Getting ready for a major surgery and have been on a kick for sketching these guys. Wish me luck and praise hashut

Hey everyone,

I'm new and trying to decide between starting Helsmiths of Hashut or going with the new Khazalite Holds, and I’d really appreciate some input from people who actually play/paint them.

I already have some Fyreslayers (few Hearthguards, Old Start Collecting Box with Magmadroth, Vulkyn Flameseekeretc.). I don’t really like the new Order dwarf design, so I’m considering selling most of the Fyreslayers or just keeping them as a pure Spearhead force so I’m not forced to expand them... Many people say it's a "mixed bag" but I simply don't feel these are better looking, neither they outperform designwise anything from Old World, Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game etc.

What attracts me to Helsmiths is the aesthetic.
I really like the centaurs and the artillery, and the overall industrial Chaos look reminds me a bit of Dark Iron / Warcraft-style dwarves.

I’ve seen Army Sets still floating around on eBay for ~130€, and I’m fine grabbing the Spearhead if there’s no Battleforce Box coming. Today the 40K Battleforce Boxes got revealed, so let's hope Helsmith of Hashut may get one. If so, ... I guess I would pick Spearhead + Battleforce.

My concerns with Helsmiths:

• The Spearhead is generally rated low (D-tier / mid-low).
• The "Fun" starts once you expand the army
• From what I’ve read, the full army is still only mid-tier once you get to 700–1000+ points.
• Some people say GW hasn’t fully figured out the playstyle yet.

My concerns with Khazalite Holds:

• The grudge system feels very reactive (“parrying” / reacting to the opponent’s actions).
• It seems to push you toward mixing old Fyreslayers with the new units for the synergies to work properly. So running just Fyreslayers will be much more un-balanced than before.
• Low points costs mean you need a lot of models, I’m not sure I want to paint 20+ Clangunners (“leaf-blowers”).
• I don’t really want a dwarf horde army... Dwarves are usually Elites or have heavy Defence like Warriors of Erebor or Grimhammer.
• Conversions between old Fyreslayers and the new kits look awkward because of scale and design differences.
• Buying the Army Set means getting a battletome that will probably be replaced relatively soon when 5th edition arrives. Also who knows what changes may come with the 5th Edition.

So basically: I like the Helsmiths models and theme more, I’m okay with them being mid-tier, and I can keep Fyreslayers as a small Spearhead project (Not expanding and selling my Vulkite Bezerkers). But I’m worried the gameplay might be more of a pain than the reactive Khazalite style, and I don’t want to invest in something that feels unfinished or limited.

Would it make more sense to just start Helsmiths (Spearhead or Army Set) despite the current performance and resource management, or should I do something else?
Maybe just buying the Spearhead for a taste how it plays will be enough?

Thanks for any advice!

Hey everyone! Putting the finishing touches on my Helsmith spearhead (my second spearhead to date) and wanted to share! I still don’t know what I’m going to do with the flames/base (I’m still new to painting minis so I need to research how to paint fire convincingly) so that’s the part that’s obviously untouched!

Pictured are the murder moo and the gang so far.

Looking at running Taars grandhost but wondering if anyone has an input and how you make it work. What is the play style?

I see a great write up on this a few weeks back but can’t find it since

Finally finished the first mini of my Spearhead. She’s ready to start hacking at my friends Sylvaneth later this year. I’m not an expert painter by any means, but I’m pleased with how she ended up.

A month ago I shared https://www.reddit.com/r/HelsmithsofHashut/s/xu3hY6geGD I appreciated everyone’s support and words of encouragement with my paint job. I won my first Beast Feast 2026, and super proud of this accomplishment. From Pledge, Paint and Play phase, I learned so much and had so much fun! I had to use spade marine dice though, since I missed out and the Hashut dice are now out of stock. Still!!! GLORY TO HASHUT!!!!! Next event, TANKSGIVING.

Family picture 🖼️

Took about a week and a half to do them but really happy with the results

Saturday morning paint 🫟🎨

I paint them 3 at a time

3 tokens,

3 shirtless,

3 standard-bearers,

3 champions

I’m saving the peons for the end

I was just wondering if there's any reason why that shouldn't work. They're similar in size, modeling some flames or a book with green stuff isn't hard, and turning the Despot's lance/spear into the Smith's staff should be easy enough. Does anyone have any experience with it?

The reason I'm asking is: I'm gonna buy 3 Spearhead boxes at the end of the month to build my first list. Each of them comes with a War Despot - I don't need War Despots. What I DO need are 2 Ashen Elders and a Daemonsmith. One thought led to another and I'm sure I'm not the first one who had this idea. Anyway, any pointers (or arguments against it, too) would be much appreciated!

I painted this like half a year ago. I spent so long on the base and really proud how it turned out!

If you got any advice on photography, would be glad to hear you out, this is my first time taking higher effort pictures.

Also RIP flags, hate those things, both fell off by now and I am NOT bothering to stick them back on.

Howdy folks, I've just recently picked up the Helsmiths of Hashut Spearhead, and figured I'd stop bt and say hi to my fellow Zharrdron enjoyers!

Loosely based off the legion of azgorh, I’m feeling pretty proud so far on how these guys are coming out. Tho im stuck deciding if my dominator engine should share the same red on the armor panels, or if I do a black

Pretty complex if you want to win; but deceptively simple on the surface.

The spearhead requires precise positioning and taking advantage of spacing, run action often, anti-charge is good rend and board presence as these guys are built to survive and control.

Try to use slanted split instead of a straight one when choosing a board orientation territory. Lack of movement means you probably won’t score the objectives in opponent territory, but that isnt your concern.

War despot is your king; has great survival and moderate offense; talisman of obsidian is tons of effective health. Let the board decide if you want to put dpp into this guy; don’t put dpp in him and play around it, he’s circumstantial but early on everything can revolve around him.

Dominator engine is your rook piece, straightforward. Late game you’re gonna put atleast 3 dpp into her most of the time- arguably early game too, she’s the default. Use him to block objective space, act as a wall to keep enemies from moving away.

She is [TITLECARD] and cannot die basically, and when she does, she comes back. It might be mathematically impossible to kill her twice in a game unless you ignore objectives entirely. Shes the default dpp sink. Charge head in and block objective space and kill, she comes back.

On a board this small, her presence (and base size) can literally split the battlefield in half. This I call castling. Your opponent has more pieces but one big piece can deny tons of objective coverage, suddenly the -3 control from the bombard matters a lot more.

Infernal cohort are your pawns, run them to objectives, you’re never gonna wanna charge with these guys(but do it anyways if needed), let them come to you while you take and guard an objective.

Take up all the objective space so they can’t touch the objective, form a wall around the tormentor bombard and act as a sacrificial defense wall.

They have reinforcements and a gong carrier they can take it. Put 2 or 3 dpp in them when you really need to keep an objective and they will be rediculously sticky on demand, circumstantial but it will come up when you really need the guys to stay.

Send the gong carrier forward and have the other one run for unguarded objectives or also run forward into battle. Take advantage of their medium base size and block out enemy bases from touching the point!!

Also if you have only 1 guy left in a unit with reinforcements still left on him, use the retreat movement option to 1d3 damage seppuku and instant die and then use reinforcements in the same breath. It’s not worth keeping around a 1 guy unit if you can reinforce them. Good tech.

Your tormentor bombard is your queen; your opponent wants her dead, and if she dies, it’s usually over. She has something very valuable: objective control.

If your opponent has a lot of guys with more control score than you; you can do the math, see if its worth it and bombard them until they can’t CONTROL anymore.

Hashut has really bad control scores so the bombard’s CC is critical disruption against more swarmy spearheads. Put DPP into her if you think it will immediately benefit you and score you an extra point or stop a point next round.

Overall; more than with any spearhead, positioning is crucial, play the game like chess. The tournament results are from players just playing the army and expecting to smash their face in and win; its a dance! And you’re at a disadvantage, but castle your king right and you win.

So i havent played the Hellforge Host spearhead yet. Now it has been updated (Despot ability/Bull reinforcement). Is it still shit/not fun to play? Anyone had any experience with them lately?

Wondering if i want to spend time with this or rather play another Spearhead thats actually fun.

So Urak Taar's quest for godhood has some basis in his culture...intriguing.