The Khazalite Holds Are Here, and Age of Sigmar Finally Has Its Traditional Duardin Army

Games Workshop teased the Khazalite Holds earlier this week with a single Gholem of Gazul.

That teaser undersold what was coming.

The Big Autumn Preview has now revealed an essentially complete new Duardin army for Age of Sigmar, including an Army Set, multiple infantry units, war machines, characters, a massive centerpiece model, stone Gholems, and a new Battletome that also brings the Fyreslayers into the same faction structure.

For players who have spent years wanting something closer to the heavily armored, rune-covered Duardin armies of old, this is probably the clearest answer Age of Sigmar has given them yet.

The Army Set Is a Full Spearhead From Day One

The Khazalite Holds launch begins with an Army Set led by Hjulda Drakkblud.

Inside are Hjulda, 10 Clanshields, Gholems of Gazul, an Oathkeeper Cannon, the new Battletome with an Army Set-exclusive cover, and 53 warscroll cards. Games Workshop confirms that the contents form a complete Spearhead army straight from the box.

The Clanshields are exactly what we hoped the rank and file would look like.

Heavy armor, large shields, axes and hammers, restrained ornamentation, and enough individual detail to keep them from looking like copies of one another. They feel much closer to a traditional shield wall than either the bare-chested Fyreslayers or the heavily industrial Kharadron Overlords.

That distinction matters.

The Khazalite Holds are not simply another flavor of the Duardin armies Age of Sigmar already has. Visually, they occupy the missing middle ground between ancient craftsmanship, runic magic, and heavily armored traditional warfare.

The Gholems Were Only the Beginning

The Gholems of Gazul were our first look at the faction, and they remain some of the most distinctive miniatures in the range.

These are animated stone constructs created in honor of Gazul, Ancestor God of the underworlds, and they march into battle carrying enormous stone hammers. The same kit can alternatively be assembled as Gholems of Valaya, with a different visual identity tied to the Ancestor Goddess of hearth and protection.

That alternate build is a nice touch because it makes the Gholems feel like part of a broader religious culture rather than simply “the big rock unit.”

And they are not the only heavy support available.

The Army Set's Oathkeeper Cannon can later be built as a Stonebreaker Mortar, giving the faction two very different artillery options from the same kit. The Oathkeeper is presented as the direct-fire weapon, while the Stonebreaker is aimed much more squarely at breaking apart enemy infantry formations.

Duardin with enormous rune-powered artillery is hardly a difficult concept to sell.

High Kyng Valankrom Is the Centerpiece

Every modern Age of Sigmar army apparently needs one model that makes you wonder where you are going to put it on the shelf.

The Khazalite Holds have High Kyng Valankrom.

Valankrom is the supreme ruler of the Khazalite Holds, crowned by Grungni himself, and enters battle aboard a gigantic magically propelled stone War Throne. The same kit can alternatively build a generic Thrynn mounted on the throne.

The model is enormous without simply being another monster.

Instead, it looks like somebody carved a chunk out of a Karak, installed a royal court on top of it, and sent the entire thing into battle.

That feels considerably more appropriate for this faction than putting its king on another dragon.

The Range Is Already Much Bigger Than the Army Set

GW also showed the second wave immediately rather than making players guess whether the faction would remain stuck with four units for a year.

Thrynns and Runewrights provide command and magical support. Clangunners add ranged infantry equipped with either thrundok rifles or shorter-ranged thrundrin shotcannons. Valayan Guardians serve as elite defensive troops, while the Stonebreaker Mortar and alternate Gholems add more options to the kits introduced in the Army Set.

That gives the army a surprisingly complete identity right out of the gate.

There is infantry for holding ground, ranged troops, artillery, elite units, magical constructs, multiple leaders, and an enormous centerpiece.

This does not look like GW testing a new faction with three kits.

It looks like a proper army launch.

And Then There Are the Fyreslayers

This might actually be the biggest rules-side announcement in the entire reveal.

Games Workshop says the Fyreslayers, referred to here as the Grimmdron, are becoming part of the Khazalite Holds. Existing Fyreslayer miniatures will be usable with the new Battletome, either as a full Fyreslayer army or alongside the new Kromdron units.

That is a major structural change.

Rather than maintaining Fyreslayers as a completely isolated army with a comparatively narrow miniature range, GW is connecting them to a much larger Duardin ecosystem.

They are not being ignored in the process either.

The Fyreslayers receive a new character pairing in Ormyr and his kyndledroth Ashtongue, a new Regiment of Renown usable by Order armies, and a new Magmic Fyrd Spearhead built around a Runefather on Magmadroth, Runesmiter, Vulkyn Flameseekers, and Auric Hearthguard.

For existing Fyreslayer players, that may end up being every bit as important as the new faction itself.

Our Take

The Khazalite Holds fill a hole in Age of Sigmar that has been obvious for a long time.

The Kharadron Overlords cover the technological side of Duardin culture. Fyreslayers pushed hard into the warrior-cult side.

But neither really delivered the classic image of ranks of heavily armored dwarven warriors marching beneath runic banners with cannons firing over their shoulders.

The Khazalite Holds absolutely do.

What we like most is that Games Workshop did not simply recreate an older army and change the names. The Gholems, War Throne, runic artillery, and the culture surrounding the Ancestor Gods push the faction far enough into the Mortal Realms to give it its own identity.

At the same time, you can look at a block of Clanshields and immediately understand what they are supposed to be.

That balance is difficult to get right.

And folding the Fyreslayers into the same Battletome may be one of the smarter decisions here. It expands what existing players can do while making the new faction feel like part of a broader Duardin civilization rather than another isolated army appearing out of nowhere.

The original Gholem teaser had our attention.

The complete range has it considerably more now.