A decade of Beards and Ale

My current dwarf army

As you might have guessed from the multitude of posts with them in, I am a dwarf player.  I have been one just just over a decade, they were my very first army and introduction into the Warhammer hobby.  I am looking to expand my army this year, but I thought I'd have a look back at why I started them and where I intend to go from here.  So if you dislike ale and beards (GODS FORBID IT!), you might not like to read on.



Dwarfs were my first army for Warhammer  they were a Christmas present from my dad after I saw my first ever WHFB game being played.  I should first explain this.  I had gotten a hold of a copy of Heroquest from somewhere (I still have no idea where), and really wanted to play.  My dad knew someone he was currently working with who did something similar, ie WHFB.  And so we go to his and play.  What I was presented with is still quite vivid in my mind.  It was a battle of Orcs and Goblins against the old style Undead (when they were all one army).  I was hooked.  And thus got the Dwarfs for Christmas.

Warrior Unit Filler - Book of Grudges

As anyone who has ever been given a second hand anything knows, it is sometimes just not for you.  However, it wasn't the case with myself and the dwarfs.  The more of their army book I read, the more and more I began to love their culture, the models and history [fluff].  It is this reason why I have never even considered getting rid of the Dwarfs, they were my first and will be my last and oldest army.

My army hasn't always looked the same, not at all.  I have so far had no less than four different looking dwarf armies.  The first dwarf army I received was when I was twelve or thirteen, and was painted by someone else.  But slowly over time, I began to amass my own army, painted by my own [not so] fair hand.

The second one was born at the point of the old 6th edition army book.  So, obviously my chosen scheme was the same as everyone else's.  Brown and green, the colours of the Dwarf hold of Karak Hirn [The Horn Hold].  I owned [and still do] somewhere in the region of one hundred of the then new dwarfs.  It was quite an army, but as the scheme was the same as the 'official' one from the army book I felt a little upset.  Nothing stood as it being different and  MY army.  So then came another change.

My Dwarf army, in their third look

This army came about towards beginning of 7th edition of WHFB right at the end of 6th edition..  New, plastic models came out.  None of which suffered the horrendous disease that swept the previous models of... giant hand syndrome [instead some have 'stupidly-long-arm-itous'].  The third reinvention of my dwarfs were in a dark blue and cream scheme.  The problem was the bases just had some small basalt stuck to them, parts of which hid some of the model itself.  And it was a common scheme, so again the army never really seemed to be my own and special.

The final change to my army is the fourth and current look.  This is a turquoise and grey scheme, something a little different to the usual dwarf scheme and does make them stand out a little bit more.  I am currently really happy with the scheme and so I'm looking forward to expanding the army in the future.

My converted Runelord

So, after all that history into my dwarfs, what does the future hold for them?  (Hopefully no colour changes). I mainly want to try an paint up some of the stuff I have, without going any buying more models unless I need them.  I do want to expand and convert up some units such as Hammerers, Rangers and Quarrellers but I have others to paint first.

I have a lot of characters which I want to get painted up nicely, and in many cases converted.  Perhaps the biggest model I want to do, as it is a sort of display piece,  is the Anvil of Doom.  I don't like the current model, as it makes no sense.  How does it get to the battlefield without wheels? And do the guards carry a special piece of floor for it to sit on in battle?  I want something special as it is a kind of centrepiece in the army, however as it stands I haven't come up with a decent enough idea that I like and is workable.

Along side the anvil conversion, I would love to add a whole bunch more dwarfs to my army.  More converted heroes, units and war machines are the way forward, to making the army stand out and look unique.  I've also go a lot of older dwarf special character models, in fact I own almost all the special character models from 6th edition to the current edition [except the newest Thorgrim Grudgebearer] .  I'd like to get these guys painted up, especially with some having multiple versions such as Gotrek and Felix (I have two, plus the shieldbearer version).  I would also like to convert up 'priests' of the three main gods, like warrior priests.  Maybe.

I think the last thing I would do is get some actual fluff down for the army.  It is something I attempted for my previous version, but it never really got anywhere.  It would be fun to have a history with the army, so rather it being a generic dwarf lord fighting, it is in fact King Ulrik Flambeard if the XX hold in a battle to defend his kingdom/farms.  I would just like to do this, as I have yet to really stick my nose into the pages of my army's annuals and remember certain deeds or grudges.

So, I'll said it again this is over a decade of beards and ale for me.  Raise an ale to the beards?