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 moment of writing (April 2020), and showcase the evolution of the weird and wondrous concepts embedded in our Chaos Dwarfs.
I discovered that the second image in the 1990s compilation was broken. It has been re-uploaded now. Check it out for Bull Centaurs, Astragoth mention, front art cover and presentation for our second wave of iterations.
This is a amazing list! Thanks for taking the time to make it! I have linked to it before on the Total War Forums to show off some of the Chaos Dwarf Models. I am unsure why, but the Earthshaker cannon has always been my favorite war machine, it just clicks in the right way for me.
Curious question, I noticed the Siege Giant, and since its tagged onto the Legion of Azgorh it may get be treated differently, as it was also the creation of Chaos Dwarf “tinkering”, but on the topic of monsters in the Chaos Dwarf army, would the Magma Dragon be worth including?
"One such Magma Dragon was Hagdar, scourge of the Dark Lands, who is one of the oldest Dragons to exist in the desolate and polluted wasteland. Once a Fire Dragon, he was taken captive many centuries ago by the Chaos Dwarfs of the Tower of Gorgoth. Binding him securely with chains made from ensorcelled iron, the Sorcerer Lords turned him into a living vessel capable of sustaining possession by a Daemon, their experiments undoubtedly a forerunner to those that would eventually create the Chaos Dwarf K’daai. Hagdar eventually escaped his bounds and wreaked a terrible vengeance upon the Chaos Dwarfs, destroying much of the Tower of Gorgoth and its surroundings slave encampment in a ferocious assault.
The Magma Dragon is Rarely seen now, and only ventures forth from his liar below the Ash Ridge Mountains when challenged by some rival beast or summoned to war by mighty wizards. When he does fly forth, the Chaos Dwarfs patrols who keep a wary eye on him have observed that his once white hot flesh is now turning in places gray, lifeless stone. It will be many years before the terrible curse he shares with the Sorcerers of that dark race subsumes Hagdar completely, and until then the massive slave caravans replenishing Gorgoth’s still depleted work force continue to stay well clear of his lair."
If not I understand, as it would seem the Dragon is still just a wee bit mad for his extended stay in Hotel Gorgoth(You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave ), but I would be surprised if the experiment was not reconstructed in another Sorcerers Tower at another point in time.
Thanks! Great to hear you’ve spread it. Much appreciated.
Thanks for the suggestion! We’ve included only those models that were strictly intended for Chaos Dwarfs upon their release. The Magma Dragon background is fantastic, but the model was released as a wild monster rather than a Chaos Dwarf unit. Likewise, Gnoblars, Black Orcs and a whole load of Greenskins that are not Scythian-based Hobgoblins have been excluded, since such background-suitable slave models all serve double duty in their main role as other armies’ units.
Should the new Horns of Hashut Warcry warband be included here? While the official release does not include a single Chaos Dwarf/Duardin miniature, these human slaves and cultists are dedicated to Hashut and play with designs and concepts inherent to Chaos Dwarfs, such as bulls, tall headgear, masks, slavery, centaurs and exotic ranged weaponry.
The designs on display could certainly be of interest as Chaos Dwarf inspiration, and some collectors might want to include these humans in their larger Chaos Dwarf collection. They are explicitly Hashut worshippers, after all.
In one way they are like the Diggas of Gorkamorka. A Warhammer 40’000 Greenskins Through the Ages compilation would have faced the question of whether to include Diggas or not.
@Admiral I would oppose this move for now since we do not have any official statement that clearly links these cultists to CDs. I would wait how the AoS lore around Hashut evolves in the coming months. But you could add the hobgoblins released last year. And didn’t we have a single chaos dwarf in some warband when Warcry came out?
Horns of Hashut and Hobgoblin Khan (some other?) would be worth a mention as CD related IMO, though strictly not CDs obviously.
What about the Hobgrots?
@Anzu & @tjub : Good points. Mongol Hobgoblins, Hobgrots and Horns of Hashut will be in there with next update. They’re relevant, though not strictly released for Chaos Dwarfs.
We’ve had two CDs from two different Warcry warbands, already included here at the end of the 2010s compilation part.
I’m pondering on including the 1980s Hobgoblins as well, for a complete library of Warhammer Hobgoblins/Hobgrots, since we’ll already have everything else. And change the compilation name to Chaos Dwarfs & Hobgoblins Through the Ages. Obviously writing out that CDs and Hobgobbos had no pact in the 1980s. Thoughts?
The Orc and Goblin range is so vast and mainsteam that units from it do not necessarily have to be included. Or? Perhaps the relevant Greenskin slave units found in the 1990s CD army list should have 1990s models included in this compilation after all as a '90s add-on?
And an outlier, but relevant to the Dark Lands themes as good inspiration for Chaos Dwarf hobbyists: Should the Magma Dragon be included as well, as was previously proposed? Of course written out that it’s fauna in the Dark Lands, and not a CD unit.
), but I would be surprised if the experiment was not reconstructed in another Sorcerers Tower at another point in time.
