Big hatted Chaos Dwarfs return to Warhammer after years in hiding

Games Workshop has revealed a whole new army for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the Helsmiths of Hashut, a reimagining of classic Chaos Dwarfs from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle line. The faction will first be available in an army box set that contains a full Spearhead force and the faction’s new Battle Tome, followed by a second wave of reinforcement kits.

The presence of Chaos-aligned Duardin in Age of Sigmar‘s Mortal Realms, has been an open secret since the game’s third edition launched in 2021 and revealed that Orruk Kruleboyz slavers traded captives for weapons with the followers of Hashut – the name of the daemonic entity that the Chaos Dwarfs worshipped in the original Warhammer: the Old World.

But this is a new world and so we get a slightly different version of the lore for the Age of Sigmar army. Hashut the Bullfather was part of the pantheon of Duardin ancestor gods during the Age of Myth, a resentful and bitter deity who was given dominion over the Realm of Beasts. He saw this task as beneath his dignity, and sought to trample the natural wildness of the Mortal Realms into submission.

When the Age of Chaos dawned, most Duardin who attempted to keep to their holds were destroyed – but not those who turned to Hashut. He taught his children the art of Helsmithing, the power to render daemons down into their essence and use them to power profane and devastating armaments of war. The Helsmiths survived the Age of Chaos, and now seek to impose their remorseless will over the rest of the Mortal Realms, grinding it flat beneath their steel shod boots and the endless greed of their empire.

Games Workshop revealed a full range of models for the Helsmiths of Hashut during the Warhammer Summer Preview livestream on July 18. The first of these will release in an army box set, which also comes with the Battle Tome for the faction and unit stat cards. This set will be be followed by further kits.

Infernal Cohort are the core infantry of the Helsmiths of Hashut army. They can be equippped with Hashutite Spears, which make them more effective at receiving a charge, or Hashutite Blades, for greater offensive capabilities. The army set comes with ten of them.

The army set is led by a War Despot, carrying an enormous warglaive, and wearing the biggest hat of all. He’s a martial character, but GW hasn’t revealed much about him so far.

The centerpiece of the army set is the Dominator Engine, which can be built either with ranged Immolation Cannons or brutally potent Bane Maces. This construct has a near unprecedented 2+ armor save.

The army set also contains an artillery piece which can be built as either a Tormentor Bombard or a Deathshrieker Rocket Battery. The Tormentor has an extremely long range of 30″, and can damage multiple units – presumably with mortal wound splash damage. The Deathshrieker is a tool for killing large monsters.

Stampeding along after the army set are several more units. Those start with the Bull Centaurs, half chaos dwarf, half bull, incredibly angry, this unit hits hard and is well armored.

The kit can also be built to make glaive wielding Anointed Sentinels, guards for the Helsmiths’ (un)holy places that have a more defensive role.

The second main infantry kit for the Helsmiths are the Infernal Razers. These ranged troops can be built with Blunderbusses, or with shorter ranged Flamehurlers, which have the advantage that they can be used in melee. The Helsmiths’ army rule allows them to further empower the daemonic weapons on certain units each turn, and with Infernal Razers can get their guns up to rend three this way.

The Hobgrot Vandalz are chaffe infantry intended to gum up the enemy army long enough for the Helsmiths’ slow moving elite troops to get into position. They’re faster than the Helsmiths, and can make a pre-game scout move. Though just as skinny as the Hobgrots from the Orruk Kruleboyz army, they are apparently slightly better armored.

Daemonsmiths do the important job of Smithing Daemons. These are wizards (you know they’re Chaos Dwarfs when they can actually do magic), and also have the ability to heal wounds from war machines.

The Daemonsmith kit can also be built as an Ashen Elder, a priest of Hashut. Fun lore fact – hammers are normally profane in the eyes of Hashut, since they’re an icon of the other Duardin ancestor gods. The Ashen Elder’s hammer gets a pass because it’s blessed in the blood of another Duardin priest.

The centerpiece model for this force is the colossal Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus, which can alternately be built as Urak Taar, the first Daemonsmith. This is a truly ancient, abominably powerful sorcerer riding on an animated, winged, daemonic bull construct.

Incredibly excited by these kits, or think there’s something just a little bit off about them that you can’t put your finger on? Come and join us for a chat in the official Wargamer Discord community!

If you’re intrigued by the Chaos Dwarfs in the World That Was, check out our guide to the Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs. They actually have free rules which would make these models extremely playable there…