Let's Talk Chaos Dwarves... in Age of Sigmar?

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Yes, unfortunately, my first "real" post for this blog is going to be a largely negative one (spoiler alert).  It's not all doom and gloom, but it definitely is not an ideal situation akin to the world we live in.

First off - shout out to Games Workshop (aka GW).  It must be said 2025 is the year where they really leaned into the "brain rot" and have some of the most cringe-worthy advertising ever presented.  "BIG HATS HURRR" is definitely... a way... you could try to convey excitement(?).  Though, I will say "Horus Hearsay" was way worse.

 The Preface 

Onto talking about the Chaos Dwarves proper, or Helsmiths of Hashut as they've been branded for Age of Sigmar (AoS)...???  Yes, it should have been a release for The Old World, and I need to preface, this was an army for ME.  I have been waiting 5+ years for this release, as I am not only a shameless Chaos-stan, but also a lover of Dwarves in all Fantasy media.  So THIS was a huge, culminating moment for me #protag - and while the reveal of it being for AoS was somewhat expected, it did kill most my enthusiasm for the faction.

SIGMAR ASIDE (TM): Granted majority of my content for Swolehammer was/is Sigmar-based.  I played a lot of it from late 2nd edition to late 3rd Edition and hardly enjoyed any of it.  If anyone asks me, AoS is the worst game system with the best models, period.  Though, something that has reignited my enthusiasm for AoS is Spearhead, which is fantastic. (Keep all of this in mind.)

So as the Helsmiths were announced for AoS, I was like alright, this sucks BUT I can play them in Spearhead, which should be cool, right???!

The Models 

More preface, but I'm not a naysayer of GW models like many a "wargamer." My girlfriend and I are almost always somewhat positive about any model released.  We are well aware, whether a model is necessary from a gameplay perspective or not, they are usually well detailed and it's not an easy task to endlessly design and crank out visually engaging models for these never-ending game systems.

HOWEVER, this is the first time I've seen models revealed from GW and went "Absolutely not".  Maybe it was my crushing disappointment from the initial news of being for AoS that exasperated it but good god y'all, these are uninspired miniatures.  

The funniest thing is the Chaos Dwarves were entirely re-imagined for Total War Warhammer III in the past year(ish) and the developers at Creative Assembly did an amazing job capturing old fantasy flair with a modern tonality.  Thus, I expected these models to have the classic AoS formula; tons of detail (almost too much) yet full of character and motion.  No.

Extremely static, lacking any Duardin charm or Chaos regalia.  While also sucking out any of the inspiration from the Total War Warhammer III design. The Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl team from 2024 was brilliant!  2025 rolls around and we get models entirely devoid of character.  Many will blame the 'Eavy Metal paint scheme, which I thought too, a different paint scheme could help.  But even when they showed different paint jobs, it hardly helped.  If you spray paint a piece of sh*t gold, it's still a piece of sh*t.

EDIT 1: I think the Helsmith pales in comparison to the fantastic new Kharadron models, that have the typical great AoS motion, while oozing personality similar to the Votann line. 

 

This "centerpiece" is pure stains.

I'll at least give credit, the Bull Centaurs and Blunderbuss guys are solid sculpts. 

 The Coping_

Even with the Army Box being the Spearhead (which IS great and should have been the branding philosophy from the start) - I cannot support this release.  Really, I'm holding hope that a future The Old World faction is classic Chaos Dwarves and I'll have the #protag moment I've been waiting for.

In the meantime, if you enjoy these models, good for you!  The rules will probably be fun and they are surely easier to paint than a lot of recent AoS releases.  But what a Midsummer bummer.

Thanks for reading - we do videos on YouTube as Swolehammer, so please subscribe there!  As always, this is Rafiq and 'Stay Swole'. 

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