New Content Overview - The Chaos Dwarfs: Warhammer Lore and Military Roster

The dance of death rockets is upon us courtesy of the latest downloadable pack 'The Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs', including an entirely new playable race - The Chaos Dwarfs. But who are the Chaos Dwarfs, where do they fit in Warhammer lore, and what exactly can they bring to bear in battle? Read on to learn everything you'll need to know about the history and the might of the Chaos Dwarfs.

Chaos Dwarf Lore 

Born through migration and catastrophe, the Chaos Dwarfs turned away from their traditional Dawi Gods towards to corrupting influence of the Chaos God Hashut - the God of Fire, Greed, and Tyranny. 

Blessed against their nature with access to the winds of magic, they weave their sorcery into their war machines, creating the most fearsome artillery in the game.

But their monstrous machines require an endless supply of raw materials. So, being as morally corrupt as any other chaos race, they enslaved a huge body of greenskins to serve them as labourers in their mines. Worked to death, these labourers provide the Chaos Dwarfs with all of the raw materials they need to weld their immense war machines and rain down fiery destruction upon their enemies. 

And that's what the new DLC content gives us - burning chaos wrought as only the Chaos Dwarfs can.

So let's have a look at what the Chaos Dwarfs bring to the table.

Legendary Lords

The new download gives us three Legendary Chaos Dwarf Lords to choose from: 

First of all we have the High Priest of Hashut, Astragoth Ironhand. He is both a melee expert and an expert spellcaster with access to the Lore of Fire and the new Lore of Hashut. Heavily armoured with impressive combat stats including fire, magical and armour-piercing weapon damage, he can really throw down in melee whilst also having access to both damage-dealing and stat-buffing spells. All in all a fantastic Lord.

Next we have Drazhoath the Ashen, the Sorcerer-Prophet of Hashut. He's a spellcaster with access to the Lore of Hashut and a unique mount called 'Cinderbreath' which comes with an additional Fire-Breath attack. While not quite as adept at dealing damage as Astragoth Ironhand on foot, once mounted on Cinderbreath he becomes very powerful, and with the Lore of Hashut at his disposal, he is a great option as a Legendary Lord.

Finally we have the 'Commander of the Tower of Zharr' Zhatan the Black, a melee expert with a choice of flying monstrous mounts. Zhatan is less focused on magic than the other two Legendary Lords but is a very capable melee combatant. He is a pretty tough customer, but he doesn't quite stack up against the other two Legendary Lords due to his lack of magical ability.

Military Roster

The Chaos Dwarfs bring over 26 new units to the fight. Many are similar to the traditional dwarf units, however some are either new additions to the typical dwarf roster or are completely new to the game. 

Let's take a look:

Infantry

Starting at the bottom we have the Goblin Labourers. These are your typical chaffy Goblin unit but they're even worse due to their complete lack of armour, so be aware that these guys won't last long either in melee or when coming under fire. 

Orc Labourers are only slightly better, still pretty chaffy and with zero armour, but being orcs they have slightly better combat stats and an armour-piercing melee attack, so they can at least bring some cheap armour-piercing damage to your army.

New to the game but still from the Greenskin race are the Hobgoblin infantry. These come in a few different variations:

⦁ Cutthroats - They have pretty low stats but do carry a shield, so can make a passable front line in the early game.

⦁ Sneaky Gits - Again pretty basic stats but with armour-piercing and poison melee attacks and two short-range missile attacks (think Roman Pilum) with poison damage. These guys don't carry a shield but do have Sneak and Vanguard deployment, so can be very useful for ambushing the enemy when they least expect it.

⦁ Archers - A chaffy archer unit - think Goblin Archers from the Greenskins - but with fire damage missile attacks, so can potentially do some decent damage to certain units.

Now for the first dwarf infantry unit - Chaos Dwarf Warriors, which are pretty much the same as the normal Dwarf Warrior but with the word Chaos attached. Essentially they're short, they're sturdy, and that's about it..

Next we have the Infernal Guard. These are the mainstay Chaos Dwarf infantry units and they come in three different flavours:

⦁ Standard - Everything you expect of a front-line Dwarf infantry unit with high leadership and melee defence stats. Sporting armour and a shield, they will stick around either in melee or under fire, however their damage output isn't great, so they're more of a bracing unit than a damage-dealing one.

⦁ Great Weapons - Similar to the standard Infernal Guard unit but with slightly lower melee defence and slightly higher melee attack, which is now armour-piercing. They are still heavily armoured but lack a shield, so will be a bit more vulnerable to range attacks than the standard version.

⦁ Fireglaives - a hybrid missile/melee unit with high levels of armour and leadership, they also carry a rifle-come-axe and boast fire and armour-piercing missile and melee attacks. Their melee stats are good for a hybrid unit and their range of 145 makes them your most viable gunpowder option. 

The other gunpowder infantry option for the Chaos Dwarfs is the Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses. Their missile attack is very impressive, however their relatively short range of 90 means they either won't have much time to get repeated volleys off before the enemy infantry close the gap or enemy ranged units will have time to get a few volleys off before retreating, making them pretty ineffective as standard ranged infantry. They will be most useful as a flanking option, waiting for the enemy front line to be engaged before moving around and getting some shots in from either the side or behind.

The final infantry unit to speak about is la crème de la crème of Chaos Dwarf infantry - the Infernal Ironsworn. This magical axe infantry unit sports very high levels of leadership and melee defence as well as being very heavily armoured and carrying a shield, meaning these boys will stick around until the bitter end. They also have two powerful close-range fire and armour-piercing missile attacks, so they'll be able to hit the enemy front line before they make contact. All-in-all these guys are the nearest thing to an immovable object you'll see in Total War: Warhammer III.

Cavalry

The first cavalry unit to speak about is the Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders (Spears). These guys are pretty much the same as the Greenskins' Goblin Wolf Riders - very fast, great for harassing missile units and artillery, but won't stand up against heavier infantry or most other cavalry units. But it's a bonus for the Chaos Dwarfs to have any sort of cavalry, considering their non-chaos Dwarf brethren have no cavalry options at all. 

Next are the Hobgoblin Wolf Raiders (Bows). These are similar to the Goblin Wolf Raiders (Bows) from the Greenskins, except this time they have fire ammunition. They are a very fast skirmish cavalry unit which is best kept at range until their ammo is used up, after which they can find some use in harassing enemy ranged units and artillery.

Monstrous Units

The only monstrous infantry unit that the Chaos Dwarfs have is the K'daai Fireborn. They have decent combat stats although not outrageous, but they do have fire, armour piercing, and magical damage as well as a bonus against infantry.

The Bull Centaur Renders are monstrous cavalry and come in three variants, Standard, Dual Axes (anti-infantry), and Great Weapons (anti-large). With a respectable speed of 62 they will probably act as the Chaos Dwarf version of heavy cavalry, although with a relatively low charge bonus of 40 and an armour stat of just 50 they won't truly excel in the role. However they do have a beefy armour-piercing attack so they can dish out some serious damage.

The Great Taurus and Bale Taurus are flying bulls, both with high levels of fire and armour-piercing damage. They have a large charge bonus but low armour and melee defence, so they are best used to hit hard and then get out. The Bale Taurus has better stats across the board as well as a fire-breath attack, so is the better option if you can afford it.

The other flying monstrous unit in the Chaos Dwarf roster is the Lammasu. While it lacks great combat stats it does have a magical melee attack, so it can be useful against ethereal units with resistance to non-magical damage. It also comes with two spells which debuff the enemy, so it is more of a magical support monster rather than an out-and-out damage dealer like the Taurus units. 

The final monster in the Chaos Dwarf ranks is the colossal K'daai Destroyer. This behemoth has a huge damage output with armour-piercing damage, fire attack and magical attack, meaning it can really dish out destruction. It has a high level of health and armour and is also surprisingly quick, making it a real handful on the battlefield. 

War Machines

And now onto the real strength of the Chaos Dwarfs, their war machines. 

First up we have the Iron Daemon, a war train from Thomas the Tank's nightmare. Although it does have a ranged attack it is essentially a big iron chariot, so once you have used all of your ammunition you can charge it into and probably through enemy infantry and you will cause absolute chaos, which as the Chaos Dwarfs is kinda the point. Don't keep it in prolonged combat as it doesn't have the best melee defence, so your best bet is to hit an infantry unit, let its high mass take it through and out the other side, turn around, rinse and repeat!

And from one hell train to another - the Skullcracker, which is essentially the Iron Daemon but without the ranged attack. Like the Iron Daemon it doesn't have great melee defence stats, but it hits like a train (pun intended) so keep it cycle charging and it will rack up the damage, especially against infantry.

Next we have the Magma Cannon, a long-range cannon with high explosive and fire damage. It also comes with the 'Burnt' trait, so not only do its projectiles do damage on initial contact but they also set fire to the ground, causing damage to all units in the blast area for a short time afterwards. 

The next artillery piece to look at is the Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher (always with the cuddly names). This is another field gun, so not designed for melee, but it has good ranged damage which is explosive and armour piercing and causes both fire and magic damage. It also has two different types of ammunition, one anti-infantry and one anti-large, so you can tailor it to your target. 

And for our final piece of hellish metal we have the Dreadquake Mortar, another long-range field gun with pretty shoddy melee stats but good ranged attack with armour-piercing damage. This unit also has an effect similar to the 'Burnt' trait whereby it does initial damage with its projectile but also causes prolonged damage to any unit in the area of the strike. 

So there you have it, everything that you get to bring to the party as the Chaos Dwarfs. Happy conquering!