Lords of the End Times

The Lords of the End Times

The Lords of the End Times are the characters that appear in Warhammer Fantasy Battle as the main characters of their respective books in the End Times series. Six true end times characters have appeared at time of writing. They are, respectively, Nagash, the Glottkin, Karl Franz Ascendant, Malekith the Eternity King, Alarielle Incarnate of Life and Tyrion Avatar of Khaine. Archaon will probably be joining this list at the end. They are defined here as either the main antagonist of their book (Tyrion, Nagash, Glottkin) or a level 5 wizard (Nagash, Alarielle, Malekith), while Karl Franz Ascendant just kinda has to be on this list. These are not just the incarnates; they have to have been improved or created in the end times series, rather than just given a fancy new name. Now, on it:

Nagash

Nagash was the first of the major characters released during the End Times, and FUCK, he is a rape train. WS, BS, S, T and W 7, M, I, A 6, and Ld 10. He is a lord level monster, and despite being the first of the Lords of the End Times, he is still probably the most powerful.

With a 4+ armour and a 4+ ward save, and with one of his items being rendered utterly obsolete by the Khaine magic rules, he was lifted up to hi position on top again by those same rules. He is a level 5 wizard, who can take spells from five spell lores. This is what makes him better than any of the other level 5 wizards. They get just the one spell lore. The fact that the death wind has been used in so many different iterations, and the fact that Nagash has the lore of light for some reason, means that in total Nagash has 41 different spells. In addition, he can store up to four dice in his staff, and use them to empower his spells, or his strikes. In combat, he will probably beat out the Glottkin thanks to having multiple wounds (D3) and better Initiative, and he would crush Alarielle into the dirt, but Karl Franz, Tyrion, Malekith and even Imrik would all probably finish him off in one round, unless he had buffed himself. However, in addition to this, he hugely buffs his army: -2 wound due to combat res, and the ability to summon way WAY too many more undead to the table, and regenerate wounds left right and center. Nagash doesn't need magic missiles, he has zombies for that, spawned 36" away. Need a monster, well, here's one worth up to 600pts in your face. The undead legions list helps with this, as it has lots of ways to improve the magic phase, and seriously, god help any poor fool who plays Nagash and Mannfred the Mortarch when Mannfred is in combat. Everyone else has a basic maximum of 24 dice in the power pool. The Undead can have up to 41 BEFORE CHANNELING. Lets not even think about the result of this when wielding end times spells with up to a +10 casting bonus.

Glottkin

Pretty much the bottom tier of the characters listed here, the Glottkin are a mix of fight and magic done in exactly the wrong way.

With WS6, S6, T6, 5+D6A, of which one is S10 with multiple wounds D6, Ld10, with a 4+ armour save, regeneration, and poisoned attacks, they seem pretty killy. Especially when you take into account that they cause terror, have 12 wounds. Look at that again. 12W. In addition, a S3 breath weapon that ignores armour, and always get +1 ward save from eye of the gods. The big problem, however, is simple. They're Large Target and they are slow. Slow as a slug dipped in tar. Okay, at Movement 6 they can leg it at a reasonable pace, but they have freaking I1. They're going to get hacked down by just about anything with better Initiative and decent killing power in melee, and blown to pieces by massed artillery fire from a range.

On the magic front, they're a level 4 Lore of Nurgle wizard. That's it. This wouldn't be so bad, but, you really do not want your super-special general to be a caster if you don't have some way of preventing them from going bye-bye the first time you roll a miscast. All of the other casters here have something to make spellcasting less likely to bite them in the balls, but the Glottkin don't have that. So, yeah, waste of potential.

The Glottkin are ok, but even fucking Alarielle will probably murder them, thanks to her Touch of Purity special rule. They are the weakest spellcasters, and the weakest warriors. However, the fact that they blend the two acceptably means that you will probably see some mileage out of them.

Karl Franz Ascendant

For starters, he costs the same 810 points as the Glottkin, and like them he's a Monster Special Character. Unlike them, he focuses entirely on beating heads in, and so he's much better rounded. With no stat lower than 5 (Toughness, his worst score), he's quite a beatstick - nine WS7 attacks at Initiative 10 is not something to sneeze at. He's a Large Target, but he can Fly, is Immune to Psychology (and Leadership 10 to boot), is Stubborn, and causes Terror. But wait, that's not all.

Enemies test their LD to resist Fear/Terror caused by Karl Franz on 3D6 (discard lowest), his Inspiring Presence stretches for 24", he has an Innate Bound Spell (Power Level 6) called Lord of Lightning that can hit a target up to 18" away with potentially 3D6 Strength 6 lightning hits, he wields a magic weapon that ignores armor and inflicts D3+1 automatic wounds on a hit, he has a 4+ Ward save over full plate armor and he has Magic Resistance 2.

Not the absolute killiest character here... but certainly better than a drunken snotling. Scratch that. Almost no-one in the game is able to beat Karl Franz in raw balls out murder. Tyrion and Malekith are the only ones to stand a chance, and in that case they still have to chew through loads of wounds and a 4+ ward before anything happens. Malekith and Nagash will rape him if they have buffed themselves with magic, and Tyrion will have to properly kill him in one round, because there is no way that even Tyrion can survive that many attacks.

Tyrion, Avatar of Khaine

At 700 points, he's the second cheapest Lord of the End Times to date. A fairly one-trick pony, he's a Cavalry Special Character all about beating in peoples' heads. Maxed Weapon Skill and Initiative, but only 5 Attacks, though his attacks do ignore armor and inflict D6 automatic wounds per strike, so he's still going to hew his way through most anything given time. He's clad in a 1+ Armor Save suit of armor that also gives him a 4+ Ward Save and Fireborn (2+ Ward against Flaming Attacks). He sports a trinket that gives him Magic Resistance 2 and lets him survive being killed by Multiple Wounds, Killing Blow or Heroic Killing blow once per game by rolling 2+ on a D6. He Always Strikes First, has Frenzy, is Immune to Psychology, sports Murderous Prowess (not to mention he and every other such model with that rule within 12" reroll all failed To Wound rolls in close combat), and he's got an Innate Bound Spell (power level 10) that lets him summon skeletons.

Tyrion, Incarnate of Light

Tyrion gets resurrected as an Incarnate for End Times: Archaon, and he's quite a murder machine.

Alarielle, Incarnate of Life

Don't write her off because she's the cheapest LotET yet at only 540; you're getting a level 5 Wizard who uses Life magic and grants Regeneration and a 6+ Ward Save to all friendlies within 12", as well as restoring 1 wound to each injured model in that range. Against the Forces of Destruction, her melee attacks also wound on a 2+ and inflict D6 wounds per attack. As a healer, there's none finer. And also, you can get a lot of mileage out of her, as the lore of life is probably the best lore, and with loremaster and level 5 wizardry she is probably the best spell caster at her points bracket (only Count Mannfred is her equal). It is therefore probably best to just use her as your general in standard points games, then let the magic flow.

Malekith, the Eternity King

At 1000 points, he's the only Lord of the End Times so far to equal Nagash in cost. On the other hand, he's an absolute freaking monster of a character, so you're definitely getting what you pay for.

M6, WS8, BS7, S6, T6, W10, I8, A10, Ld10 - and that's just for starters. He sports a 3+ save, a 2+ Ward save against non-magical attacks, and is immune to multiple wounds inflicted by the Multiple Wounds and Heroic Killing Blow special rules. His Inspiring Presence is 24", his attacks are Multiple Wounds (D3+1) and Magic, he has Always Strikes First, Eternal Hatred, Fly, Immune to Psychology, Large Target, Martial Prowess, Murderous Prowess, and Terror. He sports a S4 Breath Weapon that inflicts a -1 penalty to a victim's WS and BS, all friendlies with Martial Prowess can make supporting attacks with +1 rank so long as they are within 12" of him, and all friendlies with Murderous Prowess within 12" of him re-roll all failed To Wound rolls in close combat (as does he).

But wait, that's not all! He's also a level 5 wizard who uses the Lore of Shadow, he has Loremaster (Shadow), Shadow Sorcerer (can reroll results on the Miscast table), he can give himself or a friendly within 12" Ethereal and Movement 20 for the Remaining Moves sub-phase, and once per Magic Phase he can add a single bonus dice to one of his failed casting or dispel rolls.

So, yeah, a close combat monster and someone who can reliably use magic to boost himself to even greater heights.

Lord Skreech Verminking

The special character version of the Verminlords, The Rat King will set you back 650 points for a Lord character with M8 WS8 BS4 S6 T6 W6 I10 A5 LD8. He's a level 4 Wizard who knows The Dreaded Thirteenth Spell and three others from either the Skaven Spells of Ruin, Plague or a combination of the two. He's Immune to Psychology, a Large Target, causes Terror and benefits from Scurry Away! He's a Rat Daemon (can't be Army General, all special abilities that play off of Daemon consider him a Daemon) with Daemonic Attacks (all attacks he generates, including Stomp, special attacks and ranged attacks, are magical), Protection of the Horned Rat (5+ Ward Save), Ruinous Arsenal (can use either the Doom Glaive (Magic Weapon with Multiple Wounds (D3)) or Plaguereaper (Magic Weapon with Always Strikes First) in any turn of close combat) and Master of Ruin (re-rolls failed casting attempts of the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell).

Surprisingly killy, for a Skaven, and his ability to semi-reliably generate new units of skaven by transforming your enemy's guys is amusing, but that squishiness makes him a real pain. Since he's sporting maxed initiative to begin with, stick with the Doom Glaive in general when fighting.

Ungrim, Incarnate of Fire

Ungrim Ironfist with Slayer King traded for an S4 Fiery Breath Weapon, the ability to spam the innate bound spell (power level 5) Lord of Fire (magic missile, range 24", causes 2D6 Flaming S4 hits) and the Axe of Dargo now doing Flaming Attacks as well. He costs 425 points.

Caradryan, Incarnate of Fire

Because apparently it wasn't enough that the elves got to have the Incarnates of Shadow and Light. Bastards.

Balthasar Gelt, Incarnate of Metal

The cheapest spellcasting-focused Incarnate at only 475 points.

Grimgor, Incarnate of Beasts

Pretty much just Grimgor Ironhide with an Orcs/Goblins/Ogres affecting augment innate bound spell (Locus of Ghur; power level 6, grants +1 Strength and +1 Toughness to all viable units within 12" until start of next Magic Phase) and the ability to re-roll failed To Hit and To Wound rolls when fighting in a challenge. Costs 460 points.

Archaon Everchosen, The Three-Eyed King

Beefed up version of Archaon that costs 865 points. He can have up to twelve attacks per round, making him one of the only characters with greater than 10s in any characteristic.

Isabella the Accursed

A Nurgle-empowered, daemon-possessed vampire who specialises in fighting other undead. Howsat for irony?