From a model/lore prespective, what are all the entries supposed to be? I only had the “slim” army book to look at, and want to be sure I don’t get the entires wrong. Never played the game or read the rules. :hat off
Great question, tjub! I’ll try to guide you through it. :hat off
And for those who haven’t already read it, do check out TheHoodedMan’s introduction to T9A and its Infernal Dwarves!
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T9A Rulebook front cover art: Infernal Dwarves versus Empire of Sonnstahl; yes, we’re on the front![/align]
Introduction:Infernal Dwarves (ID) are one of the main 16 armies in the Ninth Age (T9A), a community project involving over 300 volunteer enthusiasts tinkering in their spare time to create and support a vibrant historically based classic fantasy setting and a rank-and-flank 28mm wargame to go along with it (ambitions to expand into other games in the same setting exists).
All this nascent corpus of background and rules are available for free download. T9A have no strict model requirements, which opens up for everyone to get creative and make their very own kind of army as long as the base size is right for the various units. The Ninth Age is currently in the lengthy and arduous process of threshing through the 16 armies inherited from Warhammer Fantasy Battle (W.H.F.B.) and providing them with fully illustrated “legendary” army books (all factions already have the slim rules-only army books).
I can reveal that their next legendary army book project is in fact Infernal Dwarves! Which CDO’s very own Forgefire is involved in, and for which I’m headhunting interested artists over at Deviantart (see T9A DA group). They’re currently gathering community ideas here.
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What’s What?: As to units, almost all of them will be familiar to Chaos Dwarf players from WHFB. Background is still wanting until the full army book is released, but I’ll fill in with not-unqualified guesswork at places. So here’s a run-down:
Weapons & armour
Infernal Weapon - Magical hand weapon on fire, extra strong.
Flintlock Axe - Fireglaive. Medium-range firearm that counts as halberd in melee.
Blunderbuss - Blunderbuss! Short-ranged hailshot firearm of doom.
Infernal Armour - Blackshard armour. Full plate armour with magical saving throw against flaming attacks.
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Overlord versus Highborn Elf, donated to T9A by Avatars of War.[/align]
Characters
Overlord - Close combat army leader, gives all models in the unit he joins hatred (re-roll to hit).
Vizier - Close combat officer, can become the Battle Standard Bearer.
Chosen of Lugar - Character form of the Disciples of Lugar; Daemonically possessed cultist berzerkers on fire. A new concept for Infernal Dwarves in T9A.
Prophet - Sorcerer-Prophet, upgradable from hero-level character to lord-level character. Often seen flying around on monster mounts and blasting enemies with spells.
Taurukh Subjugator - Bull Centaur Taur’ruk hero. Big base.
Hobgoblin Chieftain - Hobgoblin Khan, upgradable to Backstabber Boss (the Sneakiest Git!). Strong as a Human character. Often seen mounted on wolf hunting skirmishers or being a “chaff” nuisance.
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Disciple of Lugar: K’daai Cultist reverse-engineered into WHFB Chaos Dwarf duty by our own Helblindi.[/align]
Character Mounts
Bull of Shamut & Great Bull of Shamut - Great Taurus and Bale Taurus respectively, winged cow husband in two different size classes.
Temple Lamassu - Lammasu, Shedu. Have a magical breath that cancels out weapon enchantments (friend or foe!) for models in base contact with the Lamassu, but not for its Prophet rider.
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Infernal Dwarf Prophet.[/align]
Core
Infernal Warriors - Ordinary Chaos Dwarf warriors. In heavy armour with access to blunderbusses. Mainstay infantry.
Citadel Guard - Infernal Guard. In Infernal armour with access to flintlock axes.
Hobgoblins - Hobgoblins on foot with access to bows and spears. Upgradable to Backstabbers = Sneaky Gits with poisoned paired weapons/additional hand weapons. Hobgoblins may be either lackeys or allies of the Infernal Dwarves in T9A; it remains to be seen.
Orc Slaves - Whipped Orc warriors with lousy Discipline (Leadersip), who will easily bolt if not supervised by nearby Infernal Dwarves or Hobgoblins!
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Citadel Guard with Flintlock Axe.[/align]
Special
Immortals - Infernal Dwarf elite unit on foot. Bodyguards to characters, with high strength and Blessing of Nezibkesh which makes stomp, grind and impact hits halve their strength down against Immortals. Solid and deadly bunker regiment.
Taurukh - Small Bull Centaurs.
Taurukh Anointed - Big Bull Centaur Renders.
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders - Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders. The usual annoyance fast cavalry.
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Beware of Great Eagles![/align]
Barrage
Bound Daemon (upgrade) - Hellcannon customization. Note that you can upgrade all Infernal Dwarf heavy artillery pieces to have Bound Daemon, which makes it a deadlier close combat monster (with Aegis/Ward save) as well as an artillery piece, with a risk of it running amok. Of special interest to model converters: Not just mortars may take Bound Daemon, but also rockets and flame weapons! Asscannon models would be perfect to represent with Bound Daemon.
Rocket Battery - Death Rocket/Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher. Heavy artillery.
Volcano Cannon - Magma Cannon. Flamethrower heavy artillery.
Titan Mortar - Earthshaker Cannon/Dreadquake Mortar. Complete with Ogre slave crew and dangerous terrain tests for units hit. Heavy artillery.
Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower - Take a guess. Light artillery.
Gunery Teams (variants below) - Two-man crew light artillery with infernal armour. Hard to hit with shooting, and also have Steam Powered Chassis nowadays which opens up for mechanical modelling interpretations. The concept of Gunnery Teams stems from the Petard, Swivel Gun and Bazooka models from WHFB 3rd edition, but are not limited to only these types of weapons.
Gunnery Volley Gun - Machine gun. Good fit for Swivel Gun.
Grenade Launcher - Bazooka. Also good fit for Petard.
Flamethrower - Flamethrower. Two shots: One ordinary damage attack, and an option to instead spray oil on enemies, making them flammable for one turn and thus easy pickings for other flaming weapons and Daemons in the army!
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Kegiz Gavem Icon of Sunken Souls: Infernal Dwarf warship roasting and ramming Gavemites, hated enemies of the Infernal Dwarves.[/align]
Bound and Binders
Disciples of Lugar - Daemonically possessed Infernal Dwarf berzerker fanatics on fire! Novel concept.
Kadim Titan - K’daai Destroyer. Big flaming bound Daemon monster. Burns everything in base contact.
Kadim Incarnates - K’daai Fireborn. Small flaming bound Daemons. Flying! Burns everything in base contact.
I hope that clear things out, but don’t hesitate to ask further! As said, we’re still waiting for background to come with the full/legendary army book. Remarks have been lifted that the slim army books should have some short flavour fluff lines for each unit, but at the moment they’re rules-only. It’s a work-in-progress.
See also these background (and army) concept proposals for Infernal Dwarves in the Ninth Age, and be welcome to participate in the communal brainstorming here on CDO:
A sweeping overview of Ninth Age history can be gained through the World Hymn, a Dwarven poem dating from the first century of the Ninth Age, which details the nine Ages of the world. The Hymn was later copied to an Equitan tapestry. A reproduction of that tapestry is now presumably all that remains, at least to human historians.
Notice the prominence of Infernal Dwarf actions to bring about hell on earth in the unfolding backstory!
The Ninth Age has shared an army book snippet from their upcoming Infernal Dwarf project. Enter the most customizable artillery pieces seen in an official army list to this date!
To speak in WHFB terms, how about a flamethrower Hellcannon or pain train?
Here’s an excerpt:
Short Concept Description
Industrial production of war machines with interchangeable parts has revolutionized the armory of the Infernal Dwarf armies allowing them to mount any of their guns on a range of chassis with little effort to suite the terrain, enemy or tactics.
Intended guns:
Flamethrower.
Mortar.
Volley Gun.
Intended chassis:
Gunnery Team.
Infernal Engine.
Bound Daemon.
Infernal Artillery.
Intended Ammunitions:
Tremor Ammunition.
Kadim Infused Ammunition.
Poisonous Fumes.
Tyranno
This makes me think of Thommy H’s customizable warmachines. A step in the right direction?
Crazydwarf over on the Ninth Age forums have written an Infernal Dwarf song to fit this jolly season. Apparently his wife has recorded a singing of it as well. I was tipped off by others on T9A about it:
Ninth Scroll issue 19, pages 4-6, contain some conversion workshop look at new unit options in the upcoming Infernal Dwarf army book. Also included one background Q&A since it touched on Infernal Dwarves in relation to Hold Dwarves as regard magic: