Dungeon Magazine #46- Iron Orb of the Duergar – Old School AD&D Thoughts and a Review

Dungeon Magazine #46 - Iron Orb of the Duergar
by Peter Aberg
An adventure for 6-8 PCs, levels 11-15

Tipping the scales at 22 pages Iron Orb of the Duergar is one of the best modules in any edition hands down. In fact I would say this module can hold its own with any of the classic modules as well. Dungeon #46 is a seminal product for me as it is the second Dungeon Magazine that I personally bought and it leaps off the pages on first read.

Iron Orb of the Duergar is generic enough that it can easily be set in any cold mountains region without much difficulty and has a nice Norse/barbarian feel to it. In fact the author suggests Icewind Dale for the Forgotten Realms or the Archbarony of Ratik for the World of Greyhawk; for my campaign world it was a snap.

This module is fairly straightforward and has lots of combat! There is some nice back story to it however and the whole feel is one of a more regional/kingdom level feel to it rather than adventuring at the local dungeon a few miles away from town.

The module centers on northmen raids... or so it seems. True, barbarian raiders are striking the southern kingdoms, but not as it seems. Reason being? The Iron Orb of the Duergar; a powerful artifact that has gotten itself attached to Ulmvard the High Priest of Odin. Normally such a figure might be able to cope, however the malignant orb has the powers of a beholder and duergar!

The adventure starts out assuming that the PCs are perhaps local rulers of some of the more southern lands (they might be considering level of play for this module) or contacted by such. They head out across the sea towards the Northmen's lands to investigate. Once the PCs arrive on scene they find out that Ulmavard has switched focus to now is planning on attacking the local dwarfs instead of raiding cities to the south. This is a bit odd given the fact that all of the summer months have been focused on raiding the south... a clever PC will pick up on why is this man talking about making war on dwarfs?

Ulmvard the High Priest of Odin is a bit...unhinged

Having to enter the city clandestinely the PCs will make their way to an inn (they always do). From there they eventually fall into the camp opposing the slightly unhinged High Priest of Odin. Enter the High Priest's daughter Anja who fills in the holes for the PCs. A group plans to seize the Orb realizing that Ulmvard is not himself. It just so happens that the Orb can scry and all too soon the PCs need to flee the city and head towards the mountains. Here is where things start to get good.

The mine is old that was once abandoned, but is now run by Norse guards (some frost giants) and slave labor (garnered from the raids of the PCs homelands) at the behest of Ulmvard. The upper levels are logical and well mapped and the descriptions give a great feel to it. The random encounters are perfect and quick thinking PCs will notice there is more than meets the eye here.

The whole point of the upper level culminates with the revelation that the PCs are not the only ones interested in the operations here and those of Ulmvard. The drow make an appearance and it is not the usual setup! They propose a temporary alliance which is a nice break from the fight them at a drop of a hat mentality... The dark elves have no desire to see their enemies assemble the Iron Warrior either. Make no mistake the dark elves are not friends of the PCs, but it is the old "the enemies of my enemy is my friend". Depending on the race/class makeup of the PCs it will be interesting to see what the more lawful/good types in a party might think about working with dark elves. Either way they do not accompany the group during the adventure and are off quickly.

The ruins of the duergar citadel are awesome, the first time I read this I imagined it quite vividly and the author did a great job with the descriptions, they really seem to come to life. It really captures a feeling and you can imagine the historical perspective of it. I especially liked the ruined nature of side corridors to get around the original collapsed sections, it really lends an authentic air to it. The way to get to the other side is imaginative as well and presents some great combat opportunities as well as real and present danger: falling into lava will ruin your day. The author also provides little back story snippets as to why the ruins is the way it is now, and ones that can easily be added to a campaign.

Once to the other side, the potential for large sweeping, knock down, drag em out fight(s) is right there. The rest of the ruins can become one massive battle if the PCs are not careful in their approach to tactics. There are plenty of duergar and being dwarfs they do not fight stupidly.

After breaching the upper level the forge level awaits! There is some nice flavor text here to add even more visual appeal, one can almost imagine the dwarfs sealing up and mounting the great doors after they defeated the duergar in ages past. Again there are little back story snippets that tell the DM why things are the way they are now and possibly lead to further adventures.

The riddle is a nice touch for proceeding northwards as well, if a bit easy to solve.

The final fight can go either way and the drow party makes a nice option for the DM should he need reinforcements for the PCs. Conversely if they treated the drow with the unusual reaction the drow might turn on a weakened party at the very end while they themselves hang back and let the two factions slug it out in the main fight.

Everything hinges on this fight, and the PCs need to triumph or they are in for it.

Strengths

The first strength of the module is its level requirements. All too often it is tough to challenge high level parties. If the party does not stop the plans of Ulmvard in time they are going to have a BIG problem on their hands, and I mean big ;) If this happens the PCs might want to run...

Another thing that makes this module work so well is the use of duergar as the movers and shakers along with Ulmvard. I am hard pressed to think about where there have been other modules that feature duergar this prominently. It would have been even better with derro, but I digress! ;)

The atmosphere leaps off the page from the human cities to especially the duergar ruins. The artwork of the module really lends its support as well.

The dark elves are a nice touch and create some great moral dilemmas for some of the PCs depending on the group.

The orb itself is a great item and a great way to rally lead the PCs on, especially if one of them is foolish enough to use it. The fact that it is an artifact that cannot easily be destroyed only adds to this.

This module begs for follow up. Especially if the PCs are successful in thwarting the machinations of Ulmvard! So they defeated him and stopped him from placing the orb. Now what? The Orb needs to be destroyed and it is not an easy task to do. This would be a great followup here. Plus it is entirely up to the DM as to just how this should happen or can it even be done?

Weaknesses

To be honest there are very few here and for the most part it is me being nit-picky and all are easily solved. In fact as I note depending on your campaign some of these might not even be weaknesses.

One thing that comes to mind is the weakness of having Ulmvard's daughter play the role of the guy in the tavern with the mission.. it is a minor point, but one to consider. Someone had to get the information to the PCs. The later issue revolving around her is not that dramatic as the PCs may be unimpressed with the state she is in later, or at least not highly motivated to help an NPC they only just met...

The only big consideration that I thought of on rereading it is that the premise of why the PCs are here and what are their rewards for doing so? The DM needs to take special care here to make sure that the PCs want to go on this adventure. This should not be an issue for an experienced DM as by the time they are 11-15 level the PCs have bigger concerns than getting X amount of gold for a mission... In fact being so open ended might be a boon as the DM can use this to tailor fit it to his campaign.

There is a boatload of monetary wealth here (area 36), but it is unlikely to go to the PCs, not even a fraction of it. Fortunately the author gives some flavor text as to who it actually belongs to, so this creates some nice adventure hooks as to what the PCs do with it. Any PCs of the lawful or good sides of alignment will be hard pressed to keep it as it is readily apparent that this is not the Northmen or duergar loot. Tying into this thought is that the PCs will get some monetary treasure out of this adventure, but very little in the way of magic items. This may be a plus in your campaign, however in my opinion for the level, it is a bit too skimpy. The XP award is right on however for such an epic undertaking.

In conclusion this is in my opinion a gem of a module and the top of the heap for second edition (or very near it). It acquits itself well and is well worth playing. I have left some sections generic and did not go into too much detail as I will be using this module down the line in my current campaign and give away too much.

So for those that have this or have played it, what are your thoughts?

NOTE: Link to the original review can be found here on dragonsfoot.org 

I Painted the Dwarf Allies…And Broke Warhammer Allies (1988)

From White Dwarf #108: "Eradicated Gremlins GW? More like they lived on for nearly 40 years."

 

There I was, happily painting up a Dwarf Ally Contingent from the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies Book from 1988. I had a handful of figures left over from my six thousand point Dwarf army, so it felt like an obvious project. This also tied into my larger plan. I have been trying to collect all eleven armies in the book (Norse from White Dwarf #107 eventually too) and every Ally and Mercenary Contingent, each with its own dedicated set of miniatures.

As noted on the blog previously, years ago, I consolidated and rebuilt my Dwarf Mercenary force using leftover Battle for Skull Pass figures from the later editions. Even after that, I still had extra metal models from the period, along with plastic Dwarfs from the old Warhammer Regiment box set. You know how this hobby goes. A few Quarrelers, some Ironbreakers, a hero, and you think you are ready to field a proper contingent. That was the plan, at least. I was wrong.

While I was finishing the Dwarf Warrior unit, the question hit me. “Okay, who can actually take these guys?”

It seemed simple. Open Warhammer Armies from 1988, check the ally lists, match these stout warriors to the army that could field them, and move on with the project.

Except this is where the wheels came off: no one can take them. Not one of the eleven armies in the book.

• Not Empire.
• Not Bretonnia.
• Not even the Dwarfs themselves.
• No Army AT ALL.

That could not be right, or so I thought. But it was. By painting a simple ally contingent, I had stumbled onto one of the most quietly funny and completely uncorrected design mistakes in the entire 3rd Edition era.

The best part? It was right there in plain sight for thirty seven years and nobody ever noticed. ETA (12/3/25): turns out despite my best efforts to source this out, someone else did notice! So no shame here, credit where credit is due! Oldhammer discussion

How I Found the Break Point

After rereading each army entry and its allowed ally list, I decided to reverse the logic.

Rather than asking “What allies can this army take?”
I asked a different question. “Which armies can take these allies?”

I doubt Games Workshop ever approached it this way. I will talk more about that in Part II. I went contingent by contingent and built a full matrix. As the list grew, the pattern became obvious. Army after army had nothing but empty space under the Dwarf Allies category. The Dwarf Ally entry is fully written, fully pointed, and laid out just like every other valid contingent, but no army in the book is actually permitted to use it.

I still did not believe it. So I checked my notes again and kept cross checking online. The result never changed. I even checked the Norse list from White Dwarf #107, which is an official 3rd Edition army. They cannot take Dwarf Allies either.

Then I pulled out both of my copies of the Army Book, the hardcover and the softcover. The same gap appears in both. I will come back to that in more detail in Part II.

Surely This Was Fixed in an Errata?

That was my next thought. I went straight to the web to look for it. This had to be a known issue. I expected to find a long forgotten White Dwarf sidebar, a footnote, a FAQ, a designer comment, or something buried on an old website. Anything at all.

There was nothing.

So I turned to the two White Dwarf issues that are always cited as containing the 3rd Edition corrections for Warhammer Armies from 1988.

• White Dwarf #107
• White Dwarf #108

And guess what?

Still nothing. Not a single word about Dwarf Allies. Those errata entries only address small housekeeping items. They mainly correct point values and attribute scores for Dark Elves and Skaven. The Dwarf Ally issue is not mentioned anywhere.

The only conclusion I could reach is that the Dwarf Ally Contingent was and still is completely orphaned. It is a dead entry in Warhammer Armies from 1988, and none of us caught it. I have handled that book thousands of times and never noticed it.

And now that I see it, the whole thing feels right in line with the era.

The Most Oldhammer Thing Possible

Welcome to 3rd Edition, where Chaos mutations contradict their own points formula, where Fimir somehow ally with Norse in ways no scholar of fantasy biology can explain, where Nippon mercenaries can be taken only by Dark Elves for reasons known only to the gods, and where the best way to understand the rules is to accept that nobody in 1988 was paid enough to cross index the ally matrix.

This is peak Oldhammer. Creative, chaotic, brilliant, flawed, and absolutely perfect all at once.

Why I Never Noticed This in the ’80s, Even Though I Used Allies

I used allies all the time during the 3rd Edition years. Wood Elves, High Elves, Halflings and Norse saw plenty of table time for me, but I never once used the Dwarf Allies. That alone explains why this flaw stayed hidden from me for almost forty years.

There was another reason as well. Everyone else in my group had started playing before I did, and we had a simple rule. No one could play the same army. I took Empire because it was still open. That choice dictated the allies I reached for. When I looked at Dwarfs, my attention went straight to the four dwarf cannons from the Dwarf Mercenary Contingent. That was the obvious path for an Empire player.

The Dwarf Ally Contingent itself did not help matters. There is nothing in it that you cannot already get from the main Dwarf army list:

• 
  
  1 Contingent Commander
• 0–40 Dwarf Crossbowmen
• 0–10 Ironbreakers (really, what are you doing with just ten???) 
  
• 10–80 Dwarf Warriors (that's like a whole army!)

It is a perfectly serviceable group of troops, but nothing that would tempt a player who had better and more cost effective options elsewhere. 

So What Now?

Well, in my case?

I fixed the oversight in my own matrix I created. Dwarfs are available to Empire and Bretonnia and Dwarfs themselves as Allies (see here).

But the real fun was the discovery itself. I set out to paint a few allies… and in the process, I broke Warhammer Armies (1988). I didn’t just paint Dwarf Allies. I painted a glitch in the game’s original source code.

Not bad for a weekend project.

The Word of Hashut - Part I, A Look Back

 

(With apologies to Conan the Barbarian, 1982)

Between the time before social media and the rise of the sons of Hashut, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this came Willmark, destined to bear the burden of the Word of Hashut upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Allow me to speak of the days of the ezine era!

I had more hair back then...

In the early 2000s, Games Workshop was a slumbering behemoth, and a few armies were abandoned in the wilderness. Chaos Dwarfs were cast into darkness; Dogs of War wandered the fringes of the Borderlands with no marching orders; Warhammer players scoured the world for scraps of lore like exiles clutching broken tablets.

From this desolation came a spark.
That spark became the Wordof Hashut: a fanzine forged in the deep furnace of the Dawi Zharr’s will. A magazine not written by a corporation but by a community that refused to die.

From there the era grew.
Skavenblight Gazette rallied the ratmen and became an undisputed leader. And from Tilea came Gold & Glory, the last great banner of the mercenaries, stitched together with pride and desperation in equal measure.

These were not simple PDFs.
They were acts of rebellion.
Declarations that no army would be forgotten so long as one fan still drew breath and had a half-functional copy of Adobe Acrobat.

It was a wild age. A mad age.
An age driven by passion instead of polish, by camaraderie instead of clout. It burned fast and bright and left its scars, some of them literal. The Word of Hashut was not the first ezine, yet its impact may have been the mightiest.

And now, years later, the time has come to tell its story.

Now that I have your attention. As many of you know, my name is Willmark, Editor-in-Chief of Word of Hashut. And after a time, I also served as Editor-in-Chief of the ezine Gold & Glory for the Dogs of War, two of the armies abandoned by Games Workshop from seventh edition onward.

Here is the inside story of the Warhammer ezine era you never knew existed.

We are coming up on fifteen years since the last issue of the Word of Hashut. In many ways it seems like yesterday; in others it feels like a lifetime. My life has changed, my children have grown, and now there is an old man staring back at me in the mirror each morning.

Before all that, a frazzled, time-starved Chaos Dwarf enthusiast worked many nights into the small hours to produce the Word of Hashut. Looking back, it is a blur but also a heady time, when nothing constrained us. Games Workshop had forsaken the Chaos Dwarfs, but the fans had not.

Before we take even the first step, it is important to point out the landscape as it existed. The Word of Hashut was not the first ezine or webzine to exist, far from it. Several came before. In fact, the Word of Hashut would arrive later in the overall scene.

Faction	Ezine	Years	Issues
Chaos Dwarfs	Word of Hashut	2008–2012	12
Skaven	Skavenblight Gazette	2007–2011	11
Vampire Counts	The Invocation	2008–2012	12
Ogre Kingdoms	Bellower	2008–2011	8
Dogs of War	Gold & Glory	2009–2010	3
Dark Elves	Druchii Herald	2005–2007	3
High Elves	Citizen’s Levy	2008–2009	3
Dwarfs	Doomseeker	2008–2010	3
Orcs & Goblins	Waaagh! Magazine	~2006–2008	~4
Wood Elves	Asrai Lookout	2009–2010	2
Chaos Dwarfs (proto)	Word of Hashut Holiday Specials	2008–2011	2
Dogs of War (minor)	Tilean Dispatch / 6th Column	2009–2011	2–4

There they are. When viewed now, the list seems shorter than it felt at the time. Perhaps memory plays tricks. There always seemed to be a great deal of activity across the various forums, and always a new ezine being launched or announced. I know; I was on the primary site for each faction daily back then. Likely there were more ideas than finished projects, and the effort required proved greater than most expected.

I think I can speak to that. I handled the layouts and the Editor-in-Chief roles for two ezines. More on that soon, but it seemed wise to first set the stage before we dive in. It was a wild and wonderful age in which fans banded together to create something Games Workshop had forgotten: a hobby magazine rather than a glorified sales catalog.

The ezines had something White Dwarf did not, a soul, and it showed.

Next up: The Dawn of the Ezines, Part II.

For reference, the current Chaos Dwarfs Online site.

Building a Dwarf Mercenary Contingent for Warhammer 3rd Edition

The armies in 3rd edition Fantasy Battle that can utilize Dwarf Mercenaries are much what one would expect: The Empire and Bretonnia. High Elves are too snooty to use mercenaries and Wood Elves do not employ mercenaries at all. All the rest either do not employ mercenaries or are "evil" and thus the Dwarfs would not hire out to them. Oddly the Norse Army list (as featured in White Dwarf 107) does not allow for Dwarf mercenaries either. Now of course it is not like I am breaking any rules for an edition and it is usually just Willmark Jr and I playing but I could see them used for Norse. It is also odd that the Dwarf Army itself cannot hire them. Personally I would hand waive that one if the battle called for it.

The Entire Dwarf Mercenary Contingent

Looking at the backlog of minis on my painting desk I have made a conscious effort to complete and clear it. I took stock and noticed I still had a lot of Dwarfs to paint. And this was after painting 8,000 points of Chaos Dwarfs! So with that in mind and my plan to have separate minis for each ally and mercenary contingent in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army book, I got to work.

My Warhammer Fantasy Battle Dwarf army grew out of the need for me to be my own ally. By my own ally I mean as I have noted on the blog before everyone in the gaming group back in our 3rd edition days already had all the "evil armies" picked. That left me to start with the Empire. So when we played really big battles like Jeff's Orcs and Goblins and Dave's Skaven versus my Empire I needed allies.

As a result I had to purchase and then paint a lot of minis. I bought some of Dave's dwarf crossbowmen and that was the nucleus of my Dwarf army that is now probably close to 5,000 points.

So rather than keep adding to that army I decided to use the minis for a dedicated Dwarf Mercenary contingent. I get that the Army Rule book was designed so that the Allies and Mercenary contingents could be used by just allocating minis from the main army one might already have. I also think it was a strategy to sell minis for armies that a player might not otherwise buy. With this in mind I have set out to create Ally and Mercenary contingents for all of them listed! A tall order I know.

Back to the Dwarf Mercenaries. The minis themselves are mainly from the awesome Battle for Skull Pass boxed set which I had bought two of between 2008 and 2010. Mainly these were for my 5th through 8th Edition Chaos Dwarfs. I also got a great deal on a Dwarf box set at Games Day 2008. Thus between these two sets I had enough left over to utilize for the mercenary force even after being used for four units of Chaos Dwarfs. This accomplished another part of my goal: clearing the painting table.

As I assembled the mercs I realized I had everything I needed to fill out all units listed from odds and ends.

Dwarf Mercenary Warriors & Command

The Dwarf Mercenary Force

• 1 Dwarf Mercenary Commander (I used a leftover metal Hammerer model I had lying around)
• 6 Mercenary Dwarf Sappers (Battle for Skull Pass miners. These guys obviously fit perfectly.)
• 19 Dwarf Mercenary Warriors (Battle for Skull Pass warriors)
• 1 Dwarf Mercenary Artillery (a cannon from the Milton Bradley set)

While a separate force from my Dwarf army, one thing I did consider was the color scheme. My larger Dwarf War Host is primarily green and yellow. I decided to do the same with the mercenary force so if I wanted to use them as part of the larger force I easily could do so. Despite being a separate force I like the flexibility. In fact with almost all of my armies and contingents I make them so they can span multiple editions as much as possible.

I have talked about it on Chaos Dwarfs Online before about how sometimes units "fight" you and the painting can be a pain or a chore. That was definitely the case with the crossbowmen. They were also originally assembled as Chaos Dwarf crossbowmen. So not only did I have to modify them, but I had to do a bunch of green stuffing and scrounge up enough pieces to make a unit. The painting was painful and seemed to take forever.

In contrast the dwarf warrior unit went together easily from assembly to painting, likewise with the miners who function as sappers and the cannon and its crew. All of these guys were enjoyable to paint.

Because of this, in practical terms it is not the most useful mercenary or ally contingent on the tabletop in terms of utilization, but one I wanted to complete to clear the desk.

Further afield I have now a fairly large Old Worlder Mercenary contingent (using some Old Glory minis, do not tell GW!) that is nearly complete in terms of collecting the minis. Likewise the Old Worlder Ally Contingent is rounding into form. Dwarf Allies, Dark Elf Ally and High Elf Ally are all likewise underway.

Part X - Wood Elf Army Upddate, Elven Lords Cavalry Unit Complete

While I have not blogged about it lately, I have been diligently working on my 3rd Edition Wood Elf force since Spring. So much so that even though I am going to post about a single unit today, my Elven Lords cavalry unit — it is actually not the only one complete.

In order, I have finished the following which will be in the next blog entry(ies):

• Beastmasters (just the animals and I had to get creative, those guys go for $$$).
• Another Treeman
• Wizards, 1 on foot and 2 mounted.
• 2nd Wardancer unit of 10
• Army Standard Bearer
• Bears Monstrous Host
• A Shape Changer — a Werebear
• Another unit of 20 archers!
• Baggage! Only three elves, but I need to find more "elf villager" types anyways.

In short, my Wood Elf army is pretty much complete outside of some Falconer ideas which I may or may not get to and a unit of eight Glade Runners (scouts) made from left over minis from Archer units. Along with that I need to get the actual Beast Master elves as well for the Beastmaster units. If I had to add up the points off the top of my head, it is at least 5,000, especially with the dragon. Not bad for a force that started as allies for my Empire army and was maybe around 800 points back then.

But onward to the meat of the post, the Elven Lords which gives this blurb from the Warhammer Armies book:

"The Lords of Elven communities and their noble retainers ride magnificent warhorses into battle. Wood elves favor roan and dappled horses, plaiting their manes and ornamenting their bridles with hair-plumes and jewels."

Like Mike McVey with his Elven Lord unit featured in White Dwarf #141 I did not want to have too uniform of an appearance, but I did not vary them as much as he did. Because of this and the fact that I wanted the flexibility to field them as Wood Riders if I so chose I kept them uniform to the rest of the army. In my imagining of them I take it to be perhaps a single Elven Lord with his retainers, nine in number rather than 10 individual lords.

I decided to keep the horses rustic looking, but uniform with their manes and tails. I did not want to go all gray as to me this seems more like High Elf steeds so I went with more brown horses. Green and white for the bridles with minor variations on the white patterns. Their bases continue with the autumnal turf to convey a middle of the woods late in the year feel that the rest of the army has.

Now some notes on the composition of the unit itself:

• The champion of the unit: I have disliked the mini since I bought it (around 1990) as I recall. Not sure why, but I think something in the pose struck me as odd. Finally, however, he came together with a paint job I liked this time around.
• The back row of the unit is of special note. After a single purchase off eBay I was able to round out the unit, but they were not cheap. I had never seen the rider with the mask attached to the helm before and it struck me as unusual.
• The elf in the front rank with the bow spent a number of years atop a cockatrice for my 4th/5th edition High Elf Army. I debated swapping him out but left him. If I can find some musical instrument "baggage" it will go to him.
• Several of the elves served as Dragonkin mounted on various dragons for my 3rd Edition High Elf Army when it functioned as a purely dragon force. Real quick — if you wanted, a High Elf player could field an entire army of nothing but dragons... more on that in a post at a later point. Fortunately I kept all the metal horses.
• The standard bearer I got off of an eBay seller who I do business with quite often. Sometimes pricey, but always reliable. The mini was in rough shape and gobs of paint which I stripped down, primed, painted. The flag itself is inspired from Dark Ages England and I tried to convey an Anglo-Saxon type feel to it while staying with the colors and scheme of the army.

One thing of note is the white spiral pattern on the shields... for some reason on these guys it was a bit wavier than on the other units. Not sure why. I was also short a few shields so I had to use some later edition ones...

Despite all this the unit came out fairly well and are a nice fit for the elites of the army. They did take a bit longer than I expected however.

Next up, as I mentioned and possibly a line on some minis that can stand in for Falconers but that is low on the priority list. Ok so if you ask, I am looking for Bob Olley Half Elves from the Ironclaw line in the late 1980s. They are not cheap however when they come up on eBay and the half elf with the spear cannot be used for the Falconer unit itself.

The next post on the Wood Elf force may be a "catch-all" as I mentioned above encompassing the last units as well as my thoughts on the army, what went well and what I would change with hindsight. 

Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned – One of the Greatest Warhammer Books Ever Redux

"Papa Nurgle looks so plump and full of puss!"

The Lost and the Damned

Unlike my copy of Slaves to Darkness which I have had forever, my copy Lost and the Damned i is one I have had for... never. I have read through a friend’s copy numerous times as well as "ahem" other means, but I have largely been very unlucky on the purchase of this one. In other words I have missed out on this on eBay multiple auctions. In fact I have been about as unlucky on it as the quest for the Elven Attack Chariot (which I have been able to secure since I blogged about it).  

For some reason in terms of collecting this rule book it is very akin to the Deities and Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melniboné mythos for AD&D. In the collecting world (or at least the selling side) people got the idea that it is "rare". In fact, neither book is really that rare, but people think they are and thus the price is higher than it might otherwise be. Typically, the Lost and the Damned sells for $150-300 on eBay. So my plan to acquire it? Wait it out and get it eventually. What eBay has taught me over the years is that if one is patient you will eventually get what you are looking for at the right price. I might need to continue to be patient as it is going for $150-300 on eBay and around $350 on Amazon, ugh, (after this it is off to get The Warhammer Giant!).

It is true that in the case of the Lost and the Damned that it was a smaller print run than Slaves to Darkness. This is probably due to the fact Lost and the Damned came late in the run of 3rd Edition Warhammer right before the employee buyout of Games Workshop and the rapid move to 4th edition as a result.

That said? The Lost and the Damned might be my favorite of the two books, perhaps because I do not have it in my collection?

Slaves to Darkness and The Lost and the Damned are designed to work together and full of awesome stuff. I think the thing that I like the most about the second book are the various chaos conversions, particularly those representing daemons. Those pictures provided me with countless hours of inspiration. The art is likewise great and really captures the feel of the mid to late 1980s ethos of design and feel. The independent daemon based on a hand from the color pages (pictured to the right) has always been a favorite of mine and even inspired a on-again/off again scratch build of a larger greater daemon... more on that in some future post if I ever get around to finishing it.

The COOLEST conversion!

Like Slaves to Darkness it delves deep into two of the Chaos Powers — Nurgle, Lord of Plague and Tzeentch the Master of Magic, their daemons, and their mortal followers. Like Slaves to Darkness it documents the path to power for the followers of those gods. For some reason the Gifts of Nurgle that a potential Chaos Champion can receive on his road to power or damnation always resonated with me. I especially like the Trail of Slime gift; highly impractical on the battlefield (what general is purposely having model(s) march across the trail?) but completely in keeping with the pathos of Nurgle — any model within 4" and directly behind the model risks catching Nurgle's Rot. This is but one of the chaos gifts and there is of course the large table of mutations.

Another great thing about these two books is that one can also use them for 40k, but even more than that is that they can be used for "spicing up" the Chaos Army in the 3rd Edition Warhammer Armies. This army represents a chaos "undivided" force and works well and has very good modeling opportunities as well which I will be covering in a future blog post.

Still want more? Like Slaves to Darkness the book can also be used for 1st Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It cannot be stated enough these books are a masterwork and along with the rules, the Armies Book as well as the maligned Siege a very good set of rules, well not Siege...

I have spent a fair amount of time talking about Nurgle but what about Tzeentch? For some reason I have not been as drawn to Tzeentch as Nurgle, much like I am drawn to Khorne over Slaanesh in Slaves to Darkness. For some reason the models just do not seem to resonate with me the same way they do with Nurgle. Maybe it is the fun factor of the nurglings infesting Papa Nurgle?

(A brief write up here: Eldritch Epistles Blog).

For either Nurgle or Tzeentch I have a few minis to form the basis of the respective warbands but not enough (really no more than 1-3) to field anything substantive. My 3rd Edition Chaos warband is a Khorne themed one and I am assembling another smaller one of an undivided force in line with the rules for Chaos in the Warhammer Armies book. Obviously I can use these but I really want each force to be independent.

Should I actually get it it will then be a fair amount of minis off of eBay, but this is not a bad thing. The idea of a Nurgle warband is one I really like. It also leads to one of the best parts of a Chaos Army: a war altar which only Dark Elves, Bretonnians, Chaos and Slann may have in 3rd Edition. Even with the web there really is not that many examples of chaos war altars from 3rd edition Warhammer out there. The most well known is from White Dwarf 125.

In the case of chaos war altars this really is the "grand daddy of them all". There really is not that much else out there. I have attempted a scratch build of a chaos war altar that really turned out to be a wagon... which the rules say they are. But I am not so sure I want something this elaborate. In any event a chaos war altar is on my long range of plans I am just not sure when and what form it will take.

Final Note: War altars for 3rd Edition Warhammer are covered in a blog here including my Dark Elf War altar which has since been completed.

Part VIII - Repainting the 3rd Edition Wood Elf Army, Archers

More Wood Elf Warhammer stuff to share. Over the last few months I have done lots of work on my Dark Elf force along with my Wood Elves I have been chronicling here on the blog. Interestingly I have been working on the Wood Elves in the autumn and the Dark Elves in the echoing their basing choices.

Quick aside: the progress on the Dark Elves can be found here. I will have some new photos up soon of their progress.

As we all know, Wood Elf forces in 3rd Edition Warhammer are heavy with bow armed troops. This also carried over to later editions. In 3rd the compulsory choices are archers of which the minimum to field is 30. Aside from my Skarloc Wood Elf Archers all the bow armed units in the army are the result of the PBS3 -Plastic Warhammer Regiment Boxed Set. I know I have said it before, but while not the best miniatures that GW ever produced they are some of the best value around, even now as everyone and their brother has some spare ones to sell on eBay or trade. Additionally, to me at least these "look like Warhammer to me" in much the same way 3rd Edition Talisman "As I know it"

So with all this here are the units I have completed, not one but two units, 20 strong of Wood Elf archers. As you can see green predominates but I continued with the black and white accenting to tie them into the other units of the army, along with the autumnal basing of red, orange and yellow. This now brings the fire power up to 82; three units with 20 and the Skarloc Archers having 22 in the regimental box set.

The 2nd unit (2nd as in I pictured the first unit here and Skarloc's counts as unit #1 for my army) followed by the 3rd.

To close out, I will also need to get pictures up of my Elven Attack Chariot that I painted up for the Wood Elf force. It came out well and I realized I finished it several months back. I now have a sizable force of Wood Elves repainted and have come a long way when they were simply an Ally force for my mega-battle with Dave and Jeff.

Part VI - Repainting the Wood Elf Force- The Dragon Rider conversion

Back after a ton of summer activities with the kids. While all those activities were going on I was not complacent in terms of painting. In fact for summertime painting I got quite a bit done.

This next guy, the ever cool Dragon Master from the Citadel range (notes here). Like the rest of the Wood Elf force this particular model was purchased not for Wood Elves per se, but yes, you guessed it: an ally for my Empire force in 3rd edition. This purchase represented the start of my High Elf force which in years would number 14,000 pts. I quickly painted the model up and his debut was against Jeff and Dave's forces (Orcs and Goblins/Skaven respectively) during the Ice Storm of 1991 at Dave's house. Since it was just me on the other side I played a combined Empire, Wood Elf and High Elf force. I do not remember too much other than we set up the board on the front living room floor as the power was still out, nor who won. I do recall however they were conspiring to knock him out early, as in like round 1. So against all odds I won initiative and charged across the board and got him into hand-to-hand combat. Do not remember what happened after that, but pretty sure I spoiled their casting of Windblast or Hurricane.

After that Jeff more or less stopped playing so Dave and I played a lot more. This particular dragon would end up as a general for my High Elf force, joined by another Dragon Master model as the army standard bearer and 4 more dragons. The cool thing about the High Elf force in 3rd edition is you could field a force made entirely of dragons which I did a few times. The downside was at 315 points the +4 Shock Elite Dragonkin riders only had 1 Wound...

After moving to 4th and 5th the model sat for a bit until I stripped it of paint and redid it into the form you see now. I made the butterfly wings from regular painting canvas that I cut out to the right shapes and stiffened with successive coats of a watery glue. A small wire forms the leading wing edge to give it additional support. The odd thing was that I modeled a saddle and plunked a 4th edition Empire Reiksguard knight on it. Not sure if the mini ever saw combat in that form.

Since getting back to Oldhammer I have been reassigning models to their proper place in the army lists and it just did not really fit with the Empire, but I did not want to trash the dragon. So I touched up the paint job and put the original elf warrior and saddle back on. Upgraded the base to a 50mm base and Bam, done. Moral of the story? Never throw anything away!

So with all that he really would not fit into my High Elf force either with its blue and white paint jobs. What better place to assign him than my reborn Wood Elves? Adding fall foliage once again ties it all back in.

Next up? I am still looking for 9 more Wood Elves from the plastic Warhammer Regiments set for two more archer units (I have 31 now, so two units of 20 is the goal). I did pick up 2 more 4th edition Glade Guard models which I am using for my Kinband Warriors. I do not know why but I like these models a lot. They might very well be next as I now have 2 archer units, 1 Wardancer unit, a wizard, general, Treeman and now a dragon rider painted. The force continues its rebirth!

Adding to all of this I am also working on my reborn 3rd edition Dark Elf force and have just finished a unit of 10 Dark Elf Dark rider. (And yes, you can see some "under the brush" Cold One Knights in the background).

Stay tuned.

Warhammer 3rd Edition Oldhammer- Army Status and Plans

As I outlined here I have really returned to my roots as it were in regards to 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. For me that version remains the pinnacle. As time had gone by less and less folks have stayed with the old editions. And with the demise of the traditional rule set of Warhammer Fantasy Battle this is more pronounced with folks going either the Age of Sigmar route, 9th Age or Return of Kings.

For me it is why bother? Yes it is cumbersome, but with the good old orange rule book and Warhammer Armies you have all you need to play a great game of Warhammer

Talk about value on this thing: It has 11 of the 12 armies contained within (Norse appeared in White Dwarf 107). In addition there are new rules for war machines, and great rules in my opinion for allies and mercenaries which Warhammer always seemed to struggle with to find a good balance for. So with that in mind here is where I stand for each of the armies and potential future plans:

Dark Elves When complete they will total around 4,000 to 5,000 points. Details on the progress of the army can be found here. For the most part I largely have all the minis needed and just need to round out a few here and there to fill up certain units rank and file. They also have 25 hobgoblins as allies which I am looking forward to painting (see below).

Wood Elves As I have been outlining here on the blog they will come in around 4,000 points when complete. Like Dark Elves these pointy ears are a repaint of my existing models. As I also noted they originally served as allies for my Empire force, but over the years I collected enough to field a force in their own right. Almost all the models are 3rd edition ones with a few 4th edition ones mixed in like the Glade Guard serving as Kin Band warriors.

One of my first successful miniature conversions.

 

High Elves

This will be tougher. Not because I do not have minis but because I have a force of at least 10,000 points of High Elves painted and another 4,000 points unpainted. But they are a 5th edition force in composition and models. This is not a problem per se, but I am not going to convert them back to 3rd. Easy enough to play 3rd edition games with them, but unlikely to get a lot of the 3rd/4th edition range save for two: one being that ever elusive Elven Attack Chariot (for me).

The Empire Actually my second army in 3rd Edition (more on that in a bit). Like my High Elves these guys are more configured for 4th through 7th than 3rd edition. The good news is it is easy enough to use them in 3rd edition which I did in a battle around December.

Bretonnia When I first played 3rd Edition I played my initial force as a Bretonnian force. Now I cannot stand Bretonnia due to certain posters on a website that promotes them (you know the one). Ever wonder why the Word of Hashut #10 is is the way it is? There you go. Right now I have a mixed force that is probably around 1,000 points. I do not really see myself doing anything with them anytime soon. I will be finishing up a Bretonnian cannon however as it was one of my first mini purchases ever. Maybe even a small scenic base too.

Chaos My chaos force is largely done. It dates back to 1991 and sports a lot of original paint jobs from that time. As of late I have been splitting out the 5th/6th edition minis from the earlier ones. One "new" unit is a repaint of chaos warriors on foot. Right now I have 16 and have been scoping out the remaining 4. Highly unlikely to field 20 at once as the point cost would be over 1,000 points, but they will look cool nonetheless. A unit of 25 Beastmen with some gors from 5th/6th and Talisman plastic Beastmen is also under the brush, but back burner right now.

Skaven As my buddy Dave collected them way back when he got all of them from the joint plastic regiment boxes. As a result of this over the years they never had much appeal. I would say I have 10 to 20 plastic ones. I could see a unit or two for allies, but I am highly unlikely to gather a full force especially when one considers the amount of minis needed to field a Skaven force.

Orcs From my Chaos Dwarfs force I have more than enough to field an Orc and Goblin force but not too many in the way of 3rd edition minis. If I did I would be looking for the orc and goblin war machines to round it out. Hell I might just get them anyways as the minis are so cool.

Dwarfs Like the Wood Elves the Dwarfs are an outgrowth of needing allies for my Empire force in larger battles (as I was the only one playing the "good armies"). The Dwarfs are the force I have changed the least over the years. What I have done is add more minis to them. The leftovers from the Battle for Skull Pass box set have also made their way to the army. Right now I have four units to go with the 6,000 points of painted minis I already have. They were also the first force I thought of painting in a coherent scheme rather than individuals except for one unit where I purposely painted each mini different. As a result the unit is a mishmash of colors but the army is predominately green and yellow. All in all the force works.

Slann Ahhh Slann. I have zero Slann minis unfortunately and I think I only ever actually saw a few in person painted (Dave had some). For some reason they were fairly hard to come by in the States in the late 80s and to try and collect them now? Expensive.

Undead This will be a bit easier. Due to summoning spells in 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle everyone had an Undead plastic box set. Because of this I have one unit of cavalry, one unit of infantry and some extras. Coupled with the zombie plastic box set from 6th means I have the nucleus of a small force but needs some touching up on the first two. At some point I envision a small force along the lines of the ones presented around White Dwarf 142.

Extras Norse Only appeared in White Dwarf 107 and I have to say it left me with a meh feeling for the army. I have a few scattered Norse minis, but do not see myself undertaking this task for another human army largely composed of infantry. Do not get me wrong the minis are cool, but where are the Norse riding war mammoths???

Nippon My attempts at Nippon have been on again and off again as the mood strikes me. Now not a 3rd edition force the army list for 2nd could be modified to work with 3rd. I have a sizable force but it is going to take a lot more time and a lot more lead. I do have almost every ninja model from the range which is kinda cool! I think if I could get 1 to 4 of those damn Temple Dogs it would help!

Mercenaries and Allies Based on having so many armies I can usually field any allies needed. In terms of the mercs? I have the following:

• Chaos Allies: both chaos dwarf war machines, a mortar and multiple bazookas!
• Old Worlder Ally contingent: toyed with the idea of converting my Bret force to this contingent.
• Halflings: Got a fair amount of these for a small ally force.
• Giants: Two giants, one old school.
• Ogres: Unit of 8 detailed here.
• Half Orcs: this is going to be a quest. I want the 2nd edition range which goes for big money on eBay.
• Hobgoblins: 25 old school hobgoblins including Baron Brightgore on the painting table!

That about rounds out where I stand in Oldhammer. A lot done, quite a bit to go but that is the fun of it.

How about you, what is your favorite Warhammer army faction?

The Painting Backlog Confession – So Much Lead, So Little Time

Like a lot of wargamers/painters I have got a dirty secret. What is that you ask? Far more lead and plastic to paint than time. Just take a look at what is on the painting desk sitting in the "bull pen" area as it were. Show of hands who is just like me? It is said that 50% of gamer/painters admit to having way more minis to paint than time to paint them all. The other 50% is lying.

An even dirtier secret? This picture does not include all of my Dark Elves that are being repainted. And a dirtier secret x2? This does not include about 2-3,000 unpainted 4th through 6th edition High Elves, or terrain that is fully created but not yet painted! Arrrghhhh.

In a way this post touches on one of the most ironic things about the hobby. When I was younger I had more time than money for miniatures (still did pretty well). Now that I am older I have less time, but more money (comparatively speaking) for the hobby, the prices have of course gone up! Some days you are the bug, other days the windshield.

Included in the photo are (some highlights):

• 2 Dragonmasters (one is mostly painted – an old butterfly wing conversion. Only the rider needs to be redone – he will most likely go to my 3rd Edition in progress Wood Elf Host).
• 16 Chaos Warriors on foot
• 20 3rd edition hobgoblin warriors (including Baron Brightgore)
• 4 dwarf units
• 18 (at the moment) Glade Guards to be utilized as Warrior Kinbands.

To close I would like to say I am doing well shifting through my mountain of lead and plastic but who knows? I am having fun, that is the main part, but I would like to make some "progress". Yeah I know, denial is just a river in Egypt either...

Part I - The Origin of My Wood Elf Army – High School Warhammer Allies

Now that my Chaos Dwarf force is complete (for the most part) I decided to really start painting/repainting my other armies. But before that...

In the past I described how around 1987-89 my high school buddies and I played some amazing AD&D games and a bit later some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay which I outlined here.

As we transitioned to the later grades in high school we started playing Warhammer Battle, at the time 3rd Edition. For some reason my buddies started playing the game earlier than I. As I would later learn they all picked different armies so they could ally with each other for larger games. As I recall it was as follows: Jeff - Orcs and Goblins, Dave - Skaven, Pete - Dark Elves, Mike - Goblins? and Daryl had a small Chaos Force featuring Chaos Snakemen. For the most part when I started playing everyone else had largely stopped except Jeff and Dave.

As you can see all of the evil armies were taken except for Undead which did not appeal to me. So as I started out I briefly played one game with my army as a Bretonnian force before converting it to an Empire force. At some point I may post pictures of my Empire army but not now.

So what does this have to do with Wood Elves I hear you say? Glad you asked. Since there was only three of us playing regularly, if we all wanted to play it would be Jeff and Dave vs me! So with an Empire force, what to do? I had to buy and paint my own allies and hence where my Wood Elves came from. In fact my Wood Elf force which would grow to about 1500 pts was just that, an ally contingent that got bigger and bigger. I am guessing Games Workshop did this by design... Later, my High Elf army would take the same path until it got to be massive, far larger than the Empire force.

I really have not set out to repaint my Wood Elves this last month or so. I was repainting my Dark Elves, but for some reason I stripped down the Wood Elves and started them up with a unit that was one of my original Wood Elf purchases: a unit of 20 archers from the Warhammer Regiment Box set. I think I searched the web, not a lot out there in the way of 3rd Edition Wood Elf minis (painted and presented) that is.

As you can see above I repainted them entirely in traditional greens like their origiWoodland Scenics clump foliage- Fall mix for the bases and the movement tray. For the first try it is a tad too clumpy despite getting the hang of cutting the foliage with my X-Acto as I went.

So stay tuned for further updates about the rebirth/repainting of my Wood Elf Host. Unlike my Dark Elf army underway at the Oldhammer Forums I think I am going to keep all my Wood Elf updates here on the blog,

Warhammer 3rd Edition – Going Back to the Best Edition

I’ve now just exited a really busy period in my life, having left my part-time job of ten years. So what do I do with this “abundance” of time? I’m going back to the coolest edition of Warhammer — that being 3rd Edition — that’s what (aside from the never play-tested rules for Siege)!

I say “going back” because I really never played all that much in terms of the new editions (a fair amount of 5th Edition games, but not much else). So with GW unleashing the Age of Sigmar or the fan-driven 9th Age… why bother with any of that? It’s been interesting that GW avoided “Edition Wars” that plagued D&D for so long. Are we now at that point? I’m sure people probably kept playing editions they liked previously; I simply wonder if it’s more pronounced now with the Age of Sigmar retro-con.

So with this in mind I dusted off my 3rd Edition books this weekend and started looking through everything. That old familiar feeling came back — what a great game it is! A mess, large and unwieldy to be sure, but oh so much fun. There is actual strategy in the game, there is actual consideration of movement and formation, lots of random fun, and devastating and cool spells.

The main reason I did this was as I get back into the hobby after a nearly three-year absence. I’ve started working on my Army of Nippon. The Warhammer Armies book has Nippon as a mercenary contingent that can only be hired by Dark Elves? What the Hell is that? But imagine my surprise when I was tipped off to the fact that 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle had them as a full army in Ravening Hordes!

So armed with this knowledge I’ve commenced an Army of Nippon and plan on tinkering with the 2nd Edition army list. I may not have to do much, as it appears that gamers were to use the 2nd Edition Ravening Hordes until Warhammer Armies came out. I’ve been working on terrain and securing minis. Right now I’m focused on acquiring ninja; I don’t know of anyone who has one of each of the entire lineup, so I might be the first? Big shout out to my brothers over at the Oldhammer forum.

I feel at home there with my like of the older editions of the game. Shameless plug: for those looking to help me out with trades or purchases, my want list is here.

On a side note: I really like the look of the art and presentation in 2nd Edition as it mirrors up to the presentation of 1st Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which is another favorite of mine from back in the day. You can read my thoughts on some classic campaigns from back in the day here and here.

In a way I’ve gone home as it were, so I guess you can go back.

Why Derro Are the Coolest Monster in the Monstrous Manual (Not Dragons)

Despite the fact that the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, dragons are not the coolest monster in the Monster Manual/Monstrous Manual. The title instead goes to the...

DERRO!

"Scrawny, pale, little psychos" That is a great appellation for the race!

Scrawny (from the Monstrous Manual): "Derro a are one of the most dexterous of humanoid races (averaging 15-18), and their Armor Class must be adjusted for this." Usually those that are dexterous are not depicted as hulking brutes...

Pale (from the Monstrous Manual): "Derro are short, with skin the color of an iced over lake (white, with bluish undertones), sickly, pale yellow or tan hair (always straight), and staring eyes that have no pupils." When one considers most dwarfs in AD&D that is certainly off the beaten path.

Psychos (from the Monstrous Manual): "The derro have made a name for themselves by their marked cruelty. It is said that a derro lives for just two things: to witness the slow, humiliating death of surface demihumans, and especially humans; and the perversion of knowledge to their own dark ends." And they are chaotic evil to boot.

Tired of dark elves being overdone, angsty, and lame? Throw them out the window or at least out of the Underdark. That is basically what I have done with my legendary World of Galena. With the derro in place there is no need for namby-pamby dark elves. In all seriousness I like dark elves just fine, I just find them overdone or at least the cat is out of the bag when one considers the big reveal of G3 Halls of the Fire Giant King. Most often I do not feature dark elves in my games and usually steer players away from them. Otherwise they prefer they play gnome illusionists. Thus enter the derro.

Derro are a creation of Gary Gygax and first make their appearance in S4- The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. It is possible that the derro are based on "deros" in the stories of Richard Sharpe Shaver which appeared in Amazing Stories, a pulp mag from the 1940s. Given that Gary did not elaborate too much on this I am inclined to believe the probable origin. Also given Gary's predilections towards pulp for his sources and the fact that he was a well-read man? More than likely.

What is not to like? To start with from the strategic level, derro are very scalable. I think one of the most overlooked aspects of them is a DM could use them not just at low levels, but at high levels as well. As the PCs rise start throwing some derro with class levels at them, have them tote out more charmed umber hulks and other various slaves. Spell casting via the higher level savants is another boon and an effect that the DM can use strategically.

At the tactical level Derro, properly used, can be tough to combat. Taken from a short companion guide I threw together a few years back called "The Menace of the Derro" here are some of their main high-level tactical pros:

• 30% Magic Resistance
• Small in size (S); this is not an obvious advantage, but they may take less damage from certain weapons; plus not being large creatures they do not take large damage obviously. This is of prime importance as the characters rise in levels. An ancillary benefit to their size is the fact that unless the group is entirely composed of dwarves they are going to have a hard time using derro sized weaponry and armor; selling these items is fine, but this has the practical effect of them having lots of high powered armor. This functions in a manner similar to how Gary gave the dark elves magic items without having to worry about the PCs having tons of extra magical items.
• Automatically possess the Blind Fighting proficiency due to superior hearing. Additionally due to their keen hearing a derro of any HD may Hear Noise as a thief, with a 10% chance per Hit Die. Example: a 3 HD derro may hear noises with a base chance of 30%. A secondary function of this ability is that all derro possess the sound analysis proficiency from the 1st edition Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. With this, derro are very difficult to surprise.
• They are cunning and intelligent in combat; play them as such.
• Savants have genius level intelligence; use that as well.
• Savants have spell-casting capabilities; these are increased in my campaign world.
• Savants can use any magical item, even if they do not know command words (where applicable).
• Savants can have weird magical effects to their spells; feel free to make them unusual.
• All derro savants and apprentice savants can instinctively use read magic and comprehend languages an unlimited number of times per day. Derro high level savants will often have 2d4 Umber Hulks as servants through charm monster spells.

In terms of cons or negatives? There are only a few:

• Only have a Movement rate of 9; players will most often be able to outrace them.
• Infravision is only 30 feet; lowest of all the underground races.
• Derro are chaotic evil. As such they can be prone to the strife this alignment is known for. Another issue to consider is if your PCs have a paladin and he gets the inevitable holy avenger...
• Sunlight: The effects of sunlight are vague in the 2nd edition Monstrous Manual. However Dragon #241 has a much more complete discussion of effects: All derro are nauseated by direct sunlight touching their skin, losing 1 hit point per hour of exposure and suffering a -2 to all combat rolls, defensive adjustments, and saving throws while exposed. Hit point losses are slow to heal if curative magic is not used; only 1 hit point per day maximum will be healed by complete rest, so a derro left outdoors will lapse into a coma and die after a few days of a condition resembling heatstroke. All spells and magical powers that duplicate prolonged sunlight (such as continual light) have this same effect, though the light spell, flashes of bright light, and normal bonfires, torches, and lanterns do not.

Although they are ambushing types, with their weird effective weapons, magic resistance and a host of other abilities and tactics to boot they are tough customers. Derro also have great unique weaponry in the derro repeating crossbow with poison bolts, a specialized hook-fauchard, and aklys (which is useful in cramped, underground settings). They can also be beefed up by tooling up the "elites," that's what I call the derro sons and daughters that comprise 10% of any derro war party armed with heavier armor, spears and military picks (although I would have them use the hook-fauchard).

All in all, these monsters are bad-ass. On top of that they got their own box set, Night Below. That is enough for an adventure and a campaign setting all in one. Need a review of Night Below? Here is a pretty balanced one. Derro appear in a number of modules and articles, here are but a few (this is by no means complete):

• Dungeon #20 “The Ship of Night”
• Dungeon #44 “Train of Events”
• Dungeon #79 “Cloudkill”
• Dragon #241 “Legacies of the Suel Imperium”
• Greyhawk Ruins
• WGA3 Flames of the Falcon
• From the Ashes (Greyhawk boxed set)
• Doomgrinder

Another great module that feature derro? They appear in the best module of all time: UK4 When a Star Falls.

So to recap. Your players lamenting the drow and you need a different race to take their place in your games? Look no further than the derro. I also think that properly planned out, a TPK could very easily be accomplished in my not so humble opinion.

Another great avenue is that they hate humans and demi-humans. This gives them even more reasons to be raiding on the surface than the deep dwelling dark elves. Throw in that a local community of derro are undergoing a Uniting War and a lot of upheaval can be thrown into a campaign, of which the PCs can be stuck in the middle of. Couple this with the events of Kingdom of the Ghouls in Dungeon #70 and a DM has all of the Underdark political intrigue he could want.

Your musings on these tough, little psychos? 

(1) If you know anything about me you know how much I like illusionists or gnomes, or both... /sarcasm

(2) In joke: as in Dwimmermount is/was?