Dwarf (Warhammer) - Dwarf Technology

Dwarf Technology

The dwarfs are by far Warhammer's most technologically advanced race, and are regarded as consummate engineers. Where other races use wooden ships to travel overseas, the dwarfs use ironclad dreadnoughts and nautilus, the Warhammer equivalent of early battleships and submarines. They have also pioneered the development of black powder and steam technology such as cannon, handguns and Gyrocopters (helicopters). They have shared some of this technology with Humans, but still consider the work of the 'Manlings' to be shoddy in comparison to good Dwarven work.

The most innovative examples of Dwarven engineering are the Organ Gun (a cannon with multiple light-calibre barrels and a high rate of fire), the Flame Cannon (a massive flamethrower artillery piece with the capacity to destroy entire units), and the Ungrim Ankor, a vast hub of mining tunnels connected to all the Dwarf Strongholds in the Old World.

Dwarfs are a naturally conservative race, however, and most treat technological innovation with suspicion and distrust. Most of their technology is of a highly traditional nature, and their engineering guilds dissuade members from coming up with anything novel or innovative. As such human, Skaven and Chaos Dwarf engineers often produce more unusual, impressive and powerful, albeit less reliable, technologies, such as the Imperial Steam Tank or the Skaven Ratling Gun. A comparison may be found between the Dwarf Organ Gun and the Imperial Hellblaster Volley gun; both artillery pieces are based on the same concept, a ribauld, however while the Dwarf Organ gun can cause a maximum of 10 casualties a game turn and the Hellblaster may cause 30, it is far more likely that the organ gun will be able to cause eight or ten casualties a turn and it is far less likely that the organ will explode, thus emphasising the Dwarven focus on reliability.