[Archive] Chaos Dwarfs - Age of Sigmar

Still standing:

Played a game with these today. Magma Cannons seem very powerful. I used 2 with a Daemon-Smith sat between them allowing the, to both gain a potential 2D6 Mortal Wounds a turn that don’t need to roll to hit. I think it would be better that the second set of wounds were limited to D3.

Everything else seemed to work well. I used Infernal Guard w/ HW&S, Sorcerer Lord on Llamasu, Castellan BSB, Daemon-Smith, 2x Magma Cannon, Hellcannon.

Thommy H:

The Magma Cannon is actually identical to the Dwarf Flame Cannon - it’s just different fluff for the Rune of Burning ability. So yeah, blame GW for that one!

I’ve uploaded a new version with new formatting and some copy and paste errors fixed btw.

Still standing:

Would you look at that, it is. Downloaded the new version, keep up the fantastic work!

I feel the Sorcerer-Prophet should be able to cast 2 spells a turn, being as in the FW book the entire battle plan revolved around his casting. A High Elf Archmage can cast 2, and background wise they are both long lived species (Dwarves less so, due to petrification), but the Dwarves have direct lines to a minor Chaos God who grants them power.

Blonde Beer:

Thanks. I’ll try them out this weekend.

Thommy H:

More updates: I’ve changed the Daemon Binder rule as it didn’t really make a lot of sense before - the only unit it could benefit was K’daai Fireborn and that seemed a bit pointless. Now they give close by Bound Daemons (of all kinds) a special save if they get killed. I’ve also tidied up a few inconsistencies and unclear wording.

The big addition though is rules for Drazhoath the Ashen. I did once write some Thommy-style rules for him, but he never made it into any versions of my 8th Edition books because he was a Tamurkhan thing, and besides I already had two rival Sorcerer Lord special characters so he didn’t really have a niche to fill. However, in the absence of any of my non-canon characters, I’ve reintroduced him here. He’s a little different from the rules in Tamurkhan, which I always found didn’t really match the model anyway - no mention of the sorcerer corpses in cages which are quite a nifty idea in the background for one thing - but I think he gives some nice options.

Still standing, regarding the power level of the Sorcerer Lords; I’ve had people suggest beefing up their spellcasting before, and I’ve never really understood it! Yes, Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers are long-lived, but the Sorcerers’ Curse is supposed to limit their power. Astragoth, for instance, is becoming weaker as he ages and petrifies. Plus there’s never been any suggestion in previous rules that they’re particularly accomplished as wizards. They’re just normal spellcasters, so I’m not going to upset the apple-cart by granting them new abilities. The brief with this is to create rules that reflect how the army played in 8th Edition in an Age of Sigmar format after all.

Still standing:

My level 4 always felt like one of the most powerful casters in the game. He’d be almost unkillable (on Bale Taurus) and threw out some of the best spells in the game. He always had a couple of things to use a turn. Sure, he was no Teclis, but he was also no Empire Fire Wizard.

Thommy H:

An update in the first post. Main stuff:

  • Astragoth and Drazhoath can now cast and unbind 2 spells in hero phases. This brings them into line with the wizard special characters in other compendiums (I didn’t pick up on this until tonight!). So you get some of what you asked for, Still standing…

  • I’ve split Warriors from Blunderbusses. As it stood, there wasn’t any real disadvantage for taking blunderbusses, since you still got the same melee weapon. By splitting them into separate units, I’ve made it a bit more of a choice. Also, they lose fireglaives as I’ve decided these should only be for Infernal Guard.



Enjoy!

Gothnomicon:

You may want to update the Legion of Zharr formation to also include the Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses in the unit choice with Chaos Dwarf Warriors. Just a thought…

Timothy Archer:

I just saw that you add the rules for bazooka, swivel gun and petard. Thanks that is amazing job. Crazy �Y~S

Thommy H:

Another small update. This time the main change is tweaking a few ranges. Basically when I came up with the battlescrolls originally I didn’t have a great understanding of some of the nuances - like the severely reduced ranges on most weapons! So blunderbusses and fireglaives have been hacked back a bit and the Dreadquake Mortar is now a bit less insane…

I’ve also messed with the blunderbuss rules a little bit. Because you can split your attacks between units, the way I had it before (modelled on how stone thrower-type war machines tend to do more damage to larger units in AoS) didn’t really work. It’s now tied to the number of models in the unit, which both has some precedent in the rules and jibes with how the blunderbuss worked in the past with its extra ranks.

Gothnomicon:

Thommy H,

Did you choose not to add in the Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses into the options for Legion of Zharr intentionally, or did you not see my earlier post?

Just checkin’

Goth

Thommy H:

I chose not to. When I first split the Warriors up into two units I thought about changing the Legion of Zharr, but because of the other choices it was starting to look a bit like “pick any six units” or something. There had to be some limits, so in the end I decided that Warriors should be the sole required core. It’s supposed to be themed around a Sorcerer Lord’s retinue, so the emphasis is on more traditional units - no war machines etc.

Probably weak reasoning, but I think it’s okay.

Gothnomicon:

Cool, thanks! Just wanted to know that you considered it.

Admiral:

Something for Guinness’ Book of World Records? Well done indeed. :slight_smile:

Thommy H:

Heads up: a fairly significant update has just been uploaded. Too many changes to list, really. A lot of abilities revised to improve wording and synergy, some ambiguities cleared up. I think every unit’s been tweaked a little, actually!

EDIT: okay, here are the changes, actually…

Astragoth: Ironhand changed, Relentless Advance clarified, PRIEST keyword added

Zhatan: descriptions of items added, Malice of Zharr ability added, Ring of Unmaking and Black Mantle reworded and altered slightly, Reckless Hate command ability changed

Drazhoath the Ashen: Command ability clarified

Gorduz: Save corrected to 4+, Bag of Sneaky Tricks expanded, Fated, Lucky, Sneaky�?� ability changed

Sorcerer Lord: Palanquin Bearers’ Axes attacks upped to 4

Sorcerer Lord on Lammasu: Able to cast or unbind two spells per turn, described as the Lammasu also being a wizard

Overlord on Great Taurus: Command ability clarified

Daemonsmith: Bind Spirits spell clarified

Pyrophant: Flamestrike spell changed

Castellan Icon Bearer: Burning Hate icon ability changed

Bull Centaur Elder: Fiery Onslaught clarified

Hobgoblin Khan: Git-poka ability added, command ability changed

Chaos Dwarf Warriors: Equipment options in description clarified, Daemonfire Icon reworded

Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses: Stormguard option changed to a Brace of Ironscourge Pistols to make choice worthwhile, and now has additional melee weapon attack as a result, only has hit roll bonus with Hailshot Blunderbuss, Skullmarked Bucklers changed to Steelbound Bucklers

Infernal Guard: Equipment options in description clarified, Icon Bearers changed

Immortals: Reorganisation of how Petrified Sorcerer rules are presented

Acolytes of Hashut: Reorganisation of how Petrified Sorcerer rules are presented, Dirge of Fire clarified

Hobgoblin Gitz and Wolf Riders: Boss only does extra attacks in melee, Flag Wavers changed

K’daai Fireborn: Burning Bright changed, range of summoning spell changed (didn’t spot the Daemons ones were all multiples of the relevant god’s sacred number �?" bad copy and paste job!)

Mortal Ordnance: Wounds increased to 3, in line with most Skaven equivalents

Dreadquake Mortar: Quake! changed to actually make sense�?�

Altar of Hashut: Main ability renamed as Fugues of Hashut, “Black Choir” recycled as new synergistic ability with DAWI’ZHARR PRIESTS (Astragoth, Pyrophants, Acolytes), Symphony of Hashut clarified, Ponderous Advance added to reduce its charge range

Bull Centaurs: Hornblower now gives bonus to charging, not running, Fiery Onslaught clarified

K’daai Destroyer: Range of summoning spell changed (see above)

Legion of Zharr: Bondage of Hashut ability clarified

Timothy Archer:

Always fan to see the new edition of the scrolls, your work is so serious and rational. That is a real pleasure to have such amazing work available

Still standing:

Played a game with your new version today Thommy. Excellent work as always! I have one observation. I used Drazhoath On Cinderbreath as my General. His command ability (when coupled with Mystic Shield from him and a Daemon-Smith) gave me a battle line of Infernal Guard with reroll able 3+ saves. Add in a Castellan BSB and it’s an almost impossible to kill and super killy unit. It seemed a bit much.

Thommy H:

Yeah, but I don’t think that kind of thing is that unusual in AoS - it’s pretty easy to buff units with a few well placed spells and command abilities like that. There’s possibly an argument for reducing the range of a couple of things though, so not quite so many units are affected. Let me know how it goes if you manage to play a couple more games!

And thanks for giving the rules a go!

Still standing:

If you’re interested in seeing how they felt from an opponents perspective, I was playing against a beautifully painted Nurgle army owned by the YouTuber, Moarhammer. In the next few days he should have the report up. Unfortunately a lot of my figures are not painted. :frowning:

Thommy H:

Just looked him up - that’s a nice army! I wasn’t expecting my rules to get that kind of exposure though…