4497 Points of Pure Chaos Dwarfs
4497 Points of Pure Chaos Dwarfs
Sometimes an army list is less about fine-tuning and more about putting everything on the table just to see how gloriously excessive it can get. That was exactly the vibe when Michał dropped his latest Chaos Dwarfs count for Warhammer: The Old World.
This one came in at 4497 points, built for Open War, and the most fun part is that this is basically the army in its raw form: no magic items, no extra upgrades, no fancy add-ons where they are not already part of the printed unit entry. Just the “clean” models.
And honestly? That makes it even better.
The idea: pure roster, no padding
What we really liked here is the simplicity of the exercise. This is not a list squeezed for efficiency with every last point optimized. It is more like:
how much army is there already, before the real customization even starts?
The answer, apparently, is: a lot.
Even stripped down to the basics, the collection already reaches nearly 4.5k points. And as Michał pointed out, a Sorcerer-Prophet can go from 195 points all the way up to around 700, depending on equipment and options. So this is very much one of those armies where the “real” ceiling is still somewhere above what the raw list suggests.
In other words: this is not even the final form. With proper loadouts, magic items, and all the nasty Chaos Dwarf toys added in, this collection could probably push toward 7k.
What is in the pile of ash and industry?
The core of the army already looks wonderfully chaotic in the best possible way.
Characters
There is a serious magical presence here:
- 3 Sorcerer-Prophets on foot
- 1 Daemonsmith Sorcerer
- 2 Sorcerer-Prophets on Lammasu
- 1 Sorcerer-Prophet on Bale Taurus
That is an absurd amount of sorcerous authority, all running Daemonology. Even before adding any gear, it already paints a very clear picture of the army: dark industry, bound fire, monsters, and a lot of bad news in the magic phase.
On top of that, there is a proper command layer:
- Infernal Castellan
- 3 Infernal Seneschals
- 2 Hobgoblin Khans on Giant Wolves
So the list is not just wizard spam either. There is a lot of character support spread across the army.
Core and infantry blocks
The infantry side is exactly what we want from Chaos Dwarfs: heavy, elite, and deeply unpleasant.
- 24 Infernal Guard with shields
- 14 Infernal Guard with Fireglaives
- 14 Infernal Guard with blunderbusses
- 25 Infernal Ironsworn with great weapons
- 30 Hobgoblin Cutthroats with shortbows
- 12 Sneaky Gits
That gives the army a really nice spread between an anvil, ranged pressure, and all the weird little support pieces that make Chaos Dwarfs feel like Chaos Dwarfs.
The Ironsworn block in particular jumps out immediately. Twenty-five of them is not subtle. It is the kind of unit that says: yes, we are absolutely walking straight through the middle of the table.
Meanwhile the Hobgoblin contingent adds exactly the right amount of treachery and disposable utility.
Monsters, engines, and artillery
This is where the list starts feeling properly industrial.
- 3 K’daai Fireborn
- 2 Iron Daemons
- 2 Deathshrieker Rocket Launchers
- 3 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
- 5 Hobgoblin Wolf Riders
Double Iron Daemon is already a statement. Double Deathshrieker behind that makes it even nastier. Then add cheap bolt throwers and fast Hobgoblin pieces, and suddenly the army has a lot of board presence even before the big flying characters get involved.
It is exactly the kind of list that feels like it would look amazing laid out on the table: blocks of black armour, weird daemon-powered machines, rockets, monsters, and Hobgoblins running around doing suspiciously Hobgoblin things.
What makes this especially fun
There is something very satisfying about seeing a collection measured this way.
A lot of us build lists starting from a target points value and then work backwards. This is the opposite approach: dump out the collection, keep it clean, and check where the baseline lands. For an army like Chaos Dwarfs, that baseline is already huge.
It also says something nice about the collection itself. This is not a theoretical “maybe one day” army list. This is already a substantial force with:
- multiple major characters
- multiple monster mounts
- elite infantry blocks
- artillery
- war machines
- screening and utility units
So even before touching the more elaborate options, the army already has the shape of a proper grand-scale Old World force.
Hobby-wise, this must look fantastic
Chaos Dwarfs are one of those armies that always win extra points on visual impact. Even a simple army shot with this many distinct elements would be great.
Suggested photos for this kind of post:
If there is one thing we would really love to see, it is the whole force deployed together. Armies like this are exactly why big-format fantasy battles are so much fun.
Final thoughts
The big takeaway here is simple: the clean collection is already 4497 points.
No magic items. No extra toys. No point-padding. Just the raw Chaos Dwarf roster.
And because so many of the characters — especially the Sorcerer-Prophets — still have massive room for upgrades, the actual ceiling is much higher. That makes this kind of army count both impressive and slightly dangerous, because it strongly encourages the next thought:
if it is already almost 4.5k bare, then maybe we should see how far it can really go.
Which is, of course, exactly how these things escalate.
If Michał keeps pushing this toward a fully upgraded version, we definitely want to see the next iteration.