tvandyke:
CHAOS DWARF GOLEM
Over a thousand years ago it was the will of Lord Khaddash of House Khash that his Sorcerers would create life from unliving materials. They would create ultimate soldiers to serve the Chaos Dwarfs in their conquests. And so it was that the great Alchemagi Mardukh created life from unlife, a horrific construction made from ruddy bronze and brass, a great mechanical fighting machine made of Bronze. These constructs were named Golems, and they were the jewels of the black genius of Mardukh. Vaguely humanoidic shape, the Golems are frightening machines. Tubes pump corpse-fluids and brass wiring crackles with electrical charges. Powered by arcane machinery, the Golem lurches foward in a hideous parady of nature, hissing steam pouring from the joints and exhaust pipes, causing cacphonic and terrifying noise. The heads of Golems are ornately decorated, shaped to resemble either Chaos Dwarf, Great Taurus or the visage of Hashut the Father of Darkness. Golems are solidly built from molten bronze and iron, and even a direct hit from a cannon is not likely to destroy it. Golems have no mind, save the will of their Chaos Dwarf masters. Thus they can be sent to perform missions that any living creature would dread to undertake. For two long centuries Mardukh laboured in the pits of Zharr, creating variants of Golems and improving original design. But then the dreaded sorcerers curse settled in. His body started to turn into stone. Desperately the great Alchemagi tried to find a cure. But it was all in vain. First his feet and then his hands started to turn to stone. Desperate, Mardukh started experimenting with magic to escape the curse. He summoned daemons, sacrificed innumerable slaves and read forbidden spells. But all his efforts failed. He banished all his apprentices and locked himself inside his chambers. For three years Mardukh remained in his laboratory until all believed he had perished. The door of his laboratory was broke down to remove his body and place it in the Temple of Hashut as is the custom of Chaos Dwarfs. Inside they found a Golem, a massive mountain of Bronze and Iron, which became animated the moment the magically sealed doors were broken. It crushed and horrified Chaos Dwarfs under it’s massive feet and lumbered out of the fortress, slaying any it came across. The gigantic Golem shambled to the East and was never seen again. Only a pile of rubble was found in the workshop of Mardukh. The Chaos Dwafs believed that Mardukh had perished in some horrifying accident in his research. The great Alchemagi was never seen again. What happened to him, no-one knows. Many Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers speculate that he somehow transferred his essense to the Golem, but equally many were certain that the Great Alchemagi was dead. Golems are very rare, for the secret of their making was lost with Mardukh, and thus no new Golems have been built for seven decades. Many Sorcerers have tried to examine and copy Mardukh’s work, but always without success. Their attempts to dismantle and study Golems have failed: and many have gon berzerk, slaying the knowledge-hungry Sorecerers and his servants before being hunted down and destroyed. The remaining Golems are owned and maintained by House Khash, and sent to aid Chaos Dwarf armies only for an exceedingly high price. They are ideal for breaking the enemy battleline, taking on large monsters, War Machines, Chariots and dislodging stubborn fighters from defended positions. The Golems are used extensively in Seiges, where they can crush the gates of the fortresses in mere moments and the enemy arrows can do little to damage the Golem. Golems were built to break the backs of armies and thus far have never failed.
PROFILE
M 5, WS 4, BS 3, S 6, T 7, W 5, I 2, A 5, LD 10 - 235 Points
FEAR
The Golem is a gigantic and terrifying creation which cases fear as explained in the psychology section in the Warhammer Rulebook (curious it doesn’t cause Terror)
PSYCHOLOGY
Golems are artificial beings with no feelings or emotions. Thus Golems are immune to Psychology and Break Tests. In addition the Golem always passes any Leadership-based tests it is required to take. Thus the Leadership value a Golem is never used, and it has been included for comparative purposes only.
METAL BODY
A Golem is covered in metal armour plates which gives it an armour save of 5+ against each wound suffered. This save is never reduced for the strength of the attack.
CRUSH
A Golem can use it’s immense bulk and flailing limbs to crush things that would resist other weapons. A Golem can make a single Strength 10 attack on an ummovable target such as a building, chariot body, war machine, etc. This hits automatically and inflicts D6 wounds with absolutely no save possible! These wounds apply only to the structure or machine, not to the crew, escorts or creatures pulling it. It is most often used to batter down fortress gates.
DESTROYED GOLEM
If a Golem is detroyed in battle, it will explode with an earth-shaking noise. Any models in base contact take a single S5 hit.
GOLEM UPGRADES
Several of the Golems feature upgrades to the original design of Mardukh. You many buy any two of these for each of your Golems a the point cost indicated below. You may not buy duplicates unless otherwise indicated.
Lavathrower +50 points
The Golem is fitted with a naptha and sulphur lavathrower, often placed in the cavernous mouth of the Golem. This attack uses the Dragon breath template and any models under the template are automatically hit. Each model hit suffers 1 Strength 4 hit with a -2 armour save modifier. It causes double damage against flammable targets such as Treemen. The Golem may use this attack in each of it’s own shooting phases, even if it is engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Great Hammer +20 Points
This gives the Golem a +1 Strength bonus. If you replace both of the Golem’s hands with a Great Hammer, the Golem gains an extra attack as well.
Daemon Crystal +50 Points
Inside the Golem is a crystal which contains a bound Daemon. The machinery draws off the Daemon’s power to create a strong anti-magic field around the Golem. The Golem has a 2+ save against all effects of spells. Note that this is not a dispel and this roll can save a Golem even if you have failed to dispell a spell targetted at the Golem.
High-Powered Engine +40 Points
The Golem has an unusually powerful spell cast over it and it is of excedingly good construction. The Golem gains the following bonuses to it’s profile: +1 M, +1 S, +1 A. However, the machinery of the Golem is so delicate that is suffers double the number of wounds from any attacks. (For example, a cannon shot which inflicts 2 wounds on the Golem causes 4 wounds.)
Furnace of Hashut +50 Points
The Golem is fitted with a Furnace of Hashut blessed by the Chaos Dwarf Socerers. It may draw upon corrupt flames of the Father of Darkness raging inside it, but only at a great cost. The Golem may use the Furnace at the beginning of each of it’s turns. It then gains +2 Movement and +D6 extra attacks in hand-to-hand combat, but the Golem takes D6 S6 hits for the fires corrode even the metal of which the Golem is made of. Apply damage at the beginning of the turn.
Armoured Plating +35 Points
The Golem is covered with bronze plates and bound with reddish iron, making it even more resistant to harm. The Golem has an unmodified save of 4+ instead of 5+.
