Chaos Dwarfs

When I decided to start an Oldhammer Chaos army, these guys were high on my wish list as they were some of my favourites when I was young. So they were the first I painted, last fall actually. There was two ranges of Chaos Dwarfs in those days, the Marauder figures sculpted by Ally Morrison in 1988 and the Citadel figures sculpted by the Perrys in 1986, both of very similar style and quite compatible. I had 8 of them as a child, all Marauders, so the rest were found on Ebay. I'm certainly not the only one who loves them, as these fellow go for a very high price on Ebay.

The Marauder Dwarfs. So awesome. I have 11 of them, so basically I'm still missing half!                      
 Enough for a complete second unit, if I can afford them!

 The Citadel Chaos Dwarfs were more bizarre and twisted than the Marauder ones.

I was actually very lucky a couple of years ago to find a complete set, still in their original box, of the Citadel Chaos Dwarfs Renegades box set. I shudder to think how much it would cost today! As a collector, I often find the packaging as cool as the actual figures! I remember seeing the box set in my gaming store as a lad, but could not afford it.

Its a great boxset, that cover artwork is superb, and the figures are amazing. Looking at the back cover you can see how Warhammer was a lot more "RPGish" in those days, with each individual figures having its own cool name.

I love the fact they gave two first name (Drum and Drone Ulsen) to the two-headed chap! 

There is 21 Dwarfs in my unit, a mixture of Marauder figures and Citadel figures.  I have a soft spot for the Marauder ones, as is often the case, especially the sorcerer in the front row. But really all of them are amazing sculpts full of character and reeking of nostalgia. Ahem, that's how proper Chaos Dwarfs should look like!! No top hat and blunderbuses in that lot!

 

As expected, the figures were a lot of fun to paint. I decided to paint them in a very traditional blackened armour, as will be most of my Chaos Warriors. My first contact with Warhammer Chaos was a plate of a Chaos warrior in black armour (in the Warhammer RPG rulebook)  and that's how I envision my Chaos, at least the undivided kind. I used a bright green to give a splash of colour (and a wink to the 80s style of painting) to this evil bunch, and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Of course, not a single duplicate in this unit.

 

 

The movement trays are from Litko; instead of texturing the whole tray I tried to give it a moss covered look. I think it came out allright, and yes a bit of lazyness on my part, as it is less time-consuming than texturing the whole thing.

A banner will be added to this unit later, but I intend to do all the army's banners at the end, as I have to do some tests first. I also have to acquire at least one more dwarf to be converted as a standard bearer.

Next post, I'll talk a little about the planning behind my Chaos army.