I’m curious how people would work rules to adopt chariots for hobgoblins into a Chaos Dwarf army? I’m most familiar with 5th -7th Ed. Oldhammer, and way back when, we used to homebrew rules from the Gobbo chariots. How would they / could they be applied to modern “Old World” and what might that look like? I have enough bits and some old gobbo chariots, including 1 scratch built and a second I probably could convert easily enough and looking over parts today, came across, enough to put together a third as well… 3’s a charm - now I gotta ask…
Hobgoblins are so close to being regular Goblins that it seems like they would be pretty much the same but with maybe only two crew rather than three (because they are a little bigger in size). That would make them roughly the same points as Goblin chariots due to the slightly better stats on a HG.
For overall army balance you might want to add your own restrictions, like no Black Orcs (because they would steal the chariots for themselves) or no Iron Daemons (too many good fast ramming units).
I can see your point about army balance and I agree especially about the Black Orcs; lore wise that just makes sense. The idea really has come from this new Hobgitz Mob that is now in AoS; it’s the closest thing to getting a window into how Hobgoblins would run in an Oldhammer setting now and well, seeing how the models only would require a bit of tweaking in my case, it’s so tempting. The models too are lots of fun to put together; so the idea of being able to work in a few Hobgoblins and let it function in my big roster for Chaos Dwarfs as an option is attractive (not that there’s many games in my area to worry about in any case, but hey, one can hope…) From an artist’s side of things too, understanding the parameters for a unit like this helps me make sure nothing wonky goes into the refitting.
Like cornixt said, base them around Goblin Wolf Chariots. It makes sense to factor in the Goblin Mobs ↔ Hobgoblin Cutthroats and Goblin Wolf Rider Mobs ↔ Hobgoblin Wolf Riders relation.
Goblins and Hobgoblins are very similar but the Hobgoblin units are a bit better, if we’re honest.
I too would have the chariot have two crew and use the Wolf Rider profile. Hand Weapon, Cav Spear and Shortbow. Impact Hits D3+1, Open Order, Swiftstride and Warband like the Goblin Chariots plus Backstab for Hobgoblins. Then I think I would want something to really set them apart from Goblin Chariots. One idea would be to give them Fire & Flee, I think that would be a great fit and very thematic, possibly with the option to also get Feigned Flight. I don’t think there’s another light chariot that can do that. Alternatively/Additionally why not give the chariot a light bolt thrower weapon like the Lothern Skycutter or Scourgerunner Chariot? The rules for the High Elves Eagle-Eye Bolt Thrower seem apt. Would be cool too.
Thanks Jasko for your ideas. I’m thinking a bit about that flight and flee option and it kinda speaks to me. So, Chaos Dwarfs are modelled very loosely after Assyrians, from what I’ve seen in interviews. Hobgoblins are, from my best interpretation modelled after Mongol tribes / Steppe tribes. Both cutlures used tactics very similarly in that they would run patterns across the battlefield to harrass enemy troops with bowmen in a kind of flight and flee peppering of arrows. Maybe some sort of similar idea could be at the whim of the dice; where like they turn on base 4’s or higher, 1’s they fail and keep going forward (which could be into an enemy unit - a charge could cause inital hits, but maybe some sort of penalty could be applied then to their next round because of loss of momentum…) Another idea would be to apply some sort of bonus to turning if they ran with wolf riders - maybe call it a “pack bonus” or something like that… IDK, maybe there are some clues from AoS - I don’t play and just don’t know of how they are structuring chariots of Gitmobz. It’s a fun idea anyhow.
Interesting thought, yet for custom rules I would advise sticking to established rules as much as possible. Pointing to an existing mechanic is always better than coming up with one on your own.
Well, Goblin Wolf Riders have the “Chariot Runners” special rule which arguably would be a good fit for the Hobgoblin Wolf Riders too. Obviously they didn’t get the special rule since there are no Hobgoblin Chariots (and the rule would work with Iron Daemons too, which is maybe not intended)
But we do it “legally” using the Allied Contingents rules: Chaos Dwarfs + Goblin army.
So you get Chaos Dwarfs with all your limitations but also a part of the army has access to all the goblin units. That includes Chariots… and the Little Waaagh!