Galrauch

What's more horrifying than a dragon you ask? How about a two-headed demonically possessed one!

Galrauch the Great Drake, once known as Galrauch the Gold Drake is the first of all the Chaos Dragons who serve Tzeentch and the other dark gods of Chaos. A sibling to Aenarion's own Dragon mount Indraugnir he was horribly transformed from a noble ally of the High Elves into a twisted abomination that menaced the Old World for millennia.

The Legend

Back when Chaos first invaded the World-that-was Galrauch, then known as the Gold Drake because of his shiny scales, and his rider the Dragon Prince Learfin had been amongst the forces fighting against the demonic hordes. During the climactic battle at the Isle of the Dead in which the legendary first Phoenix King Aenarion was forced to draw the cursed blade known as the Widowmaker, Galrauch and his rider were leading the left flank of the Elven host against a vast force of Daemons of Tzeentch due in no small part to the fact that Galrauch was arguably the second most powerful dragon in all of the world's existence after his elder sibling.

After much fighting, the Dragon and his rider eventually forced their way through the horde of Daemons to reach their leader a Lord of Change called Fateclaw. Unfortunately, the giant technicolor turkey managed to magically blast through Learfin's defenses, slaying the noble Elf. Mad with grief, Galrauch fell upon the Daemon, determined to exact revenge at the cost of his own life. Surprisingly, the great form of the Lord of Change offered no resistance and the huge jaws of the Dragon snapped shut around his bird-like head, ripping it clean off. The broken body of the Greater Daemon instantly dissolved into a multi-colored mist that enveloped the raging dragon and then disappeared. At first, all the elves were psyched at the defeat of the Daemon but their joy quickly turned to horror when the great dragon suddenly began to convulse before freezing in mid-air. An evil, iridescent light suddenly appeared in the dragons eyes before his scales began to flow like water, forming into evil, leering faces that cackled maniacally in praise of Tzeentch. Foul tentacles and wicked spikes emerged from the Dragon's flesh, and finally, the once-noble head of Galrauch split into two all the way down to the base of his neck. Where there was once one head, there were now two, and to the horror of the Elves below, both turned towards their ranks. One head belched dark fire, burning scores of Elves alive, but the other breathed a sorcerous mist that brought horrible mutations and madness. Fortunately, before the demonically possessed could completely wreck the Elves, the beast's two heads suddenly began to tear at each other with hatred, a sure sign that the spirit of the great Dragon had not been completely destroyed and was fighting against its possessor. Eventually, the mind of the Lord of Change managed to wrest control of the powerful body once again, but not before the Elves and Dragons had reformed their lines and broken the back of the Daemon armies.

In response to this Galrauch withdrew from the lands of mortals and slept for centuries at a time, emerging now and then throughout history to wreak havoc on the lands of Elves, Dwarfs and Men when he wasn't siring more Chaos Dragons with aid of the various dragons living near the Chaos Wastes. It was Galrauch who slaughtered the dwarf King Thurgrim Rockarm and all his kin and sacked their ancient halls. It was he who single-handedly destroyed the Bretonnian city of Languerre de Lac and plunged its ruins into eternal night. Hundreds of noble heroes tried to slay him, but they have all failed, and their remains hung high in Galrauch's lair as a testament to the Dragon's sorcerous might.

The End Times

According to Josh Reynolds, during The End Times Galrauch was sent as far away from Middenheim as the Chaos gods could get him. The dragon was too unpredictable, even for the forces of entropy. He took part in battles in the Kingdoms of Ind and Cathay, where his shifting allegiances would prove no threat to Chaos' ultimate aims. As the End Times progressed, his Chaos Half grew stronger and stronger BUT, in those final days as the influence of Tzeentch waned, his two conflicting halves became more and more evenly matched. In the end, Galrauch tore himself apart as the world died.

On the Tabletop

As can be expected from a two-headed dragon Galrauch has two breath weapons. He's a level 4 mage who knows the Tzeentch lore (though sadly in the 8th edition of the game he no longer had Loremaster sadly) which is a shame since the Lore of Tzeentch was terrible at this time. Statwise all of his were 6, except Leadership which was 9. That's Galrauch. Too bad he has to take a Leadership test every turn, and if he fails he can't do anything except fight in combat, where 3 of his attacks have to harm him. Fuck. If you use him, try to keep him near a BSB for those 'Spirit of Galrauch' tests, otherwise use him the way you would use a Lord of Change. For combat charge him into infantry and cavalry (as long as he charges them and not the other way around) in CC. With his 3+ scaly skin, breath weapons, he's tough to shift in combat (and is the ultimate wizard to put on a fulcrum in Storm of Magic. T6, 6 wounds, 3+ scaly skin and 2+ ward saves on a Level 4 wizard anyone?). He also had the BREATH OF LULZ CHANGE. It's a breath weapon except enemy models hit have to take a toughness test or be removed from play with no saves of any kind allowed. REMOVED FROM PLAY WITH NO SAVES OF ANY KIND ALLOWED. Have your trollface on stand-by if you take Galrauch against High Elves, and make the biggest one possible if it wipes out any deathstar units, such as Tyrion and his Dragon Prince drinking buddies.

Gallery

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