Chaos Dwarfs | Characters | Regiments
War Machines | Monsters | Special Characters | Tactics
The Chaos Dwarf Empire is sited amongst the Mountains of Mourn and the adjoining eastern part of the Dark Lands. It is a dark and cheerless place. Amongst the peaks volcanoes spew black smoke into the sky, in the plains the stench of tar pits and oil pools hangs heavily in the air.
1 Chaos Dwarf General
This can be a Lord character or a Sorcerer Lord. Myself, I always take the Lord character to give me the benefit of a strong and powerful character to enhance a unit and to give its Leadership to it. The Lord can only have three magic items as opposed to the four for the Sorcerer Lord, but if you choose wisely, this should be enough. The General may also ride a Lammasu, or a Great Taurus. Both of these are powerful monsters
Battle Standard
This can be either a Chaos Dwarf or a Bull Centaur. The choice between the two will depend on how you wish to use your standard. If you wish to use it to bolster your infantry you should choose the Chaos Dwarf, but if you wish to use it to reinforce the fighting abilities of a fast-moving hard-hittinng unit, and you have the points choose the Bull Centaur.
Bull Centaur Lord
This is one of the most deadly characters to have, but his cost makes you have to think whether he is worth it. Equipped correctly, this is one monster of a character, but his cost, especially with magic items, will limit his use.
Heros
Chaos Dwarf
This is a hero level character to stand in the line with your Chaos Dwarf Warriors and lend his strength and stability to the unit.
Bull Centaur
The Bull Centaur Hero has many of the same strengths, and the same cost problems as the Bull Centaur Lord.
Hobgoblin
A Hobgoblin Hero is only an average hero stats-wise, but he is needed in the Hobgoblin units.
Champions
Champions are basically used to strengthen their respective units and must always be with a unit of the correct type, and he is always aremed the same as the unit he is with.
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers
The Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers have a good varievy of spells available to them, but they are different in their use to the spells that are used by most armies, so you must familiarize yourself with them and study their effects and plan their use carefully. If you are playing in a large enough points battle, you can mount your Sorcerer on a Lammasu which gets a special magic save for itself and its rider. The Lammasu is the favoured mount for the higher level Sorcerers.
Chaos Dwarf Warriors
You must take at least one unit of Chaos Dwarf Warriors. The Chaos Dwarf Warriors are armed with a two-handed axe and wear heavy armour and carry a shield. The two-handed axe gives them an effective Str of 5, and having to strike last is not that big a disadvantage considering the Chaos Dwarfs only have an Initiative of 2 and Movement of 3 and will probably strike last anyway. The Chaos Dwarf Warriors are best used in large blocks of troops with them four ranks deep to maximize their combat result. I also like to give them a magic standard to aid their combat result.
Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses
Chaos Dwarf Bluderbusses can lay down a devastating fire when fielded three ranks deep, but they only have a range of 12", but they will hit everything within those 12" if you make your BS roll against each target. I usually field at least a partial fourth rank to have extra casualties to keep them at S5. Against low Toughness troops, you may wish to widen your formation by reducing them to only two ranks deep, this will give you more coverage and will still be effective against troops with only T3.
Bull Centaurs
These are the most powerful unit in the Chaos Dwarf army, if somewhat exspensive. They carry a two-handed axe, they have a good Toughness, 2 Wounds, and 2 Attacks, and they have a charge range of 16"! Their only weakness is they are only allowed light armour and a shield, which is only a 5+ save. They also end up striking last most times, but with their extra Wound and good Toughness, this should not be a major problem. Use these as your assault troops. I usually form Bull Centaurs into units of 12-16, and I give them a magic standard and a Champion, and usually I will place one or more other Bull Centaur characters/heroes/lord in the front rank.
Hobgoblin Warriors
The main use for these, as far as I'm concerned, is to use to slow down the enemy and overcome Animosity. I use them in blocks of 20 or more to overcome their poor morale. I would never put a lot of faith in these troops.
Hobgoblin Sneaky Gits
This is a Hobgoblin unit I usually use. These can be very deadly to even Knights when used in very large units. I form them up in five ranks so they will retain their rank bonus even after losing casualties. They will probably lose the first round of combat but with their special rules of Envelopment and their poison daggers, they should win the subsequesnt rounds. Use them to take out enemy units that are a threat to the area of the line they are placed in. Give them a Hobgoblin Hero or the Hobgoblin Lord special character to lead them.
Hobgoblin Archers
These are very cheap archers, so you can field large numbers of them. Their only weaknesses are their low morale and low Toughness.
Hobgoblin Wolf Riders
Fast skirmishing missile troops. Give them a short bow and use them to harass your enemy, slow down his advance, and to attack his flanks and his war machine crews. They will not win hand to hand combats except against the weakest opponents, so do not use them for attack troops, except against war machine crews where they can overwhelm them.
Black Orcs
These are the biggest, meanest Orcs in the WHFB world. A large mob of these, armed with an additional hand weapon or halberds, and given shields to go with their light armour, can take on most enemy units. Their only drawback is their low Initiative. You can only have one unit of these, so make it a strong one and use it as part of your assault troops.
Orc Boyz
One thing I like to do with Orcs is arm them with an additional hand weapon and light armour (8 1/2 points per model), make the unit 20+ in four ranks, and even with their average WS they will do a lot of damage. You can arm them with halberds to do great damage on the battlefield, which is my preferred armament for them. They can be used in a defensive position or as part of your general line. When I use Orcs, I usually give them a Black Orc leader.
Goblins
Use these in very large mobs of 32+, and use them as blocking units to slow down enemy units and to set the enemy up to be charged by your stronger units. Gobbo archers are also very useful in large mobs. Always remember, though, that the Goblins have low Ld and must have a Boss with a decent Ld to lead them if you do not want them to Panic and flee from the battlefield.
Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
These are a good deal with their low cost and high damage potential. I would set them up close to your flanks so that they can get the largest possible field of fire and also get shots at units at an angle or on the flank, maximizing the damage potential of the bolt.
Death Rockets
These are great for taking out large blocks of troops, especially troops that are bunched together and have lower Toughness and armour stats.
Earthshaker Cannon
This is an exspensive war machine, but I always try to have two or more of them, with their special Earthshaker rule they can knock down or slow up troops that they do not kill. They are great for eliminating and/or nullifying enemy cavalry and Knights, I try to site them where they will have the best shots at my enemy's most dangerous troops.
Great Taurus
The Great Taurus is one of the better, if exspensive, monstrous mounts in WHFB. They have a very high Toughness and Wounds characteristic, a high Initiative, and decent Ld. They can fly, they have a good WS, and 4 Attacks. A Chaos Dwarf Lord on one of these is truly something to be reckoned with.
Lammasu
The Lammasu is the favoured mount for your high level Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers. It has a magic breath that protects against spells, giving a 4+ save, and anyone attacking it or its rider with a magic weapon must deduct one from their to-hit roll. It can also fly. This is a good choice for a monstrous mount for your Sorcerers.
Zhatan the Black
Zhatan the Black is the most feared of the Chaos Dwarf Lords. He is the most pitiless warrior to tread the blackened earth of Zharr. Zhatan is subject to the rules for Hatred against all enemies, and he has truly awesome stats. Add to that his ability to carry four magic items and ride a Lammasu or Great Taurus, and you have a true killing machine.
Gorduz Backstabber
This is one Sneaky/Lucky git. With his special luck save he is just the character to lead your Sneaky Gits. He can have three magic items, and he can keep taking his special luck save every time he loses his last wound for as long as his luck holds out (i.e. you keep rolling 4+).
Astragoth
Here is a Sorcerer Lord that can actually kill enemy characters in hand to hand combat. He is a walking tank. Even though he cannot ride on anything, it is made up for by his Movement of 6 and his 3+ armour save, high Str and Toughness, and high WS, and his special Death Blow makes him truly dangerous in close combat.
My favoured tactics with Chaos Dwarfs are the Echeloned Line or the Weighted Line. But the Chaos Dwarfs have enough variety of cheap troops that you can actually make the Horns tactic work against some armies such as Bretonnians, Dwarfs, and Chaos if they go heavy on their most exspensive troops. Most of the tactical advice for individual units was included in the description of the unit.
For the Echeloned Line, use Bull Centaurs and Black Orcs as your assault force on the swinging end of the line, and Chaos Dwarf Warriors as the anchor on the other end of the line at the base line.
For the Weighted Line, use Bull Centaurs, Black Orcs, Chaos Dwarf Warriors, and Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses in large units on the weighted end of the line, and your other units set up so as to support each other and your weighted flank.
For the Horns formation tactic, use two units of Bull Centaurs, one at each point of the Horns, and support them with Hobgoblin Wolfrider skirmishers. Place your Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Black Orcs, and Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses in the center of the line and fill in between with Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Goblins to give you the width of line that you need to make this tactic work.
Always remember that every unit must support every other unit and that you must maintain an unbroken line. For this reason, it is always a good idea to have one or more reserve units that can rapidly fill any gaps. You should vary your tactics from one battle to another so that you don't become predictable to your opponents.
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