Hey all, new to Chaos Dwarfs, looking to jump right in! Been playing WHFB for a decade or so, playing 8th edition Lizardmen a lot, just want something totally different. Figured a less common army would be a fun way to change things up. Thoughts?
Decent starting list, you will find that a magma cannon/deathshriker combined can put alot of hurt on things. I have yet to figure out how to properly use fireglaives, hobgoblins with bows seem to do a lot more for us. Overall good starting army to learn the basics; however, I would put the 5pt re-roll first failed ld test on the bull centaurs.
I’ve played a lot of 1500 games, they are fast and easy to get a painted army for. When asking for list advice, please mention which models you have besides the above, otherwise it’s hard to suggest real changes.
A couple of thought though:
Two units of 10 fireglaives is not effective. Have one unit with 11 and put your daemonsmith in here. The range of 18’’ is quite bad. But use them for babysitting the daemonsmith and hang back at your warmachines. They can take out eagles, fast cav etc. Perhaps a champion with naptha bombs for a better stand and shoot. a muscician for easy reforms - for facing those fast things.
2 units that small will not earn their poitns back from shooting and stand no chance in close combat.
Beef up your hw/s dwarf unit. Your Castellan makes them stubborn, so they don’t need that many ranks. A horde is ineffective as most people still go 5 models wide. I go 7 wide in the unit. It gives 4 extra attacks against most units and something extra against those 25mm based units. I like to go 27 + castellan, but 20 can do the trick in lack of points. They will earn themselves better back than 10 fireglaives.
Drop the black hammer. A lvl 2 can’t take lore of hashut, so you can’t make things flammable with ash storm. And you can’t get a parry save with a magic shield or weapon in hand. And his initiative is rather bad. He has to stay alive because that stubborn is essential. So Mask of the Furnace, Talisman of Preservation, Dragonhelm, luck stones is better choices. Give ham a GW for the +2 strength, he’ll hit last anyway. You’re spot on with the Iron Curse Icon.
My advice are made from the assumption you don’t have any other models. But a 1500 it can be great fun to put an Iron Demon in the list. And I would strongly suggest you get some hobgoblins. They are cheap and expandable, something our army really lacks. And with the 50% hero FAQ you should try to fit in a Khan on wolf. With his vanguard and 18’’ march move, he’ll be in the enemies warmachines fast! Despite the fact that magma cannons and death shriekers are awesome - they still loose the cannons.
Truth be told I have NONE of the models, but plan on purchasing all of them once I get a barebones list sorted…
I totally understand your standing on the fireglaives. Dropping the second unit of 10 to boost the hw/s units would serve well and allow for some upgrade points in other places.
Well rounded good list. You’ve forgotten to remove the one fireglaive unit however.
I would go Lore of Fire. The fireball will let you hit the enemy in turn 1. The flamecage is awesome. Hit the unit in CC with your hw/s infernal guard. Make a challenge with the Castellan or champion to force movement (because both accepting and declining will move a miniature) and let all miniatures take an s4 hit. And flaming sword will make the IG really deadly.
Lore of Death is deadly, but lack range on many spells and your smith is staying far back with the warmachines.
Oops I did forget to drop that one unit! Yes, I was also thinking fire due to range and was even considering trying to free points for the fireball for an extra spell to save near the end of the casting phase as a chaff mitigator.
That is a right nasty trick with the challenge and the flame cage! Never thought about it!
Thanks a lot, hopefully I can increase the size of the IGs later to 25-30 and throw a unit or two of hobgobbos with bows in there. Should make for useful speedbumps/tarpits depending their sizes.
Cleaned up a bit, maybe thinking of dropping one Centaur to try and get a Khan on Wolf to be that cheap but effective redirector/chaff killer. So below are list 1 and list 2…
I like the Razor Standard on the sword and board IG unit, but not until 2K. At those points you’ll usually be facing units that it is useful against, but more importantly, you have enough points for toys to really force the enemy to come to you. With just a Lvl 2 Fire and a pair of warmachines many enemies aren’t going to be force to come at you full pace. For this reason I prefer the Banner of Swiftness on the IG block until you have a Lvl 4 Hashut and/or Hellcannons. This’ll save you 30 points.
I’m also not a fan of the Hobgoblin Raiders, simply because Animosity is such a crutch and often the Khans can do things better. The main benefit they give is an extra deployment drop, but CD usually would rather get the +1 to go first than try deploying reactively to the opponent. I’d drop them for a Khan, personally.
-General, Enchanted Shield, Dispel Scroll, Naptha Bombs, Level 2 w/Lore of Fire
Dark Castellan
-Standard Bearer, Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Preservation, Great Weapon
Hobgoblin Khan
-Wolf, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Speed, Charmed Shield, Tormentor Sword(for some cheap magic attacks), Light Armor
20 x Infernal Guard (Fielded 5x4)
-Full Command, Razor Standard
10 x Infernal Guard
-Fireglaives, Musician
3 x Bull Centaur Renders
-Full Command, Gleaming Pennant, Great Weapons, Shields
Magna Cannon
2 x Deathshrieker Death Rocket
Total: 1500 Points
Okay, the changes done above give me an extra Death Rocket, mostly to encourage the enemy to want to come a bit closer. I am almost tempted to drop the BSB character to save some points to be able to field another unit or boost some numbers. Not sure how I feel. Thinking if I drop him, then I can put Bull Centaurs back up to 4, and boost the IGs back up to 23-24, and maybe afford a small hobgoblin wolf rider unit?
Keep Bull Centaurs in units of 4, that extra Bull Centaur is worth a lot when facing lots of shooting. In a 2999 game my Bcentaurs were reduced from 4 to 1 from an ironblaster cannon ball, and massed leadbelcher fire, but that lone bullcentaur was able to kill an ironblaster and help my Tauruk kill the leadbelchers. Now I am not saying these results will happen every time, but that 4th Bullcentaur seems to always make the difference in my lists.
I think I am going with the below, it seems pretty balanced, and has taken some recommendations from all the suggestions inpart. The fact that I would even show up with a Chaos Dwarf army would be cool enough haha.
Daemonsmith Sorcerer
-General, Enchanted Shield, Dispel Scroll, Naptha Bombs, Level 2 w/Lore of Fire
Dark Castellan
-Standard Bearer, Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Preservation, Great Weapon
Fine little liste. What I like most is that you have cramped everything into it at 1500 points. At that point level you’ll often face of against enemies with very boring lists. Respect for that!
2 hero/lords, 1 super large bunker infantry block, 1 large monster thing, 1 machine.
Will your daemonsmith hang out with the fireglaives? I think he should, because the naptha bombs will give them a better stand and shoot.
Oops, so sorry, I forgot, I took out the fireglaives! There was no way to fit them in. But for their price, I got a unit of fast cav AND a unit of 20 bows! So I figured having an extra 20-person unit who sits near the war machine as a cheap way to see off chaff and such should prove good! Sorry about the fireglaives mistake! I edited it and corrected it!