"Come the fray, either dishonour's dark stain shall be removed or the bearer himself must die..."
- —Description of Infernal Guard in Total War: Warhammer III.
An Infernal Guard of the Black Fortress as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.
The Infernal Guard is amongst the most legendary elite warrior-cults within the Chaos Dwarf empire, having the sworn task of defending the citadel of the Black Fortress to the death from any that would assail it, and to carry out the will of the Lord of the Black Fortress without question.[2a]
Role
"The most rigorously drilled warriors among their kind, no armament is too great for the Infernal Guard to handle."
- —Description of Infernal Guard in Total War: Warhammer III.
The Infernal Guard's ranks are made up from Chaos Dwarfs to whom some stain of dishonour or failure has been attached, an occurrence which in their unforgiving society can result from merely being close kin to a failed battle commander, knowing defeat under the eyes of a sorcerer-prophet, presiding over slaves who have revolted or a furnace that has exploded through overuse.[1a][2a]
An Infernal Guard of the Black Fortress wielding a greataxe as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.
The humiliation of such dishonour is more than the prideful Chaos Dwarfs can bear, and for them the Infernal Guard offers the solace of death in Hashut's grace and also anonymity, as upon taking its oath their names and past kinships are shorn away and their faces are seared and shut underneath red-hot iron and bronze masks. Only if they achieve great glory are the masks torn off, exposing the scarred and ravaged flesh of the redeemed warrior once again to the mortal world.[1a][2a]
The Infernal Guard are drilled ceaselessly by their cruel Infernal Castellans, and barracked in the burning deeps beneath the Black Fortress in the Dark Lands. Their lot is to fight an unceasing battle against the horrors that abound in the desolate wastes nearby -- a regimen that only the strongest survive. Some of these warriors can also be equipped with the fearsome Fireglaive, a weapon both cunning and brutal.[1a][2a]
Infernal Guard Fireglaive
Infernal Guard can also serve as elite ranged infantry. They replace their melee weapons with the Chaos Dwarf-manufactured Fireglaive. A Fireglaive is a weapon both cunning and brutal, for it is a compact, heavily reinforced, repeating handgun. Unusually the weapon also incorporates a single-edged chopping blade allowing it to be wielded in close combat by a skilled fighter, much like a halberd, and allowing the Infernal Guard to cut a literal swathe through the foe.[1a][2a]
Fireglaives are complex to make, their mechanisms far beyond the inferior mechanical arts of Men to imitate and are difficult weapons to master. As a result, their use is largely limited to the elite Infernal Guard and the Daemonsmiths that fashion them.[1a][2a]
Miniatures
See Also
Sources
- 1: Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 169
- 2: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 2a: Infernal Guard, Infernal Guard (Greatweapon) and Infernal Guard (Fireglaive) Unit Descriptions
Gallery
