the outside world, increasing his people's trade with
the Warriors of Chaos, in particular providing Archaon the
Everchosen with batteries of fearsome Daemon-cannons with
which to invade the Empire of Men. The influence of the
Chaos Dwarfs is greater than ever, but they are too divided to
threaten the Old World yet. Ghorth may have greater vision
even than Zhargon before him, and perhaps perceives the
eventual end of the Chaos Dwarf way of life. Those who
know of such things may suspect that he is laying the
groundwork for an expansion that will prevent his society
imploding when they finally finishing ravaging their
homeland. If so, he is more dangerous than Zhargon ever was,
for his ambition will bury the entire world under foul
mountains of ash and slag.
AN AGE OF MALICE
12
The wind howled across the bleak, featureless expanse of wasteland. From horizon to horizon there was nothing but barren steppe, relieved only by the occasional patch of scrubland. For the men of Captain Grüber's expeditionary force, this was surely the end of the line. Their supplies were almost exhausted, their horses near death and they had become hopelessly lost several days
ago. Here in the Dark Lands, there was no way to gauge the passage of time, no landmarks to help them navigate out of the wastes. This foolish adventure had ended in disaster.
All Grüber had been searching for was a passage to the east that avoided the heavy levies the masters of Pigbarter extracted, but what he would find was a slow death from exhaustion or
starvation beneath the leaden, polluted skies.
But worse was to come.
Sergeant Heldvelk was the first to hear the distant sound of drums. Captain Grüber was quick to form up his ragged line, presenting whatever enemy came out of the wastes with a wall of halberds. The brave men of The Empire, alone and far from home, prepared to die bravely
against this new terror.
But this new horror did not come to take their lives. It came to take them, for nothing happens in the Dark Lands that goes unnoticed by its masters. A dark smudge on the horizon soon
resolved itself into rank upon rank of black-armoured warriors. They marched in silence save for the rhythmic beating of the drums marking their steady progress. Grüber's men steeled
themselves anew, but when the attack came, it was not from the front. Dozens of greenskins mounted on howling wolves came hurtling from the flank, whooping and sneering. The soldiers
held, but the sudden attack had shaken them, and they were not prepared when the armoured might of the Chaos Dwarfs crashed into them.
They held bravely. They fought like Sigmar Himself. But it was not enough. The Chaos
Dwarfs pushed forward, cutting them down like wheat in a field, slicing with daemonic axes and smashing with hammers alight with burning fury. Grüber fell back, forming a ring of steel with
his best men, but then a beast of flesh and iron plummeted from the skies with a feral roar. It landed in amongst the Imperial soldiers, belching fire and slashing with rune-etched claws as
long as a man's arm.
It was a rout, but the casualties amongst Grüber's men were surprisingly light. The Chaos Dwarfs had not come to slaughter: they had come to enslave. Those unlucky ones that survived awoke in chains. Their fate was more horrific than they could have imagined for, in the Dark
Lands, there are always fools who dare to stand against the Dawi'Zharr. There is no shortage of unfortunates to labour in the soul forges of the Chaos Dwarf slavemasters, and so the lives of
those pitiful captives are always short and painful.
You see, they do not want your land. They do not want your gold. All they want is you.
And they don't stop. Ever.
13
The Chaos Dwarfs are as much a product of their foul
homeland as they are their bloody history.The seemingly
endless waste between the Worlds Edge Mountains and the
Mountains of Mourn known as the Dark Lands is a barren,
desiccated realm that takes its name from the omnipresent
black soil that covers everything. There is almost no water
beneath the earth; instead the ground is a fragile skin that
covers vast magma ducts beneath. The Chaos Dwarfs believe
that the Dark Lands' location between two great mountain
ranges means that it is a particularly weak point on the
world's crust and the Dark Lands are a region of extreme
volcanic activity, where boiling tar pits, exposed mineral
seams and rivers of smoking lava pockmark the landscape. It
is these features that make the Dark Lands so useful to the
Chaos Dwarfs, as they can easily find the minerals that they
covet and plunge mines deep into the bowels of the earth. The
furious volcanism also draws the Wind of Aqshy down from
the Realm of Chaos so that the Dark Lands are saturated in
the infernal energies of fiery Bright Magic, providing succour
for the K'daai and Great Tauruses that live there.
THE PLAIN OF ZHARR The heart of the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is the Plain of Zharr.
Thousands of years ago, a meteorite descended from the sky –
perhaps it was a chunk of one of the moons that orbit the
Warhammer world, or just a nameless lump of space debris –
and blasted a vast crater in the earth. It pulverised the very
rock, creating in an instant crystals and ores of immense
value. They were left lying there, exposed to the uncaring
skies for millennia until the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs
discovered them. Since the coming of the Chaos Dwarfs, the
Plain of Zharr has been changed irrevocably.
Now, it is an immense network of factories, mines, smelting
plants, workshops and forges. As far as the eye can see,
chimneys pump out clouds of multicoloured smog and rivers
of tar and ooze snake their way through the maze of stinking
industry. Slaves in untold millions must live in this hellish
warren, their lungs clogged with foul vapours and their eyes
never knowing anything but the pallid sunlight that peers
wanly through the smoke and the ruddy infernal light of the
soul-forges.
ZHARR-NAGGRUND The capital, and the only true city of the Chaos Dwarfs'
empire, is the obsidian ziggurat of Zharr-Naggrund. It rears
up like a lonely mountain from the flat blackness of the Plain
of Zharr, utterly singular in a way that warps perspective so
that it is not clear until one approaches the enormous gates of
beaten gold and iron just how immense it truly is. Rising
thousands of feet into the sky, and populated by hundreds of
thousands of slaves and Chaos Dwarfs, Zharr-Naggrund is not
really a city in the way the term is used by Men, but instead a
single building that is equal parts fortress, factory and temple.
Within its red-lit depths, the Chaos Dwarfs live and work,
creating arcane machineries. They have harnessed both the
energies of the earth and the empyrean, making slaves of both
fire and Daemons to fuel their awesome engines. Each level
of the city is restricted to members of a certain Caste –
members of higher Castes may move through the lower levels
at will, but no Chaos Dwarf may venture higher than his
station allows, except at the behest of one of the Sorcerer
Lords. Fittingly, the highest level of the city is given over to
the Temple of Hashut, within which the Priest Caste, of which
the Sorcerer Lords are the most powerful members, perform
the gruesome rites of the Father of Darkness. Highest of all is
a huge statue of Hashut himself, a gargantuan iron bull with a
vast furnace in its belly so it constantly glows dull red.
The River Ruin flows through Zharr-Naggrund and the Chaos
Dwarfs make use of it in their forges and factories. Its waters
are pumped throughout the city, flowing into every workshop,
and then join together before the great southern water-gate,
out of which they flow, now polluted with tar, chemicals and
all the effluence of industry. The River Ruin makes its way
sluggishly through the Dark Lands after this, staining its
banks with vibrantly-coloured toxins and choking all life that
attempts to drink from or live in it until it finally washes into
the Sea of Dread in the distant south.
THE DARK LANDS
THE HAMMER OF ZHARR
The true story of the construction of Zharr-
Naggrund has been lost to the mists of time.
It is known that the Sorcerer Lords were
the ones who ordered its creation, and that
they used magic to build it, but it is clear
that more mundane methods must have been
used, especially since much of the city is
built of magic-resistant obsidian. Hence the
legend of the Hammer of Zharr, which was
once an ordinary workman's hammer and, it
is said, broke the ground when the
foundations of the city were laid. This holy
weapon is given to the Lord of the Immortals
as a badge of office, and is currently held by
the Banelord Zhatan the Black.
14
THE TOWER OF GORGOTH Though the Chaos Dwarfs only have one city, they have built
fortresses throughout the Dark Lands that enable them to keep
watch over their realms. The largest of these is the Tower of
Gorgoth in the south. The way is marked by the Gates of
Zharr, an awesome edifice that serves no practical need
equidistant between the Plateau of Gorgoth and the Plain of
Zharr. It was built in the time of Zhargon the Great as a
warning to the greenskin tribes that the Chaos Dwarfs were
mighty beyond their reckoning and able to find them
wherever they might hide. Gorgoth itself is a black tower that
pierces the grey skies, clogged with the output not of Chaos
Dwarf forges, but by the fires of the earth itself: the great
volcano known as Azgorh lies just to the south. Gorgoth is
rich in mineral deposits and the whole plateau is highly
volcanic. The Chaos Dwarfs have dug a vast network of
mines beneath it and Gorgoth is populated almost entirely by
slaves. Their misery contributes to the growth of the Chaos
Dwarf empire as endless columns of steam-powered caravans
carrying the coal and precious minerals that they mine travel
across the Dark Lands to the Plain of Zharr.
Gorgoth's garrison is composed of many thousands of
Warriors and a number of Sorcerer Lords make their home
there. There are many reasons for such self-imposed exiles,
but most who reside so far from Zharr-Naggrund are merely
keeping an eye on their valuable mining interests. There are
dark rumours of vile experiments performed on some of the
numerous captives in the pens of Gorgoth by some of the
more inventive Sorcerer Lords and their servants though: with
so many helpless captives at their disposal, it is not surprising
that some fiendish Chaos Dwarfs have chosen to revisit the
terrible arts of fleshcrafting that inflicted the Black Orcs upon
the world.
THE GREAT SKULL LAND To the north of the Dark Lands is the windswept plateau
known as Zorn Uzkul, or the Great Skull Land. It was named
thus by the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs because the barren,
lifeless region was littered with the bones of primeval beasts,
who perhaps died in the aftermath of the impact that created
the Plain of Zharr. Unlike the Plain of Zharr, Zorn Uzkul is
completely without value, and the Chaos Dwarfs have no
settlements there. Instead, they watch over it from the fortress
of Uzkulak which sits at the mouth of their great underground
canal, stretching from the Falls of Doom to the Sea of Chaos.
Here, the Chaos Dwarf fleet – a mighty armada of ironclad
steamships – musters so that it can raid the shores of distant
lands in their search for more slaves. The fleet also cruises the
River Ruin, the ships' metal hulls being the only ones that can
resist the corrosive waters, ensuring that the Chaos Dwarfs
always make their presence felt to the south.
Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull, is a bleak and macabre
fortress, a tall, walled city of iron and basalt, with deep
foundations built into the bedrock of the mountains. As the
gateway to the realm of the Chaos Dwarfs, it is necessarily
formidable, and millions of slaves are herded through its
foreboding gates as the fleets make harbour after raids to the
north. Even the servants of the Chaos Gods have reason to
fear the name of Uzkulak, for imprisonment within its
sepulchral depths, denied the opportunity for glory, is
considered by most a fate worse than death. Though the
Marauder tribes covet the fortress, the majority have found it
safer to ally with the Dawi'Zharr there, and provide a tribute
of slaves in exchange for weapons and war machines.
THE ENCLAVES The Chaos Dwarfs maintain a number of other fortresses,
including various fastnesses and watch towers in the
Mountains of Mourn and along the edge of the Eastern
Steppes to keep a watch on their Ogre and Hobgoblin
neighbours. Their two largest keeps are the Daemon's Stump
and The Black Fortress.
Daemon's Stump is the site of an ancient cataclysmic battle
between a huge army of migrating Ogres and a horde of
Khornate Daemons. The residual energy from the storm of
magic that this created still permeates the air around
Daemon's Stump and it is a particularly fecund region for
summoning Daemons, so much so that it was to Daemon's
Stump that Hothgar Daemonbane, the most accomplished
Daemonsmith of his generation, fled during his exile. The
bowels of Daemon's Stump are given over to cavernous
arcane laboratories and hellforges wherein Daemonsmiths
summon and capture Daemons as raw material for their
experiments. Sometimes Daemons can even be induced to
fight alongside the Chaos Dwarfs, and will appear in the
region of Daemon's Stump spontaneously to aid the
Dawi'Zharr, though why they would do this is a mystery.
The Black Fortress lies to the south of the Dark Lands,
between the Flayed Rock and the Sentinels, on the River Ruin
but overlooking the Desolation of Azgorh to the west. Like
Gorgoth, it is home to a number of Sorcerer Lords in exile
from Zharr-Naggrund, but in this instance not of their own
volition. The Black Fortress has long been a convenient place
for the Conclave to send those members of the Priesthood
who have become inconvenient or disgraced themselves
somehow. Similarly, those Chaos Dwarf Warriors who have
committed some shameful or cowardly act often find their
way to The Black Fortress where they join the penitent ranks
of the Infernal Guard. In this way, outcasts from Zharr-
Naggrund form their own Legions, guarding the frontier
along the Desolation of Azgorh.
The Sorcerer Lords are content to allow this as it would still
be unthinkable for this force to be turned against Zharr-
Naggrund, and so the exiles act as a useful bulwark against
invasion. Decades ago, one particularly visionary Sorcerer
Lord did rise from the Black Fortress and threatened the
dominance of Zharr-Naggrund, but the fates proved fickle,
and it was the hubris of a human Chaos Lord that undid him.
THE WASTES The Dark Lands are not entirely uninhabited for, while almost
nothing can grow there, there is enough sustenance to support
scavenging creatures such as wolves and greenskins. Across
the great moors of the Wolf Lands, huge packs of ravening
beasts, warped by the power of Chaos in ancient times, hold
sway. They are captured and tamed by tribes of Hobgoblins –
a form of steppe Goblin native to the Dark Lands and the
lands to the east – who ride them into battle, usually in the
service of the Chaos Dwarfs. The Blasted Wastes are home to
more greenskin tribes and especially Black Orcs who were
created by the Chaos Dwarfs as a race of super slaves many
centuries ago. The Black Orcs rebelled and were driven from
the Plain of Zharr, but the Chaos Dwarfs still allow tribes of
them to roam the Dark Lands so that they can be recruited
into their armies as mercenaries. Far to the south, beyond the
Ash Ridge Mountains, is the haunted Plain of Bone where an
area larger than an Imperial province is carpeted in the bones
of mighty dragons from ages past. Here, the carcasses of more
15
recently killed monsters are picked clean by degenerate Ghoul
tribes who gather on the shores of the Sea of Dread, drawing
power from their terrible master, Nagash, supreme lord of the
Undead, whose lair is close by.
Though the Chaos Dwarfs claim lordship over all the Dark
Lands, it would be impossible for any race to actually govern
such a vast tract of land. Instead, the Chaos Dwarfs rule by
fear, constantly raiding from their fortresses without warning
so that the greenskin tribes always know they may be brought
to heel. The Chaos Dwarfs extract a tribute of slaves from the
tribes that live under their shadow, exerting control over
thousands of leagues of territory as the greenskins capture
Men and Dwarfs to sell to their distant masters so they can
avoid the fate they so readily thrust upon their helpless
captives.
THE MOUNTAINS OF MOURN To the east of the Dark Lands are the vast, primeval peaks of
the Mountains of Mourn. This is the largest and most
impressive mountain range in the Warhammer world,
stretching untold leagues to the borders of Grand Cathay, the
mysterious human empire of the distant east. The Mountains
of Mourn are home to all manner of dangerous creatures, but
the only intelligent beings that truly call it home are the
Ogres.
These hulking beasts are both the Chaos Dwarfs' closest allies
and their most bitter foes, for they are a fractious race owing
loyalty to no single ruler. Some Ogre tribes trade freely with
the Chaos Dwarfs and even fight in their armies in exchange
for food (i.e. slaves from the Chaos Dwarfs' forges) and
equipment. The most stalwart allies of the Chaos Dwarfs are
the Ironskin tribe, led by Ghark Ironskin, whose lust for metal
goods has led him to form a long-standing agreement with
various Chaos Dwarf factions. In exchange for Ogre-sized
suits of armour, daemonic artefacts and the fearsome "Iron
Rhinox", Ghark has provided Zharr-Naggrund with thousands
upon thousands of Gnoblar slaves. These diminutive
greenskins are a kind of hill Goblin that live in the Dark
Lands and occupy the lowest social strata wherever they go –
it is no different for these pathetic creatures in the hands of
the Chaos Dwarfs, and though weaker and more cowardly
even than normal Goblins, their sheer numerousness means
they necessarily make up a large amount of the Chaos Dwarfs'
slave population.
In the north of the Mountains of Mourn, almost due east of
Zharr-Naggrund, lies Gash Kadrak: the Vale of Woe. This
grim and foreboding valley is hundreds of miles long, and it is
the home of the Sneaky Git tribe of Hobgoblins. Even
amongst the Hobgoblins, the Sneaky Gitz are reviled as
untrustworthy backstabbers. For their part in helping to put
down the Black Orc rebellion, the Sneaky Gitz were rewarded
with sovereignty over Gash Kadrak and the opportunity to act
as overseers of the labour camps that the Chaos Dwarfs built
there. Like the Tower of Gorgoth, Gash Kadrak is really
nothing but a vast slave colony, and the huge amounts of
stone quarried there contribute to the huge building projects
that take place all across the Plain of Zharr.
THE SOUTH Where the River Ruin sluices into the Sea of Dread, the
coastline is choked with thick, subtropical forest. The air in
this part of the world is thick and cloying, and the growth of
the so-called Haunted Forest is strangely unwholesome, with
thick, gnarled branches twisting in all directions to form
grotesque shapes, black-flecked fronds drooping overhead
and huge patches of bloated fungal growth underfoot. No
animals except those warped by the power of Chaos live in
such foetid climes, and the only inhabitants are tribes of
primitive Beastmen and ever-present greenskins. The
monsters that plague these dense lands are especially foul,
including poisonous Green Dragons, stinking Wyverns and
the repulsive Jabberslythe. Even Chaos Dwarfs rarely attempt
to penetrate the fecund jungle, though they can be rich
pickings for slaves and war beasts. Opportunistic Chaos
Dwarf warbands will sometimes trek into the depths in search
of magical artefacts left behind by the Old Ones, for the
Haunted Forest was once part of the domains of the
Lizardmen, though such a quest is rarely worth the potential
danger.
Around the River Ruin's delta are leagues of marshland and,
in the midst of this bleak, fly-choked maze of bogs and
waterways is the city of Pigbarter. This foul den of brigands
and thieves was founded centuries ago by human traders from
the Old World to act as a vital port on the passage to the east.
It was quickly overrun by Gnoblars and has remained a foul,
stinking monument to Mankind's greed ever since. Pigbarter
still flourishes in its way, forming the only even partially
reliable route into the Mountains of Mourn for merchants, but
it is little more than a sprawl of decrepit hovels held above the
swamps by stilts and willpower.
North of Pigbarter are The Sentinels, a natural rock formation
around which has formed a permanent campsite of trader
caravans. At the confluence of the major trading routes to the
east, The Sentinels is another vital lynchpin in the road to
Cathay. Chaos Dwarfs also trade there, seeing the advantages
in keeping the passage to the east open, but should they desire
to descend upon these enclaves in their homelands, there is no
doubt that they would easily sweep all resistance before them.
16
Over the past few centuries, the Warhammer world has been
gradually industrialising itself. Black powder weapons have
been a feature in the armies of the Empire of Man for
hundreds of years, and in Dwarf throngs for even longer.
Already, steam-powered devices are becoming commonplace
in the Old World while, beneath the surface of the earth, the
magic-powered war machines of the Skaven do battle with
the runic engines of the Dwarfs. But though the Skaven are
masters of invention, their society is too anarchic to support
true industry. Similarly, Mankind is just beginning to
industrialise itself and has not yet reached the point where it
can mass produce mechanical marvels. As for the Dwarfs,
their realm is in decline, their infrastructure crumbling into
ruin, and they must hold onto what secrets and traditions they
can. Dwarfs are conservative, and fear innovation, even as
they must experiment to survive.
MALEVOLENT INDUSTRY It is not surprising therefore that the only true industrial
power in the world is located in the midst of the Dark Lands,
where the Chaos Dwarfs have choked the Plain of Zharr with
their rampant mining, smelting, quarrying and manufacture.
The Chaos Dwarfs have the resources and the stability to
build huge factories in which thousands of slaves labour,
producing standardised equipment. Through these methods,
the Chaos Dwarfs can churn out hundreds of suits of Chaos
armour every week, which they trade to the Warriors of
Chaos in the north for gold and even more slaves, as well as
issue to their own troops. The Chaos Dwarfs are fabulously
wealthy because not only do they have total dominance over
the mineral-rich Plain of Zharr, but the weapons, armour and
machines they manufacture are also sold to anyone who can
pay their prices. The most common recipients of their favour
are the Chaos Warriors, Ogres and savage tribes of Orcs and
Goblins. Chaos Dwarfs have many trade routes that criss-
cross the Dark Lands, and they travel many leagues to sell
their wares, often within huge armoured caravans, driven by
powerful steam engines. These fearsome machines are often
fitted with pens for holding slaves to drag back to the Plain of
Zharr, but they can also be equipped with monstrous artillery
batteries or fighting platforms so they can defend themselves
if attacked.
DARK ARTIFICE The Chaos Dwarfs are not content to simply grow fat on the
gold of their allies though. Innovation is part of the character
of the Dawi'Zharr, and they nearly ripped apart their society
with a devastating civil war when denied the opportunity to
advance their twisted technology. Like the creations of the
Skaven, Chaos Dwarf technology is most dangerous when it
blends science with dark magic. For the Chaos Dwarfs this
takes the form of mastery over the daemonic. For the Chaos
Dwarfs, Chaos and the servants of the Dark Gods are just
another resource to be exploited, and they forge Daemons as
Men forge iron.
A Chaos Dwarf Daemonsmith thinks little of enslaving a
mighty Daemon and making it part of the mechanism of his
latest invention and in this way the Chaos Dwarfs have
created whole batteries of monstrous Doomcannon, legions of
murderous Hellborn Constructs and the most dangerous of all
their creations: huge Infernal Engines. Such beasts of iron are
unnatural abominations, flesh melded with metal to create
sentient creatures bound into the hulls of fearsome
THE INVENTION OF THE DAWI'ZHARR
18
cannon or tanks. Some of these machines are relatively
mundane: they may simply use Daemons as a power source,
or to instil their ammunition with sentience to make it less
likely to veer off course, but others are towering behemoths
that resemble no war engine that an inhabitant of the Old
World would recognise. They may float on water, fly through
the sky on eldritch wings or, most terrifyingly of all, tunnel
deep below the earth, only to emerge from the ground in the
midst of a battle like some hideous giant termite, belching fire
and fury.
TWISTED INGENUITY Experiments have also been made in other fields. The Chaos
Dwarfs managed to breed the Black Orcs using a mixture of
science and magic, for simple selective breeding would not
have produced the desired results – at least not in the
available timescales. The willingness to use Daemons in their
experiments of course extends to mortal slaves and though the
Chaos Dwarfs will never be able to approach the insanity of
the Skaven fleshmoulders of Hell Pit, they have produced
impressive results with the powerful denizens of Dark Lands,
namely the Great Taurus and the Lammasu. These huge
winged beasts, dating back to the Time of Chaos, are believed
to have once been Chaos Dwarfs just like the Bull Centaurs.
While already dangerous, the Sorcerer Lords have a
considerable stable of captured specimens that are bred,
mutated and augmented with techno-magical parts to make
them even more powerful. Great Tauruses and Lammasu are
ridden into battle by the leaders of the Chaos Dwarfs, but they
are not slaves – indeed, Lammasu are highly intelligent and
powerful wizards in their own right.
The art of alchemy has not bypassed the Chaos Dwarfs either.
Their natural Dwarfish affinity for metallurgy means that the
transmutation of base metals into gold is one of the first
daemonic cantrips learnt by Acolytes of Hashut. Such parlour
tricks do not amuse the Chaos Dwarfs of course, for the effort
and material costs required to bring about the transmutation is
far higher than the amount of gold yielded and, besides,
ordinary metals are often far more valuable than gold for the
technically minded Dawi'Zharr. Nonetheless, familiarity with
the earth's minerals has brought the Chaos Dwarfs great
knowledge of the physical world, further enhancing their
weapons of war. Blunderbusses are an obvious manifestation
of this particular skill: firearms that are known in the Old
World, but which the Chaos Dwarfs have perfected and
turned into a weapon that is uniquely theirs. Similarly, the
rockets and shells launched by their Doomcannon and Mortal
Engines are frequently packed with dangerous chemical
explosives.
The Chaos Dwarfs have discovered many unique properties in
the substances left over from their myriad production
processes, such as weirdly glowing rocks that appear to have
no magical properties and yet leave burns when touched, and
have caused slaves quarrying them from the slag heaps to
sicken and die. Experiments into the unusual nature of these
materials are still ongoing, and fortunately there are plenty of
slaves remaining. Indeed, it is most frequently the slaves who
bear the brunt of the Chaos Dwarfs' more dangerous
experiments. Quite apart from the horrific conditions in their
factories, mines and forges, their sheer numerousness in the
Plain of Zharr means they are inevitably the ones most often
killed in industrial accidents. Chaos Dwarfs do not expend the
lives of slaves needlessly of course, for slaves have value
(even Gnoblars), but experimentation has its price.
THE HAMMER OF HASHUT A memorable experiment in recent years was the Hammer of
Hashut. This was a rocket the size of a fortress tower built by
the Sorcerer Lords in an attempt to devise a new method of
assailing their foes. The feared Death Rocket was already an
established part of the Chaos Dwarf arsenal, whether
delivered by a Doomcannon or Mortal Engine, and there
seemed to be no reason that the sound principle of a rocket
packed with chemical explosives fired into the air could not
simply be scaled up to more devastating effect. Technically,
the Hammer of Hashut was a resounding success as it killed
hundreds. However, these were almost entirely Goblin slaves
living on the edge of the Plain of Zharr itself, as the vast
rocket was incredibly unstable and its flight became erratic
just a few seconds after launch. The devastation wrought and
the ensuing mushroom-shaped cloud was highly impressive
though, and the Sorcerers have not given up the dreams of a
Death Rocket able to fire across continents. Rumours abound
of a particularly ambitious Sorcerer Lord, known to work
with the pirate captain Ghuz Slavetaker, who has already
begun construction on a second Hammer of Hashut, and of
his intention to guide it with powerful Elven magic to avoid
the disaster of the first version.
As with all things in Chaos Dwarf society, any
experimentation is blighted by the narrow horizons of the
Sorcerer Lords, who always seek to further their own aims
and resent building upon the successes of their predecessors.
Unlike the chaotic Skaven though, there are Chaos Dwarfs
capable of forward planning and thinking beyond saving their
own skin – these visionaries, like Ghorth the Cruel and
Zhargon the Great before him, are a terrible danger to the rest
of the world, as only they can see the ultimate potential of
some of the Chaos Dwarfs' strangest innovations. Even now,
dozens of Daemonsmiths labour at the behest of Ghorth,
dreaming up the next super-weapon to blight the world.
19
The Chaos Dwarfs have a history of warfare and slavery
stretching back for over six thousand years, but their battles
have never been more cataclysmic than in recent centuries. It
is only in modern times that the Chaos Dwarfs have begun to
expand outwards from the Dark Lands, visiting their
particular brand of savage cruelty upon an unsuspecting
world.
THE BATTLE OF UZKULAK The great Chaos Dwarf fortress of Uzkulak has long stood
guarding the entrance to the sea tunnel that passes below the
plateau of Zorn Uzkul, the Great Skull Land, connecting the
River Ruin to the icy Sea of Chaos in the north. From this
basalt-walled fortress, the Chaos Dwarfs' fleet of ironclad
warships sallies forth, raiding the costal realms of the Old
World at will. Sitting as it does in the midst of the northern
lands, its defensive position, high walls and the access it
grants to the Dark Lands have been coveted by the Marauder
tribesman for centuries. One such tribe lived just a dozen or
so leagues up the coast and had suffered slave raids by the
Chaos Dwarfs for generations. Their chieftain, a Norse Jarl
named Ragnar Ragnarson, grew tired of this and resolved to
take Uzkulak.
No Marauder tribe had dared to attack the Place of the Skull
in over five centuries, and Ragnar's people were reluctant to
join this foolhardy quest, but the Jarl paid proper tribute to the
Gods of Chaos, called in ancient oaths from his neighbours,
brokered alliances by marrying off the daughters of his loyal
Thanes and eventually amassed a great army of Norse
warriors, the like of which had never been seen outside of a
full Chaos incursion.
As chance would have it, much of the Chaos Dwarf fleet was
occupied far to the south in the Sea of Dread, fighting off
Lizardmen raiders from the Southlands. Jarl Ragnar was able
to sail up the Sea of Chaos with his horde in dozens of
dragon-prowed longships virtually unopposed. They landed
before the gates of Uzkulak and began their assault. Ragnar
quickly realised that it was impossible to besiege the fortress
because it had direct access to the sea tunnel and hence Zharr-
Naggrund, so he determined that only a direct attack would
work. Ragnar summoned his húskarls, his personal
bodyguard of elite warriors, along with the great mass of
young men who had flocked to his banner hoping to make a
name for themselves. These warriors had dedicated
themselves to the Wolf-God – another of the names attributed
to Khorne, the Chaos God of war – and worked themselves
into a savage frenzy before the battle. They were known as
the berserkjr and, clad in bloody wolf skins, they hurled
themselves at the great walls of Uzkulak. Their frenzied
attack succeeded in overwhelming the sparse defenders and
they spilled over the outer defences and overran the first level
of the fortress, but at a tremendous cost in lives.
Ragnar and his húskarls opened up the outer gate from the
inside and the Norse army surged through, but then found
themselves up against the even more formidable defences of
Uzkulak's inner keep. The artillery on the battlements now
rained down a constant hail of fire – both mundane and
daemonic – and the Norse knew they could not batter their
way past a second gate. So, dismayed, Ragnar ordered his
warriors back to the shore to make camp and consider their
next move. He left guards on the outer walls of the city
though to ensure it could not be easily taken back and so
Uzkulak was divided between the Norse and the small
number of Chaos Dwarf defenders. As Ragnar's Marauder
horde began to construct earthwork defences and raise a
wooden palisade to protect their camp, the Overlord Ghorak
Firesoul who commanded Uzkulak sent messengers to Zharr-
Naggrund asking for a relief force. There, the news of the
great fortress's potential fall was met with a stony silence in
the Conclave of Sorcerer Lords. With the fleet still many
hundreds of miles away, there was no way to dispatch a relief
force that would reach Uzkulak in time, for surely tales of
Ragnar's success would spread across Norsca, attracting more
Marauder tribes to his banner, and the city would eventually
fall. There was only one solution: to amass an army of a kind
never before seen fighting in the name of the Dawi'Zharr.
An Unconventional Force Gorduz Backstabber, the mercenary chieftain of the
Hobgoblins that served the Chaos Dwarfs was summoned. He
quickly used his influence to hammer together a loose
confederation of Wolf Rider tribes. These fast moving troops
could cross the Great Skull Land and reach Uzkulak in a
matter of days, but they would not be enough to break the
Norse horde alone, and so they were led by the only troops in
the Chaos Dwarf army that would be able to keep pace with
them: an awesome phalanx of the mighty Bull Centaurs
supported by a few precious Doom Harnesses. No such force
of these elite shock troops had been gathered in over a
thousand years, and only one creature had the will to lead
such an army: Lord Bhaal, Eldest of the Bull Centaurs, the
Death of Worlds himself. Bhaal careered across the desolate
plateau at the head of this highly unusual force and, as they
A LEGACY OF CRUELTY
20
came through the mountain pass, they looked down upon the
massed tribes of Chaos waiting in the valley before the gates
of Uzkulak, preparing for the final assault. Ragnar's force
now numbered in the thousands, and the Bull Centaurs were
only a few hundred. The treacherous Hobgoblins were
already starting to slink away, seeing that the odds were
against them, but Lord Bhaal cowed them with a single
snarled command. He raised his huge rune-encrusted axe and
gave his only order of the battle: "Crush them!"
Massacre Before The Gates Ragnar saw the Chaos Dwarf relief force high on the rise as a
dark smudge of indistinct shapes and, as their charge threw up
a great cloud of what he assumed was dust, he gave orders to
form a shieldwall. The Norse slammed their shields together
and presented a thousand axe- and sword blades, forming an
impenetrable barrier of unyielding steel. Such a defence was
enough to repel even the most determined charge, for no
cavalry mount could be induced to charge towards such an
obstacle, and even a well-trained warhorse would shy away at
the last moment. But these were no mere cavalry: they were
Bull Centaurs, Hashut's most favoured sons, and no
shieldwall could instil anything but outrage in their furious,
hate-filled minds.
Roaring their defiance, charging through their own wall – not
of steel, but of smoke and flame – Lord Bhaal and the Bull
Centaurs crashed into the Norse lines, setting fire to their
shields as they made contact and scattering them almost
instantly. As the charge hit home, the hundreds of Norse
Marauders that made up that shieldwall immediately quailed
in stark terror as their arms and armour were melted by the
blast of heat and their fellows in the front rank were simply
burned alive. Then the axes began to fall, and the fire turned
to blood and gore. The Bull Centaur charge was like a scythe
cutting through wheat, and it was not so much a fight as a
bloody and terrible massacre. The Norse broke and ran, all the
fight beaten out of them within minutes, and only the hard
core of the barbarian army continued to fight on, a few
hundred of the hardened berserkjrs and húskarls, led by Jarl
Ragnar himself.
The Jarl's Stand Ragnar knew he was defeated as the Wolf Riders picked off
his fleeing men, but the eyes of his gods were still firmly
upon him and he knew he had to die with honour, his axe in
his hand, meeting this awesome foe in person. The Jarl
stepped forward and bellowed a challenge in his native
tongue. Lord Bhaal did not speak the language of the
Norsemen, but he recognised what was happening even so
and, gesturing for his Bull Centaurs to back off, he galloped
towards the Marauder Chieftain, axe raised. Jarl Ragnar was a
mighty warrior, blessed by the Dark Gods and a veteran of
many battles. Taller than even a tall Norseman, his barrel-like
chest was corded with thick muscles and he bore tattoos and
scars to the Wolf-God. In his hands was an ancient axe and
upon his head a helm in the image of a snarling wolf. The pelt
of some mutated hound that Ragnar had slain with his bare
hands was across his shoulders and, even as the great form of
Lord Bhaal thundered towards him, Ragnar Ragnarson knew
no fear. The two great warriors clashed in the centre of that
bloody battlefield, surrounded by charred corpses and Jarl
Ragnar, to his credit, struck several furious blows upon the
Bull Centaur Lord, drawing blood . But with a single mighty
swing of his huge Rune Axe, Bhaal cleaved him in twain
from head to crotch.
The battle had been over with the first charge of the Bull
Centaurs, but now that Ragnar had been killed, the few
remaining Norse gave up the fight and retreated back to the
handful of longships that the Hobgoblins had not set alight.
Uzkulak had been saved by the timely intervention of a
wholly unconventional relief force. When the Chaos Dwarf
fleet returned, they scoured the coast and found Ragnar's
kingdom. There, they threw down his palisade, burned his
hall to the ground, tortured to death all of the remaining
warriors and took the women and children as slaves. The
name of Ragnar Ragnarson became a curse amongst the
Norse – a byword for foolish endeavour.
It is said though that the children of Jarl Ragnar survived the
slaughter, for they were grown and fighting in far off lands.
His firstborn son, Ulf Ragnarson, also called Ulf the Tall and
Ulf the Fearless, heard of the fate of his father and his people
and swore revenge against all Chaos Dwarfs and especially
the Bull Centaurs and Lord Bhaal. Most laugh at such a
hollow threat, for what can any man do against such a
monster as the Death of Worlds? But Ulf is wiser than his late
father, and will not be taken by surprise as he was. Rumour
has it that Jarl Ulf Ragnarson has now returned to his
homelands, and he is sharpening his axe and looking at
Uzkulak with thoughtful eyes.
THE DARK CHOIR Decades ago, Lord Astragoth was the most powerful Sorcerer
to walk the Plain of Zharr in a thousand years. Known then as
Astragoth Ironhand, he was unmatched in both his skill with
the evil rituals of the Father of Darkness and in his
malevolent ambition. However, as the Sorcerers' Curse took
its toll, Astragoth's physical vitality and arcane power began
to fade. In most cases, the Curse accelerates rapidly once it
has taken hold and the afflicted Sorcerer Lord explores darker
avenues of research in order to delay the inevitable – in
actuality often increasing the rate of petrification and
hastening his ghoulish demise. Astragoth was different: a
truly ancient Chaos Dwarf, he had seen too many of his peers
succumb to the Sorcerers' Curse and resolved to stave off his
fate for as long as possible. As the eldest of the Conclave of
Sorcerers and the High Priest of Hashut, he was able to rely
on a cadre of Acolytes to perform rituals on his behalf and
became an expert on acting in concert with them, utilising the
dark energy of their Dirges in place of his own summoning.
With his reign as High Priest this extended, Astragoth was
able to launch a genocidal campaign against the Goblin tribes
of the Haunted Forest, which had grown bolder in the years
following the Legion of Azgorh's defeat on their ill-fated
campaign to the Old World. Wishing to send a message to his
rivals in the Black Fortress, he gathered his own forces,
including entire regiments of Acolytes of Hashut, phalanxes
of Immortals and thousands of pitiful slaves, many of which
had been transformed into hulking, half-mad Brutes by the
evil experiments of the High Priest's loyal Daemonsmiths. He
had batteries of Mortal Engines, Doomcannon and Infernal
Engines supporting his Legion, but the centre of his battle line
would be anchored by a dozen Altars of Hashut, each dragged
into battle by a mass of groaning slaves, whose blood would
also power the Altars' evil incantations.
Astragoth made the long journey south from Zharr-Naggrund
and battle was met several times along the eastern shore of
the River Ruin. The greenskins had grown bold indeed and
had multiplied at an unprecedented rate. Astragoth knew he
21
had to engage them in one cataclysmic battle if he was to halt
their advance, and so he laid a trap he knew the Goblin
Shamans who commanded the greenskin horde would never
be able to resist. Deploying his entire army in a tight knot on
the edge of the Direbogs, just north of Pigbarter, Astragoth
feigned vulnerability, allowing himself to be encircled.
The Daemon Storm The greenskin multitude surrounded the Chaos Dwarfs. Not
only were there tens of thousands of howling mobs on foot
and riding upon wolves and giant spiders, but from the fecund
jungle of the southern Dark Lands, swollen spider-queens the
size of watchtowers had also emerged, each carrying a
ramshackle howdah bristling with savage and spiteful Goblins
and the leaders of the horde rode with them. The Shamans fed
off the brutal, frenzied energy of the other greenskins and
they had bound many of the ferocious monsters of the Dark
Lands to their will with crude enchantments: Wyverns and
worse circled in the sky above, sensing the promise of
carrion, while a score or more lumbering Giants came down
from their ancestral homeland in the foothills of the
Mountains of Mourn to join in the carnage. From the
Direbogs themselves, blighted tribes of cyclopean Fimir
crawled from the mists, seeking only slaughter.
The first wave of attackers broke on the Chaos Dwarf lines,
much of their impetus spent on slaughtering the hulking Slave
Brutes. As they died, their blood and pain feeding the
growing storm of magic, Astragoth wasted no time: calling
forth his Acolytes of Hashut, he bade them begin to sing the
Dirges. A disturbing and hateful symphony was unleashed
and the clouds turned an evil purple, lightning flashing in
their depths. Two dozen Arachnarok Spiders charged
headlong towards Astragoth's army but his Pyrophants were
ready and unleashed a roiling firestorm that reduced most of
the monstrous arachnids to charred husks in seconds. As
Wyverns and Cockatrices plunged from the sky, the Altars of
Hashut joined in the Dirge, casting dozens of slaves at once
into their cauldrons of molten gold and forming a crescendo
of daemonic power they blasted the monsters right out of the
sky. As the very air itself vibrated with hellish energy,
Astragoth raised his cracked voice in song. At that moment,
the horrifying might of the Lore of Hashut reached its full
potential and a wave of black shadow writhing with enslaved
Daemons and K'daai engulfed the battlefield. The greenskin
assault fell apart as the Immortals counter-charged, cutting
the terrified and bewildered Goblins to ribbons with their
cursed axes. With the Shamans dead, the monsters they had
bound fled the battlefield and the entire horde lost cohesion:
Astragoth had purposefully lured the Goblin army to him so it
could be shattered by the apocalyptic symphony his Legion of
the Temple could unleash as they fed off each other's power.
The battle was won, the Goblins of the Haunted Forest would
not rise again for at least a generation and Astragoth's reign as
High Priest remained uncontested. The great battle had
proved costly though: channelling such a volume of dark
power had caused the Sorcerers' Curse to finally take its toll,
leaving Astragoth almost entirely turned to stone. He was
carried back to Zharr-Naggrund, unable even to move his
petrified limbs and, in the wake of his sudden change in
fortune, Ghorth the Cruel began to cement his rise to power.
THE WAR OF THE AUTOMATA Hothgar Daemonbane is a Daemonsmith of rare creative
ambition. Most Sorcerers are concerned only with increasing
their own influence within the Temple of Hashut, and usually
make war with only this end in mind. They build or
commission machines of war to supplement their armies,
which can then take slaves in order to generate income and
allow them to buy their way to power. But for the renegade
Hothgar, arcane engineering is an end in itself. He was cast
out of Zharr-Naggrund for his dangerous experimentation, but
he was unperturbed and continued to labour in exile, finding a
home in the fortress of Daemon's Stump. It was Hothgar's
dream to create a Daemonic Engine of such size and power
that it could take on an army by itself. Such an endeavour
would require the binding of a Daemon so powerful, or a
multitude of lesser Daemons so numerous, that it would take
an actual army to subdue them, which rather defeats the
purpose of the exercise.
Nonetheless, Hothgar has continued to pursue his fevered
dream of building the machine he calls 'The Kolossus', and
has created any number of prototypes that dwarf any engine
previously constructed by a Daemonsmith. Hothgar's
creations command vast prices in the markets of Zharr-
Naggrund, even when he was still an outcast, but they are
most dangerous when Hothgar himself brings them to battle,
for no one knows his war machines quite as well as their
insane creator. Hothgar's greatest glory came in what was
known as the War of the Automata. Hothgar had assembled
his entire stable of Daemonic Engines, intending to march
west in order to find a worthy foe. Hothgar knew his devices
would only find their match against the foremost engineers of
the Old World – the hated cousins of the Chaos Dwarfs from
the Worlds Edge Mountains.
Hothgar's bizarre army was made up of a legion of the scarred
and mutated Hellforge Guard, deployed as infantry, but the
core of his force were his beloved constructions: marching
alongside his flesh and blood troops he had rank after rank of
22
iron golems, each possessed by the spirit of a fearsome K'daai
fire Daemon, and towering Infernal Engines, each one bound
with one or more daemonic spirits. Behind them, rolling on
huge wheels or dragged by enslaved Ogres came battery after
battery of Doomcannon. The greatest of all his arcane
machines though was a bull-headed monstrosity that shook
the earth when it walked. This was Hothgar's latest version of
the Kolossus, and the largest and most destructive to date and
the Daemonsmith himself rode upon its back.
A Worthy Foe This terrifying force of Daemonic machines made its way
across the Dark Lands, unopposed by the greenskin tribes
who fled before it in fear. The host climbed its way slowly
into the mountains where word of its coming reached the ears
of the Dwarf Lord Dobbi Fletchhelm. Lord Dobbi was a
proud Dwarf, but even he could see that his warriors stood no
chance against such an enemy. In desperation, he appealed to
the Guild of Engineers who jumped at the chance to test
rediscovered and recently refined technology. What better to
defeat the God-Engines of Chaos than a God-Engine of their
own? From the deepest vaults were unearthed the ancient
Automata, forbidden machines from the dawn of Dwarf
history, said to be imbued with the power of the Ancestor
Gods.
Hothgar and his possessed engines marched through the
passes of the Worlds Edge Mountains, scattering Goblin and
Skaven before them, until they reached Lord Dobbi's territory.
There, a thin line of Dwarf warriors awaited them. They had
cannon and Organ Guns, but such pitiful devices held no fear
for Hothgar. He laughed and ordered his creations to advance,
laying down a hail of daemonfire. The golems came first,
their bodies clanking and hissing and their souls calling out in
murderous rage. The Hellsmiths goaded their charges forward
and, as they picked up speed, their bladed limbs began to spin
and whirl like no creature in nature. The Dwarfs stoically held
their ground, daring the Hellborn Constructs to attack them
and, as they reached their hastily-erected barricades, the
ground beneath their feet suddenly gave way. The golems
were thrown back and the Daemonsmiths reeled in confusion
as, from below, huge steam-powered machines crawled up to
the surface for the first time in millennia.
They were wheeled marvels, festooned with hammer and
cannon and their hulls were mounted with the thunderous
images of the Ancestor Gods. Something primal stirred in the
hearts of the cruel Chaos Dwarfs as they set eyes on machines
that had been holy to their ancestors, the dim racial memory
sowing confusion in their twisted souls. The distraction was
enough for the Dwarf Automata, acting with some machine-
guided will of their own, to seize the advantage, churning the
Constructs into scrap metal. As their black hulls burst apart,
Daemons escaped into the æther, letting out keening calls of
triumph.
Hothgar was astonished by the appearance of the Dwarf God-
Engines, but he rallied quickly, ordering his larger machines
into battle. In that high, narrow pass, a cataclysmic battle was
fought, a mechanical replay of some ancient conflict from the
Time of Chaos as Daemon fought God again, but this time
bound in iron and Gromril. The Kolossus gave a good
account of itself, smashing several of the Automata, but in the
end it was undone by its inherent instability, rent apart by a
barrage of cannon balls, allowing the Daemons to escape their
imprisonment. In the end, all the Automata were destroyed or
their ancient workings seized up, but by that time Hothgar's
army too had been almost annihilated and he sounded the
retreat.
Though Lord Dobbi's army survived the day and counted it a
victory, the priceless Automata had been reduced to scrap,
their noble spirits at last vanquished. Hothgar saw the day as a
great success, for he learned much from the failed
experiment. Like any good scientist, he would glean new
knowledge from his mistakes and improve his designs next
time. Furthermore, the Conclave of Sorcerer Lords was so
impressed by Hothgar's creations that they welcomed him
back into Chaos Dwarf society with open arms.
A CITY AT WAR
Zharr-Naggrund is a city at war with itself,
divided as it is between the ambitious Sorcerer
Lords. Each of them claims dominion over
certain parts of the great ziggurat, usually
held by his Clan since time immemorial. Chaos
Dwarfs are great traders and merchants
though, and workshops, factories, barracks
and slave pens frequently change hands in
exchange for slaves, gold, iron and mining
rights elsewhere in the Dark Lands, altering
the borders between the realms of the
Sorcerer Lords. The balance of power has
mostly remained unchanged though until
recent centuries when Ghorth the Cruel's
expansionist activities across the Dark Lands
have won him such wealth that he has been
able to expand his territory so that it now
encompasses most of the city. There has not
been open fighting in the streets since the
Black Orc rebellion, but it is surely only a
matter of time until Ghorth begins to use
force rather than wealth to acquire the
property of those that still oppose him.
23
c -4500 The time of the Ancestor Gods. No written records of these
times survive although legend tells of the gradual colonisation
of the Worlds Edge Mountains.
c -4300 The most adventurous Dwarfs journey across the barren
upland regions north of the mountains which they name 'Zorn
Uzkul', or the Great Skull Land.
c -4000 Contact is lost between Dwarfs of the World's Edge
Mountains and Dwarf settlements in Zorn Uzkul. The Dwarfs
of the west believe their eastern kin have perished, destroyed
by the tides of Chaos from the north.
c -3500 Abandoned by their gods, the Dwarfs of Zorn Uzkul turn to
the worship of Hashut, the Father of Darkness.
c -3450 Hashut leads his worshippers to the Plain of Zharr, where
they begin to build mines and quarries.
c -3400 The Chaos Dwarfs drive the greenskins from the Plain of
Zharr and begin their expansion outwards. The beginning of
the First Kingdom period.
-3273 Overlord Khrazathk's host is defeated by a greenskin coalition
in the Howling Wastes. Emboldened, the greenskins force
them back to the Plain of Zharr and prevent the Chaos Dwarfs
from expanding their influence further. The First Kingdom
falls.
-2821 The Sorcerer Lords emerge from their isolation and begin to
institute the reforms that will save Chaos Dwarf society.
-2745 Construction begins on the City of Zharr-Naggrund. The
industry of the Chaos Dwarfs is increased a hundredfold as
the building of the city requires stone and rare minerals. The
Second Kingdom period begins.
-2600 In order to work the new mines and forges, the Chaos Dwarfs
begin enslaving the greenskin inhabitants of the Dark Lands.
-933 Zhargon is born.
-901 Zhargon enters the Temple of Hashut as an Acolyte. He soon
surpasses his teachers.
-824 Zhargon is ordained as the High Priest of Hashut. He begins
instituting the Caste system.
-785 The Gates of Zharr are built.
-761 Great Tauruses are first discovered roaming Zorn Uzkul,
some are captured and brought to Zharr-Naggrund and stabled
below the Temple of Hashut. Soon after, the first Lammasu is
born.
-714 Zhargon goes into isolation, seeking a cure for the Sorcerers'
Curse. During this time, he first discovers the prophecy of the
Everchosen of Chaos.
-700 The Chaos Dwarf armies drive many Ogre tribes from the
Dark Lands in a series of cataclysmic conflicts known to the
Ogres as the Ash Battles. The two races each return to their
homelands with a grudging respect for one another.
-650 The Chaos Dwarfs begin trading with the Goblins of the
Worlds Edge Mountains. Through them, they first encounter
their distant western kin, whom they take as slaves.
-601 Vorag Bloodytooth unites scattered tribes of Ghouls that lurk
below Cripple Peak, becoming the first of the evil Ghoul
Kings. The Ghoul army all but destroy the Red Cloud Goblin
tribe and their Chaos Dwarf allies. The survivors are forced to
build Fortress of Vorag to the east of the Plain of Bones.
-600 Zhargon re-emerges and assembles a vast host of Chaos
Dwarfs to destroy Vorag. They are defeated and return to the
Plain of Zharr in disgrace.
-598 Continuous uprisings eventually result in Zhargon declaring
increasingly draconian laws, restricting even the freedoms of
his fellow Sorcerers.
-595 The Civil War begins, shaking Zharr-Naggrund to its
foundations. After over a year of fighting, Zhargon is killed
when his devastating spell misfires. The Second Kingdom
period ends.
-545 The Sorcerer Lords finally succeed in restoring Chaos Dwarf
society to its former status. Tens of thousands more slaves are
acquired from throughout the Dark Lands.
CENTURIES OF CONTEMPT A TIMELINE OF THE CHAOS DWARFS
Chaos Dwarf society has been largely isolated from the events in the Old World throughout its existence but in recent centuries
they have made common cause with the mortal Lords of Chaos and have thus come into contact with the inhabitants of that
region, who now curse their names. Already, the stage is set for a Dawi'Zharr incursion of unprecedented scale. The Chaos
Dwarfs have their own complex dating system, but the Imperial Calendar has been used here for clarity.
24
-150 Experiments on captive Orc and Goblin slaves by Chaos
Dwarf Sorcerers result in the creation of the Black Orcs.
-100 The Black Orcs prove unruly and difficult to control. After
leading an armed revolt that ravages the lower levels of
Zharr-Naggrund they are purged from the ziggurat when the
Hobgoblins turn on the other greenskins. Fleeing Black Orcs
escape to the Worlds Edge Mountains and the Mountains of
Mourn.
223 Chaos Dwarfs and Daemons fight Ogres for possession of
Daemon's Stump. The Ogres are defeated and routed as they
attempt to cross the River Ruin, which runs red for a week
after the slaughter.
500 Rich volcanic deposits are first mined at Gorgoth.
781 Black Fortress is built to guard against marauding Ogre tribes
moving west.
1000 The great sea canal is constructed, linking the Falls of Doom
with the Sea of Chaos in the north. The fortress of Uzkulak is
built on the coast to act as a gathering place for the fleet.
1119 The Trails of Hashut. An expanse of volcanic wasteland to
the north of the Plain of Zharr is the target of a warband of
Chaos Warriors who attempt to release a Daemon Prince
imprisoned below it. They are successful despite the Chaos
Dwarfs' opposition and free Abbadon the Destroyer, first
Daemon Prince of Khorne. The lava fields dry up, leaving the
northern Dark Lands open to attack – and trade.
1301 Azgorh, the great volcano in the south of the Dark Lands,
enters a phase of activity, spilling ash into the air and
covering the Dark Lands in a thick pall of smoke for over
three years. The disruption temporarily grounds Great
Tauruses, forcing increased reliance on ships to carry
messages.
1392 Lord Harkoth the Vile attempts to subjugate the Kurgan tribes
of the eastern steppes, but is ultimately betrayed by his
Hobgoblin allies who poison his blood ale. In reprisal, the
Sorcerer Lord Varkhak has a thousand Hobgoblins put to
death, but no further serious attempt is made to conquer the
Chaos Marauder tribes.
1550 A Chaos Dwarf fleet raids the Lustrian coast, taking
Lizardmen as slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs find these creatures
strong and resilient, but they do not last long as captives in
the bleak, sunless Dark Lands.
1720 The Chaos Dwarfs begin trading with the northern tribes in
earnest. Amongst their first creations for their new allies is
the Banner of Gods, crafted from Daemonbone.
1841 The Warpstone War. The Skaven make their first and only
attempt to infiltrate the Plain of Zharr. They open a tunnel
directly into a subterranean factory, alerting the Chaos
Dwarfs to their presence. Over the next decade, the Chaos
Dwarfs take the fight to the Skaven, battling them in their
warrens. Daemonic war machines face down the hideous
creations of Clan Moulder and the arcane engines of Clan
Skryre in the darkness below the earth.
2148 Astragoth – then known by the epithet 'Ironhand' - becomes
High Priest of Hashut.
2218 Ghorth the Cruel enters the Temple of Hashut as an Acolyte.
2296 The Battle of Glacier Peak. The Chaos Dwarfs face down a
mass migration from the Ogre Kingdoms in the high passes of
the Mountains of Mourn. So much blood is spilled that the
heat accelerates a glacier's melting. The Chaos Dwarfs install
engines to harness the vast primeval forces of the gargantuan
river of ice.
2302 – 2304 The Great War Against Chaos pits the Men of the Old World
against a vast horde of Chaos Warriors, Daemons and
Beastmen surging out of the Chaos Wastes. Legions of Chaos
Dwarfs march beside them, and Astragoth agrees to turn the
forges of the Plain of Zharr over to Asavar Kul, the
Everchosen of Chaos.
2452 Zhatan, already a protégé of Ghorth the Cruel, becomes the
Banelord of the Immortals. Ghorth's power is unmatched.
2500 Hothgar Daemonbane's latest experiment destroys several
laboratories in the lower levels of Zharr-Naggrund. He is
exiled to Daemon's Stump for the good of the city.
2510 Drazhoath the Ashen allies the Legion of Azgorh with
Tamurkhan, a mortal Chaos Lord of Nurgle, and the vast
combined host launches an assault on The Empire. They are
finally defeated outside the gates of Nuln. 2515 The Black-Iron Reaver, Lord Mortkin, leads another host of
Chaos into The Empire. With the help of Hothgar
Daemonbane's Doom Engines, he lays waste to the city of
Volganof before his death.
2518 The Great Hobgobla Khan, overlord of the Hobgoblin tribes
of the steppes, sends envoys of friendship to Zharr-Naggrund
as well as a great tribute of slaves from the east.
2521 Archaon, the Everchosen of Chaos, begins to gather the might
of the north to his banners for a second apocalyptic incursion
into the Old World in as many centuries. He personally
brokers a deal to secure batteries of Doomcannon as well as
other Daemonic war engines, tainted weapons and Chaos
armour in unprecedented quantities.
25
THE INFERNAL LEGIONS
The Chaos Dwarfs army
contains some of the most
unique and diverse troops in
the Warhammer world.
Blocks of elite, armoured
Warriors march alongside
teeming hordes of pitiful
Slaves, all supported by
towering Infernal Engines
and unusual units like Bull
Centaurs and the Altar of
Hashut. No two Chaos
Dwarfs armies need look or
play alike.
In this section you will find
details for all the different
troops, heroes, monsters and
war machines used in a
Chaos Dwarfs army. It
provides the background,
imagery, characteristic
profiles and rules necessary
to use all the elements of the
army, from Core troops to
Special Characters to the
Lore of Hashut.
On this page you will find all the rules that apply either to the
entire army or to several units the army. These rules are
integral to the way than a Chaos Dwarfs army works on the
battlefield. Special rules that apply to just one or two units in
the army are instead covered in the separate Bestiary entry for
those units.
UNYIELDING Chaos Dwarfs are completely without mercy, refusing to give
ground to any creature they think of as a lesser being – which
is everyone. They will hold their positions until the end, even
if it would be tactically wise to press a pursuit or abandon
their fortifications.
When a unit with the Unyielding rule makes a flee or pursuit
move, they subtract 1 from the total roll. This normally means
that they will flee and pursue 2D6-1" instead of 2D6".
BONDAGE OF ZHARR Chaos Dwarf society is completely rigid, and a Chaos Dwarf
warrior is defined by his position within the strict hierarchy of
Zharr-Naggrund. They are owned, body, mind and soul by
their Sorcerer Lords, and they will follow the orders of their
masters no matter how suicidal. For their part, the Sorcerer
Lords and those who serve them directly are completely
confident of their own superiority. Those weaklings who flee
deserve no pity: only contempt.
Units that contain at least one model with the Bondage of
Zharr rule do not take a Panic test when a unit without the
rule is destroyed, breaks or flees through them.
BLESSING OF HASHUT The Father of Darkness is the master of molten rock and fire.
Those who are high in his favour may stride through a river of
magma and emerge unscathed, or even withstand the infernal
energy of a magical firestorm.
Units with the Blessing of Hashut rule have a 2+ ward save
against Flaming Attacks.
DISPOSABLE The Chaos Dwarfs use masses of slaves for labour, sacrifices
to Hashut and as part of their armies. They are driven forward
in great herds, and the assumption is that they will die
horribly simply to expend the foe's ammunition and clog up
his battle line with bodies.
Units with the Disposable rule do not cause Panic in other
units due to being destroyed, breaking in combat or fleeing
through them, unless the affected unit also has the Disposable
rule. In addition, standard bearers from Disposable units do
not confer any additional victory points due to the Last Stand
rule or being killed in close combat. Disposable units cannot
be joined by characters without the Disposable rule, nor can
they ever benefit from the Bondage of Zharr special rule.
CHAOS ARMOUR The Chaos Dwarfs are rightly known as the blacksmiths of
Chaos and they craft the suits of magical Chaos armour, each
of which contains a portion of the very essence of Chaos.
Chaos armour grants a 4+ armour save.
ARMY SPECIAL RULES
28
BOUND DAEMON Chaos Dwarfs make use of Daemonic entities bound into
the hulls of living machines. These creatures are driven
into an unstoppable rage by their confinement.
Units with the Bound Daemon rule are Unbreakable,
Unstable and are subject to the Rampage special rule, as
described below. All of a Bound Daemon's attacks –
including any ranged and special attacks it may have –
are magical and they are affected by any special rule or
spell that has a particular effect on Daemons. RAMPAGE At the beginning of the turn, if a unit which contains at
least one model with the Bound Daemon rule is not in
combat, it must take a Leadership test using its
unmodified Leadership. You may not use the battle
standard bearer's 'Hold Your Ground!' rule to re-roll this
test. If the test is passed, the unit may behave as normal.
If the test is failed, the unit may not shoot but gains the
Random Movement (2D6) rule. Pivot the unit to face the
nearest enemy unit before moving it. If a double is rolled
for its Random Movement, every model in the unit
immediately suffers a Wound with no saves of any kind
allowed. Bound Daemons that are subject to Frenzy will
benefit from the Extra Attack rule as normal, but ignore
the rules for Berserk Rage (this already being taken into
account with Rampage).
The undisputed rulers of Zharr-Naggrund are the Priests of
Hashut, more commonly known as the Sorcerers. The
Sorcerers form a Caste unto themselves, living in and ruling
from the Temple of Hashut at the peak of the great obsidian
city of Zharr-Naggrund and the Sorcerer Lords are the oldest
and most powerful of their number, forming the Conclave that
governs the Chaos Dwarfs' empire. Each Sorcerer Lord rules
a part of the city and all the Chaos Dwarfs and slaves who
live in those areas. They are all incredibly ambitious and they
seek to undermine each other at every turn. In a very real
sense, Chaos Dwarf society is really just a loose alliance of
rival nations each headed up by a powerful Sorcerer Lord.
Only one thing keeps the relentless power-grabbing of the
Sorcerer Lords in check. As a Sorcerer grows older, the
corrupt Daemon-magic he casts beings to wreak changes on
his body. What once was flesh magically transmutes into
inanimate grey stone. Starting from his feet, a Sorcerer
gradually begins to literally turn to stone, until his entire body
is consumed and he becomes a lifeless statue. This terrifying
metamorphosis is known as the Sorcerers' Curse and aged
Sorcerers become increasingly immobile and must be carried
around by their followers. The more powerful and reckless a
Sorcerer, the faster his transformation occurs, and so the most
ambitious and destructive Sorcerer Lords rarely remain in
power long enough to upset the status quo. Once a Sorcerer
Lord has become a statue, he is taken from the Temple of
Hashut to the long highway leading to Zharr-Naggrund where
he is lined up alongside his fellows, staring sightlessly down
on all who approach, a grim reminder of the Chaos Dwarfs'
dedication to Hashut.
Nonetheless, the Sorcerer Lords are powerful magic users.
The incantations of Chaos Dwarfs differ from those of other
races: they do not try to harness the Winds of Magic like the
wizards of Men, but instead draw power from the Daemons
and other magical creatures of the Realm of Chaos. A Chaos
Dwarf Sorcerer might throw a fireball like an Imperial Bright
Wizard, but any scholar of thaumaturgy would instantly
recognise that the Chaos Dwarf's magic missile is composed
of dark, writhing fire spirits, and that it explodes with an
unearthly eldritch scream.
Only Sorcerer Lords have full mastery of the Daemon-magic
of Hashut. The lesser Sorcerers who serve them, known as
Pyrophants and Daemonsmiths, focus on but one aspect of the
Father of Darkness's hellish power, but a Sorcerer Lord is
party to the darkest rites and has learned his skill from the
most blighted tomes of evil knowledge. Ironically though, age
and the Sorcerers' Curse robs Sorcerer Lords of the ability to
make full use of their vile secrets. They no longer have the
time or energy to devote to manufacturing arcane engines and
so leave such trinkets to their Daemonsmith followers.
Likewise, the burning piety of the Pyrophants strikes most
Sorcerer Lords as naive and small-minded, even as they steep
themselves in the teachings of Hashut. Indeed, Sorcerer Lords
are so physically feeble that they must be carried around on
their followers atop a Palanquin, or ride on the back of a
Lammasu or Infernal Engine. Most Sorcerer Lords have legs
or entire lower bodies made from inert stone, and cannot
move under their own power at all. When a Sorcerer Lord's
hands begin to turn to stone, his magical power begins to
wane too, and he knows his time as master is almost over.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Sorcerer Lord 0 4 3 4 5 3 1 1 10
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Character).
MAGIC: Sorcerer Lords are Wizards that use the Lore of
Fire, the Lore of Metal or the Lore of Hashut.
SPECIAL RULES: Bondage of Zharr.
Sorcerers' Curse: As Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers age and grow
in magical power, their bodies begin to turn to stone from the
feet upwards. While this change is horrifying and painful, it
does grant them a measure of natural protection. Models with
the Sorcerers' Curse special rule have a natural armour save
determined by their magic level. A Level 1 Wizard has not
yet succumbed to the Curse so gains no advantage, but a
Level 2 Wizard has a 6+ armour save, a Level 3 Wizard a 5+
armour save and a Level 4 Wizard a 4+ armour save. Like the
Scaly Skin special rule, this may be combined with ordinary
armour and other save bonuses. Furthermore, models with the
Sorcerers' Curse cannot be wounded automatically by
Poisoned Attacks – these must always roll To Wound.
Feet of Stone: Sorcerer Lords are already partially solid stone
and cannot move under their own power. Unless they have a
mount, Sorcerer Lords may not normally move (except by
magical means, etc.), may not charge, pursue or flee and if
they lose a break test in close combat, they are killed
automatically.
SORCERER LORDS
29
Amongst the Dawi'Zharr, the Warrior Caste is privileged and
influential compared to the lower Castes because they alone
have the opportunity to rise to positions of genuine power in
Chaos Dwarf society. A loyal and skilled Warrior can rise up
the hierarchy and emerge as a great leader. A Sorcerer Lord
will recognise such an individual amongst his followers and
reward him accordingly before his desire for power begins to
make him too ambitious. Buying him with titles and honours,
the Sorcerer Lord will ensure he has a steadfast lieutenant at
his side instead of a potential threat to his position.
Each Sorcerer Lord is normally served by a single Overlord, a
supreme warrior who enacts the will of his master on the
battlefield. An Overlord is a terrible, inscrutable foe. Unlike
those below him who crave greater influence, an Overlord has
reached the apex of his career – indeed, the apex of his very
existence – and has nothing to prove to anyone. Supremely
arrogant and cruel, Warlords often ride mighty Great
Tauruses, leading by example as they plunge to earth on their
winged beasts, scattering the enemy. They are the greatest
warriors and leaders in Chaos Dwarf society and, like all of
their Caste, are utterly loyal to the Sorcerer Lord whom they
serve.
An Overlord will usually be gifted with the most powerful
weapons and armour that the soul-forges of his master can
produce. Chaos Dwarfs are one of the few races that can
produce magical artefacts with any reliability, and even the
youngest and least experienced Overlords will go to war with
considerable arcane might at their disposal. Their weapons
are usually bound with evil and powerful sprits or Daemons
and, saturated with dark energy, glow with writhing black
fire. Like all Warriors, Overlords wear Chaos armour, suits of
all-enclosing plate iron wrought with baleful sigils and leering
daemonic faces.
Occasionally, an Overlord may emerge whose ambition and
strength of will eclipses that of his Sorcerer Lord master. As
Sorcerer Lords age, they begin to transform into stone and
become increasingly feeble; they can no longer coordinate
their forces, and the Overlord will begin to set his own
agendas. Eventually, he might become almost completely
autonomous, spending longer and longer away from Zharr-
Naggrund. The Sorcerer Lord may succumb to the Curse in
his general's absence, and then the Conclave will summon the
errant commander back to the Temple to renew his oaths.
Most obey, but there are a few who forsake their duty and
remain in the wastes, their only objective to sow destruction
and take more slaves. Such individuals threaten the stability
of Chaos Dwarf society and will be mercilessly hunted down
so they may be brought to justice. Inevitably this proves
easier said than done, and bloody battles have been fought in
the Dark Lands against Overlords gone renegade and their
hordes of slaves and savage Chaos Dwarf followers.
Whatever their allegiance, Overlords are the most skilled and
dangerous fighters in any Chaos Dwarf army. Only the
mightiest Chaos Champions, brutal Orc Warlords and the fell
Vampire Counts of Sylvania can stand up to them when in
their full panoply of war. Dwarf Lords are particular foes of
Overlords and will always seek them out to avenge the most
ancient of grudges, and then the clash of runic and daemonic
weaponry reverberates through the very fabric of reality.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Overlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Bondage of Zharr.
UPGRADE: Hellforged Artefact: An Overlord may upgrade one
mundane piece of equipment (except a mount) to a Hellforged
Artefact. The Hellforged Artefact counts as a magic item of
its type for the purposes of the Balance of Power rule (so you
could not take a magic weapon if you upgraded the Overlord's
hand weapon to Hellforged, for example) but does not count
against his magic item limit.
A Hellforged Artefact grants its wielder the Bound Daemon
special rule and also endows him with one Daemonic
Upgrade (see page 67). At the start of the game, after all units
have deployed but before the beginning of the first turn, roll a
D6 on the following table for each Hellforged Artefact to
determine which Daemonic Upgrade it grants:
D6 Upgrade
1 Ferocious
2 Fiendish Blast
3 Immortal Hunger
4 Favour of Hashut
5 Obsidian Hull
6 Blazing Body
OVERLORDS
30
While an Overlord may lead each Legion of a Sorcerer Lord's
Warriors, most of the day-to-day running of his domain is
carried out by Despots. These Warriors are skilled and
experienced veteran soldiers who have served for decades or
even centuries in the front line of a Chaos Dwarf slaving
band. They may fill a variety of roles, such as commanding
garrisons, drilling troops in the barracks or captaining
steamships, but their word is law, for they are the direct
servants of their Sorcerer Lord, and speak with his voice, and
hence the voice of Hashut.
In battle, the Despots serve as lieutenants of the Overlord,
using their considerable ferocity and battle knowledge to
anchor the line. With the authority of their masters behind
them, a Despot's orders are just as unquestionable. Like all
Warriors in a Sorcerer Lord's army, a Despot will be distantly
related to his master, but they are not promoted to their
position due to nepotism, for blood ties between Castes are
rarely acknowledged except to bind members of a Clan to one
Sorcerer Lord. Instead, Despots must prove themselves in
battle. Often, they will have served in the Immortals, and
earned glory fighting in all corners of the Dark Lands and
beyond. All Chaos Dwarf Warriors dream of reaching the
rank of Despot, as this is the only way to wield any true
authority in Zharr-Naggrund without being a Sorcerer.
Because of this, Despots are arrogant and cruel, even by
Chaos Dwarf standards, making the most of the relatively
little power that they have. All members of lower Castes
therefore live in fear of Despots, for while a Sorcerer Lord
would never even acknowledge an Artisan or Labourer, a
Despot will find any excuse to mete out brutal punishment.
A Despot will always seek to rise to the position of Overlord,
and some Chaos Dwarf Legions will see a microcosm of the
infighting that exists in the Temple of Hashut between the
Despots, with each trying to rise above his fellows and attract
the attention of the Sorcerer Lord. Assassination is not
unknown, with unscrupulous Despots sometimes making use
of Hobgoblin hirelings to arrange unfortunate 'accidents' or
even simply cutting their supposed allies down in the chaos of
battle and blaming the enemy in the aftermath. Sorcerer Lords
turn a blind eye to this kind of thing, believing the squabbling
results in the strongest rising to power as is only right and
trusting their Overlord to deal with any serious problems that
arise. While the Despots plot bitterly against one another,
only a truly desperate individual would make plans to directly
oust the Overlord, for the consequences of such a plan going
awry would be truly dire. There are always exceptions
though...
One Despot in a Chaos Dwarf Legion will be given the
honour of bearing the Sorcerer Lord's personal standard. This
is seen as a sign of great favour and the Despots vie fiercely
for the task, but it can quite often be a double-edged sword:
not only is a Chaos Dwarf battle standard likely to be an icon
tainted by the powers of Chaos, crafted from daemonbone or
bound with unquiet spirits that warp the bearer's body and
mind, but the large, ornate flags also attract the enemy's
attention. Cunning Overlords therefore sometimes give the
job of bearing the standard to an ambitious Despot they think
may be getting too big for their hat, as the Dawi'Zharr say,
banking on them being too tempting a target to survive the
battle. If they survive, perhaps they have some potential after
all, but if not, there are plenty more volunteers.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Bondage of Zharr.
DESPOTS
Tzar Petyr wheeled his horse around and
gestured behind him at the ranks of
Kislevite warriors that filled the mouth of
the gorge. "There is no way out of this
valley, Dwarf!" he bellowed across the
bare stretch of frozen rock that separated
his host from the small knot of Chaos
Dwarf troops. "I will let you and your
followers leave unmolested if you
surrender now. You have fought bravely,
but if we are forced to destroy you all,
more lives will be lost. This fight is done."
Despot Dhurzhan shook his head bleakly. "I
have been given my orders. I will hold to the
last Dwarf. That is the word of my Sorcerer
Lord, and I shall follow it without question.
It is The Order of Things."
The Tzar stared at him in disbelief. "Do you
really want to give up your life for 'The
Order of Things'?"
Dhurzhan gave a dry chuckle. "It is not my
life to give up, manling...And it never was."
31
When a member of the Sorcerer Caste has completed his
training as an Acolyte of Hashut, he becomes a full member
of the Temple and there are a number of paths open to him.
The vast majority of Sorcerers are ordained as Priests of the
Father of Darkness, for this is the path that leads most directly
to becoming the Sorcerer Lord of their Clan. Even at this
early stage in their careers, Sorcerers are ferociously
ambitious. As Priests, these young Sorcerers are initiated into
the clandestine rites of Hashut, and they learn the true secrets
of summoning and binding the denizens of the Realm of
Chaos and bending them to their will.
While a Daemonsmith may be more interested in using these
enslaved entities to create powerful artefacts and machines
and may therefore experiment with a number of different
techniques and subjects to achieve his esoteric aims, ordinary
Priests lack the imagination and patience for this. Being
ambitious and reckless, they wield the magic of Hashut as a
blunt instrument, seeking to use it to blast their enemies as
quickly and efficiently as possible. To this end, most
Sorcerers are content to bind to their will the most readily
available entities and, in the Dark Lands where the Wind of
Aqshy blows most strongly, these are the Fire Daemons
known as K'daai.
Unlike the servants of the four most powerful Chaos Gods,
K'daai do not have the protection of a mighty patron, nor do
they have the will to manifest in any great strength. They are
mindless, almost animalistic creatures, as uncontrollable and
wavering as the flames that make up their strange forms.
They trouble the world of mortals very rarely, but they can
make powerful weapons for Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers.
Because Chaos Dwarfs cannot control the Winds of Magic
directly like other races, they must use their ability as binders
of Daemons to summon and control K'daai, which they then
twist and shape into the desired form before using them with
the same effect as eldritch blasts of pure magic. Though they
are as blind as other Dwarfs to the Wind of Aqshy, with the
K'daai at their command a Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer can be as
formidable as a skilled pyromancer of the Bright College of
Altdorf.
Because of this apparent mastery over fire, Sorcerers of this
kind of known as Pyrophants. A Pyrophant is not only a
powerful wizard, but his scouring of the Realm of Chaos for
his infernal slaves means he is steeped in arcane lore and
forbidden knowledge. Pyrophants often demonstrate their
mastery with flamboyant accoutrements themed around the
subject of fire and Hashut. They may carry burning brands or
blazing torches with them wherever they go. Their mastery is
tied into the sacred rituals of the Father of Darkness, and they
therefore think of themselves as more pious than their
Daemonsmith contemporaries, who dilute their achievements
with their obsession with filthy metal and childish
mechanisms.
Like Acolytes of Hashut, Pyrophants are zealous and fervent
in their worship. They will often sing the Dirges of Hashut
themselves and join with Acolytes in their sonorous chanting.
In battle, they may be so in tune with one another – literally
and figuratively – that the Acolytes' Dirges aid the Pyrophants
in their Daemon summoning and increase the effectiveness of
their magic. So it is that Pyrophants will often use Acolytes of
Hashut as a bodyguard, both benefitting from their presence
and allowing them to learn from them in turn. Sorcerer Lords
look upon the enthusiasm of young Pyrophants with a certain
fondness, knowing that it will fade with time and the
Sorcerers' Curse, and also that such passion distracts them
from plotting against their master.
Only older Pyrophants, who have learned all that the didactic
rituals of the Temple can teach them, will be ready to ascend
to the status of Sorcerer Lords themselves, and when the old
incumbent dies, they will fight amongst themselves for rule of
the Clan. This is a dangerous time, for Daemonsmiths also
come to the fore, and many Clans down the ages have been
destroyed by infighting between the rival schools of
Sorcerers.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Pyrophant 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Character).
MAGIC: Pyrophants are Wizards that use the Lore of Fire.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Sorcerers' Curse (see page
29), Flaming Attacks.
Dirgemaster: Any Pyrophant that has joined a unit of
Acolytes of Hashut has a +1 bonus to all channelling
attempts.
PYROPHANTS
32
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers may be drawn from any of the lower
Castes, as the talent to perform the rituals of Hashut arises as
randomly as magical potential in other races. Most leave their
pasts behind them, happy to forget the ignominy of being a
lesser creature, but not all completely forget what they may
have learned in the lower levels. Those Sorcerers who were
born amongst the Artisans are sometimes reluctant to let go of
their natural inclination towards craft and design. No doubt
their Dwarfish nature has some part to play in this, for all
Dwarfs – corrupted or not – share a love of finely wrought
objects and cunning machineries. These Sorcerers, who use
their newfound ability to summon Daemons in the creation of
powerful arcane artefacts, are known as Daemonsmiths.
In many ways, Daemonsmiths are the lifeblood of the Chaos
Dwarfs' empire. While Pyrophants are ambitious and Sorcerer
Lords are the driving force behind the works of the
Dawi'Zharr, the labours of the Daemonsmiths are required to
allow the Chaos Dwarfs to make war, and to generate the
trade required to bring gold into the coffers of their masters. It
is the Daemonsmith Sorcerers, working at their red-lit
Hellforges with the aid of their servants the Hellsmiths, that
create the weapons and armour of the Chaos Dwarf Legions,
as well as the huge engines of war that make them so
formidable. It is the mad invention of the Daemonsmiths that
drives Chaos Dwarf technology forward, for each of them
constantly seek to create larger and more terrifying machines
that will earn them wealth and glory. In their own way,
Daemonsmiths are as ambitious as other Sorcerers, but their
drive is focused almost solely on their wild and dangerous
innovations. Pyrophants are content to bind the animalistic
K'daai to their will, but Daemonsmiths scour the Realm of
Chaos for more dangerous prey. A Daemonsmith will
summon and capture a Daemon of one of the four great Chaos
Gods if he believes it will improve one of his inventions, and
risk the complete annihilation of his Hellforge and everyone
in it – including himself. Such was almost the fate of Hothgar
Daemonbane, the most accomplished Daemonsmith in Zharr-
Naggrund.
While Daemonsmiths do most of their work in their
Hellforges and workshops, they are not averse to taking to the
battlefield, where they are considerable foes. A
Daemonsmith's art is similar to a Pyrophant's, and he uses
bound Daemons in the same fashion, though his knowledge of
mechanisms and chemistry alters his focus. The
Daemonsmith's natural inclination towards base metals means
that he will always use his enslaved Daemons to warp, melt
and twist iron, steel and even gromril. Though he may not
realise it, his spectral charges work the Wind of Chamon to
achieve these ends, so that a Daemonsmith is actually an
accomplished alchemist, albeit of an unusual kind.
Daemonsmiths may use their magical power to attack the foe
directly, but they are often more useful to their comrades in a
supporting role, tending to their Daemonic creations.
Daemonsmiths often stay close to the Hellborn Constructs,
Infernal Engines and Doomcannon – which they most likely
created themselves – controlling their eldritch occupants with
muttered incantations, or directing their fire using their
superior knowledge of their own inventions. An experienced
Daemonsmith is thus doubly useful to a Sorcerer Lord, both
as a deadly wizard and a shepherd to his hellish flock.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Character).
MAGIC: Daemonsmiths are Wizards that use the Lore of
Metal.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Sorcerers' Curse (see page
29).
Daemon Binder: If the Daemonsmith is not fleeing, one unit
with the Bound Daemon special rule within 6" may re-roll its
Leadership test for Rampage. This re-roll may be used even if
the test is passed.
Arcane Engineer: If the Daemonsmith is not fleeing, one
Mortal Engine, Doomcannon or Infernal Engine with the
Mawter Daemonic Upgrade within 6" may re-roll the artillery
dice in the event of a misfire.
EQUIPMENT: Hellfire Pistol: This Daemonic weapon fires bolts of pure
daemon-fire and has the following profile:
Range Strength Special Rules
12" 4 Armour Piercing, Quick to Fire,
Flaming Attacks
In addition, any unit that takes a Panic test in the same phase
during which it was wounded by a Hellfire Pistol must do so
with a -1 Leadership penalty.
DAEMONSMITHS
33
The fighting forces of Zharr-Naggrund are composed of the
Legions, those members of the Clan that belong to the
Warrior Caste, an unswervingly loyal army of skilled and
ruthless soldiers. The Warrior Caste are the only Dawi'Zharr
normally permitted to wear the suits of enchanted Chaos
armour, and when they march to war, standing shoulder to
shoulder, they present an unbroken wall of nigh-impenetrable
steel. Chaos Dwarf Warriors carry the traditional armament of
their people; broad-bladed axes that can cleave a foe in two.
Some they wield in one hand, using them in combination with
thick shields of forge-blackened iron, and others are large
enough to be used with two hands. These heavy axes make
Chaos Dwarf Warriors excellent defensive troops, and they
are usually deployed in large blocks by their masters, daring
their enemies to charge them. A phalanx of fully-equipped
Chaos Dwarf Warriors is like unto an anvil of scorched and
bruised iron and lesser troops hurl themselves at them, only to
be dashed apart like inferior steel while the Warriors remain
utterly immovable.
Within the Warrior Caste there is a many-layered hierarchy,
and each Warrior in the Legion knows his place and his role.
Foremost amongst the common soldiery are the feared
Ironguards, Warriors possessed of particular skill and cruelty.
Chosen as much for their loyalty as their experience,
Ironguards ensure obedience to the Order of Things and also
lend their considerable abilities to the fighting. Often, they
sport one of the symbols of Chaos Dwarf authority: tall,
ornate helms or grotesque skeletal masks forged from black
iron, from which they get their title. Ironguards are merciless
foes, and their regiments are loyal to them unto death. In turn,
they serve the Despots with the same blind faith.
Unlike their western kin, Chaos Dwarf Warriors are not
bound together by oaths and camaraderie, but by unspoken
and unbreakable bonds of blood and Caste. A Chaos Dwarf
Warrior serves his Sorcerer Lord master with unthinking
loyalty, and to disobey a command from him is utterly
inconceivable. They are wholly devoted to war and the
acquisition of slaves for Dawi'Zharr society, and do not baulk
at even suicidal orders. A Sorcerer Lord thinks nothing of
pouring out the blood of his Warriors like water if it benefits
himself, and the Warriors accept their place without question.
To a Chaos Dwarf, obedience to their leaders and conformity
to the norms of their society are the most important things in
their lives. Without it, they are nothing.
Even individually, a Chaos Dwarf Warrior is a formidable
foe. Skilled, tough and courageous, albeit in the cause of his
race's warped ideals, there are few other troops able to match
him. Thankfully for the enemies of the Chaos Dwarfs, they
are relatively few, usually being outnumbered by the mobs of
their pitiful slaves.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Chaos Dwarf Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding.
CHAOS DWARF WARRIORS
Warrior Cults
Although deviation from the accepted
norms is strictly forbidden in Chaos
Dwarf society, this is much harder to
enforce outside the confines of zharr-
naggrund. On campaign, Warriors will
adopt particular fighting techniques,
styles of arms and armour, and develop
specialities depending on which enemies
they face. As with all things for the
Dawi'Zharr, these tendencies have
become exaggerated and formalised
over the centuries, so that now there
are several distinct warrior cults that
transcend divisions of clan. These
include the Embersworn, who
specialise in hunting and capturing
daemons, the feared Blackguard of
Uzkulak who crew the mighty Chaos
Dwarf warships and the psychotic
Infernal Guard of the Black Fortress
who are made up of disgraced Warriors
driven out of their own Clans. Long
ago, the Stormcallers were a Warrior
Cult of their own, but over time the
popularity of their armament lead to it
being adopted by almost all Chaos
Dwarf Legions, and they can no longer
properly be called a cult.
34
Though Chaos Dwarf society is dominated by tradition and
order, they are all too ready to develop new methods of war
that take advantage of their advanced technology and
murderous innovation. While most Warriors march into battle
with broad shields and wickedly sharp axes, there are those
amongst the Warrior Caste who have the honour of being
trained with the Chaos Dwarfs' most unique signature
armament: the feared blunderbuss. These soldiers are known
as Stormcallers because of the thunderous noise made when
their weapons are fired. The blunderbuss is an extremely
dangerous firearm, with a wide flared end which produces a
highly unusual effect when fired. Instead of using solid shot
like the primitive guns of the Old World, the Chaos Dwarf
blunderbuss fires razor-sharp shards of iron that are loaded
into the muzzle. The black-powder propels the ammunition at
high velocity and the shape of the weapon causes it to spread
out, filling the air with spinning pieces of red-hot metal so
that even enemy cowering behind defences cannot escape the
effect – stone walls are bypassed, whereas lesser fortifications
are simply shredded by the devastating blast. Stormcallers
thus make excellent assault troops, in contrast to the defensive
Warriors, and Stormcaller regiments are frequently made up
of some of the most savage members of a Sorcerer's retinue,
which is appropriate given the experimental nature of their
main weapon. To enhance their ferocious nature, some
Stormcaller regiments affix curved, hooked blades to the end
of their weapons, enabling them to function as a kind of crude
polearm. These blades are an ancient Chaos Dwarf design and
are known as sappara.
Accuracy is almost irrelevant when firing a blunderbuss;
instead weight of fire becomes the most valuable asset.
Blunderbusses are long enough that warriors in the rear ranks
of a regiment of Stormcallers can push the muzzles of their
weapons past their fellows, contributing to the devastation
wrought by the volley. Rather like a formation of bowmen,
the rear ranks are thus able to shoot too if they take the time
to position themselves properly. This advantage also allows
Stormcallers to form into blocks just like their Warrior
fellows, because the larger the regiment, the more deadly
their blunderbusses become. In this fashion, Stormcallers are
able to blast advancing foes with their guns and then absorb
the charge of any that survive, unsheathing sharp axes and
deadly curved swords to defend themselves, or simply
cleaving them in twain with their sappara.
Stormallers have proved their effectiveness time and time
again over the centuries, and are most devastating against
lightly armed rabble such as hordes of greenskins or Skaven,
against whom Chaos Dwarfs often compete over the scant
resources of the Dark Lands. One famous tale recalls a battle
over ownership of a meteor of pure warpstone. A scurrying
tide of verminous Skaven braved the surface world – under
cover of the Dark Lands' continuous grey pall, of course – to
win this coveted prize, but the Chaos Dwarfs of Sorcerer Lord
Huzaroth had reached it first. His Stormcallers held out for
days against wave after wave of Skavenslaves, driven forward
by their squealing Warlords and Grey Seers, slicing each rank
to pieces with continuous volleys from their blunderbusses. In
the end, the Chaos Dwarfs were forced to use shards of the
warpstone itself as ammunition, which only made them more
deadly. By the end, the meteor was two-thirds its original size
and the Skaven had been annihilated.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding.
EQUIPMENT: Blunderbuss: This is a firearm unique to the Chaos Dwarfs
which becomes more dangerous when fired en masse. It uses
the following profile:
Range Strength Special Rules
18" 3 Armour Piercing, Ignore Hit Modifiers*,
Volley Fire
*Blunderbusses never count bonuses or penalties to hit when
shooting, regardless of the source of the modifier. Note that
the Volley Fire rule represents the effect of their massed fire;
they do not literally fire in an arc like bows.
Saparra: Some Stormcallers fit their blunderbusses with
these wicked blades. A Stormcaller unit with saparra counts
as being armed with halberds.
STORMCALLERS
"Hold...hold...hold...
"...FIRE!!!"
Stormguard Zaghaz Blackheart
35
Of all the many slaves that live in the Chaos Dwarfs' empire,
one race enjoys special favour; the treacherous and conniving
Hobgoblins. These unpleasant greenskins are a kind of tall,
rangy Goblin native to the eastern steppes. Hobgoblins are
physically quite similar to their goblinoid cousins, but they
are taller, with needle-like teeth and sneering, beady eyes.
They tend towards grotesquely bulbous noses and floppy ears,
not unlike Gnoblars, but their features can vary quite
considerably as proximity to the dark magic of their masters
can lead to frequent mutation. One feature all Hobgoblins
have in common though is a bony, scarred hump on their
backs. This has evolved over the millennia to compensate for
the defining trait of the Hobgoblin race: they are utterly,
irredeemably treacherous and backstabbing. In fact, so deeply
ingrained is the Hobgoblins' reputation for underhandedness
that they were despised by all other greenskins even before
the events of the Black Orc rebellion.
Chaos Dwarfs found Hobgoblins mildly useful as slaves in
ancient times but when they turned on their fellow greenskins
during the Black Orc rebellion, their future was assured.
Since that time the Chaos Dwarfs have used their Hobgoblin
slaves as overseers and warriors in their armies. They are not
forced to perform labour, and instead enjoy relative freedom.
While Chaos Dwarfs still treat Hobgoblins with absolute
contempt, and take pains to ensure they are always aware of
their place in the pecking order, their supervisory role over
the wretched hordes of lesser slaves makes them invaluable.
The Chaos Dwarfs lack the numbers to enforce their rule
personally, so would be lost without the Hobgoblin slave
drivers. Similarly, by placing the despised Hobgoblins over
the other (mostly greenskin) slaves, this means that any
feelings of resentment, and even outright uprisings, will be
focused on them rather than the Dawi'Zharr themselves.
Hobgoblins are allowed to keep their own tribes and other
cultural peculiarities. In their own lands beyond the
Mountains of Mourn, Hobgoblins rule the vast steppes as
tribes of Wolf Riders and some of the Dark Lands Hobgoblins
follow this tradition, vying with the Goblin Wolf Riders for
dominance over the wastes. But the majority of Hobgoblins in
the service of Zharr-Naggrund prefer to fight on foot. Their
numerous tribes are essentially indistinguishable to anyone
except the Hobgoblins themselves, but they include the Red
Hoodz, the Barbed Choppaz, the Wolf Eyez and the Daemon
Stikkaz. Most notorious of all though are the Sneaky Gitz.
These vile traitors are infamous even amongst Hobgoblins for
their conniving nature. Being willing to sell one other down
the river for a pittance as well as having the virtue of keeping
their own numbers in check thanks to their frequent and
generally unprovoked assassinations makes them even more
useful to the Chaos Dwarfs, so they have risen to a position of
prominence. The Sneaky Gitz have sovereignty over Gash
Kadrak, the Vale of Woe, and the quarries there produce
much of the masonry required for the Chaos Dwarfs' building
projects.
All Hobgoblins are notorious for their tendency to use poison.
They envenom their axes, swords and even their arrows so
that even the most superficial wound festers and putrefies.
They have perfected the poisoners' art because it is the easiest
way for the cowardly Hobgoblins to successfully assassinate
each other with minimal risk to themselves. The Sneaky Gitz
are the most reviled poisoners of all though, and they use
pairs of distinctive curved knives in battle. Their natural
slippery nature also means Sneaky Gitz – and other
Hobgoblins too – will slink out of danger when finally
brought to battle, remerging at the foes' flanks and rear to
bury their knives in their backs, as is their wont.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hobgoblin Warrior 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Hobgoblin Boss 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable, Poisoned Attacks.
Backstabbers: Hobgoblins have a seemingly supernatural
ability to work their way around to an enemy's flanks and
eventually rear so they can stab them in the back. In the first
round of each close combat, a unit of Hobgoblin Warriors
automatically receives the +1 combat result bonus for a flank
attack. In the second and subsequent rounds of the same
combat, this is increased to +2 for a rear attack. Do not
actually move any models – only a few of the gits manage to
slip out of formation and this is represented by the bonus.
However, even though they always count as flanking or
attacking from the rear, a Hobgoblin Warrior unit may never
negate the enemy's rank bonus by disrupting them (even if
they actually do attack from the flank or rear) because they
are much too slippery to actually stand their ground and fight
fairly!
HOBGOBLIN WARRIORS
36
The Chaos Dwarfs who inhabit the Plain of Zharr are
outnumbered many times over by their wretched slaves who
labour in the depths of Zharr-Naggrund. Chaos Dwarf society
would not be able to function without its slaves, as it is their
suffering and toil that makes their industry possible. Because
the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is constantly expanding, they
always need new slaves, and most of the captives who work
under the lash of the Dawi'Zharr are captured in raids and
battles. The majority of these slaves are greenskins, usually
Goblins and Gnoblars as these are the weakest and most
numerous inhabitants of the Dark Lands. Hundreds of
thousands of these miserable creatures are worked to death by
their cruel masters, labouring in the forges and factories to
sustain the dark industry of the Chaos Dwarfs. Slaves are also
used in great numbers in the Temple of Hashut, but here they
do not have to work: instead, they are part of the gruesome
sacrifices to the Father of Darkness, and are exterminated in
numerous grisly rituals. Most often slaves are immersed in
cauldrons of molten lead or gold, but they may also be roasted
alive in iron bull-idols, flayed alive by Bull Centaurs or
simply fed to Great Tauruses. There is no depth of savagery
to which the Sorcerers will not sink if they believe it will win
them the favour of Hashut and, indeed, these acts of wanton
cruelty and bloodshed do aid their daemonic magic by
drawing the entities to them like sharks to blood.
Many slaves are also obtained through trade. Greenskins are
particularly unscrupulous in this regard, and will cheerfully
sell their own kind to the Chaos Dwarfs rather than simply
slaughter the survivors of a defeated tribe. Orc tribes in the
Dark Lands often pay a tribute in Goblin flesh in exchange
for their own continued freedom, and Ogres march thousands
of Gnoblars to the Plain of Zharr in order to trade them for
weaponry for their Leadbelchers or more esoteric treasures.
Marauder tribes of the north bring slaves from as far as Grand
Cathay and the Old World, and even Men from the so-called
civilised lands of the Empire and Kislev have been drawn to
the potential profits of the slave trade, though the
consequences for dealing with Zharr-Naggrund are dire
indeed – not least from the Chaos Dwarfs themselves, for
they will turn on potential trading partners as soon as they
outlive their usefulness.
Some slaves are of a larger and burlier kind: Chaos Dwarfs
disparagingly call these slaves Brutes, and they are used for
the most dangerous and backbreaking tasks, where resilience
and ferocity are more important than malleability. Brutes are
heavily scared from alchemical accidents, mutated from work
in the Hellforges or even modified and mutilated by their
masters for pit fighting. The majority are Orcs captured in
battle or bred in the pens, along with brawny human Chaos
Marauders from the north, a smattering of wretched Dwarfs
and a few more unusual creatures like Skaven Stormvermin,
Beastmen, Lizardmen or cyclopean Fimir from the marshes
along the coast of the Sea of Dread. Brutes are ideal for use in
battle, where their superior constitutions ensure they stand a
chance of making it to the enemy's lines before being killed.
Chaos Dwarfs sometimes arm Brutes with weapons as large
and unsubtle as themselves, such as huge two-handed axes or
wickedly hooked flails. With such tools, Brutes are able to
take out their aggression at their ill-treatment on the foes of
their masters, thoughts of true rebellion long banished from
their damaged minds by years of suffering and degradation.
When Chaos Dwarfs go to war, they often have Hobgoblin
Overseers herd their slaves before them, driving them forward
with whips in great packs of wailing, chained individuals.
Unlike Hobgoblin tribes, slaves are not permitted their own
banners or musicians; the Chaos Dwarfs have discovered
through bitter experience that slaves given something to unite
beneath will do exactly that, and more often than not will do
so against their masters. Slave regiments are therefore kept
intentionally shambolic and ineffective. Since their only real
objective is to die, their ability to fight as a unified force is
largely irrelevant.
In these disorganised mobs, Elf and Dwarf rub shoulder with
Man, Orc and Goblin, racial and societal divisions – so vital
to Chaos Dwarfs themselves – ignored for their wretched
captives. In this manner, slaves participate in the acquisition
of more slaves, who fuel the evil industry that produces
weapons of war to take more slaves. The cycle perpetuates
endlessly, serving no purpose but itself: an irony only the
broken and defeated slaves are in a position to understand.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5
Brute 4 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 5
Hobgoblin Overseer 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable.
SLAVES
37
The Immortals are an elite military formation in Chaos Dwarf
society. They are drawn from the Warrior Caste, but do not
serve a particular Sorcerer Lord. Instead, veteran Warriors
may be volunteered by their Overlords for service in the
Immortals. They are taken to the Tower of Zharr, an annex of
the Temple of Hashut itself and given more training and
better weapons. They are transformed from ordinary soldiers
into fearless, faceless figures of awe and dread. Immortals are
charged with the defence of the Sorcerer Lords and it is their
solemn duty to preserve the leaders of their civilisation. Any
Immortal would gladly sacrifice himself to ensure a Sorcerer
Lord's survival.
Immortals are clad in the same impenetrable blackened Chaos
armour as other Warriors, but theirs is more ornate, bedecked
in unholy icons and vile totems and they bear monstrous axes
that are covered in foul daemonic runes. The Immortals have
never been known to take a step backwards, save to bear an
injured Sorcerer Lord away from battle, and when they form
up around one of their charges they will defiantly stare down
any threat, fearlessly ignoring even the most terrible foes.
When an Immortal is recruited, he serves in the formation for
a fixed period of seven years. Though an Overlord loses a
capable Warrior by volunteering him for the Immortals, the
price is worth it as the Warrior will gain valuable experience
– many Despots and Overlords served in the Immortals
during their youth. When an Immortal's service ends, or he
dies in battle, he is replaced and his arms and armour given to
his replacement. In this manner, the Immortals are always
kept at full strength, adding to their dark mystique amongst
their enemies. The only exception to this strict rule regarding
length of service are the mighty Baneguards, who are those
Immortals who have survived when the Sorcerer Lord they
were protecting has fallen. Such Immortals have failed in
their first duty and must serve until death as a penance. They
are cast out from their Clan, mourned as if dead, and must
bear the awful knowledge of their failure. Their extended
service and desire for redemption make them fearsome foes
and, though they are considered disgraced by their peers, they
are given the honour of leading from the front.
The Immortals are a powerful weapon; an elite force even
amongst an army of indefatigable and unswervingly loyal
soldiers and they are not deployed idly. Any Sorcerer Lord
may appeal to the Conclave of the Temple to have a unit
placed under the command of his Overlord and, if his mission
is judged by a majority to be in the best interests of
Dawi'Zharr society as a whole, his request will be granted.
Unsurprisingly, the voting process is not always fair. A weak
Sorcerer Lord with little influence is unlikely to be able to
secure the services of the Immortals, and he must instead buy
favours from the Sorcerer Lords who wield the true power in
the Temple. In practice, this makes the Immortals little more
than mercenaries, for many times they have been assigned to
a Legion in exchange for tributes of slaves or gold to the likes
of Ghorth the Cruel or High Priest Astragoth, who then used
their influence to sway the voting. For their part, the most
powerful Sorcerer Lords can always rely upon a force of
Immortals to command should they ever require it.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Immortal 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9
Baneguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Hatred, Stubborn.
Indomitable Defence: Immortals are excellent defensive
troops, presenting their foes with a wall of impenetrable steel.
If an Immortal unit did not move in that turn they increase
their parry save to 5+ instead of 6+ when using their Cursed
Weapons and shields.
Oathsworn: Immortals are sworn to defend the masters of
Zharr-Naggrund to the death. If a Sorcerer Lord joins a unit of
Immortals, they are Immune to Psychology.
EQUIPMENT: Cursed Weapons: Immortals are armed with a mixture of
axes, maces and warhammers, all bearing foul daemonic
runes. Cursed Weapons count as magical hand weapons
(including allowing a parry save) and grant Immortals +1
Strength in close combat.
IMMORTALS
"You are the Immortals. You do not
know pain. You do not know fear. You
do not know death."
Baneguard H'Zharkh
38
When the ability to work the strange rituals of Hashut is
discovered in young Chaos Dwarfs, they are brought to the
Temple to be initiated into the Sorcerer Caste. Eventually,
they will be ordained as Priests and become Pyrophants and
Daemonsmiths, and a tiny fraction will rise to become the
Sorcerer Lord of their Clan, but until that time they will serve
in the Temple, aiding the dark rites of the god of Zharr-
Naggrund. They are known as Acolytes of Hashut at this
stage in their fledgling careers, and their training is mostly
concerned with the religious rites of the Father of Darkness.
Gradually, they learn to master their natural skill with
summoning Daemons, first with prayers and later with a form
of arrhythmic hymnals known as Dirges. These Dirges are
disturbing and chaotic: they make a listener's skin crawl and
fill their minds with strange, grotesque images. They are not
truly random, but in fact follow a complex mathematical
formula connected to the geometry of a ziggurat. This
encoded pattern, said to have been handed to the first
Sorcerers by Hashut himself, resonates within the Realm of
Chaos, stirring the Winds of Magic into a frenzied tempest
and dragging Daemons too weak to fight its power into the
material world.
Sorcerers use Acolytes and their Dirges as a human lord
hunting game might use his squires and their hounds, harrying
their prey from cover. Acolytes are an important part of many
of the rituals of Hashut within the Temple. Alongside the
Bull Centaurs, they preside over many gruesome rites of
sacrifice. It is the job of the Acolytes to herd cowering slaves
towards the cauldrons of molten metal, which they do using
long ceremonial glaives with curved and cruelly hooked
blades. As the souls of their victims escape into the
Empyrean, gathering Daemons to the border between reality
and the Realm of Chaos like prowling wolves, the Acolytes
and the Sorcerers strike, letting up a hellish cacophony that
elicits an answering scream from those Daemons and K'daai
who now find themselves slaves to a mortal master.
Acolytes take to the battlefield cloaked in heavy robes, their
faces obscured by brass skull masks. They march in awful
silence, keeping perfect step until the time comes for them to
unleash the Dirges of Hashut. At this point they let up a
resonant chanting, and the Dirge begins to grow in power,
surrounding them with tortured spirits. These screeching
spectres attach themselves to those loyal to Hashut,
empowering them with daemonic energy or even warping
their bodies like the Sorcerers' Curse, temporarily making
their flesh as hard as granite. Individually, each Acolyte is as
yet unable to perform even the simplest cantrip, but together
they are capable of considerable feats of magical power, and
the Dirges can whip the Winds of Magic into a tempest. Once
they reach the lines of the foe, they attack with methodical
precision, cutting their enemies down with the same glaives
they use for ushering slaves to their doom. Acolytes of
Hashut are as formidable as any other Chaos Dwarf in battle,
and wear thick plate amour of scorched iron, although they do
not have access to the expensive suits of Chaos armour,
reserved for Warriors and the Daemonsmiths who produce it.
Acolytes who are almost ready to be raised to the status of
true Sorcerers are known as Khazn. These dour individuals
lead the Dirges, controlling the form that the incantations
take. This mastery leads naturally into the more complex
summoning rites that make up the strange battlefield magic of
the Dawi'Zharr. Khazn are furious fighters, but as they start to
summon Daemons on their own the Sorcerers' Curse takes
hold and their youthful exuberance soon fades.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Acolyte of Hashut 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Khazn 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding.
Dirges of Hashut: Acolytes of Hashut know the three Dirges
listed below. Dirges are innate bound spells (power level 3).
They are augment spells cast by the entire unit on itself and
last until the start of the next friendly Magic phase.
Dirge of Fire: The unit and all other friendly units without the
Disposable rule within 6" have the Hatred and Flaming
Attacks special rules. Bound Daemons also gain the Extra
Attack special rule.
Dirge of Stone: The unit and all other friendly units without
the Disposable rule within 6" have the 6+ Scaly Skin special
rule. Bound Daemons also gain Regeneration (6+).
Dirge of Storms: A friendly Sorcerer Lord, Pyrophant or
Daemonsmith within 6" of at least one unit using the Dirge of
Storms has a +1 casting bonus in this magic phase.
In addition, Acolytes of Hashut units always count as
including a musician.
ACOLYTES OF HASHUT
39
Once a Sorcerer has succumbed entirely to the Sorcerers'
Curse and has become an immobile statue he is placed along
the road to Zharr-Naggrund. Here, serried ranks of lifeless
stone Sorcerers stare down at travellers; their sightless eyes a
haunting reminder of the power of Hashut. The Chaos Dwarfs
treat these statues with the utmost respect, leaving them to be
weathered by the elements over the ages. However, the
petrified Sorcerers retain a portion of the power that they had
in life, and a miasma of dread and dark energy surrounds the
statues that cannot be attributed merely to their baleful
appearance.
Sometimes, as a demonstration of devotion to their
transformed ancestors, Chaos Dwarf armies will carry a
Petrified Sorcerer into battle, borne on a dais in a manner not
dissimilar to the way in which a Sorcerer Lord's Palanquin is
carried while he lives. The Petrified Sorcerers are transfixed
at the final moment of their horrifying transformation into
stone, and their faces betray their terror – most Petrified
Sorcerers have faces frozen into a rictus of pain and dread. As
such, they are a grotesque symbol of Chaos Dwarfs' devotion
to the Father of Darkness and enemies baulk when confronted
with them.
Immortals commonly carry Petrified Sorcerers in imitation of
their role as bearers of the Palanquins of living Sorcerer
Lords, but Acolytes of Hashut are also often given the honour
due to their standing as part of the Sorcerer Caste and their
magical abilities which are only enhanced by the presence of
one of their transformed masters. Such an honoured battalion
bears the Petrified Sorcerer like a standard, and the Legion
will frequently form around them, the lifeless idol becoming a
focus for their collective malice. Despite their own dread of
their eventual fate, living Sorcerers fighting beside a Petrified
Sorcerer are careful not to give away any sign of discomfort,
for they are as bound to their eventual demise as their
followers are to the lifetime of service that is demanded of
them. To shirk acceptance of the Sorcerers' Curse is to deny
the Order of Things, and an uncomfortable reminder of the
disastrous end of Zhargon's reign of terror over Zharr-
Naggrund. It is for this reason that any Sorcerer who attempts
to find a cure for the Curse must keep his experiments secret.
If he were to be discovered, he would soon be overthrown.
Petrified Sorcerers are not always taken from the roads
leading to Zharr-Naggrund. There have been occasions when
an aged Sorcerer Lord on his way to lead his troops into battle
succumbs to the Sorcerers' Curse before the fight is joined. In
this case, his loyal soldiers will bear his stone corpse both as
proof of their dedication and to protect it, lest it fall into
enemy hands. Such impromptu Petrified Sorcerers are more
powerful than the weathered statues of centuries past, for the
dark magic of the fallen Sorcerer seems to linger much more
strongly. There is a dark suspicion in the Temple, never
voiced, that when the Sorcerers' Curse finally renders one of
their number completely inert, the mind or spirit may live on,
trapped in a prison of lifeless stone, growing maddened by the
horrific confinement. It is impossible to know if this is true or
not but, nonetheless, more recently transformed Petrified
Sorcerers do seem to retain a greater store of the power that
they had in life, as if some spark of sentience was striving
from deep within to reach out and affect the world around it
again.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Petrified Sorcerer 3 * 0 * 4 6 2 4 10
TROOP TYPE: Unique.
SPECIAL RULES: Bondage of Zharr, Blessing of Hashut,
4+ Scaly Skin, 4+ ward save, Fear.
*Fell Icon: A Petrified Sorcerer is carried aloft in battle by a
unit of Immortals or Acolytes of Hashut. The Petrified
Sorcerer may not leave its unit for the duration of the game,
and is always placed in the front rank like a member of the
command group (which it will displace if there is no room). A
Petrified Sorcerer uses the Weapon Skill and Strength
characteristics of the unit carrying it, follows any movement
rules they may use and counts as being armed with the same
weapons, even if there are no other models remaining in the
unit. While there are rank and file models left in the unit,
always remove one in preference to the Petrified Sorcerer
taking a Wound (it is assumed that if one of the bearers falls,
another rank and file model steps in) – the Petrified Sorcerer
may not be targeted separately in any circumstances. Only
when the rest of the unit has been killed does the Petrified
Sorcerer start taking Wounds, even in close combat. Any unit
containing a Petrified Sorcerer has the Blessing of Hashut
special rule.
Dark Power: If an Acolytes of Hashut unit is carrying a
Petrified Sorcerer, their Dirges will affect appropriate friendly
units within 12" instead of 6".
PETRIFIED SORCERERS
40
Not all Chaos Dwarf war machines are powered by enslaved
Daemons – there is still a call for mundane cannon and other
weapons of death. These relatively simple engines make use
of physics and chemistry to fire shells and rockets at the
enemy. The most common Mortal Engines are bolt throwers;
braced frames that fire enormous spear-sized bolts into the
ranks of the foe, punching through armour as if it were paper.
Also common are bazookas which launch explosive rockets,
shooting them into enemy formations and acting on the same
principle as bolt throwers. Sometimes Chaos Dwarfs also
employ devices like mortars, small cannon that launch shells
or petards into the air to fall amongst their terrified targets.
While Daemons are not used to power these devices, some
Sorcerers cannot resist imbuing their ammunition with bound
Daemons or other arcane technology.
Because most Mortal Engines are ordinary devices that do not
involve arcane forces, the Chaos Dwarfs trust their slaves to
operate them. A Goblin or Gnoblar cannot be relied upon to
load and fire a bolt thrower, of course, but a Hobgoblin can
generally manage it and many of these simple engines are
actually designed and built by the cunning greenskins. The
destructive power of such a device pales in comparison to
anything the Chaos Dwarfs themselves can build, but they can
be fielded in large batteries and are quite capable of causing
havoc if used under the guidance of a Chaos Dwarf general.
Some Mortal Engines can be quite large and their ammunition
heavy and cumbersome. In order to use these effectively, the
Chaos Dwarfs must be assisted by enslaved Ogres. Such a
beast needs to understand nothing of the cannon he is loading,
which is fortunate as Ogres have no talent whatsoever with
machinery (except at eating it if required) and the only
resource they bring to the endeavour is their brute strength.
The unexpected bonus of having such a burly crewman is that
he will defend the Mortal Engine alongside the other
operators, adding his considerable combat prowess to their
own fighting strength, ensuring the batteries can continue to
unload their fearsome ammunition into the enemies' ranks.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - -
Hobgoblin Crew 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Chaos Dwarf Crew 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Slave Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7
TROOP TYPE: War Machine (Bolt Thrower).
SPECIAL RULES: Mixed Crew: Mortal Engines often have a crew made up of
models with different profiles. When a crew member's
characteristic values must be used, always use the highest
available. Crew each use their own Weapon Skill, Strength
and Attacks characteristics when they attack in close combat.
When removing casualties, Hobgoblins are always removed
first, followed by the Slave Ogre and finally any Chaos
Dwarfs. The Mortal Engine will not benefit from the Chaos
Dwarfs' armour save until only Chaos Dwarf crew are left.
Slave Ogre: A Slave Ogre counts as part of the Mortal
Engine's crew in all respects, but adds 3 instead of 1 to the
model's Wounds characteristic. Remove the Slave Ogre only
when the Mortal Engine loses these additional Wounds
(subject to the Mixed Crew rule above).
Daemonic Upgrades: Mortal Engines that have been
upgraded to Arcane Artillery may take a single Daemonic
Upgrade as described in their army list entry.
EQUIPMENT: Mortal Engine: Mortal Engines follow the rules for bolt
throwers as described in the Warhammer rulebook. A Mortal
Engine upgraded to Arcane Artillery instead counts as a stone
thrower with a maximum range of 48". Mortal Engines
upgraded to Arcane Artillery use the Black Powder War
Machine Misfire chart. If they have been given any Daemonic
Upgrades, all rolls on the Misfire chart have a -1 penalty.
Treat results of less than 1 as 1.
MORTAL ENGINES
Usually, Mortal Engines have to be dragged into
battle by enslaved Ogres or some other beast of
burden, but Chaos Dwarf Legions with access to
the services of a talented Daemonsmith may be
able to procure something more unusual, such as
a monster made of hissing pistons and grinding
wheels, given a semblance of life by Daemonic
enchantments. More common are the great steam
engines which can haul an entire caravan of
Mortal Engines across the Dark Lands. Though
usually mundane in nature, the knowledge of
alchemy and engineering required to reliably
build such a complex machine is almost as
valuable as the Daemonsmiths' arcane lore.
41
Since time immemorial, the dream of every Daemonsmith has
been to create an entire army of automatons bound with the
essences of enslaved Daemons. Although Chaos Dwarfs are
generally unswervingly loyal troops, a Legion of iron
soldiers, inured to injury and fear, would be a force that
would shake the world to its very foundations. Each year the
Daemonsmiths come closer and closer to this goal, and the
result of their experiments are the Hellborn Constructs. A
collective term for a wide variety of strange and unstable
creations, Hellborn Constructs can take many forms, but most
are crafted in the shape of a squat, hulking figure, not unlike a
large Dwarf with flesh of iron, gromril or even living stone.
Towering over mortal soldiers, these weird beings are
sometimes called Golems, after similar artificial warriors
from the most ancient Dwarf legends. Golems, it was said,
would obey any command given, but were prone to executing
them too efficiently, and demolishing entire mountains after
no one thought to tell them to stop digging. Hellborn
Constructs are equally unstable, but for different reasons; the
capricious entities that empower them rage against their
confinement, and send their prisons of metal or stone out of
control.
Some Hellborn Constructs take the form of beasts or
monsters. The most common such form chosen is that of the
bull, the shape in which Hashut most often manifests.
Hellborn Constructs like this are generally more ferocious,
perhaps adopting on some level the characteristics of the
fierce god they were intended to evoke. Burning with barely-
suppressed infernal energy, these Constructs resemble smaller
versions of the mighty Great Taurus, and it is not unknown
for them to serve as a mount for a Daemonsmith in a similar
way to the larger monster. Such an arrangement is not without
risk, of course, but a Hellborn Construct is nothing if not
deadly, and it is typical of the Chaos Dwarfs to potentially
sacrifice their wellbeing, or even their very lives, for the
possibility of short-term gain.
All kinds of Daemons are enslaved to create Hellborn
Constructs, but the most commonly used are the K'daai. Just
as in the summoning incantations of the Chaos Dwarfs, these
strange creatures' natural affinity with fire makes them easy
prey for Daemonsmiths, and even Pyrophants have been
known to attempt to bind them to create beasts similar to
Hellborn Constructs. The efforts of such dangerously
imaginative individuals produce not a machine of metal and
gears powered by a Daemon, but instead an altogether
stranger and, if possible, even more unstable servant.
Fireborn, as these are sometimes called, are creatures of
molten rock and blazing fire; infernal soldiery roughly
confined to a Dwarfish shape that flicker and sputter their
way across the battlefield before crashing into the ranks of the
foe, immolating them with their own crackling bodies. Such
dangerous living weapons are rarely encountered, but few
enemies can forget the frightening experience of trying to
fight them in battle.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hellborn Construct 6 4 0 5 5 3 2 3 7
TROOP TYPE: Monstrous Beast.
SPECIAL RULES: Bound Daemon, Fear.
Hellborn Steed: Daemonsmiths may take Hellborn
Constructs as a mount option. This is selected as normal from
the army list entry, but ignore the unit size restrictions. A
Daemonsmith mounted on a Hellborn Construct gains the
Unbreakable special rule.
Daemonic Upgrades: Hellborn Constructs have access to
Daemonic Upgrades as detailed in their army list entry. All
Hellborn Constructs in a unit must take the same combination
of Daemonic Upgrades.
HELLBORN CONSTRUCTS
K'daai
If there exists a coherent origin for the Fire
Daemons known as K'daai, it is not recorded,
even in the most dismal and dread tomes of
Zharr-Naggrund. It is most likely that they are
just naturally occurring manifestations of
the Wind of Aqshy, no different in their basic
nature from the Forest Spirits of Athel Loren
or the fierce elemental spirits of Araby known
as Djinn. This would explain their presence in
the Bright Magic saturated wastes of the Dark
Lands. However, some Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers
have the notion that the K'daai are creatures
of Hashut, sent to serve the Dawi'Zharr long
ago, or even that they were created by the
earliest Pyrophants from the stuff of magic
and the souls of those sacrificed on the first
primitive altars to the Father of Darkness.
Whatever the truth of it, the destiny of the
K'daai is now inextricably bound to that of
their Chaos Dwarf masters.
42
Beyond the wild peaks of the Mountains of Mourn are the
vast windswept steppes that stretch thousands of leagues to
the Far Sea on the other side of the world. This seemingly
infinite wasteland is, against all probability, populated by
many different peoples. The Chaos Marauders of the Kurgan
and Hung tribes roam the steppes on their horses, constantly
striking south to raid the more civilised lands, and there are
even foolish merchants and caravans that try to cross the great
distances to reach fabled Cathay and Nippon. However, there
is only one race that is truly native to the steppes: the
Hobgoblins.
How Hobgoblins became divided from the other greenskins is
lost in the mists of time, but they have grown to be a race
apart with their own customs and languages. Their hegemony
is the dominant force in the region, raiding and marauding at
will, presiding over tracts of land that dwarf the human
nations of the Old World, and even mighty Cathay. The
Hobgoblins have mastered the giant wolves that are also
native to the steppes. These beasts, warped in ancient times
by the power of Chaos, can grow to gargantuan sizes, but
even the smaller specimens ridden by the average Hobgoblin
warrior are larger and fiercer than any wolf of the western
lands.
Long ago, several Hobgoblin tribes migrated across the
Mountains of Mourn into the Dark Lands. When the Chaos
Dwarfs arrived in the Plain of Zharr, they enslaved them
alongside the other greenskins they found there. It was only
later, when the Hobgoblins turned on the Black Orcs, that
they were given such a relatively privileged position. At the
same time, the Chaos Dwarfs began trading with the
Hobgoblin hegemony across the mountains and formed a
lasting alliance with them. In exchange for a tribute of slaves,
the Chaos Dwarfs agreed to respect the borders between their
two nations and not raid their territory. This peace has never
been completely robust, but both races enact token
punishments on any tribes or Clans that flout the letter of the
agreement and the illusion of an alliance between two of the
most evil and untrustworthy peoples in the world is
maintained.
Hobgoblins are naturally treacherous and deceitful. They are
divided into many warring tribes and though the Great
Hobgobla Khan claims to lead the entire race, they are
actually just as fractured as all greenskins. Often, tribes will
migrate to the Dark Lands en masse and are sometimes
enslaved by the Chaos Dwarfs if they begin raiding – Chaos
Dwarfs do not suffer such things in their own lands. On most
occasions though, Hobgoblins from the east will offer up their
services as mercenaries, putting their considerable skills as
light cavalry at the command of the Dawi'Zharr. They often
serve as scouts and outriders for Chaos Dwarf armies, and
many a foe expecting to face a force of stalwart Dwarfs has
been taken by surprise by mounted greenskins attacking their
flanks, assailing them with a barrage of envenomed arrows.
Those Hobgoblin tribes that subsist as slaves of the Chaos
Dwarfs in the Dark Lands are not so adept on wolfback as
their cousins, but they are still a valuable element in the
forces of their masters. Even if they lack sufficient numbers
of Wolf Riders to field a force of them in their battle line, few
Legions will march into the Dark Lands without a handful of
wolf-mounted guides to scout the way. Despite their general
incompetence, none know the shifting ash wastes of the Dark
Lands like the Hobgoblins, who are perfectly comfortable in
the grim desolation of their adopted homeland.
Whether mercenaries or slaves, Chaos Dwarfs know to expect
little from their Hobgoblin allies. They are backstabbing and
unreliable troops, but they depend on the Chaos Dwarfs to
survive when they cross the Mountains of Mourn, as they are
universally despised by all other greenskins. The
dysfunctional relationship is therefore of benefit to both races,
even as they fail to disguse their mutual loathing.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hobgoblin Wolf Rider 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Hobgoblin Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
TROOP TYPE: Cavalry.
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable, Fast Cavalry, Poisoned
Attacks.
Late As Usual!: When scouting for their masters, Hobgoblins
have a habit of going missing, not showing up until they're
sure their side will win. Up to half the Hobgoblin Wolf Rider
units in your army (rounding up) may deploy using the
Ambushers rule. Characters with this rule may always be held
back as Ambushers and may join a Hobgoblin Wolf Rider
unit before deployment, in which case roll for both together.
HOBGOBLIN WOLF RIDERS
43
Thousands of years ago, the Chaos Dwarfs bred Black Orcs
as a grand experiment to create a race of super slaves. The
robust physiology of greenskins proved a perfect testing
ground for all manner of dark experiments, and what emerged
from the pits of Zharr-Naggrund was indeed a superior kind
of Orc. These creatures were larger, stronger, tougher and
more intelligent: in every way they were the natural superiors
of their forebears. The Chaos Dwarfs had dreamt of creating
slaves that could toil for longer, withstand greater
punishment, lift greater loads and understand more complex
instructions, and that was exactly what they got, but they also
underestimated the potential of their creations. It wasn't long
until the Black Orcs had 'persuaded' the other greenskins to
start a rebellion and, one moonless night, the slaves of Zharr-
Naggrund rose up en masse, sweeping their captors before
them in a tide of blood and fury.
The rebellion nearly destroyed the Chaos Dwarfs. Under such
powerful and oddly charismatic leaders, the Orcs and Goblins
burned and pillaged at will, fighting their way up the layers of
the city until they reached the very top. However, the tide
turned at the last moment: the Hobgoblins decided that
serving the Chaos Dwarfs was not such a bad idea after all.
They turned on the other greenskins, unsheathing poisoned
blades and stabbing them in the back even as the Chaos
Dwarfs cut them down from the front. The rebellion fell apart
almost instantly and the Black Orcs made a fighting retreat
down the ziggurat and out into the Dark Lands.
In the coming years, the mass migration of Orcs and Goblins
from the Dark Lands would cause havoc for the rest of the
world. They had a new breed of leader in the form of the
Black Orcs, and their tribes attacked with a new fervour. They
assailed the lands of the fledgling race of Men in such
numbers that only a great hero – Sigmar Heldenhammer –
could deliver them from the darkness, and in doing so he
forged the Empire of Man itself.
Many Black Orcs remained in the Dark Lands and the
Mountains of Mourn even after they won their freedom. Like
the Ogres, they are a natural source of troops for Chaos Dwarf
armies, though no Chaos Dwarf would willingly enslave a
Black Orc again. For their part, the Black Orcs do not hold a
grudge: as long as the Chaos Dwarfs offer them a good fight,
they'll happily join their Legions as mercenaries. That said,
they still hold a special hatred for Hobgoblins and, when their
employers backs are turned, they often amuse themselves
with a captured Hobgoblin Warrior or Wolf Rider, seeing just
how much he likes being stabbed in the back instead.
Black Orcs are ferocious and near-fearless fighters – although
the Chaos Dwarfs' breeding experiment ended in disaster, it
was technically extremely successful – and their own
Warlords are amongst the most physically powerful and
aggressive generals in the Warhammer world. The Chaos
Dwarfs make sure never to recruit entire Black Orc tribes into
their armies, as such a leader would soon start making plans
to take oust the Overlord and begin a destructive Waaagh!
across the Dark Lands. Instead, they offer employment only
to small warbands, and will mercilessly suppress any larger
tribes that cross their path. Since Orcs of all kinds don't mind
who they fight, it is therefore not uncommon for Black Orcs
to find themselves on opposing sides in such battles.
Although this presents no immediate problems, it does
sometimes give the Black Orc mercenaries ideas and,
greenskins being the fractious, quarrelsome creatures that
they are, it is quite rare for a contract between Chaos Dwarfs
and Black Orcs to end in anything but bloodshed, as it
eventually becomes necessary to put down the inevitable
rebellion before it begins.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8
Black Orc Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8
TROOP TYPE: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable, Immune to Psychology.
Choppas: Orc weapons are considerably cruder and heftier
than those of other races. Black Orcs have +1 Strength in the
first round of each combat. This Strength bonus is in addition
to any other bonuses for weapons, magic items, spells and so
on.
Fool Me Once: Black Orcs always go into battle absurdly
overburdened with weaponry of all kinds – they don't intend
to be caught unawares twice, especially by the Chaos Dwarfs!
At the start of each combat, Black Orcs can chose to fight
with a single hand weapon (in case they have shields), two
hand weapons or a great weapon.
BLACK ORCS
44
Ogres are giant, monstrous humanoids with a voracious
appetite and a savage temperament. They are found almost
everywhere and frequently hire their services out as
mercenaries. Ogres come from the Mountains of Mourn,
where their tribes hold sway, but they possess an insatiable
wanderlust that causes them to travel all over the world,
fighting and eating. For Ogres, eating is a religious
experience, the focus of their culture and society, which
revolves around the worship of their ravenous god, the Great
Maw. Chaos Dwarf territory borders with the realms of the
Ogre Kingdoms and, as such, the two races frequently trade
and fight with one another.
The Chaos Dwarfs find Ogres useful as mercenaries in their
armies. When the Ogre tribes migrate from their homeland,
often the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is the first foreign nation they
encounter, and so it is natural that they offer the Chaos
Dwarfs their services in exchange for food and plunder. Still
other Ogres, vanquished in battle, are sold to the Chaos
Dwarfs by their fellows as slaves. Ogres make excellent
slaves because of their strength and endurance, and the Chaos
Dwarfs use them for tasks that require brute force, such as
working massive engines and dragging war machines into
battle. Ogres do not enjoy captivity, but they are easy to
placate by offering them the opportunity to inflict violence
and eat anything they can kill. Ogres who fight in Chaos
Dwarf Legions in this manner are used as shock troops, for
they pack a considerable punch in close combat, not least
because of their huge guts, which they protect with a large
armoured plate called, with typical Ogre creativity, a gut
plate. The gut is the focus of an Ogre's identity, both
physically and spiritually, and he will always ensure it is
well-armoured. Working for the Chaos Dwarfs offers an
advantage for Ogres because it gives them easy access to a lot
of metalwork – Ogre mercenaries and slaves are almost
always clad in heavy suits of armour, a luxury only the
wealthiest tribes enjoy in the Mountains of Mourn.
Often, service to the Dawi'Zharr represents the first step for
Ogres on the road to true Chaos worship. While fighting for
the Chaos Dwarfs they sometimes receive suits of Chaos
armour, giving them a taste of the daemonic. When the urge
to wander takes them again, they head north into the Chaos
wastes, destined to join up with a warband of Chaos Warriors
or Beastmen. Khorne, the Blood God, is the most popular
patron for Ogres who are seduced by the lure of Chaos, and it
is not unusual for them to walk down the path of the
berserker, becoming consumed with a frenzied bloodlust in
battle.
There are many Ogres who remain a permanent part of Chaos
Dwarf retinues though, serving as fully integrated members of
the warband. Ogres naturally take up the customs of their
adopted cultures, and with Chaos Dwarfs it is no different –
they may attempt to grow beards which they curl into the
same exotic styles as their masters, and some even don the
fearsome iron masks or ornate helms that are so characteristic
of the Dawi'Zharr. There are many such Ogres in the Plain of
Zharr, living and working alongside the Chaos Dwarfs. Ogres
being such robust creatures, they do not mind the choking
smog, and there is always a plentiful supply of food around in
the form of slaves, making life amongst the Chaos Dwarfs a
very viable alternative for Ogres.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7
Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7
TROOP TYPE: Monstrous Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable, Fear, Impact Hits (1).
OGRES
Sorcerer Lord Karzagh Stonegaze was
known for making heavy use of Ogres in
his warbands. He saw them as a
convenient alternative to Bull Centaurs,
and employed regiments of the armoured
behemoths to cover his flanks, trusting
to their value as shock troops to break
the lines of his foes. Karzagh led his army
eastwards, eventually taking them as far
as the mysterious Empire of Cathay. On
the way, he accumulated more Ogre
mercenaries until he was leading an army
that was more Ogre than it was Chaos
Dwarf. Inevitably, the Ogres realised that
Karzagh needed them more than they
needed him and they turned against him,
making a lavish feast out of the Chaos
Dwarfs and their slaves. To this day, the
Chaos Dwarfs have a bounty on the heads
of those Ogres, but it is not pursued with
much enthusiasm – any Dawi'Zharr who
allows his followers to rise against him
deserves everything he gets.
45
The mightiest inhabitants of Zharr-Naggrund are not the
Warriors or even the Sorcerer Lords, but the awesome Chaos
Dwarf sub-race known as the Bull Centaurs. In ancient times,
when the Chaos Dwarfs were first transformed by the power
of Chaos, some of their number were mutated into a form
more pleasing to the Father of Darkness, part Dwarf and part
ferocious bull. The Bull Centaurs have remained apart from
their brethren ever since, forming their own society, separate
from the Castes and other divisions of Zharr-Naggrund. They
are an elite force, blessed by Hashut, and are given the sacred
task of guarding the Temple. A pair stand at the huge golden
gates and their hulking forms can be seen roaming around the
corridors and chambers, lit by the flickering forge fires.
Bull Centaurs are not bound to any Sorcerer Lord and, indeed,
bow to no one but their own leaders. They instead take
responsibility for maintaining the sanctity of the Temple of
Hashut and have an important role in some of the darkest rites
of the Chaos Dwarfs' twisted god. It is the Bull Centaurs who
immerse captives in molten gold or lead, their supernatural
constitutions making them inured to the ferocious heat and
toxic fumes. They also flay and torture captives and, it is said,
engage in cannibalistic rites. Though they keep scrupulously
to their own chambers in the Temple, all Chaos Dwarfs
beardlings know the dark tales of slaves – and even
Dawi'Zharr – eaten alive by the bloodthirsty Bull Centaurs in
their macabre feasts. Bull Centaurs are extremely arrogant
and cruel, and they see themselves as living vessels of
Hashut's power. Indeed, there may be some truth to their
egotism: their hides burn with infernal rage and, as they
march into battle, their hooves throw up sparks. As they pick
up speed, smoke begins to billow and they are wreathed in
flames and steam. By the time they reach the enemy lines, the
Bull Centaurs are engulfed in raging fire, rearing from great
black clouds to strike down the enemies of Hashut.
Rarely do the Bull Centaurs leave the confines of the Temple
of Hashut, and they fight only in the name of the Father of
Darkness. They do not involve themselves in the petty
squabbles of the Sorcerer Lords, and the accumulation of
slaves holds no interest for them. They march to war only
when they believe it is required by Hashut, when the omens
favour them and when they can be spared from their primary
duty. On the rare occasions when they do take to the field,
they pay little heed to the orders of the Chaos Dwarf leaders,
and usually keep their own counsel. Such rebellion would not
be tolerated in any other follower, but the Sorcerer Lords
know that not only are the Bull Centaurs blessed by Hashut,
but also that they are amongst the mightiest shock troops in
the world. When the Bull Centaurs charge, they are capable of
breaking the enemies' lines single-handedly.
The Bull Centaurs are no less capable or intelligent than other
Chaos Dwarfs, but they are dangerously single-minded. A
Sorcerer Lord will entrust vital tasks to Bull Centaurs, but if it
conflicts with their idea of Hashut's will, he may find his
orders casually disregarded. Fortunately this happens only
rarely, for a Sorcerer Lord who is less than devout will always
give the Bull Centaurs a wide berth. For their part, although
they remain aloof from the infighting in the Temple, Bull
Centaurs feel no need to hide their contempt for Sorcerers
who do not measure up to their high ideals of devotion to the
Father of Darkness.
Bull Centaurs are led into battle by their Guardians, the
veterans amongst them who personally watch over the gates
to the Temple of Hashut. Above these awesome individuals
are the leaders of the Bull Centaurs, the Elders. These
creatures are terrifying monsters in their own right, the equal
of any Overlord, but even they pale in comparison to their
ultimate master, the Last Guardian, Eldest of the Bull
Centaurs: Lord Bhaal, the Death of Worlds.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Bull Centaur 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 2 9
Bull Centaur Guardian 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 3 9
Bull Centaur Elder 7 6 3 6 5 4 4 4 9
TROOP TYPE: Monstrous Beast.
SPECIAL RULES: Fear, Blessing of Hashut, Bondage of
Zharr, Immune to Psychology, 6+ Scaly Skin.
Fiery Onslaught: Bull Centaurs have the Devastating Charge
special rule and, in addition, have Flaming Attacks in the first
round of any combat in which they charged.
EQUIPMENT: Temple Blades: Bull Centaurs are armed with a variety of
deadly weapons, from traditional axes to flails, flensing hooks
and saparra-like attachments that are secured to their wrists or
forearms. To represent this murderous variety, all Bull
Centaurs are considered to be armed with Temple Blades,
which Require Two Hands, and grant both +1 Strength and
the Extra Attack special rule.
BULL CENTAURS
46
A Doom Harness is a hideous, clanking machine of pistons,
wheels and gears that forms a kind of living battle-suit for a
Bull Centaur. Etched with foul sigils to attract Daemons and
ensnare the Winds of Magic, the wearer of a Doom Harness
becomes mentally and physically fused with the machine.
Driven into a berserk rage, the pilot – if such a term can even
be used – drives the Harness forward into the ranks of the
enemy, whereupon they are sliced into pieces by a variety of
hooks, barbs, chains, mallets and crushing pistons with which
the Doom Harness is festooned. All of the Doom Harnesses
were created thousands of years ago during the First Kingdom
period and the secrets of their manufacture have been lost,
despite the efforts of the Daemonsmiths to replicate them.
The number of Doom Harnesses is thus continually
decreasing as they are destroyed in battle – either brought
down by enemy artillery (one of the few ways to reliably stop
them) or, more often, torn apart by their own gears as they go
into a blood-fuelled rampage.
Once a Doom Harness begins moving, it is almost impossible
to stop. Only a Bull Centaur has the physical and mental
fortitude to control the semi-sentient monstrosity, but even his
strength is rarely enough to keep it under control. Being
willing to take on the mantle of a Doom Harness pilot is
essentially suicide, as even should the Centaur survive the
battle, it is likely his already tenuous sanity will be shattered,
and his body irreparably damaged by the unnatural energies
and crushing pressures of the machine. Despite the dangers,
those Bull Centaurs who take the terrible risk of using them
are afforded much honour, their skin ritually tattooed and
branded with the most favoured runes of Hashut. In this way,
they are able to ensure their precious lives are expended in the
sight of the Father of Darkness, doing his great work.
All Doom Harnesses are unique, but the most common kinds
are nicknamed the Whirlwind – so called because of its
wheeled mountings that are fitted with dozens of chains that
spin around at breakneck pace to entangle enemies – and the
Tenderiser – named for the huge mallets and pistons on its
prow which deliver blows with crushing force as it crashes
into the ranks of the foe. Whilst no Daemonsmith has ever
managed to build a Doom Harness, experiments have been
made towards the same basic machinery instead mounted on a
steam-powered carriage, crewed by ordinary Chaos Dwarfs
(who are much less willing participants than the Bull
Centaurs piloting true Doom Harnesses). These vehicles more
or less replicate the effect of a Doom Harness, but they are
looked down upon by more traditional members of the
Temple, and the Bull Centaurs especially hold such trinkets of
steam in contempt.
Bull Centaurs are unwilling to deploy their ever-dwindling
store of Doom Harnesses in battle, and they are generally
only removed from their iron prisons in the Temple for the
most cataclysmic battles. A handful took part in the Battle of
Uzkulak, where they charged alongside the ranks of Bull
Centaurs, and literally tore a Chaos Marauder shieldwall into
shreds, mangling wood and iron as easily as flesh. Such was
their dire reputation following this battle that they have
already entered the mythology of the Norscan tribes where
they are depicted as steel thunderbolts sent by the Chaos Gods
to punish Man's hubris in the mortal world. The Chaos
Dwarfs have done nothing to discourage this.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Doom Harness 2D6 - - 6 5 4 - * 10
TROOP TYPE: Unique.
SPECIAL RULES: Immune to Psychology, Random
Movement (2D6), 3+ armour save.
*Unstoppable Force: If a Doom Harness's move brings it
into contact with another unit, it moves straight through
instead of stopping. If its move would end within a unit, it
ploughs through it – place the Harness 1" beyond the unit, in
the direction it was moving. When a Doom Harness moves
through a unit (friend or foe) it inflicts 2D6 Strength 6
Armour Piercing hits. All hits from a Doom Harness are also
magical.
*Immovable Object: A Doom Harness cannot be charged or
engaged in combat at all. Models can move into contact with
it during the Remaining Moves sub-phase but any unit that
does so immediately takes 2D6 Strength 6 hits (which are
both Armour Piercing and magical). If the unit remains in
contact, they may attack the Doom Harness in their close
combat phase, hitting automatically. If the Doom Harness
survives, it will move again in its next turn as normal, and
will inflict further hits on the same unit if it moves over them.
Do not calculate any combat results and neither unit counts as
actually being engaged in close combat at any point.
Torn Apart: Doom Harnesses are so unstable that they often
tear themselves to pieces if they go into overdrive. When
rolling for the Doom Harness's Random Movement or to
determine the number of hits it inflicts, if a double 6 is rolled
then it has been destroyed in a spectacular catastrophe of
whirling gears and Daemonic energy! Finish the movement or
resolve the hits as normal, but any unit damaged by it before
it is removed takes an additional D6 hits. Further double 6s
have no additional effect. Remove the Doom Harness as a
casualty afterwards.
Crash!: Doom Harnesses must take Dangerous Terrain tests
if they move over any of the following: Forests, Marshland,
Obstacles or Mystical Monuments. If its move would take it
into contact with a Building, Impassable Terrain or off the
table edge then it must take a Dangerous Terrain test and will
stop 1" short of the obstruction.
BULL CENTAUR DOOM HARNESSES
UPGRADES: Whirlwind: The Whirlwind is fitted with wickedly
barbed chains that spin at breakneck speed.
Any unit attempting to attack a Whirlwind in close
combat suffers a -1 Strength penalty down to a minimum
of 1.
Tenderiser: The Tenderiser has an array of huge,
mechanical mallets on its front that pulverise anyone
unfortunate enough to be in its path.
All hits inflicted by a Tenderiser are resolved at Strength
7.
47
The fell rituals of Father of Darkness that are performed in
the Temple of Hashut are unspeakable acts of bloodletting
and torture, all with the aim of summoning the Daemons and
K'daai that are used in the strange magic of the Chaos Dwarfs.
In suitably cataclysmic battles, or when the Temple's forces
are arrayed in sufficient quantity, a Sorcerer Lord may order
an Altar of Hashut to be dragged into battle. These foreboding
constructions are huge effigies of the Father of Darkness but
at their heart is an instrument of execution – a pool of molten
lead or gold, a flesh furnace or a blackened anvil covered in
dark runes and already soaked with blood.
Mobs of beaten, wretched slaves of all races laboriously drag
the Altars of Hashut into battle, and it is these pitiful creatures
that also fuel their evil rites. Throughout the battle, an
Acolyte or Bull Centaur attendant drags screaming slaves to
the dais where they are murdered by whatever method is
appropriate to the Altar's form: immersed in liquid metal,
cooked alive within the belly of a blazing iron bull or simply
bludgeoned to death by a burning forge hammer. Their blood
sacrifice powers the dark rituals of a Khazn, one of the
Dirgecallers of Hashut, and, as he unleashes the most
powerful Dirge of all, the mortal world is inundated by
screeching horrors from the Realm of Chaos.
The spectral Daemons and K'daai are sent flying across the
battlefield and where they land, they sow terror. Loyal Chaos
Dwarfs who hold their ground will find themselves aided by a
fearsome host of noisome entities who enshroud their
weapons in daemonfire and instil their minds with the bleak
malice of the Father of Darkness. As for enemies unfortunate
enough to be in the path of the howling Daemons, their fate is
much simpler: they will be rent apart by dozens of ethereal
claws and, if they happen to be a Wizard, the Daemons will
gravitate towards them, focusing all their energies on
devouring such a bright soul.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Altar of Hashut - - - 0 5 8 - - -
Khazn Dirgecaller - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9
Acolyte - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9
Bull Centaur - 5 3 5 - - 3 2 9
Wretched Slaves 4 2 2 3 - - 2 * 5
TROOP TYPE: Chariot (Armour Save 3+)
SPECIAL RULES: 4+ ward save, Large Target,
Unbreakable.
Sacrificial Altar: During the Magic phase, the Altar of
Hashut may inflict a single automatic Wound on itself in
order to cast the Cacophony of Hashut spell detailed below. If
the Altar of Hashut is used as a mount for a Sorcerer Lord or
Pyrophant and it successfully casts Cacophony of Hashut, he
has a +2 bonus to cast that magic phase, just as if he had been
affected by the spell (see below).
*Wretched Slaves: The Wretched Slaves have a number of
Attacks equal to the Altar's remaining Wounds. In addition,
for every two Wounds the Altar loses, their Movement is
reduced by 1. So if, for example, it has 5 Wounds left, the
Wretched Slaves' Movement rate will be 3. Due to the
downtrodden state of the Wretched Slaves, an Altar of Hashut
may not declare charges.
Cacophony of Hashut: Innate bound spell (power level 4).
Cacophony of Hashut is a direct damage spell with a range
of 48". Place the large (5") template anywhere within range,
even touching a friendly unit or a unit in combat (this is an
exception to the usual rules for casting direct damage spells),
and then roll the scatter dice. If an arrow is rolled, move the
template 2D6" in the direction indicated. If a hit is rolled, the
template remains where it was placed initially. Every unit
beneath the template is affected as described below:
Acolytes of Hashut or any unit containing at least one
model with the Bondage of Zharr special rule have the
Flaming Attacks, Fear and Hatred special rules until the
start of the next friendly Magic phase.
Any Sorcerer Lord, Pyrophant or Daemonsmith in an
affected unit has a +2 casting bonus in that magic phase.
Each model may only claim this bonus once per turn.
Any model in an affected unit that has the Bound
Daemon special rule gains Regeneration (5+) until the
start of the next friendly Magic phase.
Any other unit suffers 2D6 Strength 3 hits. This is
increased to Strength 4 if the unit includes or is a Wizard.
In addition, all units beneath the template (friend or foe!)
must take a Panic test. If a unit in combat is affected by
Cacophony of Hashut, resolve the appropriate effects on all
the units involved in the combat, even if they are not actually
under the template.
ALTARS OF HASHUT
48
When a master Daemonsmith or a Sorcerer Lord brings his
evil ambition to bear and locks himself in his Hellforge, he is
capable of producing truly astonishing results. One of the
most common manifestations of the arcane engineering of the
Chaos Dwarfs are the fearsome Doomcannon. A
Doomcannon is a mighty engine of terrible destructive power:
essentially a huge, living artillery piece, within each
Doomcannon is enslaved the spirit of a truly powerful
Daemon, or sometimes entire cabals of the vile creatures.
With such a power source at its heart, a Doomcannon is
capable of unleashing apocalyptic levels of destruction. It can
fire shells the size of a Dwarf, or rockets taller than an Ogre.
A Doomcannon does not even always require physical
ammunition: if bound with a K'daai it can vomit forth a wall
of raging fire, or hurl eldritch bolts of flame into the air.
Doomcannon are much more powerful than Mortal Engines,
but they are also much more unstable and dangerous. A
Doomcannon must be staked to the ground by its crew – a
detachment of the masked and mutated Hellforge Guards – or
it will rage out of control. In order to sustain the dark fury of
its operation, it must be fed with a constant supply of corpses,
or even living victims. These are shovelled into a flesh
furnace at its rear to slake the thirst for suffering of the
Daemon within, but if the stockpile runs low, or it simply
becomes too greedy, it will break free of its chains and seek
out fresh meat on the battlefield.
When this happens, the Doomcannon will be too busy trying
to feed to shoot, and its crew must try to bring it back under
control if they can or, when it is advantageous to do so, they
may simply allow it to rampage. Though a Doomcannon is
primarily intended as long-ranged artillery, its arcane
construction means it is also deadly in combat. With flesh of
iron and gromril, grinding wheels and crushing pistons it can
pulverize flesh and bone, soaking its hull with gore and
drawing strength from its destructive frenzy.
All Doomcannon are unique. Because the art of their
construction is so arcane, they are impossible to mass-
produce so each Daemonsmith or Sorcerer Lord must use the
full weight of his invention and ambition to create one. Quite
apart from the many possibilities of how and what a
Doomcannon fires, there are myriad other possible
permutations. It may mount multiple barrels, enabling it to fill
the sky with shells or firebolts, its hull may be reinforced or
armoured or, most terrifyingly of all, it may tower over the
battlefield like a huge, iron behemoth, nigh impossible to
destroy with mortal weaponry. Some Doomcannon can vomit
a stream of Daemonic ichor, or be bound with Daemons of
such horrifying power that they burst free from their bindings
with worrying ease. Some are so corrupt and foul that their
merest touch promises madness and mutation, and any victim
of their firestorms will be twisted into unrecognisable shapes
as a warpstone rain falls from the sky, and then death
becomes a welcome release from the hell that has been
unleashed.
The Chaos Dwarfs sometimes sell Doomcannon to their
Chaos Warrior allies, where they have become the favoured
siege engines of those who serve the Gods of the North. Such
gifts are mighty indeed, but a contingent of Hellforge Guard
always go with them, lest they be turned against their makers.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Doomcannon 3 4 3 5 6 4 1 3 6
Hellforge Guard - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9
Hellsmith - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Monster.
SPECIAL RULES: Bound Daemon, Terror, Large
Target.
Hellforge Guard: The Doomcannon and its Hellforge Guard
crew have their own characteristics, but are treated as a single
model. If the Doomcannon is removed as a casualty, then the
Hellforge Guard are removed with it. When moving, the
model always uses the Movement characteristic of the
Doomcannon. The Doomcannon and the Hellforge Guard use
their own Weapon Skill, Strength, Initiative and Attacks
characteristics when they attack. All can attack any opponent
that the model is in base contact with. Hellforge Guard use
their own Ballistic Skill when making shooting attacks. All
hits upon the model are resolved using the Doomcannon's
Toughness and Wounds. In close combat, enemy models
attacking the model compare their Weapon Skill to the
Doomcannon's Weapon Skill when rolling To Hit. However,
we assume the Hellforge Guard to be (more or less) in
complete control of their charge, so the Doomcannon's
Leadership is never used while any Hellforge Guard are alive.
A Doomcannon model is treated as a monster in all other
respects, as described in the Warhammer rulebook.
Daemonic Upgrades: No two Doomcannon are identical, and
they have access to Daemonic Upgrades as described in the
Doomcannon's army list entry.
EQUIPMENT: Doomcannon: The Doomcannon may fire in the shooting
phase following the rules for a stone thrower, except that hits
are resolved at Strength 5(10). The Doomcannon has the
Move or Fire and Slow to Fire special rules.
Doomcannon Misfire table: Roll on the following table if a
misfire is rolled when firing the Doomcannon.
D6 Result
1 Destroyed! The Daemon within the Doomcannon
breaks free, tearing apart its mechanical cage and
killing the crew. The model is destroyed.
2-3 Munch! The Daemon lashes out at its own crew,
gobbling them up into the flesh furnace. Remove
D3 Hellforge Guard.
4-5 Rampage! The Daemon goes wild after firing.
After resolving the Doomcannon's shot, move the
unit as per the Rampage rule.
6 Boom! The Doomcannon fires a spectacular blast.
All hits from the shot are resolved at Strength 10,
but it may not fire for the rest of the game.
DOOMCANNON
49
At the heart of every Hellforge is a blood-soaked chamber
marked with glowing runes that twist and warp before the
very eye, barred with gates of obsidian, watched by an
unceasing guard of Hellsmiths and Acolytes. In these evil and
secret dungeons, the most powerful Daemons are summoned
into the mortal world and the most diabolical and adept
Daemonsmiths and Sorcerer Lords break them to their will
with the aid of forbidden magic and dread pacts. For these
individuals, the possibilities inherent in Hellborn Constructs
and Doomcannon are not enough to satisfy their relentless
ambition: they hunger for an act of creation so blasphemous
that it causes the Realm of Chaos itself to howl in fury as one
of its mightiest denizens is trapped in a prison of black iron.
These beasts of living metal and fire are known as Infernal
Engines, and they are the most powerful weapons in the
arsenal of Zharr-Naggrund.
An Infernal Engine is a blend of Daemon and machine, with
sinews of molten lava and limbs that lie somewhere between
muscle and piston. Their eyes glow with a terrible fury and
their claws are etched with magical glyphs. Even once
constructed, an Infernal Engine does not hold its shape: the
dread power of its occupant causes its hull to swell and twist
so that, over time, it comes to resemble its true, unbound
form. The Daemonsmiths encourage this, even as they court
their own destruction, for they know that the true strength of
an Infernal Engine lies in its unpredictability. They are not so
much used in battle as they are unleashed upon the foe, driven
forward by insane Hellforge Guards or sometimes simply
allowed to rampage out of control as their hellish whims
dictate. Their potential for devastation is incalculable,
equalled only by the largest and fiercest monsters.
An Infernal Engine has no set form. Some are like squat,
baroque tanks, mounted with a fearsome array of blades and
saws. An entire detachment of Hellforge Guard can ride such
a machine into combat, firing blunderbusses even as their
mount mows over the enemy's ranks. Others resemble huge,
towering bulls that shake the ground as they walk and simply
crush the enemy beneath their massive iron-shod hooves. Still
others are like enormous versions of Hellborn Constructs, as
tall as Giants but clad in steel or obsidian and swinging
weapons wreathed in living flame. Perhaps the strangest of all
are those created with the aid of a coterie of Pyrophants,
bound with the spirit of a Greater K'daai. Known as
Destroyers or Magmaborn, these Infernal Engines are more
like true Daemons of shadow and flame, their hides encrusted
with cooling stone pockmarked with weeping sores of lava so
they seem to glow with an inner fury. Such a monster is an
incredibly dangerous foe on the battlefield, for they are the
most ferocious of all Infernal Engines, and the very air ignites
before them as they charge.
Like many of the Daemon-machines of the Chaos Dwarfs, it
is not at all uncommon for an Infernal Engine to tear itself
apart in the throes of its bloodlust. Trapped within a form not
of its own choosing, a Daemon or K'daai constantly tries to
break free and return to the Realm of Chaos. Sometimes an
Infernal Engine's barely-controlled rampaging is not merely
to satiate its need for bloodshed, but is born out of a desire to
bring about the destruction of its ironbound gaol. Infernal
Engines are thus a danger not only to the enemy, but also
themselves, as they seek to end their own torment.
Daemonsmiths do little to discourage this self-destructive
behaviour and ensure that Infernal Engines are chained down
INFERNAL ENGINES
50
in the Hellforges when not required for expeditions into the
Dark Lands and beyond. Bonds of wrought obsidian are the
choice of fetter for an Infernal Engine, but even these are not
always completely safe – large and ancient Infernal Engines
have been known to escape their pens below the Hellforges
and go berserk through the deepest chambers. Daemon's
Stump, where many of the most infamous Hellforges are
located, has had its lower levels reduced to charred ruins
several times before the Hellforge Guard were able to subdue
or destroy an escaped Infernal Engine.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Infernal Engine 6 4 0 5 6 6 2 4 5
Hellforge Guard - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9
Hellsmith - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Monster.
SPECIAL RULES: Bound Daemon, Terror, Large
Target.
Hellforge Guard: An Infernal Engine may be ridden by up to
eight Hellforge Guards following the Hellforge Guard special
rule on page 49. An Infernal Engine without any Hellforge
Guards will follow the ordinary rules for monsters.
Infernal Steed: An Infernal Engine may be included in your
army as a ridden monster for a Sorcerer Lord or a
Daemonsmith. It may still be accompanied by Hellforge
Guards, but any shooting attacks will hit the Infernal Engine
on a D6 roll of 1-4 and the rider on a roll of 5+, just like an
ordinary ridden monster. A character mounted on an Infernal
Engine gains the Unbreakable special rule.
Daemonic Upgrades: Infernal Engines display huge variety
and may be given Daemonic Upgrades as described in their
army list entry.
Hothgar Daemonbane, the greatest living Daemonsmith of his generation, cast his gaze over the Hellforge,
tuning out the droning of hammers wielded by hand and pistons wielded by machine for a moment. To the eyes
of anyone else, the vast, red-lit chamber would have appeared completely anarchic, but Hothgar saw each
project unfolding under the hands of his subordinate Hellsmiths and Artisans and how they came together
to form a whole greater than the sum of their parts. He could see his latest creation taking shape in
fragments around the workshop, and only he had the vision to see how they were related. A weapon here, a
new kind of hull compound there – it was all part of the same great task.
A robed figure approached, bowing his head respectfully. "Master Hothgar...the chamber is prepared..."
Hothgar drummed his fingers against the obsidian rod in his hand that looked like a black slash in the fabric
of reality and nodded to the Acolyte. All these things; machines of metal, cannons of fire and iron, they
were the least of his achievements. What mattered, as with living creatures, was the soul of the creation,
and what a soul this thing would have! The rituals were ready, and the cage was waiting. Now he just had to
ensnare its occupant. Rubbing his hands together and with a slow smile creeping across his face, Hothgar
hastened to the specially prepared chamber.
The rune-inscribed chamber was off to one side of the workshop. Its floor was engraved with an ancient
eight-pointed star: the symbol of Chaos. At each point, a bound and hooded slave knelt, trembling. Most were
Goblins, but there were two Humans amongst them and one of the rat-things from below the earth. A
handful of Acolytes would assist with the ritual and their jagged blades were already unsheathed.
"No need to wait any longer," Hothgar growled, "this isn't religious – just spill the blood and we'll capture
the thing."
Some of the slaves tried to fight back, but their chains made them easy prey and, as their hot blood spattered
onto the device in the chamber's centre, fell energies began to surge. This was a place of pain and suffering,
and many Daemons had been drawn to its evil scent before. The proper spells had been spoken long ago.
There was ritual, yes, but this was principally an act of simple manufacture. To Hothgar, it was no more
arcane than casting the barrel of a cannon or hammering rivets into place. A shape was already starting to
coalesce and the inexperienced Acolytes stepped back warily. Hothgar just sighed and beckoned them out of
the chamber. As soon as they were clear, he pulled a rusted chain that hung down from the ceiling and a
portcullis carved from a single block of obsidian slammed into place with a groan. The shape of the Daemon,
becoming more solid by the second, whirled around, its glowing eyes going wide as it realised it was trapped.
Hothgar simply turned back in the direction of the Hellforge and started to plan exactly how he would
finish the task. The spectral howls of the confined Daemon fell on deaf ears: it was just another slave now,
no more worthy of the Daemonsmith's attention than a Goblin.
* * *
The first sign was the ground starting to shake. Kogan Thundergut looked around in confusion, expecting to
see some huge monster approaching, but the horizon was clear. His Ironguts tensed themselves instinctively,
wrapping their meaty hands firmly around their clubs, but still nothing happened – the earth beneath them
just kept shaking. After half a minute, Kogan straightened; sure that it had just been a tremor. He nudged his
lieutenant in the gut plate and laughed conspiratorially.
That's when the whole world exploded. The Ogres were thrown backwards, and were barely able to stumble
up to their feet as a vision from some nightmare burst out of the ground. It moved like a living thing, but its
flesh was blackened iron. As it turned, Kogan looked into a maw of living drills, spinning and whirring with a
sound like the mountains breaking. He could only watch in stunned horror as it pushed itself onto the
surface with insectile legs and then arched its iron-bound back to deploy a cannon mounted like a scorpion's
tail. Kogan lifted his club and prepared to charge, but a wall of flame had burned him to a crisp before he
had taken a step. From the back of his latest creation, Hothgar Daemonbane laughed maniacally.
51
UPGRADE – ENGINES OF LEGEND: Even with the incredible variety displayed by Infernal
Engines, a few have stood out over the long millennia of
Chaos Dwarf history as creations of singular destructive
power. These Engines of Legend are all unique – you may
only take each upgrade once, and only one Infernal Engine in
your army may be an Engine of Legend: no exceptions!
Engines of Legend are still free to take any other upgrades
(including Daemonic Upgrades) available to them,
representing prototypes or later imitations of the more famous
originals.
DEATHGRINDER The Deathgrinder was a gruesome device mounting a huge
spiked roller on its prow. With it, the Sorcerer Lord Zornakth
Grimbrow was able to subjugate dozens of greenskin tribes,
mostly by piloting the Deathgrinder straight into their battle
lines and crushing them into pulp. Unfortunately for its
creator, the Deathgrinder claimed so many lives that the
Daemon within grew too powerful. It was last sighted heading
north towards the Realm of Chaos, its hull distended and
warped beyond all recognition.
The Deathgrinder has the Strider special rule. In addition, any
obstacle it crosses over the course of its move is destroyed –
remove the obstacle model from the table. All Impact Hits
and Thunderstomp hits inflicted by the Deathgrinder have a
+1 Strength bonus.
THE BLACK KRAKEN The Black Kraken was a hellish warship that plied the waters
around Sartosa. Built and captained by Lord Tordrek
Hackhart, its Daemonic construction slowly warped into the
shape of a mighty leviathan and swelled to truly gargantuan
proportions, as well as working terrible changes on its crew.
The Black Kraken has the Sea Creature special rule.
ANCESTOR GOLEM Discovered below the abandoned Chaos Dwarf stronghold of
Thag-A-Durz by ruthless explorer Kromlek Blackhand and
his Daemon-hunting Embersworn, the Ancestor Golem is an
ancient machine bound with the spirits of the tormented
ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs. Once roused to battle, it is
almost unstoppable, ploughing through enemies with burning
fists made of solid gromril.
If the Ancestor Golem charges and subsequently breaks or
destroys all enemy units in the ensuing round of combat, it
adds D6 to its Attacks characteristic in the following turn (roll
at the start of each round of combat). This bonus is
cumulative, so if it continues to break and destroy all its
enemies in consecutive turns, it will continue to gain Attacks!
THE KOLOSSUS Hothgar Daemonbane's greatest creation, the Kolossus was a
towering bull-shaped monstrosity of immense size and power.
When it walked, it caused tremors that shook apart entire
regiments. The Kolossus was deployed only once, but
Hothgar still strives to reproduce his masterpiece and once
against visit its horror upon a unsuspecting world.
The Kolossus has the Colossal Daemonic Upgrade and it
inflicts 2D6 Thunderstomp hits in combat.
IRON DAEMON Adapted from a mundane steam-powered traction engine, the
Iron Daemon was brought into existence by Drazhoath the
Ashen of the Black Fortress. Fed by glowing warpstone coals
and driven by many cackling fire spites, the Iron Daemon was
capable of pulling an entire train of Mortal Engines behind it.
In this capacity it was placed in the employ of a Chaos Lord
of Nurgle and went on to terrorise the Old World as part of
his foetid horde.
Any Mortal Engine may move into base contact with the Iron
Daemon, or into base contact with another Mortal Engine that
is already in base contact with it. Any Mortal Engines
arranged in this way at the start of the Chaos Dwarf turn may
be moved at the same rate as the Iron Daemon, counting their
troop type as monster for the duration of the Movement
phase, providing they are able to remain in base contact
throughout (some interpretation may be required, so be
sportsmanlike!). Mortal Engines moved in this way may still
fire in the Shooting phase, however if the Iron Daemon fails
its Rampage test, they will be carried along with it!
If the Iron Daemon charges while it has any Mortal Engines
coupled to it like this, all Impact Hits and Thunderstomp hits
inflicted by it in the first round of combat have a +1 Strength
bonus.
HELLBORE The mad Daemonsmith Grondag Ashbreath claimed to have
been given the idea for the Hellbore in a feverish nightmare.
Modified from one of the many great tunnelling engines used
by the Chaos Dwarfs in their mines, the Hellbore was used to
destroy the Chaos stronghold of Dweomerkeep by digging up
from beneath its dungeons and causing its foundations to
collapse.
The Hellbore has the Ambusher special rule, but when it
enters the battle in the Remaining Moves sub-phase, it does
not move onto the board as reinforcements in the normal way.
Instead, place a marker anywhere on the battlefield, but not in
impassable terrain or within 1" of a deployed unit. Roll a
scatter dice and an artillery dice. If you roll a Hit on the
scatter dice, the marker stays in place. If you roll an arrow,
move the marker the number, in inches, shown on the artillery
dice in the direction shown. If the marker is under a unit
(friend or foe), impassable terrain or a building, place it 1"
away from the closest edge of the unit/terrain. Once the final
position of the marker is established, place the emerging
model so it touches the marker, facing any direction. If you
roll a misfire, the Hellbore takes D3 wounds with no saves of
any kind possible, but does not scatter. The Hellbore may act
normally on the turn it emerges (remember that, as it is the
Remaining Moves sub-phase, it cannot declare a charge).
DEATH ZEPPELIN Floating high in the air, Lord K'zargh's Death Zeppelin was
the wonder of its age. Raining down fire upon its foes, it won
many battles single-handedly, but was fatally vulnerable to its
own Daemonic ammunition and was destroyed in a
catastrophic explosion of hellfire during the siege of Mount
Grimfang.
The Death Zeppelin has the Hover special rule. If it
Rampages, it ignores terrain. If it is destroyed it will crash to
earth, moving 3D6" in a random direction and inflicting a
Strength 8 hit on any model under its final position.
52
Since the earliest days of the Chaos Dwarfs' dominion over
the northern Dark Lands, they have known of the fearsome
Great Tauruses that haunt the plateau of Zorn Uzkul and soar
on the volcanic thermals that blow across the Desolation of
Azgorh. Like many foul and mutated monsters, they
undoubtedly emerged from the Time of Chaos, but the ancient
Chaos Dwarfs felt a strange kinship with these particular
beasts, and were inexorably drawn to them. Was it simply that
they resembled the chosen form of Hashut – a mighty winged
bull wreathed in daemonic fire – or that their unnatural
constitutions seemed to be sustained by Wind of Aqshy, the
same power that birthed the K'daai? Perhaps so, but the most
learned Priests of Hashut suspected something else. Not all
the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs had emerged alive from the
Time of Chaos. Many Clans remained unaccounted for, and
though undoubtedly most had perished, some surely must
have been twisted beyond recognition, warped to an even
greater extent than the Bull Centaurs and the Chaos Dwarfs
themselves.
Over time, as the Chaos Dwarfs began to study and
eventually tame (after a fashion) the Great Tauruses, they
came to the conclusion that they were of one kind: like them,
the Great Tauruses were once ordinary Dwarfs, but Hashut
had transformed them completely into the creature most
pleasing to him. The Great Taurus was nothing less than a
living, burning idol to the Father of Darkness, and the
Sorcerers knew it was their sacred duty to make them a part
of their armies, their civilisation and their cult. Now, the
Chaos Dwarfs breed Great Tauruses as war beasts in Zharr-
Naggrund itself, and they are stabled in a labyrinthine
complex of pens beneath the Temple of Hashut.
The Dark Lands are home to many terrifying monsters, but
the Great Taurus is the dominant force in the ash-strewn
region. In the wild, Great Tauruses make their lairs within the
calderas of active volcanoes, for their hides are proof against
the terrible heat of the magma within and, indeed, their whole
bodies burn with such terrific intensity that their flesh can
literally ward off blows from mundane weapons. Some Chaos
Dwarf Sorcerers believe the Great Tauruses are actually a
form of K'daai somehow made mortal, perhaps by merging
with the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs during the Time of
Chaos, and it is undoubtedly true that they are empowered by
Bright Magic and even enchantments intended to harm them
only make them stronger.
Away from the Dark Lands, it requires a skilled Bright
Wizard to gather the necessary power to summon and bind a
Great Taurus, but the Chaos Dwarfs have mastered these
monsters fully and use a version of their own binding rituals
to sustain them. Sorcerer Lords and mighty Overlords ride
them into battle, soaring high into the air, only to plummet to
earth like a thunderbolt, scattering terrified enemies. A Great
Taurus is a cruel creature of flame and smoke, perfectly
attuned to the character of its masters and, despite its wild
nature, it does not often resist its use as a mount. Perhaps this
is because of the ancient kinship between the two races, or
perhaps beast and rider are simply of one mind. In either case,
it is clear that there exists some supernatural bond between
the Chaos Dwarfs and Great Tauruses. For their part, the
Chaos Dwarfs hold the Great Taurus to be a holy
manifestation of Hashut's divine personage in the world.
Chaos Dwarfs breed and modify Great Tauruses,
experimenting and innovating as is their wont. While not true
Daemons, there is undoubtedly something infernal in the
constitution of the Great Taurus and a skilled Sorcerer Lord
or Daemonsmith can use his talents to graft mechanical
augmentations to their very flesh. Coteries of Pyrophants
working in concert may also use their mastery of K'daai to
emphasise aspects of a Great Taurus's character and physical
form, transforming it into something even more powerful.
Like many large monsters, Great Tauruses are almost
immortal unless slain in battle, and they continue to grow
larger as they age. The mightiest of their kind are called Bale
Tauruses, and they are true monstrosities, as large and
powerful as a Dragon. It is very rare for a captive Taurus to
grow to such a size, so a Bale Taurus must be captured in the
wild, and expeditions are led by the Chaos Dwarfs to the most
ancient volcanoes to seek them out. Binding such an awesome
beast to the will of a rider is a mighty undertaking in itself,
but it has been achieved a handful of times.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Great Taurus 6 5 0 6 5 4 3 4 6
TROOP TYPE: Monster.
SPECIAL RULES: Fly, Large Target, Terror.
Daemonic Upgrades: A Great Taurus may be given
Daemonic Upgrades as described in its army list entry. In
addition, they automatically have the following Daemonic
Upgrades: Blazing Body and Fuelled by Fire.
GREAT TAURUSES
54
Once in every few generations, a rare mutation will arise in
the Great Taurus population stabled below the Temple of
Hashut: a creature of such insidious cunning that it rivals even
the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers in sheer cruelty and malice. This
beast resembles its Great Taurus forbears in many ways, with
its bovine body, hoofed rear limbs and leathery wings, but it
is fundamentally a very different creature. Its forelimbs are
more like clawed hands, misshapen and twisted, but otherwise
functional, and instead of the glowering visage of a bull, it
has a leering humanoid face, bearded and horned like a Chaos
Dwarf. Astonishingly ugly and no less malevolent, these vile
monsters are known as Lammasu, and the Chaos Dwarfs
consider them the purest of Hashut's mutant creations;
implicitly the true vision the Father of Darkness has for his
chosen people – a horrifying thought.
The Lammasu do not burn bright with daemonfire like Great
Tauruses, but instead have a strange magical aura that
protects them from spells and other arcane assaults. Indeed,
the Lammasu are wholly magical creatures and are
accomplished spell casters in their own right, albeit of an
untrained and crude kind. Unlike Chaos Dwarfs, Lammasu
are capable of true magic and have mastery over arts that
evade even the Sorcerer Lords. They are also highly
intelligent, not mere beasts like the Great Tauruses, and some
Sorcerer Lords believe the Lammasu is a throwback to the
Chaos Dwarf origins of the Great Taurus. They are weirdly
charismatic creatures, and though a Lammasu speaks in a
guttural roar, its words sound like sweet music to a listener it
has enchanted with its sly incantations.
Using this strange ability to entrance, as well as their inherent
magical power, a Lammasu will quickly rise to dominance
over a Great Taurus herd. In this capacity it will drive out any
other males – though physically weaker, its magic more than
levels the playing field – and take the females for itself.
Lammasu are always male but, because they are mutants, they
are also sterile. Allowing a Lammasu to live thus always
spells ultimate doom for a herd. If one is born in the wild, the
mother almost always kills it immediately and devours the
carcass. In the Taurus stables, the Sorcerers must ensure a
Lammasu calf is separated from its mother and raised in
isolation, for Lammasu will also kill any of their own kind
they are able to. Whether their evil character is due to their
inherently corrupted nature or because every Lammasu grows
to maturity alone in the darkness, knowing no destiny but that
of a fighting beast, is a question no Dawi'Zharr would even
bother to ask: the Lammasu's vileness matches their own, and
this suits them perfectly.
Lammasu are usually mounts for Sorcerer Lords, who alone
have the magical prowess to master them. Occasionally an
Overlord will be called upon to ride a Lammasu, though this
is rarely a happy pairing as the fierce and malleable Great
Tauruses are better steeds for a warrior. Even when deigning
to carry a Sorcerer Lord, Lammasu are always attempting to
pursue their own ends, and they must be bargained with to
allow themselves to be used in battle. If it can, a Lammasu
will break free and disappear into the wastes of the Dark
Lands, where it will dominate other creatures with its powers
and forge its own herd of bewitched monsters. Lammasu who
do this may grow as large as Bale Tauruses, and they are
known as Ancient Lammasu, for they are often millennia old.
Such a monster is very difficult to recapture, but a canny
Sorcerer Lord can attempt it and win for himself one of the
most dangerous mounts in the known world, both a huge and
ferocious monster and a potent wizard. Ancient Lammasu are
bitter foes of Bale Tauruses and if two such beasts have the
misfortune to encounter one another they will always fight to
the death. Intelligent Sorcerer Lords ensure this never occurs,
although accidents have happened in the past.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Lammasu 6 3 0 5 5 4 1 2 8
TROOP TYPE: Monster.
MAGIC: Lammasu are Wizards that use the Lore of Fire, the
Lore of Death or the Lore of Shadow.
SPECIAL RULES: Fly, Large Target, Terror, Magic
Resistance (3).
Sorcerous Miasma: Magic Weapons carried by models in
base contact with the Lammasu lose all their magical
properties and are treated as 'normal' weapons of their type (if
it is not clear what sort of weapon it is, treat it as a hand
weapon). This effect applies to both friendly and enemy
models (but not the Lammasu's rider) and lasts while they
remain in base contact. In addition, all of a Lammasu's attacks
(including breath weapons) count as magical.
Daemonic Upgrades: A Lammasu may be given Daemonic
Upgrades as described in its army list entry.
LAMMASU
55
As Sorcerer Lords transform to stone, they gradually become
more and more immobile. Their feet are the first parts of their
bodies to petrify, and slowly the change works its way up
their bodies. Before long, they cannot move at all, and are
obliged to find new methods of locomotion, either riding on a
Lammasu or Great Taurus, or borne by their followers on a
Palanquin. Traditionally, Palanquins are carried by
Immortals. From their perch atop the shoulders of these elite
warriors, the Sorcerer Lords are able to command their troops
and cast their destructive magic.
Palanquins are ornate, armoured thrones. As well as serving a
practical purpose, they are also a symbol of high status –
wealthy and powerful is the Sorcerer Lord who can rely on
the services of four Immortals to bear him aloft on their broad
shoulders. Palanquins have been used by Sorcerer Lords since
the time of Zhargon the Great, who rode atop an elaborate
golden throne carried by dozens of slaves. Modern Palanquins
are rather more sedate than that, but are nonetheless far more
than simple chairs: a Palanquin will be custom built for, and
possibly by, its occupant, and will be marked with the
personal sigils of his Clan, as well as runic emblems
particular to his rituals so that his summoning can be
empowered. Truly ancient Sorcerer Lords ride in Palanquins
that are more like mobile altars, fitted with scroll alcoves or
bookcases, with enchanted cages for captured Daemons and
an icon-etched slab of obsidian for grisly ceremonies.
Eventually, a Sorcerer Lord will be so immobile that he will
spend most of his time in his Palanquin, so it makes sense for
it to be comfortable.
The sight of a regiment of black-armoured Immortals carrying
a Palanquin down through the streets and passages of Zharr-
Naggrund – its sides carefully closed off with dark curtains,
or even ingenious mechanical shutters, lest the Sorcerer Lord
be troubled by members of the lower Castes – is quite a
common one, though it inspires no small amount of dread: a
Priest of Hashut travelling with such panoply is always doing
so with some malevolent aim in mind.
When a Sorcerer Lord finally succumbs to the Sorcerers'
Curse, he may continue to be borne aloft on the shoulders of
his followers – Palanquin and all – as a Petrified Sorcerer
before finally joining his fellows lining the road to Zharr-
Naggrund.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Palanquin 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 4 9
TROOP TYPE: Unique.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Magical Attacks.
Borne Aloft: A Palanquin follows the rules for a cavalry
mount, but does not have the Swiftstride special rule, nor does
it Fear models with Flaming Attacks. It adds +2 to the rider's
armour save rather than +1. The unit type of a Sorcerer Lord
riding a Palanquin is considered to be infantry.
PALANQUINS
Clan and Caste
Each Sorcerer Lord in the Temple of Hashut controls a part of Zharr-Naggrund and all of the lesser
Chaos Dwarfs that live and work in these areas belong to him. A complex web of blood ties binds these
Dawi'Zharr together and they are known as a Clan. Unlike the Clans of the western Dwarfs though,
there is little affection or camaraderie between members: what loyalty they have descends solely from
the Temple and the fealty they all owe to their Sorcerer Lord. Within a Clan there are Chaos Dwarfs
of each Caste and, from these families, other Sorcerers may be born. The ability to perform the unique
magic of the Dawi'Zharr is usually spotted early and the fortunate child is brought to the Temple to
become an Acolyte of Hashut. Like Immortals, Acolytes belong to no Clan and are in theory at the
disposal of every Sorcerer Lord. In practice though, most Sorcerer Lords will use Acolytes of their
own Clan for their rituals. The Acolytes, Pyrophants and Daemonsmiths that belong to a Sorcerer
Lord are known as his Household, and it is from this cabal of Sorcerers that the next Sorcerer Lord
will come when death or the Sorcerers' Curse finally claims the incumbent. When this happens, there is
invariably a violent power struggle as the lesser Sorcerers vie for dominance. Victory belongs to the
most powerful and cunning surviving Sorcerer, but all too often this is achieved by the simple expedient
of being the only Sorcerer that survives. Once a Clan acknowledges a new Sorcerer Lord, all the
assets of the Clan pass to him, including its members, but he must still carve a name out for himself
within the Conclave. Thus do the fortunes of the Dawi'Zharr clans wax and wane.
56
The balance of power in the Temple of Hashut has been
carefully maintained for untold centuries, the Sorcerers' Curse
ensuring that no one individual ever becomes too dominant in
the affairs of the Priesthood. The High Priest of Hashut, the
eldest of the Sorcerer Lords, holds ultimate sway as he is
invariably the mightiest Sorcerer: although age and power do
not always correlate, and a Sorcerer's strength with the dark
arts wanes in later life, precocious Sorcerer Lords burn out all
the faster, transforming into stone before they can threaten the
status quo. Lordship belongs to the eldest and most patient
Sorcerers.
Ghorth the Cruel has proven the exception to this rule. For
some unknown reason, he has managed to stave off
petrification despite his near-reckless abuses of his magical
power. Through complex machinations and at times blatant
backstabbing, he has risen to a position of dominance within
the Temple, and none have the strength to oppose him. His
sponsorship of the savage Zhatan the Black has bought him
the loyalty of the Immortals, and through his politicking he
has come to claim ownership over much of Zharr-Naggrund.
It is Ghorth who guides the decisions of the Conclave of
Sorcerer Lords, sometimes with subtlety and sometimes with
brute force. His most bitter foe is Astragoth, whose position
as High Priest of Hashut prevents Ghorth from achieving the
absolute power he so craves. His rival's time is running out
though, for Astragoth has nearly transformed entirely to inert
stone and Ghorth is very much younger, with long years of
undisputed rule ahead of him.
Ghorth is not immune to the effects of the Sorcerers' Curse
though – there are dark whisperings amongst his enemies and
even his followers that much of his body has now turned to
stone, and that he goes to great lengths to conceal this, lest a
rival attempt to overthrow him. There are mutterings too that
the mysterious golden mask that came into his possession
centuries ago now never leaves his side, and that this holds
the key to his longevity. Ghorth shows no signs of ailing
health though and is more active than ever, safeguarding his
realm and crushing rumours about his potential demise. With
Zhatan at his side, he is borne into battle atop a Palanquin
bedecked in twisted runes and sigils that assault the eye and
the mind. Now at the height of his magical power, Ghorth
summons Daemons with contemptuous ease, blasting his
enemies with the infernal magics of Hashut.
In the darkest corners of Zharr-Naggrund, rumours have
begun to circulate that Ghorth has plans that outstrip the
ambitions of even his mighty predecessor, Zhargon the Great.
They point to his bartering with Archaon the Everchosen of Chaos to supply his hordes with fearsome Doomcannon as
evidence, and believe this indicates that Ghorth's attentions
have turned westward, towards the Old World. What is clear
is that whatever his physical condition, Ghorth is all too ready
to demonstrate the depth of his power, both in arcane lore and
over the Chaos Dwarfs' empire.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghorth the Cruel 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10
The Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Sorcerer Lord).
MAGIC: Ghorth is a Level 4 Wizard. He uses spells from the
Lore of Hashut.
SPECIAL RULES: Bondage of Zharr, Sorcerers' Curse
(see page 29), Feet of Stone (see page 29).
MAGIC ITEMS: The Black Throne: This Palanquin is the most impressive
example of its kind; a huge and baroque throne of twisted
gromril and obsidian bound with many unquiet spirits.
Enchanted Item. The Black Throne follows all the normal
rules for a Palanquin, but also causes Fear and grants Ghorth
a 5+ ward save. Such is the Black Throne's size that it gives
Ghorth the Large Target special rule.
The Mask of Zhargon: Long ago, Zhargon the Great wore a
suit of golden Chaos armour that, it was rumoured, staved off
the Sorcerers' Curse. Ghorth recovered this mask from the
Temple of Hashut's deepest vaults which he believes comes
from that very suit of armour. Whatever its provenance, this
item of dread power offers unparalleled protection from
hostile magic.
Talisman. The Mask of Zhargon grants Ghorth Magic
Resistance (3).
Daemonic Thralls: Many are the daemonic spirits that
Ghorth gathers about himself, chittering incessantly and
bound into the runic devices of the Black Throne. Having thus
prepared his incantations ahead of time, Ghorth is rarely
caught unawares by any battlefield situation.
Arcane Item. Ghorth generates an additional power dice in his
own Magic phase and an additional dispel dice in the enemy
magic phase. Furthermore, Ghorth may re-roll the result if he
suffers a miscast.
The Book of Hashut: Zhargon's masterwork was the Book of
Hashut, a tome in which he recorded all the incantations of
the Father of Darkness. Ghorth is now the keeper of this
dangerous text and uses its forbidden knowledge to his
advantage.
Arcane Item. Ghorth has the Loremaster (Hashut) special
rule.
GHORTH THE CRUEL Supreme Lord of the Conclave, Master of Zharr
"Let it never be said that I have
been lax in my duties as a Priest of
Hashut. All my labours have been
towards the glory of the Father of
Darkness. If those efforts have
led to your ruin, I cannot be held
answerable for that. Now die."
- Ghorth the Cruel
57
Zhatan the Black was once an ordinary member of the
Immortals until one fateful day. He was charged with
defending the Sorcerer Lord H'Kul Firebreath during the
Fourth Battle of Daemon's Stump against a band of
marauding Ogres. The Immortals protecting H'Kul were
charged by a ferocious group of Maneaters who barrelled into
the Chaos Dwarf lines, knocking H'Kul from his Palanquin.
Zhatan stepped in to protect the fallen Priest and took on a
huge Maneater in single combat. Zhatan, though young and
relatively inexperienced, proved a match for the mighty Ogre
and assaulted him with a ferocious savagery unusual in a
Chaos Dwarf. Zhatan was unrelenting, and single-handedly
reduced the Maneater to a mangled carcass, soaking his
Chaos armour in dark Ogre blood. Unfortunately, in his
savage frenzy he had forgotten his first duty and the almost
totally petrified H'Kul was cut down while trying to stand
using his own power.
Zhatan became a Baneguard, serving as an Immortal from
that day forth. Despite his failure in his duty, he continued to
fight with unrelenting fury, ferocious where his fellows were
stoic and disciplined. Such was his dire reputation that he
eventually drew the attention of a young Sorcerer Lord named
Ghorth the Cruel. He saw in Zhatan a protégé – not one who
could follow him down the path of the Sorcerer, for Zhatan
had no skill with magic, but rather one who could emulate the
dark and terrible acts that had brought Ghorth his standing
amongst the Conclave of Sorcerer Lords. He nurtured
Zhatan's cruelty, involving him in the darkest rites of the
Temple. His bloodthirst was well satiated by what he saw,
and his gloating laughter as helpless captives were sacrificed
to the Father of Darkness in increasingly brutal ways became
a familiar sound. Even in a society as twisted and evil as that
of the Chaos Dwarfs, Zhatan's cruelty became the stuff of
legend. It is said that under him, the Immortals began to
partake in the same cannibalistic rites as the Bull Centaurs
and that he himself has taken to drinking daemonblood from a
chalice made from the skull of his predecessor. His face is
never seen, for he wears the bronze mask of the Immortals at
all times and some say he has had it ritually sealed to him
while still scalding hot in the manner of the disgraced Infernal
Guard of the Black Fortress.
As Zhatan's reputation grew and he rose to become
commander of the Immortals, so too did Ghorth's power, until
the entire warrior elite of Zharr-Naggrund served at the
Sorcerer Lord's beck and call. Ghorth reached heights
undreamed of, his influence becoming greater even than the
High Priest Astragoth himself. Thanks largely to Zhatan, the
balance of power in the Temple of Hashut has been changed
forever.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Zhatan the Black 3 8 4 4 5 4 4 4 10
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Overlord).
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Bondage of Zharr.
Reckless Hate: Even amongst the Immortals, Zhatan is
renowned for his savage loathing of all non-Chaos Dwarfs.
He is subject to Hatred, but continues to be affected after the
first round of combat, so he may always re-roll misses in
close combat.
MAGIC ITEMS: The Hammer of Zharr: This huge two-handed warhammer
is a mighty relic of ancient times, dating back to the founding
of Zharr-Naggrund.
Magic weapon. Always Strikes Last. Requires Two Hands. In
close combat, Zhatan has +2 Strength. In addition, wounds
inflicted by the Hammer of Zharr ignore armour saves.
The Ring of Unmaking: This ring of smooth obsidian
reduces the enchanted weapons made by other races to
ordinary steel when contact is made between blade and the
black stone.
Talisman. The Ring of Unmaking negates the power of any
magic or runic weapons carried by models in base contact –
treat them as non-magical weapons of their type. If the type of
weapon is unclear, treat it as a hand weapon.
The Black Mantle: Across Zhatan's shoulders sits a cloak
stitched from the skins of slaves tortured in the Temple of
Hashut. Blackened by the fires of the Father of Darkness, this
terrible object radiates an aura of dread.
Enchanted Item. Zhatan causes Fear.
ZHATAN THE BLACK Commander of the Tower of Zharr, The Banelord
58
Astragoth is the current High Priest of Hashut and therefore
the oldest living Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer Lord. Once he was the
most powerful Sorcerer to walk the Plain of Zharr in a
thousand years and known as Astragoth Ironhand, as much
for his physical vitality as the uncompromising nature of his
rule. Now, however, Astragoth has almost entirely turned to
stone. He must be carried from place to place by his
followers, and his underlings must perform many of the more
complex rites of his spells. In an effort to overcome these
disabilities, Astragoth ordered the creation of a special device
blending daemonic sorcery and technology: a mechanical
body grafted to his stone limbs that enables him to move and
perform summoning rituals. Where other Sorcerer Lords must
rely on the help of their servants and become increasingly
feeble, Astragoth can now take part in battles, lending his
considerable magical talent to his Legion, as well as using his
mechanical might to physically pummel his enemies.
Most Chaos Dwarfs consider Astragoth quite mad, but while
he lives he is still the High Priest of Hashut and they must
accept him, mechanical body and all. There is growing
rebellion in the Temple though in the form of Ghorth the
Cruel, who has now surpassed Astragoth in power and
influence. Astragoth still maintains a power base of the more
traditional Chaos Dwarfs, especially the zealous Acolytes of
Hashut who revere him as befits his station, but it is only a
matter of time until matters come to a head. As it is, the
Temple currently exists in a state of uneasy truce.
Astragoth takes great delight in joining his followers on the
battlefield. His mechanical suit means he is actually
somewhat faster than the rest of his army. It is often all his
bodyguard of Acolytes can do to restrain him before he
strides ahead of the main force, blasting the enemy with gouts
of boiling steam and cackling madly as he unleashes the dark
power of Hashut. Still an accomplished Sorcerer despite his
stone body, Astragoth has no intention of meekly accepting
his fate. Too religiously conservative to actively fight against
the Curse, Astragoth nevertheless demonstrates that the
uncompromising character of the Dawi'Zharr can overcome
any handicap. While he still has the will to power his bizarre
piston-driven body, he will undoubtedly continue to be an
active and determined member of the Temple of Hashut,
much to the frustration of Ghorth the Cruel.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 3 2 10
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Sorcerer Lord).
MAGIC: Astragoth is a Level 4 Wizard. He uses spells from
the Lore of Fire, the Lore of Metal or the Lore of Hashut.
SPECIAL RULES: Bondage of Zharr, Dirgemaster (see
page 32), Swiftstride.
The Stone That Walks: Almost all of Astragoth's body has
been turned to stone. He has the Sorcerers' Curse special rule
as described on page 29, but due to the advanced state of his
petrification his armour save is increased to 3+.
Steam Attack: Astragoth can switch the pistons that drive his
limbs around and blast his enemies with a gout of scalding
steam. He has a Strength 3 Breath Weapon, but he may not
use this if he has moved that turn. MAGIC ITEMS: Ironhand: Astragoth's semi-mechanical body incorporates a
piston-driven hammer which sometimes goes into overdrive,
bludgeoning enemies into a bloody pulp. Driven by
daemonfire, it is unstoppable once activated and can reduce
even sturdy armour to worthless scrap.
Magic Weapon. The Ironhand grants Astragoth the Killing
Blow special rule.
The Rod of Obsidian: This short rod of volcanic glass is a
symbol of Astragoth's authority. Blind to the Winds of Magic,
the High Priests of old used it to protect themselves against
hostile magic.
Arcane Item. The Rod of Obsidian allows any failed dispel
attempt to be re-rolled.
The Rune of Hashut: Astragoth's forehead is marked with a
burning Rune of Hashut, placed upon him by the Father of
Darkness as a symbol of his favour. No other Chaos Dwarf
has such a blessing, as Hashut is not a generous god.
Talisman. The Rune of Hashut grants Astragoth a 5+ ward
save and the Blessing of Hashut special rule.
ASTRAGOTH High Priest of Hashut, Old Rockbeard
59
Few creatures can match the strength, speed and ferocity of a
Bull Centaur. Half Chaos Dwarf, half bull, they are some of
the most feared shock troops in the Warhammer world. Like
other Dwarfs, Bull Centaurs become more powerful and
skilled as they age, and so the title of Lord of the Bull
Centaurs is given to the oldest and therefore most awe-
inspiring specimen of their race. Currently, this is the
terrifying monstrosity known as Bhaal.
Lord Bhaal is a huge, glowering beast, and wide horns sprout
from his brow. Hashut rarely takes a personal interest in his
followers, but it appears as if Bhaal may be one of the few
exceptions to this rule for, upon his accession to the office of
Eldest, he claimed to have received a message from the
Father of Darkness in his dreams. Following the instructions
of his terrible god, Bhaal took his personal bodyguard of Bull
Centaur Guardians into the Chaos Wastes where they
followed an ancient road to a pulsing rift in spacetime that led
directly to the Realm of Chaos. Passing through this fell
gateway, Bhaal and his warriors were spirited to the
murderous hell-dimension of the Chaos Gods where Hashut
bade them do battle against innumerable Daemons and other
terrible foes. Though only a few months passed in the mortal
realm, Bhaal and the Guardians fought for many decades in
the Realm of Chaos. Across hundreds of blighted hellscapes
did those mighty creatures make war in the name of Hashut,
and world after world was smashed asunder by their fury.
When Bhaal returned he brought with him a mighty axe of
infernal provenance and a new epithet: the Death of Worlds.
He was changed by his experience, and had now become a
burning avatar of Hashut, the very apex of the Bull Centaur
race.
Now, Lord Bhaal leaves the Temple of Hashut very rarely. As
the Eldest of the Bull Centaurs, he has a vital role to play in
the rites of the Father of Darkness, personally casting captives
into cauldrons of molten gold or iron. Because the heat does
not affect Bull Centaurs, they are necessary to ensure the
slaves are fully immersed, plunging them into the scalding
depths where their screams are swallowed by liquid metal,
which fills their lungs and hastens their demise. Above these
horrific screams can be heard the gloating laughter of Lord
Bhaal, who takes particular delight in the suffering of lesser
races.
On the occasions when Lord Bhaal does take to the field of
battle, he shows little regard for any plan an Overlord or
Sorcerer Lord may have devised. He is completely single-
minded, and so assured of his own might that he has never
seen any cause to adopt any strategy except full frontal
assault. It is a testament to the ferocity of the Death of Worlds
that this tactic has rarely failed to produce the desired effect,
and he has been known to lead a regiment of Bull Centaurs
straight into and through a barred fortress gate without having
to even slow down. The Priests have little choice but to allow
Bhaal to do as he wishes, because to cross him means certain
death: a Sorcerer Lord may be more powerful than any other
Chaos Dwarf in Zharr-Naggrund, but the Bull Centaurs are
the chosen creatures of Hashut, and none would dare raise a
hand against Lord Bhaal were he to take exception to a Priest
and cast him into the cauldrons with the slaves.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Lord Bhaal 7 7 3 6 5 5 5 5 9
TROOP TYPE: Monstrous Beast (Special Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Blessing of Hashut, Bondage of Zharr,
Devastating Charge, Flaming Attacks, Immune to
Psychology, 6+ Scaly Skin, Terror.
Chosen of Hashut: Bhaal leads the Chosen of Hashut into
battle, the survivors of those Guardians who accompanied
him into the Realm of Chaos. They have the profiles of Bull
Centaur Guardians (i.e. +1 Attack) and they and Bhaal are
both subject to Frenzy. If the army includes the Chosen of
Hashut, Bhaal must set up with the unit and may not leave it.
No other character may join the unit.
MAGIC ITEMS: Dread Axe: Lord Bhaal bears the Dread Axe, a weapon
stolen from the tomb of an ancient Champion of Chaos from a
world beyond the outermost stars, accessible only through the
Realm of Chaos. It is encrusted with vile runes of the Dark
Gods and glows with a sickly, green miasma.
Magic weapon. Always Strikes Last. Requires Two Hands.
All hits inflicted by the Dread Axe wound automatically. For
the purposes of armour save modifiers, the Dread Axe adds
+2 to Lord Bhaal's Strength.
LORD BHAAL Last Guardian, Eldest of the Bull Centaurs, The Death of Worlds
60
The most talented and powerful Daemonsmith of the current
generation is Hothgar Daemonbane. With a natural affinity
for summoning and binding Daemons, Hothgar might have
been a prodigy within the Priesthood of Hashut, but he has
always taken a highly pragmatic view of his dark art, seeing
only the practical applications of his enslaved entities rather
than working towards the glory of Hashut. He serves no
Sorcerer Lord – the products of his soul-forges being valuable
enough that he can play members of the Conclave against
each other – but most of his work is done at the behest of
Ghorth the Cruel, who knows well the value of having
powerful Daemonic war machines. Hothgar built the
Doomcannon that were eventually sold to Archaon the
Everchosen and, before that, constructed the towering Doom
Engines for Lord Mortkin.
Hothgar is a dangerous and driven individual. He has pushed
the boundaries of Chaos Dwarf science almost to breaking
point in his efforts to create larger and more dangerous
machines of war. Some of his experiments have caused large
scale destruction and many casualties, leading to his brief
exile from Zharr-Naggrund. Hothgar's greatest invention was
a huge, bull-shaped machine called the Kolossus which
proved too unstable to be useful, but his long-standing dream
is to recreate it in an even grander and more spectacularly
destructive form. Each day, he nears his demented goal.
In person, Hothgar is oddly jovial and charismatic and will
readily expound excitedly on his latest creation to anyone
who shows even the slightest interest. As his companions'
eyes glaze over he continues to gush about the finest details
of his work. It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security
by such an apparent eccentric for, though he may appear
nothing more than an overly-enthusiastic tinkerer, Hothgar's
trade is in death. Blood sacrifice powers his magic, and his
inventions are invariably machines of horrifying destructive
power. When thwarted, Hothgar's true character emerges: he
has a short, explosive temper and he goes about his
experiments with a worryingly reckless attitude. If something
goes awry, he will take out his frustration on his Hellsmiths,
and Hellforge Guards, dispatching them in savage displays of
wanton cruelty and using their deaths to power his next ritual.
There are always more apprentices lining up though, for
Hothgar is one of the wealthiest Chaos Dwarfs in the Dark
Lands, and the opportunity to study with him is not to be
snubbed.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hothgar Daemonbane 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Daemonsmith).
MAGIC: Hothgar is a Level 2 Wizard. He uses spells from
the Lore of Metal. In addition to his other spells, Hothgar
always knows the Bind Daemon spell.
Bind Daemon Cast on 8+ Hothgar is uniquely talented in the dark art of binding
Daemons into his arcane machines and is even able to muster
the requisite concentration on the battlefield in order to bind
escaping Daemons into their iron prisons.
Bind Daemon is an augment spell which can be used on a
friendly unit with the Bound Daemon special rule within 18"
of Hothgar. The affected unit immediately recovers D3+1
Wounds lost earlier in the battle. Models slain earlier in the
battle may be resurrected following the same procedure as the
Regrowth Lore of Life spell.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Sorcerers' Curse (see page
29), Daemon Binder (see page 33), Arcane Engineer (see
page 33).
MAGIC ITEMS: The Rod of Daemon Binding: This arcane staff is bound
with enchantments designed to suck the souls from living
creatures. It is especially powerful against Daemons and
other creatures of magic.
Magic Weapon. Hothgar has the Killing Blow special rule.
When used against any model with magical attacks, the Rod
of Daemon Binding instead grants Heroic Killing Blow.
Soul Armour: Hothgar wears a suit of rune-encrusted Chaos
armour that is specially warded against the attacks of
Daemons and other magical spirits.
Magic Armour. The Soul Armour grants a 4+ armour save
and a 5+ ward save. Against magical attacks, this is improved
to a 2+ ward save.
HOTHGAR DAEMONBANE Sorcerer of the Forge, Scourge of the Empyrean, The Soul Slaver
61
Rykarth the Unbreakable is a prodigy of the Warrior Caste.
As a young Chaos Dwarf, he was responsible for some of the
great victories in Overlord Ulzuth's scourging of the Blasted
Wastes. He was elevated to the rank of Ironguard before he
even came of age and proved an inspirational leader to his
troops, commanding absolute obedience from them. He was
lauded throughout the Plain of Zharr as an exemplar of Chaos
Dwarf toughness and stoicism. He was on course to become
the youngest Despot in history when a directive came down
from a mysterious source in the Temple of Hashut: Rykarth
became the first Warrior ever to be commanded by the
Conclave of Priests to join the Immortals.
As an Immortal, Rykarth continued to excel, never failing in
his duties and possessing courage in excess even of that
usually demanded by the Immortals. After seven years had
passed, Rykarth prepared to return to his Legion but the
Conclave intervened again: they requested that Rykarth
remain with the Immortals as a captain within their ranks,
leading as only he could. Ulzuth had no choice but to agree
and, even though he was not a Baneguard, Rykarth's tenure
with the Immortals was extended indefinitely.
Rykarth never questioned his orders, for he was unflinchingly
loyal to his masters, but Zhatan the Black marked well how
Ghorth took an interest in the young Immortal, sending him
on missions that benefited himself and recruiting him for
secretive tasks. In time, Rykarth became known as the Hand
of Ghorth for, though Zhatan was the Sorcerer Lord's most
trusted bodyguard, it was Rykarth who was most often seen
enacting his will outside the Temple. It was Rykarth who
brokered the deal with Archaon the Everchosen to supply him
with batteries of Doomcannon built by Hothgar Daemonbane
and it is said that when the Lord of the End Times visited the
Hellforges below Zharr-Naggrund, Rykarth alone was able to
meet his infernal gaze.
Rykarth leads his own unit of Immortals, an elite formation
known as the Granite Guard. His prowess grows by the year,
and Ghorth grows ever more pleased with his young protégé,
giving him more and more authority and autonomy, grooming
him to perhaps become his Overlord, a position he has always
left unfilled. If Rykarth has any opinions about his
circumstances, he has not seen fit to voice them. Unlike the
savage Zhatan, Rykarth is a model Dawi'Zharr and obeys the
orders of Ghorth and the Conclave unthinkingly. Time and
time again he has fought against suicidal odds and emerged
victorious. Indeed, it is as if he and his Granite Guard are
being thrown recklessly into hopeless fights – either Ghorth is
testing his servant or some other agency is working from
within the Temple to dispose of Rykarth. If the latter is true,
then Rykarth has disappointed them at every turn by always
returning at the head of a triumphant Legion. However, if he
exults in such achievements he has never expressed it. For
Rykarth, obedience is its own reward, and total victory
merely an expectation of his station.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Rykarth the Unbreakable 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Despot).
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Hatred, Bondage of
Zharr, Unbreakable.
Granite Guard: Rykarth leads the Granite Guard, an elite
formation of the Immortals. The Granite Guard are Immortals
with the Unbreakable special rule. Rykarth must set up with
this unit and may not leave it. No other character may join the
unit.
MAGIC ITEMS: Cursed Rune Axe: Rykarth carries a larger version of the
cursed axes borne by the Immortals, so massive it must be
wielded in two hands.
Magic weapon. Always Strikes Last. Requires Two Hands.
The Cursed Rune Axe grants Rykarth +2 Strength and has the
Armour Piercing special rule.
RYKARTH THE UNBREAKABLE Captain of the Granite Guard, The Hand of Ghorth
Guards of the Tower of Zharr
The Immortals are divided into a number of different
formations, known as Guards, each having a
different area of responsibility and expertise. The
Granite Guard are paragons of the Immortals'
fighting style, specialising in unyielding defence, but
other units include the Obsidian Guard who hunt
enemy mages and the Basalt Guard who are masters
of siege warfare. There is a fierce rivalry between
the different Guards, with each seeking to outdo the
others and gain the most glory. Different Sorcerer
Lords favour different Guards, but they also play
them against each other for their own benefit.
62
All Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers secretly long to find a way to halt
the effects of the Sorcerers' Curse, but Volgar was more
obsessed than most. Although nominally a Pyrophant, he
spent years researching different possible solutions to the
Curse, most focused around alchemical transmutation. Volgar
reasoned that if it were possible to transform base metals into
gold, it may also be possible to transform stone into flesh.
Unfortunately for Volgar, who had no test subject save
himself, his final experiment horribly backfired: the stone
parts of his body were indeed transmuted, but they turned into
amethyst crystals rather than living flesh. The natural growth
of the crystals actually accelerated the process of the
Sorcerers' Curse, causing Volgar to transform even faster –
though now it was into amethyst rather than ordinary rock.
Before long, Volgar had become a hideous grotesque, his
flesh rent by crystal growths that pushed their way through
his skin, causing agonising pain.
There was also a strange side effect to Volgar's bizarre
transformation. Amethyst is naturally conductive to magic,
and considered by scholars to be the polar opposite to
obsidian in that respect. It is particularly attuned to the
mysterious Wind of Shyish, or Death magic, which is often
called Amethyst magic for that very reason. Volgar found that
his body had become a living conductor for Death magic and
that, as the crystals worked their way into his brain, he was
able to see the Wind of Shyish. This was a profoundly
disturbing experience for the young Pyrophant: Dwarfs are
almost blind to the Winds of Magic and Chaos Dwarfs are no
exception. All of his training in sorcery had thus far focused
on using Daemons and K'daai to achieve his ends, but now
Volgar found he had access to the raw stuff of magic. It was a
harsh learning curve, and no one else in the Temple could aid
him – not that they wished to associate with any Priest who
had so visibly defied the Order of Things and mutilated
himself in the process anyway. Many called for Volgar's
excommunication or, better yet, execution, but it was Ghorth
who stayed the Conclave's hand, reasoning that Volgar would
be more use to them alive than dead, and that he would make
too powerful an enemy to simply release into the Dark Lands.
Some said Ghorth had an ulterior motive – that he was
interested in the possibility Volgar's transmutation
represented, although if his was a possible solution to the
Sorcerers' Curse, it was not one any other Sorcerer was
willing to embrace.
Although Volgar has been allowed to continue to remain a
part of Chaos Dwarf society, his transformation has driven
him quite mad. Quite apart from the horror of the Realm of
Chaos that has now been unveiled before him, his body is
constantly racked by pain as his physical form twists and
distorts into glowing crystal. Each time Volgar uses his
magic, he undergoes another crippling mutation. It seems that
manipulating raw magic accelerates the Sorcerers' Curse
much more aggressively, or perhaps it is just the nature of the
crystal growth. In either case, what sanity Volgar had is now
shattered. He has become addicted to the magic that pulses
through his body and wastes no opportunity to take to the
battlefield. There he runs amok, a kind of living, gibbering
weapon, blasting his foes with destructive death magic.
Volgar's mastery of his magic is impressive, but it will
doubtless eventually destroy him.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Volgar the Mad 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character).
MAGIC: Volgar is a Level 2 Wizard. He uses spells from the
Lore of Death.
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding, Sorcerers' Curse (see page
29), 6+ Scaly Skin, Immune to Psychology.
Crystal Resonance: Volgar's crystals are attuned to the Wind
of Shyish, allowing him to draw power through his own body.
He has a +1 bonus to all channelling attempts.
Living Conduit: Being a walking magic conductor, Volgar is
not exactly stable. If he draws in too much power he will
temporarily be overcome by horrifying visions, going into
paroxysms of madness. If Volgar ever miscasts, he will
become subject to Frenzy in addition to any other effects.
VOLGAR THE MAD Shattermind, The Living Conduit
The House of Gar
Many say that the House of Gar, to which Volgar the
Mad belongs and of which his distant cousin,
Hothgar Daemonbane, is also theoretically a
member, is cursed. Its current Sorcerer Lord,
Thrungar the Unlucky, has seen his realm diminish to
less than a quarter the size it was under his
predecessor, Lorgar the Foul. Perhaps this is due to
no less than two promising young Sorcerers
following their own paths rather than working
towards increasing the influence of the Household.
63
Though the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is essentially landlocked,
they nonetheless have an infamous history of naval warfare.
Their fearsome ironclad warships are able to ply the seas of
the Warhammer world thanks to the polluted River Ruin that
runs through their realm and sluices into the Sea of Dread,
and the great sea tunnel they carved centuries ago between the
Falls of Doom and Uzkulak that gives them access to the Sea
of Chaos. By such means they are able to travel across oceans
and capture slaves from nations that have never even heard
the name of the Dawi'Zharr. But amongst the many pirate
captains that serve the Sorcerer Lords of Zharr-Naggrund, one
name stands out: that of Ghuz Slavetaker. Ghuz is unique in
that he is bound to no single Sorcerer Lord. Instead, he has
carved out influence of his own as a mercenary captain,
serving in exchange for gold and slaves. He has been allowed
to continue to live outside Chaos Dwarf society because he is
so successful, so ruthless and so completely cold-blooded in
his dealings.
Nonetheless, Ghuz is a devout servant of Hashut and pays his
respects to the Temple when called upon to do so. It is simply
that he believes the pursuit of profit above all else is the most
important of the Father of Darkness's commandments, a
particular theological interpretation mostly espoused by the
mining Clans of Gorgoth. Ghuz himself hails originally from
Uzkulak, and that dark, sepulchral fortress evidently had an
influence on him, since he left as soon as he could, leaving
behind his ties to his Clan. He retained the skills of mariner
that have been so honed by the Chaos Dwarfs of Uzkulak and
went into service on one of the thunder-roller ram ships that
act as escorts for the larger ironclads in Chaos Dwarf fleets.
Evidently he was something of a prodigy, or possibly just
extremely ruthless, for he soon became captain of the vessel
and eventually the commander of the entire fleet.
As much as Zharr-Naggrund needs slaves to power its foul
industry, Ghuz's ships' need is so much more immediate –
after a particularly bloody sea battle, many of the slaves who
toil in the bowels of his vessels will have drowned, and Ghuz
will need to replace them with new slaves taken from the
vanquished foe right away. For this reason, Ghuz is an
exemplar of the Chaos Dwarf ideals of greed, consumption
and the need for instant gratification. He is short-sighted,
boisterous and rude; a vile, black-hearted pirate covered in
ritual brands and tattoos, face hung with piercings, flesh
embedded with runic talismans, who is most often found at
the prow of his flagship, The Bull's Fury, gesticulating wildly
and bellowing angrily at his crew and slaves to bring him to
the enemy faster. In short, Ghuz is everything a Chaos Dwarf
could ever wish to be if liberated from the strict bonds of their
society.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghuz Slavetaker 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
TROOP TYPE: Infantry (Special Character, Despot).
SPECIAL RULES: Unyielding.
Slavetaker: Ghuz's hunger for slaves is unusual even in a
Chaos Dwarf, and he and his crew of rogues will always try
to capture the enemy instead of simply cutting them down.
Ghuz and his unit pursue only 1D6" after winning a close
combat as they stop to subdue and bind the fallen foe, but any
unit caught in this manner is worth double victory points.
Crew of The Bull's Fury: Ghuz always fights alongside the
crew of his flagship, The Bull's Fury, a band of ruthless sea
dogs. The Crew of The Bull's Fury are a unit of Chaos Dwarf
Warriors armed with a brace of pistols. They may not take
any other equipment options except a magic standard, and
may not benefit from the General's Inspiring Presence or the
Battle Standard's Hold Your Ground! abilities. Ghuz must set
up with this unit and may not leave it. No other character may
join the unit.
MAGIC ITEMS: Daemonscourge Pistols: Ghuz carries a pair of matched
pistols that contain the bound essence of a Daemon, its soul
magically torn in half and split between the guns. They were a
gift from a Daemonsmith for carrying out a particularly
tricky sea raid.
Magic weapon. Requires Two Hands. The Daemonscourge
Pistols grant Ghuz the Extra Attack and Flaming Attacks
special rule in close combat, and may also be fired with the
profile shown below.
Range Strength Special Rules
12" 5 Armour Piercing, Quick to Fire,
Multiple Shots (2), Flaming Attacks
GHUZ SLAVETAKER Plague of the Seas, Captain of The Bull's Fury
64
Hobgoblins occupy a relatively privileged position amongst
the hordes of slaves that serve the Chaos Dwarfs. They are
allowed to keep their own customs, their own tribes and their
own leaders. Nonetheless, it is rare indeed for a Hobgoblin to
achieve a rank of any influence in the armies of his masters.
Naturally servile and cowardly creatures, they are largely
incapable of making use of even the meagre advantages the
Chaos Dwarfs give them. However, there is one Hobgoblin
who has risen to a position of power – or at least notoriety –
in the armies of the Dawi'Zharr. Gorduz Backstabber has the
dubious honour of being the Chieftain of the Sneaky Gitz
tribe, the vilest and most loathsome of all the Hobgoblins.
These treacherous greenskins inhabit Gash Kadrak, the Vale
of Woe, where they oversee the great quarries that provide
stone for the Chaos Dwarfs' building projects. There, millions
of lesser slaves toil under the cruel whips of the Sneaky Gitz.
Gorduz is a traitorous as all his kin, and thinks nothing of
betraying his fellow Hobgoblins to his masters in exchange
for their favouritism – hence his epithet. Unlike in almost any
other species, this does not lead to him being despised, but in
fact admired and respected by other Hobgoblins. In a race that
has evolved a bony hump on their shoulders due to their
predilection for clandestine assassinations, Gorduz stands as a
paragon of those dubious Hobgoblin values. When called
upon by his Chaos Dwarf masters, he is as likely to be
mysteriously absent from the battlefield as any Hobgoblin,
but when he does finally show up, his good fortune and sly
cunning mean he has a habit of turning the tide.
As befits his dubious station, Gorduz rides upon the back of
one of the slavering giant wolves that prowl the Dark Lands.
Unlike the great Khans of the Eastern Steppes, Gorduz has
made no effort to bond with his mount or secure a more
fearsome specimen of the race: he just likes to be taller than
his fellows and knows that it's much harder to get stabbed in
the back when you're riding about on something. Like all
Hobgoblins, he makes sure his weapons are coated in virulent
poison and he also carries with him the deadly Black Bow, a
gift from his Chaos Dwarf masters. All Hobgoblins are
despised as snivelling lackeys of the Dawi'Zharr, but there is
none more servile and sycophantic than Gorduz Backstabber
who has not yet discovered the limit of the depths to which he
will debase himself to gain the favour of the Sons of Hashut.
And, vile as he is, none can deny that Gorduz is a canny foe.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Gorduz Backstabber 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
TROOP TYPE: Cavalry (Special Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Disposable, Late As Usual! (see page
43), Fast Cavalry, Poisoned Attacks.
Git: Fated...lucky...sneaky; call it what you will, but Gorduz
has an unnatural instinct for survival that has allowed him to
emerge unscathed from multiple assassination attempts by his
rivals. When Gorduz is reduced to his last Wound, he gains a
4+ ward save.
Hobgoblin Chieftain: Gorduz is the chieftain of the Sneaky
Gitz tribe of Hobgoblins, the most well-known and despised
of all their race. Despite this, Gorduz has the Inspiring
Presence special rule, but it may only be used by Hobgoblin
Warriors and Hobgoblin Wolf Riders.
MAGIC ITEMS: Black Bow: Gorduz carries a bow that was a gift from his
Chaos Dwarf masters after his service at the Battle of
Uzkulak. The arrows are tipped with shards of obsidian and
the bow itself is fashioned from daemonbone. The Black Bow
is unerringly accurate as if guided by some animalistic
sentience, and its shots can hammer through almost any
armour.
Magic Weapon. The Black Bow counts as a bow and grants
Gorduz the Sniper special rule. In addition, any model
wounded by the Black Bow must re-roll successful armour
saves.
Wolf Pelt: Gorduz wears a thick wolf pelt across his
shoulders, taken from one of the savage Great Wolves that
roam the Dark Lands. These beasts were warped by the
power of Chaos in ancient times and possess unnatural
resilience.
Talisman. Gorduz has a +1 armour save bonus against
shooting attacks.
GORDUZ BACKSTABBER Hobgoblin Chieftain, Sneakiest Git
65
FUGUE OF HASHUT Cast on 8+ (Signature Spell) The Sorcerer Lord unleashes a terrifying, complex
hymnal to the Father of Darkness, a more dangerous
version of the evil Dirges of Hashut, and its dark power
envelops his followers.
Fugue of Hashut is an augment spell that may be cast on
any friendly unit within 18". The affected unit gains the
Hatred and Flaming Attacks special rules until the start of
the caster's next magic phase. If the unit has the Bound
Daemon special rule, they also gain Regeneration (5+).
The Sorcerer Lord can choose to expand the effect of this
spell to all friendly units within 18". If he does so, the
casting value is increased to 16+.
1 STORM OF ASH Cast on 5+ The Sorcerer Lord summons forth a coven of smoke-spirits
that enshroud his enemies, causing them to choke and
stumble as the searing dust fills their eyes and lungs.
Storm of Ash is a hex spell with a range of 18". The target
unit cannot march in their following turn and reduces their
Weapon Skill and Initiative characteristics by 1 until the start
of the caster's next magic phase. The Sorcerer Lord can
choose to expand the cloud and have it affect all enemy units
within 18" instead. If he does so, the casting value is
increased to 10+.
2 FLAMES OF AZGORH Cast on 7+
The Sorcerer Lord expels a wall of daemonic flames that
engulf his foes in the volcanic fury of the great mountain of
fire, Azgorh.
Flames of Azgorh is an augment spell cast on the Sorcerer
Lord himself. He has a Strength 4 breath weapon with the
Flaming Attacks special rule for the remainder of the turn.
The Sorcerer Lord can increase the breath weapon's Strength
to 5. If he does so, the casting value is increased to 10+.
3 SOUL REAVERS Cast on 10+
The Sorcerer Lord reaches into the Realm of Chaos and
drags forth a gaggle of screeching Daemons which fly
towards the enemy and attack with their spectral claws.
Soul Reavers is a magic missile spell with a range of 24" that
causes 2D6 Strength 4 hits with no armour saves allowed.
The Sorcerer Lord can summon more powerful Daemons, in
which case the Strength of the hits is increased to 5. If he
does so, the casting value is increased to 13+.
THE LORE OF HASHUT
Daemon Binding, Diablomancy, Evocation
WARPSHRIEK (Lore Attribute) Sorcerer Lords drag Daemons directly from their home dimension to
do their evil bidding. Such Daemons manifest as screeching spectres,
so abruptly have they been torn from the Empyrean.
Any enemy unit that suffers any Wounds from a Lore of Hashut spell
(including breath weapon hits from a Sorcerer Lord using Flames of
Azgorh) must take a Panic test regardless of the number of casualties
caused. Friendly units with the Disposable rule that are targeted by
any Lore of Hashut spell must also take a Panic test.
66
4 SHADOWS OF HASHUT Cast on 10+
The Sorcerer Lord calls up the terrifying form of a daemonic
bull which charges towards the closest enemy, goring them
with horns of pure shadow.
Shadows of Hashut is a direct damage spell. Every model in
the front rank of the nearest enemy unit to the caster within
18" suffers a Strength 4 hit. If there are no enemy units within
18", the spell has no effect. The Sorcerer Lord may summon a
more powerful spectral bull by increasing the casting value to
13+, in which case the second rank of the target unit is
affected as well.
5 BULLROAR Cast on 13+
The Sorcerer Lord unleashes a furious bellow that
reverberates through the Realm of Chaos like an apocalyptic
Dirge of Hashut. All that hear the sound are filled with the
fear of Hashut and his fiery wrath.
Bullroar is an augment spell cast on the Sorcerer Lord
himself. Until the beginning of the caster's next Magic phase,
all friendly units within 18" of the caster automatically pass
all Panic tests they are required to take. The Sorcerer Lord
can choose to emit a louder and more powerful version of this
spell that affects all friendly units within 24". If he does so,
the casting value is increased to 18+.
6 FURY OF THE EMPYREAN Cast on 15+
The Sorcerer Lord tears a rift in the very fabric of reality,
opening a gateway into the Realm of Chaos itself. Daemons
surge from the crackling vortex to sow destruction and the
pulsing hellmouth moves erratically as the material world
warps around it.
Fury of the Empyrean is a magical vortex that uses the small
round template. Once the template is placed, the Sorcerer
Lord nominates the direction in which it will move. Roll 3D6
to determine how many inches the template will move. In
subsequent turns, the template moves 3D6" in a random
direction. Any unit under or passed over by the template is
assailed by ravening Daemons and suffers D6 Strength 4 hits
for each rank of models in the unit with no armour saves
allowed. If at least one double is ever rolled for the template's
movement or number of hits, the rift immediately collapses
before moving or resolving any hits and all units within 12"
of the template must take a Panic test as the wailing Daemons
are sent flying in all directions and the spell ends. The
Sorcerer Lord may tear a larger warp rift so that it uses the
large round template instead. If he does so, the casting value
is increased to 25+.
To represent the myriad output of the Hellforges, some units
in the Chaos Dwarfs army may be given Daemonic Upgrades.
The Upgrades available and their points costs are detailed in
the appropriate army list entries.
BLAZING BODY The machine burns with daemonic fire, incinerating all it
touches in an instant.
Any model (friend or foe, but not the model's rider if it has
one or any other model with this Upgrade) in base contact at
the start of the close combat phase suffers a Strength 4 hit
with the Flaming Attacks special rule and any non-magical
attacks directed against the model are resolved at -1 Strength,
down to a minimum of 1. In addition, all of the model's
attacks (including shooting attacks, impact hits, Stomp, etc.)
have the Flaming Attacks special rule.
COLOSSAL The machine is a huge, towering monstrosity.
The model has +2 Wounds.
DAEMONIC BARRAGE The machine has multiple barrels, and fills the air with such a
weight of ammunition that the target area is utterly saturated,
leaving few survivors.
When the model fires using its stone thrower attack, it may
re-roll all failed To Wound rolls.
DEATH ROCKETS The machine fires rockets imbued with cackling daemonic
spirits that cause them to spiral out of control.
If the model rolls both a hit and a misfire when using its stone
thrower attack, do not roll on the misfire table. Instead, the
shot scatters a further 4D6" in the direction indicated by the
small arrow on the hit symbol. No damage is inflicted at the
shot's original target point.
DIABOLIC SENTIENCE The machine has an animalistic intellect, allowing it to direct
its fire, after a fashion.
When the model fires using its stone thrower attack, it may
re-roll the scatter dice.
ERUPTION CANNON Instead of hurling its ammunition skyward, the machine
instead blasts its targets with a gout of scalding magma.
The model fires using the rules for a fire thrower as described
in the Warhammer rulebook instead of a stone thrower. If
taken by a Doomcannon, hits are resolved at Strength 6.
FAVOUR OF HASHUT The machine resembles a bull, the chosen form of the Father
of Darkness himself.
The model has +1 Strength and the Blessing of Hashut special
rule.
FEROCIOUS The Daemon within the machine is especially powerful and
enraged.
The model has +2 Attacks but -2 Leadership. In addition, if it
fails its Leadership test for Rampage, it has the Random
Movement (3D6) rule.
FIENDISH BLAST The machine can project a wall of deadly fumes, fire or
daemonic ichor.
The model has a Strength 4 Breath Weapon.
FUELLED BY FIRE As a creature of the Wind of Aqshy, this creation cannot be
harmed by Bright Magic – such spells only make it stronger.
The model cannot be wounded by spells from the Lore of
Fire. If it is the target of a successfully cast spell from the
Lore of Fire, the unit immediately regains D3 Wounds lost
earlier in the battle. This may not resurrect models that have
already been destroyed.
IMMORTAL HUNGER The Daemon within the machine is ravenous for fresh blood
and warm, living flesh.
The model has the Hatred special rule, but it applies in every
round of close combat, not just the first, so it may always re-
roll failed To Hit rolls.
INFERNAL SHELLS The machine fires huge shells that shake the ground when
they crash to earth.
Any unit that suffers at least one Wound from the model's
stone thrower attack may not march or shoot in its following
turn. War Machines may only shoot on a D6 roll of 4+. If the
affected unit charges, it must take a dangerous terrain test.
IRONCLAD The machine is protected by plates of blackened forge-iron.
The model has a 4+ armour save.
MAWTER The Infernal Engine has a great cannon set in its jagged,
smoking maw.
The model has a shooting attack that follows the rules for a
stone thrower. It may fire even if it moved that turn (but not if
it marched or failed its Rampage test). If a misfire is rolled,
the model does not fire this turn and suffers a single Wound
with no saves of any kind allowed.
OBSIDIAN HULL The machine's hull is bound with magic-resistant obsidian.
The model has Magic Resistance (2).
THUNDEROUS CHARGE The machine charges into combat with unstoppable force.
The model has the Impact Hits (D6) special rule.
WARPFIRE The engine's ammunition is imbued with raw warpstone and
its targets are mutated and twisted when it explodes.
Any unit that suffers at least one Wound from the model's
stone thrower attack must take a Panic test with a -1
Leadership penalty.
WHIRLING BLADES The machine is fitted with dozens of spinning blades that slice
enemies into bloody ribbons.
The model has the Random Attacks (3D3) special rule.
DAEMONIC UPGRADES
67
DARK MACE OF DEATH 100 points Magic Weapon
The Dark Mace of Death contains the bound essence of the
mighty Daemon Prince Dra'heth'k'negh, captured centuries
ago by an insane Daemonsmith. What price he paid to
enslave so mighty a creature can never be known, for even
his name has been erased from the histories. One who knows
the secrets of the weapon may unleash the enraged Daemon,
whereupon he will lash out explosively at anything within
range before returning to the Realm of Chaos. A skilled
Daemonsmith is required to locate and bind Dra'heth'k'negh
again, for the Daemon Prince's fate is inextricably
intertwined with that of the Dawi'Zharr and it is always
possible to lure him back, although the price he exacts is
higher each time. Only a highly wealthy and influential
Sorcerer Lord can afford such a service and thus arm one of
his servants with the Dark Mace of Death.
Hits from the Dark Mace of Death have the Multiple Wounds
(D3) special rule. In addition, once per game the bound
Daemon may be released in a devastating magical attack
instead of the bearer making normal attacks in close combat.
The wielder must take a Leadership test: if the test is passed,
place the small blast template anywhere within 6". All models
beneath the template suffer an automatic Strength 5 hit with
no armour saves possible and the Multiple Wounds (D3) rule.
If the Leadership test is failed, centre the template on the
wielder instead.
BLACK HAMMER OF HASHUT 40 points Magic Weapon
The Black Hammer of Hashut is a weapon blessed by the
Father of Darkness himself. Legend has it that it descended to
the Plain of Zharr in a bolt of lightning on an auspicious and
portentous night. Those slaves who were ordered to retrieve
it were burned to a char the second they laid their filthy
hands upon it – it would take one who was worthy in the eyes
of Hashut to lift it. Shaped in the form of a smith's hammer, it
burns with terrific intensity and can heat metal to melting
point almost instantly. Armour is no defence against the
Black Hammer and only makes the wearer more vulnerable
to its scalding touch. Many Overlords have wielded the Black
Hammer down the ages, and only one who is blessed in the
eyes of the Father of Darkness truly has the skill to use it.
The Black Hammer grants the Flaming Attacks special rule
and ignores armour saves. When attacking with the Black
Hammer of Hashut, the bearer's Strength is ignored. Instead,
the To Wound score is always equal to the unmodified
armour save of the target, up to a maximum of 2+ and down
to a minimum of 6+. For example, a model with light armour
and shield (5+ armour save) would be wounded on a 5+.
However, the weapon's heat makes using it highly dangerous:
at the beginning of each of his turns, any model carrying the
Black Hammer suffers an automatic Strength 3 hit with the
Flaming Attacks special rule.
ARMOUR OF THE FURNACE 55 points Magic Armour
Forged in the deepest Hellforge of Zharr-Naggrund itself
from ensorcelled iron quenched with the blood of a mighty
Champion of Tzeentch, this suit of rune-encrusted Chaos
armour was then tempered in the breath of Great Tauruses. It
is not only harder than gromril, but also proof against even
the fiercest flame. The Overlord Daknaz the Bloodthirsty
wore it on his expedition to the Fire Mouth, the great volcano
of the Mountains of Mourn. There, he withstood the onslaught
of the Ogre Firebellies and walked directly into the caldera
of the mountain where Aspoth, mightiest of the Bale Tauruses
made his lair. Daknaz fought and tamed the beast and rode it
into battle for the rest of his long and bloody career. The Armour of the Furnace grants a 3+ armour save, a 5+
ward save and the Blessing of Hashut special rule. In
addition, the wearer causes Terror in all models with the
Flaming Attacks special rule.
BLACK IRON DEATHMASK 25 points Magic Armour
This skeletal iron mask was once worn by Lord Uzdrath of
the Black Fortress, who led his Legion against the might of
the Kurgan. He sent over a hundred thousand slaves back to
Zharr-Naggrund, but was finally killed by a stampeding War
Mammoth. Once the slaughter was done, his followers
cremated his body with great ceremony, but his mask
survived the conflagration. All who have worn it since have
claimed the same thing: that some vestige of Uzdrath's
monstrous sprit entered the artefact, and that his strength and
cruelty live on.
The wearer of the Black Iron Deathmask counts his armour
save as being one point higher than normal. In addition, all
enemy units in base contact have the Flammable special rule.
AMULET OF AZGORH 50 points Talisman
Wrought from a chunk of glowing magma ejected from the
mighty volcano Azgorh in the south of the Dark Lands, this
ruby-red amulet glows with a magical inner light. Its power
must be renewed each day at the mouth of the volcano that
birthed it for, as night begins to fall, its fiery heat cools to a
dying ember.
The Amulet of Azgorh grants a ward save which decreases
with each turn of the game. In turn 1, the save is 2+, in turn 2
it is 3+, in turn 3 4+ and so on until it drops to 6+, where it
remains until the game ends. Furthermore, any Flammable
model that successfully hits the wearer of the Amulet of
Azgorh in close combat will take an automatic hit, the
Strength of which is also determined by the game turn: on
turn 1 it is Strength 6, on turn 2 Strength 5, on turn 3 Strength
4 and so on down to Strength 1 where it remains for the rest
of the game. Finally, the bearer also has Flaming Attacks.
CREATIONS OF THE CURSED FORGES This section contains the rules and background for some of the most iconic and powerful magical
artefacts used by the Chaos Dwarfs. These may be used in addition to the magic items found in the
Warhammer rulebook.
68
BANNER OF OBEISANCE 50 points Magic Standard
This fell banner is sewn together from the skins of slaves
tortured to death within the Temple of Hashut. Their sightless
eyes still stare out from its rippling surface and etched into
their flesh are dark runes of Hashut. To the ears of those who
still serve the Chaos Dwarfs, it sounds as if the disembodied
voices of the dead constantly whisper details of their horrific
fates and remind them of the price of failure.
Any friendly units with the Disposable rule within 12" of the
Banner of Obeisance may re-roll any failed Fear, Terror or
Panic tests.
INFERNAL ICON 40 points Magic Standard
This brass standard, shaped like the head of a bull, is the
symbol of the Black Fortress and the Legion of Azgorh that
resides there. The dread Infernal Guard, psychotic outcast
Warriors, bear it into battle. These grim Warriors have been
exiled from their Clans and, as punishment, are ritually
sealed into their bronze masks while they are still hot from
the forge. Only their Ironguards have earned the right to
remove their helms, revealing scarred and mutilated faces.
The Infernal Guard fight with the desperate ferocity of those
with nothing to lose, and their macabre mortification rites
endow them with an almost supernatural ability to withstand
flame.
This standard may only be taken by a unit of Chaos Dwarf
Warriors or Stormcallers. A unit with the Infernal Icon has +1
Strength and a 5+ ward save against Flaming Attacks.
EMBERSWORN BANNER 35 points Magic Standard
The Embersworn Clans are the servants of the
Daemonsmiths, and it is their duty to catch and bind
Daemons in battle. To this end they are given equipment that
makes them dangerous to Daemons and other entities of
magic, but none more so than the Embersworn Banner, a
creation of the Sorcerer Krunngar Blackhand that has bound
Daemons woven into its very fabric. These fell entities suffuse
the attacks of the Daemon hunters who march beneath it with
shadow and flame.
All attacks (including ranged attacks) made by a unit with the
Embersworn Banner count as magical and have the Flaming
Attacks special rule. The unit automatically passes all Fear
tests it is required to make and, in addition, any unit from
Warhammer: Daemons of Chaos that the unit destroys
completely in close combat or runs down in a pursuit is worth
double victory points.
CHALICE OF ETERNAL DARKNESS 75 points Arcane Item
This rune-covered chalice is one of the oldest artefacts
possessed by the Chaos Dwarfs. Within its depths are bound
a coterie of Daemons. Denied the sustenance they crave for
millennia, they now draw in magic whenever they can,
absorbing it into the black depths of the Chalice. Some
Sorcerer Lords have speculated that the Daemons may be
growing in power as they absorb more of the Winds of Magic
and have counselled caution when using the Chalice lest they
suddenly find themselves able to break free and wreak havoc.
The Chalice of Eternal Darkness is therefore rarely taken
from its obsidian vault. It is surely only a matter of time
though until it overloads with magic and its fearsome
occupants are released...
At the start of each magic phase, after the Winds of Magic
have been rolled, roll a D3 – this is the number of power and
dispel dice that are removed from each side's pool. Both sides
are still free to channel in order to generate more power or
dispel dice. The controlling player may also elect to sacrifice
his own power or dispel dice to the Chalice. Keep track of
how many dice the Chalice has absorbed during the game: at
the end of the controlling player's Magic phase, roll 2D6 and
multiply it by the turn number. If the result is lower than the
total number of dice stored in the Chalice, the Daemons
suddenly break free! All Wizards (friend or foe!) on the table,
with the exception of the bearer of the Chalice, must
immediately roll on the micast table and apply the result.
Ignore instructions to remove dice from the power pool. Once
the Daemons have escaped, the Chalice is considered
destroyed and has no further effect.
ZIGGURAT FOUNDATION STONE 50 points Enchanted Item
Thousands of years ago, the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers used
magic to raise Zharr-Naggrund in the midst of the Plain of
Zharr. Their enchantments have been lost to the ages, but
some sorcerous items they used have survived, such as this
simple block of obsidian. When it is planted in the earth and
the right incantations spoken over it, a mighty obsidian
ziggurat will burst from the ground, forming a strongpoint
around which a stalwart defence can be mounted.
After deployment zones have been agreed, but before the
armies have been deployed, place a ziggurat in your
deployment zone. The ziggurat counts as a hill, but any unit
positioned on it benefits from Magic Resistance (1). Chaos
Dwarf units on the ziggurat also have the Bondage of Zharr
rule.
If you do not have a suitable ziggurat model to place, you
may not use the Ziggurat Foundation Stone.
The Realm of Chaos
Daemons hail from the Realm of Chaos, a dimension given form by the emotions of mortal creatures. Only in
the north of the world, where the ancient polar gates of the Old Ones collapsed, can Daemons freely cross
the barrier into reality. In order to summon them elsewhere, dark rituals must be performed. Chaos Dwarfs
are experts in these rites and have researched the Realm of Chaos, which they call the Empyrean, extensively.
Capturing a living Daemon is fraught with danger and uncertainty, and binding it once it has been summoned is,
if anything, even more difficult. Cages of obsidian are the favoured method of keeping a Daemon prisoner
while the incantations necessary to join its spirit with that of a powerful machine or artefact are performed,
but many inexperienced Daemonsmiths have found their wards failing under the onslaught of a particularly
powerful Daemon. When this happens, they and all their followers will be dragged screaming into the Realm
of Chaos to be tortured for an eternity. It is a testament to the short-sightedness of the Chaos Dwarfs that
these occasional mishaps do not discourage their efforts in the slightest.
69
A CALL TO RUIN
The sight of a well-painted
army arrayed for battle on
the tabletop inspires any
Warhammer player or
collector. Those looking to
amass their own Chaos
Dwarfs force should be
prepared to face a unique
challenge. Chaos Dwarfs are
a highly diverse army, with
many different models
available, but they truly
reach their full potential in
the hands of a skilled and
imaginative convertor.
It is a varied and interesting
force, with huge
opportunities for creating
unique models. This section
presents a showcase of some
of the fantastic miniatures in
the Chaos Dwarfs range. It is
an inspirational guide for
those starting, or adding to,
their own Dawi'Zharr
collections.
Volgar the Mad by Kubasa. Pyrophant by
John Blake.
Daemonsmith by
Snotling.
Astragoth
by Thomas Heasman-Hunt.
Sorcerer Lord mounted on Lammasu by M3lvin.
72
Overlord
by Malcolm Neill.
Despot by Snotling.
Zhatan the Black
by Adam Benesz.
Despot with battle
standard by Kris Aubin.
A cruel Overlord commands from the front with his standard
bearer beside him. By John Blake.
Overlord mounted on Great Taurus by Ishkur Cinderhat.
73
Chaos Dwarf Warriors with great weapons by Bassman.
Ironguard with pistol
by Paul Batchelor.
Chaos Dwarf Warrior
by Exquisite Evil.
Ironguard
by Snotling.
Chaos Dwarf Warriors by Ishkur Cinderhat.
74
Stormcallers with saparra by Vulcanologist.
Stormcallers by Ishkur Cinderhat.
Stormcallers by Tobias Torstensson.
Stormcaller
by Paul Batchelor.
Stormcaller
by Skink.
Stormcaller
by Grimstonefire.
Stormcaller
by John Blake.
Stormcaller
by Snotling.
Standard bearer
by Bassman.
75
Vile Hobgoblin Sneaky Gitz fight with pairs of poisoned knives. By Ghost.
A motley mob of Hobgoblins by Snotling.
Hobgoblin Warrior
by Warh.
Hobgoblin Warrior
by Arekarkadiusz.
Hobgoblin Warriors with shield by David J Clarke.
Hobgoblin Warriors
by M3lvin.
76
Human Slaves with a Hobgoblin Driver. By Tobias Torstensson.
Slave Brutes by Bassman.
These tottering Daemon-dolls are the creations of a maniacal Daemonsmith, and are
used to represent Slaves in Snotling's army.
77
Immortals bear cursed weapons that glow with daemonic fury. By Skink.
Petrified Sorcerer by Vulcanologist Immortal standard bearer and musician
by Grimstonefire.
Immortals with great weapons by John Blake. Rykarth the Unbreakable
by Angryboy2K
78
Baneguard by JMR.
An awesome Bull Centaur Elder, one of Hashut's most formidable champions. By Ishkur Cinderhat.
The mighty Bull Centaurs are some of the most feared shock troops in the world. By Third Eye Nuke.
79
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders with shields by Bassman.
Gorduz Backstabber by Ishkur Cinderhat.
Hobgoblin Wolf Rider
with spear by Ishkur Cinderhat.
80
The Black Bow
Mortal Engine with Eruption Cannon
by Ghrask Dragh.
Mortal Engine with Death Rockets
by Tobias Torstensson.
Mortal Engine by Snotling.
Mortal Engine with Death Rockets by Bassman.
Mortal Engine by Ishkur Cinderhat. Chaos Dwarf crewman
by Obsidian.
81
A terrifying effigy of the Father of
Darkness himself.
Molten gold, into which unfortunate slaves are cast
to power the Altar's dread rituals.
Bull Centaur attendant.
Altar of Hashut by John Blake.
82
Hellborn Construct by John Blake. Hellborn Construct by John Blake. Hellborn Construct by GeOrc.
These fearsome Hellborn Constructs by Tobias Torstensson are lumbering beasts of living magma.
Hellborn Constructs in the form of barely-controlled K'daai by John Blake. Daemonsmith mounted on Hellborn Construct
by John Blake.
83
Doomcannon with Daemonic Barrage by David J Clarke.
Doomcannon with Infernal Shells by Ishkur Cinderhat.
84
Iron Daemon, Engine of Legend, by johnsen0107.
Infernal Engine with
Mawter and Hellforge
Guards armed with
blunderbusses.
By Bassman.
Hothgar Daemonbane
by M3lvin.
Hellsmith
by Ross Gillespie. 85
This awesome Infernal Engine by John Blake has the Blazing Body, Favour of Hashut, Ferocious and Fuelled by Fire
Daemonic Upgrades in order to represent a monstrous, unbound K'daai Magmaborn.
86
This gargantuan Infernal Engine by Ishkur Cinderhat has been
upgraded to a Kolossus Engine of Legend, and has been further
augmented with the Favour of Hashut, Ironclad, Mawter, Fiendish
Blast and Thunderous Charge Daemonic Upgrades to make it a truly
terrifying machine of destruction. It also swarms with Hellforge Guard
and is watched over by a cruel Daemonsmith.
87
CHAOS DWARFS
ARMY LIST
The Chaos Dwarfs need no
encouragement to gather
together in preparation for a
slave raid to capture more
unfortunates to labour in
their forges and mines. As a
commander of a Chaos
Dwarfs army, you'll no doubt
be keen to get your merciless
Legion into battle as soon as
possible.
This section of the book helps
you to do just that. Here,
you'll learn how to turn your
collection of miniatures into
an army of cruel Dawi'Zharr
ready for tabletop battle.
CHAOS DWARF WARRIORS 10 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Chaos Dwarf Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Options:
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to an Ironguard ................................................................10 points
- May take a pistol ............................................................................................... ........................2 points
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to a musician ....................................................................10 points
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to a standard bearer ..........................................................10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ..................................................................................50 points
The entire unit may take great weapons ......................................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take shields ..................................................................................1 point per model
USING THE ARMY LIST The army list is used alongside the 'Choosing Your Army'
section of the Warhammer rulebook to pick a force ready for
battle. Over the following pages you will find an entry for
each of the models in your army. These entries give you all of
the gaming information that you need to shape your collection
of models into the units that form your army. Amongst other
things, they will tell you what your models are equipped with,
what options are available to them, and their points costs.
UNIT CATEGORIES As described in the Warhammer rulebook, the units in the
army list are organised into five categories: Lords, Heroes,
Core Units, Special Units and Rare Units.
ARMY LIST ENTRIES Each army list entry contains all the information you need to
choose and field the unit at a glance, using the following
format:
Name. The name by which the unit or
character is identified.
Profiles. The characteristic profiles
for the model(s) in each unit are
provided as a reminder. Where
several profiles are required, these
are also given, even if they are
optional (such as unit champions, for
example).
Troop Type. Each entry specifies the
unit type of its models (e.g. 'infantry',
'cavalry' and so on).
Points value. Every miniature in the
Warhammer range costs an amount
of points that reflects how effective it
is on the battlefield. For example, a
Chaos Dwarf Warrior costs 10
points, while the malevolent Ghorth
the Cruel costs 500 points!
Unit Size. This specifies the minimum
size for each unit, which is the
smallest number of models needed to
form that unit. In some cases units
also have a maximum size.
Equipment. This is a list of the
standard weapons and armour for
that unit. The cost of these items is
included in the basic points value.
Special Rules. Many troops have
special rules that are fully described
earlier in this book or in the
Warhammer rulebook. The names of
these rules are listed here as a
reminder.
Options. A list of optional weapons
and armour, mounts, magic items and
other upgrades for units and
characters, including the points cost
for each particular option. Many unit
entries include the option to upgrade
a unit member to a champion,
standard bearer or musician. Some
units may carry a magic banner or
take magic items at a further points
cost.
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
The Chaos Dwarf Warrior on
the left is armed with a hand
weapon and shield, and wears
Chaos armour. As you can see
from the profile above, he will
cost 11 points to include in your
army. A unit of ten Warriors
armed like this would therefore
cost 110 points.
The Chaos Dwarf on the left is
armed with a great weapon,
wears Chaos armour and costs
11 points. The Chaos Dwarf on
the right also has a great
weapon, but carries a shield in
addition to his Chaos armour.
He costs 12 points, paying extra
for his increased armour save,
although in close combat he will
be on equal footing because he
must use his great weapon.
90
GHORTH THE CRUEL 500 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Ghorth the Cruel 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10 Infantry
(Special Character, Sorcerer Lord)
The Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9 -
Mount:
The Black
Throne
Magic:
Ghorth is a Level 4
Wizard. He uses the
Lore of Hashut.
Equipment:
The Mask of
Zhargon
Daemonic Thralls
The Book of Hashut
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Feet of Stone
Sorcerers' Curse
ZHATAN THE BLACK 300 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Zhatan the Black 3 8 4 4 5 4 4 4 10 Infantry (Special Character, Overlord)
Equipment:
Chaos armour
The Hammer of Zharr
The Ring of Unmaking
The Black Mantle
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Reckless Hate
Unyielding
Options:
May be mounted on one of the
following:
- Great Taurus ............175 points
- Lammasu .................195 points
ASTRAGOTH 440 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 3 2 10 Infantry
(Special Character, Sorcerer Lord)
Magic:
Astragoth is a Level
4 Wizard. He can
use the Lore of Fire,
the Lore of Metal or
the Lore of Hashut.
Equipment:
Ironhand
The Rod of
Obsidian
The Rune of Hashut
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Dirgemaster
Steam Attack
Swiftstride
The Stone That Walks
Options:
May be mounted on an
Altar of Hashut .......150 points See page 98 for profile and
options. Astragoth replaces the
Khazn Dirgecaller.
LORD BHAAL 450 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Lord Bhaal 7 7 3 6 5 5 5 5 9 Monstrous Beast (Special Character)
Equipment:
Chaos armour
Dread Axe
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Bondage of Zhaar
Chosen of Hashut
Devastating Charge
Flaming Attacks
Immune to Psychology
Terror
6+ Scaly Skin
Options:
If Lord Bhaal is taken, then one unit
of Bull Centaurs in your army may be
upgraded to the Chosen of Hashut
(see page 60) ......12 points per model
LORDS
91
SORCERER LORD 190 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Sorcerer Lord 0 4 3 4 5 3 1 1 10 Infantry (Character)
Magic:
A Sorcerer Lord is a
Level 3 Wizard. He
can use the Lore of
Fire, the Lore of
Metal or the Lore of
Hashut.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Feet of Stone
Sorcerers' Curse
Options:
May be upgraded to a Level 4 Wizard ......................................35 points
May be mounted on one of the following:
- Palanquin ................................................................................35 points
- Great Taurus .........................................................................175 points
- Lammasu ..............................................................................195 points
- Altar of Hashut......................................................................150 points See page 98 for profile and options. The Sorcerer Lord replaces the Khazn
Dirgecaller.
- Infernal Engine......................................................................180 points See page 99 for profile and options.
May take magic items up to a total of .....................................100 points
OVERLORD 145 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Overlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10 Infantry (Character)
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Bondage of
Zharr
Unyielding
Options:
May be armed with one of the following:
- Great weapon .......................................................................................................................6 points
- Additional hand weapon ......................................................................................................6 points
- Pistol ..................................................................................................................................10 points
- Brace of pistols ..................................................................................................................20 points
May take a shield ...................................................................................................................3 points
May upgrade one piece of equipment to a Hellforged Artefact ..........................................50 points
May be mounted on one of the following:
- Great Taurus ......................................................................................... ...........................175 points
- Lammasu .........................................................................................................................195 points
May take magic items up to a total of ...............................................................................100 points
CHARACTER MOUNTS Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type Special Rules
Palanquin 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 4 9 Unique Ironbound, Unyielding
Great Taurus 6 5 0 6 5 4 3 4 6 Monster Blazing Body, Fly, Fuelled by Fire, Large
Target, Terror
Lammasu 6 3 0 5 5 4 1 2 8 Monster Fly, Large Target, Magic Resistance (3),
Sorcerous Miasma, Terror
Magic:
A Lammasu is a Level 1 Wizard. It can use the Lore of Fire, the Lore of Death or the Lore of Shadow.
Equipment:
A Palanquin is armed with a cursed weapon.
Options:
A Great Taurus may take any of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Colossal ..................................................................................................................................................................50 points
- Favour of Hashut ....................................................................................................................................................40 points
- Fiendish Blast ................................................................................. ........................................................................30 points
- Immortal Hunger ............................................................................................................. .......................................30 points
- Ironclad .................................................................................................................... ...............................................25 points
A Lammasu may take any of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Colossal ..................................................................................................................................................................50 points
- Fiendish Blast .........................................................................................................................................................30 points
A Lammasu may be upgraded to a Level 2 Wizard,
and a Level 3 Wizard if it takes the Colossal Daemonic Upgrade .............................................................35 points per level
LORDS
92
HOTHGAR DAEMONBANE 240 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Hothgar Daemonbane 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9 Infantry
(Special Character, Daemonsmith)
Magic:
Hothgar is a Level 2
Wizard. He uses the
Lore of Metal.
Additionally,
Hothgar knows Bind
Daemon as well as
his other spells.
Equipment:
The Rod of Daemon
Binding
Soul Armour
Special Rules:
Arcane Engineer
Daemon Binder
Sorcerers' Curse
Unyielding
Options:
May be mounted on one of the following:
- Infernal Engine......................................................................180 points See page 99 for profile and options. - Hellborn Construct .................................................................45 points See page 97 for profile and options.
Notes:
If Hothgar is taken, Hellborn Constructs and Infernal Engines ignore the
normal restrictions for duplicate choices.
RYKARTH THE UNBREAKABLE 135 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Rykarth the Unbreakable 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 Infantry (Special Character, Despot)
Equipment:
Chaos armour
Cursed Rune Axe
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Granite Guard
Hatred
Unbreakable
Unyielding
Notes:
If Rykarth is taken, then you must include a unit of Immotals in your army
and they must be upgraded to the Granite Guard at no additional points
cost – see the Granite Guard special rule (page 62) for further information.
You may choose other units of normal Immortals for your army in
addition to these if you wish.
VOLGAR THE MAD 170 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Volgar the Mad 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 Infantry (Special Character)
Magic:
Volgar is a Level 2
Wizard. He uses
spells from the Lore
of Death.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Crystal Resonance
Immune to Psychology
Living Conduit
Sorcerers' Curse
Unyielding
6+ Scaly Skin
GHUZ SLAVETAKER 130 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Ghuz Slavetaker 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 Infantry (Special Character, Despot)
Equipment:
Chaos armour
Daemonscourge
Pistols
Special Rules:
Crew of The
Bull's Fury
Slavetaker
Unyielding
Notes:
If Ghuz Slavetaker is taken, then you must include a unit of Chaos Dwarf
Warriors in your army and they must be upgraded to the Crew of The
Bull's Fury at no additional points cost – see the Crew of the Bull's Fury
special rule (page 64) for further information. You may choose other units
of normal Warriors for your army in addition to these if you wish.
GORDUZ BACKSTABBER 135 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Gorduz Backstabber 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7 Cavalry (Special Character)
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3 -
Mount:
Giant wolf
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Light armour
Shield
Black Bow
Wolf Pelt
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fast Cavalry
Git
Hobgoblin Chieftain
Late as Usual!
Poisoned Attacks
Notes:
If Gorduz Backstabber is taken,
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders ignore the
normal restrictions for duplicate
choices.
HEROES
93
DESPOT 70 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 Infantry (Character)
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Bondage of
Zharr
Unyielding
Options:
May be armed with one of the following:
- Great weapon .......................................................................................................................4 points
- Additional hand weapon ......................................................................................................4 points
- Pistol ....................................................................................................................................7 points
- Brace of pistols ..................................................................................................................14 points
May take a shield ...................................................................................................................2 points
May take magic items up to a total of .................................................................................50 points
PYROPHANT 90 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Pyrophant 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 Infantry (Character)
Magic:
A Pyrophant is a
Level 1 Wizard. He
uses the Lore of
Fire.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Dirgemaster
Flaming Attacks
Sorcerers' Curse
Unyielding
Options:
May be upgraded to a Level 2 Wizard ......................................35 points
May take magic items up to a total of .......................................50 points
May be mounted on an Altar of Hashut ..................................150 points See page 98 for profile and options. The Pyrophant replaces the Khazn
Dirgecaller.
DAEMONSMITH 125 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 Infantry (Character)
Magic:
A Daemonsmith is a
Level 1 Wizard. He
uses the Lore of
Metal.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Arcane Engineer
Daemon Binder
Sorcerers' Curse
Unyielding
Options:
May be upgraded to a Level 2 Wizard ......................................35 points
May take a Hellfire Pistol .........................................................12 points
May be mounted on one of the following:
- Infernal Engine......................................................................180 points See page 99 for profile and options. - Hellborn Construct .................................................................45 points See page 97 for profile and options.
May take magic items up to a total of .......................................50 points
BULL CENTAUR ELDER 200 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Bull Centaur Elder 7 6 3 6 5 4 4 4 9 Monstrous Beast (Character)
Equipment:
Temple blades
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Bondage of Zharr
Fear
Fiery Onslaught
Immune to
Psychology
6+ Scaly Skin
Options:
May replace temple blades with great weapon ................................free
May take throwing axes ...........................................................10 points
May take a shield .......................................................................5 points
May take magic items up to a total of .....................................50 points
HEROES
BATTLE STANDARD BEARER One Despot or Bull Centaur Elder in the army may carry the
Battle Standard for +25 points. The Battle Standard Bearer
can have a magic standard (no points limit). A model that
carries a magic standard cannot have any other magic items.
94
CHAOS DWARF WARRIORS 10 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Chaos Dwarf Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Options:
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to an Ironguard ..........................................................10 points
- May take a pistol .................................................................................................................2 points
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to a musician ...............................................................10 points
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf Warrior to a standard bearer ....................................................10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ............................................................................50 points
The entire unit may take great weapons .................................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take shields .............................................................................1 point per model
STORMCALLERS 13 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Blunderbuss
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Options:
Upgrade one Stormcaller to a Stormguard .........................................................................10 points
- May take a pistol ........................................................................................................... ......2 points
Upgrade one Stormcaller to a musician ...............................................................................10 points
Upgrade one Stormcaller to a standard bearer .....................................................................10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ............................................................................50 points
The entire unit may take sappara ...........................................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take shields .............................................................................1 point per model
HOBGOBLIN WARRIORS 5 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Hobgoblin Warrior 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 Infantry
Hobgoblin Boss 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Light armour
Special Rules:
Backstabbers
Disposable
Poisoned
Attacks
Options:
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Warrior to a Hobgoblin Boss ......................................................10 points
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Warrior to a musician ...................................................................10 points
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Warrior to a standard bearer .........................................................10 points
The entire unit may be armed with one of the following:
- Spears ...................................................................................................................1 point per model
- Bows ...................................................................................................................2 points per model
- Additional hand weapons ....................................................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take throwing weapons ..........................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take shields .............................................................................1 point per model
SLAVES 2 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5 Infantry
Brute 4 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 5 Infantry
Hobgoblin Overseer 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Disposable
Options:
Upgrade one Slave to a Hobgoblin Overseer ......................................................................10 points
May upgrade all Slaves to Brutes .........................................................................2 points per model
The entire unit may be armed with one of the following:
- Spears ..................................................................................................................½ point per model
- Bows ....................................................................................................................1 point per model
- Great weapons (Brutes only) ...............................................................................1 point per model
- Flails (Brutes only) .............................................................................................1 point per model
The entire unit may take shields ............................................................................½ point per model
CORE UNITS
95
IMMORTALS 15 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Immortal 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Baneguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Cursed weapon
Chaos armour
Shield
Special Rules:
Hatred
Indomitable
Defence
Oathsworn
Stubborn
Unyielding
Options:
Upgrade one Immortal to a Baneguard .....................................10 points
- the Baneguard may be given a magic item worth up to .........25 points
Upgrade one Immortal to a musician ........................................10 points
Upgrade one Immortal to a standard bearer ..............................10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ..................................50 points
The entire unit may exchange
their cursed weapons for great weapons ............................................free
One unit of Immortals may contain a Petrified Sorcerer.........100 points
ACOLYTES OF HASHUT 13 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Acolyte of Hashut 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 Infantry
Khazn 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Ceremonial
glaive (counts
as halberd)
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Dirges of Hashut
Unyielding
Options:
Upgrade one Acolyte of Hashut to a Khazn .............................10 points
Upgrade one Acolyte of Hashut to a standard bearer ...............10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ..................................50 points
One unit of Acolytes of Hashut may contain a
Petrified Sorcerer.....................................................................100 points
PETRIFIED SORCERER Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Petrified Sorcerer 3 * 0 * 4 6 2 4 10 Unique
Special Rules:
Bondage of Zharr
Blessing of Hashut
Dark Power
Fear
Fell Icon
4+ armour save
4+ ward save
NB.
You may only include one Petrified Sorcerer in the army. A Petrified
Sorcerer is mounted on a 40 x 60 mm base and counts as part of its unit in
all respects.
MORTAL ENGINE 30 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - - War Machine (bolt thrower)
Hobgoblin Crew 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 -
Chaos Dwarf Crew 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 -
Slave Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7 -
Unit Size: 1 Mortal Engine
Crew: 2 Hobgoblins
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Heavy armour
(Chaos Dwarfs
only)
Special rules:
Mixed Crew
Slave Ogre
Options:
Include an additional Hobgoblin crew member ..........................5 points
Upgrade any number of Hobgoblin crew to
Chaos Dwarfs .............................................................5 points per model
Upgrade the Mortal Engine to Arcane Artillery ........................30 points
Arcane Artillery may include an additional Slave Ogre ............35 points
Arcane Artillery may take one of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Daemonic Barrage ...................................................................25 points
- Death Rockets .........................................................................10 points
- Diabolic Sentience ..................................................................25 points
- Eruption Cannon .......................................................................5 points
- Infernal Shells .........................................................................30 points
SPECIAL UNITS
You may take 2 Mortal Engines for each
duplicate Special Unit choice allowed in
your army as long as they are not upgraded
to Arcane Artillery.
96
HELLBORN CONSTRUCTS 45 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Hellborn Construct 6 4 0 5 5 3 2 3 7 Monstrous Beast
Unit Size: 3+
Equipment:
Rune-etched
claws (hand
weapon)
Special Rules:
Bound Daemon
Fear
Hellborn Steed
Options:
The entire unit may take any of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Blazing Body ....................................................................................................10 points per model
- Favour of Hashut ..............................................................................................10 points per model
- Fuelled by Fire .................................................................................................15 points per model
- Immortal Hunger ..............................................................................................10 points per model
- Ironclad ............................................................................................................10 points per model
- Obsidian Hull ...................................................................................................10 points per model
- Whirling Blades ...............................................................................................25 points per model
HOBGOBLIN WOLF RIDERS 14 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Hobgoblin Wolf Rider 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 Cavalry
Hobgoblin Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Cavalry
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3 -
Unit Size: 5+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Light armour
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fast Cavalry
Late as Usual!
Poisoned Attacks
Options:
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Wolf Rider to a Hobgoblin Khan ......10 points
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Wolf Rider to a musician ..................10 points
Upgrade one Hobgoblin Wolf Rider to a standard bearer ........10 points
The entire unit may take any of the following:
- Spears ........................................................................1 point per model
- Bows ........................................................................2 points per model
- Shields .......................................................................1 point per model
BLACK ORCS 12 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8 Infantry
Black Orc Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8 Infantry
Unit Size: 10+
Equipment:
Heavy armour
A huge array of
weapons
Special Rules:
Choppas
Disposable
Fool Me Once
Immune to
Psychology
Options:
Upgrade one Black Orc to a Black Orc Boss ............................15 points
Upgrade one Black Orc to a musician ......................................10 points
Upgrade one Black Orc to a standard bearer ............................10 points
The entire unit may take shields ..................................1 point per model
OGRES 35 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7 Monstrous Infantry
Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7 Monstrous Infantry
Unit Size: 3+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fear
Impact Hits (1)
Options:
Upgrade one Ogre to an Ogre Berserker ...................................10 points
Upgrade one Ogre to a musician ...............................................10 points
Upgrade one Ogre to a standard bearer .....................................10 points
The entire unit may take any of the following:
- Additional hand weapons ........................................5 points per model
- Great weapons .......................................................10 points per model
The entire unit may take Chaos armour .....................5 points per model
SPECIAL UNITS
97
BULL CENTAURS 62 points per model Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Bull Centaur 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 2 9 Monstrous Beast
Bull Centaur Guardian 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 3 9 Monstrous Beast
Unit Size: 3+
Equipment:
Temple blades
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Bondage of Zharr
Fear
Fiery Onslaught
Immune to
Psychology
6+ Scaly Skin
Options:
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a Bull Centaur Guardian ............10 points
- the Guardian may be given a magic item worth up to.............25 points
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a musician ..................................10 points
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a standard bearer ........................10 points
- May take a magic standard worth up to ..................................75 points
The entire unit may take throwing axes .....................5 points per model
The entire unit may take shields ................................3 points per model
BULL CENTAUR DOOM HARNESS 175 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Doom Harness 2D6 - - 6 5 4 - * 10 Unique
Unit Size: 1
Special Rules:
Crash!
*Immovable Object
Immune to
Psychology
Random Movement
(2D6)
Torn Apart
*Unstoppable Force
3+ armour save
Options:
May be upgraded to one of the following:
- Tenderiser ...............................................................................25 points
- Whirlwind ...............................................................................25 points
NB. A Bull Centaur Doom Harness
is mounted on a 50 x 100 mm base.
ALTAR OF HASHUT 150 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Altar of Hashut - - - 0 5 8 - - - Chariot (Armour Save 3+)
Khazn Dirgecaller - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9
Acolyte - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9
Bull Centaur - 5 3 5 - - 3 2 9
Wretched Slaves 4 2 2 3 - - 2 * 5
Unit Size: 1
Crew: 1 Khazn
Dirgecaller and 1
Acolyte
Drawn by:
Wretched Slaves
Special rules:
4+ ward save
Cacophony of
Hashut
Sacrificial Altar
*Wretched
Slaves
Equipment
(Khazn Dirgecaller and
Acolyte):
Ceremonial Glaive
(counts as halberd)
Equipment
(Bull Centaur):
Temple Blades
Options:
Upgrade the Acolyte to a Bull Centaur .....................................35 points
RARE UNITS
98
DOOMCANNON 130 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Doomcannon 3 4 3 5 6 4 1 3 6 Monster
Hellforge Guard - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9 -
Hellsmith - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9 -
Unit Size: 1 Doomcannon and
3 Hellforge Guard
Equipment
(Hellforge Guard):
Hand weapon
Equipment
(Doomcannon):
Grinding gears
(hand weapon)
Doomcannon
Special Rules:
Bound Daemon
Hellforge Guard
Large Target
Terror
Options:
Upgrade one Hellforge Guard to a Hellsmith ...........................10 points
The Doomcannon may take one of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Death Rockets .........................................................................20 points
- Eruption Cannon .....................................................................10 points
- Infernal Shells .........................................................................30 points
The Doomcannon may take any of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Colossal ..................................................................................30 points
- Daemonic Barrage ..................................................................25 points
- Diabolic Sentience ..................................................................25 points
- Ferocious ................................................................................20 points
- Fiendish Blast .........................................................................30 points
- Ironclad ...................................................................................25 points
- Warpfire ..................................................................................15 points
INFERNAL ENGINE 180 points Profile M WS BS S T W I A Ld Troop Type
Infernal Engine 6 4 0 5 6 6 2 4 5 Monster
Hellforge Guard - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9 -
Hellsmith - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9 -
Unit Size: 1 Infernal Engine
Equipment
(Hellforge Guard):
Hand weapon
Equipment
(Infernal Engine):
Hellish fangs
and claws (hand
weapon)
Special Rules:
Bound Daemon
Hellforge Guard
Infernal Steed
Large Target
Terror
Options:
May be ridden by three Hellforge Guard .......................................................... ...................30 points
- may have up to five additional Hellforge Guard ..............................................10 points per model
All Hellforge Guard may be armed with one of the following:
- Great weapons ....................................................................................................2 points per model
- Blunderbusses ....................................................................................................3 points per model
Upgrade one Hellforge Guard to a Hellsmith ......................................................................10 points
The Infernal Engine may take any of the following Daemonic Upgrades:
- Blazing Body .....................................................................................................................25 points
- Favour of Hashut ............................................................................................................ ...30 points
- Ferocious ...........................................................................................................................25 points
- Fiendish Blast .............................................................................................................. ......30 points
- Fuelled by Fire ................................................................................................................. .25 points
- Immortal Hunger ...................................................................................................... .........30 points
- Ironclad .................................................................................................................... ..........25 points
- Mawter ................................................................................. .............................................50 points
- Obsidian Hull ............................................................................................................... .....20 points
- Thunderous Charge ...........................................................................................................25 points
- Whirling Blades ............................................................................................................. ....45 points
One Infernal Engine in the army may be upgraded to an Engine of Legend .......................50 points
99
RARE UNITS
"If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right."
- Old saying
"If you want something done right, do it yourself."
- Corollary to the above
To call this project "a labour of love" would be something of
an understatement. If someone in my position has worked so
long at something so pointless for so little reward, they
haven't told me about it – but then, I suppose they wouldn't,
would they? I began working on my vision of Warhammer:
Chaos Dwarfs in early 2008, having worked on and off on a
similar project extrapolated from the previous "Ravening
Hordes" Chaos Dwarfs army list for some years before that.
In those days, it was something of a rite of passage on the
Chaos Dwarfs Online (CDO) forums to produce some sort of
"Chaos Dwarf army book" for whatever edition of
Warhammer was current and some of the more successful
efforts of that era – such as those by Revlid, Grimstonefire
and Cornixt – would eventually be a major source of
inspiration for this book. The embryonic form of this latest
version of Warhammer: Chaos Dwarfs probably emerged in
playable form in May '08, inspired by the recent Warhammer
Armies: Warriors of Chaos, which gave Chaos Dwarfs a very
prominent background role as "the Daemonsmiths of Chaos".
This concept sparked off a basic idea in my head, which can
be summarised with two pretty broad objectives:
"customisable Daemon-machines" and "everyone gets Chaos
armour". These two rather silly foundations have remained
pretty much intact until today, although the customisation
aspect – what would eventually become the Daemonic
Upgrades system – has been through dozens of iterations
since I came up with it. It began as something akin to Magic
Items or Dwarf Runes, eventually morphed into what might
as well have been a system for creating your own monster
before being reigned in quite severely for this version of the
book.
I don't have accurate figures for how many revisions this book
has been through. I remember the major ones, but there were
innumerable tweaks and alterations that happened in response
to comments and feedback on CDO. Spiritually, this should
be considered the third "generation" of this book. The first
was the rather rough "good first try" you can actually still find
online if you search for my name or handle (Thommy H). It
has the image of the Great Taurus used for the bestiary in this
version as its cover. Inside it looks rather plain now, as it
lacks textures or borders of any kind, and it's crammed with
licensed artwork, the incredible artistic efforts of the CDO
community then not having flowered as they have since. The
second version is better known, perhaps, and eventually
became full-colour as Games Workshop began to release its
8th
Edition Armies books and I worked hard to keep up with
their new, gorgeous formatting. Others have claimed I
produced something as good as that, but it still looks a little
busy to my eye. It does contain completely original artwork
throughout though, which was a major turning point for me,
and a testament to the amazing talent and creativity of the
CDO community. I liked that book, but it got outdated fast
and I was itching to update it but, just as when I'd moved
from the first to the second generation, I knew it would
require a blank slate. A new document, some new formatting
and, hopefully, some new and better ideas.
The big question that must be asked though is "why?", or
perhaps "why?!", because this is perhaps the least timely
moment to ever attempt Warhammer: Chaos Dwarfs. Yes, we
now live in the age of Warhammer Forge's Tamurkhan: The
Throne of Chaos by Alan Bligh and its fully-playable 'Legion
of Azgorh' Chaos Dwarf army list. And while that book is an
astonishing piece of work and I fully expect (indeed hope)
that it becomes the gold standard for Chaos Dwarf players, it
still doesn't fulfil all of our needs, in my opinion. I have issues
of my own with some of the decisions made too, but this is
not the place for that kind of thing! There are many things I
like about its vision of Chaos Dwarfs – things I have absorbed
into the background presented in this book, and hopefully
both lists can coexist happily until such a time as the main
Games Workshop studio releases its own "official" Chaos
Dwarfs. In the meantime, the online Chaos Dwarf community
was also treated to Kevin Coleman's Warhammer: Dwarfs of
Chaos, the so-called "Indy GT book", as it was written with
the intention of being used for various independent
Warhammer tournaments, mainly in North America. There
was much to like in this book too, especially its professional-
looking format and layout, which spurred me on to better the
appearance of my own work, but I'm afraid I could never
quite get behind its philosophy!
So, if my work has a place in the pantheon of Chaos Dwarf
lists, beside the venerable Ravening Hordes list, the Indy GT
book and the new Games Workshop-sanctioned Legion of
Azgorh, it must be as a distant fourth place – which is not to
imply I'm in any way not content with this! Indeed, I am
deeply flattered that anyone has taken the time to read the
various versions of this book (and many people have) and
utterly astonished that anyone would actually use it for their
own games of Warhammer (which, again, they have). To
those people – Galladorn, Vulcanologist, Spartacus, JMR,
GlimpseTheVoid, Mahtipakarat, amongst others – I give my
sincerest thanks and appreciation for your totally invaluable
playtesting and feedback. Again, to use even a small amount
of your precious leisure time playing games with words I
wrote is incredibly flattering.
My thanks must also go out to the whole CDO community
and all those members of it who have helped and supported
me on this weird little journey – they know who they are.
Thanks especially to John Blake (aka Baggronor) whose
particular vision of evil stunties has so informed my own. His
artwork and models are prominently featured throughout this
book and, conversely, you can read some of my writing on his
website (www.titanwargames.com). It's fair to say that
without both his visual contributions and his invaluable
experience as a regular player of Warhammer tournaments,
this book would have been much impoverished!
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this
book. I wrote it for no other reason than I felt I could and that
the eventual result would be worthwhile. I hope that you
agree with this conclusion.
Thomas Heasman-Hunt
January 2012
AFTERWORD
100
LORDS M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg SPECIAL M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg
Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 2 2 10 In(SC) 59 Acolyte of Hashut 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 In 39
Ghorth the Cruel 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10 In(SC) 57 - Khazn 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
- The Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9 Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8 In 44
Lord Bhaal 7 7 3 6 5 5 5 5 9 MB(SC) 60 - Black Orc Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8
Overlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10 In 30 Hellborn Construct 6 4 0 5 5 3 2 3 7 MB 42
Sorcerer Lord 0 4 3 4 5 3 1 1 10 In 29 Hobgoblin Wolf Rider 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 Ca 43
Zhatan the Black 3 8 4 4 5 4 4 4 10 In(SC) 58 - Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
- Hobgoblin Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
HEROES M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg Immortal 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9 In 38
Bull Centaur Elder 7 6 3 6 5 4 4 4 9 MB 44 - Baneguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9
Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 In 33 Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - - WM 41
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 In 31 - Hobgoblin Crew 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Ghuz Slavetaker 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 In(SC) 64 - Chaos Dwarf Crew 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Gorduz Backstabber 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7 Ca(SC) 65 - Slave Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7
- Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3 Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7 MI 45
Hothgar Daemonbane 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9 In(SC) 61 - Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7
Pyrophant 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 In 32 Petrified Sorcerer 3 * 0 * 4 6 2 4 10 Un 40
Rykarth the Unbreakable 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 In(SC) 71
Volgar the Mad 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 In(SC) 63 RARE M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg
Altar of Hashut - - - 0 5 8 - - - Ch 48
CORE M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg - Khazn Dirgecaller - 4 3 3 - - 2 2 9
Chaos Dwarf Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 In 34 - Acolyte - 4 3 3 - - 2 1 9
- Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9 - Bull Centaur - 5 3 5 - - 3 2 9
Hobgoblin Warrior 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 In 36 - Wretched Slaves 4 2 2 3 - - 2 * 5
- Hobgoblin Boss 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Bull Centaur 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 2 9 MB 44
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5 In 37 - Bull Centaur Guardian 7 5 3 5 4 3 3 3 9
- Brute 4 3 2 3 4 1 2 1 5 Doom Harness 2D6 - - 6 5 4 - * 10 Un 44
- Hobgoblin Overseer 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Doomcannon 3 4 3 5 6 4 1 3 6 Mo 49
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 In 35 - Hellforge Guard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
- Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9 - Hellsmith 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Infernal Engine 6 4 0 5 6 6 2 4 5 Mo 50
MOUNTS M WS BS S T W I A Ld Type Pg - Hellforge Guard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Great Taurus 6 5 0 6 5 4 3 4 6 Mo 54 - Hellsmith 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Lammasu 6 3 0 5 5 4 1 2 8 Mo 55
Palanquin 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 4 9 Un 56
SUMMARY
Troop Type Key: In = Infantry, WB = War Beast, Ca = Cavalry, MI = Monstrous
Infantry, MB = Monstrous Beast, MC = Monstrous Cavalry, Mo = Monster, Ch =
Chariot, SC = Special Character, SW = Swarm, Un = Unique, WM = War
Machine
101
CHAOS DWARFS
The Chaos Dwarfs are slavers and industrialists without compare.
From their foul and polluted realm in the Dark Lands they plot the
eventual overthrow of the Old World using their Legions of heavily
armed and armoured soldiers, their hordes of wretched greenskin
slaves and their half-sentient daemonically possessed war machines.
Combining the unyielding character and cunning artifice of the
Dwarfs with evil sorcery and numerous expendable troops, the
Chaos Dwarfs are a threat – and a challenge – like no other.
Inside you will find: A bestiary describing every unit,
monster, hero and war machine in the
army.
An army list to arrange you collection
of miniatures into a battle-ready force.
A showcase of the expertly painted
range of Chaos Dwarfs miniatures.
Warhammer: Chaos Dwarfs is one of a series of
supplements for Warhammer. Each book in the series
describes in detail an army, its history and its heroes.
A Warhammer Armies supplement for
The Game of Fantasy Battles
You will need a copy of Warhammer
to use the contents of this book.
games-workshop.com
chaos-dwarfs.com
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
5 316266 4432105