Army List update

It's been more than one month since I last painted a model. Blame the heat waves we've had in France: they made it impossible to sit at my painting desk. Now that the nighttime temperatures are expected to drop below 20°C, I can finally get back to this Chaos Dwarfs army. 

In the meantime, I have reworked my army list.

At first, I thought that the only way to field Chaos (Dwarf) Warriors and Chaos Trolls was to use the Ravening Hordes supplement. However, I recently realized that I could combine the troops from the Hordes of Chaos and Beasts of Chaos army books. So here we go with a new list.

     

Characters 

My general remains the Chaos (Dwarf) Level 2 Sorcerer ontop the desacrated Anvil of Doom (count as a Chariot of Chaos). That's 85 point plus 35 points for Level 2 plus 120 points for the Chaos Chariot, for a total of 240 points. 

To be completely accurate, there should be a second warrior on this anvil. I may paint an Anvil Guard and count him as the driver of the chariot. 

Core Units

Four units so far (three and a half painted):

• 10 Chaos (Dwarf) Warriors (14 points/model) with Champion (+12 points), Standard Bearer (+12 points) and Musician (+ 6 points), equipped with shields (+1 point/model) = 180 points
• 10 Chaos (Dwarf) Marauders (5 points/model) with Champion (+10 points), Standard Bearer (+10 points) and Musician (+5 points), with light armour (+1 point/model) = 85 points
• 10 Chaos (Dwarf) Marauders (5 points/model) with Champion (+10 points), Standard Bearer (+10 points) and Musician (+5 points), with light armour (+1 point/model) and great weapons (+2 points/model)= 105 points
• 5 Chaos (Dwarf) Knights (33 points/model) with Champion (+20 points), Standard Bearer (+20 points) and Musician (+10 points) = 215 points

Special Units 

Only one unit painted: my trio of Chaos Trolls (55 points/model) = 165 points 

So far, the total is 990 points. My target being 1500 points, I think I can field one or two additional characters, along with a Chaos Giant, specifically a C28 Citadel giant I previously painted once for my Renaissance mercenary dwarfs.

And since I can't really post a message without any picture of miniature, here is the current state of my Chaos Dwarf Knight standard bearer, along with my second character, a Level 1 Chaos Dwarf sorcerer. 

 

Chaos Dwarf Knight #2

This time, the conversion of the rider went faster, as I simply cut the legs, trimed down the groin area until it fit the saddle, and repositioned the legs on the boar's flanks, using a mix of Green Stuff and milliput to fill the gaps.

As for the paintwork, I used the same colour scheme as for the first knight: a mix of steel and copper scales for the caparison, and a black and copper armour for the rider. The helmet was painted using a duplicate of the miniature in hand, which I polished so that I could see how the light falls across its surface. 

As the result lacked colour variety, I decided to add a painted skull to the helmet... I'm still undecided as to whether it was a smart move or not... 

 

And here comes the cavalry!

Or at least a scout...

Conversion based on the upper part of an MM90 Chaos Dwarf (plus the boots), the armoured boar of the MM22 Orc general, and the lower part of a plastic dwarf warrior.

Chaos Dwarfs Army recap

 

Now that my second regiment of Chaos Dwarf berserkers is finished, and my appetite for painting dwarfs is starting to fade, it's time to check where I stand in terms of points before launching a new project. The plan was to play a 6th Edition game with 1000 to 1500 army points, using my dwarfs as proxies for the Chaos Warriors army list from the Ravening Hordes supplement.

Characters

Luckily, I have already painted a Chaos Sorcerer (80 points) who can serve as the army general. As he stands atop a desecrated Anvil of Doom, I will give him a Chaos Warrior Chariot (+100), and a Chaos armour (+12), and upgrade him to Level 2 (+35), for a total of 227 points.

Core Units

My first, and for now only, regiment of Chaos Warriors includes a musician (+10), a standard-bearer (+10), and a champion (+10). I've also given them a shield (+1) and a Chaos armour (+2), for a total of 160 points.

My two regiments of  Chaos Marauders also include a musician (+10), a standard-bearer (+10), and a champion (+10). It makes 70 points of Troll Biters and 90 points of Troll Eaters, as they have also a Great weapon (+2). Given the time spent painting them, that's a ridiculously low number of points 😩

Rare Unit

Last but not least, 3 Chaos Trolls, for a total of 150 points.

 

That only brings me to 697 points... Ugh... And I thought Chaos armies were easy to complete! 

So, what's next? I have already converted a dwarf wizard (80 points) ready to support the army general. Although I'm not a fan of the sculpts, I also have the second trio of Marauder MM40 Trolls to paint, and at 50 points the model, they're worth the effort! Another quick win would be a Chaos Spawn (50 points), or, more exciting, an Aspiring Champion (70 points) riding a Dameon Steed as a Chaos Reward (50 points). And of course, I still have a bunch of unpainted MM90 Chaos Dwarfs that were my initial motivation for starting this army. We'll see!

The Champion

 ... and ten! So glad to complete this unit. This champion is based on a old Marauder Miniatures Dragon Slayer, converted by adding horns from a Chaos charioteer, and replacing the axe blade with one from a Chaos Troll. 

In terms of painting, I tried something with dyed hair and beard... I wish I could get a brighter red. Anyway.

 And the Troll Eaters are finally done!

The standard-bearer

Another three-armed mutant, this time holding the regiment's banner. This conversion was surprisingly easy, based on a Marauder Miniatures Troll Slayer model I had already used for a simpler horned mutant. I replaced the left fist with an hand holding an axe, and added a second right arm originally from a more recent Troll Slayer standard bearer. The pole and the flag come from the newest Chaos Marauders plastic sprue, and the head is that of a Chaos Troll. 

In terms of painting, the runes on the flag read "The Horned Ancestor", an obscure deity worshipped by these mutated Troll Eaters.

 

Close to the end!

 

The musician

Another simple conversion of a Marauder Miniature Troll Slayer: the horns are from a Beastmen plastic sprue, the gong is from the old Zombie plastic sprue, and the hammer/bone is just a blob of Milliput fixed onto the former axe handle.

In terms of paint job, I used the same range of colours as on the previous models.

 

And that's it! Still the two most difficult miniatures to paint before considering the unit complete: the standard bearer and the champion 😛

 

Numbers 6 and 7

Mister Walrus rolled badly and ended up with a mutation that’s... let’s just say... meh… For this warrior, I used the same model as the leader of the previous regiment, with only minimal changes.

 

Mister Rhino was luckier (well, sort of) and rolled one four-finger giant hand... not exactly graceful, but more than useful to grab a troll femur and smash enemies.

 

Still 3 empty slots to fill with the command group!