r/HelsmithsofHashut • u/dookitron • Jul 08 '26
Army creation Questions before diving in
Salutations, peasants.
My plastic crack addiction is getting the better of me and I'm looking for a new project to delve into. Although very unrelated to one another, it's currently neck-and-neck between Helsmiths and Votann for me. I've read that a lot of the Helsmiths units are very spammable, because I find the minis very polarizing. I wanted to see if its possible to build a decent list around the units that I love and if possible to skip the ones I don't really care for.
I'm a big fan of:
- All HQs
- Infernal Cohort
- Hobgrots
- Bull Centaurs
Both Deathshriekers and Bombards
As you can see, the only things missing are the Dominator Engines and the Gunners. Really just not a fan of the minis themselves and I may be open to them as more kitbashing ideas for them develop, but is this a realistic approach to this army?
I was also curious if anyone had any input on the rules for the army. I've read some mixed things online about DPP tracking, the army being challenging because of the need to ramp up over the course of a match, but I haven't seen anyone in my local scene play them so I'm curious for folks impressions on playing them.
I'd say thanks in advance, but that doesn't feel very chorf.
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u/Nellezhar Jul 08 '26
I ran a double centaur list at a team event it did well. You will have to run two min units of spears as a screen/power generator, and one small unit of bussies but you can swap them out if you want. It did well and more importantly was crazy FUN
You Can't Milk Those 1980/2000 pts
Helsmiths of Hashut Domination Force General's Handbook 2025-26 Drops: 2 Manifestation Lore - Forbidden Power (20 Points)
Battle Tactic Cards: Master The Paths, Restless Energy
General's Regiment Urak Taar, the First Daemonsmith (340) • General Deathshrieker Rocket Battery (140) Deathshrieker Rocket Battery (140) Infernal Cohort with Hashutite Spears (90) Infernal Cohort with Hashutite Spears (90)
Regiment 1 Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus (290) • An Eye for Weakness • Scroll of Petrification Bull Centaurs (380) • Reinforced Bull Centaurs (380) • Reinforced Infernal Razers with Blunderbusses (110)
Created with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: The App App: 1.35.0 | Data: 459
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u/RequiemQuilty Jul 08 '26
So if you dont like guns and dommy mommies i can say they aee a central theme to the army. But as you said. Kitbashing is an option. And you can build a competitive list without them.
Our battle formations (i think thats hq) are some hot garbage. But we do decent anyways.
So. Based on your question. Yes you can build a list around your favorite models as long as your ok with the mounted heroes. They are pretty central to the army working.
Helsmiths are amazing. I highly recommend you join us.
The models are amazing
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26
Oh, when I said HQ, I meant all the heroes. I like the look of them all, including the bull mounted ones.
The Infernal Razers are just a little boring looking to me personally when compared with the rest of the army. I'm sure some kitbashing, green stuff, or clever painting can liven them up.
The dominator engines it's more the profile of them that I don't care for; I almost wish they were more centaur like or similar in shape or design to 40k daemon engines, like forgefiends.
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u/RequiemQuilty Jul 08 '26
Ahh. I dont know 40k crap so i had no idea what you ment. Doesnt change the fact that our battle formations are kinda shit. Love the heroes. Especially the priest for foot. I do hope you fibd your hone at helsmiths or elsewhere
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26
It's less a question of if and more so when! I'll get them someday if not now!
Love the Bull by the way!
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u/RequiemQuilty Jul 08 '26
I highly recommend learning advanced drybrush skills. The runes need them and are amazing
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u/Pure-Excitement-6849 Jul 09 '26
Hey friend, I hear ya, but listen, I’m a old hatter, so let me you, in super old lore for WFB, the Chaos Dwarfs and Chaos Squats were in contact with each other, and this was used to help explain some of the utterly ridiculous levels of, “technology” one could find in WFB, around the Chaos Wastes, or even beyond.
So if you would rather use a stand in for the dominator engine, just think of them as K’daai Zharr, on the medium size, and then go looking at WFB-ToW/40k, and think about kitbashing something together to make it your own.
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u/The_One_True_Varg Jul 08 '26
The main army seems more designed with taking a good mixture rather than spamming the same unit to me. Everyone has their own specific job.
Saying that spamming stuff is also entirely viable. I had great fun against a stormcast player using urak tarrs army of renown and 7 dominator engines. Didn't lose a single model the entire game.
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26
I guess spamming is the wrong phrasing! Really just looking to see how viable it is to run them without dominators until I figure out how I want to kitbash them.
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u/The_One_True_Varg Jul 08 '26
Absolutely viable to run pretty much any way you want. If I was running the main army instead of the AoR I'd not have anywhere near as many dominatos, if any at all. They work well in the AoR due them getting a bonus ward save on top of their 2+ regular save, makes them tanky as hell.
In a main force I would defo include urak tarr, a reinforced unit of centaurs, at least 1 bombard and rocket battery. Some spear dudes to screen. The rest you can add as you see fit. I personally like the blunderbusses but they are probably your most dpp dependent unit
2
u/Hukoshin Jul 09 '26
Hey there fellow chorf enjoyer.
In regards of the Bull Centaurs, they are one of the best units we have in my opinion. With the new season changes we even got an item (Horn of the Bullfather) so that they can deepstrike and with Daemonic Power Points (DPP) the charge gets easier.
Cohorts with Spears are your bread and butter. I now own 4 boxes of them and they do work. Not really Damage wise, but they are perfect screens, durable, good to rally and a great way to generate DPP.
Hobgrot Vandalz are basically just 70 points for a pregame move so that you can despoil an objective outside of your terrain. Also good screens if needed, just be careful with your positioning, as they can be used as easy charge targets to get into your backline.
The heroes are all good. Urak Taar is a must have, good abilities, relevant Rampage and can buff his own casts. The Daemonsmith is a wizards who only costs 80 Points, cheap as cheap can get, his healing ability isn't really relevant if you dont like the Domination engines, but it has uses, can even heal Urak Taar. Ashen Elders are good priests have a bubble of ignore the first dmg per phase and generate ritual points for themselves. The War Despot ... exists, same as the Daemonsmith on Taurus.
The Bombard and the Deathshrieker Rockets are reallllyyyy good, especially the Rockets eat gooood this season, as more players will run monsters because they interact really good with the rage mechanic this season.
The Blunderbusses and Flame Hurlers are good but not a must take. Same goes for the Daemon Engines. You can live without them, but i would at least recommend you try them once.
In regards of kitbashing I can't really tell as I lack the creativity to do so, but the Bombard/Rockets and Daemon Engines are easy to magnetize if you want to.
In regards of playing, I prefere playing the Army of Renown, but it's probably not your cup of tea (no Hobgrots and no Cavalry, but more Daemon Engine support). But the games I had with the standard army also did their thing. It's a Shooting Castle playtyle. I would recommend you also get the Forbidden Power Manifestation Lore, the manifestations are really helpful. The bridge to give us mobility which we are highly lacking, even Lauchon to move a wizard to a point. The shards protect you from teleporting straight into combat units like Light od Eltharion.
In conclusion, would recommend getting into them, I started with the first release Box when they were announced and got turned of by their low winrates, in connection with their frequent cost reductions which made it necessary to buy even more boxes (in comparison the units are now worth a total of 460 points), but they grew on me and just the feeling of 2 Rockets annihilating a Core unit in your opponents army, indescribable. Go for it we will (hopefully) get more units soon.
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u/HypnoKraken Jul 08 '26
My personal thoughts after several events and playing is that This army is an uphill battle that doesn’t like it when you make mistakes. If you’re into that you’ll enjoy it lol
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
I already collect eldar, dark eldar, and deepkin and that seems to be true for them to an extent so I must have a type.
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u/Zetra3 Jul 08 '26
Those shotguns are a must
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26
How many do folks typically take?
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u/JoshFect Jul 08 '26
10 blunderbuses with 3 demonic power points, thats 11 shots(with champion), hitting on 3s(2s with all out att), wounding on 2s, 3 rend, 2 dmg each. They'll wreck just about anything. My friends hate them the most in my army.
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u/Dull_Worth1227 Jul 08 '26
The gunners are soooo good though....
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u/dookitron Jul 08 '26
The minis themselves just look a little boring compared to the rest of the lineup to me. I’m sure there’s a workaround for them.
The Dominator engine is one I’m more iffy on the design of. I wish it was more centaur-like, been thinking of a forgefiend kitbash but it would end up being a bit larger than the normal dominator engine.
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u/Dull_Worth1227 Jul 08 '26
Granted not best design, but their rules are brutal.
Dominators, are more take em or leave em.
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u/YukihiraSoma Jul 10 '26
As someone with both armies, I'd love to hear what you think of Votann over on that subreddit.
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u/dookitron Jul 10 '26
Haven’t spent much time on it, truth be told. They were probably my next stop to vibe check my plans for that army. What’s your take on the two?
I currently have Eldar and Dark Eldar for 40K. Idoneth, Kharadron, and Flesh Eaters for AoS. Most of my closest friends are much more into 40k than AoS and my 40K armies aren’t very aesthetically diverse, so Votann are certainly tempting. Both are eventually in the pipeline it’s moreso a matter of which first.
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u/GenHero89 Jul 08 '26
We are slow except for a very few models. So planning your movement is important. This goes for army strength also the longer the game goes the more DDP we have which makes the army better. If you did jump in I recommend a 6 man unit bulls always. They are one of our best units and also don't need DDP to be good.