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It isn't hard to find unnerving armies in Warhammer Age of Sigmar, but the Helsmiths of Hashut are a different kind of chilling. Yes, they're daemonfire pyromaniacs who are one mad cackle away from being classic fantasy villains. Selfish pride has also corrupted their bodies until tusks sprout from jaws and skin turns to stone. But the thing that unsettles me most is how right they think they are. They did what they needed to so their people could survive, but now think kindness is a failure that deserves snuffing out. They're all of our worst, most self-centered impulses writ large. Oh, and they're hard as bloody nails.
Introducing new factions to a game like Warhammer Age of Sigmar can be an uphill struggle, but the Helsmiths of Hashut show how it's done. The Chaos Dwarfs have finally returned to tabletop after years away with a surprisingly good explanation for their absence in-universe, not to mention a distinct playstyle that feels fresh. I was able to go hands-on with their Army Set early, and from what I've seen, this is a force you should be afraid of.
Release date: September 27
Price: $200 / £120
This pack contains a full Spearhead army and a Battletome with special cover. It's up for pre-order now, and will be hobbyists' first opportunity to get models for the faction. It'll be followed by a second wave of miniatures at a later date. US stock is dicey, but it's currently available for £96 at Wayland Games in the UK.
Before we dig in, let's address the giant metal bull in the room: there aren't many miniatures lurking within this Helsmiths of Hashut box. In fact, your slavering horde is made up of just 14 models overall – 11 very grumpy Chaos Dwarfs, a hobgrot who's been saddled with a gong, a war engine, and a demon construct who can be armed with cannons or clubs. So far as the plastic-to-dollar ratio goes, it's not tremendous value at first glance. Considering how expensive hobbying can be these days as is (whether it's playing the best board games or trying to keep up with a trading card game), this might be something of a turn-off.
However, that should tell you a lot about the strength of the Helsmiths – especially because this Army Set is a full Spearhead. In addition, the included troops don't need reinforcements to get the job done; they'll clobber your enemies with the force of a full-speed freight train carrying a troupe of elephants. Y'know, no biggie.
Building the Helsmiths of Hashut Army Set
I don't know if I've ever built an Army Set as fast as this. Actually, I finished putting these models together in a single morning with time to spare. I'd estimate that it didn't take much more than two to three hours, which is mind-boggling for a complete Spearhead. I wasn't rushing, either; I took my time.
A lot of this can be attributed to the low headcount and the Helsmiths' diminutive stature, of course, but I'd argue it's largely thanks to how cleverly the models fit together. Most of the bodies come in two halves, so you just need to slap on your chosen weapon option (that's spears or swords for infantry), a shield, a head, and the occasional accessory. That's it. Mold lines aren't so much of an issue as a result, and I rarely had to clean any away.
This isn't to say there's no room for customization, either. The Infernal Cohort foot soldiers have the aforementioned weapon options alongside interchangeable heads and shields, while the Dominator Engine (AKA that giant bull-bot) and warmachine can be given a couple of different loadouts. The likes of the War Despot leader are monopose, but everything else is tweaked to taste.
Honestly, the only tricky bits are – as you might expect – the Dominator Engine and Tormentor Bombard mortar. The former has a lot of smaller pieces to provide greater articulation but still goes together cleanly, while the latter was the first mini to cause me any frustration in the entire set. It got a bit fiddly fitting certain panels on and they didn't always want to connect cleanly, so parts occasionally pinged off when I tried to stick the two sides of the chassis. Bear that in mind when you kick off building your own Army Set.
Painting the Helsmiths of Hashut Army Set
This is the first Army Set that I've (very nearly) managed to paint from start to finish ahead of launch, and honestly, that should tell you a lot about the experience. So long as you're smart with your choice of color scheme, it isn't too overwhelming a job.
Although you can obviously paint them howsoever you like, four different designs are provided for the Helsmiths to represent their major ziggurat cities: Forge Anathema, the primary faction with scarlets, purples, and bronzes; the highly religious Ur-Zorn with silver and sea green; the oil rig-style Zharr Vyxa, displaying a combo of red and gold; and toxic Muspelzharr, showing off a blend of black and yellow. I chose Ur-Zorn because I wanted to lean into that green demonic fire as hard as possible, so steel armor and an aquamarine accent underscored this nicely. Plus, I've done a lot of brass color schemes recently and there are a few too many different shades in the Forge Anathema design for it to be a quick job. With plain ol' silver armor, I can quickly get results. (And there's my advice for anyone daunted by painting an army; work smart, not hard.)
As with all Battletomes, roughly half to two thirds of the Helsmiths of Hashut book is taken up by lore, background, and unit descriptions. This gives a fascinating deep dive on the Chaos Dwarfs and does a good job of explaining why they haven't been active in the Mortal Realms up until now. In essence, they channeled their inner RTS gamer and stockpiled resources until they were ready to wash over the land in a tidal wave of max-level conquest. They're clearly evil, then, but they also have enough sympathetic depth to make it work; they were abandoned by their gods during an apocalypse and so turned to the only one who'd help. Unfortunately, that god turned out to be scorned duardin deity Hashut... who may actually be a good for nothin' demon (nobody's really sure). Using his sorcery bestows a 'stone curse' on Helsmith mages, slowly turning them into petrified statues.
With that idea in place and thanks to the pleasingly angular nature of these sculpts (the Helsmiths are all hard edges), drybrushing, washes, and the occasional edge highlight did most of the work. The taurian Devastator Engine was more complex thanks to that demon-fire, but the Battletome actually has a low-effort workaround if you don't fancy trying wet-blending or gradients.
The only thing to be aware of is that the Helsmith faces are quite squished in there under those helmets, so getting to them with highlights is a little harder. It's also essential that you don't overdo the thickness of your paint as a result, be it layers or basecoating. Go too hard and those craggy details will be lost.
Just one more thing: for the love of Hashut, don't put the artillery together completely before painting it. I know I did exactly that, but it's due to my wanting to provide shots of the assembled model for this review. What I should have done is painted the individual elements separately before gluing them together, because getting to all the inner bits is very fiddly once it's all connected. Even putting paint on the hobgrot or engineer at the back was more of a headache than it needed to be, so learn from my mistakes.
Helsmiths of Hashut Army Set gameplay
As you'd expect from a faction whose lore is all about crushing the Realms under a grinding, relentless advance, the Helsmiths of Hashut are an aggressive army that specializes in inexorable momentum. Due to 4" movement for the majority of troops, they aren't going anywhere fast – but it's damn hard to stop 'em from getting there.
As an example, your line troops – the Infernal Cohorts – are real bruisers thanks to a 3+ save and increasingly good Ward saves when they've built up enough daemonic power points (more on those in a minute). Depending on the loadout you choose, you'll get an anti-infantry, cavalry, or charge ability that gives them +1 Rend too.
These foot soldiers also come with a hobgrot wielding a gong. Sure, that may sound trifling. But it allows you to make an additional rally roll in normal AoS or reinforce the squad in Spearhead when rung. Either way, this is going to come in handy when your warriors are inevitably bullied. There are only five duardin per Infernal Cohort in the Spearhead version, after all, though you can boost it to 10 for AoS.
Just be aware that, unless you arm your Dominator Engine with demonic flamethrowers (which I'd recommend, as that's the suggested Spearhead build), there's very little in the way of ranged attacks beyond your Tormentor Bombard/Deathshrieker Rocket Battery. This means you'll need to protect the above warriors with covering fire or smart use of terrain until they can get to an objective.
This Army Set is just the start of the Helsmiths' march across the Mortal Realms; it'll soon be joined by a full battalion of units seen throughout the Battletome. That includes a variety of sorcerous heroes, a named character (Uruk Taar, the First Daemonsmith), infantry gunners, bull centaurs, and hobgrots to serve as your cannon fodder. We don't have a release date for any of these yet, but I imagine they'll be with us in a month or two.
Fortunately, both these siege engines will absolutely ruin someone's day if used correctly. The Deathshrieker is designed as an anti-monster/anti-war machine solution with damage that can spill over to units near a target. Meanwhile, the anti-infantry/anti-cavalry Tormentor messes with an enemy squad's usefulness by negating their ability to use commands in AoS or reducing their control score in Spearhead. I suspect the Tormenter may be more useful in the majority of games, so I went for that one.
Not that I think my opponents will pay it much attention. I reckon it'll be tough for foes to think of anything else when a Dominator Engine lurches toward them. Besides being the centerpiece of the entire army, it's also a massive "hey, look at me" distraction that'll likely keep a rival's focus off the Infernal Cohorts while they do their work. It looks nasty and hits very hard with those anti-character Bane Maces or the anti-infantry Immolation Cannons, so other players are going to prioritize shutting it down – and that allows you some license to sneak around and secure objectives. Well, as much as heavily-armored duardin can 'sneak.'
So, let's wrap up by talking about those extra abilities. The Helsmith's biggest differentiator is its use of desolation tokens and daemonic power. To represent how the faction sullies any environment it's in, you can give an objective or terrain feature a desolation token if it's being contested by a friendly unit. You'll then be able to assign daemonic power points to units at the start of each turn depending on how many desolation tokens are on the board. This powers up your units in a variety of ways (making the Dominator Engine an absolute horror with extra movement and +1 Attack per point, for instance), so farming those points is essential. It's a fun differentiator and adds a mini-game of sorts to combat.
Should you buy the Helsmiths of Hashut Army Set?
If you love the duardin as a faction but miss the sorcerous cunning of other armies, the Helsmiths of Hashut would like a word. They blend magic with industrial warmachines and classic fantasy dwarf hardiness. Equally, anyone that appreciates a smaller, more elite force that hits with the weight of a wrecking ball will also be well served.
Prefer horde armies or feel anxious at the sense of risk that goes with a low head-count, on the other hand? You aren't likely to vibe with the Helsmiths. There's some administrative juggling too thanks to desolation tokens and daemonic power points, so anyone seeking a straightforward force without much behind-the-scenes trickery isn't going to be satisfied.
Personally speaking, I'vebeen impressed with how much I enjoy their mechanics. Are the duardin my favorite faction? Not necessarily, and while they're fascinating, I don't think the Helsmiths will change that. But the way they play is enthralling (which suits these demon-chaining monsters), and I'm eager to unleash the Chaos Dwarfs against anyone I can.
This review was made using a product sample provided by the publisher.
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