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Immortals led by Zhatan the Black hold up a savage band of Chaos Warriors with their unyielding defence while a
unit of Bull Centaurs lines up a devastating flank charge.
In the midst of the polluted Dark Lands, a Chaos Dwarf warband supported by two mighty Daemonic Engines
musters for battle.
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-CHAOS DWARFS-
By Thomas Hunt
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CONTENTS
HISTORY OF THE CHAOS DWARFS ...................6
THE DARK LANDS .................................................14
THE INVENTION OF THE DAWI'ZHARR ........18
A LEGACY OF CRUELTY .....................................22
THE DARK COHORT .............................................31
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers .................................32
Chaos Dwarf Warlords .................................33
Chaos Dwarf Warriors ..................................34
Chaos Dwarf Stormcallers ............................35
Immortals ......................................................36
Acolytes of Hashut ........................................37
Slaves ............................................................38
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders .................................39
Daemonic Engines ........................................40
Daemonic Upgrades ......................................42
Tauruses ........................................................44
Bull Centaurs ................................................45
Mortal Engines ..............................................46
Palanquin ......................................................47
Black Orcs .....................................................48
Ogres .............................................................49
THE DARK COHORT ................................Continued
Petrified Sorcerer ..........................................50
Altar of Hashut ..............................................51
Ghorth the Cruel ...........................................52
Zhatan the Black ...........................................54
Astragoth .......................................................56
Lord Bhaal ....................................................57
Hothgar Daemonbane ...................................58
Rykarth the Unbreakable ..............................59
Volgar the Mad .............................................60
Ghuz Slavetaker ............................................61
Gorduz Backstabber ......................................62
MASSING THE COHORT ......................................64
CHAOS DWARFS ARMY LIST .............................81
Lords .............................................................82
Heroes ...........................................................84
Core ...............................................................86
Special ...........................................................87
Rare ...............................................................89
CREATIONS OF THE CURSED FORGES ..........92
REFERENCE ............................................................96
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INTRODUCTION
The Chaos Dwarfs are a race of cruel and psychotic engineers who are most infamous for the
creation of foul engines and artefacts for the mortal servants of the Dark Gods, but they also
have their own evil ambitions. From their ruinous realm in the midst of the polluted Dark
Lands, the Chaos Dwarfs plot the overthrow of the west. Demented Sorcerers brood in citadels
of black obsidian while their warriors, bound to them by blood, march out to make war in the
name of their evil god, Hashut: the Father of Darkness. Supporting them are hordes of
miserable slaves, elite armoured soldiers and, most feared of all, Daemonic Engines of Chaos.
THE WARHAMMER GAME The Warhammer rulebook contains the rules you need
to fight glorious and exciting battles with your
miniatures. Every army has its own book that works
with these rules and allows you to turn your collection
of miniatures into a battle-ready force. This particular
army book details the merciless and cruel Chaos
Dwarfs.
WHY COLLECT A CHAOS DWARFS
ARMY? Chaos Dwarfs are as vile and black hearted a race as
any in the Warhammer world. No other army holds the
rest of the world in quite the same contempt, and so
Chaos Dwarfs will appeal to anyone who likes to play a
true villain. There is almost nothing admirable about the
evil Chaos Dwarfs – their society is built on misery and
cruelty, kept afloat only by the slavery of thousands of
innocents. Worst of all, the Chaos Dwarfs are incredibly
short-sighted and destructive, callously polluting and
poisoning their own homeland in order to fuel their dark
industry. The pacts they make with Daemons to power
their sorcery and engineering also make them utterly
contemptuous: Chaos Dwarfs use them like they would
any other resource, heedless of the consequences.
A Chaos Dwarf army is unlike any other in
Warhammer. Not only do they possess huge blocks of
elite infantry in the form of Warriors, Stormcallers and
Immortals, but also more unusual troop types like Bull
Centaurs and Hobgoblin Wolf Riders. Chaos Dwarfs
also combine the stoicism of Dwarfs with some of the
horde tactics of the Skaven or Orcs and Goblins thanks
to their ability to field masses of cheap Slaves. But the
real strength of the Chaos Dwarfs lies in their mastery
of the arcane, for they can field hideous ridden monsters
in the form of the Taurus as well as terrifying Daemonic
Engines. The Chaos Dwarfs' invention is unmatched in
this regard: only a Chaos Dwarf army will let you
indulge your twisted imagination and fully customise
these daemonic constructs, taking on the role of an
insane Daemonsmith and creating whatever horrific
combination of Upgrades you think will yield the most
destruction.
HOW THIS BOOK WORKS The Chaos Dwarfs. The first section of this book
introduces the Chaos Dwarfs and their place in the
Warhammer world. It describes the rigid society that
makes their way of life possible, the blackened land in
which they erect their grotesque citadels and their
twisted worship of their god Hashut, the Father of
Darkness.
The Dark Cohort. Every unit and type of hero in the
Chaos Dwarfs army is examined here in detail. You will
find a full description of each entry, alongside complete
rules and details of the cruel and vicious abilities they
possess.
Massing the Cohort. Here you will see photographs of
the range of miniatures available for the Chaos Dwarfs
army, gloriously painted and converted by passionate
gamers from across the world. Colour schemes and
conversions ideas for the different units in the Chaos
Dwarfs army as well as a wealth of other useful
information is contained here.
Chaos Dwarfs Army list. The army list takes all of the
warriors presented in the previous section and arranges
them so you can choose an army for your games. In
brief, Warhammer units are classified as Characters,
Core, Special or Rare, and can be taken in different
proportions depending on their relative scarcity. Each
model has a points value to help ensure you pit your
army against an opponent's in a fair match.
Creations of the Cursed Forges. The final section of
the book lists all the dangerous and powerful magic
weapons, armour and other items that the Chaos Dwarfs
forge in their daemonic smithies.
FIND OUT MORE While Warhammer Armies: Chaos Dwarfs contains
everything you need to take your Chaos Dwarfs army to
the field of battle and play a game, there are always
more tactics to use, different battles to fight and
painting ideas to try out. You can find out more at
Chaos Dwarfs Online:
www.chaos-dwarfs.com
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The wind howled across the bleak, featureless expanse of wasteland. From horizon to horizon there was nothing but barren steppe, relieved only by the occasional patch of
scrubland. For the men of Captain Grüber's expeditionary force, this was surely the end of the line. Their supplies were almost exhausted, their horses near death and they had become
hopelessly lost several days ago. Here in the Dark Lands, there was no way to gauge the passage of time, no landmarks to help them navigate out of the wastes. This foolish
adventure had ended in disaster.
All Grüber had been searching for was a passage to the east that avoided the heavy levies the masters of Pigbarter extracted, but what he would find was a slow death from exhaustion or
starvation beneath the leaden, polluted skies.
But worse was to come.
Sergeant Heldvelk was the first to hear the distant sound of drums. Captain Grüber was quick to form up his ragged line, presenting whatever enemy came out of the wastes with a wall of halberds. The brave men of The Empire, alone and far from home, prepared to die bravely
against this new terror.
But they did not come to take their lives. They came to take them, for nothing happens in the Dark Lands that goes unnoticed by its masters. A dark smudge on the horizon soon resolved
itself into rank upon rank of black-armoured warriors. They marched in silence, only the rhythmic beating of the drums marking their steady progress. Grüber's men steeled
themselves anew, but when the attack came, it was not from the front. Dozens of greenskins mounted on howling wolves came hurtling from the flank, whooping and sneering. The
soldiers held, but the sudden attack had shaken them, and they were not prepared when the armoured might of the Chaos Dwarfs crashed into them.
They held bravely. They fought like Sigmar Himself. But it was not enough. The Chaos
Dwarfs pushed forward, cutting them down like wheat in a field, slicing with daemonic axes and smashing with hammers alight with burning fury. Grüber fell back, forming a ring of steel with his best men, but then a beast of flesh and iron plummeted from the skies with a feral roar. It landed in amongst the Imperial soldiers, belching fire and slashing with rune-
etched claws as long as a man's arm.
It was a massacre, but the casualties amongst Grüber's men were surprisingly light. The Chaos Dwarfs had not come to slaughter: they had come to enslave. Those unlucky ones that survived awoke in chains. Their fate was more horrific than they could have imagined for, in the Dark Lands, there are always fools who dare to stand against the Dawi'Zharr. There is no shortage of unfortunates to labour in the soul forges of the Chaos Dwarf slavemasters, and so
the lives of those pitiful captives are always short and painful.
They do not want your land. They do not want your gold. All they want is you.
And they won't stop. Ever.
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HISTORY OF THE CHAOS DWARFS The Chaos Dwarfs are a cruel and industrious people. Like their kin in the Worlds Edge
Mountains, they respect age, wealth and invention. But unlike them, they are a bitter and
twisted race, their values a mockery of the respect that Dwarfs have for ancestry and artifice.
Their history is a holocaust of suffering and destruction, and it has warped them into a vile and
demented society, paradoxically obsessed with both order and anarchy.
Once, the Chaos Dwarfs were just like their cousins
who make their homes in the Worlds Edge Mountains,
and the two peoples share much in common despite
their ancient sundering. Both respect wealth, age and
prowess in battle, and both lust for the mineral wealth
of the earth. Both races are masters of cunning artifice
and engineering, producing machines that seem
wondrous to less skilled peoples, such as Men and Orcs.
However, this is where the similarity ends, for the
Chaos Dwarfs are a dark and twisted parody of their
western kin: their sense of honour and racial pride is
warped into slavish devotion to their society and
xenophobia, their craftsmanship is turned to the
construction of engines bound with the souls of
daemons and their strength and martial prowess is used
to enslave anyone who dares to cross the lands they
claim as their own. The Chaos Dwarfs – or Dawi'Zharr
as they call themselves, meaning ‘Dwarfs of Fire' – are
utterly evil, and despise all other living things. It is
fortunate for the rest of the Warhammer world that they
live in the Dark Lands, surrounded on all sides by
desolate wastes and towering mountain ranges, and
their desire to conquer and subjugate all other races is
mediated by the presence of vast mineral wealth in their
own lands.
The origin of the Chaos Dwarfs lies in the same place
as their kin, for once they were a single people. The
Dwarfs rose in the Southlands when the Old Ones still
walked the world, and slowly migrated north along the
Worlds Edge Mountains, becoming a hardy people with
a great love of mining and craft. In these early times the
Dwarfs were guided to their eventual homelands by the
Ancestor Gods, and they were guided well for it took
only a relatively short time for them to conquer the
mountain lands and found holds below the peaks. The
Dwarfs fought against the Orc and Goblin tribes that
infested the caverns and they became the mortal
enemies of these creatures, but they never posed a
serious threat to the intelligent and powerful Dwarfs in
those days. For the Dwarfs, this would always be
remembered as a golden age, a time of unsurpassed
glory and wealth, before the terrible and destructive
wars of later ages.
THE EXODUS Though the Dwarfs had travelled far and fought hard
for their new homelands, there were still those among
them who were not satisfied. These brave – some would
say foolhardy – individuals argued that the Ancestor
Gods had led them this far, yes, but why stop here?
They broke from their kin and journeyed north, passing
beyond the Worlds Edge Mountains and onto a vast and
desolate northern plateau. This land was barren and
cold, lashed by bitter winds that prevented anything but
sickly, stunted thorns from growing. The bones of
primordial monsters that littered this region caused the
Dwarf explorers to name it ‘Zorn Uzkul' – the Great
Skull Land. The explorers kept in contact with their kin
in the Worlds Edge Mountains all this time, but
generations began to pass as they crossed Zorn Uzkul,
surviving as best they could, and eventually it became
impractical to send messengers so far. The explorers
began to build their own settlements, making the best
they could of the poor land, but it was a meagre and
hard existence, and they became an increasingly tough
and embittered people. But all this hardship was as
nothing compared to what would follow.
THE COMING OF CHAOS Unbeknownst to the lesser races, the polar gates of the
Old Ones were about to collapse, enshrouding the world
in the tides of Chaos. No one knows what caused this
cataclysm, but it altered the Warhammer world
completely, forever polluting it with the unnatural taint
of Chaos. This was the darkest time any of the young
races had ever experienced as the winds of pure magic
engulfed their lands and they were assailed by the
monstrous Daemons of the Chaos Gods. Many creatures
were mutated and warped by the power of Chaos, and it
was during this time that many strange beasts such as
Chimera, Griffons, Beastmen and Skaven were created.
The Dwarfs proved resistant to the taint of Chaos and
remained secure in their mountain homes, waiting out
the storm of magical energy. However the Dwarfs of
Zorn Uzkul were not so fortunate: exposed on the great
plateau, they had nowhere to hide from the warping
tides, and Chaos began to visit terrible changes on
them. The unfortunate Dwarfs were mutated, slowly at
first, but then more and more, until fully a tenth of their
number sported some examples of the curse of Chaos.
Some of the Dwarfs even turned to worship of the
Chaos Gods themselves and migrated further north to
join the growing hordes of the Dark Gods. Most of the
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Dwarfs of Zorn Uzkul simply tried to survive.
Abandoned by the Ancestor Gods, whose voices were
silenced by the tides of Chaos, they called out for
salvation, praying for some deity or hero to save them
from the mutations and the daemonic attacks.
HASHUT Their call was answered. What Man, Dwarf or Elf can
say who Hashut truly is? Tales abound in ancient
tomes; some say he was once a Bloodthirster of Khorne
who rebelled against his master, and grew in power in
his prison below the earth, mastering fire and rock.
Others say that he is the spirit of a mighty volcano,
given life by the power of Chaos. Others claim he fell to
earth in the heart of a huge meteorite – the very same
that created the Plain of Zharr – and that he is some
disgraced Chaos God who once haunted the black orb
of Morrslieb. The truth will most likely never be
known, all that is certain is that, in their time of need,
Hashut came to the Dwarfs of Zorn Uzkul and offered
them an alternative to death and suffering. Hashut was a
god of fire and darkness, and he came to the Dwarfs in
the form of a mighty bull whose hooves sparked
thunder: at first they were terrified of this Daemon-lord,
but his promises were their only hope of salvation. No
one knows the true nature of that terrible bargain, and
what the Dwarf explorers had to sacrifice in the name of
their new god, but when the Time of Chaos ended they
were changed forever: their mutations had stabilised,
but they still bore the taint of Chaos on their bodies.
Many of the Dwarfs bore long, snarling tusks, and their
overall complexion and demeanour was more dark and
glowering. Their beards, previously lustrous and
brightly coloured, were now bristling and black. Some
of their number sported small vestigial horns, or even
hooves, and some were mutated even to the point of
becoming a new kind of creature: the monstrous Bull
Centaurs, who had the upper bodies of the Dwarfs they
had once been, but the lower bodies of fearsome, red-
skinned bulls. The explorers were Dwarfs no longer:
they had become the twisted servants of Hashut and
named themselves ‘Dawi'Zharr' – the Dwarfs of Fire.
To the rest of the world, however, they would simply
become known as Chaos Dwarfs.
THE FIRST KINGDOM Hashut told the Chaos Dwarfs that he would lead them
to a promised land of great riches that was just beyond
Zorn Uzkul. Speaking through his envoys – Chaos
Dwarfs with whom he imbued some of his dark power –
he led his people on a second exodus through the
desolate lands to the Falls of Doom in the foothills of
the Mountains of Mourn. There, they followed the
River Ruin south until they came to a vast crater that
had been created in some primordial impact thousands
of years ago. The crater was rich in minerals, gems, oil
and other things the Chaos Dwarfs needed to survive in
the harsh lands and the only inhabitants were Orcs,
Gnoblars, Goblins and a sub-race of greenskins that
would come to be called Hobgoblins. These creatures
were primitive and savage, and were unable to make
use of the mineral wealth of the crater, so the Chaos
Dwarfs had no compunction about driving off or killing
them all. In time, they spread across the area, which
they named the Plain of Zharr, or 'Zharrduk'. The Chaos
Dwarfs had abandoned all their old ways, just as they
felt the Ancestor Gods had abandoned them, and cast
aside their runic heirlooms. In giving themselves over
to Hashut, they had given up their ancestral magic, but
gained something powerful in return: sorcerers of their
own. The envoys of Hashut were able to use the magic
of their god, whom they now called the Father of
Darkness, to hurl flames and shadows at their enemies,
and a certain percentage of the Chaos Dwarfs who were
born each generation had the same powers. These
individuals quickly became a separate group in the
fledgling Dawi'Zharr society, held apart from the rest
and keeping their own counsel. They lived in their own
walled communities and emerged only rarely to offer
advice to the Chaos Dwarf Warlords who were
beginning to grow in strength.
This period, beginning some three thousand years
before the birth of Sigmar, was known as the First
Kingdom. The Chaos Dwarfs were ruled over by
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powerful Warlords who commanded armies of their
own kinsmen. Amongst these kin were also numbered
the powerful Bull Centaurs, who were still being born
to ordinary Chaos Dwarfs at the time: they formed their
own units of shock cavalry, and revolutionised the way
Chaos Dwarfs made war. Unlike their western kin, they
did not rely on stalwart defence and solid infantry that
were so useful in the subterranean tunnels below the
Worlds Edge Mountains, but developed a style of
warfare that relied on fast moving chariots pulled by
boars and devastating charges by the Bull Centaurs.
Ranging across the Dark Lands, the Chaos Dwarfs
began to subjugate and massacre the greenskin tribes,
sacrificing large numbers of them to Hashut.
For four hundred years, the First Kingdom was
unopposed, but eventually a coalition of greenskin
tribes joined together and defeated the Grand Army of
Lord Khrazathk in the Howling Wastes and drove them
back to the Plain of Zharr. Emboldened by this victory,
the greenskins started to fight back against the Chaos
Dwarfs and eventually forced them out of the Dark
Lands, but stopped short of advancing into the Plain of
Zharr, which was now choked with fumes and pollution
from the furnaces of the Chaos Dwarfs. The power of
the Warlords was finally shattered, and the Sorcerers of
Hashut emerged from their isolation to usher in the next
period in Chaos Dwarf history.
THE RISE OF THE SECOND KINGDOM The Sorcerers were the Priests of Hashut, and promised
to lead the Chaos Dwarfs to glorious victory. They told
the warbands that the Dawi'Zharr were not destined to
rampage across the land like the hordes of the north, but
instead must organise themselves so they might become
a force to be reckoned with. They began to reconstruct
Chaos Dwarf society with themselves at the top, housed
in a great city which they built with their sorcery from
black obsidian. The mighty tower of Zharr-Naggrund
was large enough to house all the Chaos Dwarfs, but the
Priests demanded more, and all the labours of the
Dawi'Zharr were bent to constructing the vast edifice.
They strip mined the Plain of Zharr, turning the ground
into slag and building thousands of acres of workshops
and factories. When the demand for labour outstripped
what the Chaos Dwarfs were capable of, they began
enslaving the tribes of greenskins. Now possessed of a
dark purpose, the Chaos Dwarfs were once again
expanding. This time they didn't travel far from the
Plain of Zharr at first, but instead expanded their sphere
of influence steadily so that the greenskins could never
unite against them again. The furnaces of the
Dawi'Zharr burned bright with the fires of industry and
the city of Zharr-Naggrund grew larger every day. The
Sorcerers began to wage wars of their own in parallel
with their people: they scoured the Realm of Chaos,
using the magics granted to them by Hashut to summon
and enslave Daemons. Although the artefacts they
created by these means were primitive and unstable,
they would continue to perfect the technique in the
coming centuries.
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By this period, the so-called ‘Sorcerers' Curse' was
already well documented. The magic of Hashut wrought
terrible changes on its practitioners, gradually
subverting their Dwarf nature and transforming them
into solid stone. This limited the lifespan of the Priests
and meant that no single Sorcerer was ever capable of
wielding too much power – invariably, they would turn
into stone and their own followers would outlive them,
so the Priests were forced to cooperate with one another
to run Chaos Dwarf society. All this changed with the
birth of the mightiest Sorcerer of all: Zhargon.
ZHARGON THE GREAT Fully nine hundred years before the birth of Sigmar, a
Sorcerer of rare power entered the Priesthood of
Hashut. His name was Zhargon, and he swiftly
outstripped his masters in knowledge of the rites of the
Father of Darkness and magical potential. Within a
century, Zhargon was ordained as the High Priest of
Hashut and began introducing sweeping reforms to
Chaos Dwarf society. Inspired by the ziggurat shape of
Zharr-Naggrund, he codified the system of Castes that
restricted certain professions to certain layers of the
city. Highest were the Priests, who lived in the Temple
of Hashut atop the city and they were served by the Bull
Centaurs, who now began to breed true, becoming an
entirely separate sub-race of the Dawi'Zharr. The
warriors lived in the level below, followed by smiths,
masons and other craftsmen, then finally the labourers.
The numerous greenskin slaves occupied the very
lowest levels of all. Under Zhargon's direction many
fortresses were built along the River Ruin and the Dark
Lands were utterly subjugated by the Chaos Dwarfs. To
celebrate this conquest, the Gates of Zharr were built as
a demonstration of power: alone in the most desolate
part of the region, serving no purpose and hundreds of
miles from any other Chaos Dwarf enclave.
Zhargon was obsessed with one thing. He knew that all
his labours would come to nothing in a few hundred
years when his body was transformed into stone. With
this in mind, and the Second Kingdom at the height of
its power, Zhargon locked himself away in his inner
sanctum and began researching methods to stave off the
Sorcerers' Curse. The realm of the Chaos Dwarfs
continued to expand, and untold millions of slaves were
brought to the Plain of Zharr. The Chaos Dwarfs began
trading with the Goblin tribes in the foothills of the
Worlds Edge Mountains and, through such means, first
came into contact with their estranged kin at first as
prisoners which they took into slavery and then in small
groups ranging from their strongholds. These early
meetings were not civil, for the western Dwarfs
immediately identified their cousins as corrupted by
Chaos and the Dawi'Zharr still remembered their
ancient abandonment by the Ancestor Gods. The two
races would always despise one other, and attack each
other on sight in every future encounter.
In the far south of the Dark Lands, a new threat arose.
The degenerate ghoul tribes lurking below Cripple
Peak, the descendants of the ancient tomb-scavenging
servants of Nagash, united for the first time under
Vorag Bloodytooth, the first and only Ghoul King.
Vorag made war on the Goblin tribes of the Worlds
Edge Mountains, and several bands of Chaos Dwarf
slavers also became involved in the conflict. Vorag was
victorious in his wars, and enslaved the Goblin and
Chaos Dwarf survivors, forcing them to build the
Fortress of Vorag in the Plain of Bones. This affront
made the Chaos Dwarfs furious, and they called upon
Zhargon – who was now the undisputed master of
Zharr-Naggrund and Dawi'Zharr society as a whole – to
declare a campaign of genocide against the ghouls.
Zhargon had not been seen in public for over a century,
and many assumed he had succumbed to the Sorcerers'
Curse already, but he proved them wrong and emerged
from his isolation. Zhargon had not been turned to
stone; indeed he appeared remarkably hale and healthy
and was encased in a suit of golden Chaos armour. It
was clear that Zhargon had used some powerful
enchantment to preserve himself and now led the armies
of the Chaos Dwarfs atop a huge golden altar carried by
dozens of slaves. Zhargon also went to war
accompanied by a bodyguard of elite veterans he called
the Immortals – perhaps showing the depth of his
obsession with maintaining his own life.
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The greatest army of Chaos Dwarfs ever assembled
marched across the Dark Lands, led by Zhargon on his
golden altar. The great volcano Azgorh was especially
active that season and shrouded the host in roiling
clouds of black ash, which Zhargon called a sign of
Hashut's favour. As great as the army was, however,
they were far from home and not equipped for a siege.
They attacked the Fortress of Vorag, but were repelled.
The force was too large and unwieldy, and they had too
few supplies. Zhargon refused to retreat and the ghouls
took their toll on the Chaos Dwarfs. Despite Hashut's
alleged favour, the Dawi'Zharr were defeated and
forced to flee back to the Plain of Zharr.
THE FALL OF THE SECOND
KINGDOM
The Chaos Dwarfs were embarrassed by their crushing
defeat, and blamed the arrogance of Zhargon. He was
forced to put down rebellions using increasing force,
and began to rule Zharr-Naggrund with an iron grip. He
suppressed the advances of Chaos Dwarf technology,
strangling progress and stagnating his society.
Eventually this policy became too much for even the
Sorcerers to take: the Dawi'Zharr had become the
dominant force in the Dark Lands thanks to their
superior weapons and technology, and now they were
forbidden from researching further to reclaim what they
had lost. Finally, the new laws became too much and
the Chaos Dwarfs rebelled en masse, beginning a
devastating civil war.
At this time, Zhargon was pursuing rumours about a
prophecy regarding the Everchosen of Chaos, a
champion of great power who would lead the hordes of
the north in open war against the rest of the world.
Zhargon hoped to become the Everchosen himself, but
he would need to stave off the Sorcerer's Curse for
several more centuries in order to fulfil the conditions
of the prophecy. The rebellion of his subjects infuriated
him – he required total loyalty and unity in order to
bring his plans to fruition. As the battle raged
throughout Zharr-Naggrund, Zhargon hid himself in his
chambers again and prepared a great enchantment that
would turn the tide of battle in his favour.
The Chaos Dwarf rebellion was, ironically, led by the
Immortals, who had suffered the greatest in the ill-
conceived war against Vorag, but had received little
sympathy from Zhargon who blamed them for the
defeat. The Bull Centaurs, on the other hand, remained
loyal to Zhargon and defended the Temple of Hashut
with their lives. In the final battle, the Immortals fought
the Bull Centaurs at the iron gates of the Temple and
finally broke through at the cost of many lives. To this
day there is still a fierce rivalry between the two groups
of elite warriors.
Lord Khal Drakaz, the leader of the Immortals, led the
charge into the Temple wielding the magical Hammer
of Zharr, but Zhargon was ready for him. The High
Priest emerged from his inner sanctum and faced down
his former lieutenant. Drakaz made to strike off
Zhargon's head, but the mighty spell that Zhargon had
prepared was unleashed at that moment. What that
terrible enchantment might have done can never be
known, though Drakaz was vaporised instantly by its
power. However, any further effect was prevented as
the spell backfired and caused Zhargon to lose control
of the wards that protected him. In one horrifying
instant, the ravages of time took their toll on Zhargon
and he was transformed into stone, which then
crumbled into a dry pile of lifeless dust. Zhargon's reign
of terror had ended, but the Second Kingdom was in
ruins, and the Dawi'Zharr would take many years to
recover from the effects of the civil war.
CHAOS
Chaos Dwarfs do not use that name amongst
themselves, but instead refer to their people
as the Dawi'Zharr. Other races associate them
with Chaos because of their obvious mutation
and corruption and because they have common
cause with the worshippers of the Dark Gods.
The Chaos Dwarfs are well aware that Hashut
is part of the pantheon of Chaos though, and
that is why they use some of the iconography
of Chaos. The Chaos Dwarfs believe that
Hashut is more powerful than the other Gods,
and hold the worshippers of the supposed
lesser deities in contempt. This is why they are
so willing to use Chaos for their own ends,
treating Daemons and magic as another
resource to be exploited.
11
THE MODERN AGE After Zhargon's death, Chaos Dwarf society was in
turmoil. Zharr-Naggrund itself was heavily damaged,
with fires raging on every street and fully half of the
population killed. The Priests of Hashut began to
coordinate the repairs as soon as possible, and the Bull
Centaurs, despite being on the losing side, put
themselves at the Temple's disposal once again: their
first loyalty had always been to Hashut, after all. In
order to repair Zharr-Naggrund, the Priests ordered the
acquisition of tens of thousands of slaves and bands of
Chaos Dwarf warriors scoured the Dark Lands for
captives. Though there were already numerous slaves
working in the mines, forges and workshops of the
Plain of Zharr, from this point onwards the Chaos
Dwarfs themselves were outnumbered by their slaves
and their society became completely dependent on
them. Within fifty years, Zharr-Naggrund was restored
to its former glory and the Dawi'Zharr were ascendant
once again.
Zhargon's legacy was to convince the Sorcerers that no
one of them should ever rule Zharr-Naggrund
unopposed again, and they began to govern as a
Conclave, each with their own followers and armies
drawn from their own kin. These ties of blood and
honour meant that Chaos Dwarf society became divided
into many disparate realms, each of which occupied
different areas of the city, but they were nonetheless
unified by the same broad aims: the maintenance and
construction of Zharr-Naggrund, and the empowerment
of their twisted race. Though Zhargon had made many
mistakes, most of his reforms were kept in place, most
notably the strict Caste system. Even now, Chaos Dwarf
society is divided both vertically down the terraces of
Zharr-Naggrund and radially by the dominions of the
Sorcerers. The Bull Centaurs continued to guard the
Temple of Hashut, serving at the command of the
Priests, while the Immortals remained an independent
unit, deployable only by a majority vote of the
Conclave, made up of veteran warriors and serving for a
strictly defined period of seven years before returning to
their previous masters.
Most importantly, however, the Chaos Dwarfs began to
research technological advancements. They blended
their skills as craftsmen with the dark magic of Hashut
and created Daemon-engines of terrifying power. Their
increasing reliance on slaves also led them to research
magically-aided breeding programs so they could create
an improved variety of slave that didn't squabble in the
manner of other greenskins. The results of these
experiments were the Black Orcs, a new race of Orc
that was hardier, stronger and less prone to infighting.
Unfortunately for the Chaos Dwarfs, the Black Orcs
rose to their natural position of leaders over the other
greenskins and their ability to plan and coordinate their
brethren led to the largest Orc and Goblin rebellion ever
seen. A second civil war engulfed Zharr-Naggrund not
two hundred years after the end of the first one, and it
seemed that the Chaos Dwarfs would be exterminated
as they fought further and further up through the layers
of the city. Finally, salvation came from an unlikely
source: the Hobgoblins, who were intelligent enough to
see that the Chaos Dwarfs could potentially reward
them in a way that the brutal Black Orcs would not,
switched sides and helped to defeat the other
greenskins. The rebellion was ended and the
Hobgoblins were indeed rewarded by their masters;
though they remained slaves, they were no longer
required to work in the mines and forges, and instead
served in Chaos Dwarf armies as warriors and as
overseers for the other slaves. The Black Orcs were
driven from the city and out into the Dark Lands. Chaos
Dwarfs no longer use Black Orcs as slaves, but they did
leave several tribes roaming the nearby lands so that
they could recruit them into their armies in the future.
Groups of Black Orcs are still found in the warbands of
their creators, though they are rarely slaves, but instead
paid mercenaries.
The Chaos Dwarfs were even less numerous after the
rebellion, and so the lust for slaves to work in the forges
and pits became even greater. The Chaos Dwarfs
expanded their influence, mining deposits far to the
south at Gorgoth and building a great fortress there.
They also established colonies near the Flayed Rock
and at Daemon's Stump. They quarried stone from Gash
Kadrak, the Vale of Woe, and recruited the vile Sneaky
Git tribe of Hobgoblins into their armies. Increasingly,
the Chaos Dwarfs became the masters of industry, and
built massive engines of war as well as huge ships that
12
began to ply the River Ruin. They excavated a great
tunnel beneath Zorn Uzkul – a labour that took almost a
century and claimed the lives of millions of slaves – and
built Uzkulak on the coast of the Sea of Chaos. This
gave their fleet an exit to the north, so that they could
plunder even further. They also began to trade with the
Ogres in the Mountains of Mourn, and established ties
with many tribes that benefited both races.
Now, the Chaos Dwarfs only care about acquiring more
slaves so that they can mine more mineral wealth from
their lands. The Chaos Dwarfs are now outnumbered
many times over by their captives, but the Hobgoblins
are loyal to them and keep the other slaves in line. By
this method, the two races have evolved a symbiotic
relationship, as they are both dependent on each other to
survive. The disparate nature of Chaos Dwarf society
means that they never unite in wars of conquest as they
did in the past and each Sorcerer Lord plots against the
others in hopes of increasing his influence. Chaos
Dwarf society has become a self-sustaining nightmare
of consumption, greed and service to the all-consuming
state. Individual Chaos Dwarfs are not expected to have
their own ambitions outside of what is proper for their
Caste, and they are bound by blood and unbreakable
tradition to their Sorcerer Lord masters. Only the
Warrior Caste has hope of wielding true influence by
securing promotion through feats of arms and
demonstrations of unswerving loyalty to their masters.
Because of this, the Dawi'Zharr are deadly on the
battlefield, fighting with merciless hate, unleashing
years of repressed fury. They also have to constantly
make war because of the slaves required by their
industry; without slaves, the Chaos Dwarfs' empire
would grind to a halt, and so the cycle of violence,
captivity and cruelty continues with no end in sight,
save for the distant time when the resources of the Plain
of Zharr are at last exhausted. Then, perhaps, the world
will tremble as the Chaos Dwarfs surge out of the Dark
Lands searching for wealth and slaves.
In recent centuries, the most powerful Sorcerer has
become Ghorth the Cruel, whose increasing influence
has begun to alarm the other Sorcerers. He has placed
his own loyal servant, Zhatan the Black, in command of
the Immortals, and so now wields power almost on a
par with Zhargon millennia ago. He has already begun
to subtly influence the outside world, increasing his
people's trade with the Warriors of Chaos, in particular
providing Archaon the Everchosen with batteries of
fearsome Daemon-cannons with which to invade the
Empire of Men. The influence of the Chaos Dwarfs is
greater than ever, but they are too divided to threaten
the Old World yet. Ghorth may have greater vision even
than Zhargon before him, and perhaps perceives the
eventual end of the Chaos Dwarf way of life. Those
who know of such things may suspect that he is laying
the groundwork for an expansion that will prevent his
society imploding when they finally finishing ravaging
their homeland. If so, he is more dangerous than
Zhargon ever was, for his ambition will bury the entire
world under foul mountains of ash and slag.
13
The Dwarf chuckled a dry, humourless laugh. ‚You wish to know of the Dawi'Zharr, of the people who are called, by the ignorant softlanders, ‘Chaos Dwarfs’?‛
‚Yes!‛
‚To know the Dawi'Zharr, you must know the land from which they come; the land beyond your pitiful hills that you call mountains. Your home, this ‘Empire’, is a place of forests and meadows: a weak, green land. My home, the Dark Lands, is a realm of black earth and dead things. It is a realm that would swallow up your Empire a dozen times and where, from horizon to horizon, there is nothing but bare rock, spewing forth the raging fury of the world’s molten heart to bubble across the dead ground. It is a realm of wolves and wind, where no rivers run, and no trees grow. To see it would break your Human mind: shatter it into a thousand thousand pieces.‛
‚I find your land to be highly dubious. Such a waste would appear on every map. I have heard of the Dark Lands, yes, but they are merely unexplored wilderness, not a desolate hellscape as you pretend.‛
‚And why are they unexplored, manling?‛
‚They are rife with tribes of greenskins – another reason you are lying. What Dwarf could stand to live in a land infested with such creatures?‛
‚The greenskins are our slaves. Tribe after tribe of Orc, Goblin and Hobgoblin bound to our servitude. All across the Dark Lands the influence of the Dawi'Zharr is felt, though our true homeland is in the far north of that realm.‛
‚Oh?‛
‚Yes, manling.‛ He beckoned Otto closer. ‚Imagine for a moment the dark, pulsing heart of your Empire. The greatest city, in which your foolish clockwork machines are invented, and where your little workshops and factories produce the children’s toys that you call guns.‛
‚You are speaking of Altdorf...or perhaps Nuln.‛
‚Maybe. The names of your dwellings do not interest me. But still, fix in your mind the image of the Empire’s industry: the clouds of smoke and chemicals, the effluence of progress staining the earth with its foulness.‛
‚The scars that our technological advances wreak on the environment are often regrettable, yes...‛
The Dwarf laughed. ‚‘Regrettable’? What a mannish thing to say... But you know of what I speak – the scars, yes, that is the word. The scars of industry. You know of that bleak place in your cities where factories ruin the air and earth. Well, my homeland is that ruin multiplied untold thousands of times, stretched over an area a hundred leagues in every direction from our great capital. The very earth cries out in agony as we tear it apart with drills and blades. Every hillock is studded with a chimney belching forth black foulness and every valley is sluiced with thick tar and oil. Our kingdom is built into a great crater where the dark orb you call Morrslieb smote the hateful land in hopes it would be destroyed forever. Instead, it unearthed all the wealth of the earth’s bosom for the Dawi'Zharr to claim. And claim it we have, using gold and iron and obsidian and the lives of millions of slaves to build the great tower of Zharr-Naggrund that sits, squat and evil, glowering at our empire of suffering and hatred. And all this misery sits beneath a pall of black smoke that prevents the light of your precious sun from ever even touching our lands. What would you think if you could see that place, manling?‛
Otto considered his words. The strange Dwarf had indeed painted a hellish picture, but he just shook his head. ‚It is a good story, and you tell it convincingly, but there is no truth in – there is no such place as ‘Zharr-Naggrund’ and the Dark Lands are nothing more than an unexplored foreign clime.‛
‚What makes you so sure of that, manling?‛
‚Why would such a powerful empire, capable of such intense industry never have been heard of in The Empire? Why have your people not come marauding across the mountains?‛
‚What need have we of coming to this weak land? You have nothing here that is precious to us. We have no interest in you.‛
Otto scoffed. ‚How convenient...‛
‚Yes, for you. Your Empire is weak and ruined after this war – but one day you shall recover, and your technology will improve and your industries will grow. One day, you may be a power worth conquering. That is when we will come for you, to learn the secrets your engineers will discover, and enslave your people and machines to serve our ends. Archaon’s war will look like an insignificant skirmish compared to the storm the Chaos Dwarfs will unleash upon you. The Dawi'Zharr do not know defeat, and we do not understand mercy: when we come for you, it will be in such force that the very earth and skies will tremble in fear. And we will come for you, manling. We will come for you.‛
Otto shook his head. ‚You were right, Captain. He is insane.‛
‚Told you.‛
The Dwarf slumped back down against the wall, closing his eyes. Wordlessly, Captain Gozzadini took the lamp down from the hook and led the way out of the cell, barring the door behind them and leaving the prisoner in darkness again.
14
15
16
THE DARK LANDS The Chaos Dwarfs are as much a product of their foul homeland as they are their bloody
history. A harsh realm breeds a harsh people, and no realm is more harsh than the Dark
Lands, a place where nothing can survive for long.
The seemingly endless waste between the Worlds Edge
Mountains and the Mountains of Mourn is unlike any
other land. It is a barren, desiccated realm that takes its
name from the omnipresent black soil that covers
everything. There is almost no water beneath the earth,
instead the ground is a fragile skin that covers vast
magma ducts beneath. The Chaos Dwarfs believe that
the Dark Lands' location between two great mountain
ranges means that it is a particularly weak point on the
world's crust. Doubtless it was further weakened by the
ancient impact that created the Plain of Zharr. Whatever
the cause, the Dark Lands are a region of extreme
volcanic activity, where boiling tar pits, exposed
mineral seams and rivers of smoking lava pockmark the
landscape. It is these features that make the Dark Lands
so useful to the Chaos Dwarfs, as they can easily find
the minerals that they covet and plunge mines deep into
the bowels of the earth.
THE PLAIN OF ZHARR The heart of the Chaos Dwarf empire is the Plain of
Zharr. Thousands of years ago, a meteorite descended
from the sky – perhaps it was a chunk of one of the
moons that orbit the world, or just a nameless
wandering lump of space debris – and blasted a vast
crater in the earth. It pulverised the very rock, creating
in an instant crystals and ores of immense value. They
were left lying there, exposed to the uncaring skies for
millennia until the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs
discovered them. Since the coming of the Chaos
Dwarfs, the Plain of Zharr has been changed
irrevocably.
Now, it is an immense network of factories, mines,
smelting plants, workshops and forges. As far as the eye
can see, chimneys pump out clouds of multicoloured
smog and rivers of tar and ooze snake their way through
the maze of stinking industry. Slaves in untold millions
must live in this hellish warren, their lungs clogged with
foul vapours and their eyes never knowing anything but
the pallid sunlight that peers wanly through the smoke
and the ruddy infernal light of the soul-forges.
ZHARR-NAGGRUND The capital, and the only true city of the Chaos Dwarfs'
empire, is the obsidian tower of Zharr-Naggrund. It
rears up like a lonely mountain from the flat blackness
of the Plain of Zharr, utterly singular in a way that
warps perspective so that it is not clear until one
approaches the enormous gates of beaten gold and iron
just how immense it truly is. Rearing thousands of feet
into the sky, and populated by hundreds of thousands
of slaves and Chaos Dwarfs, Zharr-Naggrund is not
really a city in the way the term is used by Men, but
instead a single building that is equal parts fortress,
factory and temple. Within its red-lit depths, the Chaos
Dwarfs live and work, creating arcane machineries.
They have harnessed both the energies of the earth and
the empyrean, making slaves of both fire and Daemons
to fuel their awesome engines. The River Ruin flows
through Zharr-Naggrund and the Chaos Dwarfs make
use of it in their forges and factories. Its waters are
pumped throughout the city, flowing into every
workshop, and then join together before the great
southern water-gate, out of which they flow, now
polluted with tar, chemicals and all the effluence of
industry. The River Ruin makes its way sluggishly
through the Dark Lands after this, staining its banks
with vibrantly-coloured toxins and choking all life that
attempts to drink from or live in it until it finally washes
into the ocean in the distant south.
THE HAMMER OF ZHARR
The true story of the construction of Zharr-
Naggrund has been lost to the mists of time. It is
known that the Sorcerers were the ones who
ordered its creation, and that they used magic
to build it, but it is clear that more mundane
methods must have been used, especially since
much of the city is built of magic-resistant
obsidian. Hence the legend of the Hammer of
Zharr, which was once an ordinary workman's
hammer and, it is said, broke the ground when
the foundations of Zharr-Naggrundd were laid.
This holy weapon is given to the Lord of the
Immortals as a badge of office, and is currently
held by the Banelord Zhatan the Black.
17
THE TOWER OF GORGOTH
Though the Chaos Dwarfs only have one city, they have
built fortresses throughout the Dark Lands that enable
them to keep watch over their realms. The largest of
these is the Tower of Gorgoth in the south. The way is
marked by the Gates of Zharr, an awesome edifice that
serves no practical need equidistant between the Plateau
of Gorgoth and the Plain of Zharr. It was built in the
time of Zhargon the Great as a warning to the greenskin
tribes that the Chaos Dwarfs were mighty beyond their
reckoning and able to find them wherever they might
hide. Gorgoth itself is a black tower that pierces the
grey skies, clogged with the output not of Chaos Dwarf
forges, but by the fires of the earth itself: the great
volcano known as Azgorh lies to the south. Gorgoth is
rich in mineral deposits and the whole plateau is highly
volcanic. The Chaos Dwarfs have dug a vast network of
mines beneath it and Gorgoth is populated almost
entirely by slaves. Their misery contributes to the
growth of the Chaos Dwarf empire as endless trains of
caravans carrying the coal and precious minerals that
they mine travel across the Dark Lands to the Plain of
Zharr.
THE ENCLAVES To the north of the Dark Lands is the windswept plateau
known as Zorn Uzkul, or the Great Skull Land. It was
named thus by the ancestors of the Chaos Dwarfs
because the barren, lifeless region was littered with the
bones of primeval beasts, who perhaps died in the
aftermath of the impact that created the Plain of Zharr.
Unlike the Plain of Zharr, Zorn Uzkul is completely
without value, and the Chaos Dwarfs have no
settlements there. Instead, they watch over it from the
fortress of Uzkulak which sits at the mouth of their
great underground canal, stretching from the Falls of
Doom to the Sea of Chaos. Here, the Chaos Dwarf fleet
– a mighty armada of ironclad steamships – musters so
that it can raid the shores of distant lands in their search
for more slaves. The fleet also cruises the River Ruin,
the ships' metal hulls being the only ones that can resist
the corrosive waters, ensuring that the Chaos Dwarfs
always make their presence felt to the south. Their other
fortresses, Daemon's Stump and the Black Fortress, are
havens for their ships and allow them to guard over the
Howling Wastes, which are traversed by caravans
seeking trade with the Ogre Kingdoms and distant
Cathay. The Chaos Dwarfs suffer the trade routes to
exist because they have a vested interest in keeping
their hulking and dim-witted neighbours powerful so
that they can trade with them and even use them as
slaves. However it is not unknown for a caravan from
the Old World to run into a slaving band of Chaos
Dwarfs, and in that case they rarely complete their
journeys.
THE WASTES The Dark Lands are not entirely uninhabited for, while
almost nothing can grow there, there is enough
sustenance to support scavenging creatures such as
wolves and greenskins. Across the great moors of the
Wolf Lands, huge packs of ravening beasts, warped by
the power of Chaos in ancient times, hold sway. They
are captured and tamed by tribes of Hobgoblins – a
form of steppe Goblin native to the Dark Lands and the
lands to the east – who ride them into battle, usually in
the service of the Chaos Dwarfs. The Blasted Wastes
are home to more greenskin tribes and especially Black
Orcs who were created by the Chaos Dwarfs as a race
of super slaves many centuries ago. The Black Orcs
rebelled and were driven from the Plain of Zharr, but
the Chaos Dwarfs still allow tribes of them to roam the
Dark Lands so that they can be recruited into their
armies as mercenaries. Far to the south, beyond the Ash
Ridge Mountains, is the haunted Plain of Bone where
an area larger than an Imperial province is carpeted in
the bones of mighty dragons from ages past. Here, the
carcasses of more recently killed monsters are picked
clean by degenerate Ghoul tribes who gather on the
shores of the Sea of Dread, drawing power from their
terrible master, Nagash, supreme lord of the Undead,
whose lair is close by.
Though the Chaos Dwarfs claim lordship over all the
Dark Lands, it would be impossible for any race to
actually govern such a vast tract of land. Instead, the
Chaos Dwarfs rule by fear, constantly raiding from their
fortresses without warning so that the greenskin tribes
always know they may be brought to heel. The Chaos
Dwarfs extract a tribute of slaves from the tribes that
live under their shadow, exerting control over thousands
of leagues of territory as the greenskins capture Men
and Dwarfs to sell to their distant masters so they can
avoid the fate they so readily thrust upon their helpless
captives.
18
19
The vast expanse of arid land stretched on for a hundred leagues to the north and another hundred leagues to the south. This place was nowhere; the heart of the bleakest land on the face of the world, which was precisely why it had been chosen. A team of groaning slaves laboriously dragged a block of stone across the desert floor until it was in the marked position.
"We have laid the foundation stone, Lord," Drakaz said, his voice muffled and hollow behind his iron skull-mask. Idly, his armoured fingers ran across the haft of the Hammer of Zharr that he held close to him at all times.
"There is much yet to do," Zhargon said, his voice as quiet and calm as ever. He was shrouded in black robes, his face hidden from his followers, though none were in any doubt that the High Priest was amongst them. Reclining on a palanquin of black Gromril borne on the broad shoulders of four mighty Immortals, he could be no one else.
"This task may consume generations," Drakaz continued.
"Is it not written in the Tablets of Law that the Father of Darkness's task will take our lives, the lives of our descendants and the lives of all our clans in perpetuity?"
Drakaz shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. One did not need to be reminded of Lord Zhargon's knowledge of the Tablets of Laws, but the way he recited the exact wording and always seemed to know how to use them to answer any doubts chilled the Banelord to his bones. He was as devout as any Dawi'Zharr, but even he wondered if Zhargon was descending into madness with this project.
"Think of it, Drakaz: an arch of such colossal proportions that it will strike fear into the whole world. Massive beyond any obvious need, vast beyond the imagination of anyone save a Dawi'Zharr, it will survive as a testament to the power of Hashut for a thousand thousand generations and perhaps beyond. These columns will be of such girth, cemented with such materials and constructed with such skill that they may outlive the foundations of the earth. Mountains will fall before the Gates of Zharr even tremble."
Drakaz lifted his gaze skyward, trying to envisage the arch that Zhargon described. He could not begin to image how it could be built, nor how long it would take. Surely it would, as his master said, consume them and all of their descendants and, while it would no doubt be an object that inspired terror in lesser races, he wondered at the price they would pay for that. To build a huge stone arch in the middle of nowhere, with no wall and no gate, was surely madness...
The slaves that had positioned the first block were driven back to the great pile of stones that were waiting for them. More gangs of captives toiled to move the blocks onto rollers along with the dozens of other logistical tasks that the construction effort required. Though there was already a huge pile of blocks ready, they would need many hundreds of times that number to build what Zhargon had devised. And so much more material required thousands more slaves – the Plain of Zharr would be emptied.
"Drakaz, I have a further task for you."
"Yes, Lord?"
"I will be returning to Zharr-Naggrund soon, but you must remain here."
"You wish me to oversee this project? Do you not think I would be able to serve you better in command of your armies, Lord?"
Zhargon chuckled, a dry, papery sound from within his dark cowl. "No, Drakaz, it is not as an overseer that you will serve me. I wish you to take a detachment of Immortals south from here."
"To what end, Lord?"
"To take slaves."
"But we have slaves already..."
"We require more for this task. Thousands more. Millions more. I wish you to scour the Dark Lands for them and bring them back here in chains. I wish you to bring all the tribes between here and the Desolation of Azgorh to heel."
"Such a mission..."
"The purpose of these Gates, Drakaz, is to symbolise our lordship over all these lands. If we do not have such lordship, they are merely arrogance. I wish them to be a demonstration of fact. We will enslave every greenskin within three-thousand miles and put them to work in our service."
"So we enslave so that we may boast of that enslavement?"
"Yes."
"But that serves no purpose, Lord..."
Zhargon's tone grew dark. "I told you earlier what the Tablets of Law say, Drakaz. Hashut has commanded that we labour to His glory until the End of Days, and so shall it be. We will reap the glory of the earth for Him, we will take captive all the creatures of the world for Him and we will make war for Him. We will do these things to sustain further labour so that all of creation will be consumed by the Dawi'Zharr and remade by our hand and the lives of our slaves into a form more pleasing to the Father of Darkness. So I have commanded, and so shall it be."
Drakaz nodded and bowed low so that his beard touched the ground. "Yes, Lord. I will leave at sunrise."
20
THE INVENTION OF THE DAWI'ZHARR Over the past few centuries, the Warhammer world has been gradually industrialising itself. Black powder weapons have been a feature in the armies of the Empire of Man for hundreds of years, and in Dwarf throngs for even longer. Already, steam-powered devices are becoming commonplace in the Old World while, beneath the surface of the earth, the magic-powered war machines of the Skaven do battle with the runic engines of the Dwarfs. But though the Skaven are masters of invention, their society is too anarchic to support true industry. Similarly, Mankind is just beginning to industrialise itself and has not yet reached the point where it can mass produce mechanical marvels. As for the Dwarfs, their realm is in decline, their infrastructure crumbling into ruin, and they must hold onto what secrets and traditions they can. Dwarfs are conservative, and fear innovation, even as they must experiment to survive. So it is not surprising that the only true industrial power in the world is located in the midst of the Dark Lands, where the Chaos Dwarfs have choked the Plain of Zharr with their rampant mining, smelting, quarrying and manufacture. The Chaos Dwarfs have the resources and the stability to build huge factories in which thousands of slaves labour, producing standardised equipment. Through these methods, the Chaos Dwarfs can churn out hundreds of suits of Chaos armour every week, which they trade to the Warriors of Chaos in the north for gold and even more slaves, as well as issue to their own troops. The Chaos Dwarfs are fabulously wealthy
because not only do they have total dominance over the mineral-rich Plain of Zharr, but the weapons, armour and machines they manufacture are also sold to anyone who can pay their prices. The most common recipients of their favour are the Chaos Warriors, Ogres and savage tribes of Orcs and Goblins. Chaos Dwarfs have many trade routes that criss-cross the Dark Lands, and they travel many leagues to sell their wares, often within huge armoured land trains, driven by powerful steam engines. These fearsome machines are often fitted with pens for holding slaves to drag back to the Plain of Zharr, but they can also be equipped with monstrous artillery batteries or fighting platforms so the trade caravans can defend themselves. The Chaos Dwarfs are not content to simply grow fat on the gold of their allies though. Innovation is part of the character of the Dawi'Zharr, and they nearly ripped apart their society with a devastating civil war when denied the opportunity to advance their twisted technology. Like the creations of the Skaven, Chaos Dwarf technology is most dangerous when it blends science with dark magic. For the Chaos Dwarfs this takes the form of mastery over the daemonic. For the Chaos Dwarfs, Chaos and the servants of the Dark Gods are just another resource to be exploited, and they forge Daemons as Men forge iron. A Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer thinks little of enslaving a mighty Daemon and making it part of the mechanism of his latest invention and in this way the Chaos Dwarfs have created whole batteries of monstrous Daemonic Engines. These beasts of living
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21
iron are unnatural abominations, flesh melded with metal to create sentient creatures bound into the hulls of fearsome cannon or tanks. Some Daemonic Engines are relatively mundane: they may simply use Daemons as a power source, or to instil the ammunition with sentience to make it less likely to veer off course, but others are towering behemoths that resemble no war engine that an inhabitant of the Old World would recognise. They may float on water, fly through the sky on eldritch wings or, most terrifyingly of all, tunnel deep below the earth, only to emerge from the ground in the midst of a battle like some hideous giant termite, belching fire and fury. Experiments have also been made in other fields. The Chaos Dwarfs managed to breed the Black Orcs using a mixture of science and magic, for simple selective breeding would not have produced the desired results – at least not in the available timescales. The willingness to use Daemons in their experiments of course extends to mortal slaves and though the Chaos Dwarfs will never be able to approach the insanity of the Skaven fleshmoulders of Hell Pit, they have produced impressive results with the mutated denizens of Zorn Uzkul. These beasts, dating back to the Time of Chaos, are believed to have once been Chaos Dwarfs just like the Bull Centaurs but the careful attention of the Dawi'Zharr has transformed them into vicious fighting beasts which are frequently augmented with mechanical and daemonic parts, making them even more deadly. The art of alchemy has not bypassed the Chaos Dwarfs either. They are masters of the Wind of Chamon, as Men know it, and the transmutation of base metals into gold is one of the first cantrips learnt by Acolytes of Hashut. Such parlour tricks do not amuse the Chaos Dwarfs of course, for the effort and material costs required to bring about the transmutation is far higher than the amount of gold yielded and, besides, ordinary metals are often far more valuable than gold for the technically minded Dawi'Zharr. Nonetheless, familiarity with the earth's minerals has brought the Chaos Dwarfs great knowledge of the physical world, further enhancing their weapons of war. Blunderbusses are an obvious manifestation of this particular skill: firearms that are known in the Old World, but which the Chaos Dwarfs have perfected and turned into a weapon that is uniquely theirs. Similarly, the rockets and shells launched by their Daemonic Engines are frequently packed with dangerous chemical explosives that are harvested from the detritus of their industry. The Chaos Dwarfs have discovered many unique properties in the substances left over from their myriad production processes, such as weirdly glowing rocks that appear to have no magical properties and yet leave burns when touched, and have caused slaves quarrying them from the slag heaps to sicken and die. Experiments into the
unusual nature of these materials are still ongoing, and fortunately there are plenty of slaves remaining. Indeed, it is most frequently the slaves who bear the brunt of the Chaos Dwarfs' more dangerous experiments. Quite apart from the horrific conditions in their factories, mines and forges, their sheer numerousness in the Plain of Zharr means they are inevitably the ones most often killed in industrial accidents. One memorable experiment was the Hammer of Hashut. This was a rocket the size of a fortress tower built by the Sorcerers in an attempt to devise a new method of assailing their foes. The feared Death Rocket was already an established part of the Chaos Dwarf arsenal, whether delivered by a Daemonic or Mortal Engine, and there seemed to be no reason that the sound principal of a rocket packed with chemical explosives fired into the air could not simply be scaled up to more devastating effect. Technically, the Hammer of Hashut was a resounding success as it killed hundreds. However, these were almost entirely Goblin slaves living on the edge of the Plain of Zharr itself, as the vast rocket was incredibly unstable and its flight became erratic just a few seconds after launch. The devastation wrought and the ensuring mushroom-shaped cloud was highly impressive though, and the Sorcerers have not given up the dreams of a Death Rocket able to fire across continents. Rumours abound of a particularly ambitious Sorcerer Lord, known to work with the pirate captain Ghuz Slavetaker, who has already begun construction on a second Hammer of Hashut, and of his intention to guide it with powerful Elven magic to avoid the disaster of the first version.
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A LEGACY OF CRUELTY The Chaos Dwarfs have a history of warfare and slavery stretching back for over six thousand
years, but their battles have never been more cataclysmic than in recent centuries. It is only in
modern times that the Chaos Dwarfs have begun to expand outwards from the Dark Lands,
visiting their particular brand of savage cruelty upon an unsuspecting world.
THE BATTLE OF UZKULAK The great Chaos Dwarf city of Uzkulak has long stood
guarding the entrance to the sea tunnel that passes
below the plateau of Zorn Uzkul, the Great Skull Land,
connecting the River Ruin to the icy Sea of Chaos in the
north. From this basalt-walled fortress, the Chaos
Dwarfs' fleet of ironclad warships sallies forth, raiding
the costal realms of the Old World at will. Sitting as it
does in the midst of the northern lands, its defensive
position, high walls and the access it grants to the Dark
Lands have been coveted by the Marauder tribesman for
centuries. One such tribe lived just a dozen or so
leagues up the coast and had suffered slave raids by the
Chaos Dwarfs for generations. Their chieftain, a Norse
Jarl named Ragnar Ragnarson, grew tired of this and
resolved to take Uzkulak. No Marauder tribe had ever
dared to attack the Place of the Skull before, and
Ragnar's people were reluctant to join this foolhardy
quest, but the Jarl paid proper tribute to the Gods of
Chaos, called in ancient oaths from his neighbours,
brokered alliances by marrying off the daughters of his
loyal Thanes and eventually amassed a great army of
Norse warriors, the like of which had never been seen
outside of a full Chaos incursion.
As chance would have it, much of the Chaos Dwarf
fleet was occupied far to the south in the Sea of Dread,
fighting off Lizardmen raiders from the Southlands. Jarl
Ragnar was able to sail up the Sea of Chaos with his
horde in dozens of dragon-prowed longships virtually
unopposed. They landed before the gates of Uzkulak
and began their assault. Ragnar quickly realised that it
was impossible to besiege the fortress because it had
direct access to the sea tunnel and hence Zharr-
Naggrund, so he determined that only a direct attack
would work. Ragnar summoned his húskarls, his
personal bodyguard of elite warriors along with the
great mass of young men who had flocked to his banner
hoping to make a name for themselves. These warriors
had dedicated themselves to the Wolf-God – another of
the names attributed to Khorne, the Chaos God of war –
and worked themselves into a savage frenzy before the
battle. They were known as the berserkjr and, clad in
bloody wolf skins, they hurled themselves at the great
walls of Uzkulak. Somehow, their frenzied attack
succeeded in overwhelming the sparse defenders and
they spilled over the outer defences and overran the first
level of the fortress, but at a tremendous cost in lives.
Ragnar and his húskarls opened up the outer gate from
the inside and the Norse army surged through, but then
found themselves up against the even more formidable
defences of Uzkulak's inner keep. The artillery on the
battlements now rained down a constant hail of fire –
both mundane and daemonic – and the Norse knew they
could not batter their way past a second gate. So,
dismayed, Ragnar ordered his warriors back to the shore
to make camp and consider their next move. He left
guards on the outer walls of the city though to ensure it
could not be easily taken back and so Uzkulak was
divided between the Norse and the small number of
Chaos Dwarf defenders. As Ragnar's Marauder horde
began to construct earthwork defences and raise a
wooden palisade to protect their camp, the Despot
Ghorak Firesoul who commanded Uzkulak sent
messengers to Zharr-Naggrund asking for a relief force.
There, the news of the great fortress's potential fall was
met with a stony silence in the Conclave of Sorcerers.
With the fleet still many hundreds of miles away, there
was no way to dispatch a relief force that would reach
Uzkulak in time, for surely tales of Ragnar's success
would spread across Norsca, attracting more Marauder
tribes to his banner, and the city would eventually fall.
23
There was only one solution: to amass an army of a
kind never before seen fighting in the name of the
Dawi'Zharr.
Gorduz Backstabber, the mercenary chieftain of the
Hobgoblins that served the Chaos Dwarfs was
summoned. He quickly used his influence to hammer
together a loose confederation of Wolf Rider tribes.
These fast moving troops could cross the Great Skull
Land and reach Uzkulak in a matter of days, but they
would not be enough to break the Norse horde alone,
and so they were led by the only troops in the Chaos
Dwarf army that would be able to keep pace with them:
an awesome phalanx of the mighty Bull Centaurs. No
such force of these elite shock troops had been gathered
in over a thousand years, and only one creature had the
will to lead such an army: Lord Bhaal, Eldest of the
Bull Centaurs, the Death of Worlds himself. Bhaal
careered across the desolate plateau at the head of this
highly unusual force and, as they came through the
mountain pass, they looked down upon the massed
tribes of Chaos waiting in the valley before the gates of
Uzkulak, preparing for the final assault. Ragnar's force
now numbered in the thousands, and the Bull Centaurs
were only a few hundred. The treacherous Hobgoblins
were already starting to slink away, seeing that the odds
were against them, but Lord Bhaal cowed them with a
single snarled command. He raised his huge rune-
encrusted axe and, staring down balefully at the lines of
the Norse army, gave his only order of the battle:
"Crush them!"
Ragnar saw the Chaos Dwarf relief force high on the
ride as a dark smudge of indistinct shapes and, as their
charge threw up a great cloud of what he assumed was
dust, he gave orders to form a shieldwall. The Norse
slammed their shields together and presented a thousand
axe- and sword blades, forming an impenetrable barrier
of unyielding steel. Such a defence was enough to repel
even the most determined charge, for no cavalry mount
could be induced to charge towards such an obstacle,
and even a well-trained warhorse would shy away at the
last moment. But these were no mere cavalry: they were
Bull Centaurs, Hashut's most favoured sons, and no
shieldwall could instil anything but outrage in their
furious, hate-filled minds. Roaring their defiance,
charging through their own wall – not of steel, but of
smoke and flame – Lord Bhaal and the Bull Centaurs
crashed into the Norse lines, setting fire to their shields
as they made contact and scattering them almost
instantly. As the charge hit home, the hundreds of Norse
Marauders that made up that shieldwall immediately
quailed in stark terror as their arms and armour were
melted by the blast of heat and their fellows in the front
rank were simply burned alive. Then the axes began to
fall, and the fire turned to blood and gore. The Bull
Centaur charge was like a scythe cutting through wheat,
and it was not so much a fight as a bloody and terrible
massacre. The Norse broke and ran, all the fight beaten
out of them within minutes, and only the hard core of
the barbarian army continued to fight on, a few hundred
of the hardened berserkjrs and húskarls, led by Jarl
Ragnar himself.
Ragnar knew he was defeated as the Wolf Riders picked
off his fleeing men, but the eyes of his gods were still
firmly upon him and he knew he had to die with
honour, his axe in his hand, meeting this awesome foe
in person. The Jarl stepped forward and bellowed a
challenge in his native tongue. Lord Bhaal did not speak
the language of the Norsemen, but he recognised what
was happening even so and, gesturing for his Bull
Centaurs to back off, he galloped towards the Marauder
Chieftain, axe raised. Jarl Ragnar was a mighty warrior,
blessed by the Dark Gods and a veteran of many battles.
Taller than even a tall Norseman, his barrel-like chest
was corded with thick muscles and he bore tattoos and
scars to the Wolf-God. In his hands was an ancient axe
and upon his head a helm in the image of a snarling
wolf. The pelt of some mutated hound that Ragnar had
slain with his bare hands was across his shoulders and,
even as the great form of Lord Bhaal thundered towards
him, Ragnar Ragnarson knew no fear. The two great
warriors clashed in the centre of that bloody battlefield,
surrounded by charred corpses and Jarl Ragnar, to his
credit, struck several furious blows upon the Bull
Centaur Lord before, with a single mighty swing, Bhaal
cleaved him in twain from head to crotch.
The battle had been over with the first charge of the
Bull Centaurs, but now that Ragnar had been killed, the
few remaining Norse gave up the fight and retreated
back to the handful of longships that the Hobgoblins
had not set alight. Uzkulak had been saved by the
timely intervention of a wholly unconventional relief
force. When the Chaos Dwarf fleet returned, they
scoured the coast and found Ragnar's kingdom. There,
they threw down his palisade, burned his hall to the
ground, tortured to death all of the remaining warriors
and took the women and children as slaves. The name
of Ragnar Ragnarson became a curse amongst the
Norse – a byword for foolish endeavour.
It is said though that the children of Jarl Ragnar
survived the slaughter, for they were grown and fighting
in far off lands. His firstborn son, Ulf Ragnarson, also
called Ulf the Tall and Ulf the Fearless, heard of the
fate of his father and his people and swore revenge
against all Chaos Dwarfs and especially the Bull
Centaurs and Lord Bhaal. Most laugh at such a hollow
threat, for what can any man do against such a monster
as the Death of Worlds? But Ulf is wiser than his late
father, and will not be taken by surprise as he was.
Rumour has it that Jarl Ulf Ragnarson has now returned
to his homelands, and he is sharpening his axe and
looking at Uzkulak with thoughtful eyes.
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THE YOUTH OF GRIMGOR IRONHIDE The Old World knows all too well the name of the
Black Orc Warboss Grimgor Ironhide, the mightiest of
all greenskins and the scourge of civilisation. All know
his tale, of his siege of Karak Kadrin, of his invasion of
Kislev, of his terrifying ordeal facing down the Skaven
in their own subterranean lairs. But of his history before
he staggered out of the Blasted Wastes, no tales are
told, save in the Plain of Zharr, where the name of
Grimgor Ironhide has been known for far longer than in
the west. Grimgor originally hailed from a non-descript
Black Orc tribe in the Mountains of Mourn. When
Grimgor was barely full grown, a Chaos Dwarf slaving
party cruised down the River Ruin in their ironclad
ships and made landing near his tribe's camp. They
attacked by night, catching the Black Orcs unaware and
vanquished them easily. Chaos Dwarfs do not often try
to enslave Black Orcs, but this warband was led by
Lord Zhurduz the Slavelord, a vicious Warlord who
fervently desired to take captive anyone unfortunate
enough to cross his path. He chained the Black Orcs in
the belly of his warship, reasoning that their strength
and stamina would make them ideal as labourers in the
engines. Grimgor spent years below decks, chained to a
Daemon-powered engine, piling coal and corpses into
the furnace. Under the lashes of his cruel masters he
was never allowed to cease work while the ship moved
and he grew stronger and tougher by the month. When
all of his fellows had died, Grimgor lived on, the
memory of freedom burning like a brand in his mind.
His opportunity for escape came when Lord Zhurduz
and his fleet came under attack by Skaven raiders. They
rammed the ship containing Grimgor with one of their
ramshackle plague barges and though they were unable
to sink the mighty ironclad, they did open a rent in its
hull. Water gushed into the boiler room, shrouding the
entire cavernous chamber in boiling steam. As the
Chaos Dwarf overseers choked on the fumes, Grimgor,
with his iron constitution, rose up and strangled them to
death with his chains. He broke free and went on the
rampage, fighting his way up the decks with a
plundered axe – the very axe that would one day
become known as Gitsnik – and was able to slaughter
the distracted Chaos Dwarfs single-handedly. The ship
was leaning erratically into one of the banks of the
River Ruin as the Skaven bombarded it with warp
lightning and Grimgor was able to leap to the shore and
make a dash for freedom.
His years of toil had made Grimgor truly mighty. Orcs
need combat to survive, and Grimgor had been denied
this in his formative years. His natural urges had
festered away dimly and now he had a lifetime of pent
up aggression to unleash. The Chaos Dwarfs were his
first natural targets and he began hunting them through
the Howling Wastes, taking them on, one small slaving
band at a time. He favoured the full-frontal assault,
simply charging in, swinging his axe with a hideous war
cry. Despite his lack of subtlety, Grimgor prospered
through sheer savagery. As he fought and word of his
crusade spread, other greenskins began to flock to his
ragged banner, sensing a growing Waaagh!. It was
during this time that Grimgor seized his armour from a
Chaos Dwarf Despot. Legend has it that it was forged in
Daemon blood. Grimgor's burgeoning Waaagh! took
him and his growing warband across the Dark Lands, to
the very edge of the Plain of Zharr, but even he could
not penetrate the heart of the Chaos Dwarf empire.
Concerned by the growing power of this new leader, the
Conclave of Sorcerers dispatched a force of Immortals
led by Rykarth the Unbreakble to destroy him once and
for all. The two armies met at last on the edge of the
Blasted Wastes, Grimgor now at the head of a
considerable army of Orcs and Goblins, and attended by
a cadre of elite Black Orcs.
The battle was brutal. Neither side gave any quarter,
and the Orcs fought to the heart of Rykarth's line,
Grimgor personally slaying dozens of the elite warriors.
In the end, with the ground stained red with blood, only
a hard core of Immortals remained but, in turn, only the
Black Orcs survived from Grimgor's army. Neither side
was willing to yield and the Immortals slammed their
shields into place, forming an unbreakable wall.
Grimgor prepared to throw himself upon it, but then
Rykarth lowered his shield and met the warboss's eyes.
He saw then the culmination of selective breeding, the
pinnacle of Orcdom made flesh.
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Grimgor was fated to do more than die on the axes of
the Immortals and Rykarth knew that the best he could
hope for was to kill him, at the cost of more of his
warrior's lives. So he gave the unthinkable order to
retreat, leaving Grimgor and his handful of followers
battered and bewildered. Grimgor had earned the
respect of the Chaos Dwarfs that day and, in turn, he
realised that his business with them was done. When he
saw the carnage the Immortals had wrought he was also
impressed enough to take their name for his own
bodyguard – those few who survived that nameless
battle in the Blasted Wastes would ever after be known
as 'Da Immortulz'. Sensing his time in the Dark Lands
had come to an end, Grimgor turned west and the rest is
a history etched in the blood of Men, Dwarfs and Elves.
THE WAR OF THE AUTOMATA Hothgar Daemonbane is a Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer of rare
creative ambition. Most Sorcerers are concerned only
with increasing their own influence within the Temple
of Hashut, and usually make war only with this end in
mind. They build or commission machines of war to
supplement their armies, which can then take slaves in
order to generate income and allow them to buy their
way to power. But for the renegade Hothgar arcane
engineering is an end in itself. He was cast out of Zharr-
Naggrund for his dangerous experimentation, but he
was unperturbed and continued to labour in exile,
finding a home in the fortress of Daemon's Stump. It
was Hothgar's dream to create a Daemonic Engine of
such size and power that it could take on an army by
itself. Such an endeavour would require the binding of a
Daemon so powerful, or a multitude of lesser Daemons
so numerous, that it would take an actual army to
subdue them, which rather defeats the purpose of the
exercise.
Nonetheless, Hothgar has continued to pursue his
fevered dream of building the machine he calls 'The
Kolossus', and has created any number of prototypes
that dwarf any engine previously constructed by a
Daemonsmith. Hothgar's creations command vast prices
in the markets of Zharr-Naggrund, even when he was
still an outcast, but they are most dangerous when
Hothgar himself brings them to battle, for no one knows
his war machines quite as well as their insane creator.
Hothgar's greatest glory came in what was known as the
War of the Automata. Hothgar had assembled his entire
stable of Daemonic Engines, intending to march west in
order to find a worthy foe. Hothgar knew his devices
would only find their match against the foremost
engineers of the Old World – the hated cousins of the
Chaos Dwarfs from the Worlds Edge Mountains.
Hothgar's bizarre army was made up of only a handful
of mortal warriors, backed up by masses of slaves from
his Daemon forges. The core of his force were his
beloved constructions: in place of flesh and blood
troops he had ranks of iron Daemon-Golems, and
behind them came towering siege engines, each one
bound with one or more daemonic spirits. The greatest
of all of these was a vast, bull-headed monstrosity that
shook the earth when it walked. This was Hothgar's
latest version of the Kolossus, and the largest and most
destructive to date. This terrifying force of Daemonic
Engines made its way across the Dark Lands,
unopposed by the greenskin tribes who fled before it in
fear. The host climbed its way slowly into the
mountains where word of its coming soon reach the ears
of the Dwarf Lord Dobbi Fletchhelm. Lord Dobbi was a
proud Dwarf, but even he could see that his warriors
stood no chance against such an enemy. In desperation,
he appealed to the Guild of Engineers who jumped at
the chance to test rediscovered and recently refined
technology. What better to defeat the God-Engines of
Chaos than a God-Engine of their own? From the
deepest vaults were unearthed the ancient Automata,
forbidden machines from the dawn of Dwarf history,
said to be imbued with the power of the Ancestor Gods.
Hothgar and his Daemonic Engines marched through
the passes of the Worlds Edge Mountains, scattering
Goblin and Skaven before them, until they reached Lord
Dobbi's territory. There, a thin line of Dwarf warriors
awaited them. They had cannon and Organ Guns, but
26
such pitiful devices held no fear for Hothgar. He
laughed and ordered his Engines to advance, laying
down a hail of Daemonfire. The Golems came first,
their bodies clanking and hissing and their souls calling
out in murderous rage. The Daemonsmiths goaded their
charges forward and, as they picked up speed, their
bladed limbs began to spin and whirl like no creature in
nature. The Dwarfs stoically held their ground, daring
the Daemonic Engines to attack them and, as they
reached their hastily-erected barricades, the ground
beneath their feet suddenly gave way. The Golems were
thrown back and the Daemonsmiths reeled in confusion
as, from below, huge steam-powered machines crawled
up to the surface for the first time in millennia. They
were wheeled marvels, festooned with hammer and
cannon and their hulls were mounted with the
thunderous images of the Ancestor Gods. Something
primal stirred in the hearts of the cruel Chaos Dwarfs as
they set eyes on machines that had been holy to their
ancestors, the dim racial memory sowing confusion in
their twisted souls. The distraction was enough for the
Dwarf Automata, acting with some machine-guided will
of their own, to seize the advantage, churning the
Golems into scrap metal. As their black hulls burst
apart, Daemons escaped into the æther, letting out
keening calls of triumph.
Hothgar was astonished at the appearance of the Dwarf
God-Engines, but he rallied quickly, ordering his larger
machines into battle. In that high, narrow pass, a
cataclysmic battle was fought, a mechanical replay of
some ancient conflict from the Time of Chaos as
Daemon fought God again, but this time bound in iron
and Gromril. The Kolossus gave a good account of
itself, smashing several of the Automata, but in the end
it was undone by its inherent instability, rent apart by a
barrage of cannon balls, allowing the Daemons to
escape their imprisonment. In the end, all the Automata
were destroyed or their ancient workings seized up, but
by that time Hothgar's army too had been almost
annihilated and he sounded the retreat.
Though Lord Dobbi's army survived the day and
counted it a victory, the priceless Aotomata had been
reduced to scrap, their noble spirits at last vanquished.
Hothgar saw the day as a great success, for he learned
much from the failed experiment. Like any good
scientist, he would glean new knowledge from his
mistakes and improve his designs next time.
Furthermore, the Conclave of Sorcerer Lords was so
impressed by Hothgar's creations that they welcomed
him back into Chaos Dwarf society with open arms,
promising more resources should he ever wish to
attempt another assault on the strongholds of the
Dwarfs...
THE BATTLE OF THE SLAVE-TAKERS The Chaos Dwarfs rarely trouble the races of the
uttermost west, but their paths occasionally cross those
of the Dark Elves of Naggaroth because they often have
like cause. These two spiteful peoples have never been
known to make an alliance though, for they both share
an attitude of absolute contempt for all other races. A
particularly infamous story in the history of the Dark
Elves concerns the fate of the Dreadlord Ai'keneth.
Ai'keneth was a skilled naval raider, commanding an
army of vicious Corsairs who would attack settlements
across the world in the dead of night to take slaves.
Their raids took them as far as the Sea of Dread where
they engaged their hated High Elf cousins near the
Tower of the Sun before striking north. They were
pursued by High Elf mariners and were just in the
process of fending off their latest attack when the sound
of an unfamiliar war horn made Ai'keneth turn.
To his horror, another fleet was surging out of the north
– but not a fleet of graceful, sailed Elven ships, but
hulking Chaos Dwarf ironclads, belching smoke into
the air. A fierce bombardment began, and the High
Elves broke off almost instantly, leaving the Dark Elves
to their fate. Ai'keneth brought his ships around, using
their mobility to their advantage, but their Reaper Bolt
Throwers were unable to penetrate the iron hulls of the
Chaos Dwarfs' ships. They tried to escape, but
daemonic beasts descended from the turbulent skies:
Tauruses ridden by savage Chaos Dwarf warriors that
landed on the decks and set about the Dark Elves with
claw and fire. With his fleet burning, Ai'keneth
attempted a desperate ramming manoeuvre, but it was a
forlorn hope: his fragile skiff was shattered into
kindling by the mighty prow of the Chaos Dwarf
flagship, The Bull's Fury. It was the mercenary fleet of
Ghuz Slavetaker that Ai'keneth had been unfortunate
enough to encounter and he knew he was doomed as he
clung to the wreckage. He considered surrendering
himself to the waves, but he was yanked away from any
hope of suicide by strong arms and dragged onto the
deck of The Bull's Fury. Ghuz laughed to see the
bedraggled Elf lord and, though he wanted to keep him
as a pet, he couldn't resist the gold such a prize would
fetch in the markets of Zharr-Naggrund.
So it was that the Dark Elf survivors of that sea battle
ended their lives in the same manner to which they had
condemned so many others. It was a bitter irony not lost
on the proud Druchii as they laboured in chains deep in
some nameless pit below the earth, but they had little
time to contemplate their fate – there was work to be
done.
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28
Events
Chaos Dwarf society has been largely isolated from the events in the Old World throughout its existence. Only
rarely has the outside world been unfortunate enough to have contact with the cruel masters of Zarr-Naggrund,
but they have left a lasting impression on their enemies, who still curse their names. The Chaos Dwarfs have their
own complex dating system, but the Imperial Calendar has been used here for clarity.
IC Events
-4500 The time of the Ancestor Gods. No written
records of these times survive although legend
tells of the gradual colonisation of the Worlds
Edge Mountains.
-4300 The most adventurous Dwarfs journey across
the barren upland regions north of the
mountains which they name ‘Zorn Uzkul', or
the Great Skull Land.
-4000 Contact is lost between Dwarfs of the World's
Edge Mountains and Dwarf settlements in
Zorn Uzkul. The Dwarfs of the west believe
their eastern kin have perished, destroyed by
the tides of Chaos from the north.
-3500 Abandoned by their gods, the Dwarfs of Zorn
Uzkul turn to the worship of Hashut, the Father
of Darkness.
-3450 Hashut leads his worshippers to the Plain of
Zharr, where they begin to build mines and
quarries.
-3400 The Chaos Dwarfs drive the greenskins from
the Plain of Zharr and begin their expansion
outwards. The beginning of the First Kingdom
period.
-3273 Lord Khrazathk's host is defeated by a
greenskin coalition in the Howling Wastes.
Emboldened, the greenskins force them back
to the Plain of Zharr and prevent the Chaos
Dwarfs from expanding their influence further.
The First Kingdom falls.
-2821 The Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers emerge from their
isolation and begin to institute the reforms that
will save Chaos Dwarf society.
-2745 Construction begins on the City of Zharr-
Naggrund. The industry of the Chaos Dwarfs
is increased a hundredfold as the building of
the city requires stone and rare minerals. The
Second Kingdom period begins.
-2600 In order to work the new mines and forges, the
Chaos Dwarfs begin enslaving the greenskin
inhabitants of the Dark Lands.
IC Events
-933 Zhargon is born.
-901 Zhargon enters the Temple of Hashut as an
Acolyte. He soon surpasses his teachers.
-824 Zhargon is ordained as the High Priest of
Hashut. He begins instituting the Caste system.
-785 The Gates of Zharr are built.
-761 Red Bulls of Hashut are first discovered
roaming Zorn Uzkul, they are brought to
Zharr-Naggrund and stabled below the Temple
of Hashut. Soon after, the first Lammasu is
born.
-714 Zhargon goes into isolation, seeking the secrets
of immortality. During this time, he first
discovers the prophecy of the Everchosen of
Chaos.
-650 The Chaos Dwarfs begin trading with the
Goblins of the Worlds Edge Mountains.
Through them, they first encounter their distant
western kin, whom they take as slaves.
-601 Vorag Bloodytooth unites scattered tribes of
Ghouls that lurk below Cripple Peak,
becoming the first and only Ghoul King. The
Ghoul army all but destroy the Red Cloud
Goblin tribe and their Chaos Dwarf allies, the
survivors are forced to build Fortress of Vorag
to the east of the Plain of Bones.
-600 Zhargon re-emerges and assembles a vast host
of Chaos Dwarfs to destroy Vorag. They are
defeated and return to the Plain of Zharr in
disgrace.
-598 Continuous uprisings eventually result in
Zhargon declaring increasingly draconian
laws, restricting even the freedoms of his
fellow Sorcerers.
-595 The Civil War begins, shaking Zharr-
Naggrund to its foundations. After over a year
of fighting, Zhargon is killed when his
devastating spell misfires. The Second
Kingdom period ends.
29
IC Events
-545 The Sorcerers finally succeed in restoring
Chaos Dwarf society to its former status. Tens
of thousands more slaves are acquired from
throughout the Dark Lands.
-150 Experiments on captive Orc and Goblin slaves
by Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers result in the
creation of the Black Orcs.
-100 The Black Orcs prove unruly and difficult to
control. After leading an armed revolt that
ravages the lower levels of Zharr-Naggrund
they are purged from the ziggurat when the
Hobgoblins turn on the other greenskins.
Fleeing Black Orcs escape to the Worlds Edge
Mountains and the Mountains of Mourn.
500 Rich volcanic deposits are first mined at
Gorgoth.
624 The fortress at Daemon's Stump is constructed.
781 Black Fortress is built to guard against
marauding Ogre tribes moving west.
1000 The great sea canal is constructed, linking the
Falls of Doom with the Sea of Chaos in the
north. The fortress of Uzkulak is built on the
coast to act as a gathering place for the fleet.
1119 The Trails of Hashut. An expanse of volcanic
wasteland to the north of the Plain of Zharr is
the target of a warband of Chaos Warriors who
attempt to release a Daemon Prince imprisoned
below it. They are successful despite the Chaos
Dwarfs' opposition and free Abbadon the
Destroyer, first Daemon Prince of Khorne. The
lava fields dry up, leaving the northern Dark
Lands open to attack – and trade.
1301 Azgorh, the great volcano in the south of the
Dark Lands, enters a phase of activity, spilling
ash into the air and covering the Dark Lands in
a thick pall of smoke for over three years. The
disruption temporarily grounds winged
Tauruses, forcing increased reliance on ships
to carry messages.
1392 Lord Harkoth the Vile attempts to subjugate
the Kurgan tribes of the eastern steppes, but is
ultimately betrayed by his Hobgoblin allies
who poison his blood ale. In reprisal, the
Sorcerer Lord Varkhak has a thousand
Hobgoblins put to death, but no further serious
attempt is made to conquer the Chaos
Marauder tribes.
IC Events
1550 A Chaos Dwarf fleet raids the Lustrian coast,
taking Lizardmen as slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs
find these creatures strong and resilient, but
they do not last long as slaves in the bleak
Dark Lands.
1720 The Banner of Gods and its twin, the Banner
of Hashut, are forged from Daemonbone in the
depths of Zharr-Naggrund.
1841 The Warpstone War. The Skaven make their
first and only attempt to infiltrate the Plain of
Zharr. They open a tunnel directly into a
subterranean factory, alerting the Chaos
Dwarfs to their presence. Over the next
decade, the Chaos Dwarfs take the fight to the
Skaven, battling them in their warrens.
Daemonic Engines and Tauruses face down the
hideous creations of Clan Moulder and the
arcane engines of Clan Skryre in the darkness
below the earth.
2099 Aekold Hellbrass, Champion of Tzeentch,
seeks out the legendary forge known as the
Volcano's Heart. His path across the blackened
wasteland of the Dark Lands is to this day
marked by the trail of unnatural vegetation that
sprung up in his wake.
2148 Astragoth becomes High Priest of Hashut.
2218 Ghorth the Cruel enters the Temple of Hashut
as an Acolyte.
2296 The Battle of Glacier Peak. The Chaos Dwarfs
face down a mass migration from the Ogre
Kingdoms in the high passes of the Mountains
of Mourn. So much blood is spilled that the
heat accelerates a glacier's melting. The Chaos
Dwarfs install engines to harness the vast
primeval forces of the gargantuan river of ice.
2387 Zhatan joins the Immortals where he gains the
attention of Ghorth and soon becomes his
protégé and bodyguard.
2452 Zhatan becomes the Lord of the Immortals.
Ghorth's power is unmatched.
2515 The Great Hobgobla Khan becomes overlord
of the Hobgoblin tribes of the steppes. He
sends envoys of friendship to Zharr-Naggrund.
2523 The Storm of Chaos erupts. Daemonic Engines
along with mountains of arms and armour are
sold to Lord Archaon, the Everchosen of
Chaos, to fuel his war.
30
31
THE DARK COHORT This section of the book details the forces of the Chaos Dwarfs army. It provides the rules
necessary to use all the elements of your army in your games of Warhammer. Every character
and regiment is described, including the most powerful leaders of the dread legions such as the
merciless Zhatan the Black and Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut. Any special rules that apply
to a particular model are listed here, including its wargear and any magic items it may carry
into battle.
Special Rule: UNYIELDING Chaos Dwarfs are completely without mercy, refusing
to give ground to any creature they think of as a lesser
being – which is everyone. They will hold their
positions until the end, even if would be tactically wise
to press a pursuit.
When a unit with the Unyielding rule makes a flee or
pursuit move, they subtract 1 from the total roll. This
normally means that they will flee and pursue 2D6-1"
instead of 2D6".
Special Rule: BONDAGE OF HASHUT Chaos Dwarf society is completely rigid, and a Chaos
Dwarf warrior is defined by his position within the
strict hierarchy of Zharr-Naggrund. They are owned,
body, mind and soul by their Sorcerer Lords, and they
will follow the orders of their masters no matter how
suicidal. For their part, the Sorcerer Lords and those
who serve them directly are completely confident of
their own superiority. They sneer contemptuously at
their enemies, not run from them.
Units with the Bondage of Hashut rule are completely
immune to the effects of Panic and they extend this
ability to any unit they join.
Special Rule: BLESSING OF HASHUT The Father of Darkness has as His chief province the
infernal energy of the earth: He is the master of molten
rock and fire. His most powerful followers share his
affinity for fire, revelling in its power thanks to their
master's Blessing which makes their flesh proof against
the flames.
Units with the Blessing of Hashut rule have a 2+ ward
save against Flaming Attacks.
Special Rule: DISPOSABLE The Chaos Dwarfs use masses of slaves for labour,
sacrifices to Hashut and as part of their armies. The
role of slaves in the army is principally to blunt the
enemy's attack – they are driven forward in great herds,
and the assumption is that they will die horribly simply
to expend the foe's ammunition and clog up his battle
line with bodies. Similarly, Chaos Dwarfs think little of
their mercenaries, for they are a wealthy people and
can always afford more hirelings.
Units with the Disposable rule do not cause Panic in
other units due to being destroyed, breaking in combat
or fleeing through them, unless the affected unit also
has the Disposable rule. In addition, standard bearers
from Disposable units do not confer any additional
victory points due to the Last Stand rule or being killed
in close combat. Disposable units cannot benefit from
the Bondage of Hashut.
Equipment: CHAOS ARMOUR The Chaos Dwarfs are rightly known as the blacksmiths
of Chaos, for they produce much of the arms, armour
and machines of war used by the followers of the Dark
Gods. But by far their most important export are the
suits of magical Chaos armour, each of which is imbued
with a portion of the very essence of Chaos. The
protection this armour offers is almost unmatched.
Chaos armour grants a 4+ armour save.
Note: Chaos Dwarfs do not get the +2 bonus to dispel
like other Dwarf armies, as they have traded their
magic resistance for mastery over dark sorcery.
A note on 'Daemon' terminology: some rules in this
section and in the Creations of the Cursed Forges section
make reference to 'Daemons'. This should be understood
to refer to all models in the Daemons of Chaos army;
Daemon Princes, Daemonic Mounts, Juggernauts, Steeds
of Slaanesh, Discs of Tzeentch or Palanquins of Nurgle in
a Warriors of Chaos army and Skaven Vermin Lords.
In addition, any weapon, spell or other effect that has an
additional affect against Daemons (or can only affect
Daemons) will also harm creatures that are vulnerable to
magical attacks. This includes models with the Ethereal
rule and Wood Elf Forest Spirits. Note that such models
do not count as Daemons for any other purpose; they are
just vulnerable to the same things.
32
CHAOS DWARF SORCERERS The Priesthood of Hashut
The undisputed rulers of Zharr-Naggrund are the Priests
of Hashut, more commonly known as Chaos Dwarf
Sorcerers. They form a Caste unto themselves, living
and ruling from the Temple of Hashut at the peak of the
great obsidian city of Zharr-Naggrund. Each Sorcerer
Lord rules a part of the city and all the Chaos Dwarfs
and slaves who live in those areas. All Sorcerers are
incredibly ambitious and they seek to undermine each
other at every turn. In a very real sense, Chaos Dwarf
society is really just a loose alliance of rival nations
each headed up by a powerful Sorcerer Lord.
Only one thing keeps the relentless power-grabbing of
the Sorcerer Lords in check. As a Sorcerer grows older,
the corrupt magic he casts beings to wreak changes on
his body. What once was flesh magically transmutes
into inanimate grey stone. Starting from his feet, a
Sorcerer gradually begins to literally turn to stone, until
his entire body is consumed and he becomes a lifeless
statue. This terrifying metamorphosis is known as the
Sorcerers' Curse and aged Sorcerers become
increasingly immobile and must be carried around by
their followers. The more powerful and reckless a
Sorcerer, the faster his transformation occurs, and so the
most ambitious and destructive Sorcerers rarely remain
in power long enough to upset the status quo. Once a
Sorcerer has become a statue, he is taken from the
Temple of Hashut to the long highway leading to Zharr-
Naggrund where he is lined up alongside his fellows,
staring sightlessly down on all who approach, a grim
reminder of the Chaos Dwarfs' dedication to Hashut.
Nonetheless, Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers are powerful
magic users. They are empowered by the Father of
Darkness and have mastery over fire and stone. They
can summon infernal storms and melt rock and metal
with but a curt command. Sorcerer Lords are capable of
more mysterious feats, manipulating the Winds of
Magic to produce visions of darkness and death.
However, the most dangerous powers of the Sorcerers
involve the summoning and binding of Daemons from
the Realm of Chaos. Chaos Dwarfs are almost unique in
that they see Chaos as just another tool to be used for
their own ends: they believe it can be beaten into shape,
like iron, and turned to their purposes. Sorcerers
oversee the creation of daemonic weapons and engines
that use bound spirits to achieve truly monstrous effects.
Some of their number are known as Daemonsmiths,
Sorcerers raised from the Artisan Caste who have a
particular affinity with metallurgy and construction.
Troop Type: Infantry.
MAGIC A Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer is a Wizard. Sorcerers may use
spells from one of the following: the Lore of Fire, or the
Lore of Metal. Sorcerer Lords may also use the Lore of
Shadow or the Lore of Death.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Bondage of Hashut (Sorcerer Lords
only).
Sorcerers' Curse: As Sorcerers age, their bodies begin
to turn to stone. While this will eventually immobilise
them, it also offers a degree of natural protection.
Sorcerers have 6+ Scaly Skin and Sorcerer Lords have
5+ Scaly Skin.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Sorcerer Lord 0 4 3 4 5 3 1 1 10
Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
The Lore of Hashut
Chaos dwarf magic is an ancient and divine
tradition, but also direct and blunt. Chaos
dwarfs always prefer to blast their enemies
with pyromancy, or melt their foes' weapons in
their hands rather than cast auguries or try to
influence the fates. Only the most experienced
sorcerer lords dabble in darker mysteries.
33
CHAOS DWARF WARLORDS Captains of Zharr-Naggrund
The Warrior Caste is privileged and influential
compared to the lower Castes because they alone have
the opportunity to rise to positions of genuine power in
Chaos Dwarf society. A loyal and skilled Warrior can
rise up the hierarchy and emerge as a great leader. A
Sorcerer Lord will recognise such an individual
amongst his followers and reward him accordingly
before his desire for power begins to make him too
ambitious. Buying him with titles and honours, the
Sorcerer will ensure he has a steadfast lieutenant at his
side instead of a potential threat to his position.
Captains amongst the Dawi'Zharr are known as
Despots, for they are often the right hands of their
masters, enacting their will amongst the common Chaos
Dwarfs. Despots rule with the same iron fists as the
Sorcerer Lords, and their authority is just as absolute.
Gifted with artefacts of terrifying power and ancient
provenance by their masters – often bound with
daemonic spirits enslaved to their will – they are
extremely dangerous foes in battle and always lead
from the front, seeking to capture the attention of their
Sorcerer Lord so they can rise in his estimation and
become more powerful still.
The mightiest Despots eventually ascend to the rank of
Warlord. Each Sorcerer Lord normally only has one
Warlord serving him, and he acts as the commander of
his armies. A Warlord is a terrible, inscrutable foe.
Unlike the Despots who crave greater influence, a
Warlord has reached the apex of his career – indeed, the
apex of his very existence – and has nothing to prove to
anyone. Supremely arrogant and cruel, Warlords often
ride mighty daemonic creatures called Tauruses, leading
by example as they plunge to earth on their winged
beasts, scattering the enemy. They are the greatest
warriors and leaders in Chaos Dwarf society and, like
all of their Caste, are utterly loyal to the Sorcerer Lord
whom they serve.
Of course, there are always renegades, even in a society
as rigid as the Chaos Dwarfs'. As Sorcerer Lords age,
they begin to transform into stone and become
increasingly feeble; they can no longer coordinate their
forces, and the Warlord will begin to set his own
agendas. Eventually, they become almost completely
autonomous, spending longer and longer away from
Zharr-Naggrund. The Sorcerer Lord may succumb to
the Curse in his Warlord's absence, and then the
Conclave of Priests will summon the errant commander
back to the Temple to renew his oaths. Most obey, but
there are a few who forsake their duty and remain in the
wastes, their only objective to sow destruction and take
more slaves.
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Bondage of Hashut.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Warlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
"do you really want to give up your
life for 'the Order of Things'?"
"it is not my life to give up,
manling...and it never was."
warlord dhurzhan to tzar petyr at the battle
of farside, when ordered to make a suicidal
last stand
34
CHAOS DWARF WARRIORS
The bulk of Chaos Dwarf slaving bands are composed
of members of the Warrior Caste. These disciplined and
loyal soldiers are all bound to a particular Sorcerer
Lord, with whom they share ancient bonds of kinship.
The Warrior Caste are the only Dawi'Zharr permitted to
wear the suits of enchanted Chaos armour, and when
they march to war, standing shoulder to shoulder, they
present an unbroken wall of nigh-impenetrable steel.
Chaos Dwarf Warriors carry the traditional armament of
their people; broad-bladed axes that can cleave a foe in
two. Some they wield in one hand, using them in
combination with heavy round shields, and others are
large enough to be used with two hands. These heavy
axes make Chaos Dwarf Warriors excellent defensive
troops, and they are usually deployed in large blocks by
their masters, daring their enemies to charge them.
Within the Warrior Caste there is a many-layered
hierarchy, and each Warrior in the cohort knows his
place and his role. Foremost amongst the soldiery are
the feared Ironguards, Warriors possessed of particular
skill and cruelty. Chosen as much for their loyalty as
their experience, Ironguards ensure obedience to the
Order of Things and also lend their considerable
abilities to the fighting. Often, they sport one of the
symbols of Chaos Dwarf authority: tall, ornate helms or
grotesque skeletal masks forged from blackened iron.
Unlike their western kin, Chaos Dwarf Warriors are not
bound together by oaths and camaraderie, but by
unspoken and unbreakable bonds of blood and Caste. A
Chaos Dwarf Warrior serves his Sorcerer master with
unthinking loyalty, and to disobey a command from him
is utterly inconceivable. They are wholly devoted to war
and the acquisition of slaves for Dawi'Zharr society, and
do not baulk at even suicidal orders. A Sorcerer Lord
thinks nothing of pouring out the blood of his Warriors
like water if it benefits himself, and the Warriors accept
their place without question. To a Chaos Dwarf,
obedience to their leaders and conformity to the norms
of their society are the most important things in their
lives. Without it, they are nothing.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding.
The Order of Things
Dawi'Zharr society is divided in two
directions: the Sorcerers are the
undisputed masters of Zharr-
Naggrund; every inhabitant of the
city belongs to them and, in addition,
each Sorcerer divides his subjects
into discrete Castes. The Sorcerers
themselves are at the top, followed
by the Warriors, then Artisans, then
Labourers and finally the great
teeming masses of slaves. The Castes
have no contact with one another
except when serving their Sorcerer
masters, and fraternisation or –
worse – breeding between Castes is
strictly forbidden. There is no way
for a Chaos Dwarf to improve his
Caste, he may only advance within it,
but no true Dawi'Zharr would even
consider going against the sacred
Order of Things.
35
CHAOS DWARF STORMCALLERS
Though Chaos Dwarf society is dominated by tradition
and order, it is not beyond them to develop new
methods of war that take advantage of their advanced
technology and murderous innovation. While most
Warriors march into battle with broad shields and
wickedly sharp axes, there are those amongst the
Warrior Caste who have the honour of being trained in
the Chaos Dwarfs' most unique signature armament: the
feared blunderbuss. These soldiers are known as
Stormcallers because of the thunderous noise made
when their weapons are fired. The blunderbuss is an
extremely dangerous firearm, with a wide flared end
which produces a highly unusual effect when fired.
Instead of using solid shot like the primitive guns of the
Old World, the Chaos Dwarf blunderbuss fires razor-
sharp shards of iron that are loaded into the muzzle. The
black-powder propels the ammunition at high velocity
and the shape of the weapon causes it to spread out,
filling the air with spinning pieces of red-hot metal so
that even enemy cowering behind defences cannot
escape the effect – stone walls are bypassed, whereas
lesser fortifications are simply shredded by the
devastating blast. Stormcallers thus make excellent
assault troops, in contrast to the defensive Warriors, and
Stormcaller regiments are frequently made up of some
of the most savage members of a Sorcerer's retinue,
which is appropriate given the experimental nature of
their main weapon.
Accuracy is almost irrelevant when firing a
blunderbuss; instead weight of fire becomes the most
valuable asset. Blunderbusses are long enough that
warriors in the rear ranks of a regiment of Stormcallers
can push the muzzles of their weapons past their
fellows, contributing to the devastation wrought by the
volley. Rather like a formation of bowmen, the rear
ranks are thus able to shoot too if they take the time to
position themselves properly. This advantage also
allows Stormcallers to form into blocks just like their
Warrior fellows, because the larger the regiment, the
more deadly their blunderbusses become. In this
fashion, Stormcallers are able to blast advancing foes
with their guns and then absorb the charge of any that
survive, unsheathing sharp axes and deadly curved
swords to defend themselves.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding.
EQUIPMENT Blunderbuss: The blunderbuss is a weapon unique to
the Chaos Dwarfs that allows its wielders to form into
deep combat formations without losing any of their
effectiveness.
Range Strength Special Rules
18" 4 Armour Piercing, Ignore Hit
Penalties, Volley Fire
Blunderbusses ignore all numeric hit penalties
(including for cover, long range, moving, etc.). Note
that blunderbusses have the Volley Fire rule to
represent the effect of their massed fire, but they do not
literally fire in an arc like bows.
"hold...hold...hold...
"...fire!!!"
Stormguard zaghaz blackheart
36
IMMORTALS
The Immortals are an elite military formation in Chaos
Dwarf society. They are drawn from the Warrior Caste,
but do not serve a particular Sorcerer. Instead, veteran
Warriors may be volunteered by their Warlords for
service in the Immortals. They are taken to the Tower of
Zharr, an annex of the Temple of Hashut itself and
given more training and better weapons. They are
transformed from ordinary soldiers into fearless,
faceless figures of awe and dread. Immortals are
charged with the defence of the Sorcerer Lords and it is
their solemn duty to preserve the leaders of their
civilisation. Any Immortal would gladly sacrifice
himself to ensure a Sorcerer's survival.
Immortals are clad in the same impenetrable blackened
Chaos armour as other Warriors, but theirs is more
ornate, bedecked in unholy icons and vile totems and
they bear monstrous axes that are covered in foul
daemonic runes. The Immortals have never been known
to take a step backwards, save to bear an injured
Sorcerer Lord away from battle, and when they form up
around one of their charges they will defiantly stare
down any threat, fearlessly ignoring even the most
terrible foes.
When an Immortal is recruited, he serves in the
formation for a fixed period of seven years. Though a
Warlord loses a capable Warrior by volunteering him
for the Immortals, the price is worth it as the Warrior
will gain valuable experience – many Despots and
Warlords served in the Immortals during their youth.
When an Immortal's service comes to an end, or he dies
in battle, he is replaced and his arms and armour given
to his replacement. In this manner, the Immortals are
always kept at full strength, adding to their dark
mystique amongst their enemies. The only exception to
this strict rule regarding service length are the mighty
Baneguards, who are traditionally Immortals who have
survived when the Sorcerer Lord they were protecting
has fallen. Such Immortals have failed in their first duty
and must serve until death as a penance. They are cast
out from their former warband, mourned as if dead, and
must bear the awful knowledge of their failure. Their
extended service and desire for redemption makes them
formidable foes and, though they are considered
disgraced by their peers, they are given the honour of
leading from the front.
Immortals are some of the deadliest troops available to
a Chaos Dwarf Warlord and though their numbers are
limited, it is a rare Chaos Dwarf warband that does not
include some of these formidable warriors.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Immortal 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9
Baneguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Hatred, Stubborn.
Indomitable Defence: Immortals are excellent
defensive troops, presenting their foes with a wall of
impenetrable steel. If an Immortal unit did not move in
that turn they increase their parry save to 5+ instead of
6+ when using their Cursed Axes and shields.
Oathsworn: Immortals are sworn to defend the masters
of Zharr-Naggrund to the death. If a Sorcerer Lord
(including Ghorth or Astragoth) joins a unit of
Immortals, they are Immune to Psychology.
EQUIPMENT Cursed Axes: Immortals are armed with a mixture of
axes and great axes, all bearing foul daemonic runes.
Cursed Axes count as hand weapons (including
allowing a parry save) and grant +1 Strength and
magical attacks.
"You are the immortals. You are
without pain. You are without fear.
You are without death."
baneguard h'zharkh
37
ACOLYTES OF HASHUT
As in all races, the ability to manipulate the Winds of
Magic is unpredictable. It arises at random, paying no
heed to geography or wealth or, in the case of Chaos
Dwarfs, Caste. Sorcerers are born to Chaos Dwarf
families of all social strata and once their abilities are
recognised they are brought to the Temple to begin their
training. Eventually, they will become true Priests of
Hashut but until that time they will serve in the retinue
of the Sorcerer Lord to whom they are bound, much like
Chaos Dwarfs of the Warrior Caste. They are known as
Acolytes at this stage in their fledgling careers, and
their training is mostly concerned with the religious
rites of the Father of Darkness. Gradually, they learn to
master their natural skill with magic, first with prayers
and later with a form of arrhythmic hymnals known as
Dirges. These Dirges are disturbing and chaotic: they
make a listener's skin crawl and fill their minds with
strange, grotesque images. They are not truly random,
but in fact follow a complex mathematical formula
connected to the geometry of a ziggurat. This encoded
pattern, said to have been handed to the first Sorcerers
by Hashut Himself, resonates within the Realm of
Chaos, calling up the Winds of Magic to endow those
who intone it with daemonic powers.
Acolytes take to the battlefield cloaked in heavy robes,
their faces obscured by brass skull masks. They march
in awful silence, keeping perfect step until the time
comes for them to unleash the Dirges of Hashut. At this
point they let up a resonant chanting, and the Dirge
begins to grow in power, surrounding them with
tortured spirits. Soon, magical energy plays in the air
around the Acolytes, granting them daemonic boons.
Individually, each Acolyte is as yet unable to perform
even the simplest cantrip, but together they are capable
of considerable magical feats. Once they reach the lines
of the foe, they attack with methodical precision,
cutting their enemies down with ceremonial glaives,
normally used for herding sacrificial slaves into
cauldrons of molten gold in the Temple of Hashut.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Acolyte 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Adept 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Troop Type: Infantry
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding.
Dirges of Hashut: At the start of the Chaos Dwarf
Magic phase, Acolytes of Hashut may select one of the
following Dirges to sing, the effects of which they
benefit from until their next Magic phase:
Dirge of Battle: The unit causes Fear.
Dirge of Defiance: The unit gains Magic Resistance (2).
Dirge of Power: The unit adds an additional power dice
to the Chaos Dwarf pool in this Magic phase, and an
additional dispel dice to the pool in the enemy's next
Magic phase.
In addition, Acolytes of Hashut always count as
including a musician.
Sorcerer Caste: Acolytes are minor members of the
Sorcerer Caste, able to aid their masters' dark
invocations. A Chaos Dwarf Wizard in an Acolytes of
Hashut unit gains +1 to all casting rolls.
"Kh-thnzhk-shakn-thnk-kznkn-ka-hia-
zhak-zha-nagh-zkh-hn-kh-iahk.
"Kh-thnzhk-shakn-thnk-kznkn-ka-hia-
zhak-zha-nagh-zkh-hn-kh-iahk.-kzn-
hk-nhk-hkanig."
Dirge of battle
38
SLAVES
The Chaos Dwarfs who inhabit the Plain of Zharr are
outnumbered many times over by their wretched slaves
who labour in the depths of Zharr-Naggrund. Chaos
Dwarf society would not be able to function without its
slaves, as it is their suffering and toil that makes their
industry possible. Because the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is
constantly expanding, they always need new slaves, and
most of the captives who work under the lash of the
Dawi'Zharr are captured in raids and battles. Most of
the slaves are greenskins, usually Goblins and Gnoblars
as these are the weakest and most numerous inhabitants
of the Dark Lands. Hundreds of thousands of these
miserable creatures are worked to death by their cruel
masters, labouring in the forges and factories to sustain
the dark industry of the Chaos Dwarfs.
Not all the slaves held by the Chaos Dwarfs are
creatures so used to servile behaviour. It is not
uncommon for Dawi'Zharr to make use of burly Orcs,
whose strength and endurance makes them extremely
useful. Rarer, but more valuable, are the races of the
Old World and beyond – Men, Elves, Skaven and even
Dwarfs, captured in wars or traded for with greenskin
tribes towards the west. Such individuals often have
their first taste of the Chaos Dwarfs beneath their
whips, and it is a painful but mercifully short life they
can expect to endure in the pits of Zharrduk.
One race enjoys special favour even as slaves, the
treacherous and conniving Hobgoblins. These
unpleasant greenskins are a kind of tall, rangy Goblin
native to the eastern steppes. Chaos Dwarfs found them
mildly useful as slaves in ancient times but when they
turned on their fellow greenskins during the Black Orc
rebellion, their future was assured. Since that time the
Chaos Dwarfs have used their Hobgoblin slaves as
overseers and warriors in their armies. They are not
forced to perform backbreaking labour, and instead
enjoy relative freedom. Hobgoblins even have their own
tribes like other greenskins and follow their own leaders
– in battle they are even allowed to march beneath their
own banners. The most well known Hobgoblin tribe are
the Sneaky Gitz, vile and black-hearted traitors who are
reviled even amongst their own treacherous kind. They
fight in battle with long, venom-coated knives which
they use to stab enemies in the back.
When Chaos Dwarfs go to war, they often have
Hobgoblin Drivers herd their slaves before them,
driving them forward with whips in great packs of
wailing, chained individuals. In these disorganised
mobs, Elf and Dwarf rub shoulder with Man, Orc and
Goblin, racial and societal divisions – so vital to Chaos
Dwarfs themselves – ignored for their wretched
captives. In this manner, slaves participate in the
acquisition of more slaves, who fuel the evil industry
that produces weapons of war to take more slaves. The
cycle perpetuates endlessly, serving no purpose but
itself: an irony only the broken and defeated slaves can
understand.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5
Driver 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Disposable.
Sneaky Gitz: The most numerous and untrustworthy
tribe of Hobgoblins are the vile Sneaky Gitz, who fight
with poisoned daggers and have mastered a technique
of sneaking around behind their enemies and stabbing
them in the back. Any Slave unit upgraded to Sneaky
Gitz has Poisoned Attacks to represent their envenomed
knives and the Fight in Extra Rank rule to represent
their sneaky backstabbing envelopment tactics.
39
HOBGOBLIN WOLF RIDERS Far to the east, beyond the Mountains of Mourn, are the
vast windswept steppes that stretch thousands of
leagues to the Far Sea on the other side of the world.
This seemingly infinite wasteland is, against all
probability, populated by many different peoples. The
Chaos Marauders of the Kurgan and Hung tribes roam
the steppes on their horses, constantly striking south to
raid the more civilised lands, and there are even foolish
merchants and caravans that try to cross the great
distances to reach fabled Cathay and Nippon. However,
there is only one race that is truly native to the steppes:
the Hobgoblins.
How Hobgoblins became divided from the other
greenskins is lost in the mists of time, but they have
grown to be a race apart with their own customs and
languages. Their hegemony is the dominant force in the
region, raiding and marauding at will, presiding over
tracts of land that dwarf the human nations of the Old
World, and even mighty Cathay. The Hobgoblins have
mastered the giant wolves that are also native to the
steppes. These beasts, warped in ancient times by the
power of Chaos, can grow to gargantuan sizes, but even
the smaller specimens ridden by the average Hobgoblin
warrior are larger and fiercer than any wolf of the
western lands.
Long ago, several Hobgoblin tribes migrated across the
Mountains of Mourn into the Dark Lands. When the
Chaos Dwarfs arrived in the Plain of Zharr, they
enslaved them alongside the other greenskins they
found there. It was only later, when the Hobgoblins
turned on the Black Orcs, that they were given such a
relatively privileged position in Chaos Dwarf society.
At the same time, the Chaos Dwarfs began trading with
the Hobgoblin hegemony across the mountains and
formed a lasting alliance with them. In exchange for a
tribute of slaves, the Chaos Dwarfs agreed to respect the
borders between their two nations and not raid their
territory.
Hobgoblins are naturally treacherous and
untrustworthy. They are divided into many warring
tribes and though the Great Hobgobla Khan claims to
lead the entire race, they are actually just as fractured as
all greenskins. Often, tribes will migrate to the Dark
Lands en masse and are sometimes enslaved by the
Chaos Dwarfs if they begin raiding – Chaos Dwarfs do
not suffer such things in their own lands. On most
occasions though, Hobgoblins from the east will offer
up their services as mercenaries, putting their
considerable skills as light cavalry at the command of
the Dawi'Zharr. They often serve as scouts and outriders
for Chaos Dwarf armies, and many a foe expecting to
face a force of stalwart Dwarfs has been taken by
surprise by mounted greenskins attacking their flanks.
Whether mercenaries or slaves, Chaos Dwarfs know to
expect little from their Hobgoblin allies. They are
backstabbing and unreliable troops, but they depend on
the Chaos Dwarfs to survive when they cross the
Mountains of Mourn, as they are universally despised
by all other greenskins.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hobgoblin 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
Troop Type: Cavalry.
SPECIAL RULES Disposable, Fast Cavalry.
Late as Usual!: When scouting for their masters,
Hobgoblins have a habit of going missing, not showing
up until they're sure their side will win. Up to half the
Hobgoblin Wolf Rider units in your army (rounding up)
may deploy using the Ambushers rule. Characters with
this rule may always be held back as Ambushers and
may join a Hobgoblin Wolf Rider unit before
deployment, in which case they are rolled for together.
40
DAEMONIC ENGINES
The Chaos Dwarfs' ability to work magic is linked to
their predilection to enslave Daemons: like all Dwarfs,
they make use of any tool or material they believe will
benefit them and, for Chaos Dwarfs, magic and
Daemons are no different from iron or coal. It is also
true that Chaos Dwarfs are supremely arrogant and have
many thousands of slaves that toil for them in their
mines and forges. Why should a Daemon be any
different from a Goblin? To the Dawi'Zharr, the
servants of the Chaos Gods are not objects of fear or
veneration, but another resource to exploit for their own
vile ends.
Chaos Dwarfs bind Daemons into many artefacts, such
as weapons and armour, which they use themselves or
sell to Ogres, greenskins and the Warriors of Chaos in
exchange for slaves, gold and other more esoteric
goods. The most horrific application they have
discovered for bound Daemons though is imprisoning
them inside great engines of destruction. In this manner,
the Daemon's infernal energy acts as a power source for
machines that would be impossible to build with normal
technology.
Daemonic Engines are extremely dangerous. The
Daemon is kept in a state of torment and agitation, so
that its rage can power the machine. They must be
chained into position so that they do not rampage out of
control. Like all Daemons, they must be fed souls to
survive, and the Chaos Dwarfs shovel living captives
into the Engine's flesh furnace. As this horrifying fuel
burns, it feeds the Daemon inside, placating it for a
short while. The Chaos Dwarf crew, made up of
members of the Labourer and Artisan Castes, can
control the Engine by measuring the amount of corpses
they feed it, ensuring it does not rage out of control.
However, sometimes it may be advantageous to allow
the Engine to break free of its bonds and hurl itself
towards the enemy, snarling and snapping, to slake its
thirst for flesh and blood.
Daemonic Engines are built by a specialist group of
Sorcerers known as Daemonsmiths. Sometimes the
Daemonsmiths take to the field in order to join the
crews of the Daemonic Engines. Their mastery over
their creations enables them to better control them and
ensure they fire more reliably – or, occasionally, goad
them into rampaging if it serves their ends.
Daemonic Engines can take many forms, and
sometimes all they have in common is the general
method of their manufacture. The most common form
of the Daemonic Engine is a huge cannon; a baroque
artillery piece taking up position at the rear of the Chaos
Dwarf line, firmly staked into place by its crew. But
equally common are the metal behemoths known as
golems. These resemble Ogres built from black iron and
they advance on the enemy belching fire from bull-
shaped maws.
No two Daemonic Engines are the same, as each is
individually designed and built. They have many
different traits, such as obsidian hulls, noxious
emissions or razor-sharp barbs to make them more
deadly. They fire different kinds of ammunition, such as
erratic rockets, huge shells which cause the earth to
tremble when they land or bolts of pure hellfire.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Engine 6 4 3 5 6 3 1 3 5
Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Troop type: Monstrous Beast.
Daemonic Engines are Monstrous Beasts, but still have
the Monsters and Handlers rule (see below). For the
purposes of this rule, the Engine counts as a Monster,
even if it does not have that troop type. Note however
that Daemonic Engines do not take Monster Reaction
tests – instead, the effect of losing the crew is covered
by the Rampage rule below.
41
SPECIAL RULES Fear, Unbreakable, Monster and Handlers.
Daemonic Engine: Daemonic Engines are living
weapons of mass destruction that are not only
dangerous in close combat, but also capable of
launching a variety of ammunition into the skies. They
may fire with the same effect as a stone thrower. A
Daemonic Engine may not move and fire in the same
turn.
Rampage: Daemonic Engines constantly strive to break
from their bonds. At the beginning of the turn, if a
Daemonic Engine is not in combat, take a Leadership
test for the unit, using the highest unmodified
Leadership value available – you may not use the
General's Inspiring Presence rule, or re-roll the test
using the Battle Standard Bearer's Hold Your Ground
rule. If it passes the test, the unit may behave as normal.
If it fails the test, the Engine may not fire, but instead
gains the Random Movement (2D6) rule. Pivot the
Engine to face the nearest enemy unit before moving it.
Daemonsmith: Daemonic Engines are often
accompanied by Daemonsmiths, arcane engineers who
are adept at controlling bound Daemons with their
magical arts. A Daemon Engine with a Daemonsmith in
its crew may re-roll the Leadership test to determine if
it Rampages or not (note that it can re-roll a passed test
too). In addition, the Daemonsmith allows the artillery
dice to be re-rolled in the case of a Misfire. A
Daemonsmith otherwise counts as one the Engine's
handlers in all respects.
Bound Daemon: Whenever a Daemonic Engine
misfires, roll on the following chart:
D6 Result
1 Free at last! The Daemon inside the Engine
violently breaks its bonds. Every unit within
3D6" takes D6 Strength 5 hits. Then remove
the Daemonic Engine from play.
2 Chomp: The Engine sucks its own crew into
the furnace and spits them out in a shower of
gore and bone. Remove the handlers from
play.
3 Thzzzz: The Engine fires great pulses of raw
magic. All Wizards must roll on the Miscast
table. Ignore instructions on the table to lose
dice from the dice pool. On a roll of 10-12 the
Wizard loses D3 random spells.
4 Grrr: The enraged Daemon inside the Engine
goes berserk. Remove one random handler.
5 Raaargh! The Engine breaks its chains and
rushes forwards. The Engine immediately
makes a rampage move as described in the
Rampage rule.
6 Boom! The Engine fires a spectacularly
devastating blast. Every model under the
template suffers a Strength 10 hit. The Engine
cannot fire for the rest of the game.
Daemonic Upgrades: No two Daemonic Engines are
truly the same, and each one is a bespoke creation,
nursed into vile existence by an insane Demonsmith
Sorcerer. You may customise them with Daemonic
Upgrades as described in its army list entry. However,
to represent the unique nature of these living weapons,
no two Daemonic Engines in the same army may take
the same combination of Daemonic Upgrades.
Hothgar cast his gaze over the workshop, tuning out the droning of hammers wielded by hand and pistons wielded by machine for a moment. To the eyes of anyone else, the vast, red-lit chamber would have appeared completely anarchic, but Hothgar saw each project unfolding under the hands of his subordinate lesser Daemonsmiths and Artisans and how they came together to form a whole greater than the sum of their parts. He could see his latest creation taking shape in fragments around the workshop, and only he had the vision to see how they were related. A weapon here, a new kind of hull compound there – it was all part of the same great task.
"Master Hothgar...the chamber is prepared..." Hothgar ran a hand down his beard and nodded to his assistant. All these things; machines of metal, cannons of fire and iron, they were the least of his achievements. What mattered, as with living creatures, was the soul of the creation, and what a soul this thing would have! The rituals were ready, and the cage was waiting. Now he just had to ensnare its occupant. Rubbing his hands together and with a slow smile creeping across his face, Hothgar hastened to the specially prepared chamber.
42
DAEMONIC UPGRADES Daemonic Engines, Mortal Engines and Tauruses may take Daemonic Upgrades as described in their army list entries.
You may not take the same Upgrade twice on a single Engine, with the exception of Obsidian Flesh.
COLOSSAL The Construct is a towering monstrosity that looms over
the battlefield.
The model has +2 wounds and changes its troop type to
Monster. It also gains the Large Target and Terror
special rules.
DAEMONIC BARRAGE The Engine has multiple barrels, enabling it to hurl
masses of ammunition at the enemy, drastically
increasing the chances of destroying them through
sheer weight of fire.
The Engine may re-roll failed rolls to wound when it
uses its stone thrower attack.
DEATH ROCKETS The Engine fires rockets which are controlled by
chittering Daemons, causing them to spiral
unpredictably through the air.
If the Engine rolls a hit and a misfire while firing, do
not roll on the misfire chart, instead the shot scatters
4D6" in the direction indicated by the arrow on the hit
symbol and is resolved there instead. No damage is
done at the original target point.
DIABOLIC SENTIENCE The Daemon within the engine (or its ammunition) is no
mere beast, but an intelligent creature able to aim its
shots at enemy warriors.
When the Engine fires, it may re-roll the Scatter dice.
DOOMFIRE The Engine fires not solid ammunition but pulses of raw
daemonfire that rend apart targets with their infernal
energy.
Hits from the Engine's stone thrower shots are resolved
at Strength 5 (10).
ERUPTION CANNON The Engine does not blast its ammunition into the skies,
but instead belches forth a great gout of flame,
incinerating its foes.
Instead of firing as a stone thrower, the Engine's shots
instead follow the rules for a fire thrower.
FEROCIOUS The Construct is a barely-restrained enraged monster
that constantly fights against its bonds.
The model has +2 Attacks and –1 Leadership. If this
Upgrade is taken by a Daemonic Engine, when it
Rampages it has the Random Movement (3D6) rule. If
is taken by a Taurus then it always counts as rolling a
'Raaargh!' result if it fails a Monster Reaction test.
FIENDISH BLAST The Construct is able to expel a wall of deadly fumes,
flames or ichor which engulfs its foes.
The model has a Strength 3 Breath Weapon.
FLAMING HIDE The Construct's hull burns with terrific intensity,
immolating foes on contact and rendering it proof
against fire.
The model (and rider, if it has one) has Flaming Attacks
and the Blessing of Hashut.
FOUL EXCRETION As part of the Construct's function, it exudes a vile
acidic ichor that melts armour and burns flesh.
The model has Poisoned Attacks. Note that this applies
only to its normal close combat attacks, and not to any
Impact Hits, damage from Breath Weapons, Stomp, etc.
GREAT HORNS The Construct has the likeness of a bull, the chosen
form of Hashut Himself, complete with a mighty set of
fearsome horns.
The model adds +1 to its Strength characteristic.
GRINDER The Engine is mounted with a huge spiked dozer on its
hull that can effortlessly crash through terrain.
The Daemonic Engine has the Strider special rule.
HELLBORE The Engine is built to tunnel mineshafts beneath the
earth by means of a fearsome drill on its prow; a task
that can all too easily find a use on the battlefield.
The Daemonic Engine deploys using the Ambusher
rule, but when it becomes available for deployment it
may appear anywhere on the table. Nominate a point at
least 1" from another unit, then roll the scatter and
artillery dice. If a Hit is rolled, the Engine arrives on the
nominated point, but otherwise scatter its arrival point
in the direction of the arrow as you would for a stone
thrower shot. In the event of a Misfire, the Engine
scatters 12" and suffers a wound with no saves possible.
If the Engine's entry point would put it in base contact
with another unit then move it so it is 1" away. If it
arrives in a terrain feature of any kind then make a
Dangerous Terrain test.
43
INFERNAL SHELLS The Engine fires huge shells that cause tremors where
they land, shaking victims off their feet.
Any unit wounded by the Engine's template when it
fires may not march in the following Movement phase,
and counts as having moved for the purposes of
shooting missile weapons. A unit that declares a charge
must take a Dangerous Terrain test. War machines
wounded may not move and may only fire on a D6 roll
of 4+ in their next turn.
IRONCLAD The Construct is bound with mighty iron plates.
The model has a 4+ armour save. If taken by a Taurus
without the Colossal Upgrade, it instead adds +3 to the
rider's armour save.
OBSIDIAN FLESH The Construct has obsidian built into its hull that wards
away enemy spells.
The model has Magic Resistance (1). This Upgrade may
be taken a second time, giving it Magic Resistance (2).
RAZOR CLAWS The Construct is festooned with wickedly sharp blades
and spikes that can cleave a living creature in two with
ruthless efficiency.
The model has Killing Blow. Note that this applies only
to its normal close combat attacks, and not to any
Impact Hits, damage from Breath Weapons, Stomp, etc.
SCOURGE OF THE SKIES The Engine is borne aloft on vast mechanical wings or
floats using a lighter-than-air balloon so that it can rain
down death upon unsuspecting foes.
The Daemonic Engine has the Hover special rule. If it
Rampages, it will move randomly as normal, but its
movement will follow the rules for flying (i.e. it can
ignore terrain). If the Engine is destroyed it will crash to
earth, moving 3D6" in a random direction and inflicting
a Strength 8 hit on any model under its final position.
SMOG The Construct belches forth great clouds of foul-
smelling fumes that enshroud it, partially obscuring it
and also choking any foes who try to attack.
Missile weapons targeted at the model suffer a –1 to hit
penalty. Models that target it in close combat are at -1
WS.
TALISMAN OF HASHUT The Construct is etched with runes of the Father of
Darkness, invoking His divine protection.
The model has a 5+ ward save. If taken by a Taurus
without the Colossal Upgrade, this is extended to the
rider.
THUNDEROUS CHARGE The Construct hurls itself into combat with terrifying
force, scattering foes before it with sheer weight.
The model has Impact Hits (D6).
WARBARGE The Engine has been ingeniously constructed so that it
can submerge itself in water, emerging from the
polluted waters of the River Ruin to unleash horror
upon its victims!
The Daemonic Engine has the Sea Creature special rule.
WARPFIRE The Engine's ammunition is imbued with the mutating
power of Chaos, warping its victim's bodies and minds
as it lands.
Any unit hit by the Daemonic Engine's shooting attack
(including a Breath Weapon, if it has one) must take a
Panic test with a –1 Leadership penalty.
WHIRLING BLADES The Construct is bedecked in scything blades mounted
on Daemon-powered pistons so that it slices its foes
apart in a whirlwind of blackened steel.
The model has Random Attacks (D6).
The Realm of Chaos
Daemons hail from the Realm of Chaos, a
parallel dimension of pure energy that is
given form by the powerful emotions of
mortal creatures. Only in the uttermost
north of the world, where the ancient
polar gates of the Old Ones collapsed,
can Daemons freely cross the barrier
into reality. In order to summon them
elsewhere, dark rituals must be
performed. Chaos Dwarfs are experts in
these rites and have researched the
Realm of Chaos, which they call the
Empyrean, extensively. The shifting
nightmare dimension of Daemons holds
no fear for the arrogant Dawi'Zharr,
but even they must be careful when they
barter with the dread spirits of the Dark
Gods. Capturing a living Daemon is
fraught with danger and uncertainty,
and binding it once it has been summoned
is, if anything, even more difficult. Cages
of obsidian are the favoured method of
keeping a Daemon prisoner while the
incantations necessary to join its spirit
with that of a powerful machine or
artefact are performed, but many
inexperienced Daemonsmiths have found
their wards failing under the onslaught
of a particularly powerful and furious
Daemon. When this happens, they and all
their followers will be dragged
screaming into the Realm of Chaos to be
tortured for an eternity. It is a
testament to the short-sightedness of
the Chaos Dwarfs that these occasional
mishaps do not discourage their efforts
in the slightest.
44
TAURUSES
When the Chaos Dwarfs combine their talents with
machinery, Daemon-binding and flesh-crafting they are
able to produce horrific results. Hideous monsters of
living iron and brass are caged in the pits of Zharr-
Naggrund, serving as beasts of burden or mere scientific
curiosities. Sometimes, the Sorcerers create vicious
monsters to serve as mounts for Warlords, Despots or
themselves. These beasts are often built in such a way
that they resemble the form most pleasing to Hashut,
that of a mighty bull. For this reason, they are usually
called Tauruses.
A Taurus is a vicious beast, part Daemon, part living
creature, part machine. They come in many shapes and
sizes, with many different traits. Some have hides of
scalding iron, and their artificial veins pump molten fire
around their metal bodies. Others breathe out sorcerous
fumes that protect the beast and its rider from harmful
magic, or are clad in great plates of steel or Gromril to
protect them. The mightiest specimens are borne on
sweeping pinions that allow their master to fly high
above the battlefield.
Not all Tauruses are artificially built. In ancient times, a
breed of monstrous bull known as the Red Bull of
Hashut emerged from the Time of Chaos alongside the
Dawi'Zharr themselves, and later begat the twisted
Lammasu. Along with the Bull Centaurs, the Chaos
Dwarfs believe that these semi-daemonic creatures are
mutated from Hashut's followers. These blessed beasts
are stabled beneath the Temple of Hashut and selective
breeding as well as the liberal use of mechanical
enhancements has turned them into enormous and
ferocious monsters.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Taurus 8 4 0 5 5 2 3 2 8
The Army List section of this book features two kinds of
Taurus, one referred to as a 'Great Taurus' and one as
'Lesser Taurus'. Their profiles are identical, but a Great
Taurus can only be ridden by a Lord character and
hence has access to more Daemonic Upgrades to allow
you to represent particularly horrendous monsters!
Troop Type: Monstrous Beast.
SPECIAL RULES Fear.
Winged Taurus: The larger breeds of Taurus are often
gifted with awesome pinions that can bear them aloft in
the foetid winds of the Dark Lands. A Taurus that takes
the Winged upgrade can Fly.
Daemonic Upgrades: No two Tauruses are truly the
same, but there are certain traits that many of these
constructs have in common. Tauruses may be given
Daemonic Upgrades as described in their army list
entry. See the Daemonic Engine rules for details.
Chaos Dwarf Mutations
Dwarfs are naturally resistant to the
warping influence of Chaos, but even
they were affected by the energies
sweeping down from the polar gates.
Mutations are most common amongst the
Sorcerer and Warrior Castes, with
most of them sporting long tusks. Less
common, but by no means unusual, are
horns sprouting from the brow and
even hooves. Members of lesser Castes,
particularly those who work with
Daemonic artefacts, also occasionally
display similar mutations. The Bull
Centaurs are another manifestation of
the mutations inflicted upon the
Dawi'Zharr and the Chaos Dwarfs
believe that the Red bulls of Hashut
and the Lammasu are also further
evidence of the ancient Chaotic strain
in their race, and that these creatures'
ancestors were Dwarfs like them.
45
BULL CENTAURS
The mightiest inhabitants of Zharr-Naggrund are not the
Warriors or even the Sorcerers, but the awesome Chaos
Dwarf sub-race known as the Bull Centaurs. In ancient
times, when the Chaos Dwarfs were first transformed
by the power of Chaos, some of their number were
mutated into a form more pleasing to the Father of
Darkness, part Dwarf and part ferocious bull. The Bull
Centaurs have remained apart from their brethren ever
since, forming their own society, separate from the
Castes and other divisions of Zharr-Naggrund. They are
an elite force, blessed by Hashut, and are given the
sacred task of guarding His Temple.
Bull Centaurs are not bound to any Sorcerer Lord and,
indeed, bow to no one but their own leaders. They
instead take responsibility for maintaining the sanctity
of the Temple of Hashut and have an important role in
some of the darkest rites of the Chaos Dwarfs' twisted
god. Bull Centaurs are extremely arrogant and cruel,
and they see themselves as living vessels of Hashut's
power. Indeed, there may be some truth to their
egotism: their hides burn with infernal rage and, as they
march into battle, their hooves throw up sparks. As they
pick up speed, smoke begins to billow and they are
wreathed in flames and steam. By the time they reach
the enemy lines, the Bull Centaurs are engulfed in
raging fire, rearing from great black clouds to strike
down the enemies of Hashut.
Rarely do the Bull Centaurs leave the confines of the
Temple of Hashut, and they fight only in the name of
the Father of Darkness. They do not involve themselves
in the petty squabbles of the Sorcerers, and the
accumulation of slaves holds no interest for them. They
march to war only when they believe it is required by
Hashut, when the omens favour them and when they
can be spared from their primary duty. On the rare
occasions when they do take to the field, they pay little
heed to the orders of the Chaos Dwarf leaders, and
usually keep their own counsel. Such rebellion would
not be tolerated in any other follower, but the Sorcerers
know that not only are the Bull Centaurs blessed by
Hashut, but also that they are amongst the mightiest
shock troops in the world. When the Bull Centaurs
charge, they are capable of breaking the enemies' lines
single-handedly.
Bull Centaurs are led into battle by their Guardians, the
veterans amongst them who personally watch over the
gates to the Temple of Hashut. Above these awesome
individuals are the leaders of the Bull Centaurs, the
Elders. These creatures are terrifying monsters in their
own right, the equal of any Warlord, but even they pale
in comparison to their ultimate master, the Last
Guardian, Eldest of the Bull Centaurs: Lord Bhaal, the
Death of Worlds.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Bull Centaur 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 2 9
Guardian 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 9
Elder 8 6 3 5 5 3 4 4 9
Troop Type: Monstrous Beast.
SPECIAL RULES Blessing of Hashut, Flaming Attacks, Immune to
Psychology, Fear, 6+ Scaly Skin.
―You will not pass these gates.
Not while I draw breath.‖
Bull Centaur Elder Kronos
46
MORTAL ENGINES Not all Chaos Dwarf war machines are powered by
enslaved Daemons – there is still a call for mundane
cannon and other weapons of death. These relatively
simple engines make use of physics and chemistry to
fire shells and rockets at the enemy. The most common
Mortal Engines are bolt throwers; braced frames that
fire enormous spear-sized bolts into the ranks of the foe,
punching through armour as if it were paper. Also
common are bazookas which launch explosive rockets,
shooting them into enemy formations and acting on the
same principle as bolt throwers. Sometimes Chaos
Dwarfs also employ devices like mortars, small cannon
that launch shells or petards into the air to fall amongst
their terrified targets. While Daemons are not used to
power these devices, some Sorcerers cannot resist
imbuing their ammunition with bound Daemons or
other arcane technology.
Because most Mortal Engines are ordinary devices that
do not involve Daemons or magic, the Chaos Dwarfs
trust their slaves to operate them. Even relatively slow
greenskins such as Orcs or Gnoblars are able to load
and fire a bolt thrower, though they are not often
accurate with them. For more complex machines,
Hobgoblins are employed but for anything that involves
daemonic forces, Sorcerers will trust only Chaos
Dwarfs of the Artisan or Labourer Castes.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - -
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 - 2 1 5
Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 1 9
Troop Type: War Machine.
SPECIAL RULES Mortal Engine: Mortal Engines count as bolt throwers.
A mortal engine upgraded to Artillery counts as a stone
thrower with a maximum range of 48". Mortal Engines
upgraded to Artillery use the black powder war machine
misfire chart.
Daemonic Upgrades: Some Mortal Engines have their
ammunition imbued with daemonic enchantments, or
outright possessed by Daemons in a manner similar to
the larger Daemonic Engines. Mortal Engines upgraded
to Artillery may take a single Daemonic Upgrade as
described in their army list entry. See the Daemonic
Engines rules for details.
LAND TRAINS
Not all Chaos Dwarf technology is
arcane in nature; indeed, most of the
devices they use to maintain their society
are necessarily mundane because they
must be operated by members of the
Artisan or Labourer Castes, or slaves.
Perhaps one of their strangest but most
important inventions are the monstrous
Land Trains. Because the Chaos Dwarfs'
outposts are spread so thinly across
the vast wastes of the Dark Lands,
travel between them takes days or even
weeks and even the tireless Dawi'Zharr
could not march for that long unaided.
Instead, they travel in mechanised
caravans made up of huge, steam-driven
machines that pull along cars loaded
with slaves and raw materials to trade.
The Dark Lands are criss-crossed by a
network of ancient trade routes that
these Land Trains ply and the sight of
the great machines crawling across the
barren landscape is a common one. Land
Trains are all unique and take many
forms, but it is usual for them to be
festooned with batteries of weapons to
deter attacks from marauding Ogre and
greenskin tribes. Whole clans of Chaos
Dwarfs make the Land Train caravans
their homes, living and work on the
steam-powered behemoths, returning to
the Plain of Zharr only to trade. It is
not unknown for Land Trains to find a
use on the battlefield too, though it is
rare to find an enemy willing to stand
against such a heavily—armed machine.
47
PALANQUIN
As Sorcerers transform to stone, they gradually become
more and more immobile. Their feet are the first parts
of their bodies to petrify, and slowly the change works
its way up their bodies. Before long, they cannot move
at all, and are obliged to find new methods of
locomotion, either riding on a Taurus, or borne by their
followers on a Palanquin. Traditionally, Palanquins are
carried by Immortals. From their perch atop the
shoulders of these elite warriors, the Sorcerer Lords are
able to command their troops and cast their destructive
magic.
Palanquins are ornate, armoured thrones. As well as
serving a practical purpose, they are also a symbol of
high status – wealthy and powerful is the Sorcerer Lord
who can rely on the services of four Immortals to bear
him aloft on their broad shoulders. Palanquins have
been used by Sorcerer Lords since the time of Zhargon
the Great, who rode atop an elaborate golden throne
carried by dozens of slaves. Modern Palanquins are
rather more sedate than that, but are nonetheless far
more than simple chairs: a Palanquin will be custom
built for, and possibly by, its occupant, and will be
marked with the personal sigils of his house, as well as
runic emblems particular to his rituals so that his spells
can be empowered.
Truly ancient Sorcerer Lords ride in Palanquins that are
more like mobile altars, fitted with scroll alcoves or
bookcases, with enchanted cages for captured Daemons
and an icon-etched slab of obsidian for grisly
ceremonies. Eventually, a Sorcerer Lord will be so
immobile that he will spend most of his time in his
Palanquin, so it makes sense for it to be comfortable.
When he finally succumbs to the Sorcerers' Curse, he
may continue to be borne aloft on the shoulders of his
followers – Palanquin and all – as a Petrified Sorcerer
before finally joining his fellows lining the road to
Zharr-Naggrund.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Palanquin 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 4 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Magical Attacks.
Iron Bound: A Palanquin is a solid construction of
braced iron and is carried by Immortals encased in suits
of Chaos armour. It adds +2 to the rider's armour save
instead of +1.
The Sorcerer Lords are the masters of Zharr-
Naggrund, but invariably there are lesser
Sorcerers who must serve them. Each
Sorcerer Lord has a Household of Sorcerers,
Daemonsmiths and Acolytes: Chaos Dwarfs
born amongst those Dawi'Zharr who belong to
him that were discovered to have the ability to
manipulate the Winds of Magic. It is the dream
of all these lesser members of the Sorcerer
Caste to one day become a Sorcerer Lord, but
most of them are fated to serve like every
other Chaos Dwarf. When a Sorcerer Lord
succumbs to the Sorcerers' Curse, it is part of
the Order of Things that he will be succeeded
by the eldest Sorcerer in his Household, who
will thenceforth be the Sorcerer Lord and
the master of all his former kinsman's assets
– including the Chaos Dwarfs that were
bound to him. However, in practice there is
usually a violent power struggle as the
Sorcerers' ambition bubbles to the surface
and they each try to ensure that they are the
oldest surviving Sorcerer in the Household.
This is generally achieved by the simple
expedient of being the only surviving
Sorcerer in the Household...
48
BLACK ORCS
Thousands of years ago, the Chaos Dwarfs bred Black
Orcs as a grand experiment to create a race of super
slaves. The robust physiology of greenskins proved a
perfect testing ground for all manner of dark
experiments, and what emerged from the pits of Zharr-
Naggrund was indeed a superior kind of Orc. These
creatures were larger, stronger, tougher and more
intelligent: in every way they were the natural superiors
of their forebears. The Chaos Dwarfs had dreamt of
creating slaves that could toil for longer, withstand
greater punishment, lift greater loads and understand
more complex instructions, and that was exactly what
they got, but they also underestimated the potential of
their creations. It wasn't long until the Black Orcs had
'persuaded' the other greenskins to start a rebellion and,
one moonless night, the slaves of Zharr-Naggrund rose
up en masse, sweeping their captors before them in a
tide of blood and fury.
The rebellion nearly destroyed the Chaos Dwarfs.
Under such powerful and oddly charismatic leaders, the
Orcs and Goblins burned and pillaged at will, fighting
their way up the layers of the city until they reached the
very top. However, the tide turned at the last moment:
the Hobgoblins decided that serving the Chaos Dwarfs
was not such a bad idea after all. They turned on the
other greenskins, unsheathing poisoned blades and
stabbing them in the back even as the Chaos Dwarfs cut
them down from the front. The rebellion fell apart
almost instantly and the Black Orcs and made a fighting
retreat down the ziggurat and out into the Dark Lands.
In the coming years, the mass migration of Orcs and
Goblins from the Dark Lands would cause havoc for the
rest of the world. They had a new breed of leader in the
form of the Black Orcs, and their tribes attacked with a
new fervour. They assailed the lands of the fledgling
race of Men in such numbers that only a great hero –
Sigmar Heldenhammer – could deliver them from the
darkness, and in doing so he forged the Empire itself.
Many Black Orcs remained in the Dark Lands and the
Mountains of Mourn even after they won their freedom.
Like the Ogres, they are a natural source of troops for
Chaos Dwarf armies, though no Chaos Dwarf would
willingly enslave a Black Orc again. For their part, the
Black Orcs do not hold a grudge: as long as the Chaos
Dwarfs offer them a good fight, they'll happily join their
raiding parties. That said, they still hold a special hatred
for Hobgoblins and, when their employers backs are
turned, they often amuse themselves with a captured
Sneaky Git or Wolf Rider, seeing just how much he
likes being stabbed in the back instead.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8
Black Orc Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Disposable.
Fool Me Once: Black Orcs always go into battle
absurdly overburdened with weaponry of all kinds –
they don't intend to be caught unawares twice,
especially by the Chaos Dwarfs! At the start of each
combat, Black Orcs can chose to fight with a single
choppa (in case they have shields), two choppas or with
a great weapon.
EQUIPMENT Choppa: Black Orcs fight with the favoured weapon of
all Orcs – a huge, unwieldy axe or sword. These
weapons, known as choppas, grant +1 Strength in the
first round of close combat but count as a hand weapon
in all other respects, including allowing a parry save.
―Let bygone be bygones iz wut i say.
‗cept wiv dem hobgoblin gitz...‖
Boss Grimskull
49
OGRES Ogres are giant, monstrous humanoids with an
insatiable appetite and a savage temperament. They are
found almost everywhere and frequently hire their
services out as mercenaries. Ogres come from the
Mountains of Mourn, where their tribes hold sway, but
they possess an insatiable wanderlust that causes them
to travel all over the world, fighting and eating. For
Ogres, eating is a religious experience, the focus of their
culture and society, which revolves around the worship
of their ravenous god, the Great Maw. Chaos Dwarf
territory borders with the realms of the Ogre Kingdoms
and, as such, the two races frequently trade and fight
with one another.
The Chaos Dwarfs find Ogres useful as mercenaries in
their armies. When the Ogre tribes migrate from their
homeland, often the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is the first
foreign nation they encounter, and so it is natural that
they offer the Chaos Dwarfs their services in exchange
for food and plunder. Still other Ogres, vanquished in
battle, are sold to the Chaos Dwarfs by their fellows as
slaves. Ogres make excellent slaves because of their
strength and endurance, and the Chaos Dwarfs use them
for tasks that require brute force, such as working
massive engines and dragging war machines into battle.
Ogres do not enjoy captivity, but they are easy to
placate by offering them the opportunity to inflict
violence and eat anything they can kill.
Often, service to the Dawi'Zharr represents the first step
for Ogres on the road to true Chaos worship. While
fighting for the Chaos Dwarfs they sometimes receive
suits of Chaos armour, giving them a taste of the
daemonic. When the urge to wander takes them again,
they head north into the Chaos wastes, destined to join
up with a warband of Chaos Warriors or Beastmen.
Khorne, the Blood God, is the most popular patron for
Ogres who are seduced by the lure of Chaos, and it is
not unusual for them to walk down the path of the
berserker, becoming consumed with a frenzied
bloodlust in battle.
There are many Ogres who remain a permanent part of
Chaos Dwarf retinues though, serving as fully
integrated members of the warband. Ogres naturally
take up the customs of their adopted cultures, and with
Chaos Dwarfs it is no different – they may attempt to
grow beards which they curl into the same exotic styles
as their masters, and some even don the fearsome iron
masks or ornate helms that are so characteristic of the
Dawi'Zharr. There are many such Ogres in the Plain of
Zharr, living and working alongside the Chaos Dwarfs.
Ogres being such robust creatures, they do not mind the
choking smog, and there is always a plentiful supply of
food around in the form of slaves, making life amongst
the Chaos Dwarfs a very viable alternative for Ogres.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7
Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7
Troop Type: Monstrous Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Disposable, Fear.
Lord Karzagh Stonegaze was known for
making heavy use of Ogres in his warbands. He
saw them as a convenient alternative to Bull
Centaurs, and employed regiments of the
armoured behemoths to cover his flanks,
trusting to their value as shock troops to
break the lines of his foes. Karzagh led his
army eastwards, eventually taking them as
far as Cathay. On the way, he accumulated
more Ogre mercenaries until he was leading
an army that was more Ogre than it was
Chaos Dwarf. Inevitably, the Ogres realised
that Karzagh needed them more than they
needed him and they turned against him,
making a lavish feast out of the Chaos
Dwarfs and their slaves. To this day, the
Chaos Dwarfs have a bounty on the heads of
those Ogres, but it is not pursued with much
enthusiasm – any Dawi'Zharr who allows his
followers to rise against him deserves
everything he gets.
50
PETRIFIED SORCERER
Once a Sorcerer has succumbed entirely to the
Sorcerers' Curse and has become an immobile statue he
is placed along the road to Zharr-Naggrund. Here,
serried ranks of lifeless stone Sorcerers stare down at
travellers; their sightless eyes a haunting reminder of
the power of Hashut. The Chaos Dwarfs treat these
statues with the utmost respect, leaving them to be
weathered by the elements over the ages. However, the
petrified Sorcerers retain a portion of the power that
they had in life, and a miasma of dread and dark energy
surrounds the statues.
Sometimes, as a demonstration of devotion to their
transformed ancestors, Chaos Dwarf armies will carry a
Petrified Sorcerer into battle, borne on a dais in a
manner not dissimilar to how a Sorcerer's Palanquin is
carried while he lives. The Petrified Sorcerers are
transfixed at the final moment of their horrifying
transformation into stone, and their faces betray their
terror – most Petrified Sorcerers have faces frozen into
a rictus of pain and dread. As such, they are a grotesque
symbol of Chaos Dwarf devotion to the Father of
Darkness and enemies baulk when confronted with
them.
Immortals commonly carry Petrified Sorcerers in
imitation of their role as bearers of the Palanquins of
living Sorcerers, but Acolytes of Hashut are also often
given the honour due to their standing as part of the
Sorcerer Caste and their magical abilities which are
only enhanced by the presence of one of their
transformed masters.
Petrified Sorcerers are not always taken from the roads
leading to Zharr-Naggrund. There have been occasions
when an aged Sorcerer Lord on his way to lead his
troops into battle succumbs to the Sorcerers' Curse
before the fight is joined. In this case, his loyal soldiers
will bear his stone corpse both as proof of their
dedication and to protect it, lest it fall into enemy hands.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Petrified
Sorcerer
3 - 0 - 4 6 2 4 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Bondage of Hashut, Blessing of Hashut, 4+ Scaly
Skin, 4+ ward save, Fear.
Fell Icon: A Petrified Sorcerer is carried aloft in battle
by a unit of Immortals or Acolytes of Hashut. The
Petrified Sorcerer may not leave its unit for the duration
of the game, and is always placed in the front rank like
a member of the command group (which it will displace
if there is no room). A Petrified Sorcerer uses the WS
and S values of the unit carrying it, follows any
movement rules they may use and counts as being
armed with the same weapons. While there are rank and
file models left in the unit, always remove one in
preference to the Petrified Sorcerer taking a wound (it is
assumed that if one of the bearers fall, another rank and
file model steps in to fill the gap). Only when the rest of
the unit has been killed does the Petrified Sorcerer start
taking wounds, even in close combat. Any unit with a
Petrified Sorcerer has the Blessing of Hashut.
The Blessing of Hashut
The true nature of the Blessing of Hashut is
unknown even to the Chaos Dwarfs
themselves. Unlike the other Chaos Gods,
Hashut does not bestow his Mark upon
favoured followers – He takes a less direct
interest in those who worship him, which is
perhaps why only the most powerful Chaos
Dwarfs benefit from his Blessing. Hashut,
like His people, is arrogant and
contemptuous of the weak. Lesser servants
hold no interest for him, and he cares not
whether they burn.
51
ALTAR OF HASHUT
The fell rituals of Father of Darkness that are performed
in the Temple of Hashut are unspeakable acts of
bloodletting and torture. Like all Chaos magic, the
spells of the Dawi'Zharr must be powered by death, and
it is always prudent to pay proper obeisance to Hashut
by sacrificing a number of slaves before a battle.
Sometimes though, the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers decide
that they need more direct access to Hashut's favour
and, for this purpose, the Altar of Hashut was created.
An Altar of Hashut can take many forms – a cauldron of
molten lead or gold, a towering brass effigy of a bull or
an anvil of blackest obsidian, etched with twisted runes.
Whatever form it takes, its purpose is the same: death.
Chained slaves are kept nearby and herded towards the
Altar by Chaos Dwarf or Bull Centaur handlers where,
over the course of the battle, they are gruesomely
murdered in whatever manner is appropriate to the
Altar's form. They may be immersed in molten metal,
imprisoned within the stomach of a blazing icon of
Hashut or simply bludgeoned to death by a burning
forge-hammer. However they die, their blood powers
the evil magic of the Chaos Dwarfs and the power of
Hashut waxes strong. It is always a Lesser Sorcerer
working exclusively at the Altar who completes the
ritual and, in doing so, he summons up daemonic spirits
from the Realm of Chaos. Drawn by the bloodshed,
they are immediately trapped and bound and then sent
hurtling across the battlefield by the Sorcerer.
The spectral Daemons let up a hellish cacophony as
they fly and, where they land, they sow terror. But a
cunning Sorcerer can use the Daemons to power his
own magic, and loyal Chaos Dwarfs who hold their
ground will find themselves empowered by daemonic
boons. As for enemies unfortunate enough to be in the
path of the enslaved Daemons, their fate is much
simpler: they will be rent apart by dozens of ethereal
claws and, if they happen to be a Wizard, the Daemons
will gravitate towards them, focusing all their energies
on devouring such a bright soul.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Altar of Hashut - - - - 7 9 - - -
Lesser Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 2 10
Slave 3 2 2 3 3 - 2 0 10
Troop Type: War Machine.
SPECIAL RULES Unbreakable, 3+ armour save, 4+ ward save.
Sacrificial Altar: Throughout the battle, the Lesser
Sorcerer will perform sacrificial rites, ritually
murdering slaves that are chained to the Altar. The
Slaves function as part of the Altar's crew but they do
not operate it in the conventional sense. Instead, in the
Chaos Dwarf shooting phase, the Altar may be 'fired' if
one of the Slaves is removed as a casualty. This means
the Altar will suffer a wound as normal. Resolve the
shot following the rules for stone throwers. If a Misfire
is rolled on the artillery dice, the shot simply has no
effect (but the Slave used to fire it is expended
nevertheless). When the Altar takes wounds as normal,
always remove a Slave rather than the Lesser Sorcerer.
When the Altar runs out of Slaves to sacrifice, it may no
longer shoot. In close combat, the Lesser Sorcerer may
fight but all attacks are resolved against the Slaves until
he is the only crew member left.
Summoned Daemons: The Altar of Hashut does not
fire ordinary ammunition, but instead is used to
summon shrieking Daemons that fly across the
battlefield to assail foes or grant boons to friends. When
firing the Altar, do not follow the normal damage rules
for stone throwers, instead the effect of the summoned
Daemons depends on what kind of unit is hit by the
template. Do not worry about how many models the
template hits; simply resolve the effect against the
whole unit. Note that it is possible for several units to
be affected at the same time (particularly if a Wizard is
in a unit and both are hit by the template) in which case
simply resolve each effect against the appropriate
target.
Unit hit Effect
Non-Wizard enemy unit The unit takes 2D6
Strength 3 hits
Enemy Wizard The model suffers a single
Strength 6 hit.
Non-Wizard friendly
unit
The unit gains magical
Flaming Attacks until the
next Chaos Dwarf
Shooting phase.
Friendly Wizard In the following Chaos
Dwarf Magic phase, the
model may cast any one of
its spells as a Bound Spell
with power level 4.
Any unit hit by the template (friend or foe!) must take a
Panic test. Note that the restriction on firing at friendly
troops is lifted when firing the Altar of Hashut – it is
perfectly acceptable to nominate a friendly model as the
intended target or even to fire at a unit engaged in close
combat.
52
GHORTH THE CRUEL Supreme Lord of the Conclave, Master of Zharr
The balance of power in the Temple of Hashut has been
carefully maintained for untold centuries, the Sorcerers'
Curse ensuring that no one individual ever becomes too
dominant in the affairs of the Priesthood. The High
Priest of Hashut, the eldest of the Sorcerer Lords, holds
ultimate sway as he is invariably the mightiest Sorcerer:
although age and power do not correlate, and a
Sorcerer's strength with the dark arts wanes in later life,
precocious young Priests burn out all the faster,
transforming into stone before they can threaten the
status quo. Lordship belongs to the eldest and most
patient Sorcerers.
Ghorth the Cruel has proven the exception to this rule.
For some unknown reason, he has managed to stave off
petrification despite his near-reckless abuses of his
magical power. Through complex machinations and at
times blatant backstabbing, he has risen to a position of
absolute dominance within the Temple, and none have
the strength to oppose him. His sponsorship of the
savage Zhatan the Black has bought him the loyalty of
the Immortals, and through his politicking he has come
to claim ownership over much of Zharr-Naggrund.
Ghorth is not immune to the effects of the Sorcerers'
Curse though – there are dark whisperings amongst his
enemies and even his followers that much of his body
has now turned to stone, and that he goes to great
lengths to conceal this, lest a rival attempt to overthrow
him. There are mutterings too that the mysterious
golden mask that came into his possession centuries ago
now never leaves his side, and that this holds the key to
his longevity. In what may be the waning days of his
domination, Ghorth is now even more active,
safeguarding his realm and crushing rumours about his
potential demise. With Zhatan at his side, he is borne
into battle atop a Palanquin bedecked in twisted runes
and sigils that assault the eye and the mind. Now at the
height of his magical power, Ghorth manipulates the
Winds of Magic with contemptuous ease, blasting his
enemies with the infernal magics of Hashut.
In the darkest corners of Zharr-Naggrund, rumours have
begun to circulate that Ghorth has plans that outstrip the
ambitions of even his mighty predecessor, Zhargon the
Great. They point to his bartering with Archaon the
Everchosen to supply his hordes with fearsome
Daemonic Engines as evidence, and believe this
indicates that Ghorth's attentions have turned westward,
towards the Old World. What is clear is that whatever
his physical condition, Ghorth is all too ready to
demonstrate the depth of his power, both in arcane lore
and over the Chaos Dwarfs' empire.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghorth 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10
Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
MAGIC Ghorth is a level 4 Wizard. He may choose spells from
one of the following: the Lore of Fire, the Lore of
Metal, the Lore of Shadow, or the Lore of Death.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Bondage of Hashut.
Sorcerers' Curse: Like all Priests of Hashut, Ghorth is
afflicted with the Sorcerers' Curse. He has 4+ Scaly
Skin.
The Black Throne: Ghorth rides atop a Palanquin
etched with daemonic runes. The Black Throne causes
Fear and grants the rider a 5+ Ward save. Like a normal
Palanquin it has the Iron Bound rule and magical
attacks, but is also a Large Target.
MAGIC ITEMS The Mask of Zhargon: Talisman. Long ago, Zhargon
the Great wore a suit of golden Chaos armour that, it
was rumoured, staved off the Sorcerers' Curse. Ghorth
found this mask which he believes comes from that very
suit of armour.
Ghorth has Magic Resistance (3).
Daemonic Familiar: Enchanted Item. Ghorth may cast
one random spell from the Lore of Shadow as a Bound
Spell with a power level of 4. Roll to determine which
spell he may cast at the start of each Chaos Dwarf
Magic phase, just as if generating a spell as normal. The
Familiar may give Ghorth access to a spell he already
knows. In this case, he may use the same spell twice in
his Magic phase, once as a Bound Spell and once as
normal. This is an exception to the usual rules.
The Book of Hashut: Arcane Item. Zhargon's
masterwork was the Book of Hashut, a tome in which
he recorded all the incantations of the Father of
Darkness. Ghorth is now the keeper of this dangerous
text and uses its forbidden knowledge to his advantage.
Ghorth has the Loremaster special rule.
53
54
ZHATAN THE BLACK Commander of the Tower of Zharr, The Banelord
Zhatan the Black was an ordinary Immortal when his
destiny was determined by one fateful battle. He was
charged with defending the Sorcerer Lord H'Kul
Firebreath during the Fourth Battle of Daemon's Stump
against a band of marauding Ogres. The Immortals
protecting H'Kul were charged by a ferocious group of
Maneaters who barrelled into the Chaos Dwarf lines,
knocking H'Kul from his Palanquin. Zhatan stepped in
to protect the fallen Priest and took on a huge Maneater
in single combat. Zhatan, though young and relatively
inexperienced, proved a match for the mighty Ogre and
assaulted him with a ferocious savagery unusual in a
Chaos Dwarf. Zhatan was unrelenting, and single-
handedly reduced the Maneater to a mangled carcass,
soaking his armour in dark Ogre blood. Unfortunately,
in his savage frenzy he had forgotten his first duty and
the almost totally petrified H'Kul was cut down while
trying to stand using his own power.
Zhatan became a Baneguard, serving as an Immortal
from then onwards. Despite his failure in his duty, he
continued to fight with unrelenting fury, ferocious
where his fellows were stoic and disciplined. Such was
his dire reputation that he eventually drew the attention
of a young Sorcerer named Ghorth the Cruel. He saw in
Zhatan a protégé – not one who could follow him down
the path of the Sorcerer, for Zhatan had no skill with
magic, but rather one who could emulate the dark and
terrible acts that had brought Ghorth his standing
amongst the Conclave of Sorcerer Lords.
From that time on, Zhatan became Ghorth's unofficial
bodyguard, following behind him and protecting him
from the political machinations of his fellow Sorcerers.
As Zhatan's reputation grew and he rose to become
commander of the Immortals, so too did Ghorth's
power, until the entire warrior elite of Zharr-Naggrund
served at the Sorcerer Lord's beck and call. Ghorth
reached heights undreamed of, his influence becoming
greater even than the High Priest Astragoth himself.
Thanks largely to Zhatan, the balance of power in the
Temple of Hashut was changed forever.
In battle, Zhatan is a ferocious foe, leading from the
front as any Lord of the Immortals should. He is an
uncompromising and grim leader, and his followers
know well to fear his wrath. Even if he did not have the
favour of Ghorth, he would be an object of fear and
veneration for other Chaos Dwarfs, for he is as cruel as
his master, and utterly without mercy.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Zhatan 3 8 4 4 5 4 4 4 10
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Bondage of Hashut.
Reckless Hate: Even amongst the Immortals, Zhatan is
renowned for his savage loathing of all non-Chaos
Dwarfs. He is subject to Hatred, but continues to be
affected after the first round of combat, so he may
always re-roll misses in close combat.
MAGIC ITEMS The Hammer of Zharr: Magic Weapon. This huge
two-handed warhammer is a mighty relic of ancient
times, dating back to the founding of the Chaos Dwarf
empire and the building of Zharr-Naggrund. It is said
that the Hammer of Zharr was the tool used to break the
earth when the first foundations of the ziggurat were
laid.
The Hammer of Zharr is a great weapon that ignores
armour saves.
The Ring of Unmaking: Talisman. The jealous Chaos
Dwarfs despise the artefacts of all other races, holding
their crude machineries and magical weapons in
contempt. Amongst their most powerful creations is this
ring of smooth obsidian which has the power to resist
the effects of enchanted weapons made by other races,
reducing them to ordinary steel when contact is made
between blade and the black stone.
The Ring of Unmaking negates the power of any magic
or runic weapons carried by models in base contact –
treat them as non-magical weapons of their type.
The Black Mantle: Enchanted Item. Across Zhatan's
shoulders sits a cloak stitched from the skins of slaves
tortured in the Temple of Hashut. Blackened by the
fires of the Father of Darkness, this terrible object
radiates an aura of dread.
Zhatan causes Fear.
55
56
ASTRAGOTH High Priest of Hashut, Old Rockbeard
Astragoth is the current High Priest of Hashut and
therefore the oldest living Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer, for
Chaos Dwarfs respect age as much as their western kin.
During the height of his powers, he was the most
powerful Sorcerer to walk the Plain of Zharr in a
thousand years. Now, however, his petrified body can
no longer master magic as it once did, for Astargoth has
almost entirely turned to stone. He must be carried from
place to place by his followers, and his underlings must
perform many of the more complex rites of his spells. In
an effort to overcome these disabilities, Astragoth
ordered the creation of a special device blending
sorcery and technology: a mechanical body grafted to
his stone limbs that enables him to move and cast spells.
Where other Sorcerers must rely on the help of their
servants and become increasingly feeble, Astragoth can
now take part in battles, lending his considerable
magical talent to Chaos Dwarf slaving parties, as well
as using his mechanical might to physically pummel his
enemies.
Most Dawi'Zharr consider Astragoth quite mad, but
while he lives he is still the High Priest of Hashut and
they must accept him, mechanical body and all. There is
growing rebellion in the Temple though in the form of
Ghorth the Cruel, who has now surpassed Astragoth in
power and influence. Astragoth still maintains a power
base of the more traditional Chaos Dwarfs, especially
the zealous Acolytes of Hashut who revere him as befits
his station. But it is only a matter of time until matters
come to a head...
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 3 2 10
Troop Type: Infantry.
MAGIC Astragoth is a level 4 Wizard. He may use spells from
one of the following: the Lore of Fire, the Lore of
Metal, the Lore of Shadow, or the Lore of Death.
SPECIAL RULES Bondage of Hashut, Swiftstride.
Sorcerers' Curse: Much of Astragoth's body has
succumbed to petrification. He has 3+ Scaly Skin save
of 3+.
Steam Attack: Astragoth has discovered that he can
switch the pistons that drive his limbs around and blast
his enemies with a gout of scalding steam. He has a
Strength 3 breath weapon attack, but he may not use
this if he has moved that turn.
MAGIC ITEMS
Hammerhand: Magic Weapon. Astragoth's semi-
mechanical body incorporates a piston-driven hammer
which sometimes goes into overdrive, bludgeoning
enemies into a bloody pulp.
Astragoth has Killing Blow.
The Rod of Obsidian: Arcane Item. This short
volcanic glass staff forces the Winds of Magic to bend
to the will of its holder.
The Rod of Obsidian allows any Dispel attempt to be
re-rolled.
The Rune of Hashut: Talisman. Astragoth's forehead
is marked with a burning Rune of Hashut, placed upon
him by the Father of Darkness as a symbol of his
favour.
Astragoth has the Blessing of Hashut and a 5+ Ward
save.
57
LORD BHAAL Last Guardian, Eldest of the Bull Centaurs, the Death of Worlds
Few creatures can match the strength, speed and
ferocity of a Bull Centaur. Half Chaos Dwarf, half bull,
they are some of the most feared shock troops in the
world. Their commanders are even more dangerous, the
mighty Guardians and awesome Elders able to single-
handedly break a battle line and slay great heroes and
ferocious monsters. Like other Dwarfs, Bull Centaurs
become more powerful and skilled as they age, and so
the title of Lord of the Bull Centaurs is given to the
oldest and therefore most awe-inspiring specimen of
their race. Currently, this is the terrifying monstrosity
known as Bhaal.
Lord Bhaal is as fierce and arrogant as any of his race,
but the strain of ancient mutation is especially strong in
him. He is a huge, glowering beast, and wide horns
sprout from his brow. His flesh burns with terrific
intensity, glowing with the heat so his hindquarters
resemble a living furnace. In his hands, he carries a
huge daemonic axe, encrusted with ancient and terrible
Chaos runes.
Bhaal leaves the Temple of Hashut very rarely. As the
Eldest of the Bull Centaurs, he has a vital role to play in
the rites of the Father of Darkness, personally casting
captives into cauldrons of molten gold or iron. Because
the heat does not affect Bull Centaurs, they are
necessary to ensure the slaves are fully immersed,
plunging them into the scalding depths where their
screams are swallowed by liquid metal, which fills their
lungs and hastens their demise. Above these horrific
screams can be heard the gloating laughter of Lord
Bhaal, who takes particular delight in the suffering of
lesser races.
On the occasions when Lord Bhaal does take to the
field of battle, he shows little regard for any plan a
Warlord or Sorcerer Lord may have devised. He is
utterly contemptuous of non-Bull Centaurs, and kneels
for no one. The Priests have little choice but to allow
Bhaal to do as he wishes, because to cross him means
certain death: a Sorcerer Lord may be more powerful
than any other Chaos Dwarf in Zharr-Naggrund, but the
Bull Centaurs are the chosen creatures of Hashut, and
none would dare raise a hand against Lord Bhaal were
he to take exception to a Priest and cast him into the
cauldrons with the slaves.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Lord Bhaal 8 7 3 5 5 4 5 5 10
Troop Type: Monstrous Beast.
SPECIAL RULES Blessing of Hashut, Devastating Charge, Flaming
Attacks, Immune to Psychology, 6+ Scaly Skin,
Terror.
Fury of Hashut: Lord Bhaal is a furious, unstoppable
force. He is subject to Frenzy and extends this to any
Bull Centaur unit he has joined.
MAGIC ITEMS Dread Axe: Magic Weapon. Lord Bhaal bears the
Dread Axe, a weapon of ancient and terrible provenance
that is covered in vile Chaos runes.
The Dread Axe is a great weapon that wounds
automatically. Armour saves are modified by Bhaal's
Strength as normal.
―CRUSH THEM!‖
Lord Bhaal at the battle of uzkulak
58
HOTHGAR DAEMONBANE Sorcerer of the Forge, Scourge of the Empyrean, the Soul-Slaver
The most talented and powerful Daemonsmith of the
current generation is Hothgar Daemonbane. He is
accomplished enough in the magical arts to be a
Sorcerer in his own right, but he has chosen to use his
abilities to perfect his daemonic machines. He serves no
Sorcerer Lord – the products of his soul-forges being
valuable enough that he can play members of the
Conclave against each other – but most of his work is
done at the behest of Ghorth the Cruel, who knows well
the value of having powerful Daemonic Engines.
Hothgar built the Hellcannons that were eventually sold
to Archaon the Everchosen and, before that, constructed
the Doom Engines for Lord Mortkin.
Hothgar is a dangerous and driven individual. He has
pushed the boundaries of Chaos Dwarf science almost
to breaking point in his efforts to create larger and more
dangerous machines of war. Some of his experiments
have caused large scale destruction and many
casualties, leading to his brief exile from Zharr-
Naggrund. Hothgar's greatest invention was a huge,
bull-shaped machine called the Kolossus which proved
too unstable to be useful, but his long-standing dream is
to recreate it in an even grander and more spectacularly
destructive form. Each day, he nears his demented goal.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hothgar 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding.
Sorcerer of the Forge: Hothgar is a Daemonsmith.
Any Daemonic Engine unit within 6" of Hothgar
benefits from the Daemonsmith special rule, just as if it
included a Daemonsmith itself. Note that Hothgar will
not count as part of the unit.
MAGIC ITEMS Rod of Daemon Binding: Magic Weapon. Hothgar
carries an arcane staff that is bound with enchantments
designed to capture and enslave Daemons. A Daemon
touched by the Rod will find itself ensnared in magical
bonds.
Hothgar has Heroic Killing Blow against Daemons.
Soul Armour: Magic Armour. Hothgar wears a suit of
rune-encrusted armour that is proof against the attacks
of Daemons.
Chaos armour. Hothgar has a 3+ Ward save against
wounds inflicted by Daemons in close combat.
Daemonic Slaves: Enchanted Item. Hothgar is
constantly surrounded by a gaggle of chattering
Daemons enslaved to his will. He uses his arcane talents
to command these creatures to do his bidding.
Hothgar's Daemonic Slaves allow him to cast Bound
Spells at power level 4. Hothgar may only cast one
Bound Spell in this manner each magic phase and must
select which to use from the following options:
Daemonic Apparition: Cast as the Lore of Fire spell
Burning Head.
Daemonic Curse: Cast as the Lore of Metal spell
Commandment of Brass.
Daemonic Pinions: Cast as the Lore of Shadow spell
Steed of Shadows.
Daemonic Form: Cast as the Lore of Death spell Aspect
of the Dreadknight.
Hothgar does not benefit from any Lore Attributes.
59
RYKARTH THE UNBREAKABLE Captain of the Granite Guard, the Hand of Ghorth
Rykarth the Unbreakable is a prodigy of the Warrior
Caste. As a young Chaos Dwarf, he was responsible for
some of the great victories in Warlord Ulzuth's
scourging of the Blasted Wastes. He was elevated to the
rank of Ironguard before he even came of age and
proved an inspirational leader to his troops,
commanding absolute obedience from them. He was
lauded throughout the Plain of Zharr as an exemplar of
Chaos Dwarf toughness and stoicism. He was on course
to become the youngest Despot in history when a
directive came down from a mysterious source in the
Temple of Hashut: Rykarth became the first Warrior
ever to be commanded by the Conclave of Priests to
join the Immortals.
As an Immortal, Rykarth continued to excel, never
failing in his duties and possessing courage in excess
even of that usually demanded by the Immortals. After
seven years had passed, Rykarth prepared to return to
his warband but the Conclave intervened again: they
requested that Rykarth remain with the Immortals as a
captain within their ranks, leading as only he could. His
Lord had no choice but to agree and, even though he
was not a Baneguard, Rykarth's tenure with the
Immortals was extended indefinitely.
Rykarth never questioned his orders, for he was
unflinchingly loyal to his masters, but Zhatan the Black
marked well how Ghorth took an interest in the young
Immortal, sending him on missions that benefited
himself and recruiting him for secretive tasks. In time,
Rykarth became known as the Hand of Ghorth for,
though Zhatan was the Sorcerer Lord's most trusted
bodyguard, it was Rykarth who was most often seen
enacting his will outside the Temple. It was Rykarth
who brokered the deal with Archaon the Everchosen to
supply him with batteries of Hellcannons and it is said
that when the Lord of the End Times visited the hell-
forges below Zharr-Naggrund, Rykarth alone was able
to meet his infernal gaze.
Rykarth leads his own unit of Immortals, an elite
formation known as the Granite Guard. His prowess
grows by the year, and Ghorth grows ever more pleased
with his young protégé, giving him more and more
authority and autonomy, grooming him to perhaps
become his Warlord, a position he has always left
unfilled.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Rykarth 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding, Hatred, Unbreakable.
Granite Guard: Rykarth leads the Granite Guard, an
elite formation of Immortals. Rykarth's unit is
Unbreakable.
MAGIC ITEMS Cursed Rune Axe: Magic Weapon. The Cursed Rune
Axe is a larger version of the Immortals' Cursed Axes.
Great weapon. Armour Piercing.
Guards of the Tower
The Immortals are divided into a number of
different units, known as Guards, each
housed in a different barracks within the
Tower of Zharr and each having a different
area of responsibility and expertise. Rykarth's
Granite Guard are paragons of the Immortals'
fighting style, specialising in unyielding
defence, but other formations include the
Obsidian Guard who hunt enemy mages and the
Basalt Guard who are masters of siege
warfare. There is a fierce rivalry between the
different Guards, with each seeking to outdo
the others and gain the most glory. Different
Sorcerer Lords favour different Guards, but
they also play them against each other for
their own benefit.
60
VOLGAR THE MAD Shattermind, the Living Conduit
All Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers seek a way to halt the
effects of the Sorcerers' Curse, but Volgar was more
obsessed than most. He spent years researching
different possible solutions, most focused around
alchemical transmutation. Volgar reasoned that if it
were possible to transform base metals into gold, it may
also be possible to transform stone into flesh.
Unfortunately for Volgar, who had no test subject save
himself, his final experiment horribly backfired: the
stone parts of his body were indeed transmuted, but
they turned into amethyst crystals rather than living
flesh. The natural growth of the crystals actually
accelerated the process of the Sorcerers' Curse, causing
Volgar to transform even faster – though now it was
into amethyst rather than ordinary rock. Before long,
Volgar had become a hideous grotesque, his flesh rent
by crystal growths that pushed their way through his
skin, causing agonising pain.
There was also a strange side effect to Volgar's bizarre
transformation. Amethyst is naturally conductive to
magic, and considered by scholars to be the polar
opposite to obsidian in that regard. It is particularly
attuned to the mysterious Wind of Shyish, or Death
magic, which is often called Amethyst magic for that
very reason. Volgar found that his body had become a
living conductor for Death magic and that, as the
crystals worked their way into his brain, he was able to
see the Wind of Shyish and manipulate it as easily as a
warrior wields an axe. Of course, the saturation of
magic along with the changes being wrought on his
tortured body have sent Volgar quite mad. The more
magic he uses, the more likely he is to be driven into a
fit of madness, charging across the battlefield, blasting
his foes with eldritch bolts. Ironically, Volgar has a
unique mastery over magic, but it is exactly this that
will eventually lead to his death.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Volgar 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
MAGIC Volgar is a level 2 Wizard. He is unique in that he can
use spells from multiple Lores in the same battle.
Volgar has access to both the Lore of Metal and the
Lore of Death. When you pick your army, you must
decide whether he will use one Lore exclusively, or take
a spell from each. Volgar benefits from both Lore
Attributes as appropriate to the spell being cast.
SPECIAL RULES Unyielding.
Sorcerers' Curse: Much of Volgar's body has been
turned into amethyst. He has 5+ Scaly Skin.
Crystal Resonance: Volgar's crystals are attuned to the
Winds of Magic, allowing him to draw power through
his own body. He has a +1 bonus to all channelling
attempts.
Living Conduit: Being a walking magic conductor,
Volgar is not exactly stable. If he draws in too much
power he will temporarily be overcome by horrifying
visions, going into paroxysms of madness. If Volgar
ever miscasts, he will become subject to Frenzy in
addition to any other effects.
© Dwarf Tales
The House of Gar
Many say that the House of Gar, to which
Volgar the Mad belongs and of which his
distant cousin, Hothgar Daemonbane, is also
theoretically a member, is cursed. Its
current Sorcerer Lord, Thrungar the
Unlucky, has seen his realm diminish to less
than a quarter the size it was under his
predecessor, Lorgar the Foul. Perhaps this is
due to no less than two promising young
Sorcerers following their own paths rather
than working towards increasing the
influence of the Household.
61
GHUZ SLAVETAKER Plague of the Seas, Captain of The Bull's Fury
Though the Chaos Dwarfs' empire is essentially
landlocked, they nonetheless have an infamous history
of naval warfare. Their fearsome ironclad warships are
able to ply the seas of the Warhammer world thanks to
the polluted River Ruin that runs through their realm
and sluices into the Sea of Dread, and the great sea
tunnel they carved centuries ago between the Falls of
Doom and Uzkulak that gives them access to the Sea of
Chaos. By such means they are able to travel across
oceans and capture slaves from nations that have never
even heard the name of the Dawi'Zharr. But amongst
the many pirate captains that serve the Sorcerer Lords
of Zharr-Naggrund, one name stands out: that of Ghuz
Slavetaker. Ghuz is unique in that he is bound to no
single Sorcerer Lord. Instead, he has carved out
influence of his own as a mercenary captain, serving in
exchange for gold and slaves. He has been allowed to
continue to live outside Chaos Dwarf society because
he is so successful, so ruthless and so completely cold-
blooded in his dealings.
As much as Zharr-Naggrund needs slaves to power its
foul industry, Ghuz's ships' need is so much more
immediate – after a particularly bloody sea battle, many
of the slaves who toil in the bowels of his vessels will
have drowned, and Ghuz will need to replace them with
new slaves taken from the vanquished foe right away.
For this reason, Ghuz is an exemplar of the Chaos
Dwarf ideals of greed, consumption and the need for
instant gratification. He is short-sighted, boisterous and
rude; a vile, black-hearted pirate covered in ritual
brands and tattoos, face hung with piercings, flesh
embedded with runic talismans, who is most often
found at the prow of his flagship, The Bull's Fury,
gesticulating wildly and bellowing angrily at his crew
and slaves to bring him to the enemy faster. In short,
Ghuz is everything a Chaos Dwarf could ever wish to
be if liberated from the strict bonds of their society.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghuz 3 4 4 3 4 2 2 2 9
Troop Type: Infantry.
SPECIAL RULES
Unyielding.
Bloodthirsty Pirates: Ghuz and the Warriors he leads
are a band of ruthless sea dogs, owing allegiance to no
Lord of the Chaos Dwarfs. Ghuz and his unit may not
benefit from the army general's Inspiring Presence rule,
nor may they use the battle standard bearer's Hold Your
Ground rule.
Slavetaker: Ghuz's hunger for slaves outstrips even the
usual Dawi'Zharr desire, and he and his crew of rogues
will always try to capture the enemy instead of simply
cutting them down. Ghuz and his unit pursue only 1D6"
after winning a close combat as they stop to subdue and
bind the fallen foe, but any unit caught in this manner is
worth double victory points.
MAGIC ITEMS
Daemonscourge Pistols: Magic Weapon. Ghuz carries
a pair of matched pistols given to him as payment by a
Sorcerer for a particularly tricky sea raid. They contain
the bound essence of a Daemon, its soul magically torn
in half and split between the guns. They count as a
brace of pistols with Flaming Attacks.
62
GORDUZ BACKSTABBER Hobgoblin Chieftain, Sneakiest Git
Hobgoblins occupy a relatively privileged position
amongst the hordes of slaves that serve the Chaos
Dwarfs. They are allowed to keep their own customs,
their own tribes and their own leaders. Nonetheless, it is
rare indeed for a Hobgoblin to achieve a rank of any
influence in the armies of his masters. Naturally servile
and cowardly creatures, they are largely incapable of
making use of the even the meagre advantages the
Chaos Dwarfs give them. However, there is one
Hobgoblin who has risen to a position of power – or at
least notoriety – in the armies of the Dawi'Zharr.
Gorduz Backstabber has the dubious honour of being
the Chieftain of the Sneaky Git tribe, the vilest and most
loathsome of all the Hobgoblins. These treacherous
greenskins inhabit Gash Kadrak, the Vale of Woe,
where they oversee the great quarries that provide stone
for the Chaos Dwarfs' building projects. There, millions
of lesser slaves toil under the cruel whips of the Sneaky
Gitz.
Gorduz is a traitorous as all his kin, and thinks nothing
of betraying his fellow Hobgoblins to his masters in
exchange for their favouritism – hence his epitaph.
Unlike in almost any other species, this does not lead to
him being despised, but in fact admired and respected
by other Hobgoblins. In a race that has evolved a bony
hump on their shoulders due to their predilection for
clandestine assassinations, Gorduz stands as a paragon
of those dubious Hobgoblin values.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Gorduz 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
Troop Type: Cavalry.
SPECIAL RULES Disposable, Late as Usual! (see page 39), Fast
Cavalry, Poisoned Attacks.
Git: Fated...lucky...sneaky: call it what you will, but
Gorduz has an unnatural instinct for survival that has
allowed him to emerge unscathed from multiple
assassination attempts by his rivals. When Gorduz is
reduced to his last Wound, he gains a 4+ ward save.
Hobgoblin Chieftain: Gorduz is the chieftain of the
Sneaky Git tribe of Hobgoblins. Hobgoblin Wolf Riders
within 12" of Gorduz may use his Leadership as if he
were the army General.
MAGIC ITEMS Black Bow: Magic Weapon. Gorduz carries a bow that
was a gift from his Chaos Dwarf masters after his
service at the Battle of Uzkulak. The arrows are tipped
with shards of obsidian and the bow itself is fashioned
from Daemon-bone. The Black Bow is unerringly
accurate as if guided by some animalistic sentience, and
its shots can hammer through almost any armour.
Bow. Gorduz has the Sniper special rule. Any model hit
by the Black Bow must re-roll successful armour saves.
Wolf Pelt: Magic Armour. Gorduz wears a thick wolf
pelt across his shoulders, taken from one of the savage
Great Wolves that roam the Dark Lands. These beasts
were warped by the power of Chaos in ancient times
and possess unnatural resilience.
Gorduz has a +1 armour save bonus against shooting
attacks.
"Stick 'em wiv arrers. Stick 'em wiv
knives, an' swords an' spears. Stick
'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts.
But most of all...stick 'em when
they's lookin' the uvver way."
Gorduz backstabber
63
The doors to the chamber were opened by attendants, and the warrior walked in. He beheld a grim scene within the long hall. The walls, illuminated by guttering torches, were lined by great statues of ancient heroes. The former Lords of the Immortals, represented in stone relief, watched him with sightless eyes as he passed beneath their awesome gaze. At the end of the room was a throne carved from a single block of obsidian by the most talented slaves, scored by evil designs and foul runes that caused he who sat upon it to be protected by magical wards. No one could harm the one who presided over this empty court. The visitor dropped down to one knee before the occupant of the throne, bowing his head low.
‚Rise, Rykarth,‛ a hoarse voice bade him. Slowly, he stood, unperturbed by the massive weight of his Chaos armour. Watching him was a second figure standing beside the throne, dressed in the same manner, but far grander and with a massive hammer in place of Rykarth’s less ornate axe. However, all his attention was occupied by the shrunken figure who watched him from the throne. He wore black robes, and no tall helm adorned his wrinkled brow. Long, snarling tusks protruded from his lower lip, framing his long, hooked nose. His eyes blazed fiery red. His beard, curled into rings in the fashion of Zharr-Naggrund, was entirely white. He caressed a golden object in his lap. Rykarth tried not to look at the Sorcerer's feet, which had been transformed into dark grey stone.
‚It is long since you have graced my court,‛ Ghorth said.
‚I come only when I am bidden, Master.‛
‚As it should be. You have kept a keen watch over the forges. Your reports have been prompt and concise.‛
‚It could not be otherwise, Master.‛
‚No indeed. You have proved yourself valuable to me many times, Rykarth the Unbreakable, not least in brokering such a favourable deal with the Everchosen. Our pens are full; our forges glow brightly, staining the heavens with their industry. It has pleased me to aid his endeavours.‛
‚The soft lands of the west have suffered under his onslaught, Master.‛
Ghorth nodded. ‚And yet, it has not been enough. The great Empire of Men has withstood his assault. Their country still stands, and Acrhaon has failed. Even with the help of our mighty Hellcannons, it has not been enough. This...disappoints me.‛
‚His failure casts shame upon the name of the Dawi’Zharr.‛
‚Yes. It does. So often the Everchosen overreach themselves. They burn brightly, but not for long.‛ Ghorth picked up the object in his lap and held it before him. ‚Even those who seek the mantle are doomed to destroy themselves.‛
Contemptuously, the ancient Priest cast aside the object – a golden mask – dropping it to the floor with a clatter. It lay to one side, forlorn and forgotten on the flagstones.
‚Those who truly know what power is, who are not seduced by its promise, but who see its real worth, are willing to wait. They are content to remain in the shadows, and are not discouraged by the failures of their agents. Archaon’s defeat was a failure for the Four Gods, but not for their forgotten brother. The routing of Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh is the rallying cry of Hashut. The Hellcannons were but our first tendrils.‛
‚Master...?‛
‚The Empire of Men has trembled at the sound of our voice – at the bull-roar of mighty Hashut – and so they will again. Even now, more Daemonic Engines are being built in the forges and we will sell them to more Lords of Chaos in time. But this is only the beginning. Long have I prepared my machines and my armies for my greatest task. It has taken decades, but at last I have almost total control over Zharr-Naggrund. A thousand thousand warriors swear fealty to me and me alone. The time of our coming approaches.‛
Rykarth shifted uncomfortably in his heavy armour. ‚You intend to march upon the west in force?‛
‚You object?‛
‚I do not see what the lands of the Manlings offer us. Their iron is soft and impure, their gold cut into useless discs and their people are so battered by war that they will be good for little more than fodder.‛
‚Iron of any quality can be put to good use. Gold can be melted down. Their flesh will feed the many more slaves that we will take for, though the Manlings have been hurt by Archaon’s war, there are those in their lands that thrive on battle. Greenskins in endless numbers still roam the wastes, followers and beasts of Chaos still haunt the forests. All will be taken as slaves.‛
‚All?‛
‚Rykarth,‛ Ghorth leant forward in his throne, moving slowly and carefully, ‚when we descend upon the West, nothing will survive. My armies will make Archaon’s storm look like a passing rain cloud. I will empty the slave pens, the Warrior’s barracks, the Taurus stables and the Tower of Zharr itself and we will march across the mountains. Already I have heard from emissaries I dispatched to the Hobgoblin Hegemony and they have promised ten thousand spears for our armies. My slaving bands scour the Dark Lands for more captives for our armies. The time is ripe...‛
64
MASSING THE COHORT This chapter presents a showcase of some of the fantastic miniatures available for the Chaos
Dwarfs. It also provides a guide to starting off your collection, from which your tabletop
armies will be drawn, and some ideas for expanding it further.
THE ROAD TO RUIN There are many paths to amassing a force of Chaos
Dwarfs. Some people will write their army list first,
selecting a force that is balanced, or which will
mercilessly crush all before them in the manner of true
Chaos Dwarfs. Others will be drawn towards the unique
range of models that make up the Chaos Dwarfs' armies
and the conversion opportunities that creatures like the
Taurus and Daemonic Engines represent or to the rich
background of this most evil and twisted of races.
Perhaps you've read about the unyielding defence of
Rykarth and the Immortals, or the fearsome Lord Bhaal
and have a vision of a massed Bull Centaur charge. Or
maybe the story of the mad scientist Hothgar
Daemonbane has inspired you to create the most insane
and deplorable Daemonic Engine that you can imagine
and unleash it on an unsuspecting opponent. All of
these options are equally valid, and all will make for a
unique collection and doubtless hours of gaming
entertainment.
Veteran Chaos Dwarf players will probably already
have a highly individualistic army, but they can rest
assured that their collection will work with this book
and hopefully the new units will inspire them to add to
their beloved force. Other long time Warhammer
players may not have any Chaos Dwarfs yet, but they
will have a good idea of what they want to try out just
by reading through the army list.
However you prefer to amass your Chaos Dwarfs, it is
always best to start small and work your way up,
painting your first purchases before buying new ones.
This allows you to practise your paint scheme and
perfect your skills, as well as decide what you enjoy
painting most. But once the painting is finished, it's
never too soon to get your fledgling army onto the
battlefield to see exactly what the Chaos Dwarfs are all
about when the dice start rolling.
Once your first units have been painted and refined in
the fiery crucible of battle, you can start to think about
expansion. How your army performed will inform your
future decisions, but don't be afraid to focus on the
models you like painting or modelling. Most players
tend to fall between these two extremes, collecting an
army that is pleasing to both the eye and the tabletop.
THE BONDAGE OF HASHUT A Chaos Dwarf army, like the insane society of Zharr-
Naggrund, is defined by the character of its general,
who represents you yourself on the tabletop. As your
army grows and you have more flexibility in what you
can bring to the battlefield, you may want to think about
sort of character you want to represent you. You may go
with a Sorcerer Lord, a powerful spell caster with
unusually high Leadership for a wizard character who is
no slouch in combat thanks to his choice of mounts. Or
perhaps you prefer to focus on combat with a Warlord
who is a truly savage foe and makes an ideal anchor for
your battleline. Either of these models would make
amazing centrepieces for your collection and many
people like to come up with names and back stories for
their leaders and keep track of their foul deeds from
game to game.
Another option is the special characters available to the
Chaos Dwarfs. These models are amongst some of the
most unique available, and reward having extra
attention lavished upon them. They also have unique
and deadly special rules that can influence the way you
use and select your army.
THE DAWI'ZHARR The bulk of a Chaos Dwarf army is made up of
armoured Warriors and Stormcallers, a solid mass of
brave, tough troops who, accompanied by appropriate
characters, will rarely run from anything. Chaos Dwarf
players can also support these bastions with hordes of
cheap, expendable Slaves. You may not be able to build
a whole army from these pitiful troops, but a vast unit
of cannon fodder protecting your more valuable
warriors is nothing to be sniffed at.
There are many even more elite troops to collect too.
Most obvious are the Immortals, which are Warriors
taken to their utmost but you may also consider using
the Acolytes of Hashut, whose arcane abilities can
augment your Sorcerers and Sorcerer Lords. There are
also Hobgoblin Wolf Riders who can turn the tide of a
battle with a timely arrival on the flank.
Finally, one of the most dangerous options for a Chaos
Dwarf general are the Daemonic Engines. Not only are
these beasts a terrifying cross between monster and war
machine, but they can also be customised to your heart's
content, Daemonic Upgrades giving you thousands of
potential combinations of abilities to make your
creations totally unique.
65
Tjub's army has been lovingly painted and converted over a relatively short period, giving it a fantastic unified look. This
army is very much in the vein of the traditional Chaos Dwarf design, but updated for the modern era of Warhammer.
Baggronor's army is completely unique, with each and every model converted almost from scratch. Although this army
was designed to be used competitively in tournaments, Baggronor's work on perfecting the aesthetics of his Chaos
Dwarfs has led directly to many of the decisions taken in writing this book.
66
Astragoth, High Priest of
Hashut. By Thomas Hunt.
Hothgar Daemonbane.
By M3lvin.
Sorcerer. By Hammerhand. Sorcerer on Taurus. By
M3lvin.
67
Chaos Dwarf Warlord on Taurus. By Ishkur Cinderhat.
Battle standard bearer.
By Kris Aubin
Chaos Dwarf Warlord.
By Snotling.
Zhatan the Black. By
Adam Benesz.
Chaos Dwarf Warlord.
By Malcolm Neill.
68
Chaos Dwarf Warriors. By
Ishkur Cinderhat.
Chaos Dwarf Warrior. By
Exquisite Evil.
Chaos Dwarf Ironguard.
By Snotling.
Chaos Dwarf Warriors. By Bassman.
69
Chaos Dwarf Stormcallers. By Tjub.
Stormcaller.
By Grimstonefire.
Stormcaller.
By Baggronor.
Stormcaller. By Snotling.
Standard bearer. By Bassman.
Chaos Dwarf Stormcallers. By Ishkur Cinderhat.
70
Slaves. By Tjub.
Sneaky Gits. By Ghost.
Slaves. By Xander.
Slave.
By Arekarkadiusz.
Slave.
By Warh.
71
Slaves. By Snotling.
These Slaves demonstrate some of the variety
possible for your own Slave units. Slaves can be
anything from Greenskins (above) to twisted,
tottering Daemon-Dolls (below).
Slaves. By Tjub.
72
Immortals. By Slim.
Immortals. By Baggronor.
Rykarth the Unbreakable. By
AngryBoy2K.
Immortal standard bearer. By
Grimstonefire.
73
Bull Centaurs. By Tjub.
Bull Centaurs. By Bassman.
Bull Centaur. By Vexxus.
74
The Black Bow.
Gorduz's banner,
showing exactly
what kind of ally
he is.
Gorduz Backstabber.
By Ishkur Cinderhat.
Hobgoblin Wolf Rider.
By Ishkur Cinderhat.
Wolf Rider standard bearer. By Ishkur
Cinderhat.
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders. By Bassman.
75
Ogres. By Spiky James.
Ogre. By bas_2312. Black Orcs. By Kendert.
Black Orcs. By Ubertechie.
76
Mortal Engine. By Ishkur Cinderhat.
Mortal Engine with Death Rockets. By Bassman.
Mortal Engine. By Ghrask Dragh. Mortal Engine. By Tjub.
Chaos Dwarf crewman.
By Obsidian.
77
Altar of Hashut. By Baggronor.
Bull Centaur Attendant.
Molten gold, into which unfortunate slaves are cast.
A terrifying effigy of the Father of Darkness Himself.
78
Daemonic Engine with Death Rockets. By Blackgonzo.
Daemonic Engine with Ironclad and
Razor Claws. By GeOrc.
Daemonic Engine with Ironclad and
Eruption Cannon. By Warh.
Daemonsmith.
By Dino.
Daemonsmith.
By Warh.
Daemonic Engine with Daemonic
Barrage and Death Rockets. By Kris
Aubin.
79
Daemonic Engine with Infernal Shells. By Ishkur Cinderhat.
Daemonic Engine with Daemonic Barrage and Doomfire. By Xander.
80
This huge Daemonic Engine by
Ishkur Cinderhat is surely one of
Hothgar Daemonbane's insane
creations!
81
CHAOS DWARFS ARMY LIST This army list enables you to turn your Chaos Dwarf
miniatures collection into an army ready for a tabletop
battle. As described in the Warhammer rulebook, the
army list is divided into four sections: Characters
(including Lords and Heroes), Core Units, Special Units
and Rare Units.
CHOOSING AN ARMY Every miniature in the Warhammer range has a points
cost that reflects how effective it is on the battlefield.
For example, a lowly Slave costs just 2 points, while
one of the mighty Sorcerer Lords who rules Zharr-
Naggrund costs 200 points!
Both players choose their armies to the same agreed
points total. You can spend less and will probably find
it impossible to use up every last point. Most 2,000
point armies, for example, will be more like 1,998 or
1,999 points.
To form your miniatures into an army, look up the
relevant army list entry for the first troop type. This tells
you the points cost to add each unit of models to your
army and any options or upgrades the unit may have.
Then select your next unit, calculate its points and so on
until you reach the agreed points total. In addition to the
points value, there are a few other rules that govern
which units you can include in your army, as detailed
under Choosing Characters and Choosing Troops.
ARMY LIST ENTRIES Profiles. The characteristic profiles for the model(s) in
each unit are provided as a reminder. Where several
profiles are required, these are also given even if they
are optional.
Unit size. Each troop entry specifies the minimum size
for each unit, which is the smallest number of models
needed to form that unit.
Weapons and Armour. Each entry lists the standard
weapons and armour for that troop type. The cost of
these items is included in the basic points value.
Additional or optional weapons and armour cost extra
and are covered in the Options section of the unit entry.
Special Rules. Many troops have special rules that are
described earlier in the section of this book entitled 'The
Dark Cohort'. The names of these rules are listed as a
handy reminder.
Options. Many entries list different weapon, armour
and equipment options, along with any additional points
cost for giving them to the unit. This includes magic
items and other upgrades for characters. It may also
include the option to upgrade a unit member to a
champion, standard bearer or musician.
CHOOSING CHARACTERS Characters are divided into two categories: Lords and
Heroes. The maximum number of characters you can
include is determined by the points cost of your army,
as described on page 134 of the Warhammer rulebook.
In general, you can spend up to 25% of the total points
cost of your army on Lords, and up to 25% on Heroes.
An army must always include at least one character to
act as the General. If you include more than one
character, then the one with the highest Leadership
value is the General. When one or more characters have
the same (and highest) Leadership, choose one to be the
General at the start of the battle. Make sure that your
opponent knows which character is your General when
you deploy your army.
Many Chaos Dwarfs characters can be equipped with
magic items from the Creations of the Cursed Forges.
These items range from powerful magic weapons, to
banners and other arcane items. Where characters have
this option, it is included in their list entry.
CHOOSING TROOPS The amount you can spend on each type of unit allowed
depends on the army's points value, and you must
include at least three units, as described in page 134 of
the Warhammer rulebook.
For Core units, there is a minimum amount you must
spend on units in this category (generally 25% of the
total points value). Slaves do not count towards this
minimum amount.
For Special and Rare units, there is maximum amount
of points you can spend (usually 50% and 25% of the
army's total points value respectively). You may also
only include a certain number of duplicate Special and
Rare units. This is explained on page 135 of the
Warhammer rulebook.
Like many characters, some Chaos Dwarfs units can be
equipped with magic items (usually banners). Where
units have this option, it is included in their entry.
82
LORDS
LORD BHAAL 400 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Bhaal 8 7 3 5 5 4 5 5 10
You may only include one Lord Bhaal in your army.
Page 57
.
Equipment:
Chaos armour
Dread Axe
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Devastating Charge
Flaming Attacks
Immune to
Psychology
6+ Scaly Skin
Terror
Fury of Hashut
GHORTH THE CRUEL 500 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghorth 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10
Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9
You may only include one Ghorth in your army.
Magic:
Ghorth is a level 4 Wizard. He may choose his spells
from the Lore of Fire, the Lore of Metal, the Lore of
Shadow or the Lore of Death.
Page 52
.
Equipment:
Mask of Zhargon
Daemonic Familiar
Book of Hashut
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bondage of Hashut
Sorcerers' Curse
The Black Throne
ZHATAN THE BLACK 320 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Zhatan 3 8 4 4 5 4 4 4 10
You may only include one Zhatan in your army.
Page 54
.
Equipment:
Chaos armour
Hammer of Zharr
Ring of Unmaking
Black Mantle
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bondage of Hashut
Reckless Hate
ASTRAGOTH 445 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 3 2 10
You may only include one Astragoth in your army. If
Astragoth is taken, Acolytes of Hashut count as Core
units instead of Special units.
Magic:
Astragoth is a level 4 Wizard. He may choose his
spells from the Lore of Fire, the Lore of Metal, the
Lore of Shadow or the Lore of Death.
Page 55
.
Equipment:
Hammerhand
Rod of Obsidian
Rune of Hashut
Special Rules:
Bondage of Hashut
Swiftstride
Sorcerers' Curse
Steam Attack
83
LORDS
Page 33
Options:
Magic items:
- Any up to a total of .........................100 points
Weapons (one choice only):
- Great weapon ......................................6 points
- Additional hand weapon .....................6 points
- Pistol .................................................10 points
- Brace of Pistols .................................20 points
May also take:
- Shield ..................................................3 points
Mount:
- Great Taurus .....................................50 points
.
CHAOS DWARF WARLORD 145 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Warlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10
CHAOS DWARF SORCERER LORD 200 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Sorcerer Lord 0 4 3 4 5 3 1 1 10
Palanquin 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 4 9
Magic:
A Sorcerer Lord is a level 3 Wizard. He may choose his spells from
the Lore of Fire, the Lore of Metal, the Lore of Shadow or the Lore of
Death.
GREAT TAURUS
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Taurus 8 4 0 5 5 2 3 2 8
Options:
Upgrade to:
- Winged Taurus ..................................50 points
May have any of the following Daemonic Upgrades up to a total value of 100 points:
* May only be taken if Colossal is also taken.
- Foul Excretion .........15 points
- Great Horns .............20 points
- Ironclad ....................10 points
- Obsidian Flesh .........15 points
- Colossal ................20 points
- Ferocious* ............20 points
- Fiendish Blast ......20 points
- Flaming Hide .......10 points
- Razor Claws ............25 points
- Smog .......................20 points
- Talisman of Hashut .30 points
- Thunderous Charge*25 points
- Whirling Blades ......15 points
Page 44
Special Rules:
Fear
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules
(Palanquin):
Magical Attacks
Iron Bound
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bondage of Hashut
Sorcerers' Curse
Page 32
Options:
Upgrade to a:
- Level 4 Wizard ..................................35 points
Magic items:
- Any up to a total of .........................100 points
Mount (one choice only):
- Palanquin ..........................................50 points
- Great Taurus .....................................50 points
.
Note: A Palanquin is mounted on a 40 x 40 mm
base.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bondage of Hashut
84
HEROES
VOLGAR THE MAD 180 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Volgar 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
You may only include one Volgar in your army.
Magic:
Volgar is a Level 2 Wizard. He may choose his spells
from the Lore of Metal, the Lore of Death or have one
spell from each of those Lores.
Page 60
.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Sorcerers' Curse
Crystal Resonance
Living Conduit
GORDUZ BACKSTABBER 135 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Gorduz 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
You may only include one Gorduz in your army. If
Gorduz is taken, Hobgoblin Wolf Riders count as
Core units instead of Special units.
Page 62
.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Light armour
Shield
Black Bow
Wolf Pelt
Giant Wolf
Special Rules:
Disposable
Late as Usual!
Fast Cavalry
Poisoned Attacks
Git
Hobgoblin Chieftain
HOTHGAR DAEMONBANE 200 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hothgar 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9
You may only include one Hothgar in your army. If
Hothgar is taken, Daemonic Engines with up to 50
points of Daemonic Upgrades count as Special units
instead of Rare units. One Daemonic Engine in your
army may have up to 150 points of Daemonic
Upgrades.
Page 58
.
Equipment:
Rod of Daemon
Binding
Soul Armour
Daemonic Slaves
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Sorcerer of the
Forge
CHAOS DWARF SORCERER 80 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9
Magic:
A Sorcerer is a level 1 Wizard. He may choose his
spells from the Lore of Fire or the Lore of Metal.
Page 32
Options:
Upgrade to a:
- Level 2 Wizard ..................................35 points
Magic items:
- Any up to a total of ...........................50 points
Mount:
- Lesser Taurus ....................................50 points
.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Sorcerers' Curse
85
HEROES
BULL CENTAUR ELDER 180 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Elder 8 6 3 5 5 3 4 4 9
CHAOS DWARF DESPOT 85 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
Page 33
Options:
Magic items:
- Any up to a total of ...........................50 points
Weapons (one choice only):
- Great weapon ......................................4 points
- Additional hand weapon .....................4 points
- Pistol ...................................................7 points
- Brace of Pistols .................................14 points
May also take:
- Shield ..................................................2 points
Mount:
- Lesser Taurus ....................................50 points
.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bondage of Hashut
BATTLE STANDARD BEARER
One Despot or Bull Centaur Elder may carry
the Battle Standard for +25 points. The bearer
may not be the Army General.
The Battle Standard Bearer can have any
magic banner (no points limit). A model
carrying a magic banner cannot have any other
magic items.
LESSER TAURUS
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Taurus 8 4 0 5 5 2 3 2 8
Options:
May have any of the following Daemonic Upgrades up to a total value of 50 points:
- Fiendish Blast ....................20 points
- Flaming Hide .........................5 points
- Foul Excretion .....................15 points
- Ironclad ................................10 points
- Obsidian Flesh .................15 points
- Razor Claws .....................25 points
- Smog ................................20 points
- Whirling Blades ...............15 points
Page 44
Special Rules:
Fear
Page 45
Options:
Magic items:
- Any up to a total of ...........................50 points
Weapons (one choice only):
- Great weapon ....................................10 points
- Additional hand weapon .....................5 points
May also take:
- Shield ..................................................4 points
- Throwing axes .....................................4 points
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Flaming Attacks
Immune to
Psychology
Fear
6+ Scaly Skin
86
CORE
Page 34
Options:
Upgrade one Warrior to an Ironguard .......10 points
Upgrade one Warrior to a musician ............5 points
Upgrade one Warrior to a standard bearer 10 points
- may have a magic standard worth up to .50 points
Additional equipment:
- Great weapons ...........................1 point per model
- Shields .......................................1 point per model
One Warrior unit in the army may include Ghuz
Slavetaker instead of an Ironguard ............45 points
CHAOS DWARF WARRIORS 10 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Unit size:
10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
GHUZ SLAVETAKER
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ghuz 3 4 4 3 4 2 2 2 9
You may only include one Ghuz in your army. Ghuz
counts as a unit champion in all respects.
Page 60
.
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Chaos armour
Daemonscourge
Pistols
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Bloodthirsty Pirates
Slavetaker
Page 38
Options:
Upgrade one Slave to a Driver ..................10 points
Upgrade one Slave to a musician ................4 points
Upgrade one Slave to a standard bearer ......8 points
May have one of the following upgrades:
- Bows ........................................3 points per model
- Shields .......................................1 point per model
- Spears and shields ....................2 points per model
- Sneaky Gits ..............................4 points per model
SLAVES 2 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5
Driver 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
Note that Slave Units do not count towards the minimum
Core choices of the army.
Unit size:
10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Special Rules:
Disposable
Page 35
Options:
Upgrade one Warrior to a Stormguard ........5 points
Upgrade one Warrior to a musician ............5 points
Upgrade one Warrior to a standard bearer 10 points
- may have a magic standard worth up to .50 points
Additional equipment:
- Shields .......................................1 point per model
CHAOS DWARF STORMCALLERS 13 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9
Unit Size:
10+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Blunderbuss
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
87
SPECIAL
PETRIFIED SORCERER
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Petrified
Sorcerer
3 - 0 - 4 6 2 4 9
Page 36
Options:
Upgrade one Immortal to a Baneguard .....12 points
- may have a magic item worth up to ........25 points
Upgrade one Immortal to a musician ..........6 points
Upgrade one Immortal to a
standard bearer ..........................................12 points
- may have a magic standard worth up to .50 points
One Immortal unit in the army may include a
Petrified Sorcerer ....................................100 points
One Immortal unit in the army may include
Rykarth the Unbreakable instead of a
Baneguard ...............................................120 points
IMMORTALS 16 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Immortals 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9
Baneguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9
Unit size:
10+
Equipment:
Cursed Axe
Chaos armour
Shield
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Hatred
Stubborn
Indomitable Defence
Oathsworn
RYKARTH THE UNBREAKABLE
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Rykarth 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9
You may only include one Rykarth in your army.
Rykarth counts as a unit champion in all respects.
Page 59
.
Equipment:
Cursed Rune Axe
Chaos Armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Hatred
Unbreakable
Granite Guard
Page 37
Options:
Upgrade one Acolyte to an Adept .............10 points
Upgrade one Acolyte to a standard bearer 10 points
- may have a magic standard worth up to .50 points
One Acolytes of Hashut unit in the army may
include a Petrified Sorcerer .....................100 points
ACOLYTES OF HASHUT 13 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Acolyte 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Adept 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Unit size:
10+
Equipment:
Ceremonial glaive
(counts as halberd)
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Unyielding
Dirges of Hashut
Sorcerer Caste
A Petrified Sorcerer counts as part of its unit in all
respects. A Petrified Sorcerer is mounted on a
40 x 60 mm base.
Page 50
Special Rules:
Bondage of Hashut
Blessing of Hashut
4+ Scaly Skin
4+ ward save
Fell Icon
Fear
88
SPECIAL
Page 39
Options:
Upgrade one Wolf Rider to a Khan ...........12 points
Upgrade one Wolf Rider to a musician .......6 points
Upgrade one Wolf Rider to a
standard bearer ..........................................12 points
Additional equipment:
- Spears ........................................1 point per model
- Bows ........................................3 points per model
- Shields (will no longer count as
Fast Cavalry) .............................1 point per model
HOBGOBLIN WOLF RIDERS 13 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Hobgoblin 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6
Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
Unit size:
5+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Light armour
Giant wolf
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fast Cavalry
Late as Usual!
Page 49
Options:
Upgrade one Ogre to an Ogre Berserker ...20 points
Upgrade one Ogre to a musician ...............10 points
Upgrade one Ogre to a standard bearer .....20 points
Additional equipment:
- Chaos armour ...........................5 points per model
- Additional hand weapons ........5 points per model
- Great weapons .......................10 points per model
OGRES 35 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7
Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7
Unit size:
3+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fear
Page 48
Options:
Upgrade one Black Orc to a Boss .............20 points
Upgrade one Black Orc to a musician .........6 points
Upgrade one Black Orc to a
standard bearer ..........................................12 points
Additional equipment:
- Shields .......................................1 point per model
BLACK ORCS 13 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8
Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8
Unit size:
5+
Equipment:
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Disposable
Fool Me Once
89
SPECIAL
Page 46
Options:
Upgrade the crew to Chaos Dwarfs ..........10 points
Upgrade to Artillery ..................................35 points
Artillery may take one of the following Daemonic
Upgrades:
- Daemonic Barrage ..................................25 points
- Death Rockets .........................................10 points
- Diabolic Sentience ..................................25 points
- Eruption Cannon .......................................5 points
- Infernal Shells .........................................30 points
MORTAL ENGINE 25 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - -
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 - 2 1 5
Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 1 9
Unit size:
1 Mortal Engine and 2
Slave crew
Equipment (Slaves):
Hand weapon
Equipment (Chaos
Dwarfs):
Hand weapon
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Mortal Engine
RARE Page 40
Options:
Upgrade one Chaos Dwarf to a
Daemonsmith ............................................60 points
May take any of the following Daemonic
Upgrades, up to a total value of 100 points:
- Colossal ...................................................20 points
- Daemonic Barrage ..................................25 points
- Death Rockets* .......................................10 points
- Diabolic Sentience ..................................25 points
- Doomfire* ...............................................30 points
- Eruption Cannon* .....................................5 points
- Ferocious .................................................20 points
- Fiendish Blast .........................................20 points
- Flaming Hide ..........................................10 points
- Foul Excretion .........................................15 points
- Great Horns .............................................20 points
- Grinder† ..................................................30 points
- Hellbore† ................................................50 points
- Infernal Shells* .......................................30 points
- Ironclad ...................................................10 points
- Obsidian Flesh ........................................15 points
- Razor Claws ............................................25 points
- Scourge of the Skies† .............................30 points
- Smog .......................................................30 points
- Talisman of Hashut .................................30 points
- Thunderous Charge .................................25 points
- Warbarge† ...............................................15 points
- Warpfire ..................................................20 points
- Whirling Blades ......................................10 points
*May choose one only.
†May choose one only.
DAEMONIC ENGINE 105 points
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Engine 6 4 3 5 6 3 1 3 5
Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Unit size:
3 Chaos Dwarfs and 1
Daemonic Engine
Equipment (Chaos
Dwarfs):
Hand weapon
Heavy armour
Special Rules:
Fear
Unbreakable
Monster and
Handlers
Daemonic Engine
Rampage
Daemonsmith
Bound Daemon
90
RARE
ALTAR OF HASHUT 170 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Altar of Hashut - - - - 7 9 - - -
Lesser Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 2 10
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 - 2 0 10
Equipment:
Hand weapon
CHAOS DWARF HELMETS
Chaos Dwarfs are notorious for their unusual
headgear; namely their large and elaborate
helmets that in some extreme cases actually
double the height of the Dwarf wearing them.
These strange items of apparel have earned Chaos
Dwarfs the derisive nickname 'big hats' amongst
their enemies. The history of the infamous helmets
is convoluted but, to the ritual-obsessed Chaos
dwarfs, quite logical. At the beginning of the
Second Kingdom period, the Warriors had already
established themselves as a distinct population,
even before the Caste system was formalised, and
they were noticeably larger, stronger and fiercer
in appearance than their fellows. The Sorcerers,
wishing to make their newfound dominance clear,
donned tall helmets in order to disguise their
diminutive stature beside their followers.
The helmets soon took on a life of their own,
growing in size and becoming more decorative to
denote a Sorcerer's allegiance or speciality. In
time they became fashionable throughout Chaos
Dwarf society until Zhargon made their wearing
compulsory. After the end of the Second
Kingdom, the helmets fell out of favour, but
some traditionalist Dawi'Zharr still wear them,
particularly those who come from Zharr-
Naggrund itself. The wearing of a tall helmet in
battle is largely down to the personal taste of
the warband's commander – some Sorcerer
Lords insist on it, while more practical
Warlords eschew them entirely because they
are cumbersome in combat. The Immortals in
particular almost never wear them, save as part
of their dress uniform in the Tower of Zharr.
Page 51
Special Rules:
Unbreakable
3+ armour save
4+ ward save
Sacrificial Altar
Summoned Daemons
Unit size:
1 Altar of Hashut and
crew consisting of a
Lesser Sorcerer and 8
Slaves.
Page 45
Options:
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a Guardian ..20 points
- may have a magic item worth up to ........25 points
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a musician ..10 points
Upgrade one Bull Centaur to a
standard bearer ..........................................20 points
- may have a magic standard worth up to .50 points
Must have one of the following:
- Great weapons .........................5 points per model
- Additional hand weapons ........5 points per model
Additional equipment:
- Throwing axes .........................2 points per model
BULL CENTAURS 40 points per model
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Bull Centaur 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 2 9
Guardian 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 9
Unit size:
3+
Equipment:
Hand weapon
Shield
Chaos armour
Special Rules:
Blessing of Hashut
Flaming Attacks
Immune to
Psychology
Fear
6+ Scaly Skin
91
No Household has had such notoriety in recent history as that of Krunngar Blackhand, a dangerous Sorcerer Lord known for his unusual physical vitality and skill with binding Daemons. The Sorcerers of House Blackhand had long preferred to enslave Daemons captured in battle rather than summoned into their hell-forges, believing that such creatures, already given the taste of blood, prove more vicious and powerful. House Blackhand had enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Hothgar Daemonbane, and provided many of the Daemons bound into the engines that he constructed and eventually sold to Archaon the Everchosen. It is even rumoured that Krunngar was part of the delegation with Rykarth that brokered the original deal with the Lord of the End Times. When Archaon marched to war, Krunngar went so far as to provide him with Chaos Dwarf troops and, in what some in Zharr-Naggrund considered a fit of sudden madness, joined them too. He was never heard from again. However, his sons succeeded him and, though House Blackhand was now without a Sorcerer Lord to lead it, they had other resources.
House Blackhand's lust for fresh Daemons to enslave had for generations led to them contributing their Warriors to the so-called Embersworn Clans. These elite Chaos Dwarf Warriors specialise in hunting Daemons, travelling many hundreds of leagues in search of powerful entities to bind in obsidian cages and bring back to Zharr-Naggrund for the Daemonsmiths to use in their dark experiments. Many members of the Embersworn go on to serve in the Onyx Guard, Immortals trained and equipped to destroy Daemons. The two sons of Blackhand, Kromlek and Marrog, are both captains of the Embersworn, and it is rumoured that Marrog may possess the spark required to one day become a Sorcerer, and that Hothgar Daemonbane has taken a special interest in the son of his old ally. The two brothers are currently somewhere at large in the Dark Lands at the head of a band of Embersworn, allegedly in the service of Ghorth the Cruel, but doubtless with some aim of their own in mind. Marrog Blackhand is known to harbour the ambition of a true Sorcerer, and seeks to restore House Blackhand to its former glory with the aid of his Daemon hunters.
HOUSE BLACKHAND AND THE EMBERSWORN
92
CREATIONS OF THE CURSED FORGES
On the following pages are magic items available to
Chaos Dwarfs armies. Chaos Dwarfs may also choose
items from the common magic items described in the
Reference section of the Warhammer rulebook, using
the points costs listed there.
MAGIC WEAPONS
DARK MACE OF DEATH .........................100 points
This ancient weapon contains the bound essence of a
mighty Daemon Prince. When released, the beast will
lash out at anything it can before returning to the
Realm of Chaos forever.
One use only. Instead of attacking as normal, the bearer
may make a special attack. Every model in base contact
(except the bearer's mount) will immediately suffer D3
wounds with no armour saves allowed.
WHIRLWIND ................................................50 points
The Whirlwind is a kind of wheeled, mechanical battle
harness pushed by a Bull Centaur. It is festooned with
blades, hooks and chains which lash out at the pilot's
enemies.
May only be used by a Bull Centaur. The bearer has an
additional D3 Attacks.
BLACK HAMMER OF HASHUT ...............45 points
The Black Hammer of Hashut is one of the mightiest
artefacts of the Chaos Dwarfs, a weapon blessed by the
Father of Darkness Himself. It burns with horrific
intensity, reducing enemies to little more than a pile of
ashes.
Flaming attacks. +2 Strength. Any model with the
Flammable rule that takes an unsaved wound from the
Black Hammer of Hashut is killed automatically.
BLOOD GORGER ........................................45 points
This huge axe contains the bound essence of a
Bloodletter of Khorne. It hungers for the blood of living
beings and if it tastes flesh it will drink deep and drain
its victim of life.
Great weapon. Multiple wounds (D3).
DAEMON BLADE ........................................40 points
The fearsome Daemon Blade contains the bound
essence of a foul daemonic beast. As a creature of pure
Chaos, it thirsts after magic, absorbing the protective
wards that its victims use to defend themselves.
Attacks from a Daemon Blade ignore ward saves.
SCOURGE OF GORGOTH .........................25 points
This flaming whip can bring any foe to their knees,
writhing in agony as the bearer cackles madly over
them, taunting them with the fate that awaits them in the
nightmarish mines of Gorgoth.
Flaming Attacks. The Scourge of Gorgoth always
wounds on a 4+.
TENDERISER ...............................................25 points
This arcane engine resembles a wheeled harness that is
driven forward by a Bull Centaur pilot. Mounted on the
front is an array of hammers and spikes that crash into
enemies, pulverising them.
May only be used by a Bull Centaur. The bearer gains
Impact Hits (D3).
HELLFIRE PISTOL .....................................25 points
This pistol is a minor but dangerous weapon, bearing
the spirit of a Tzeentch fire Daemon that spits out
hellish fury in place of bullets.
Counts as a pistol with Strength 5 and Multiple Shots
(2). The bearer also gains Flaming Attacks.
MINDFLAYER ..............................................25 points
This monstrous device is an arcane machine of great
power. When used, it generates forks of sorcerous warp
lightning that inflict excruciating pain on its victim. The
Mindflayer is used by high-ranking Chaos Dwarfs to
torture prisoners and it takes an iron will to resist its
agonising power.
The Mindflayer may be used instead of making normal
attacks against any model in base contact. The target
must make a Leadership test or immediately suffer one
wound with no armour saves possible (ward saves may
be taken as usual).
BLUNDERPUSS ............................................15 points
The Chaos Dwarfs have experimented with binding
Daemons into blunderbusses, resulting in this
disgusting weapon which uses an enslaved Nurgle
Daemon to project a jet of repulsive filth over the
bearer's enemies.
Counts as a blunderbuss with Poisoned Attacks. Panic
tests taken as a result of Heavy Casualties in the same
phase in which a unit suffered a wound from the
Blunderpuss are taken with a -1 Ld penalty.
93
MAGIC ARMOUR
OBSIDIAN SHIELD ......................................70 points
This shield is carved from a block of solid obsidian and
can shatter the enchantments that bind together magical
weapons.
Shield. Whenever the bearer successfully saves against
a hit caused by a magical weapon in close combat, the
weapon is destroyed and may not be used for the rest of
the game.
DAEMON PLATE .........................................50 points
This suit of arcane armour bears the bound spirit of a
mighty Daemon. As such, it protects against magical
spells and radiates an aura of dread that unnerves the
wearer's foes. However, the Daemon resents its
enslavement and rages against its master – it will
betray him if it gets the chance.
Chaos armour. The wearer gains Magic Resistance (2)
and causes Fear. If the wearer rolls a 1 when saving, the
number of wounds he suffers from the attack are
doubled.
ARMOUR OF THE FURNACE ..................35 points
The Armour of the Furnace is tempered with the fiery
breath of Tauruses stabled beneath the Temple of
Hashut and can resist any conflagration.
Chaos armour. The wearer gains a 5+ ward save and the
Blessing of Hashut special rule.
HELM OF ZHARRDUK ..............................35 points
This tall, ornate helm is styled in the manner of the
leaders of Zharr-Naggrund and bears enchantments
that enhance the wearer's natural authority as a
member of the ruling Castes.
The Helm of Zharrduk grants a 6+ armour save that
may be combined with other armour. In addition, the
wearer and any unit he is with may re-roll failed
Leadership tests.
ARMOUR OF GAZRAKH ...........................30 points
The nigh-impenetrable armour once worn by Lord
Gazrakh; Ravager of the Ogres, is crafted of meteoric
iron, forged in the heart of a volcano and proof against
even the strongest weapons.
The Armour of Gazrakh grants the wearer a 1+ armour
save that cannot be improved.
OGRE MAIL ..................................................25 points
This suit of scale mail has been drenched in the blood of
slave Ogres and bears the essence of their great
strength.
Chaos armour. The wearer gains +D3 Strength on a turn
in which he charges.
BLACK PLATE .............................................20 points
This suit of black armour is forged using the souls of
sacrificed slaves and exudes an aura of dread and fear.
Chaos armour. Any unit charged by the wearer must
pass a Panic test or choose Flee! as their charge
reaction, exactly as if charged by a model with the
Terror special rule.
SKULL HELM ...............................................10 points
The Skull Helm is a grotesque face-mask created by
Daemonsmiths, and is imbued with their sorcerous
power to cow even the mightiest foe. All who look upon
the Skull Helm are confronted with pits of black fire
staring into their souls, breaking their will and
shattering their resolve.
The Skull Helm grants a 6+ armour save that may be
combined with other armour. In addition, any enemy
model in base contact with the bearer suffers –1 WS.
TALISMANS
TALISMAN OF OBSIDIAN .......................100 points
This highly potent amulet crafted in ancient times by an
insane Sorcerer Lord contains strong anti-magic
properties, protecting its wearer from all enemy magic,
but also preventing him from casting spells of his own.
The wearer of the Talisman of Obsidian cannot be
affected by any spells at all, even friendly ones. The
wearer and any Wizard in base contact with him may
not cast any spells (even bound spells).
94
AMULET OF AZGORH ...............................50 points
This glowing red amulet surrounds its wearer in an
aura of magical flame, repelling enemy attacks and also
causing them to blaze with infernal energy.
This amulet grants a 4+ ward save and Flaming Attacks.
GEM OF BARUKH .......................................25 points
This blood-red gem is mounted on a chain of blackened
Gromril and bears the power of many blasphemous
runes etched upon it by Barukh, a Bull Centaur
Guardian who led the slaughter of Peak Pass several
centuries ago. The Gem is said to bear the stolen runic
devices of the Dwarf Lord Borri who died during the
battle.
The bearer has Magic Resistance (2) but all models in a
Dwarf army will Hate him.
DAEMON STONE ...........................................5 points
This magical gem contains the bound essence of a
Daemon. It imbues the wearer with some measure of the
Daemon's power, protecting it against mundane
attacks. However, the wearer must have the will to
control the Daemon or it will betray him.
The bearer has a 6+ ward save. However, he must pass
a Leadership test at the beginning of the game before
deployment or start with his Wounds already reduced
by -1. Models with one Wound are slain outright.
ENCHANTED ITEMS
DAEMONIC SCEPTRE ...............................50 points
This black sceptre looks like a rectangular slash in the
very fabric of the universe. Many dark entities are
bound to the sceptre by the enchantments of the
Sorcerers of Hashut. They rage at their imprisonment
but may be released, surging across the battlefield and
clawing madly at anything in their path.
Bound Spell, power level 5. Direct damage. Trace a 24”
line from the bearer in any direction. The first unit in
the line's path suffers 2D6 Strength 4 hits and must
immediately take a Panic test.
IDOL OF HASHUT .......................................50 points
This unholy idol pulses with barely suppressed power.
On the command of its bearer, it unleashes the fury of
the Father of Darkness, enveloping its victims in black
fire.
Bound Spell, power level 4. This direct damage spell
may be targeted on a single enemy unit with 12” or, if
the bearer is in close combat, it must be used against the
unit he is fighting. Every model in the unit suffers a
Strength 3 Flaming hit.
ZIGGURAT FOUNDATION STONE .........50 points
This block of obsidian is bound with the same
enchantments used to raise the tower of Zharr-
Naggrund in ages past. When planted in the earth, a
mighty ziggurat will burst from the ground.
After deployment zones have been agreed, but before
the armies have been deployed, place a ziggurat in your
deployment zone. The ziggurat counts as a hill, but any
unit positioned on it benefits from Magic Resistance
(1). Chaos Dwarf units on the ziggurat also have the
Bondage of Hashut rule.
If you do not have a suitable ziggurat model to place,
you may not use the Ziggurat Foundation Stone.
ARK OF SOULS ............................................40 points
Since ancient times, the Chaos Dwarfs have used the
Ark of Souls, an ornate iron chest encrusted with
twisted runes of darkness, to destroy their enemies.
Opening it unleashes a swarm of unquiet spirits that
invade the minds of those attuned to the supernatural.
One use only. May be used in the Chaos Dwarf
shooting phase. When used, all enemy Wizards on the
battlefield and any units they are with must immediately
take a Panic test.
DAEMONIC PHYLACTERY ......................40 points
Within this sealed Gromril container is bound the
essence of a mighty Deamon, enslaved to the will of its
bearer. The tormented creature imbues its master with
much of its terrible power, but the price is high: the
bearer's very mortality is lost forever.
The bearer of the Daemonic Phylactery is Immune to
Psychology, has a 5+ ward save and causes Fear.
However, he may not join units and friendly models
may never use his Leadership.
PICKLED BLOODLETTER'S HEAD ........15 points
Legend has it that this unusual item was part of the
payment for the fabled Crimson Armour of Dargan. It
still radiates some of the fell power of the Blood God.
The bearer is subject to Hatred of all enemy models.
ARCANE ITEMS
TABLET OF LAWS ......................................60 points
The Tablet of Laws is an ancient record of the covenant
made between the first Chaos Dwarfs and Hashut
inscribed on a stone slab. The words of the Father of
Darkness imbue His Priests with a portion of His
awesome power.
The bearer of the Tablet of Laws and any friendly
Wizards using the same Lore within 12" add 1 to their
casting results.
95
STAFF OF MAGMA .....................................25 points
This magical staff is carved from cooled lava and its
surface is studded with volcanic crystals. A Sorcerer
with sufficient skill may drive the staff into the ground
and transform himself or an ally into liquid magma that
seeps into the earth and coalesces elsewhere on the
battlefield.
Bound Spell, power level 3. The Staff of Magma may
cast Steed of Shadows as a bound spell.
SIMULACRUM OF HASHUT .....................25 points
This small stone carving of a bull is able to summon a
great spectre in the form of Hashut that blasts enemies
with His fiery rage.
If the Sorcerer has the spell Fireball its range is
increased by D6". In addition, he may cast (and attempt
to cast) the spell more than once per Magic phase.
DAEMONIC THRALL .................................15 points
The mightiest Sorcerers bind to them daemonic servants
who whisper dark secrets to them and augment their
power. Only the strongest Sorcerers have the will to
control such powerful and capricious entities.
The Daemonic Thrall adds one power dice to the power
pool at the start of the caster's own magic phase, but if
the caster miscasts he must subtract 1 from the dice roll
to determine the effect.
MAGIC BANNERS
BANNER OF HASHUT ..............................125 points
Forged in the red-lit depths of Zharr-Naggrund, the
Banner of Hashut induces dread in the enemy and
unshakable courage in the servants of the Father of
Darkness.
The model bearing the Banner of Hashut causes Terror.
All friendly units within 6" of the banner become
Stubborn.
BANNER OF OBEISANCE .........................50 points
This banner is sewn together from the hides of tortured
slaves and bound with enchantments that whisper of the
fate of those who disobey their Chaos Dwarf masters.
Any friendly units with the Disposable rule with 12" of
the Banner of Obeisance may re-roll any failed Fear,
Terror and Panic tests.
BANNER OF ZHARR ...................................35 points
This mighty banner is the standard of the invincible
Immortals and is stained in the blood of all those they
have slain throughout the centuries.
Immortals unit only. All enemy units within 6" of the
Banner of Zharr suffer a –1 Leadership penalty.
BANNER OF THE TEMPLE .......................20 points
This banner is consecrated in the furnaces of the
Temple of Hashut, inscribed with the runes of the
sacred Dirges that enhance the dark sorceries of the
Father of Darkness.
Acolytes of Hashut unit only. A Chaos Dwarf Wizard in
a unit of Acolytes carrying this banner increases the
range of any magic missiles he casts by 6”.
CURSED STANDARD ..................................20 points
The Cursed Banner is afflicted with the same vile
energies that bring about the Sorcerers' Curse. As an
enemy charges, evil enchantments surround them and
cause their limbs to become as heavy as stone.
As long as a unit with the Cursed Banner did not move
in their previous turn, any enemy unit that charges them
has the Always Strikes Last rule.
EMBERSWORN BANNER ..........................20 points
The bound spirits of Daemons are woven into the very
fabric of this standard, and the power of these fearsome
entities suffuses the attacks of the dreaded Daemon
hunters who march beneath it.
All attacks (including ranged ones) made by a unit with
the Embersworn Banner count as magical and Flaming.
In addition, any Daemon unit that the unit destroys
completely in close combat or runs down in a pursuit is
worth double victory points.
96
REFERENCE
CHARACTERS M WS BS S T W I A Ld Page SPECIAL M WS BS S T W I A Ld Page Astragoth 3 4 3 5 5 3 3 2 10 56 Acolyte of Hashut 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 37
Bull Centaur Elder 8 6 3 5 5 3 4 4 9 45 - Adept 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Despot 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 33 Black Orc 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 8 48
Ghorth the Cruel 0 4 3 4 5 4 1 1 10 52 - Boss 4 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 8
- Black Throne 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 5 9 Wolf Rider 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 1 6 39
Gorduz Backstabber 4 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 7 62 - Khan 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6
- Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3 - Giant Wolf 9 3 0 3 3 1 3 1 3
Hothgar Daemonbane 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 9 58 Immortal 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 1 9 36
Lord Bhaal 8 7 3 5 5 4 5 5 10 57 - Banguard 3 5 3 4 4 1 2 2 9
Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 32 - Rykarth 3 6 4 4 5 2 3 3 9 59
Volgar the Mad 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 9 60 Mortal Engine - - - - 7 2 - - - 46
Warlord 3 7 4 4 5 3 4 4 10 33 - Slave 3 2 2 3 3 - 2 1 5
- Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 1 9 CORE M WS BS S T W I A Ld Page Ogre 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 3 7 49
Slave 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 1 5 38 - Ogre Berserker 6 3 2 4 4 3 2 4 7
- Driver 4 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 6 Petrified Sorcerer 3 - 0 - 4 6 2 4 9 50
Stormcaller 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 35 - Stormguard 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 1 9 RARE M WS BS S T W I A Ld Page Warrior 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9 34 Altar of Hashut - - - - 7 9 - - - 51
- Ironguard 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9 - Lesser Sorcerer 3 4 3 3 4 - 2 2 10
- Ghuz Slavetaker 3 4 4 3 4 1 2 2 9 61 - Slave 4 2 2 3 3 - 2 0 5
Bull Centaur 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 2 9 45
- Guardian 8 5 3 4 4 2 3 3 9
Dmnc. Engine 6 4 3 5 6 3 1 3 5 40
- Chaos Dwarf 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 1 9
- Daemonsmith 3 4 3 3 4 1 2 2 9
Art: Baggronor, Forgefire, Grupax, Thomas Hunt, Ishkur Cinderhat, Igorvert, Marcus Leitdorf , M3lvin, Skink.
Book Design: Thomas Hunt, based on original work by the Games Workshop Design Studio. Figure Painters: AngryBoy2K, Arekarkadiusz, Kris Aubin, Baggronor,
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Willmark, Xander and everyone at Chaos Dwarfs Online, without whom this book would not have been possible.
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or non-credited work, and every attempt will be made to either amend or remove the offending piece. The author is not responsible for the distribution of this document
or for earlier versions of it that may contain copyrighted or other removed materials. Thomas Hunt identifies himself as the sole author of this work, with all rights and
responsibilities thereof. Please do not attempt to sell or copy this document in whole or in part for anything except personal use without seeking permission. When
distributing this document, please leave it intact as far as is practically possible.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this book and that it inspires you to not only collect and play with your Chaos Dwarfs, but also try your hand at creating
content of your own. The Chaos Dwarf community is one of the most creative and friendly gaming communities in the hobby and each and every member of that
community has contributed in ways small and large to the creation of this book. I would strongly encourage players of Chaos Dwarfs to seek out this online fanbase and
make use of the resources it offers.
www.games-workshop.com www.chaos-dwarfs.com
DAEMONIC UPGRADES SUMMARY Colossal: +2 Wounds, Large Target, Terror, troop type becomes Monster.
Daemonic Barrage: Stone thrower hits may re-roll failed rolls to wound.
Death Rockets: Stone thrower shots scatter 4D6" if a hit & misfire is rolled.
Diabolic Sentience: Can re-roll scatter dice.
Doomfire: Stone thrower shots are Strength 5(10).
Eruption Cannon: Shoots as fire thrower instead of stone thrower.
Ferocious: -1 Leadership. Daemonic Engine Rampages 3D6". Taurus always
counts as rolling 'Raaargh!' on Monster Reaction Table.
Fiendish Blast: Strength 3 Breath Weapon.
Flaming Hide: Flaming Attacks and Blessing of Hashut.
Foul Excretion: Poisoned Attacks.
Great Horns: +1 Strength.
Grinder: Strider.
Hellbore: Special deployment rules.
Infernal Shells: Stone thrower shots gain movement disruption effect.
Ironclad: 4+ armour save, or +3 armour save for Taurus without Colossal.
Obsidian Flesh: Magic Resistance (1).
Razor Claws: Killing Blow.
Scourge of the Skies: Hover; scatters and causes damage when destroyed.
Smog: Enemies have -1 to hit with missiles and -1 WS when in close combat.
Talisman of Hashut: 5+ ward save.
Thunderous Charge: Impact Hits (D6).
Warbarge: Sea Creature.
Warpfire: Units hit by stone thrower attack take Panic test with -1 penalty.
Whirling Blades: Random Attacks (D6).
97
A Sorcerer Lord riding a fearsome Great Taurus descends on a vulnerable Chaos Warshrine as Hobgbolin Wolf
Riders race to join in the fight now they think their side will win.
A horde of Stormcallers demonstrates the benefits of massed fire as they prepare to make short work of Wood Elf
Dryads in their forest homeland.
98
“The Empire of Men has trembled at the sound of our voice – at the
bull-roar of mighty Hashut – and so they will again. It has taken
decades, but at last I have almost total control over Zharr-Naggrund.
A thousand thousand warriors swear fealty to me and me alone. The
time of our coming approaches.”
- Ghorth the Cruel, Supreme Lord of the Conclave
In the polluted wastes of the Dark Lands, amidst smog-
belching chimneys and rivers of glowing lava, the twisted
and evil Chaos Dwarfs brood in their citadels of black
obsidian. They are masters of industry and artifice,
creating vast and destructive Daemonic Engines while
legions of heavily armoured warriors march into battle
beneath fell banners. They seek one thing and one thing
only: slaves for their soul-forges, and they will stop at
nothing to take what they believe is their due.
Warhammer Armies: Chaos Dwarfs is one of a series of
supplements for Warhammer. Each book in the series
describes an army, its history and its heroes.
Inside you will find:
THE CHAOS DWARFS
A comprehensive section that describes the
monstrous industry of the Chaos Dwarfs, the ruined
wastes of the Dark Lands and the twisted society that
motivates the Chaos Dwarfs to their acts of callous
indifference and hatred.
THE DARK COHORT
Descriptions of the many warriors and war machines
that make up the evil legions of the Chaos Dwarfs.
Here you'll find the mighty characters, disciplined
regiments and monstrous arcane engines that owe
fealty to the Sorcerer Lords of Zharr-Naggrund.
MASSING THE COHORT
A comprehensive guide to the Chaos Dwarfs
miniatures available to the collector, as well as colour
schemes and banner icons for those looking to field
an army of Chaos Dwarfs on the tabletop battlefield.
CHAOS DWARFS ARMY LIST
The Chaos Dwarfs army list allows you to organise
your collection of miniatures into a Chaos Dwarfs
army ready for battle.
A WARHAMMER ARMIES
SUPPLEMENT FOR
THE GAME OF
FANTASY BATTLES
You will need a copy of
Warhammer to use the
contents of this book.
6 5316266 443210 >
www.chaos-dwarfs.com Look out for these other books in the
Warhammer Armies series:
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Grand Cathay
Fishmen
Chaos Gnomes
Vampire Pirates
Snowmen
Rabbit Folk
Morrsliebites
Catgirls
Spider Babies
♥ Care Bears
♀ Amaxons
Flower Fairies
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