[TOW] The Big Chaos Dwarf Tactics Compendium


This living thread contains comprehensive tactics for Chaos Dwarfs in Warhammer: The Old World. You will find detailed descriptions for all entries in the Grand Army List including their special rules, magic items, unique equipment and spells from the Lore of Hashut. This thread also contains useful tips & tricks for your army composition and battlefield tactics.

All posts are wiki posts and this tactics compendium is a community project. Please behave accordingly. Don’t just delete stuff other members may have spent time and energy creating if you disagree. All unit entries have their own space so there is enough room for different opinions. Please don’t argue within posts, present an alternative view and let everyone decide for themselves.


Contents

7 Likes

General Remarks

Chaos Dwarfs offer great versatility on the battlefield, allowing you to compete in all phases of the game. You have access to blocks of above average core infantry, powerful war machines, potent magic, mighty beasts and monsters, fast moving units and cheap throwaway chaff. What’s not to like?

Sorcerers of Hashut

The ruling caste in Chaos Dwarf society have always been the Sorcerer-Prophets and their Daemonsmith apprentices and so they are also our most important characters on the battlefield.
Sorcerer-Prophets are lord-level characters, they are level 3/4 wizards, come with LD10, and have an acceptable fighting statline of WS5 S4 T5 (!) A3, while Daemonsmith Sorcerers are your level 1/2 wizards and otherwise perform more or less like Infernal Guard. Still, for a wizard that’s totally fine. Both have armour thanks to Blackshard Armour, Ensorcelled Weapons and access to some interesting equipment in form of Darkforged Weapons, Naptha bombs and Blood of Hashut. You have access to potent magic and can tailor your chosen lore to your battlefield needs. Both Sorcerer-Prophets as well as Daemonsmith Sorcerers suffer from the Sorcerer’s Curse where, upon a miscast, they have to pass a toughness test or lose 1 wound while gaing +1 toughness (remember this is instead of rolling on the miscast table! So … is that even a bad thing?). If the test is passed, you roll on the miscast table as normal.
Their utility doesn’t end there, both tiers have the Infernal Engineer special rule, where once per turn a friendy war machine within command range (so 9"/10" respectively or even 12" if they are the army’s General!) can re-roll one (1) scatter or artillery dice. That is very nifty!
Lastly, Sorcerers of Hashut can be mounted:

  • Lammasu: The traditional mounts of Chaos Dwarfs sorcerers, a Lammasu is a relatively cheap monstrous creature giving a sorcerer a most welcome +3 wounds, increase their command range to 18" if they are the army’s General thanks to Large Target and gain Fly (9) with Swiftstride. Additionally, a Lammasu grants a spectacular Magic Resistance (3), making especially a Sorcerer-Prophet almost immune to enemy magic, and further protection with the unique Sorcerous Miasma special rule, rendering all magic weapons useless in close combat against the Sorcerer-Prophet. That’s massive! The Lammasu on its own may not be a Dragon with the mediocre WS4 S5 A2 but should not be dismissed either, with inbuilt Armour Bane (2), Furious Charge and Stomp Attacks (D3). You can further boost his melee provess with an additional Mace Tail attack at S6 AP-2 and the excellent S4 AP-2 magical Sorcerous Exhalation breath weapon. As a last bonus a Lammasu causes Terror, which works well with certain magic spells to sow literal terror in enemy lines. Don’t sleep on the Lammasu!
  • Great Taurus: For a more beefy and straightforward fighting mount consider the Great Taurus. It adds +4 wounds to your sorcerer and with WS5 S5 A3 AP-1 flaming attacks carries a tad more punch than the Lammasu while also benefitting from Furious Charge and Stomp Attacks (D3) with Armour Bane (2) thanks to Behemoth. One of its attacks can even be made at S6 AP-3 and Strike First which is pretty good. Fly (9), Large Target and Terror are equal to the Lammasu, but the added protection is slighty different by offering a 3+ Ward Save against flaming attacks. Lastly it has the Blazing Body special rule which is always welcome.
  • Bale Taurus (Sorcerer-Prophet only): The larger version of the Great Taurus offers an additional +1 toughness which is massive and has WS5 S6 A4 AP-1 flaming attacks, which means one attack is made at S7 AP-3! It also has Stomp Attacks (D3+1). Now that is a spicy combat mount!

Overall, the Lammasu is a great choice as it has a lot of synergy with what you want your Sorcerers be able to do, while offering some very welcome protection with added wounds and magic resistance. Because a basic fact is, you probably just don’t want your sorcerer in close combat! They fight better than most wizards but are still outclassed by dedicated fighting characters. I feel the Great Taurus would always pick the short straw here. It’s just a damn shame that Infernal Guard Commanders cannot be mounted. The Bale Taurus on the other hand is just a massive beast and on an equal level with the game’s most powerful monsters. So if you want to go for melee, go for the Bale Taurus.
There is also good cause to have your sorcerer on foot, though. If you go heavy on war machines, you should have a few Daemonsmith Sorcerers with them. Also an Arabyan Carpet is always an interesting choice. If you stick one in a unit, remember that this severly limits his ability to cast spells, since he is then bound by the vision arc of the unit.

Infernal Guard Commanders

Infernal Guard Commanders come in two tiers - the hero-level Infernal Senechal and the lord-level Infernal Castellan.
The Infernal Senechal can be upgraded to be a Battle Standard Bearer, which usually is a good choice for any army. He has access to all the equipment you’d expect, except Full Plate Armour, which is a God damn shame to the point where I’m pretty sure it’s an oversight. At least he comes with T5. Otherwise he’s a decent fighter and fits well inside a unit of Infernal Guard or Ironsworn. Never forget that he has Rallying Cry!
The “better” Infernal Castellan holds a very thankless position within the greater Chaos Dwarf roster. His objectively very good statline of WS6 S5 T5 A4 is just en par or eclipsed even by the Bull Centaur Taur’ruk and Black Orc Warboss and he cannot even be a BSB. You would see him in every other army if he could be mounted on a Taurus, but alas this privilege is reserved for the Sorcerers of Hashut. And therefore it would truly have to be a grand army if you find room in your roster to include this otherwise very capable fighter. Tragic.

Bull Centaur Taur’ruk

For every unit of Bull Centaur Renders, your army may include a mighty Bull Centaur Taur’ruk. He is a Loner, so he cannot be your General and can only join a unit of loners as well, so your Bull Centaur Renders. But he will greatly help turning that unit into a unstoppable piston to pummel your opponents to pulp.

The Taur’ruk shares all of the Renders’ excellent USRs which turn them into the great shock troops, and he even has an extra Impact Hit for D3+1 AP-2 S5 hits. Brutal! And for the cherry on top he gets inbuilt Armour Bane (1), which stacks with any Armour Bane his weapons might have. The Taur’ruk can equip a Darkforged Weapon and Shield, which is quite a good fit and still has 75pts to spare for magic items. This is a very capable fighter!

Hobgoblin Khan

If for nothing else, you need one of these guys for each of your Hobgoblin Wolf Riders units. They have the Levies and Warband USR so, given enough ranks, boost the LD of your Hobgoblin Cutthroats to a nice 10. They have a decent hero statline and can take all the equipment they need to work well with Cutthroats, Sneaky Gits and Wolf Riders. Be aware that his lack of certain special rules might interfere with those units though.

Especially on a Giant Wolf a Hobgoblin Khan can be a nuissance for your enemy even on it’s own. He also has access to 50pts worth of magic items, which is a lot for this guy. He’s cheap on his own and chances are your army is going to include at least one, so make the most out of him. Also there’s technically nothing stopping him from being the army’s General.

1 Like

Black Orc Bosses

If you want a Black Orc Mob, you also want a Black Orc Boss - and thanks to the Da Boyz USR, this isn’t even optional. But it could be worse, because Black Orc Bosses are amongst the best fighters in the game.
You have access to both tiers, the hero-level Black Orc Bigboss and the mighty lord-level Black Orc Warboss. If you’re mainly interested in the Black Orc Mob, taking a Black Orc Bigboss is totally fine. He’s quite a capable fighter and will boost the effectiveness of your Black Orc Mob significantly.
If you have the points to spare (and you should think hard about making them available), go for a Warboss. At WS7 S5 T5 I6 and A4 plus Furious Charge, Full Plate Armour and access to 100pts worth of magic items he is your best fighter. And it doesn’t stop there: You have access to three mounts

  • War Boar: On its own it’s not even a bad mount! That +1 to Armour Save is huge, and on the charge the Boar has S4 AP-1. Sadly there is not much synergy with your army, as the Black Orc on Boar cannot join the Bull Centaur Renders. Probably better to skip, unless you have a plan.
  • Boar Chariot: Now it gets interesting! A Heavy Chariot is always welcome and it comes with two Orcs and two Boars. Definitely an option for an aggressive army build. The chariot might be an especially good fit for a Bigboss.
  • Wyvern (Warboss only): Our answer to the Monster-Character-META. The Wyvern itself can just about compete with a Great Taurus, but you take this mount for the +1T and +4W for the Black Orc.

Or have your Black Orc Boss on foot, put him with his Boyz where he belongs and maximise his Waaagh USR on the most important charge of the battle. He’ll feel right at home where the fighting is the thickest.

Be aware that a Black Orc Bosses cannot have any magic items from the Chaos Dwarf Grand Army list but instead uses the ones from the Orc & Goblin Tribes. Pour one out for a Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern with Mantle of Stone, but no need to be depressed, as there are some really interesting items available now. Worth taking a closer look at:

  • Battleaxe of the Last Big Waaagh!
  • Da Choppiest Choppa (Affordable and good)
  • Bigger, Choppier Axe
  • Mortog’s Best Basha (Damn that’s good)
  • Da Akrit Axe
  • Trollhide Trousers (Especially this one!)
  • Dead 'Ard Armour (And/or this!)
  • Glowy Green Amulet (Give it to me!)
  • Grisly Trophy Rack (Also this!)
  • ‘Eadbuttin’ 'At

Infernal Guard

Infernal Guard form the backbone of your army and your army must include at least one unit. With WS4 S4 T4 LD9 they perform above average for core troops but I2 means they will often strike last even after charging (if you can even pull a charge off at M3) and at 11pts base they are quite expensive.
They are reasonable well protected with Heavy Armour and can additionally be equipped with Shields and Blackshard Armour. Infernal Guard have Stubborn and Shieldwall right out of the gate, so equipped with Shields you have the perfect anvil unit.

For main weapons you have three choices

  • Great Weapons. Always a good choice for Dwarfs, as the drop to Initiative 1 is negligible.
  • Fireglaives. Not cheap at 4pts but can be used both in close combat as well as the shooting phase.
  • Hailshot Blunderbuss. Comes at a hefty 5pts for a short-range shooting attack. Can still be combined with Shields for the ultimate come-at-me-bro unit.

Infernal Guard can be both Regimental unit as well as Detachment. The whole unit can get the Drilled special rule (which helps with slow Dwarf movement and is otherwise useful for units with ranged attacks), can have a magic standard and the champion can be equipped with Naphta bombs, a pistol and magic items.

Infernal Guard are a capable albeit pricy core troop. You can either build your army around them or have to have one unit as tax if you want to go a different route.

2 Likes

Hobgoblin Cutthroats

Chaos Dwarfs are an expensive army. You’ll very likely only have a handful of unit with a low model count, so every loss hurts. You need to put some wounds on the table, preferrably cheap ones, and you need multiple units to control the board and win the game. This is where your Hobgoblin Cutthroats come in.

First of all: They’re dirt cheap. You get 4 Hobgoblins for the price of one (1) Infernal Guard with Shield. A Hobgoblin on its own has the same fighting stats as a human and, between Horde and Warband, even the same LD. They’ll die in droves even with their inbuilt shields, but thanks to Levies, that is of no wider concern for your army. It’s expected even. You could spend another point for light armour but you’re not going to do that. If you want a sturdy unit, take Chaos Dwarfs. If anything, lean into their strength and replace their shields with shortbows. A Boss is an easy way to boost their LD to 8 with +3 from the ranks and a Khan would even up it to 10! They have the Backstab special rule but often lack the maneuverability to really utilize it.

Hobgoblin Cutthroats are almost an auto-include in any army.

2 Likes

Black Orc Mob

Rejoice, we finally have Black Orcs back in our roster - and they’re core troops even! You can have up to one (1) unit, but thanks to the Da Boyz USR, you also need a Black Orc Boss - and vice versa!

Black Orcs have the same basic statline as your Infernal Guard but with +1 Movement, +1 initiative, -1 Leadership and Full Plate Armour for +1pts. That’s a very good deal! Black Orcs are natural shock troops and truly excel when they get their charge off, thanks to Furious Charge and Choppas USR. Suddenly you’re looking at two attacks, re-rolls of to-wound rolls of 1 and AP-1 in a turn when they charged. Add to that the Black Orc Boss’ Waaagh USR and re-roll of any to-hit roll of 1 and +1 CR you get a truly fearsome first round of combat. Black Orcs are also immune to panic from friendly units being destroyed or fleeing through them and they would also quell any impetuosity in 6" if we had any units suffering from it.

Black Orcs can get Shields for a very beefy anvil unit, but that’s usually not why you get Black Orcs (see the part about them being shock troops again). But it’s of course also good against shooting, so why not, if you have the points. For their main weapons you can chose between two options - and you can even mix & match, thanks to Motley Crew! Also remember that all non-magical weapons benefit from Choppas, not just single hand weapons!

  • Like Dwarfs, Great Weapons are a great choice for Black Orcs, even if their drop from I3 to I1 is a little steeper than for Dwarfs. Still, a great choice.
  • With Additional Hand Weapons you truly go all-in on their damage output potential. With Furious Charge you’re looking at 3 attacks per model at I6 S4 AP-1. Stuff is going to die.

There are many ways to successfully use Black Orcs. Thanks to Motley Crew, you could have Great Weapons on the far corners of the unit for a few S6 supporting attacks (remember that models without base contact can only make one attack each, so you’d lose the benefits of Furious Charge and Additional Hand Weapons anyway!) while the center either has Additional Hand Weapons for maximum damage output or Shields for that nice 3+ Armour Save! You might also only want to take 5 models as a tax to have a Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern, that’s fine too.

Be aware that a Black Orc Mob cannot have any magic items from the Chaos Dwarf Grand Army list but instead uses the ones from the Orc & Goblin Tribes. While this blocks some interesting builds for the Black Orc Bosses, for the Black Orc Mob it actually unlocks some fantastic banners. Worth taking a closer look at

  • The Big Red Raggedy Flag
  • Waaagh! Banner
  • Da Banner of Butchery
  • Da Spider Banner
  • Da Banner of Da Nomads

Infernal Ironsworn

Your Infernal Guard dialled up to 11. They are atrociously expensive but come with a ton of boosts right out of the gate: WS5 and A2 are significant upgrades, they come with Full Plate Armour (!) and already have Drilled and Blackshard Armour and additionally have Veteran and Ensorcelled Weapons. Like Infernal Guard they also have Stubborn and Shieldwall and can be a Regimental Unit. Lastly they have Quell Panic, which allows Levies units in 6" to re-roll failed panic tests. Like the Infernal Guard they can have Shields, which gives them a rock-solid 3+ Armour Save and allows them the same Stubborn/Shieldwall combo the Infernal Guard enjoys. Lastly, their champion can take 25pts of magic items and the unit can spend a fantasic 100pts on a magic standard. Hello Lammasu’s Beard. That’s just excellent.

For your main equipment you can go down one of three roads:

  • Just go with a Shield and enjoy that 3+ Armour Save. You only strike at S4 but, thanks to Ensorcelled Weapons, at least have AP-1.
  • Like for the Infernal Guard, Great Weapons are an excellent choice for the Ironsworn. They are well protected with Full Plate Armour and they all have 2 attacks, you are going to do some damge!
  • Also consider Halberds. That Initiative 2 can make all the difference and your 2 S5 AP-1 Armour Bane (1) attacks are nothing to sneeze at.

As stated above their massive points cost can be an advantage. Combined with shielded stubborn detachments you can make an impregnable wall of blackshard armor that simply cannot be ignored.

Infernal Ironsworn are expensive but that can also be a good thing. 20 of them with great weapon, shields and the lammasus beard clock in at just over 500.
For this you get a unit that is an absolute nightmare to deal with for basically anything since they have 3+5++ against shooting and magic resistance 2.

Thanks to having 2 weapon options there isn’t a direct counter to them in cc either, which helps for a unit with m3 who might not get to pick and choose engagements.
Once they are in combat you basically get to decide if they will be ironbreakers or hammerers and they will always beat the former offensively and the latter defensively (stats wise) thanks to 2A and full plate.

This gets even more ridiculous when you factor in how detachments work.
We are probably the best faction in the entire game when it comes to detachments because all our detachments come with stubborn and shieldwall out of the box.
Take 2x10 fireglaives as detachments and slap shields on those badboys. They will hold against almost anything since they only need to have 2 models to ALWAYS give ground the first time they lose combat.
If you’ve positioned them correctly you are then free to flank whatever charged them with your 20 man unit of terminators and they tear through absolutely anything no problem.
Keep in mind that some smaller enemy units may require the detachments to be either angled slightly or further up from the regimental unit so that line of sight isn’t broken.

Should the ironsworn be charged by something dangerous instead you can do the opposite. Flank charge with fireglaives who will be striking at initiative and strength 5.

We are truly blessed with this unit! They are a massive points sink and/but (depending how you see it) your opponent will have to dedicate some serious part of his force to deal with them. They can be adapted for any battlefield role and it’s hard to imagine how they wouldn’t perform well.

Sneaky Gits

Everyone’s favourite double dagger elite Hobgoblins are back! They cost twice as much as Hobgoblin Cutthroats but are significantly better with WS4 BS4 I4 and LD5, two hand weapons and throwing weapons as well as excellent special rules Ambushers, Evasive, Move Through Cover and Skirmisher. It’s a real shame they don’t have Warband to help with their underwhelming LD and re-roll their charge roll or Poison, but they still have Backstab and, thanks to Ambushers, are much easier in a position to use it. They cannot have a standard, cannot be in Open Order and it’s unclear if they can use their USRs if a Khan joins the unit, so you’re most likely stuck with LD5 and no static combat resolution, so make all their attacks count and chose the right target!

1 Like

Bull Centaur Renders

If there’s something on the table which you need to be very much off the table, Bull Centaur Renders are your unit of choice. They’re expensive and they could really use that third attack base, but if your charge goes off they hit like a ton of bricks.

They have First Charge and Impact Hits (D3) with Stampede. Massive! Swiftstride will help with getting that charge off, they cause Fear and they even have Ensorcelled Weapons. Thanks to W3 T5, Armoured Hide (1), Blackshard Armour and Stubborn they are also quite sturdy and really can take some punches, even if the loss of Heavy Armour stings.

You can equip them in one of two (well, three tbf, you can just keep them as is, but that only makes sense if points are really really tight) ways:

  • Shields give them a decent Armour Save 4+, leaning in further into their sturdiness. This leaves them with their Impact Hits and otherwise 2 attacks at S4 AP-1. They can take some punches this way while not losing many attacks, but I feel this undercuts their true potential a bit
  • Great Weapons vastly improve their damage output and underscores their ability as shock troops. With their Impact Hits you can hopefully take out a few models in the fighting rank while the remaining attacks struggle against your high toughness, before you come in with S6 AP-2 Armour Bane (1) attacks.
1 Like

K’daai Fireborn

One of your more unique units, Fireborn are an offensive unit that’s surprisingly punchy, albeit in a somewhat squishy shell. First thing to notive is they’re Unbreakable and Unstable, so as soon as you lose combat, your W2 models will start dying quickly. And with T4, no armour and Regeneration (5+)/Warp-Spawned it’s not that hard to lose a few wounds in combat. At least they are Immune to Psychology.

But their value lies in the offensive anyway. They each have 3 flaming attacks WS4 S5 AP-1, that’s not bad. They also cause Fear and they have a Blazing Body on top. They are also quite fast at M6 and, since they don’t need any General/BSB bubble, are an excellent flanking unit.

1 Like

Iron Daemon

There are not many things in The Old World like the Iron Daemon, and that is reflected by a complex web ob special rules, either from being a Heavy Chariot (HC) or unique ones for the Iron Daemon (ID) .
At its core, it’s a Heavy Chariot, but a truly massive one with S8 T7 W7 and Armour Save 3+. While still treats difficult terrain as dangerous terrain (HC Iron Shod Wheels), low linear obstacles are open terrain instead of impassible one (ID Grinding Wheels). Both Its fearsome Impact Hits (D6+1) and Stomp Attacks (D3+1) are resolved at AP-2 (HC Scythed Wheels and ID Grinding Wheels, but the latter not against Behemoths). An Iron Daemon has M5 and can make a free 90° pivot at the end of the move (HC Lumbering). Instead of marching, it can move 5+D6" (ID Lumbering Destruction). However, on a roll of 1 it does not move at all. The charge roll is not affected by this rule.

  • By default, an Iron Daemon is armed with a Steam Cannonade, which works pretty much like an Organ Gun with a 360° vision arc (HC Firing Platform): You roll two artillery dice and fire as many shots as the combined rolls indicate. Shots are resolved at BS4 (!) S5 AP-1 Armour Bane (1), which is pretty good. If one artillery dice is a misfire, shots are at -1 to hit. If both dice are a misfire, the model loses a wound (instead of rolling on a misfire chart!).
  • Instead of the Steam Cannonade, you can go with the Skullcracker upgrade, where you increase to Impact Hits (2D6+2) with Armour Bane (1). That is truly terrifying if the charge goes off. Unfortunately the Stomp Attacks are unaffected, so you really really need to get that charge.

The Iron Daemon also has a truly unique feature that interacts with the Steam Carriage upgrade for your Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher, Magma Cannon or Dreadquake Mortar: Up to two war machines with this upgrade within 8" of the Iron Daemon’s rear arc are moved together with the Iron Daemon. And unless the Iron Daemon charged or used the Lumberind Destruction special rule, the war machines do not count as moved! (it is debatable at which movement the war machines move)
Lastly, an Iron Daemon causes Fear, is a Large Target, Immune to Psychology and Unbreakable.
An Iron Daemon really benefits from the Hellbound upgrade, which replaces Fear with Terror, grants a 6+ Ward Save and allows the Iron Daemon to re-roll one artillery dice per game, and since the Iron Daemon has no misfire chart, it has no downside.

1 Like

Magma Cannon

The erstwhile crown jewel of your war machines now follows the rules for a basic fire thrower. S5 AP-1 are not bad by any means, but with the way template weapons work, you will just not get that many hits. You can make it Hellbound and help protect against a misfire. Its short range of 12" makes the Magma Cannon particularly interesting for the Steam Carriage upgrade.

Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher

The most affordable of your Chaos Dwarf war machines, the Deathshrieker is fired like a stone thrower and has two different kinds of ammunition:

  • Infernal Incendiaries are your default weapon, and while S3(3) flaming attacks is not exactly overwhelming, you’re at least using the large 5" template and even one casualty will result in a panic test.
  • Demolition Rockets forego this panic-causing effect and switch to the smaller 3" template, but the target under the central hole gets a S6 AP-3 hit with Multiple Wounds (D6), making it one of the few war machines left in the game causing D6 wounds. Luckily, we have two.

You can get the Hellbound upgrade to help with a misfire or Steam Carriage for more mobility, although it seems a little pointless for a stone thrower.

1 Like

Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers

OK look: At T4 W3 these things are barely held together with some rusty nails. The Hobgoblin crew aren’t exactly sharpshooters at BS3 and between LD6 and Levies they’ll abandon their duty if a goblin looks funny in their general direction. But Bolt Throwers are actually great in TOW and for only 45pts you get a S6 AP-3 Multiple Wounds (2) shot which pierces ranks. You can have 2 per every 1000 points (in addition to any Chaos Dwarf war machine!) and don’t even have to pay any Hobgoblin unit or Khan tax. This is a hidden gem in your army!

2 Likes

Hobgoblin Wolf Riders

It is often said that Warhammer games are decided in the deployment phase. If not at that point, then certainly during movement. Your ability to (re)direct enemy movement is just as important - if not more! - than beating them in combat. And with Impetuous and the new Frenzy rules this is more important then ever (more on redirecting, screening and board control in the battlefield tactics section) Any army needs something to fulfill this role and this is where Hobgoblin Wolf Riders come into play.

Wolf Riders come with the basic Hobgoblin stats with a slightly boosted LD of 6. Like Sneaky Gits, they do not have access to Warband, so try to limit the LD tests they need to take. With movement 9, Fast Cavalry, Skirmishers and Swiftstride you have a very mobile unit, and with Evasive and Fire & Flee they’ll be hard to pin down. You can (and should!) play into this strength and also get them the Feigned Flight and Reserve Move upgrades to maximise their potential, but be aware that, like with Sneaky Gits, it is currently unclear if they can use these special rules if joined by a Hobgoblin Khan. Speaking of which, you need to have one (1) Hobgoblin Khan per 1 unit of Wolf Riders.

Out of the gate they come with Light Armour and Shield, so they are at least a little bit protected. You have the ability to give them Cavalry Spears for free and for the life of me I cannot think of any reason not to do that, it only has benefits. Additionally they can get Shortbows for 1pt per model and you should also get this, as Shortbows have the Quick Shot USR and again maximise their potential with Fire & Flee and Feigned Flight.

2 Likes

Hellcannon

The Hellcannon is quite a special unit, combining elements of a stone thrower with a monster. First of all, it follows the rules for Monster Handlers and is a serious fighter with WS4 S5 T6 W5 A5 AP-1 Armour Bane (1), Armour Save 4+, Regeneration (6+) (with Warp-Spawned) and Impact Hits (D6). Curiously it does not have any Stomp Attacks. It is also Unbreakable, Immune to Psychology and causes Terror. As if that were not enough, you can fire a mighty stone thrower with the 3" template and S5 AP-2 Armour Bane (1) - S10 AP-5 under the central hole! - and even one casualty causes a panic test. Even more, arguably all hits cause Multiple Wounds (D3), not just the one under the central hole!
All this power comes at a (small) price, and at the start of your turn you need to pass a LD test or roll on the misfire table. Luckily the Chaos Dwarf handlers have LD9.
Remember that a Hellcannon is not a war machine so it does not benefit from your sorcerers’ Infernal Engineer special rule.

2 Likes