Chaos Dwarf legion of Azgorh Unit Summary

[MLP]

Legion of Azgorh Unit Summary

Over the past few months and there's been a lot of unit discussions and tactics threads on the site with a lot of new and returning members wanting to know about the Legion of Azgorh. The following is a summary of each unit with various uses, advantages and disadvanges that I have recently gathered. I hope you find it of some use. I posted the same on CDO but I'm aware many new Chaos Dwarf Generals haven't discovered it yet!

Lords

Sorcerer-Prophet
The only lord option in the army which should be considered a very tough wizard lord rather than a magic using combat lord. He comes with Blackshard armour and a Darkforged weapon making him fairly decent in combat, especially mounted on a Taurus with Blood of Hashut. For a defensive lord use the Talisman of Preservation and the Enchanted Shield along with a Potion of Healing. In paying for a magic weapon you lose his Darkforged weapon so it probably not worth it. An alternate use can be sitting back with the war machines using a long range lore, but Hobgoblins and Bull Centaurs may struggle without his leadership.
Advantages: Very tough for a wizard lord
Disadvantages: Slightly weak for a combat lord

Great/Bale Taurus: A good choice for an offensive lord especially combined with the Lore of Fire where two of the spells can be used to heal the Taurus. The Bale Taurus upgrade give an extra +1 toughness and +1 wound in addition to a strength 4 flaming breath attack, although it is quite expensive.
Advantages: Good combat ability, can regenerate wounds, breath attack
Disadvantages: Probably not as good as other armies lord mounts

Lammasu: The only access to the Lore of Shadow in the army. Negates Magic weapons in base contact. Good choice for a defensive lord as any enemy character won’t have his magic weapon giving the Sorcerer-Prophet a good edge.
Advantages: Extra levels of shadow magic, can reduce enemy character ability
Disadvantages: Fairly expensive

Heroes

Daemonsmith Sorcerer
Quite a tough hero level wizard with engineer abilities as well. A level 1 using the lore of fire with a charmed shield and dispel scroll is an effective magic boost and war machine baby sitter. His reroll ability is excellent and he can look after two war machines adequately in addition to defending them from skirmishers and the like. He comes with a 4+ save and a +1 strength magic weapon so even ethereal units don’t scare the war machines. However being so far from the battle means that the lore of fire is the better option as metal and death are relatively shorter ranged lores.
Advantages: War machine reroll, war machine defence
Disadvantages: Restricted in magic lore

Dark Castellan
One of the best heroes in the game with a stat line which rivals many lords and a higher magic item allowance than any other hero. As a battle standard bearer with the Mask of the Furnace, shield and a great weapon he will turn a unit of Infernal Guard or Ironsworn from very tough to almost immovable. Making the unit Stubborn means you can deploy in two ranks to make the most from your ranged weapons and not worry about losing a round of combat. He could also use an Arabian carpet and fly in to weak units to hold them up.
Advantages: Stubborn, high magic item allowance
Disadvantages: Will often have to take challenges from lords.

Hobgoblin Khan
The cheapest hero available who can fill a few roles. He can be used as a cheap addition to a unit of cutthroats or mounted on a great wolf to assist a unit of Wolf Raiders. As a lone mounted Khan he can be used to bait and redirect enemy units and is more reliable than a unit of Wolf Raiders as he does not suffer animosity. He can also be used to hunt war machines and hero wizards quite effectively. For a nasty surprise equip him with the Terrifying Mask of Eee! And charge him into a low leadership unit or the Ruby Ring of Ruin and move him to where it can be really effective.
Advantages: Very cheap, versatile
Disadvantages: Don’t expect much

Bull Centaur Taur’uk
Possibly the toughest hero in the game who can hold up units single handily. As standard will have 4 wounds, toughness 5 and a 3+ armour save which can be upgraded to a 1+ easily with Blackshard armour and a shield leaving 50 points for a ward save or similar. With a great weapon he has 4 strength 7 attacks making him very good at challenging enemy characters, especially if equipped with the Dawnstone to negate enemy ward saves. As you have to take him with a unit of Bull Centaur Renders he can start off within the unit but move out of it on his own if the situation dictates.
Advantages: Extremely tough, very hard hitting, character assassin
Disadvantages: Must include a unit of bull centaurs, expensive

Core

Chaos dwarf Infernal Guard
Best taken in units of between 20 and 30 although smaller units of 10 or 15 may also be useful in the right situations. Full command is worth paying for but the Musician and Champion can be dropped with much worry. Banner of Eternal Flame is cheap and very effective when combined with Ash storm. Razor Standard is effective against heavier armoured opponents.

Hand Weapon & Shield: Standard equipment which confers 3+ 6++ armour save in combat making them amongst the most resilient infantry in the game. Combine with a Castellan battle standard and you have an excellent anvil unit which will not flee easily.
Advantages: Very cost effective for your 25% core.
Disadvantages: Low damage output.

Great Weapons: The cheapest weapon upgrade bringing the unit’s strength up to 6 at the cost of bringing the armour save in combat down to only 4+. However with toughness 4 they’re still a match for most. The always strike last with great weapons doesn’t matter that much as a Chaos Dwarf’s initiative is low anyway and the extra strength really gives the unit some punch. A good use is as a small unit of 10 as a flanking unit after your anvil has pinned the enemy. Can be effective against small, high toughness units such as monstrous infantry.
Advantages: High strength good for adding damage to stalemate combats.
Disadvantages: Loss of armour save and relatively high cost of weapon.

Fireglaives: Similar in combat to great weapons but with an 18” ranged weapon. Good against medium armoured targets with the Armour Piercing special rule and strength 4. Can be devastating against medium armoured toughness 3 cavalry. Use an Overseer with a pistol or Naptha Bomb to ensure the unit fires at short range in a stand and shoot reaction.
Advantages: Unique to Chaos Dwarfs and can catch enemy unaware if they think they’re charging just a ranged unit.
Disadvantages: Short range means not many rounds of shooting. Expensive and can be an easy target for templates.

Hailshot Blunderbusses: Most expensive weapon option but the unit still has hand weapon and shield for close combat. Random multiple shots does make it slightly unreliable but has a lot of potential and is very effective against lightly armoured, low toughness troops. Needs to be used in units of 20+ to get the to-wound reroll for maximum efficiency and casualties needs to be considered. The unit also needs to be deployed with a long frontage (Two ranks of 10-15) which will make them vulnerable in combat without a Castellan. A unit of 30 in two ranks including a Battle Standard Bearer will be a powerful unit which is hard to defeat making it useful if playing a points denial game.
Advantages: High potential for devastating damage. Still very effective anvil combat unit.
Disadvantages: Very short range. Extremely expensive unit vulnerable to templates and magic.

Hobgoblin Cutthroats
Only low point unit in the army. Can be surprisingly effective in hordes while close to the General and Battle Standard but susceptible to animosity when not near a Chaos Dwarf unit. Full command is cheap and effective for a combat unit which is best taken at 30+ in hordes. 20+ units with bows can be effective. Throwing knives can be an unexpected surprise to a charging enemy.

Hand Weapon: Basic and cheapest option. Can occasionally be effective as a support or flanking unit alongside a unit of Infernal Guard. Useful to send ahead as a throwaway unit causing distractions as it will not cause panic amongst anything but other Hobgoblins.
Advantages: Cheap throwaway unit.
Disadvantages: Fairly ineffective.

Hand Weapon & Shield: For half a point extra per model it brings the save to 5+ 6++ making them a noticeably more resistant in combat. Can be used as a risky anvil if the General and Battle Standard are nearby.
Advantages: Still a cheap throwaway unit but more resilient.
Disadvantages: Still fairly ineffective.

Additional hand weapons: For half a point extra per model it effectively doubles their combat ability. Used in a horde it has good potential to actually win against average enemy infantry with massed attacks.
Advantages: Cheap unit with a huge number of attacks.
Disadvantages: Will still die in droves so don’t overestimate them.

Bows: Cheapest and longest ranged unit other than war machines. Good to thin out enemy units and then as a throwaway unit to distract the enemy. Can also take shield to make them a more resilient support unit.
Advantages: Cheap massed ranged weapon.
Disadvantages: Fairly ineffective in combat.