Thorgrim Grudgebearer:
The High King of Karaz Ankor, this guy is basically the most badass Dwarf on the most magical recliner ever. Clocking in at a whopping 325 Skaven Slaves, Thorgrim is the single most expensive model in the army book, roughly three times and then some more expensive then a Dwarf Lord on Shieldbearers. However, kind of like Mazdamundi, it's not just how powerful he is, but what he does for your army with all of his magic toys. So to begin with, Thorgrim rocks a stat line of 3 7 6 4 5 7 4 4 10 and is taken to war by two stout Thronebearers that additionally rock the combined stat line of 3 5 3 4 - - 3 4 -. He comes generically with the rules Ancestral Grudge (roll a dice at the beginning of the game to determine Hatred distribution), Relentless (No march blocking), and Resolute (+1 Strength on the charge). Unique to him though, he's got the rule High King, which means he must be army's general and if he's slain all friendly models from the army book get Frenzy. That can be nice, but if this guy dies, you're probably up shit creek without a paddle. He also has the Throne of Power, which just means he's treated as a model that has Shieldbearers (look it up) but he adds +4 to his Wounds (this is factored into his profile already) and +2 to his Armor Save. He also has an Inspiring Presence of 18", but cannot benefit from any "Look Out Sir!" saves even if he's in a unit. He's also totting around the Axe of Grimnir, the Armor of Skaldour, the Dragon Crown of Karaz, and the Dammaz Kron, or the Great Book of Grudges to you mannlings out there. So, let's get started one at a time. The Axe of Grimnir, it's a Magic Weapon that gives Thorgrim ASF and he wounds any model on a roll of a 2+ regardless of the target's Toughness. Or, an a 3+ if the enemy is wearing Magical Armor. In addition, if Thorgrim is fighting against a Giant or a Chaos Giant, he has the Multiple Wounds (D6) special rule. So, this weapon is pretty balling becuase one of Thorgrim's real weaknesses is that he's only Strength 4. But since he can pretty much auto-wound, this fact can kind of be ignored. As for the whole Multiple Wounds against Giants, well, it's cute, but not all that useful. Because, I mean, when was the last time you actually saw a Giant? Now, if it was against all Monsters, then I'd be much more inclined because I play against Beastmen all the time. Moving on, we've got the Armor of Skaldour. This armor gives Thorgrim a 4+ Armor Save (meaning he has a total of a 2+ Armor Save) and he has a 2+ Ward Save against anything that has the Multiple Wounds, Killing Blow, or Heroic Killing Blow special rules. Yeah, this is very, very nice. It also, technically gives him the save to cannonballs. Meaning he's not a character you can easily swat with a cannon, which considering he can't get a "Look Out Sir!" bonus, this is very important. Next to last we have the Dragon Crown of Karaz. This talisman gives the wearer and any unit he's in ITP and Stubborn special rules. As you can imagine, this item is pretty nice, but not as awesome as it seems. First off, if you're putting this guy in a unit, you're putting him in Hammerers. Hammerers are already generically Stubborn. Still not a terrible rule, but kind of unused most times he's fielded. His last, and my personal favorite item, the Great Book of Grudges gives you a +3 to your Ancestral Grudge Rune, if your roll combined with this bonus is equal to a 7 or higher, then Thorgrim and any unit he's in may re-roll all failed to-hit rolls, not just in the first round of combat. Phew! Were finally at the end of it all! So all in all, Thorgrim is a badass motherfucker, and between his stats, items, and special rules inevitably you'll see him at least once in your career. Plus, even if you don't play End Times rules, he's pretty affordable in 3K lists and above, especially since all Dwarf lists no longer start off without a Runelord on the Anvil of Doom in their lists. In fact, the reasons to bring a Runelord are kind of debatable as is, so shit, bring Thorgrim if you can. He's a really good character despite his point cost and he can lock down and annihilate entire blocks of enemies by himself.
Thorek Ironbrow:
While Thorgrim went from being rarely to never seen all the way to being pretty common as far as special characters go, Thorek went from being an auto-include to never again making an appearance on the tabletop. I shouldn't need to explain how terrible the Anvil got, so I'll just take Thorek as a whole, and try not to judge him entirely because of his anvil. Thorek rocks a statline of 3 6 4 4 5 5 3 2 10 and is accompanied by Anvil Guards who have a statline of 3 5 3 4 - - 2 2 -. He comes with Ancestral Grudge, Ancestral Shield (5+ Ward Save), Armor Piercing, Locus of Power ( adds one dice to both you power and Dispel pool), MR (3), Rune Lore (he can channel Dispel dice), Strike the Runes (he uses the three bound spells on the anvil), and he's Unbreakable. But wait, there's more! He's also got Kraggi, Assistant at the Forge, which gives Thorek the ability to re-roll a single dice on a failed casting attempt per turn. If your re-roll is a 1, Thorek takes a single S10 hit and you no longer have this ability. He's also the Master of Ancient Lore, which gives him +1 to cast the bound spells. He also has two magic items. The first is Klad Brakak, which is a Runic hammer that allows no armor saves in close combat and provided he Wounds his enemy, any form of magic armor the opponent is wearing is destroyed. Lastly, he wears Thorek's Rune Armor, which just gives him a 1+ Armor Save. Poor Thorek, he went from being so good you never saw him, to so bad you never see him. I guess, maybe if you really love the anvil regardless of the shape it's in now, then he's worth taking, but at 217 Skaven Slaves, he's over twice as much as generic Runelord on an Anvil. I would never field an anvil, much less Thorek on one however.
Ungrim Ironfist:
Here we go! Now this is some good shit right here! Weighing in at 175 Skaven Slaves and with a stat line of 3 9 4 4 6 3 5 4 10, Ungrim is one of my favorite special charachters period. He comes generically with Ancestral Grudge, Daemon Slayer (opponent's re-roll successful Ward Saves), Dragon Slayer (Multiple Wounds D3 against Monsters), Relentless, Resolute, Deathblow (makes a single attack upon his death as long as he didn't die to Impact Hits), Slayer (ignores Strength penalties and always Wounds on a 4+ unless less is needed), and Unbreakable. In addition, he's the Slayer King, which means he can only join units of Slayers, can be the Army's general, and he allows a single Slayer unit 8n the army to take a 100 point Runic banner. He's also got the Axe of Dargo, Dragon Cloak of Fryskar, and the Slayer Crown. So, first things first. The Axe of Dargo is a Magic Weapon that means all Ungrim's attacks are at +2 Strength and have Killing Blow. The Dragon Cloak of Fryskar gives him a 4+ Ward Save and a 2+ Ward Save against anything with the Flaming Attacks special rule. Last, but not least, he's got the Slayer Crown, which gives him +1 to his Toughness (already factored in) and +1 to his Armor Save (giving him a total save of 3+). Where to begin? So at first, I thought this guy was just going to be a fluffy choice for a Slayer themed army. Then I started to actually read this guy's stats and rules. Yeah, this guy is pretty kickass. Mostly because he's what every Dwarf player ever who likes Slayers has been pining to do. Put a Slayer in armor. True, he is 55 Skaven Slaves more expensive then a fully kitted out Darmor Slayer, but he is so much better that I think if you can take him, you should. He no longer makes Slayers core choices, but that whole shtick kind of died back in 7th edition. He's also perhaps the best thing to make Daemon Princes go splat. Also, put him into a High Elf Prince on a Star Dragon for laughs for days. Love this guy, he's my favorite Lord level special character in this particular army.
Belegar Ironhammer:
Now for a bit of downer. It's kind of a shame too, because in terms of fluff, I love this guy. The whole conflict between him, Skarsnik, and Queek Headtaker for control of Karak Eight Peaks is one of my favorite storylines in warhammer. Regardless, this guy rocks a stat line of 3 8 4 4 5 3 4 4 10 and clocks in at 157.5 Skaven Slaves. He comes generically with Ancestral Grudge, Relentless, Resolute, and Stubborn. He also comes with the rule, Revenge Incarnate (God that sounds fucking awesome!) which allows him to once per game double his attacks for the remainder of the turn. We'll talk about this later. In addition he has two special items, the first of which is the Hammer of Angrund. This magic weapon gives him ASF and give him +1 to wound. His last magic item is the Shield of Defiance, which gives him a 4+ Ward Save and makes him immune to Killing Blow and Heroic Killing Blow. Lastly, before I get grilled in the comments section, Belegar comes mounted on an Oath Stone, which means he and his unit can never elect to flee, cannot have their ranks disrupted, and allows them to make Parry Saves to their flank and rear. In addition, any charachter on an Oath Stone must accept challenges. Okay, so at first, this guy looks pretty cool, and his model is just fantastic in my humble opinion. When I first looked at this guy, I was immediately thinking Gor-Rok. Doubling attacks, re-rolls from ASF, +1 to KOwound. Then I realized he's on an Oath Stone. He's also only S4, now, he's +1 to wound, but S4 nonetheless. He's also 2.5 Skaven Slaves cheaper then a kitted out Dwarf Lord on Shieldbearers. He's just okay, and considering that the Dwarf Lord is awesome, he very rarely gets much playing time. However, awhile back we ran a three way battle with my Dwarves against my buddies who had Skarsnik with Goblins and Queek with Skaven. Really, really fun. I like him, but he's a little confused as to his roll in an army so I can understand leaving this guy behind, but he's certainly not the worst choice in the book.
Josef Bugman:
The first of two special Heroes available to the Dwarves, this guy is pretty kickass, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. So besides always abiding by universal bro code guidelines regarding the byob subsection, this guy also rocks a 3 6 5 5 2 4 4 10 and comes in at 82.5 Skaven Slaves. He comes generically with Ancestral Grudge, Relentless, Resolute, and Scouts. He also has the Bugman Rangers ability, which let's you upgrade Rangers in your army to have WS5, BS4, and S4 for an additional 3 points per model. He also has probably the most realistic parallel rule that we have amongst my gaming group, Liquid Fortification. As long as Bugman is aroundestroyed he and his unit roll 2 D6 at the start of each friendly turn. On a 2 he and his unit are Flammable. On a 3-9, their Stubborn. On a 10-12, they all get +1 Toughness. He's also rocking out with the Stout Courage special rule, which grant him and his unit immunity to Fear and Terror. He's also totting around Ol' Trustworthy, which is his magic weapon that gives him Armor Piercing, and +1 to his Attack and Strength (already factored in). Last, but definitely the best, is Bugman's Tankard. This little beauty allows him or any friendly models in the same unit to regain D3 Wounds at the beginning of any friendly turn. Considering how many Wounds Dwarf Lords can gave, this will make him even more unkillable. So, there's two reasons to take this guy. One, you've got a hard on for Rangers, regardless of how terrible they are now. Two, you want to make the meanest, most douchiest Death Star available to the Dwarves. He's also dirt cheap compared to the other charachters thus far. I like him, but he's not an auto-include by any means.
Grimm Burloksson:
Ah yes, the reason Irondrakes are so hated by so many. Rocking out to a stat line of 3 4 5 6 4 2 2 2 9 and identical to Bugman in terms of points, Burlok here is your badass Master Engineer. He comes generically with Ancestral Grudge, Entrenchment (he can give one war machine hard cover and -1 to-hit in close combat provided it doesn't move), Relentless, Resolute, and Stand Back Sir! (Think lookout Sir but with war machines and a 3 inch range). He's also the Master of Accuracy, which at the start of each friendly shooting phase on a D6 roll of a 2+, he can confer one of three special rules. It should be noted though that he cannot benefit from these rules, but he may still use his own weapon. He can either allow a war machine to use his BS and re-roll a single artillery dice that can be the dice that determines a cannonball or flame cannon bounce, increase a unit's crossbow or handgun range by 2D6", or allow models in his unit to re-roll any missed to-hit rolls. He's also rocking a pimped out shotgun that has an 18" range, S4, Armor Piercing, Dwarf Crafted (no -1 penalty for stand and shoot), and Multiple Shots (2D3). In close combat it functions as S6 (as user), Armor Piercing, and Weaponsnapper (destroys an enemy's magic weapon on a successful hit on a roll of a 5+). Yeah, he may not be Ben Grim, but at S6 he damn near is! He's also an auto-include if you have more than three war machines in your army. He does have Grimnir armor, but if this guy gets into close combat, I'd just pick him up and apologize for making your opponent charge. However, he does have the potential to wipe out those pesky units of Goblin Wolf Riders and Dark Riders with his shooting potential. I've also seen him fuck up kitted out Goblin Bosses on wolves who bring magic weapons.
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