The Helsmiths of Hashut are coming to pre-orders screaming hot this weekend, evoking the baleful artillery shells fired from their war machines. With their arrival, the whole range will be ready to march out and desolate the Mortal Realms.
If you are a Chaos player, but baulk at the tyrannical ambitions of the Zharrdron, we understand. Their predisposition to annihilate everything around them chafes against Nurgle, who needs something to cultivate life in, and Tzeentch, who prefers to trap people in his endless plans rather than to simply immolate all before him – well, mostly. Thankfully you don’t need to fully throw your lot in with the Father of Darkness, because you can get a taste of that Helsmiths action with two Regiments of Renown that you can easily build with the kits on pre-order this weekend.
The first regiment for hire is The Curse-steel Battery, led by the Daemonsmith Gurok the Leveller. Living up to his name, he brings with him two expertly drilled artillery crews manning a Tormentor Bombard and a Deathshrieker Rocket Battery. With this pair of war machines he has blunted the fangs of many an enemy army, offering the first devastating salvo for free to his clients.
This Display of Total Power can be used gratis the first time, but requires a command point for each subsequent use. A fair cost, as it lets both war machines act as if they have three daemonic power points each, as long as they both target the same unit.
Once Per Turn (Army), Your Shooting Phase (1)
DISPLAY OF TOTAL POWER
The first salvo from Gurok’s engines comes free of charge. Should clients show a taste for such power, subsequent bombardments demand a price…
Declare: If neither War Machine unit in this Regiment of Renown used any Shoot abilities this turn, pick an enemy unit to be the target.
Effect: For the rest of the turn:
While that enemy unit is on the battlefield, the War Machine units in this Regiment of Renown can only pick that enemy unit to be the target of their shooting attacks.
Each of those War Machine units counts as if it had 3 daemonic power points.
The first time you use this ability, you can use it without any command points being spent.
That means your Deathshriekers will be doing splash damage with their payload of Hashu-Zharr rockets, and throwing units near your target into disarray with the torrents of ruinous energy from the Tormentor Bombard, potentially stopping them from using commands. Should these artillery become the focus of enemy spellcasting, return fire, or swift raiding parties, Daemonsmith Gurok can cast a spell that reinforces his and their armour, ignoring the first damage point allocated to each of them in each phase until the start of your next turn.
If you need a little help getting up close and personal with your foes then the Seeker of the Dread Dirge may be right up your alley. The Ashen Elder Thorzbuul the Seeker and a Dominator Engine equipped with bane maces gifted to him by Sharnok of Ur-Zorn roam far and wide across the Mortal Realms in search of fragments of a dirge said to hold the power to tear the realms asunder.
So far, Thorzbuul only has a few scraps of the script in his hands, but with those he can pronounce a mighty Dirge of Desolation to bring ruin to those foolish enough to cleave to terrain features for cover. On a chanting roll of 6+ you can pick a terrain feature to target, roll a D3 for each unit contesting it, and deal mortal damage equal to the roll on a 2+. On a chanting roll of 12+ a second terrain feature can be picked, for extra devastation.
Your Hero Phase (6)
DIRGE OF DESOLATION
Thorzbuul has recovered only fragments of the script he searches for, but even these can cause the land to buckle and break.
Declare: Pick the Ashen Elder in this Regiment of Renown to chant this prayer, pick a terrain feature on the battlefield to be the target, then make a chanting roll of D6.
Effect: Roll a D3 for each enemy unit contesting the target. On a 2+, inflict an amount of mortal damage on that enemy unit equal to the roll. If the chanting roll was 12+, you can pick another terrain feature to be a second target.
KEYWORDS: CORE, ATTACK, FIGHT
While conducting this search, Thorzbuul is protected by his Dominator Engine – who has no fancy rules, but two massive bane maces that glow with incandescent daemonfire and deal 3 damage per hit, which honestly is often all you need.
Both of these Regiments of Renown can be taken by all other Chaos armies – that’s Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, Maggotkin of Nurgle, Hedonites of Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness, and even the perfidious Skaven, proving that the Helsmiths recognise that the enemy of your enemy can at least sometimes be an ally, even if their meddling ruined all of your long-term plans.
All the miniatures you need for both can be pre-ordered on Saturday, so if you want to test the waters with these cruel and efficient duardin, you can pick up two or three kits and have them on the battlefield in no time.
