Helsmiths of the old world - open to suggestions and feedback

Hello all,

Considering taking the plunge. Looking at the range and weighing up how I could make it work. This would be an old world project, not an AoS one and I’d like to confine myself to the legacy pdf (alongside the renegade pack which has been widely adopted in the Uk…hopefully elsewhere too!)

Posting my initial thoughts here so that people can suggest alternatives and advise etc. not really a thread to critique the new models. That would be here The Big Poll: Helsmiths of Hashut

This thread is predicated on the idea that 1) I like the models enough to do this and 2) it’s an all GW project without third party bits 3) it’s square bases Old world and designed to mix and match with my hobgoblin/orc armies

Colour scheme

Initial idea for colours (I know I’ve posted this elsewhere. Just putting it here for completeness)


Heroes:

First things first. This dude here feels like a general. Could be a prophet or a castellan

I really like the model as is and would do basically nothing to it. However, it’s possible I may end up with two of him for reasons I’ll explain in a bit. So up for discussing any conversion ideas.

Sticking with heroes, this model makes a great castellan, however I think it needs a beard. So I’d take care of that.


Lesser heroes

I think we have a pair of daemonsmiths here. No changes needed. No notes.


The beardless dwarf with spear here, feels like the start to a great seneshal with bsb.

The angle of the banner would be different and a beard would be given.

Troops

I feel that the warriors here are great. They all need beards imo and will get them



I’d be inclined to use sword and board as the spear does not have an obvious analogue in TOW options. Shame, as it feels very Bronze Age and I like them.

For standard bearers, I have a couple of spare LOA standards I can use, which will help the BsB look different to the regular standards


I feel these guys come in as alternative unit champs

I have a whole hobgrot and Kruleboyz army. These are on TOW basing and my chorfs could be based to match them, making one army possible. The hobgrot here just becomes a sneaky git champ.

The gunners. I much prefer the long barrelled guns to the blunderbuss option. The blunderbuss looks a bit too square for me. So I’d run these as fireglaives. No real changes to the models except those who need beards, get beards!

Warmachines:

I think one can make a dread quake and a deathshrieker with one kit here


The model will come on a massive dinner plate of a base. However,the dread quake has no suggested base size in TOW. Which means - its size does not matter much.

Build it as a full machine with wheels etc. get an ogre to come play as well. And you’ve got the big centrepiece artillery sorted.

The deathshrieker has a lower wound count and a smaller base. It’s not the centrepiece model but can still be made with spare parts I feel.


It could be a standalone thing looking like it’s been planted in the ground or I could use some spare empire cannon parts/ 40k ork big Gunz/ chaos chariot parts to make it look like a more mobile artillery piece.

Now for the daemon engines


I feel like in these I have an iron daemon and a skull cracked respectively.

So what am I looking at buying?

Option 1:
the army box x2, the underworlds warband and the box of gunners x2 and the daemonsmiths

This would get me:

Multiple heroes (more than I need but fun variety)

A unit of 20 warriors
A unit of 11 gunners

Two dreadquakes
Two deathshriekers
An iron daemon
A skull cracker

Option 2:

Army box
Plus a box of ten warriors (whoever you can get them seperate)
Two boxes of gunners
The warband for underworlds and the heroes

This would get me:

Enough heroes
A unit of 20 warriors
A unit of 11 gunners

One dreadquake
One deathshrieker
An iron daemon or skull cracker

Keep in mind both armies can be easily combined with my hobgoblins The Wolves of WoE - A Hobgoblin army project and my orcs Orcs of The White Hand - TOW project so I don’t actually NEED a tonne of chaos dwarfs to make this work.

It’s nice as well because both the hobgoblins and the orcs are done in an aos style so should mix nicely.

I’m open to any suggestions and thoughts about how to best use these models.

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Looks like a good plan ! I 100% join you on the idea that using other models from AoS as proxy will really help out on the general consistency.

Honesty, I’m excited about this release, if only for all the exchange argument, hobby ideas and clout to the chorf that this is bringing.

And of course excited about the ideas you developed here :hatoff:

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Your color scheme there is lovely! I think bronze/brass is a good look for the HoH minis.

Ever since I saw Xander’s TOW style recolor I’ve been hoping someone would do this. Would be amazing to see an army like this realized, so I hope you post your progress when they come out :smiley:

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I’m also tempted to do something similar. My biggest concern is size. The bases the AoS examples look like they are 32mm (with the hobgoblin being on a 28mm). The chaos dwarf legacy pdf says they should be on 25mm squares.

So the bases look to be about 295 pixels wide (for 32mm), which means a 25mm base would be around 230 pixels). Cropping the image and you get:

So that looks do-able, but there will be some overhang. Positioning on the bases will matter.

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Yes old world base sizes increased but so did scale creep! Normally with ranking, if there’s a will there’s a way! Happy to make all the mistakes and pass on the knowledge haha

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The spearhead boxes are normally a good discount to buying separately.

So even though you’d end up with two despots, you can convert one to hw & shield. Which is the only option not represented by the new models.

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Yes I think by the time I’m buying another box of warriors I may as well be getting another spearhead

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I have (had until I rebased for AoS) a wood themed wood elf army. If I can get 2 units of 20 dryads to rank up on 25mm square bases, I think we can get these to rank up too. :slight_smile:

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@GhraskDragh ‘s quest to get more girth in his life (all been there buddy) is some awesome inspiration to me for how one cannon could be an Earthshaker and another be a hellcannon for example…

Quoting here because this thread is very much my inspiration/ideas thread :slight_smile:

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What is life if not a quest for more girth cough cough

:smiley:

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Picked up some ideas here. YouTube channel discussing a similar project to the one I’m planning

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Nice.

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Awesome that the Helsmiths get people out from retirement!

… but didn’t we only open the Discourse forum like 5 years ago? (edit: ah, it includes the Archive)

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@michaelx specially built it in as part of the Archive for just such an occasion.

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Do you think the blood bowl team has any use in filling out your ranks? Or the aesthetic is too different? I like them a lot.

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This will be the solution for anyone who wants to run a small unit, mixing the 2 ranges for some more original stuff
Mostly to fix the hats as this BB kit has a total of 8 hats inside (right?)

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I’m gonna pick up one of the fire breathers as an alternative sorcerer

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100%

I already own two blood bowl centaurs and the gunner guy from this range too. Gunner guy probs be a gunner champ and centaurs probs be unit fillers. (I have LOA centaurs to be actual renders)

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These are the models I’m most stuck on - in terms of how I use them.

One guy drinking tea straight from the pot is a fun model. But two is not v useful to me. I imagine I’ll use the body and cannibalise it with whatever bits I get in the new plastics?

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Afraid not - I believe the hat is integral to the body. So it only gives you more faces than you need, not more hats

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