Hi friends, my name is Owen. You might know that I've done
quite a few things for the Crown of Command over the last couple
of years. Played games online, chatted
about beast men, adventures, told stories, all those things.
But I'm here today to take a bit of a deep dive into Warhammer
Armies Dwarves. Now, this book had a huge
influence on me as a gamer. Unlike many things in life, it
happened out of the blue. I'd always been a Warhammer
player when I always, obviously, I was born.
I grew up, to paraphrase Dickens, but I'd always played
as an orc and goblin player or a Chaos player or a beastman
player. And all the games I played up
until this point in the 80s back into the early 90s was usually
just pile them high and knocking down type games where we put all
the figures we could find on the table and just roll dice until
the sunset. But that sort of changed.
I think it would have been around 1993 I was in university,
but I travelled back and forth to university.
At this point I had a little job in the Laser Dome in Swansea,
which used to be an old cinema, The Oldcastle Cinema.
It's still there today, is one of the few surviving laser domes
in the country and there I was working a couple of nights a
week. I was working to the extent that
I got paid £42.50 a week. Now wherever you are in the
world, that isn't a lot of money, but at that time it
bumped up my student loan. Just give me something to play
with and it allowed me to do a few things hobby wise.
I used to go on a Friday and I'd start work at 2:00, but I'd
always arrive at one. And the reason I arrive at one
is my pay packet would be ready. A little brown envelope filled,
well, not filled, partially filled with cash.
And I would go with that little brown envelope into Swansea Town
itself, usually to visit the comic shop.
It's called Comics with an X. It's a tiny shop, still there
today, still visited quite often at that point, that point in
time, that magical time. It was over two floors.
But when I say two floors, it was like about the size of your
kitchen, I would imagine, with another one of your kitchen on
top of it, with just a dark, windy stairs in between the two
filled with cardboard cutouts of Lara Croft's Tomb Raider, et
cetera. And I remember on this day, it
was a sunny day, much like as I look out the window and I walked
to the comic shop, my £42.50 clanking in my pocket, looking
to buy some Hawks and goblins, looking to buy maybe a Vampire
the Masquerade book. I was big into that at the time,
my goth phase. And I arrived at the comic shop
and went upstairs. The stairway was dark and when I
arrived in that little floor at the top it was like arriving in
Wonderland but without the Mad Hatter or Tea Party.
On the left hand side there would be a big rack full of lead
figures, all in their blister packs.
Hanging from the wall on the right were all the paints and in
front of you was a dirty window. Now the comic shop is in one of
the old Victorian arcades in Swansea and the windows leading
looking out into the arcade were never that clean.
But they're on a stand facing me like the Holy Grail, gleaming in
the light. Was Warhammer army dwarfs.
Now, I'm not a great painter, never have been, was never
really into dwarves as a race. But for some reason I picked up
that book. I opened it and it had that real
stiffness a brand new book has. It creaks a little when you pull
it open and there on the first page inside the cover were these
wonderful pictures of brightly coloured 90s citadel miniatures
doing battle across a bridge, a tree man involved and lines upon
lines of Marauder dwarves doing battle.
And that turned on a little light in my head.
I've got the book in front of me, but sadly it's an E version.
I don't know where my old book went, but I used to carry it
everywhere. Needless to say I purchased the
book. I think it was 999.
That was 1/4 of my pay really. And then I picked up a small box
of plastic dwarves. You remember the ones with their
axe above their head. And in my comic shop bag is a
white bag red writing comic shop established 1986.
I went back to work and all day thought about what I would do
when I got home. And I got home and I started to
read the book and I read it from cover to cover and at that time
I would start and very rarely finish any projects.
But I started this project and I carried on and on and for the
weeks leading on my £42.50 would almost be totally spent on
Dwarves until in the end I had a fine Warhammer army painted and
ready for war that lasted me the best part of 10 years.
But that, and this isn't really there a story.
This is a deep dive into the book.
I'm going to work my way through it.
I'm going to read some of it out.
I'm going to describe some of it for you.
And no doubt if you're listening to this, you are in the Crown of
command and you will have had experiences with this book.
So come with me for a trip down memory lane.
I'm looking at the cover, and there on the cover is the great
Dwarf King Thorgren, Grudge bearer upon his throne, being
carried by his bearers, raiding into a big huge crowd of night
goblins who are being scattered before him.
There are some slayers in the pick as well, some dwarven
banners flapping in the wind behind.
The air seems to be filled with fire, as if the dwarf and war
machines are all kicking off together.
It's a wonderful drawing. It's atmospheric.
I'd love to have it as a poster on my wall.
It says it's a Warhammer supplement and it's by Games
Workshop. And then you open it up.
You can just imagine turning that cover, that sort of faintly
hard but plasticky cover, and they're inside.
The first picture says wood elves ambush a dwarf army, and
you can see the dwarves marching over a bridge.
Who's that clip clopping over my bridge?
And there there are an army of wood elves facing them next to a
pond and an old rewind building. I don't know why they're at war,
but what a war it is. The bases are all gobbling
green, of course. The trees are there scattered
about. Planners flap in the wind.
I wonder who won this? Below that, a mighty clash
between Dwarves and Chaos Dwarves is the next picture.
We can see a Bull Taurus rearing up Bull Centaurs and there in
the centre, making its debut, the classic Anvil of Doom.
There's a unit of long beards there, a unit of thunderous, but
we'll go into those as we go along.
The next thing, this is Warhammer Army's Dwarves.
It was written by Rick Priestley and Nigel Stillman, legends each
of them. Story is by Bill King.
Wow, look at the talent involved here.
The cover art by Dave Gallagher, black and white art by John
Blanche, Ray Wayne England and Mark Gibbons.
This has to be the high watermark of Gaines Workshop
army books of the last 40 years. Warhammer armies Dwarves.
What a book. Wow.
The contents page is next. I'm not going to bore you with
that. Needless to say, there are two
contrasting styles of art in this one.
Very John Blanchesque, which is an axe.
A wing head axe seems to be floating through the sky and the
next one is the face of a dwarf in a sort of a a runic sort of
style, which I think must be looks computer generated to me
or 90s computer generated. Anyway, we have a couple of
pages of those and then we go into a great looks like a John
Blanche artwork of a a flame cannon firing into the night.
Birds scatter before the flames and the dwarfs rush forward
their weapons. You can almost hear them
shouting. One of them's playing, blowing
on a horn, so atmospheric just brings it alive.
Behind them are those peak mountains that the sort of peaks
that nobody could stand on without piercing their bum.
And then. But that was Warhammer.
It was so different, so evocative, so stylish in what it
had. And the first page just
describes the dwarfs, and there's an old dwarf staying
here. There's nothing as sure in the
world as the glitter of gold and the treachery of elves.
And that says everything about the Dwarves and Warhammer, the
Lord of the Rings and many things, doesn't it?
I'll read you the first few paragraphs of this just to
reacquaint you with the greatness of the of the story of
the work of the the way these were written back in the day,
and the ways they would capture your imagination and bring you
into the painting, the buying, the gaming, all from the Genius
of the Army books. The Dwarves are one of the most
ancient races of the Warhammer world.
From the beginning of time, their traditional homeland had
been the World's Edge Mountains, the vast forbidden mountain
chain that marks the eastern boundary of the Old World.
Here, in ages past, the dwarves built their massive underground
strongholds among the high peaks and tumbling chasms.
At its height, their realms spread from the far north to the
distant S, while their minds stretched far beneath the earth
itself. These days of glory are now long
gone. Many strongholds lie in ruins or
are occupied by evil creatures. The great achievements of the
past are now nothing more than memories.
Ancient sagas sung in the halls of the few surviving Dwarf
strongholds. Dwarves are the greatest miners
and tunnelers in the world, delving deep beneath their
mountain homes from metals, precious stones and the mineral
wealth buried there. From this raw material they make
all kinds of precious objects, including weapons and armor,
marvellous vessels and jewels worked with incredible skill.
Beneath each dwarf stronghold there exists a labyrinth of
caverns and tunnels, created and enlarged over centuries as the
dwarves dug ever deeper in search of new riches.
Dwarves are supremely skilled Craftsman and take great pride
in everything they do. It is almost impossible for a
dwarf to hurry his work, and no dwarf could ever bring himself
to produce something slipshod or cheap.
Whether it be forging weapons and armour, the construction of
fortifications, all the mechanical inventions of the
famed Engineers Guild, the ingenuity and technical ability
of dwarves is unsurpassed anywhere in the Old World.
No other race, not even the great Craftsman of the Hives,
can rival the care and skill of the dwarves.
Dwarves all what? I'll start again.
Dwarves obtain all they really need by trading raw materials
and artefacts with their neighbouring peoples.
A few basic crops are grown within the walls of the dwarf
strongholds, and a Hardy livestock graze on the high
pastures. Good land is scarce in the
mountains of the Dwarves, and they're not great farmers,
although they are enthusiastic hunters, able to find meat and
fur even in the highest peaks. Grain and fruit are brought into
the mountains by merchants and exchanged in the strongholds for
metalwork and gold. If their trade routes are cut by
war and the strongholds are besieged, the dour dwarves
tighten their belts and dine on dwarf bread.
A tough baked bread from a mixture of wild grain and
pulverised rock, made almost palatable when washed down with
good old dwarf ale. Indeed, the Dwarf Ale is so
nourishing the dwarves can survive for weeks on this alone.
Every stronghold has a great store of barrels, takes great
pride in their efficiency and unique flavour of its ale.
There are a number of pages going on telling us all about
the back, the background and the history of the dwarves.
We have the dwarf gods, grungy, grim near the fearless Valea.
Then they talk about the dwarf clans, pages of evocative text
telling us all about the rich background.
This is where the old world finally found its feet in 4th
edition of the Warhammer world I believe this is where that which
walked finally started to run. We have the coming of Chaos, we
have the elves, we have the Doom of Gurimneer.
All this stuff which still stands up to this day.
Then the Golden Age, the Goblin Wars and then we talk about the
Dwarf Realms. This is a gaming book.
Its purpose is to provide you with the information required to
build and field Dwarf armies in the Warhammer world.
And yet we are now on page 10 and we are still talking
background, still top notch background and world building
and characters and adventures and all those things just there
to inspire you. It talks about Carazza, Karak,
the ever peak, the capital of the dwarves, Zafbah.
That's always the realm I chose, and I chose it from my army and
their leader, Vander Karak, Kadrin, the Slayer Keep, Kadrig,
Eight Peaks, Karakazuul, the Iron Peak, Barakva.
And then we have a map, an old pencil drawn map of the dwarf
realm. And there is sadness that lies
in the beauty of this map. It's like something of The
Hobbit or EU Hobbed as it's now been translated into Welsh at
last. But it's like the maps there.
And looking through this map of the of the World's Edge
mountains, you can see all the dwarf realms and some are marked
as habitable and some are marked as destroyed.
And it's hard to look at it and not feel sad because the dwarves
are surrounded by death and destruction and doom, and yet
they are there like a fine light in the pictures.
Dark, ready to March out and do battle like never before.
Moving on from the map. I don't want to move on from the
map. I could look at the map for
hours. The Sour Sea, the Black Gulf,
the Realms of Thaila, the Plain of Bone, the Ash Ridge
Mountains, the Desolation of Asgor, the Crookback Mountain,
the Skaven lair. They're all there.
Oh, and now there is another map.
This time we are panning out a bit, if you can imagine the
credits of Game of Thrones as the page moves around and the
camera zooms in on the places which will have an impact on
this week's episode. The Northern Waste, the Sea of
Claws, The Empire, The Moot, Bretonia.
We're looking at the Warhammer World, the Old World.
And then we talk of the lost realm of the Dwarves.
Karak Drask, Karagvan, Karag Angor.
Let's read Karagvan and lose ourselves again.
In William King's rich text, Karagvan was hewn out of the
cliffs overlooking Blackwater. The mountains around the
stronghold are loaded with a strata of unique and extremely
precious minerals, including the highly prized meteoric iron that
dwarves call Gromniel Grombril. Grombril.
That's it, got it right. This exceptionally hard metal is
forged into the best swords, axes and armour.
For centuries, Karakvan prospered and dwarves flocked to
its halls. The mines beneath the stronghold
became ever deeper and more extensive until the cliffs
overlooking the lake were honeycombed below the water
level. During the disastrous upheavals
that ended the great days of the Dwarf Empire, Karakvan was
struck by a devastating earthquake.
The waters of the lake poured into the lower workings.
Through fissures in the rock. Thousands of dwarves perished,
and the great horde of treasure was washed away.
Amidst the ruin and destruction, the Scaven attacked from beneath
and Orcs from the surface. Trapped between these two
implacable foes, the Dwarves of Calakvan stood no chance.
Some fled, but most died, defending their stronghold
against its inevitable doom. The city was abandoned and it
remains uninhabited to this day except by trolls and other wild
monsters. Is now known as Cragmere, a
dangerous ruin of tunnels and broken halls in which the
treasures of the dwarves lie undisturbed.
From the dark days of the ruin, adventurers sometimes penetrate
its depths and some return to tell tales of horror and riches,
but most are never seen or heard of again.
Dwarf prospectors are lured back to this ruined stronghold by the
promise of Gromnil. Expeditions frequently brave the
terror of the dark to penetrate the deepest tunnels in search of
the precious metal. The dwarves of devised ingenious
diving machines for exploring the deepest and richest workings
which are permanently flooded. Needless to say, the Scaven and
other vile creatures which now dwell in the depths of
Cradagmaya are more than a difficult opposition for the
Dwarves. Wow, it's like the minds of
Moria, isn't it? Filled with dreadth and darkness
and doom, where the Dwarves will seek to reclaim it.
But whether they will, we shall never find out.
The book goes on. Talks about the Wild mountains,
the underway Black Fire Pass, and even outside the World's
Edge mountains where dwarf clans live and prosper.
The Norse dwarves, of course. Citadel had a range of Norse
dwarves back in the day. The Black Mountains, the
expatriate dwarves. All of these before we go into a
Dwarf history, and then for the next few pages, an incredibly
detailed timeline which goes all the way through the Dwarves from
the beginning of recorded time, the time of the Ancestor Gods,
right up to the present day as it stood in Warhammer.
I'll read the first one and I'll read the last one for you before
4500. Imperial year, the time of the
Ancestor gods. No written records of these
times survive, but legend relates to the dwarves begin
their slow colonization of the World's Edge Mountains.
About the Imperial year -5000 This age came to a close with
the coming of Chaos. Good words.
The disappearance of the ancient Ancestor God Grim near into the
Chaos Wastes and the disappearance of other Ancestor
gods shortly afterwards. Dwarf tradition holds that Grim
Near close the mighty Chaos Gate after battling the Chaos Gods
and thereby saving the world from certain doom.
Shortly before Grim Near's disappearance, the Dwarves and
High Elves meet for the first time. 2 friendly relations and
they are established as friends for a while and then we move on
and we have the final entry. 2510 Imperial Gallander the
Battle of Broken Leg Gully. After 10 years of constant
raiding and pillaging, the York warlord Grashnak is defeated by
King Angrim. Iron Fist of Caraccadin.
The good thing about this history is that you could devise
and use and place your dwarf army in any part of it that you
wished. There were so many battles
fought and heroes created in wondrous realms that all this
could come alive in any way. You decided to paint your
figures or put them on the table with the friends that you had to
play with. Next came the article on Magic
Rooms. Magic runes in Warhammer were
extremely important, and this is what made the Dwarf army
different from many other armies.
They didn't use magic users. They didn't use magic shot
across the battlefield from the fingers of Wizards.
No, it came from runesmiths, magical people who had spent
hundreds of years learning the secrets of the runes.
I'll read the first paragraph here.
Magic pervades the Warhammer world and permeates all things.
It flows into the material realm from beyond the Chaos Wastes as
an ever shifting flux of energy. This energy can be perceived and
used by the races of the Warhammer world.
Some races, such as Elves and Men, can use magic to cast
terrifying and destructive spells.
Dwarves, on the other hand, are extremely resistant to magic and
its influence, neither perceiving its presence nor
feeling its effects. Dwarves have learned to use the
power of magic in a different way, by incorporating it into
magic items such as swords and armour.
The Dwarves are the greatest and more successful of all the races
when it comes to making magical items.
Indeed, many of the most powerful magic weapons used by
men and elves were made by the dwarves using their unique
skills. A dwarf who makes magic items is
called a Runesmith. As dwarves of no direct
equivalent to a human wizard, the Runesmiths are a very
important The Runesmiths are an ancient Guild of Craftsman.
For thousands of years they have preserved the secrets of how to
forge magic runes and how to make weapons and armour and
other items of incredible power. It goes on to tell us about the
Runesmiths and then the runes, incorporating a poem, an
incantation struck when a rune is made.
Find the heart of the mountain. Take it on the last day of the
third moon. Stroke the furnace at midnight
where the oar glows red. Hammer it before the dawn.
Bend seven times the white hot metal upon itself.
Recite seven times the verse of forging.
Quench in the blood of a dragon. Slake red hot in the Quicksilver
of Carrick and Gaul. Do this in the name of Harky the
ancestor. Temper in the waters of Van
Horn, the blade upon the Dragon's horn on the third moon
of the winter. Carved the rune of slaying
Anoint in the blood of a troll slain on the day of Grungy.
Bind the hilt with dragon hide and with horn side inside.
Halt the haft with Azil's gold. Bind with Azul metal.
Mark the orc Fang pommel with the sign of Grimm near.
Perform the naming right with ale upon Valaya's altar.
The slaying of a troll by night will make the rune glow for 1000
years. It tells us about battle magic,
about rune magic, about creating a rune item and then choosing
runes, and then rather uniquely, almost melded into the
background in a sort of camouflage way, wearing its rock
like armour against a stone face.
Comes the rule of the runes. You may inscribe up to three
runes in a runic magic item, subject to the following
restriction. There are six points, all of
them named the Rune of three, the Rune of Pride.
All these things which again bring the background so much
into what is becoming the rules. And now they mention the
different runes. Many of them are similar to the
magic items you would find in other army books.
But of course, these are all written so beautifully.
It starts with Snorri, Spanglehelm's Master rune costs
75 points. Then it gives you the background
to this item. Runesmith to the High King in
Kalasa Karak during the time of Gallon, Snorri wrought the
exquisite war panopy of the High Kings for several generations.
He fought many battles and was renowned for his magnificent
gromrel armour as well as his unique weapon rune.
Any blows struck by a weapon engraved to this rune will
always hit. No hit, no role to hit is
necessary. Costs 75 points and it always
hits. There are loads of these runes,
master runes, all of them, weapons, runes, and there are
different subjects. We have weapons runes, we have
armor runes. I'll give you one here, The
master rune of adamant. Hey Prince, Prince Charming.
The master Rune of Adamant. The rune adds +2 to the armour
save of the character. The rune can be combined with a
Rune of stone to give a + 3 save.
It is possible that this may reduce the quiet dice roll to a
negative number, in which case only attacks with a high saving
throw modifier can harm the character.
Costs 50 points +2 armour save. The Rune of stone was always a
favorite of mine. To give you a plus one save.
Only cost five points. The rune of spell eating, the
master rune of stormy red beard, plus one combat result within 12
inches. There are loads of these.
The rune of battle to add to your battle runes onto your
standard. The rune of courage, the rune of
fear, the rune of slowness, the rune of warding.
And we have engineering runes, the rune of accuracy, the rune
of burning, the rune of disguise, the rune of forging,
the rune of fortitude. Many of them.
And then we go on again to look at talismanic runes, Master rune
of dismay, the master rune of spite, the rune of the furnace,
the rune of luck, the rune of spell breaking.
And then it gives us entire page runic magic items record form a
blank sheet for you to use to mark down your own rooms.
Then our book goes into a few pages of fiction.
Really great written story about the Escaven and the dwarves
doing battle. One I've recorded before is
often played one of the Crown of Command adventures.
We're reaching the middle part of the book now, and now they're
going to show us the magnificent figures, beautifully painted,
that we can buy. And every one of these is
familiar to me. My army consisted, and now I'll
have to remember a unit of 20 dwarf warriors, the old plastic
ones that I bought on that first day when I bought the book.
A unit of 20 Slayers, Bugman's Dwarf Rangers there with their
crossbows, a unit of iron Breakers, a unit of long beards,
the the flame cannon, a cannon and the Anvil of Doom.
And a boat thrower. I think I had Vander leading it,
and a couple of other characters as well.
She was a big army, and a lot of them are in here.
On the first page we have a flame cannon and Bugman's Dwarf
Rangers. What a brilliant regiment of
renown. They were the Bugman character,
so evocative, owed Tom Fikeson. There he is with his one eye and
his peg leg and his axe held above his head.
We move on to the Dwarf King's throne of power.
I never owned this, but look at it.
What a wonderful bit of metal this is beautifully painted.
And then is the Anvil of Doom. Now I still have this, though it
lies in pieces. One of the greatest, most
impractical models ever created, riding on wheels into battle,
pushed by its guardians. The Anvil of Doom that could
strike and send spells scattering all over the
battlefield. Amazing figure, amazing piece of
work. In the in the army book.
Dwarf clansmen. They are the Marauder ones, but
they're mixed together with some of the plastic ones that I own.
Dwarf long beards, Dwarf crossbow men.
And now we go on to some battle scenes.
Undead and dwarf units in savage combat.
High elves and dwarves doing battle as well.
Then Felix and Gottreg helping to defend a dwarf forge.
Bringing in heroes. Mentioning books one of the
first times they did that. Dwarf slayers, some dwarf
clansmen and then pages of dwarf thunderers.
Some more Dwarfs. There's pictures of the original
Gottrick and Felix characters. The Felix figure I use for my
ranges of shadow. Deep Force still got him after
all those years. The organ gun, I had that as
well. Dwarf painting guide.
I never paid attention to these. I could never paint with black
under undercoat, never got on with it.
Don't play much better with white undercoat, but black
particularly difficult. I've got a figure in front of me
here on my board that needs painting, but somebody in their
wisdom has painted. I've given it a black undercoat,
which will prove difficult for me.
And then we've got some cut out cards containing some of the
magic items. You could cut these out and use
them. And then the gyrocopters, and I
own gyrocopters, but I didn't use them very often.
Miners. There's a battle there with some
old Orc figures, and then we've got the Warhammer battle at the
Eastgate of Carrick Eight Peaks. And for the next few pages it
gives us an old scenario that we can do between dwarves and orcs
and goblins. It gives U.S.
Army lists. It gives us everything we need,
as well as the designer's notes, which is a huge thing to have,
isn't it? Then there's another story, and
only now. But now we go back to
background, the dwarf language and script.
Now there's no need for this, is there?
There's no need to put this in an army book.
But yet they did, and the army book came alive because of it.
The language of the dwarves, Casalid, is a very ancient
tongue indeed. Over the many millennia of
history, the dwarf language has changed only slightly, having
absorbed some words from the humans and the elves.
This resistance to change is undoubtedly due to the strong
sense of tradition which all dwarves possess.
Dwarves are extremely resistant to new ideas, especially if
those new ideas come from other races.
In contrast, there are many words in the tongue are men that
obviously owe their origins to the dwarves.
This means there are inevitably points of similarity between the
two languages, especially in words for metalworking and
mining. And it gives us a load of a
dwarf lexicon, if you like. Angrell is the dwarf word for
stone carving lines in the face of very old dwarf azul.
Metal of any kind, dependable and sturdy.
Boga, a candle which blows out unexpectedly, plunging the
tunnel Into Darkness. Here we have.
We used to have a lot in Warhammer, which they seem to
have lost somewhat. Now, is that humour that came
with it, those gags, Boger. Bugger.
My favorite, of course, is right down the list here, which I
remember to this day. And it's one that I and the
group of friends that I used to play with at this time, you used
to remember quite well. And it is the dwarf word that
says ick, putting your hand in something slimy and unpleasant
in the darkness. Well, yes, yes.
Ragarin, a coarse and uncomfortable clothing made from
the height of a troll. Yeah, a ricket, a small stone
which falls on your head as you walk down a tunnel.
A lot of comedy in the dwarf lexicon.
Look at the time they made putting this together.
And then we have the other, the dwarf rooms, the dwarf numerals,
some common dwarf words. And now, and only now, and we're
on page 64, do we come to the rules.
And we start with the war machines.
Of course important in any dwarf army.
The dwarf organ cannon misfires were of course a big part of the
game in those days. The profile of the organ cannon,
24 inch range, that's the maximum you could guess.
Strength 1010. I say save none, no save wounds
D3 multiple shots. We go on to the flame cannon.
Great figure with the flame cannon.
Still got that again. Dangerous thing to feel would
often blow up as much as it would do good that it only has a
maximum range you can guess of 12 inches Strength 5 but would
use the flame template can pages of text around these.
The throne of power, How to shoot the throne of power, how
to use it in hand to hand movement and bearer casualties.
The characteristics powerful thing that gyrocopters.
The steam cannons, how they fly, how to use them on bombing runs.
So good. Just reading this makes me want
to bring my dwarf army out of retirement.
They're starting to re release a lot of the older the older but
newer figures for the old world. I'm off to Warhammer World in a
few weeks and this is tempting me, let me tell you.
Then we have the Dwarf Anvil of Doom.
Let's read a bit about this. The Anvils of Doom are ancient
devices forged with great skill by the runesmiths of old in the
bowels of Thunder Mountain, Thunder Rd. using the energy of
the volcano's heart Kurgas, the most skill of the Old Ones,
melted Grombril to forge the Anvils, and they cooled.
Kurkas himself beat the Rune of Sorcery under each gleaming
anvil. No one knows how many anvils
were forged before the secret of the Rune of Sorcery was lost.
The Dwarf Book of Grudges recalls how an evil dragon
attacked Thunder Mountain and slew the old Runesmith in a
mighty battle which went the mountain apart.
During the devastation, the forges of Thunder Mountain were
destroyed and many Runesmiths slain.
The Anvils of Doom are ancient and valuable heirlooms and that
always value them more highly they than highly they they they
they than any other of their possessions.
Runesmiths use the Anvils of Doom for making magic items.
Most Anvils are owned by various strongholds or by guilds, and
the Runesmiths make use of these when they only they need to.
A few Anvils are owned by Runesmiths, but these tend to be
the sedentary Runesmiths who reside in the halls of Karaza
Karak and the weapon shops of Karak Azul.
The Anvils are objects of great power, and in times of extreme
need, a Runesmith can unleash spells and lightning upon his
foes. With a mighty blow of his
hammer, the Runesmith can release the Anvil's power.
Lightning boat's blast from a surface of many.
Magically a mighty energies unfurl, the sky darkens with
brooding energy and clouds of multi coloured magic swirl and
sparkle in the air. The unveil in battle follows,
followed by lightning and then total power.
I remember that it used to go mad.
Lightning all over the board. Rules for cannons follow stone
throwers, bolt throwers, and then some dwarf banners you
could cut out in colour. He's always really hard to do or
to get them looking good anyway. And then we have dwarves
themselves, Hatred of orc and goblins, the Elf grudge -1
leadership penalty if they're any elves within 6 inches, and
the old dwarf start line movement 3, Weapon skill 4, Bow
skill three, Strength 3, Toughness 4, Wounds 1,
Initiative 2 attacks one Leadership 9.
Champion more or less the same but with weapon skill 5,
initiative 3 and two attacks the hero.
Weapon skill 6, Strength 4, Toughness 5, Two wounds
Initiative 4, Three attacks Leadership 10 and then the Lord
Movement 3. Webiskill 7, Boskill 6, Strength
4, Taped US 5 Wounds 3. Initiative 5 Attacks 4.
Leadership 10. Dwarves had special rules are
they could wear armour with no no difference in their movement.
Their movement was only three so to reduce it even more would
make them impossible to use really.
But whenever they pursued people they were at -1 on the 2D6 roll,
or whenever they fled, it was the same.
We have the rules for Dwarf runesmiths, Slayers.
Slayers were great, weren't they?
They were never that great in the game.
They would just hold up units, but they were there.
The the story, everything about them is so good.
Then we go into the army list. Of course it gives you all the
rules, as it does in all the books, about what you can take,
how many heroes, how many champions, how many Lords, how
many runesmiths, regiments, monsters, etcetera.
Gives you the rules and the hand to hand weapons of what you can
have. And then it goes into them.
One general for 160 points. Your army must be led by a
general. One nought to 1 battle standard.
We've got heroes, Slayer, champions, we have regiments,
long beards. These were the older dwarves,
they were like all champions in themselves.
They all had weapons, skill 5, strength 4 and initiative 3,
heavy armour and a shield. You could use them with options.
May carry a magic standard and chosen appropriately.
Unit of hammers. These were the Dwarf King's
bodyguards. 2 handed weapons. Great great figures.
Unit of iron Breakers. That's what always my favorite,
the great mining deep down. Dwarves. 20 points per model,
but they'd wear extremely powerful Gromrel armour which
would give them a great save. Weapons Kill 5 toughness 4
initiative 3 dwarf warriors. 11 points per model.
Plenty of those dwarf crossbowmen.
Dwarf Thunderers. At this point the thunderers can
only fire every other turn. Sounds like three shots a game,
and they'd only hit the less than half of those, maybe a
third. They were practically useless
but didn't stop me taking them every single time.
Dwarf miners, Dwarf slayers. Then the war machines we've
already talked about. Then the special characters.
King Kazador of Karak, Azul, Ungrim, Iron Fist, the Slayer
King of Karakhadrin Room, Lord Crag, the Grim, Gottrick
Gernison and Felix Jaguer. Look at these.
Look at that old artwork. Gottrick Gernison is certainly
the most or the least successful stroll.
A Troll Slayer in the Age of the World.
His quest to find death at the hands of a worthy opponent has
never been fulfilled. But in the search he has slain
monsters, scave and orcs, beastmen and goblins beyond
count. He's been an outlaw in the
Empire, and he has fought in the Empire's armies.
Rumour has it that he has once a member of the Dwarf Engineers
Guild. But Gottrick never talks about
his past, either to confirm or deny this.
No one knows why he shaved his head and took the Slayer's Oath,
and no one has ever had the courage to ask, not even his
human henchman Felix. These characters have lasted for
many, many years. Gottrick is now even in the old,
in the new Mortal Realms for the Age of Sigma, probably the most
successful and popular character in all of Warhammer history, if
anything. But that leads me on to Joseph
Bugman. He's got a bar named after him.
When I first started playing Warhammer back in the early 80s,
Bugman's Dwarf Rangers were one of the original regiments of
renown. Such a good background
disappeared again into the Wilds.
No one knows where he went. The Brewer of Bugman's Six XI.
Wonder what he is now. I'd like to know.
Engineer Guildmaster Burlok Daminson.
And then we have the Warmer Army books Collecting a dwarf army.
It shows us a basic sort of collection we've got and some of
the figures that we can use. Dwarf warriors, troll slayers,
black and white pictures of all these old, many of them marauder
miniatures. Gives us the stats again.
Gives us tips on what to build as well.
Are the units worth considering and a big core unit of hammers,
long beards and iron Breakers. These are all these are all
first class troops worthy of any army.
However, for these we would have to go for metal models,
increasing the initial cost of the army and this kind of them
they're telling us how much is this is going to cost us.
On the other hand, the general of a small clan of 1000 points
is unlikely to start with troops which are more fitting for a
dwarf king. These troops are expensive in
points which in dwarf terms mean they like being paid in gold,
not just in ale. A less costly alternative might
be the higher slayers. So it's basically giving you
some tips on how to start an army and how to use an army
which is gratefully received. So Noah, look at those Thunder
figures. Fantastic.
The Dwarf Flame cannon then it shows you how to expand the army
and gives you more pictures as well.
Gives you some examples of made-up characters that you
could do in order to inspire your imagination.
And then to finish off a blank army sheet to write down your
own army on a final photograph. A final great picture of a
battle that is forever being fought on these old books.
It's dwarfs against orcs. I can see the Wyvern fighting
the anvil of doom at the front. Dwarves prepare to wreak
vengeance on an advancing or chord.
And then the back page, the blue page of the dwarf book.
It's a long time, my friends. By my reckoning, 31 years since
I worked. Walked into the upstairs comic
shop room, picked up that Dwarf book and started my dwarf army.
But in that moment, and we have these moments in life, these
Seminole moments, that's what made me the Warhammer player
that I was. I suddenly had an army that I
felt passionate about. I suddenly had an army where I
named the characters. I painted them myself.
They fought, they loved, they lost, they won, they knew.
Defeat. Many draws, but still they were
my army. Vander and his clan of Zasfar
dwarves using the 4th edition Warhammer Army's Dwarf book is
one of the high points of my war gaming career.
If you like. One which I will forever hold in
my heart. And that's why, my friends, that
I have been so pleased to be able to sit down today and talk
to you about my relationship, my love of, let's say it, Warhammer
Armies, Dwarfs. My name is Owen Stayton.
I am the host of the Time Between Times podcast, you can
find out wherever you find your pods.
I also have a YouTube channel which I have on it, Slumber
stories, things to help you go to sleep and I also have an
adventures at the Time Between Times channel where I put down
battles and backgrounds for my war gaming adventures.
If you want to buy me a coffee you would be most welcome.
Maybe that will give me enough money to stride into the into
Warhammer and pick up my next army, my next book, in the vain
hope that it will make me feel the way that Warhammer Army's
dwarves did all those years ago. Thanks for listening my friends.