The Big Poll: Helsmiths of Hashut

[Skelebob124156]

I go back and forth on it, some of it I like, some I dislike.
Really like the artillery guy with the skull mask and of course the mechbull, dislike the gunners.
The mech tarus I like in isolation, but I prefer the organic FW one when comparing.
They seem to have gone full mechanised, a lot of AOS armies do this, go so in on one aspect that it just makes them seem a bit one note to me.

Still not decided if I’ll buy the army box or not, leaning towards not as I have more than enough stuff to be getting on with now!

[Beliman]

I love most if not all of them. My favorite ones are the Daemonsmith and the War Despot, but the basic troops are at the top 3 of the entire range:

They look so cool, with that baton-like sword, and big bulwark, all designed with a pseudo-art deco style, it looks awesome. Another thing that I like (appart from the Gongrot) is that shirteless “hashut fanatics” in the middle of the unit:

[Grimstonefire]

I hope they turn the shirtless fanatics into a stand alone unit. Ideally with blades on chains.

[Ihsan997]

I’m happy for those of the community who found something to like in this; I would never want to rain on that parade. And this might be positive for the hobby in the sense of bringing in new people to our mining pit here, and helping some of our guys find a reason to give AoS a try.

That being said, I’ll just say that I hate these enough to end any consideration of Games Workshop at all. I won’t elaborate, and I don’t want to detract from what people like, but I’m happy to definitively move on to other manufacturers of our beloved evil dwarves over this.

[chitzkoi]

This community is a safe space for thinking things are a big bag of shit Ihsan. Take a look at the public voters - you are in excellent company, not least of whom is CDO’s biggest blogger, along with multiple moderators, our instagram admin, and some of our oldest members. It’s civil of you to be so well-mannered but you’re 100% free to speak your mind.

[Grimstonefire]

It’s only really in the last 10 years that people have entire ranges as alternatives. Including warmachines.

GW have the ability the seriously blow away all competition with warmachine designs. Which is the one bit of this release I am disappointed with.

The likes of Tim Adcock (did fw machines) is once in a generation genius. Even Aly Morrison who I think did the hellcannon, we get stuck with the more junior sculptors and designers it seems.

Ah well.

You look at the lost kingdoms tenderiser and whirlwind. GW should’ve been able to do that.

[leck7S]

Big yikes from me, honestly I don’t really like any of the sculpts. They feel like ‘what if skaven… But dwarfs!’
They don’t really feel like chorfs to me, at lest not that esthetic they used to have.
Glad there’s people who like them, sadly I’m not one of them.
Guess some of us had some expectations because of the total war designs.

[Bessron]

I had to think long and hard about how and what to write.

What I think is good is that there’s finally CD in the official background again. With figures and rules and everything else.
I see that there are enough people here who celebrate the miniatures and I think that’s the best thing about it.

For me, unfortunately, it is and remains, in Germany let’s say: a reach into the toilet.

I don’t like any of the figures that have been announced so far.
“Attention I think this is quite a hate text and I don’t want to dissuade anyone from the new CD, it’s just my opinion”

The Iron Demon somehow lacks the finesse of the previous designs. It’s clunky, blobby and shows none of the technical knowledge of the CD.

The war machines… The mortar looks like it was stolen from the Astra Militarum and fitted with a barrel that is too small. The rocket launcher… Two designers met in my head and wondered how to quickly and easily convert the mortar into a rocket launcher: Solution: take a part of the moulding frame and glue three rockets to it, then insert the moulding frame into the mortar model… Taaadaaa
(BigMek style)

I see so many cool models from GW, but the new chaos dwarves have been getting too little love there.

All the infantry models, are okay. Others have already talked about the faces. Here, the infantry models just don’t relate enough to the Old Chaos Dwarves of the 4th Edition or Forgeworld. The bull centaurs have faces that are a bit too wide/flat for me. I would probably buy them if I didn’t have the Forgeworld miniatures.

Your character models all have a good connection to the Chaos Dwarves and the petrification is well represented. But all in all, they are not my models.

The new Great Taurus is also a negative thing for me. It embodies the idea of a magical construct perfectly, but I feel like I’m being transported back to Sify or fantasy cartoon series from the 90s. I see the Taurus all the time with a shiny chrome surface in front of my eyes as some surreal entity or something unmasked in Scooby Doo

What can I say, tastes differ and I’m happy for you who are happy with the new miniatures.
I, on the other hand, am happy to stick with the Big Hats, masks and minis from Lost Kingdom.

[cornixt]

I’ve noticed that the little horns on CDs seems to have gone away. There’s one special character with big horns, plus the bull centaurs have them, but not a single example of a hatless dwarf showing off the smaller horns that were very common in the Legion of Azgorh models.

It’s also a little odd that the regular bull centaurs have giant horns, but these are somehow completely absent from the Anointed Sentinels who just appear to be wearing full head masks that are so much smaller that they wouldn’t contain the horns. I guess the fluff might explain this. I don’t have any BCs of this size so I might get a box or two, but with two large units of BCs at cavalry size I’m not sure if I can justify it over reusing those models to push war machines instead.

Almost everyone is bald or reduced to a top knot haircut. No one has a full head of hair at all. Is this a style thing, just the military, or an actual genetic predisposition?

The Hobgrot Vandalz are a bit disappointing in variety. I really like their tunics and the similar caps. Looks like there are ten models repeated twice, and three of them can have alternative parts to make them command models but everyone else is fixed with the same heads and weapons. Interesting weapons, not just swords, axes, and hammers, but also hoes. Really puts them in the category of general working slaves pressed into the army. With HGs being the weak spot of my army composition (I use night goblins and hand-sculpted golems right now, the few 4th ed HGs I had were pressed into Blood Bowl teams or converted into wolfriders) this is the one unit that I will definitely buy. If I didn’t already run out of spare bows I would consider buying a second unit to convert as bowmen.

[chitzkoi]

The hats might be the most disappointing element for me. I wanted big ornate domes, at least on the wizards, I wanted hats that looked impractical.

[CaptainBrineblood]

One thing I noticed on review is that the models look rather ‘clean’ - there’s not much overt chaos ‘spikiness’ to them, whereas there was considerably more in the Legions of Azgorh range. Even where those elements were absent, the design language incorporated harsh looking curves ending in points, similar those you see on dark elf and dark eldar models, but less lithe as befits dwarfs.

These elements seem to have been largely replaced by an abstracted ‘cog-tooth’ row motif seen across the models. Resculpting that trim to be more like the LoA stuff would go a long way to improving the models.

Essentially (at least on the basic infantry) if you took away the tusks and gave them a healthy-looking skin tone, there wouldn’t necessarily be all that many indicators of their association with chaos.

[Grimstonefire]

Exactly. The only chaos things about these models (to me) are the Daemon flames on the war machines and dominator.

Which will be the first thing I rectify.

On the plus side, if someone were to sculpt hat bits that fit on a bald head it would be an easy fix for some.

[CaptainBrineblood]

Yep, if they wanted to lean into the ‘bound daemon’ feeling more, I feel like having leering/screaming faces cast in parts of the metal of weapons and warmachines would convey that better than glowing green baubles - the latter is rather too similar to the skryre weapons which is visually confusing.

[Beliman]

That’s in line with their lore I suppose.

I mean, they fought Chaos for so many years and they become the good guys, the paragons of Order, or so they think.

[CaptainBrineblood]

I do get that, I just don’t think that’s the best way of representing it I suppose. Feels like a lazy go-to way of showing it given they did the exact same thing with the mcguffin energy source for kharadron weapons. If they wanted daemon in a jar, it would look better in the style of the blood vials on the khorne jakhals IMO (which incidentally almost look like mini big hats).

[Grimstonefire]

That would actually be hilarious, if all that time the Daemon binding “engine” was in the big hat.

[Loidrial]

The main issue I have with this whole range that I can’t find myself linking one single bit the more I think of it are the 2 following considerations

1- One has all the right to like and enjoy this set (I said since ages that I wanted GW to stay away from CDs and never touch them agan) but the main problem is that it’s a downgrade compared to other current minis GW is putting out today.
Most of the new skaven set seems to be a successful operation, mortal chaos seems most good models in both Warhammer and their smaller boxed games
Those CDs are way behind all those standards
What’s even worse is that they are behind their own standards from 2010
Worse even more, they are behind their own community standards as well

Once again, one can like the new range, but it’s not acceptable to lower the quality of the work put into it and expect the monetary outcomes they get

2- generally speaking it’s ok they change the look and all for that sloppy AoS. What I do despite is the fact they did it only to being able to reassure their IP on this new idea of chaos dwarfs.
Due to 30 years of companies who make their own models, this is GW turning point for being able to be sure to be unique again, and to sue everyone who will copy their new models.
This range to me doesn’t seem to come from a place of love, but to assert dominance on smaller companies

[Reaver]

Just like the new Fantastic 4 movie that might simultaneously be the best Fantastic 4 movie ever made AND the best marvel movie since Endgame.. it will still be an utterly shoddy Fantastic Flop and a complete wastenado of your 24 bucksonsoon (drinks and popcorn not included).

This Chaos Doo-Dooarden release is probably in the upper echelon of AoS armies* and has yielded THE best burnt stumps I’ve seen in a GW model to date! Yet still… In the words of the legendary Brian Passman. “No, I’ll Pass.” I’ll save my tree fiddy (or more) bucksonsoon to print my own action playset toys and have money left over to waste on blue slenderman and his invisible lady friend.

*(Skaven mentioned by Edbot, and AoS Lizardmen in my mind are pretty true to their original identity)

This post brought to you by the Reaver Society for Adding no Value to the Discussion

[Loidrial]

Long live Brian. He was right all along

[Reaver]

@chitzkoi

impractical

Anyone would’ve guessed AoS would deliver on this straight to your storage locker full of horny hatshits.