Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thunderers Fire!!!

The Dwarves of the Warhammer World are a unique race of proficient craftsmen and miners. However, gone are the Golden Age of the Dwarves. But then again, so have the Elves.

Hundreds of years have pass after the War of the Beard between the Elves and Dwarves. Yet old grudges never die easily for a Dwarf. As such, that is one of the disadvantage of a dwarf. Furthermore, a dwarf's obstinate and stubborn nature will get in his way of progressing. However, if there is one thing a dwarf is good at, its his profession. This is largely due to the dwarves' meticulous nature and his uncompromising urge to achieve perfection in what he does. As such, Dwarves are the greatest artisans of their specific craftsmanship which results in their goods being sought after in great demand.

After contemplating, I have come up with a rough theme for my Dwarf army.

Lead by the Noble Thane Utheroth, the Dwarves of Karak Grothak hold vigilant against invaders. Located slightly north of Karak Izor and South of Karak Norn, the Dwarves of Karak Grothak are held responsible for providing aid and holding out Invaders of the main Strongholds of Karak Izor and Norn.

While Utheroth is a Thane, he is but only the smallest ranking among Royalty. However, his Royal Guards and Warrior Clans are renowned among the lands. Even Bretonnia and Athel Loren know of these Warrior Dwarves. The Silver Axe, Triple Steel and Ogren Clans are most skilled in the profession of Soldiering. Born and Bred Warriors, these Dwarves train and live as expert combat soldiers. Karak Grothak has a few renowned Guilds in Mining, Foundry and Firearms. Many of them coming from Karak Izor to setup outposts here.

Of which, the "Flaming Tubes" is one of the most renowned Firearm Guild. Their weaponry is in such demand that the Thunderers of these Guild are always on the move to sell their goods to the Empire.

As Karak Grothak has been a safe haven for centuries and the Thane has always maintain great relations with the guilds in its stronghold, the Thunderers are fiercely loyal to their Thane.


Wearing the Uniform colours that represent the Karak Gothrak Stronghold, the Flaming Tube Thunderers are well-traveled Dwarven Marksmen.


And since they are more well-traveled than their Dwarven counterparts, these Dwarves are more prepared for the unexpected and are capable of adapting quickly to new surroundings.



On actual tabletop gaming purpose, these Thunderers will be acting as my defense line. Harassing enemies with their handguns, it will be a long and harsh march against these thunderers. To make things even more painful, engaging these Dwarves means you will come in contact with a tough force (due to their Toughness 4 stat)


Furthermore, the Veteran Thunderer is equipped with two hand pistols, making him able to attack twice with armor piercing rounds and is quick to fire. As such, when on the move, while the rest of my guys may not fire, he is still able to pop two shots on any enemy. I figured it would works well against skirmishers


And I shall name my Thunderer Vet, Beardy! Just cos I think his beard looks the coolest among all the dwarves I have been fixing and painting so far.


Just look at the guy, He is dying to go to Battle. Of which, I will be planning soon, if I just have the time to go play a Warhammer game or two.

Speaking of Dwarves, for all those who are LOTR fans, have you recalled when Gimli talked about Female Dwarves having beards and they look so much like Men that it was hard to tell the difference between Men and Women Dwarves? Gimli added how because People couldn't tell the difference between Female Dwarves from Men Dwarves that they would imagine that baby Dwarves just pop out of nowhere.

This concept of Female Dwarves having either beards or whiskers or facial hair scares the shit out of me. I do not like that whole concept of a hairy female anything and its rather mortifying to even conjure or illustrate and image of that in my mind, let alone draw one on paper. In that sense, I do not really like Tolkien's concept on dwarven female.

That is why I was pretty happy to find out that Warhammer Female Dwarves do not have beards and are still very womanly compare to Lord of the Rings concept of them.


Great Looking Illustration of a Dwarven female Warrior. This is how they should look like.
If not a warrior, at least a feminine looking barmaid. It is said that you rarely see Dwarven Women around. This is probably because they are all busy supporting their men in the strongholds or tending to serving ale in the various Dwarven Taverns? That just a wild guess of mine. What do you think?



Besides the Warhammer World, World of Warcraft and many other fantasy perspective of a female dwarf are pretty much similar.Therefore, it does please me to say that I wouldn't have to deliberate the thought of a bearded dwarven lady in any of my fantasy worlds ever.


One of the most well painted great looking Dwarven Female Warrior is this one done by Guild of Harmony's Sebastian. Great Paintjob. Real Pity I can't acquire this as he hardly ever does paintjobs for people, but do take a look at his gallery.

Gives me inspiration to paint more.

On a side note, More Warhammer models and other kits to be featured soon as I have been diligently painting loads... Just need to wait till I photograph them ....

Boy oh Boy.. So much to do!

P.S: Photoes were taken by Joshua with Uber Power Macro Lens! ;)

15 comments:

  1. Interesting theme Hahahaha. Like the way your taking your dwarven army theme.

    I must agree with you. Don't really like the bearded women concept. And that Lady Dwarf figure at the end.. Looks HOT man!

    Great stuff!

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  2. It just scares the beejuzus out of me when GImli explains dwarf women like that.

    I mean the whole viking culture that is part of the dwarven culture never included bearded women so don't think I want that too.

    Great pics man!

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  3. The Pictures give me inspirations to paint too.
    And I would like to believe these pics of dwarven women as the more acceptable fact than the one stated by Gimli.

    As for why we do not see dwarven women alot. I like to believe their too busy making more dwarf babies ;) heh

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  4. It also reminds me of the old Icewind Dale RPG...dwarven female sprites also had beards, and you met one very early in the game.

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  5. Yeah I remember they did talked about Dwarven females having whiskers in the Icewind Dale novels. But I guess they remade it once Wizard of the Coast bought over the entire ADND franchise along with Forgotten Realms too.

    Cos I didn't really see much Bearded Female Dwarves.

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  6. Loving the close ups of the pictures.

    As for female dwarves, They should have include them into some adventures. E.g The Barmaid Warrior and Her Companions.

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  7. Nice job on the pics Josh. Great models as I have said before.

    But wow, this Sebastian's model is a real masterpiece.

    I got to add that everytime Gimli says that "Female dwarves have beards to an extent you can't tell male from female" does give chills to my spine and make my hair stand.

    Because to comprehend it, is really just disgusting.

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  8. Its been awhile, but epic pictures of the Thunderers and really well painted. Might consider giving this DPS a go for in ebay.

    You know, Talking about warf women and this debate of bearded whisker or not.

    How about Female Orcs, That's quite a sight for sore eyes. :S Oh don't get me started on Female Ogres and Goblins are truly ins.

    I do know that in LOTR, the Urukhais are bred from the spawns of hell, eliminating the debate of whether they might have some inner goodness.

    Pretty clear cut there

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  9. Wow now that you talk about Orcs and Goblins and Ogres, it is really an ugly fest of Baddies.

    I think the latest edition of ADND players Handbook does show pretty much all of the female versions of those races you just mentioned.

    Pretty weird awkward pics of female orcs and goblins I think.

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  10. Bahh! They are perfectly okae I would feel, taking into consideration the physique of how Males Orc, Ogres and Goblins are.

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  11. Good Point, Besides, I've seen worse looking man in real life compared to Orcs. :p

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  12. Men, you mean.
    HAhaha Not talking about yourself right hawaiiwarhammerfan?

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  13. WAAARGHHH!

    Saying I look like a hot stud will just make me all the more of a douche bag. However, admitting I look worse than an Orc, is just self defeat. Either way its a lose-lose situation for me.

    So if you can't beat 'em Join 'em..
    In the WAAGHHH!

    Though I must say, Take being an Orc over an Ogre any day.

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  14. is the rune on the banner a homebrew design?

    ReplyDelete