Editing Warhammer Army Project/Chaos Dwarfs (section)

== Flame, Smoke and Ash Tactics ==

'''Update from "different Legion of Azgorh Fanatic"'''

You have some straightforward tactical options, and some unusual bits you may want to add. You have dwarfs, strong artillery, monstrous cavalry, monsters/daemons and cheap infantry. Potentially with no synergy, but to find one, you'll have to look deeper. So, below you'd find some tactical bits and pieces.

===Chaos Dwarf Elite Infantry===

'''Infernal Guard or Immortal.''' 

For more number damage or ranged damage output, go for Infernal Guard. Sword and board Guard are a cheaper anvil as a single model is - 13 vs 16 pts. 

The first difference is in WS 4 vs. 5, but your basic WS 4 will be enough in most cases. If in doubt, check your To Hit table. 

The next difference is in S - 4 vs. 5-6. You can upgrade your Infernals' strength by adding Ensorcelled Hand Weapons or fireglaives, but make them more expensive. In the first case, Immortals will have S6 During the first Combat round vs S5 Infernal Guard. The initiative won't matter much unless you're playing against Dwarfs or another low I army. And you will have 2 or less anyway. 

In the second case (fireglaive), it will be S5 vs S5, and a point value 16 per each model, but Infernals will give you nice output in the shooting phase, while Immortals will get 2 attacks in melee. Situational, as it depends on who you would field it against and in what role.

Immortals should be more comparable to Dwarfen Hammers. Almost the same stats same Armour Save. So I'd say they have potential if you're looking for a damage-delivering tarpit. With AS 3+, T4, S5-6, A2, they will be able to hold and crumble most of the core or special infantry units in the game. Due to their tarpit nature, I strongly suggest adding a Despot to ensure their stubbornness.

===Hobgoblins, Khans, and slaves===

Using them as small flanking units doesn't make sense. Not much damage output. Equipment depends on who you'll play against, but in my opinion, their role should be Cheap flank guards and archer while unlocking the true chaff.

Hobgoblins, If given bows they deal on the same damage as human Archers. Mediocre the most. but Goblin Slaves with shortbows are very cheap to make Volly fire blocks.
Hobgoblins with Shields and armour for holding that flank.
Sneaky Git for that surprise Hob that may kill things then they get the flank.
your Chaff is Goblin Slave: they will initially break if the Hob in the back gets sniped, but with a General's aura they will hold as long as armored Hobgoblins for cheaper.
Orks are way more fighty than any non-dwarf, being tougher and fighty than Hobs. 

''"Khans on wolfs are famous among many discussions as re-directors and lone characters/war-machine hunters. I've read opinions of people who had real boners for khan on wolf - but that will not work against experienced generals or when you play on 60 inches or more wide battlefield."''

''"I played lot as Dwarfs and get my opponents eventually used to a surprising appearance of miners on their backs. So much, they eventually started doing the same. I played against Skaven and had Stormfiends on my ass once, and it wasn't pleasant (I played Dark Elves that time and eventually nerfed them with shooting and magic). Similar as with Snitch, who single-handedly raped my 3 war-machines once. One of my opponents recently purchased Wulfrik, and I can bet money I'll have an ambushing Marauders on my ass next time (didn't). So no. Don't bother about Khan on Wolf. Your so-called "lone war-machine hunter/ shooting re-director" must have some proper armour."''

''"Now - about my idea - few khans in a hobgoblin heavy brick. Once we had 4 armies battle. One of the opponents struggled to meet the point criteria with his O&G army. I suggested him, to turn some of his Nightgoblins in the unit to a heroes. Guy set up a 50 model strong unit of Nightgoblins with 10 heroes, and they all had Great Weapons. It was all legit and, fuck me... we all regretted it. This unit shattered 6 Skullcrushers of Khorne and at some point guy had no opponents around this unit. We were too scared."''

You can't give your khans GW, but with S4, just keep giving them extra hand weapons, magic weapons, and other items to fill up your 25 pts allowance. Seeing your LoA heavy army, and shitloads of artillery, K'daai & Bullcentaurs, there is a strong chance your opponent will ignore this core requirements filler of hobos. At least till their 1st round of close combat.

Also - don't bother about animosity. O&G Animosity may cause troubles. Yours has 16.6% chance to impact you in good way, and 16.6% of giving bad results. Still - would be nice to have Castellan with Banner of Slavery right behind them. Just in case.

So in summary - block or few of 50 or 50+ hobos with few khans inside units and Banner of Slavery behind them. one of the Khans may have Shield of ptolos, to give the whole unit 1+ Armour Save against shooting.

Everyone keeps diminishing Greenskins role in CD army, so prove them wrong :)

===Artillery & Rape Train===

Hashut sent his blessing on you in this category.

'''Dreadquake Mortar''' - take advantage of its range 12-72. Always take Ogre to avoid slow loading and to add an extra 4 wounds. Shoots S5 (S10 in the center) with your small template and should be directed to enemy's wizards, artillery, buff wagons, cavalry.

When taking Hellcannons upgrade - be aware, as it bounds a daemon in your war machine and that means lore of light or Luminark may do a bu-bu to it. It is a bit fucked up, and to be honest, you have to discuss it with your mates, but me and mine established eventually that Hellcannons - as crunch keeps saying about bounding daemons in these - are daemonic. And that leads us to the next paragraph - how to use your Mortar and artillery. 

First of all - fuck the infantry with a rusty blade. Your infantry would and should deal with them. Dreadquake has task of destroying dangerous stuff or stopping them from moving due to a Quake. So, unleash the wrath of Dawi Zharr against Sorcerers, Warmachines, Monsters, and This Empire General on a Gryphon. SNIPE. Turn your Daemonsmith to a sniper using a train-wagon-mortar. 

''In my last game I had 2 Mortars, Hellcannon and Deathshriek - not to mention blunderbusses, Fireglaives, throwing knives, and shooting Iron Daemon. Basically, the only non-shooty unit in my army was K'daai Destroyer. And boy - against Empire (tank, 3 cannons, 2 hellblasters, Luminark), Skaven (wheel, 2 zzzapguns, around 6 jezails, bell), and Chaos (2 Hellcannons, warshrine) I've been shooting all around like a fucking maniac.''

You have an idea now, how me and my mates do play our games - "No hard feelings but fuck you, fuck you and especially FUCK YOU!!! No remorse, no respite, no regrets". 

Remember that as standard - all Artillery in the game is Move or Fire, so cannons hit by Dreadquake's template have to pass the test if want to fire. As per the description of Quake.  

Daemonsmith nearby obligatory. Steam Carriage only as hardcover if you think you'll be eventually within your foes shooting-non-artillery units. But Dreadquake on carriage looks soooooo damn good :) If towed by Iron Deamon, you may maneuver with your choo-choo-rape-train to give a mobile hardcover to some of your infantry units.

'''Deathshriek''' - I never fire a Demolition to hit characters with it. IT IS A WASTE OF A SHOT. Even with daemon-smith's re-rolls, it's still too random - cos u have to get a direct hit. In terms of a character on foot, it's almost fucking-impossible. If you aim at something big or on flyer, or Chariot, or buff wagon it looks slightly better. But still - sniping shot is an act of desperation.
:It is good however on delivering fire damage to light Calvery, Beasts, flammable units, or low AS infantry blocks. You use a large template and roll. Deathshriek is cheap comparing to Hellcannon or Dreadquake and less reliable, so I took mine for LOLZ. 

''Played 12 rounds - 4 armies - 23k-ish points game. Kept missing tragically through 11 rounds (1 hit), and then in 12th with a sniping shot actually managed to deliver a tactically critical hit and destroy Empire's Great Cannon. Nice!''

'''Hellcannon''' - Daemonsmith's re-rolls make it more reliable than when set up in WoC army. The main thing to remember is it is Monster. Monster in a mixed unit, that shoots, and it is how it should be treated. Also as Monster, it Stomps when charged. Solid choice. But I'd go for a Dreadquake due to a range and Quake. as of 9th the Hellcannon is very tanky right now of the two.

'''Magma Cannon''' - If you plan to sit around that hill and not to move for x rounds, DO take it. WIth slowing spell-like ASH STORM will leave ruin and smoking melting boneyard of your foes. 12" range? D3 wounds, proper S? Brutal. Just make sure you didn't take too many, cos your friends may stop playing with you. Pity, it no longer has an armour save.

'''Iron Daemon - shooting''' - May move and shoot, may act even when you'll roll 2 x misfire, as you'd blow the cannons only. 
: The way it moves is slightly different from than normal unit, yet similar to Empire's Steamtank though not nearly as tough anymore (btw: THAT THING[steam tank] IS BROKEN. I fragged it from 10W to 2W, and still couldn't kill the fucking thing. And it was still shooting. F*CK!!!) 
: It is a brutal and reliable machine, that grinds through infantry, and the only thing you have to be careful about are direct hits from cannons with S10. Short-range of steam boiler cannons - 18 " only, but very reliable. Mine shoot to death Deathmaster Snitch finished severely wounded Doomwheel and stopped Skaven Bell and 40 clanrats. I can only regret I have only 1.
:And don't forget about Stomp & Impact Hits

'''Iron Deamon - cracking''' - I didn't use one - I wanted but FW removed it from its range. Simply speaking - Iron Daemon that does not shoot, but uses steam power to keep these drills running. Even more brutal when in combat with 2D6 impact hits and Stomps (compering to 1D6 of normal Iron Daemon), but has to get there.

===Monsters and Monstrous Cavalry===

'''K'daai Fireborn''' - The main issue with their Burning Bright is that since turn 2 you have to test their T. 
:Let me remind you how the Characteristic Test looks like - If you'd roll less or equal to your characteristic, you had passed. In this case roll of "1" is an auto pass. Fireborn have T4, which gives them 33% to fail the test. If failed, you have D3 wounds for each failure, and with your W = 3 that means your losing models. 
:Useless. Ignore. Don't bother.
:Well, ok, you may take some for lolz, as an expendable unit, or if the battlefield is small and you expect CC since round 1 or 2.

'''K'daai Destroyer''' - Starting with the important stuff - Burning Bright with T6 - You pass the test if 1D6 = T or lower, so pass on 1-5 in this particular case (characteristic tests always fail on 6). Avoid all spells lowering T stats.
:It does not have an official model, so it leaves you with bit of creativity or some of the alternatives (see [[#Building_Your_Army|above]]). It goes on the base 100 x 150 mm so such as - Arachnarok Spider, Hellcannon, or 3 chariots
:Like the Fireborn they are unbreakable but also unstable, which means that losing combat will still hurt. Daemon in terms of spells from light lore, so watch yourself. And unit eater if you'd manage to get it in contact against block of foes.
:I have one as it has the highest I in the whole army (I5), and I needed something big and bulky to counter Stormfiends as soon as they'd appear (know your enemy). It's awesome, but broken - things resistant to fire or magical attacks will stop it. Yet - had mine fighting against 40 Empire Halberds, Sigmarite Priest and 10 Great Swords. He killed most of them, then eventually destroyed them to a point they lost steadfast, made them run like a lil' bitches, chased them and killed the rest. Only to be smashed by Hellblaster. Fair Trade in terms of points, and epic LOLZ in terms of fun. Next time I will field LoA, I am sure my opponents will try to frag it to death, along with Iron Daemon :) So - 50 models. 3 rounds of CC. And I had 1 wound left at the very start. Had some amazing rolls, and my opponent rolled 1 "6" to wound in 3 rounds of CC.
:It's same thing with Destroyer as with Empire Steam Tank - the first wound on it will hurt the most, and the rest of them is inevitable.    

'''Bull Centaurs''' - solid choice. taken only as a blocker to other Monstrous Cavalry or Cavalry. I had them facing Demigryphs, Skullcrushers, and Dragon Ogres, so Great Weapon is the logical option. However with low initiative, in the battle on attrition against the aforementioned, they will eventually fail. Maybe they would have more sense in 7th, but not in 8th edition that elevates infantry, war-machines and supportive magic rules - better buy more Dawi Zharr :)

'''Siege Giant''' - I have no good opinion about giants at all. Once my Chaos Giant had been eaten alive by giant rats as they wounded him more than he did them - He failed on LD, run away few inches, and they just followed finishing him off. So this variant, even if armoured, still has random attacks. And that makes giants in my eyes un-re-li-ab-le. Period. If you really want to spend 200-ish points on something, you have better choices.

===Case for Castellans===

First of all - you don't have good fighting lords. You just have Drazoath - that is mediocre in terms of stats and skills, although the model itself looks nice. Fighting Prophet is... decent, but it cannot face Karl Franz, Lord on Dragon, Archaon, or any posterboy Lord. So you have to use what you got - these versatile heroes and make sure to have quite a few.

So with your Castellan - you basically get the stats of Dwarf Thane with LD9 instead of LD10 for 40 pts more. What saves you in here are good LoA magic items, access to magic items from main rule-book and 75 pts big slot to fill.

And that is the real charm of Warhammer - what gives you a real twist - finding a balance. A bloody zen in the Hashut garden. Gold proportion in between units in your army and army's composition. As LoA really rely on your infantry, guns and Prophets, use Castellans as supportive character. Their presence in a unit makes your infantry Stubborn (and your standard Armour Save is 4+ with 5++ Ward Save against flames). Give them some real damage dealing weapons, and see the world burns.

Of course - what you get to your Castellans depends on location, tactics and who you intend to play against. If opponents will be moaning "you fielded too much artillery", well, your excuse is - lack of Lords, apart of one sad type and one sad character only to be used in AoS (fuck AoS). And after all Legion of Azgorh is just a penal company/border garrison of the Empire of Fire and Ash.

I established 3 types of Castellan build.

1. "Incoming fire from the sky" Castellan - if you have a spare Castellan, give him Arabyan Carpet, Shield of Ptolos, and either fireglaive or great weapon. And use him as a shooting regiment, wizard or war-machine lone hunter.

2. "Must obliterate this scum" Castellan - Black Hammer of Hashut for 2+ to S, and to kill outright flammable model, Potion of Speed to make his Initiative upgraded from 3 to 6, and some defensive equipment to discard hits in fight. As you can see it works perfectly with Ashstorm.

3. "Hold the line you maggots" Castellan - Tankish armour or Ward Save, Great Weapon and Pistol, or Fireglaive. Just to have Hero in Unit with damage output. May want to add ironcurse Icon for 5 pts - that gives whole unit 6++ Ward Save against shooting from warmachines.

===Casters and Casting===

OMFG - Dwarfs that can excel into sorcery. 

Ok - Dwarfs wielding magic. That is just against their nature. And sooo awesome. It may catch your enemy off guard. And what Legion of Azgorh represents is much better than 8th ed. Dwarven Anvil of Doom. I still remember 7th ed Anvil and boy, that was something, but in 8th it devolved into supportive role the most.

But speaking of magic. Daemonsmiths have access to Fire, Metal and Death. Prophets - all the above plus Hashut. If taking Lammasu you also have Shadow. But Dawi Zharr, in case of miscast, turn slowly and painfully into stone.

So what Lore to choose?

1. Hashut - always. Some boosting spells, 2 deathstars. If you have just one Prophet, think about who you play against and what would support you the most, but if you have 2 or more Lords in the army (aka playing big game), Lore of Hashut is a MUST BE.

2. Metal - always if you play against enemies who actually use armour save. It seems to be optional against Skaven, Vampires and Goblins - basically all the hordes, but even they do have some units with armour save 5+/4+. And you can always use it as a flaming attack combined with Ash Storm or just use glittering scales. There is always at least one gap to fill with Metal.

3. Death - It is my 3rd choice in this army. It is good, might be great in sniping characters (not many casters can pull off Spirit Leech at LD9 or even LD10!) - I just keep using the ones described above.

4. Fire - Nah, Meh, Ugh. I took it once as Dark Elves, and don't remember doing anything spectacular with fire. If I had to take something, I'd rather take Ruby Ring of Fire with Fireball (hello Ash Storm).
Some players mount a Prophet on Bale Taurus, giving him Lore of fire, and keep casting it on themselves, each time Taurus would be wounded (Fire Lore cures its wounds), but really? Would you waste chance to take good a lore for Lore of Fire?

So - your casting and your miscast penalties - how it actually works? You did roll 2 sixes, have a miscast, did the results and then do a Toughness test. Prophet passes on 5 or lower, Daemonsmith on 4 or lower, Prophet on Bale Taurus on 5 or lower as Bale Taurus is a Monster, and its stats do not count here. If you pass - it's all good in a Dawi Zharr hood. If failed - you receive 1 extra wound (non-save-able in any way), but your Toughness goes up by 1 for the first time it happens.

Considering your Prophet is your only Lord type, and you probably packed loads of points on it, loosing like 400-ish points may hurt. You have 2 good options to raise Toughness of your magicians. One is to give him Potion of Toughness for 20 pts and drink it in a round you plan to cast heavily. That gives you +3 to Toughness for a round. Case closed. The other option is Stone Mantle, which lowers your Initiative from 2 to 1 but raises Toughness from 5 to 6 instead, permanently. 40 pts, and TBH - like your Initiative ever mattered. Unfortunately it costs 40pts so you cannot combine it with the Mask of the Furnace, so you cannot have it together with a really good armour save ''and'' a good ward save.

Rest of the items is pretty standard. I bet you will give your Prophets the highest Ward Saves, Earthing Rod, Dispel Scroll and others. After all, as you have sorcerers in the army, you don't have the dwarven 2+ to dispel resilience to magic, right?

In my humble opinion, your Prophets & Daemonsmith should be focused not on Close Combat, but on supporting your units with magic and providing re rolls to your artillery. Leave a unit of Ironsworn near them. Or solid block of Hobbos, so you'll be able to protect your magicians and Dreadquakes efficiently against any ambushers, scouts etc. Add extra Castellan, built to hold enemies and deal some damage. After dealing with pesky ambushing scums, you may have a chance to use them as a second wave.

Me and my friend do understand profits coming from a solid cannon fire or just shooty units, so fitting your Prophet on Bale Taurus and therefore giving him offensive role seem to be pointless in my opinion.

1. As a CC or supportive Lord, Prophet will lose fight against solid Generals.

2. As a flying terrorist dropping bomb (as described may points above), he is too exposed and will be shot to death. Even if set up behind K'daai - what makes him in theory invisible for shooting due to the fact visual is being blocked by massive and bulky shape - you risk your enemy to focus fire on this part of your army. 3 direct hits from cannons and both your monsters are gone. Sad.

3. Setting your Prophet on Lammasu may be awesome if you would challenge hero or general to a duel. Lammasu has anti-magic aura, so Ghaz Maghal, Runefang, Hellfire Sword or any magic weapon is simply being switched off. But Lammasu itself is pretty weak monstrosity in terms of stats.

Prophet and Daemonsmith on foot DO benefit from 'Lookout Sire' version for Dawi Zharr. It is called 'Infernal Engineer' and aforementioned characters, if wound is inflicted by shooting attack may be successfully saved by war machine crew member. Exactly same way as it works in case of Grimm Burlocksonn from Dwarf 8th ed. rulebook.

Conclusion - I consider Prophets and Daemonsmiths as purely supportive, and their prime role is to provide re-rolls to your artillery. Advance with your infantry, keep diminishing strength of your enemy with your artillery, protect gun-line with some infantry, and use them as a second wave.