The Dwarfs ever seek to rebuild their great empire, which in the golden days of old encompassed the entirety of the Worlds Edge Mountains. To this end the Lords and Thanes lead their clans to battle, seeking to right ancient grudges or reclaim lost Holds and the technologies and treasures that lie within.

Arcane Journal Dwarfen Mountain Holds, the latest supplement for Warhammer The Old World is available for preorder today and, like the other Arcane Journal released to date, contains rules for new characters, units and runes in addition to adding two new Armies of Infamy which provide new options for army construction and a bunch of special rules! In this review we’ll take a look at it all!

Thank you to Games Workshop for sending Sprues and Brews a free early review copy for us to review on the site. If you would like to support the site then why not order your Old World supplies through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

The Lore

The Arcane Journal Dwarfen Mountain Holds clocks in at 48 pages and contains lots of information, lore and narative content regarding the Dwarfs of the Old World. We get a history of the Karaz Ankor (the Dwarf’s name for their realm), from its founding in ancient times through its ‘Golden Age’ and subsequent decline following the coming of Chaos to the world. We’re treated to descriptions and details of the various holds and lost holds, from Karaz-A-Karak to Barak Varr, in addition to details regarding the various Dwarf clans and guilds that inhabit them.

We also learn a lot about a notable Dwarf Engineer, Burlokk Dammison, and a sizable account of his exploits in the reclamation of Khazid Vosk (including rules for a special Scenario – “The Storming of Khazid Vosk”)

There is a great miniatures showcase which includes the new Dwarfen miniatures too!

Armies of Infamy

There are two “Armies of Infamy” presented in the Arcane Journal, the first of which is the “Royal Clan”. This represents a Dwarfen force that has been assembled by a might Dwarfen King for one of two purposes – to strike a grudge from the Hold’s Book of Grudges or to meet a great threat to the Hold itself. It comprises the kin a Hold’s Kings and Queens, each outfitted with the most exceptional wargear and arms at the Hold’s disposal.

The army must include one or more Kings or Thanes and can also include an Anvil of Doom or Runelord for each 1000 points (in addition to any number of Runesmiths). Rangers are missing from the Core slot but in their place we get a new unit, the Royal Clan Warriors. These have a standard Warrior statline but come equipped Gromril Weapons and Gromril Armour and with an option for the new “Gromril Great Axe”). They also get a nice 75 point Runic Standard allowance too. In the Special slot we find Hammerers and another new unit, the Dwarf Cart (more on this later). Bolt Throwers and Grudge Throwers are included here too but that is it – Miners, Gyrocopters and Cannons do not appear at all and Ironbreakers are moved to the Rare slot (alongside Rangers and Irondrakes). We do get an expaned Mercenario roster though and here you’ll find Doomseekers, the infamous Goblin Hewer and some Imperial Dwarfs!

A Royal Clan army also benefits from some new Special Rules. Ancestral Fury grants all Dwarf units that make at least a 3″ charge +1 strength in the first round of combat. Royal Clan units and characters can also spend an additional 25 points on runes and finally the entire army gains Hatred against a single enemy character (and additional victory points at the end of the game for slaying or causing said character to flee).

Whilst the army special rules are quite nice (and thematic) I think the new army composition rules are the most appealing element of this particular build. Whilst at first I was alarmed by the absence of that Dwarfen staple, the Gyrocopter, the fact that Hammerers and Ironbreakers now occupy different slots mean it’s far easier to include these elite units alongside large numbers of Royal Clan Warriors and Longbeards. The additional runic allowance on your units can also help you lean in to that elite and durable dwarfen shield wall type army build. The option for the Dwarf Cart (limited to the “Bugmans” variety) provides a nice 25% movement increase for nearby Dwarf units too!

The second Army of Infamy is the Expeditionary Force, an army lead by an Engineer with the goal of recovering lost technology from fallen Dwarfen Holds. As most of these Holds are overrun with monsters and other undesirables it’s common for such a force to be accompanied by large numbers of Slayers.

The army must include at least one Engineer or Engineer Sapper (more on this new unit later). You can also include the various Slayer characters, Runesmiths and Thanes. The Core slot looks really appealing, with Warriors and Thunderers listed alongside Rangers, Dwarf Carts and the new Scout Gyrocopters (these with -1 Toughness, Hit and Run and a 3″ coherency). In the Special slot we see Miners, Scout Gyrocopters and their regular counterparts in addition to the full complement of regular war machines. In the Rare slot we get Slayers, Gyrobombers, the Organ Gun and Flame Cannon. Finally the Mercenaries section contains Doomseekers, Goblin Hewers and Imperial Dwarfs.

The special rules themselves are really nice and enhance the mobility of your army. One unit of Thunderers per 1000 points can be upgraded to allow them to move and shoot. Likewise War machines can also be modified, reducing their toughness but removing their move or shoot restriction. Lastly the Subterranean Ambush rule allows you to deploy Miners from reserve at nominated points on the battlefield (with some restrictions such as outside enemy deployment zones, outside of 6″ of enemy units etc.). Overall these combine to make a much more mobile Dwarf army, able to manoeuvre their ranged units into optimal firing positions. With the addition of Scout Gyrocopters in the Core slot you can even go to town on an almost fully airborne force should you wish!

As alluded to earlier there are several new Dwarf units and characters within the new Arcane Journal. On the character front we get rules for Thorgrim Ulleksson, an improved Dwarf Thane with a solid melee weapon (although a bit on the pricey side). There is also Ungrim Ironfist, the Slayer King himself. Again this character is quite pricey but you get an offensive and defensive powerhouse of a unit who is able to join Hammerers and Slayer units both (the former gaining Immune to Psychology). This character also unlocks Slayer characters, Slayer units and Doomseeker options in the Character, Core and Special slots in a Royal Clan army.

Lastly we have Burlock Damminson, a very attractively priced Engineer character with some excellent rules for enhancing your ranged units. He is able to entrench a unit of Quarrellers or Thunderers at the beginning of the battle, providing them with partial cover and allowing them to be classed as defending a low obstacle. He can also buff the shooting of a nearby ranged unit or war machine during the Shooting phase, allowing said unit to either re-roll hit rolls of 1 or re-roll artillery dice. Shout out to his melee weapon whose strength is determined by an artillery dice!

Engineer Sappers are also really cool, these can entrench multiple units through the course of a game and they also project an aura of ‘Dangerous Terrain’ about themselves allowing them to interfere with the movement of nearby enemy units.

Doomseekers give Dwarf players another way of striking out early at an opponent’s formation (alongside Gyrocopters). They are a bit quicker than regular Dwarfs, with both Vanguard and a buff to their charge range but otherwise share a lot of rules with regular slayers (albeit also inflicting impact hits). I don’t think they’ll do lots of damage but if they get lucky they’ll hold an enemy unit in place for a short while, allowing you to position your own units ready for a follow up attack. They can also be taken as a 0-3 Dogs of War option in a regular Dwarf or Empire army.

We covered Royal Clan Warriors and Scout Gyrocopters earlier but lets take a look at the Imperial Dwarfs, Dwarf Carts and Goblin Hewer! Imperial Dwarfs are a 0-1 Dogs of War option in regular Dwarf or Empire armies and are basically regular Dwarf Warriors with a few different weapon options (thrusting spears for example). Dwarf Carts are very interesting and come in two flavours – the Mining Cart which provides nearby units with the ability to stand and shoot with blasting charges and the Bugman’s Cart which grants a +1 movement modifier to units within 6″. The carts themselves are Light Chariots with a toughness of 5, 3 wounds and light armour. Both Carts are a 0-4 Rare option in a regular Dwarf army.

Lastly we have the infamous Goblin Hewer, an incredible (if expensive) war machine with a great 36″ range and a ridiculous amount of attacks. This thing makes a number of shots equal to an artillery dice + D3 additional per rank or file (depending on which arc the war machine sits in). The shots hit with S4, AP-1 and benefit from Armourbane. The Goblin Hewer can be included in a regular Dwarf army as a 0-1 option in the Rare slot provided a Slayer of Legend is also present.

Included in the Arcane Journal are new rules for Slayer Runic Tattoos which allow you to apply a number of buffs to your Slayer characters. There are some interesting options here, such as a 3+ ward save on your last wound, re-roll hits and Flaming Attacks. Doomseekers seem to benefit most from these Runic Tattoos as they are best placed to actually reach combat without being outmanouvred or shot first. We also get some new Engineer Weapon Runes for Engineers and Engineer Sappers to apply to their own ranged weapons. I like the ‘bolt-thrower’ rune and the one that causes their weapon to inflict Stupidity the best!

Summary

Arcane Journal Dwarven Mountain Holds provides Dwarf players with some interesting alternative play styles, allowing players to really lean into the elite, durable melee build or to further enhance the ranged capabilities of an already solid shooting army. The mobility enhancements offered by Dwarf Carts, Doomseekers and additional Gyrocopter options should mean that the Dwarfs have more options for striking out at opponents and more agency in the Movement phases of the game. I don’t think there is anything here that jumps out as ‘must take’ or ‘auto-include’ which is great for the overall balance of the game. That said I think Dwarf Carts, Engineer Sappers and Doomseekers are my stand out picks and I’ll be looking to include some of these in most of my army builds.

Arcane Journal Dwarven Mountain Holds is up for pre-order today and will be released on Saturday 27th of July.

Thank you again to Games Workshop for sending Sprues and Brews a free early review copy for us to review on the site.