WHFB. Going Retro with Chaos Dwarfs – Part 6.
It’s all about K’daai Ice(?!)born in this part. You can go the darndest things with old Necrons…
Hi! I`m Tommy from the little known blog bigbossredskullz and we are making a retro 4th ed miniature based Chaos Dwarfs army!
As we’ve now established it’s all about the ice and cold in this army so I had to figure out something clever with my K’daai Fireborn. K’daai are in short half-daemons bound within an armored framework (for those who didn’t know).
Over on Chaos Dwarf Online I found inspiration for how I could make my own version fitting with my 4th ed miniatures. Namely the original metal monopose necrons. Or rather the version that inspired mine where based on Necron Immortals but I got hold of 5 necron warriors for a bargain on eBay so I went with them instead.
Making necrons into K’daai
I borrowed a friend’s beastmen bit box for new arms with some brutal weapons that would scale well with the old warriors. I also had old Astragoth in pieces (not salvageable sadly to his original state) in my bitz box. So to get a unit of 6 with a champion I put him in there. Here’s how it looks so far.
Still not super impressive but getting there. The unit looks like this pre basecoat.
Finished result
My main idea is that the fleshy bits and the ice crystals is the frost daemon bound to the armoured skeleton. I painted the metals as on the chaos dwarfs and the ice effect as on the magical weapons on my sorcerer prophet. Here’s how the finished unit looks.
Origin of the Iceborn and the Petrified Architect-Sorcerer of the Frost Fang.
The icy Chaos Dwarf fortress known as the Frost Fang, located in the blizzards of the Mountains of Mourn is many millenia old. Of the life and feats of the Prophet who build the Fang little is known and most is hidden in ancient tomes.
The Architect-Prophet and fortress builder was a powerful daemonsmith and sorcerer. His fortress built from the ice, stone and iron of the mountains, forged to his will. Even among the cracked mountain tops of The Mountains of Mourn – the Fang looks like a giant thorn.
As his power grew he felt the urge to bind demons to his service – as do many great Dawi Zharr to prove their might. And over the centuries he bound many demonic entities of the mountains to his service. Some was lured and tricked into swearing oaths, others were captured and bound against their will – but all would they serve their master for eternity.
He bound them to mechanical structures, engraved with many ancient enchantments and runes of imprisonment. The brass prison kept the demons in a physical frozen form and forced them to do their masters bidding.
Over time the First Prophet of the Fang started to feel the Curse that befall all those who practise the dark arts of Hashut. As his legs slowly turned to rock, the Prophet crafted a mechanical suit for himself – much like that of High Priest Astrogoth Ironhands.
Every time the Architect-Prophet marched to war in the mountain range his bodyguard would be the enslaved Iceborn. Emitting an aura of frost around them, even the cold hardened ogres and orcs of the mountain would fall victim to the demons. The armor of enemies would freeze and splinter, the water in their eyes would turn to ice and if hit by the Iceborns weapons a cold would spread through the body – that would soon leave anyone dead and stiff.
Though as fate would have it, the use of foul sorcery in the end petrified the Architect. In a last effort he uttered the strongest words of binding over his Iceborn forcing them to join him in his prison.
For a long time the Frost Fang was thought lost to the elements. When the Fang was finally reclaimed the new master of the fortress found the petrified sorcerer in his old chambers. Such was the power of the Architect, that when certain unholy spells are read, the mechanical brass suit will carry and move his petrified body as before.
And so when their petrified master is awoken, the Iceborn once again must heed him. No matter how much they fight, no matter how many times they are slain from this plain of existence – they are drawn back to their metallic prison. Furious with anger, they are even more dangerous now than ever.
Only the Master of the Frozen Fang holds the knowledge to awaken the Architect and thus his minions. And should any of the demons finally manage to break their bonds, the Lord-Prophet of the Fang would certainly meet a terrible doom.
Since I can’t write fluff for the life of me, Bloodbeard from Chaos Dwarf Online was so gracious that he wrote a piece on this unit just based on my blog and this article series. Cheers mate!
Overall my K’daai are a bit on the small side but aesthetically they fit really well with my Chaos Dwarfs and I like how old broken down Astragoth has a new lease of life in this unit.
In part 7…
This pile of bitz will be dealt with.
In the meantime, go check out my reinforcements.
That’s it for part 6! Anyone liking the Iceborn?
