I’m interested in playing the new old worlds but I don’t really get how the army building works compared to AoS. Would love to know a good starting 1k list for Chaos Dwarves that would be fun to play and a good way to start playing them.
I have no specific strategy in mind, so anything will do as long as its fun!
Cheers and well met!
Alright let’s see. 1000pts is still quite small and there are some default things to pick, either because they are mandatory or simply because they form the core of every army anyway. 
You need to have at least one unit of Infernal Guard, that’s mandatory. Give them shields and don’t make the unit too small, this will form the backbone of your army. You also need to have at least one character as the General of your army. For a 1000pts army I would get the cheaper lower-tier fighter. He’s decent enough in what he does. He gets a great weapon for more punch and a mantle of stone, a magic item that makes him tougher. Next up is a level 2 Daemonsmith, he’s your wizard and you want to have some magic. He’s also good in supporting your war machine. Speaking of which, no Chaos Dwarfs army is complete without at least one war machine. The Deathshrieker is the cheapest but it’s perfectly capable. At this point, we have already spent quite some points but we lack models on the table! We need something cheap, that’s where your Hobgoblin Cutthroats come in. They’re not the best fighters, so give them shortbows so they can dish out some damage at range. Your army is very slow and stationary now, so let’s get some Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders to get something fast and agile in the army. You need that to hunt enemy war machines or lone characters and to redirect your opponent. You can only get a unit of Wolf Raiders if you also have a Hobgoblin Khan in your army, but that’s fine cause your unit of Hobgoblin Cutthroats could use a leader anyway. He gets a shortbow too to join the fun. Last thing you can do is get a second, smaller unit of Infernal Guard as a detachment for your main block. These get great weapons since your army desperately lacks some high strength attacks. And there you are. It’s a very basic army, one which would be expanded upon in bigger games. But it’s solid units, something which would not be out ouf place in larger armies, and you can do something in all phases of the game, which is good if you want to get to know a new game and have some fun.
++ Characters [336 pts] ++
Infernal Castellan [159 pts]
Daemonsmith Sorcerer [125 pts]
Hobgoblin Khan [52 pts]
++ Core Units [481 pts] ++
20 Infernal Guard [388 pts]
19 Hobgoblin Cutthroats [93 pts]
++ Special Units [120 pts] ++
1 Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher [120 pts]
++ Rare Units [60 pts] ++
5 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders [60 pts]
Created with “Old World Builder”
My understanding of Darkforged weapon is that it’s actually best on a melee oriented character. Sure the 6 roll gives + to cast, but the rest is pretty much melee buffs. The 6 result even has an alternative buff for non-wizards. So maybe move Darkforged weapon to the Seneschal and give him a nice shield to enhance his survivability.
Naphtha bombs on the sorcerer I feel are excellent for a last second stand and shoot that can technically change the course of the battle, if someone hunts him with chaff.
Rest seems spot on.
That’s a fair point!
I also realised that, although I wrote “I would get the cheaper lower-tier fighter” as the General, I did in fact select the big one in my army list!
We therefore have two options:
(A) Keep the big fighter and just make the adjustment:
++ Charaktere [339 Pkte.] ++
Infernal Castellan [167 Pkte.]
Daemonsmith Sorcerer [120 Pkte.]
Hobgoblin Khan [52 Pkte.]
++ Kerneinheiten [481 Pkte.] ++
20 Infernal Guard [388 Pkte.]
19 Hobgoblin Cutthroats [93 Pkte.]
++ Eliteeinheiten [120 Pkte.] ++
1 Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher [120 Pkte.]
++ Seltene Einheiten [60 Pkte.] ++
5 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders [60 Pkte.]
Erstellt mit “Old World Builder”
[https://old-world-builder.com]
Or
(B) In fact use the cheaper Senechal, that frees up 65 points. Those could be spend in lots of ways, like
I too am itching to start an Old World Chorfs army. I have a Hthark and 10 of the foot warriors from Bloodbowl, all have big weapons from when they were in my AOS StD army (which is gone now except for these guys). Hthark I’d want to use a Tauruk…how many Bull Centaurs is good to have, 3 or do I need 6? Then would I want to use the 10 ‘Chosen’ as Ironsworn or could I use them as regular Core guys with great weapons? Old World list building does seem daunting but I found that OldWorldBuilder website which looks very good.
Just was checking through the GW PDF for us, and the Magma Cannon has a ‘Fire Thrower’, and can take a Steam Carriage and Hellbound, but I don’t see any of those rules in the Chaos Dwarves PDF. Anyone know where to find those?
Fire Thrower is a common war machine now, the rules can be found in the TOW rulebook next to Stone Throwers, Bolt Throwers, Cannons and the like.
I don’t see a problem declaring models as either Infernal Guard or Ironsworn. There aren’t official models available anyway.
3 Bull Centaurs should already be viable. Their effectiveness in battle, be it 3 or 6 models, is under general debate anyway. Time will tell.
This list was very helpful thank you! what can you advice if I expand it to 2k points? I took your first option with the infernal Castellan 
I was trying to look for this also. will try to link it here if ever I find it!
Sounds good
So, expanding to 2k. First, the mandatory 25% core. You’re almost there already, not strictly necessary to do much more. You could either just put a few more models in the two units to get over the 500 points, or get another small unit of Infernal Gaurd, maybe with ranged weapons now. 10 models with Blunderbusses as a Detachment for your big unit of 20 would be a promising way, or some Fireglaives.
Definitely get a Senechal as battle standard bearer and either a second Daemonsmith or immediately go for a Sorcerer-Prophet, depending on available points.
All of this should still leave a few hundrer points to really have some fun with. At least one additional war machine is a must, maybe even two. Lastly you could have a look at Bull Centaurs or Infernal Ironsworn for a little more punch in the close combat phase.
Generally speaking, 1000 pts armies are very straight forward, there’s only so much you can choose with the mandatory restrictions or stuff which is just an auto-include since it’s so vital. At 2000 pts you have much more freedom to stear your army into the direction you want to play. Static gunline, aggressive attack list, monster-heavy etc.
You should check out this thread by another player who’s fresh into Chaos Dwarfs and who made this 2000 pts list.
This was very helpful! Here’s what I created based on your recommendations! I went for the sorcerer-prophet on Lammasu just to have the opportunity to paint Fabelzel’s version of it hahahaha thanks!!
++ Characters [731 pts] ++
Sorcerer-Prophet [385 pts]
Daemonsmith Sorcerer [115 pts]
Infernal Castellan [165 pts]
Hobgoblin Khan [66 pts]
++ Core Units [643 pts] ++
20 Infernal Guard [388 pts]
15 Hobgoblin Cutthroats [77 pts]
10 Infernal Guard [178 pts]
++ Special Units [557 pts] ++
1 Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher [120 pts]
5 Bull Centaur Renders [312 pts]
1 Magma Cannon [125 pts]
++ Rare Units [60 pts] ++
5 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders [60 pts]
Created with “Old World Builder”
Cheers! So, I would do it slightly different:
++ Characters [723 pts] ++
Sorcerer-Prophet [410 pts]
Daemonsmith Sorcerer [120 pts]
Infernal Seneschal [129 pts]
Hobgoblin Khan [64 pts]
++ Core Units [625 pts] ++
20 Infernal Guard [548 pts]
20 Hobgoblin Cutthroats [77 pts]
++ Special Units [563 pts] ++
5 Bull Centaur Renders [318 pts]
1 Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher [120 pts]
1 Magma Cannon [125 pts]
++ Rare Units [89 pts] ++
5 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders [89 pts]
Created with “Old World Builder”
Alright, it has come to my attention that Sorcerer-Prophets and Daemonsmiths cannot have magic shields. That’s unfortunate. I therefore made another few changes:
++ Characters [736 pts] ++
Sorcerer-Prophet [405 pts]
Daemonsmith Sorcerer [115 pts]
Infernal Seneschal [129 pts]
Hobgoblin Khan [87 pts]
++ Core Units [625 pts] ++
20 Infernal Guard [548 pts]
20 Hobgoblin Cutthroats [77 pts]
++ Special Units [563 pts] ++
5 Bull Centaur Renders [318 pts]
1 Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher [120 pts]
1 Magma Cannon [125 pts]
++ Rare Units [75 pts] ++
5 Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders [75 pts]
Created with “Old World Builder”
I must have glossed over the spell generation parts…how does the Level of the Wizard affect its spell generation? Still random which spell we get isn’t it?
Yes, no change there. Roll a D6 per wizard level and check what you got, re-roll doubles. One spell can be switched for a signature spell.
May i ask why shields instead of guns?
With our short legs the only time they will get into melee is if the enemy let us where fyreglavies can always do damage and hold the line. I love shields and hopefully your answer can make it work
Sure! Absolutely valid question.
So first of all, shields are cheaper. Chaos dwarfs are an expensive army and every model on the table counts. But you are of course right, dwarfs are slow, so in oder to be in combat, we usually need the opponent to charge us. With a deathshrieker, a magma cannon and the bow hobgoblins this list can hopefully be enough of a ranged threat to to have the opponent come to us. And with T4 and AS4+ they are tough enough to survive most shooting themselves.
Bottom line, absolutely you can switch the Shields for Fireglaives! Instead of 20 with shields you can get 16 with Fireglaives. And that means that the detachments can only be 8 models either. So all in all you’d have a few fewer models on the table, but if that suits your playstyle more, absolutely go for it!
Thank you and very fair point. Sadly my deathsheiker has always wiffed so much for me they ignore it and against good players they just kited my melee. Was thinking about ironsworn with shields but then will be hard to fit in much else. Then there is the black orcs which are just as tough and cheaper.
Have you had much success with the shieldwall? (Please sensei tell me how to make mine do better).
Funnily enough I’d run Black Orcs with Two Hand Weapons to maximize their shock-troop capabilities. Black Orcs excel when they charge themselves, they are a classic hammer unit. And ironsworn might also work very well with halberds.
So I haven’t played that many games of TOW so far myself. 
but it’s a powerful rule for an anvil unit, especially in combination with stubborn, which infernal guard conveniently are as well. You can lose a combat by 50, as long as 1 model is still standing, you only give ground 2“. That’s huge!
edit
Although I have described it before, it didn’t occur to me to phrase it like this: a unit with shieldwall and stubborn is functionally unbreakable in the first turn of combat if it was charged.
@Jasko Our Sorcerers can’t have shields, because it’s not armor that you “wear”? Is that correct? I’ve been arming mine with Charmed Shield too. Hmm.
Yes, our Sorcerers cannot have magic shields because they cannot be equipped with a mundane shield. At least that’s how this part in the magic items section is currently understood:
The popular New Recruit army list builder reflects that too.