Ihsan997’s Assorted Abyssal, Chaotic, and Infernal Dwarves

[Ihsan997]

For various reasons, I’ve been putting off the creation do my hobby blog. Starting is the hardest part of commitment, as some dude who’s name I forgot said, and thus I need to post what I have so far. Note that, since my whole family are now interested in wargaming miniatures, much of my time has been preoccupied with Stormcast Eternals, Kruleboyz, and unicorns.

Yep. Unicorns.

But not here! Here, I present my burgeoning army of all dwarves abyssal, chaotic, dastardly, evil, infernal, and other shades of not-so-nice. I’ll begin with my first shipment of Russian Alternative minis, about which I’ve been greatly excited.

As you can see, these are my first shipments of bull centaurs, blunderbusses, and great weapon wielders. I absolutely L-O-V-O the visual aesthetic of these fellows; I’ll dare to say that I think they’re an improvement over the original 4th edition versions which I was drawn to back in the mid-1990s when I discovered Warhammer. In particular, I like the fact that some of the hats have masks connected to them - both stylish and practical!

I’ll need to get bases for these fellows before I can move forward, and that’s another item still on my to-do list. My son is excited to work on these with me too, so hopefully I’ll get those bases and put these together sooner rather than later.

[Ihsan997]

Just to add one more piece of work: my son and I assembled the Windmaster Miniature’s mortar cannon for their Underworld Dwarves.

In retrospect, I don’t think we chose a wise layout for the models. We guessed that by placing the cannon on one side, we could increase the amount of space for the three models and the pile of projectiles. However, had we placed the cannon in the middle of the base, we may have been better off.

Another mistake we have have made was in assembling such a model before painting it. My son is a better painter than me, but even so, this will be a tough job. For others who have this model, I’d recommend priming and painting before assembling.

One thing to note about the models themselves is that they’re quite small. Compared to my Blood Bowl team models, they’re miniscule. Perhaps that can be explained away as the crewmen being smaller individuals and the infantry are big swoll guys. That is reflected in 8th edition stat differences between the infantry and crewmen, after all.

[Abecedar]

I am not opposed to evil Unicorns,
Even “Good” ones have their uses.
IE “You told me you were a Virgin!” But the unicorn says Nope.

[Abecedar]

As to the Dwarf Mortar. Of course the silly goody two shoes Dwarfs would get it wrong.

Anyway. Welcome and we’ll all look forward to seeing your stuff.

[Ihsan997]

I’m back! Before I even got my BATG count up, I couldn’t resist opening up a box and putting something together. Behold, my son and I’s attempt to assemble the Lost Kingdom Infernal Dwarf lord on a Great Taurus!

The overlord himself was simple to handle. The two flagpoles are a bit uneven, likely due to being left unassembled for so long - a warning to those who allow their models to collect dust!

The details on that grouchy old fellow are incredible. My phone isn’t powerful enough to capture a closeup image, but I can even see the creases in his nose as he sneers at the world. It’s awesome.

There was one mishap which involves my son’s friends handling the Great Taurus without my permission:

This model is sturdy; I need to clarify that after showing this image. The Taurus lost a leg, the only leg which came as a separate piece, when one of the neighborhood youths dropped the model. The fact that nothing else snapped off is a minor miracle. Because of the damage at the base of the right foreleg, I had to change the mini’s pose and jury rig the leg like that. I’ll try to use green stuff and strategic kitbashing with extra bits to make it look natural, but this is another warning to those whose children have friends uninitiated to the world of war gaming miniatures.

The same friend is now in possession of my only Russian Alternative chorf infantry, too…though that’s a bitter story of tragedy for another time.

[Zoddtheimmortal]

You should be able to straighten the banner poles using really hot water. Use a kettle.

Kids are the bane of precious delicate models. I had 20 odd painted cds in my dirty paint water pot and about 40 more thrown in various boxes. I was gutted, trying to get over it. The bright side is yours isn’t painted yet so less emotional attachment lol!

The beast looks massive. Look forward to seeing it painted

[Ihsan997]

This just in: you can only order a maximum of two, so I ordered two!

I’m considering the Horns of Hashut as a stand-in for hobgoblin warriors in WAP…the issue is the lack of shields. Animosity can be explained thematically, but the saving throw for carrying a shield being assigned to a unit in light armor feels like cheating.

I could just use t9a and make them vassals, but I’m keener on something more widely accepted like WAP. Not sure if I could fit them in using RH or not.

[Zoddtheimmortal]

Shields/ no shields, no one gives a fck in fantasy man. Model a few shields on the front rank if it bothers you. Mixed weapons are what you say they are.

Do it, gets you an entry in the a.c. too!

[flagellant04]

You could get some 3d prints of bucklers, or just print regular shields small. Easier to throw on an arm that wasn’t necessarily designed for it. I don’t remember the sculpts exactly but you could also toss shields on their backs.

[Ihsan997]

Well, it’s about time that I update this thread. My current plan is to sculpt original models from green stuff, scan those with a 3D printer, and see how it looks. There are a few steps until I get that far, though:

1. The ministry of interior* has persuaded me to wait until the end July or beginning of August to get a 3D printer.
2. I have a significant personal goal coming up in the next week, and I need to work past it before buying kneadatite.

In the meantime, I’ve been sketching with my awful artistry. If I do want to sculpt something original, then I want to have a clear idea of what I want. I’ll call these models “dark dwarves” becuase the name is generic enough, and the name should be readily understood. I’ve taken inspiration from everything our community enjoys here, but tonight, my sketches have focused on body type.

I’m as picky as the rest of us when it comes to the shape of our short, angry friends. For my specific taste, the traditional Warhammer dwarves are out of the question: the 1990s era dwarves are slapstick heads with limbs and no space for internal organs, while the dwarves in Total War: Warhammer are have proportions which are physically impossible (shoulders which connect to armor rather than the rest of the body, leg and torso proportions which leave no space for a pelvis, etc.). I have no objections to those who like this style, but it’s not what I want to sculpt.

If I want realistic proportions, then I’m left with two prominent options: Baldur’s Gate 3, and World of Warcraft.

Neither model is exactly to my taste. The BG3 dwarf has feet which don’t seem wide enough to support such a bulky frame, and the legs couldn’t stabilize the body when those big arms are beating an anvil at full force. The WoW dwarf has short arms for a creature of great upper body strength, especially considering the gorilla torso.

I did mention apes on the Discord recently, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in particular. I’m a big fan of the village raid scene, both for the theme and the aesthetic. I realized, when watching the action, that I’d like my dwarves to have a chimp body type. Pound for pound, a gorilla is still stronger than a chimp; it would beat the snot out of one even if they were the same size. However, gorillas lack the fine motor skills of chimp hands, which would be needed for blacksmithing work. And really, a dwarf is buffer than a human, but does it need to look like a gorilla? Maybe for a “dwarf brute” model with higher wounds/HP than others, like the “orc brute” models in some 28mm armies, but I’m not thinking about that now. I’m thinking of mainline infantry or cavalry like this:

That’s Lightning, a villain from the movie. There aren’t clearer screencaps of him on the net yet, but when they’re are, I’m sculpting models with those proportions. Strong but not a freak, shaped like the letter W rather than the letter H. With that inspiration, and while picking and choosing between BG3 and WoW, I came up with this:

If you can ignore my crooked lines, you could see the direction I’m going with: big hands like the BG3 dwarf, big feet and legs like the WoW dwarf, and the big head and shoulders like the latter. And like a chimp, these guys are max 150cm tall but will toss you out of a bar all the same. Let’s see if I can get the green stuff soon and make a few models of this basic pose, at least as a reference for later models (more on that when I can take this first step).

[Ihsan997]

After spending way too much time this weekend brainstorming and taking notes (literally a few dozen pages) on unit ideas, I’ve come to a few conclusions about what I want to do come July-August.

First of all, the easy decision: I’ll base the sculpts on OPR’s havoc dwarves list. I like the simplicity; you have fewer options on paper but more options for proxies due to the nondescript nature of the models. It’s like the opposite of t9a’s infernal dwarves (also a valid choice if that’s what you’re into).

Second of all, the hard decision: the sculpts I’ll use as proxies in the list need inspiration from somewhere, and that place won’t be my nostalgic jewel of big hats/hobgobs/centaurs. I love the bull motif, I live right across the border from Mesopotamia, and I’ll probably keep the beards curled into ringlets, but I don’t think my sculpts would add much to the community by doing what’s already been done, and likely with poorer quality.

I won’t say where exactly I’m drawing inspiration from, but it may pop out to a few of you. I’ll leave it at that.

Anyways, I have a few sketches of the warriors in the OPR list. They’re the basic frontline infantry, and they perform that role better than most frontline units in other OPR armies. Non-spell attacks bounce off of them, and they can tie up enemy units well per the recaps I’ve read. So I need a generic frontline of naughty dark dwarves.

The basic theme is this: plate armor but no shields, so military equipment from 14th century Europe. Plate eventually outpaced even the terror of the crossbow, so these guys have more hands free for unpleasant gifts to their enemies. The theme will be slave raiders as well, so I came up with the following ideas (again, after many pages of written notes):

These would be the basic warriors without upgrades, wielding hand weapons useful for maiming rather than killing as they beat down their enemies - I mean, recruit new interns. This fellow has a spiked ironfist on one hand and an empty ale mug in the other, and he’s not happy about the ale mug being empty. I’d like to sculpt numerous options for the same model given that I’m doing this for fun, but they’d mostly be in this vein: heavily armored dudes who are prepared to fight at the drop of a hat.

I tried to follow the anatomical choices in the previous post; I hope that this can guide me once I have the green stuff in my hands.

There’s another option for more points on the warriors: rending weapons, which negate enemy regeneration and have a change to pierce amor. I figure those would be the real bad dudes, the dudes who drag ogres to the ground by the ears and hog tie them for safe keeping. These units need nasty weapons designed to maim rather than to kill.

The fellow on the left has a fire poker - not as long as a polearm or billhook, but long enough to cause gross wounds and disable opponents. The fellow on the right has a barbed garrote wire. That’s how I imagine the warriors with rending weapons: they shrug off most of the enemy arrows and hand weapons with their heavy armor and literally just choke some elf or state troop until it either surrenders or drops and gets hog tied.

Once I start sculpting, I know I’ll probably want to draw these again from different angles to get proportions right, but I had to scratch the creative itch tonight. We’ll see if I can make these ideas come to life.

[Ihsan997]

I’m still alive! I changed jobs, moved to a new house, haven’t finished unpacking, the whole nine yards. In the meantime, I’ve at least got a lot of sketches (which I can’t find at the moment) and planning done. I’d still like to start working green stuff over paper clip skeletons before new year’s, but for now, I’ll have to stick with paper and documents.

I’ve also decided that, although I love OPR’s system - especially the intentional model agnosticism built into it - I won’t be using their havoc dwarf list anymore. I just don’t like the way it plays. The generic dwarf list seems more like my style. I’ve been scribbling away notes on different models I’d like to build - either by hand or with software - based on their list.

OPR unit	Qua	Def	Darbakh’s debt collectors unit	Debt collectors’ unit type
Dwarf Champion [1]	3+	4+		Dark dwarf, hero
Berserker Lord [1]	4+	6+		Vassal, hero
Warriors [10]	4+	5+		Vassal
Bearded Veterans [5]	3+	4+		Dark dwarf
Berserkers [5]	4+	5+		Vassal
Miners [5]	4+	5+		Vassal
Iron Warriors [5]	3+	3+		Dark dwarf
Hammer Elites [5]	3+	4+		Dark dwarf
Golems [3]	4+	3+		Beast
Steam-Power Suits [3]	3+	3+		Beast
Marksmen [5]	4+	5+		Vassal
Rangers [5]	4+	5+		Vassal
Drake Marksmen [5]	3+	3+		Dark dwarf
Beast Riders [5]	4+	5+		Beast
War-Bear Riders [3]	3+	3+		Dark dwarf cavalry
Attack Helicopter [1]	4+	2+		Monster
Bomber Helicopter [1]	4+	2+		Monster
Giant Construct [1]	3+	2+		Monster
Dwarf Artillery [1]	4+	5+		Artillery

It’s based on a frontline mostly of non-dwarf vassals* with the actual chaos/infernal/abyssal/dark/evil dwarves as the vanguard or anchor units. The blank column is still in the works in various pages of notes I have scattered about. This is a fun part, if less productive, but hopefully I’ll have a clear idea of what I want to do one I get my green stuff delivery.