Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first ever compilation of official Chaos Dwarf miniature developments through the ages!
This overview of Games Workshop and Forgeworld’s various iterations of Chaos Dwarfs will take you from the very beginnings up to the present day (April 2019), and showcase the evolution of the weird and wondrous concepts embedded in our Chaos Dwarfs.
And you’ve chosen some truly great pics to illustrate just how awesome Chaos Dwarfs are. Great representation of all the various units and war machines, and a special Hats off to including Man O War, Dreadfleet and Blood Bowl too :hat off
Fantastic thread! Very informative, I basically only knew Chaos Dwarfs from 4th Edition onwards. Interesting to see the development in style. And in sculpting ability
But I also have to agree with the Khan, you have chosen some marvelously painted miniatures for representation, highly stimulating the hobby senses! Praise Hashut! :hashut
Images updated and replaced. Some typos done away with, and much more importantly, Blue in VT’s Marauder Mini-Me Chaos Warriors have been added to 1980s - 3rd edition.
Check it out!
Zygmund over on Warhammer Empire had this observation to share on Chaos Dwarfs as a concept:
What would be even more interesting is the question why Chaos Dwarfs?
Why not Chaos Goblins, Chaos Orcs, Chaos Halflings, etc. etc.?
My guess is that Dwarfs in the Norse legends and folk beliefs are morally ambivalent, and many are outright evil. Even Tolkien makes a mention that in ME some Dwarfs were so consumed with envy that they became evil. So evil Dwarfs. Then GW made the obvious link to good Dwarfish armour, maybe even Dwarfish Chaos armour, and machines. Add an (un)healthy dosis of Punk, Giger and Cthulhu, and there you have it, I’d guess.
Just thought the only thing missing was our beloved does of war - oglah khan and his wolf boys and ghazak khan
Zanthrax
That’s because the Mongol Hobgoblins of the Eastern Steppes north of Cathay originally were meant to be their very own thing, with tribes entirely independent of Chaos Dwarfs. While the Scythian soft cap Hobgoblin tribes of the Dark Lands were all lackeys of the Chaos Dwarfs. That’s the Games Workshop studio thinking during the 1990s, when the Hobgoblin models were released.
The new Warcry warband Spire Tyrants include a Twisted Duardin/Chaos Dwarf. Now they’re two in total! Note the Chaos Marauder aesthetic for the Duardin, as part of this pit fighter warband. Another streak right from the 1980s of mini-me Chaos Warriors that’s alive and well in the current CD models by GW:
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