Chaos Dwarf tactics

By Rav

Notes: These tactics are based upon my experiences of using Chaos Dwarfs over three years amassing a very large army. They are designed at the beginning for starting out collecting Chaos Dwarfs and then move on to more advanced tactics if you have already got a rather advanced army and need more ideas. Some tactics are what I have seen in White Dwarfs from a long time ago and some are what I have made of my own and customised. I have gone over various troop types to show you what I think are good and bad.

Contents

If you are just starting your army then I would strongly advise you to think about or write down what you are going to collect first. When I collected Chaos Dwarfs I did not do this and ended up regretting it when my army was very big. I shall go over the troop types and say a couple of words about them so you can decide your self about what types of troops you want in your army.

General: As a Chaos Dwarf commander you have more choice of who your general is. It can be a Sorcerer Lord or a normal General. I would recommend a Sorcerer Lord for quite small battles as you have a General and a Sorcerer rolled into one, most other armies will only be able to afford a low level Wizard and a General. If you arm your Sorcerer with a good selection of magic items you can't really go wrong. You definately do NOT want him to die at any point. If he is mounted on a monster then he can be worth maybe 7 victory points or more. God knows why you aren't allowed to have a Bull Centaur Lord as your General.

Heroes: I never really used heroes, I usually took a low level Sorcerer or armed a Champion with a decent magic weapon. They can be quite useful, holding a unit together with their higher leadership but are quite expensive. Bull Centaur Heroes are a lot better, mincing anything in their paths.

Champions: Champions are definately worth having if you can afford them. They can boost a regiment's fighting power as well as sacrificing himself by challenging very hard characters to save another one of your characters or to stop him from mincing your normal troopers.

Sorcerers: Sorcerers are definately worth having in your army. They are quite expensive for what they do because of the new rules about only casting in your own turn. Chaos Dwarf spells are the most destructive spells I have ever seen. Eruption is the best spell in the game. You can not garantee getting this spell but there any many others in the pack that are good. I haven't played with Chaos Dwarfs for ages so I can't really remember what the rest of the spells were, only Eruption sticks in my mind.

Chaos Dwarf axemen: You NEED to have these troops in your army, its the rules. At 14pts they are quite expensive but they are equipped to the teeth with armour and the deadly 2 handed axe. They will cut up any opponent and because they strike last they have to protect themselves. Arrows just bounce off them as well. They are slow moving so just deploy them the furthest distance possible and march accross the battle field at 6" a turn. They will reach the enemy eventually. Try to soak up the fire power with them to draw the attention from your vunerable but faster Hob Goblins. I would recommend the unit of axemen to be at least 20 strong with a standard and a champion if you can afford one. This unit would hold any other enemy for a few turns, with their leadership of 9 etc.

Bull Centaurs: These have got to be the best cavalry in Warhammer. They are brilliant! Strength of 6, toughness 4, leadership 9, 2 wounds. Need I go on? Try to include at least 5 in every game you play, even if they are your only unit. They will obviously be the fat big target of misslie troops so I suggest you take a champion and some magic items to counter this. A magic item called the ruby chalice (I think) inflicts a -2 to hit penalty to hit the Bull Centaurs after the first casualty. If you are short of points, take a standard and then take the standard of shielding. It might save a few wounds. If you are playing a big game try to have two units of 5. Your opponent has the choice of spreading the casualties over the two or killing one and leaving your other unit intact to strike. More on the Bull Centaurs later...

Blunderbusses: These are deadly, if you get them in the right positions. I have found that several units of 10, some two ranks deep and some one is sufficient to keep hold of your battle line. Believe me, knowone at all will dare come near them, or death is certain for them. They will offer protection from cavalry to other units behind them. More info on how to use Blunderbusses in some battle plans later on.

Hob Goblins: These troops are faster than Chaos Dwarfs but are weaker and have a very crap leadership. They are also cheap so you can use them to bulk out the army. This makes them both a good alliance. The Chaos Dwarfs can charge in the enemy head on and the Hob Goblins can threaten the flanks. There are several Hob Goblin troops and I will go into detail with them below. Another major drawback is animosity. This has never really influenced my games but there is still the fear.

Warriors: These are pretty crap and I have never used them before. You are better off buying archers instead.

Archers: These bring some much needed cheap fire power into the army. You could have masses of them and can move around the battle field much easier and faster and still shoot. Unlike Blunderbusses. They still fight as well as warriors. The only drawback is that they run away quite easily. You could buy a hero because they are still very cheap or a champion with the crown of command. You could simply keep your general within 12" but this is a bit of a waste of your general, unless there is fighting of course!

Wolfriders: These are fast, very fast. Try not to use them in head to head combat like your Bull Cenaturs, they will not take it. Speed around the flanks, attack war machines and missile troops. Make sure you have a large unit. At least 10 for small battles and 20 for larger battles. You could turn them into a serious fighting force, maybe 20-30 wolfriders, a hero with the crown of command and a champion. Make sure you have decent magic weapons for both characters. This unit will bog another unit down in combat maybe for the whole game and is still cheap as well. Another idea is to have maybe between 5-10 wolfriders skirmishing and deploy them in front of your Bull Centaurs, they are faster and act as a screen from misslie troops. Or course if they flee of suffer from animosity...  

Warmachines: Chaos Dwarfs have a serious arsenal of destructive war machines at their disposal. There are details below.

Earthshaker: In my opinion this is the best (and most expensive) war machine in the game. When it hits it has mass destruction and even if it doesn't hit there is still the earth shake. Of course, flyers always go for them and the enemy trys to shoot the crew with little success. Of course having a battery of three would be a good idea.

Rocket: This is still good if you are fighting troops with a toughness of three but not that good when the enemy has a toughness of 4. They are good if you are short of points and also to draw attention away from your earthshakers.

Bolt thrower: This is vastly underated, I have some memorable moments of when them High Elf heroes have been picked from the ranks of the darn Sword Masters. If you have three of them or more then they stand a better chance of hitting and wrecking more destruction. Place then in a battery with a Hob Goblin Hero to protect them from flying nasties.

Monsters: Unlike their Dwarfs cousins Chaos Dwarfs can ride monsters and have some of the most powerful monsters in the Old World. The Great Taurus is a mighty hard monster to mount a Lord of Hero on. It has very good fighting abilities and gives him the mobility he needs to strike at the heart of the enemy. The Lamasu is good as well, this beast has a toughness of 7 making it so a strength 3 can't hurt it. It cannot breath fire but offers magical protection against magic weapons. It is hard to decide for yourself which one to take or which characters to mount on which because they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The Horns of Hashut: When I first read this battle report I thought it was a piece of genius, it still is. They don't write battle reports like this anymore. The tactics of each opponent were explained in great detail and the battle itself was written beautifully. Well on to the tactics, if you are experienced enough to have this White Dwarf (170) then I would ignore this, just read the battle report instead. The person, I forget his name now, is a genius tactical master.

This type of tactic is best suited to large armies as you have a lot of troops to dispose of. I have never tried it with a small army before. What is meant by horns are two flanks of troops making their way round the enemy and striking them on the flanks so first you have to select these troopers. They should both be fast obviously, so you could have the Lammasu and Great Taurus with suitable characters, Bull Centaurs or Wolf Riders. I know this is not many but if you have a large unit of Bull Centuars on one flank with a Hero or Sorcerer on a beast and then a large unit of Wolf Riders with your General on the other flank then you are sorted. Right that is your flanks sorted, I will now go onto the next step.

You need to have your battle line to protect your war machines. In the battle report the player selected a large unit of Chaos Dwarfs with a level 4 Sorcerer and I think it was 3 units of Blunderbusses. Deploy the axemen in the middle to hold the centre, these should hold any massed charge, deploy the Blunderbusses in units of 7 I think it was in a single line next to the axemen each sides. An cavalry or troopers would not want to charge into this lot. The player also had Hob Goblin archers but I never used these.

You should have some war machines. Deploy them on a hill behind your battle line of Chaos Dwarfs and Blunderbusses. Definately have an Earth Shaker to stop those pesky archers from shooting and maybe a few Bolt Throwers.

Now for tactics. Each turn move your flanking units as fast as they can go and strike any missile troops, war machines or weak troopers. Hopefully they will flee if you have picked the right troopers to fight but if they don't you are stuck. Hold the centre with your axemen and Blunderbusses, anything that charges into them will die. Shoot anything with your war machines that is hard.

In the battle report this tactic worked perfectly, Wood Elf cavalry charged into the Chaos Dwarf battle line and the horns killed the troops on the flanks. It might not work for you, depending on what sort of enemy you are fighting. I would not use it on armies that do not move, like Dwarfs. Use it if your enemy has cavalry or is certain to move towards you, like Skaven. I have had some wins and losses with this tactic, just try and make it work for you.

The Castle: This tactic was printed in White Dwarf 183 so I won't go into it in too much detail. The whole idea of the tactic is to create a deployment zone like a castle on a hill, ie a mote, walls ands the bit in the middle. For the mote use cavalry like Bull Centaurs and move out and strike the enemy. The walls should be hard troops that can hold out in a fight like axemen or Blunderbusses. In the middle have all your deadly war machines. This formation is very solid and defensive for enemy trying to break in.

Some people say that tactics for Chaos Dwarfs are limited and some people say they aren't. I think there is quite a big scope with them having more variation than some other races but lacking than some others. You might find that you will always lose against some opponents (for me it was the High Elves) and always win against others (the Skaven). Here I will go into some general tactics for fighting against different races.

Stop missile troops: Missile troops are hazardous for any army. They stand back, often being very weak and just kill you from a distance. With Chaos Dwarfs being slow it is hard to get to the missile troops and give 'em a taste of their own medicine. Chaos Dwarfs have a little trick up their sleeve that gives them seasickness. Your Earthshakers, as you probably know can stop missile troops from firing with their earthshake. This is a godsend. Insead of aiming for those small units of elite cavalry aim for the masses of archers / handgunners / crossbowmen at the back of the enemy battle lines. They are usually in very big units so are not that hard to hit, always remain in the same position so it is easy to guess the range and are weak. The earthshake will stop them from shooting over a wide area and you will probably get some casualties in the bargain.

Surprise your enemy: You might think this is a hard thing to do with Chaos Dwarfs but try taking the Book of Asur for a Sorcerer. There is a horrified look on your opponents face when you cast bridge (I think that is what it is called now) on your axemen to see them actually get into comabt. There is also a Chaos Dwarf spell called Magma Pool that transports your Sorcerer to another place on the battle field. All the better when he is on a Lammasu.

Hob Goblins: Hob Goblins can easily be used as disposable troops to hold up the enemy while your Chaos Dwarfs get into the combat.

There is a lot of Magic Items available with the Warhammer Magic supplement. Remember, I collected Chaos Dwarfs when there was the old Battle Magic, which in my oppinion was a lot better. So some magic items might not be as good now as they were then. Don't forget that Chaos Dwarfs can use magic items that are Chaos only, so long as they are not assigned to a specific god.

Chaos Runeblade or sword or summit: I saw this when my main opponent started collecting Undead and it was in the back of the book and was available to Chaos. This is the one which gives you +1 WS, + 1 T and + 1 S. I think that there was more stuff but it was a long time ago and I can't remember what it was. It is not the sword that is D3 wounds (you could take that if you wanted).

Chaos armour: This gives your character a 4+ save, but at the bottom it says "Wearer may still cast spells". So I would advise you to take it at only 10 points it is a bargain. It has saved my Sorcerer's ass a few times.

Book of Asur: We all know this one, its a favourite for any army. Of course then, you were allowed to have a magic level of 5...

Executioner's axe: This is one mighty weapon for beheading those High Elf general's heads. You will probably stike last anyway so you might as well strike last and have one mighty strike instead!

Sword of Swiftness: I know how frustrating it was to strike last EVERY time so why not strike first for a change. Try taking a strength potion as well to make sure your enemy never strikes back. 35 points combination is great to turn a cheap hero into a mincing machine.

Staff of Flaming Death: Good for your Sorcerer to inflict a few panic tests.

Crown of Command: Essential for those Hob Goblins.

Talisman of Ravensdark: I have never used of heard of this magic item often but apparantly it stops fighting creatures from fighting correctly. Take it for a Hob Goblin Hero guarding your war machines perhaps?

You should try to surprise the enemy of the Chaos Dwarfs by doing something completely new each battle. Like taking loads of Blunderbusses one game and loads of Hob Goblin arrows the next. Try to try different army experiments with different magic items and troop types. You definatley need a battle plan for Chaos Dwarfs otherwise you will just end up completely cocking up everything.

Chaos Dwarfs are a great race that have a lot of character. If you have that evil heart but Chaos and Dark Elves are just too evil for you then collect these. They are great to paint as well and make Dwarfs look small! With Hob Goblins to give them mobility and Chaos Dwarfs have magic and cavalry they are more than a match for some races. I knew bits of my army down to every last detail and still know the army book off by heart! I think I might get a new Chaos Dwarf army using Nigel Stillman's approach for a bit of character. Please, do not nick these rules for your web page without asking me! If you do, and I find them on a web page, I will be VERY angry. I search all over the net for GW pages every day to find the best of the best and I have not nicked anything without permission. If you desperatley want them on your page then just send me an email asking me. If you have read these tactics and have something important to point out that I have not then please email me and they will be updated. Please also comment on whether you have used these tactics and found them successful or not.

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