Chaos Dwarfs: What Happened?

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**Mordoskul**

I've always wanted to be a Chaos Dwarf when I grew up, but when I did, the Chaos Dwarf army had been cancled. Can someone tell me why?

**Kirbinator**

Tyranids found their home continent and ate them.

**Aerethan**

Chaos dwarves being discontinued was a business decision. Less popular armies or niche armies are often phased out or rewritten as auxiliary forces such as kislev(which was then cancelled, again).

"recent" discontinued armies are kislev, chaos dwarves, and Dogs of War. There are a few much older ones that didn't make it to 4th or 5th editions.

Chaos dwarves were "officially" discontinued in 7th edition along with Dogs of War as the Ravenous Hordes book and the WD lists were no longer valid and were not updated.
Kislev made a short reprisal as an allied force for Empire but was also discontinued in 7th edition.

**Pacific**

You've really got to think that someone in GW HQ once had a run in with a bad dwarf in real life - maybe one ran up to him and kicked him in the shin or something?

But, FW are creating some at the moment. If they sell well (which I'm sure they will) then you would have to think that they would turn some heads at GW. They were never 'cancelled' as their 40k equivalents were (as in, what Kirbinator has written above!

) but just seemed to have slipped into limbo.

Your other option would be to convert standard dwarves.. but, then you are missing out on a big part of their background with magic use if you use the Dwarf army book, and the current dwarf model range is 86% beard which kind of limits what you can actually do to the model. But, I have seen it done effectively, and also I'm sure there will be new dwarves on the horizon at some point in the near future, even if their chaos brethren don't ever get revisited.

**Aerethan**

When GW stops selling the models on their site with no mention of releasing new ones(a-la grey knights) that means cancelled. There is no mention of chaos dwarves ANYWHERE in the website as far as models are concerned, and the only DoW units you can buy are select ones that are likely overstock that they won't make more of. 90%+ of that line is OOP.

Forgeworld via Warhammer Forge is redoing chaos dwarves, rumored to be auxiliaries of the Warriors of Chaos army.

**Mordoskul**

Cause I have the army book, all I need are the models, and yes, I'm planning on using standard dwarf bodies with the Chaos Dwarf bloodbowl heads and weapons.

**Aerethan**

That army book would be 5th edition(unless you mean Ravening Hordes, which is early 6th). It won't likely be balanced well in the current ruleset.

Old CD models are increasingly difficult to come by. FW will have a good selection though.

**Chibi Bodge-Battle**

There is at least one thread on Dakka about the forthcoming Mantic Games Khaos Dwarves
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/331114.page

**Torpedo Vegas**

Chaos Dwarfs are alive and well, and my Chaos Dwarf army (ravening hordes) preforms well enough in 8th ed. Check out Chaos Dwarfs Online. Great fan community, to keep our evil stunties alive.

And Blood Bowl still has Chaos Dwarf teams, if that counts.

**Aerethan**

Don't get me wrong, I wish GW would bring them back. But the prospect of starting CD out of the blue is daunting and just collecting the models would take months of scouring or converting.

**Kroothawk**

aerethan wrote:There is no mention of chaos dwarves ANYWHERE in the website as far as models are concerned, and the only DoW units you can buy are select ones that are likely overstock that they won't make more of. 90%+ of that line is OOP.

That's not quite true: They have an official unit within WoC and an extra page in Blood Bowl:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440111a&prodId=prod1170002
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat490006a&rootCatGameStyle=

They are featured in the new BL novel Wolfrik and several others, part of the current Warhammer background and even had official stats in the 7th edition rulebook. They still have friends among the current designer staff and it is rumoured that Forge World is not allowed to do Chaos Dwarf standard troops, because GW wants to redo them eventually.

BTW I would like to point you at the Chaos Dwarf Online forum http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/ with all you need for starting this army, including the current fan-made GT legal army book, a great fanzine and many pics and tipps.

**Chibi Bodge-Battle**

aerethan wrote:Don't get me wrong, I wish GW would bring them back. But the prospect of starting CD out of the blue is daunting and just collecting the models would take months of scouring or converting.

or just wait for the Mantic KD's or FW CD's?

**Fifty**

Whereas Squats were written out of W40k by being killed and eaten by Tyranids, and thus can't have a Codex due to not existing, Chaos Dwarfs, Kislev and Dogs of War are still an official part of WFB lore, and just don't have an army book. I'd be delighted to see some rules to use Chaod Dwarfs as extra in WoC armies. (Mind you, I'd love to see Squats as IG auxiliaries to, but it ain't never gonna happen.)

**Kroothawk**

While the old raging hordes list officially is still valid (and has a fan-made 8th edition update), here a link to the Indy GT legal fan-made Chaos Dwarf army book:
http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6155

**Mordoskul**

aerethan wrote:That army book would be 5th edition(unless you mean Ravening Hordes, which is early 6th). It won't likely be balanced well in the current ruleset.

Old CD models are increasingly difficult to come by. FW will have a good selection though.

I have a fan made updated version.

**DukeRustfield**

Chaos Dwarfs man the Hellcannon in Warriors of Chaos armies. Those are the only official CD.

The old official CD book is massively out of date. Anything made by players is...made by players. You could make a Gork race or Evil Tupperware Army (Keeps You Fresh on 3+) made by players. But, you know, don't expect it at any tournaments.

You can still find CD on Ebay and such. But on closer examination, the models simply aren't all that awesome, as they were generally made before some of the more modern advances in molding. Some are good. Some not so much.

I think the best idea is to use regular Dwarfs, say they are Chaosy, give them rolled-up pointy paper hats and black beards. The Great Forge could be your stand-in spellcaster. You could even use earthshakers as cannons, etc.

**Flashman**

As others have noted, Chaos Dwarfs are very much present in the fluff and make an appearance in WoC.

GW have stated or rather JJ stated in a Standard Bearer (last year I think) that their current focus was releasing all units for their existing armies rather than starting a new race (or in the case of Chaos Dwarfs polishing up an old one).

To be honest, this might be why new army books have really slowed down, because their efforts are focused on getting the minis out.

**Aerethan**

Flashman wrote:As others have noted, Chaos Dwarfs are very much present in the fluff and make an appearance in WoC.

GW have stated or rather JJ stated in a Standard Bearer (last year I think) that their current focus was releasing all units for their existing armies rather than starting a new race (or in the case of Chaos Dwarfs polishing up an old one).

To be honest, this might be why new army books have really slowed down, because their efforts are focused on getting the minis out.

If only they had that mantra in 6th edition. I don't recall anyone asking for ogre's as a standalone force instead of updated CD and DoW...

**Torpedo Vegas**

I never understand all the hate ogres get. Though if I had to choose between Ogres getting a book and CD getting one, I'd pick CD in a heartbeat.

**Mordoskul**

After the Dawi'Zhaar, the Ogres are my favorite.

**DukeRustfield**

The two are very closely related. Ogres get the CD all their slaves. The cannons (and armor) from Ogres is made by CD.

They dance around and sing songs All The Time!

But also there's the covering the bases aspect. If you want a race that has the fewest models (and thus least cost to enter), easy to assemble and paint, and relatively simple to play, Ogres are it. They are an excellent beginner race and are easily understandable.

Besides, what's with those weird half-dwarf half-horse things? Face it, CD made their hats too pointy and the Elves got pissed.

**Lehnsherr**

I always liked the Chaos Dwarves. Elves had there evil and good sides, and Dwarves should be no different.

I have the old rulebooks for the Lizardmen / Brettonia set, and some of the models looked pretty good in the battle book. The fluff was kinda neat as well. I wouldn't mind a comeback for them, although I know its very unrealistic.

**Grey Templar**

With WF going to be making a Chaos Dwarf expansion, i could see GW making them legit for use in Fantesy.

i always wanted to kill some stunties that couldn't shut my magic phase down.

**agnosto**

Grey Templar wrote:With WF going to be making a Chaos Dwarf expansion, i could see GW making them legit for use in Fantesy.

i always wanted to kill some stunties that couldn't shut my magic phase down.

CDs have sorcerers so it would be like facing any other magic-able army.

I love my CDs but Ogres have stolen my attention as of late.

**Grey Templar**

yeah, like every other magic army.

i won't be facing +6 to dispell army with nothin to do with it's PD other then to dispell my Gutmagic

**Red_Zeke**

+6 to dispel?! How?

Natural +2, spellbinding +1, Valaya +2 maxes out at +5?

That being said, I've really enjoyed *actually* having an impressive anti-magic presence in 8th (as opposed to 7th, where it was kind of a joke).

**agnosto**

Red_Zeke wrote:+6 to dispel?! How?

Natural +2, spellbinding +1, Valaya +2 maxes out at +5?

That being said, I've really enjoyed *actually* having an impressive anti-magic presence in 8th (as opposed to 7th, where it was kind of a joke).

Yeah and every other army can match it with a 4th level wizard and an item.

**Torpedo Vegas**

Empire can really shut down magic phases too. In my tourney 2500 point list, I get +4 dispell dice. Warrior Priests kick ass.

**Grey Templar**

It's not the DD its the bonuses to Dispell on top of the dice.

anyway i can counter Wizards. an army that does nothing in the magic phase other then get rid of my buffs is nasty.

an opponent with Wizards at least will use some of his PD for spells. Dwarves are 100% going after my Buffs.

**Red_Zeke**

agnosto wrote:

Yeah and every other army can match it with a 4th level wizard and an item.

To be clear, I don't take that combo- it's a bad investment in points. I go the dice and scroll route:

Runelord (+2 dispel dice)
Master Rune of Balance (steal a power die)
Spelleater (scroll that also destroys the spell on a 4+)
Spellbreaker (scroll)

The stack of dispel dice and the stolen die can essentially negate rolls on the lower end, while the spelleater/breaker help manage the bigger phases. Still has trouble against armies that can generate lots of extra dice, though.