Recently emerging from brooding in their fortresses, the Helsmiths of Hashut, the Chaos Duardin, have decided to take back by force what’s rightfully theirs, leaving destruction in their wake. In this article, we check out the new wave of Age of Sigmar releases for the spiritual cousins of Warhammer’s Chaos Dwarfs, the Helsmiths of Hashut.
We’ve been covering Age of Sigmar for a while on the site, and you can check out our review of the Age of Sigmar 4th Edition launch box here, as well as our review of the first Helsmith’s release, the Helsmiths of Hashu Army Set. You can read our getting started with the AoS Spearhead style of gaming here.
Thick Beards, Horns, And Tusks
Following the release of the Helsmiths of Hashu Army Set, which acted as an introduction to the faction (and included their Spearhead force and Battletome), they now get their full release of units to flesh out the rest of their army.
The Helsmiths playstyle focuses on a small number of durable and powerful units, in close combat and at range, and also uses demonic power points that can be placed on specific key units to make them more powerful. Like their noble Duardin cousins, the Helsmiths are also slow, and even as durable as they are, initial positioning during deployment and early movement choices are crucial to capturing objectives and countering key opposing units.
Urak Taar The First Daemonsmith
Urak Taar is an absolute beast, as would be expected of someone titled The First Daemonsmith. It is said that he trained directly under the Helsmith’s god, Hashut himself. Urak Taar’s miniature towers over the rest of the range, even the hulking Dominator Engines that came in the Helsmiths of Hashu Army Set.
On the tabletop, Urak Taar is the only other Helsmith who can keep up with the Bull Centaur’s movement of 10, which is great for getting them into combat, which you absolutely want to do. While Urak has a ranged attack with 6 attacks, each doing D3 damage (which can also shoot in combat), Urak and the massive Infernal Taurus, Ghorrakos that he rides, excel in close combat, where Urak has 4 attacks, each dealing D3 damage, and Ghorrakos has 6 attacks dealing 4 wounds each on the charge.
Urak also has a once-per-turn ability that deals D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit if they charged that turn, and they can also move 2D6 inches after combat, but must end their move in combat, allowing them to skip over a unit into combat with another unit behind. Along with having bonuses to having demonic power points themselves (we discussed DPP in our Helsmiths of Hashu Army Set review), during the enemy hero phase, they can also reallocate 3 DPP between any units within 18 inches, allowing you to switch from units with offensive DPP bonuses to those with defensive DPP bonuses for your opponent’s turn.
The Urak Taar miniature can also be built as a standard Daemonsmith on Infernal Taurus, but with Urak Taar’s devastating attacks and abilities, the choice is always The First Daemonsmith.
War Despot
The War Despot is the same miniature from the Helsmiths of Hashu Army Set, but using them outside of the Spearhead gives them a slightly different profile. They’re not mounted, so move at the same rate as the Helsmiths’ infantry units. They boost the control scores of nearby infantry units, so you don’t want them to drift to far from them anyway, but with each DPP, the range of the ability is boosted by 6 inches.
The War Despot also has the ability to make a friendly infantry unit within their fight range, fight immediately after them, boosting their attacks by 1 for the rest of the turn. For their own attacks, the Despot has a Daemonflame Glavie, with 5 attacks, each at damage 2.
Bull Centaurs
I’d already spotted the Bull Centaurs as one of my favorite Helsmiths’ units when reviewing the Army Set, and the miniatures don’t disappoint, delivering everything you want in a Helsmiths unit, including all the beards, all the horns, and all the tusks. The box can be built as either 3 Bull Centaurs or 3 Anointed Sentinels.
Both the Centaurs and the Sentinels have a move of 10, giving the Helsmiths a much-needed fast unit ahead of the sturdy advance of their infantry, but the Bull Centaurs are much better offensively, with an extra attack and the ability to deal mortal wounds after they charge with their Bull Charge ability. Both the Centaurs and Sentinels add 1 to charge rolls for each DPP they have, so unless you need to save the points (Sentinels are slightly cheaper than the Centaurs), then you’re always going to pick Centaurs (despite the golden bull head helmets looking super cool).
Infernal Razers
Another of our favorite units are the Infernal Razers, who come in two distinct flavors. Armed with Flamehurlers or Blunderbusses, the flamehurlers have a shorter range, but more attacks, and the blunderbusses have a slightly longer range, but are easier to wound and deal 2 damage each. They both have the ability to gain rend for each DPP they have, and the flamehurlers can lower the control score of a targeted unit, while the blunderbusses can give a targeted unit strike-last by rolling a 6+, adding in the number of models slain by that unit to the roll.
Their box comes with 5 miniatures that can be built as either, depending on what role you want them to fill. They both look incredibly thematic, but the blunderbusses look awesome with their demon-possessed weaponry ready to unleash havoc.
Hobgrot Vandalz
The final unit we’re going to look at in this article are the Hobgrot Vandalz. The Hobgrots’ entire existence is to get in the way of your opponent’s units, and they do that with a slightly higher movement than the rest of the Hashut infantry and the ability to take a normal move during the deployment phase to screen ahead of your main force.
The Helsmiths’ disdain for the Hobgrots means that all their abilities and the demonic power points don’t apply to the Hobgrot (most specify non-Hobgrot), but that allows you to just throw them into combat, for which they have 2 attacks. Their box allows you to build 20 Hobgrot Vanalz, including a champion, musician and standard bearer.
Age of Sigmar Helsmiths of Hashut Army Units Final Thoughts?
I absolutely love the Helsmiths of Hashut theme and the aesthetics of their miniature range. Urak Taar offers an incredible centerpiece, and the clean standardization of the range, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and chaff to screen the core units makes them easy to get into. As previously mentioned, their slow movement can mean that poor positioning and movement phase choices don’t make them a forgiving force, but they are durable, and when in doubt, fire with the artillery and smash into targets with Urak and the Bull Centaurs.
The copies of the Helsmiths of Hashut Army Units used to produce this review were provided by Games Workshop.