Arkhan the Black

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Arkhan the Black's new look

Arkhan is the first and most loyal follower of Nagash, who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms; eg, Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, and has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings. As of the End Times, following GW's retcons, he becomes Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters and so far has the highest body count of all of them.

The Legend

Born thousands of years ago, back when Nehekhara was a kingdom of the he living, Arkhan was originally a member of a noble family in Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage, he lived a rough and tumble life. He was a gambler, a criminal and implied to be a whoremonger. His title 'the Black' started as a mocking reference to the fact that, as a mortal, he ate so many sweets and chewed so much Jeush Root he ruined his teeth to the point they were black and splintered. Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, singlehandedly holding them off with spellcasting and swordplay for an hour before some random schmo managed to hit him in the heart with a spear (in the Time of Legend's novel it's a shot from a Cathayan gun, but GW said the army books trump Black Library novels). Dying, he croaked out a curse that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly, and burst into black flames that left behind only a blackened skeleton. The Khemrians were so spooked that they wouldn't dare touch his bones, so they just covered them under a great heap of rubble (In earlier lore, there was no curse, but the Nehekharans didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand).

Here's where the lore starts to diverge. According to the Time of Legends:Nagash novels and backed by a sentence in the End Times:Nagash book, Arkhan didn't just stay in that cairn. He was smuggled to Lahmia along with Nagash's works, restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and W'soran to teach them Nagash's magic. During this time Neferata found their secret tutor and chatted with him. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. However, to even her surprise, she sympathized with him and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew past that point. Arkhan taught her magic until their secret lessons were discovered. Arkhan tried to save Neferata from an assassination attempt, and his methods reacted with her magic and the elixir she made and turned her into the first vampire. Her brother found out and decided he wanted in on vampirism. Neferata refused, yet he had Abhorash on his side and won the ensuring struggle. Afterwards, Abhorash beheaded Arkhan and put him back in the cairn near Khemri.

Surprisingly, Nagash didn't forget what Arkhan did for him and when he came back, he resurrected Arkhan as the Liche King, the first of his nine Dark Lords and a blatant rip off of the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings. Ever since then, even as Nagash has gone elsewhere, Arkhan has tried to take over Khemri on his own, waiting for his boss to finally come back to him.

Even Settra the Imperishable can't seem to get rid of this guy. Though they have fought over a dozen times, the Liche King's sorcery is far greater than anything Settra or the Liche Priests can muster, allowing him to hold out despite an inferior army. As a result, Settra usually settles for just beating Arkhan to a stalemate, making him swear oaths of fealty that they both know Arkhan will wipe his bony ass with when he gets cocky enough later, and leaving to get other shit done. The other Tomb Kings have varying levels of tolerance for him, and he has allied with them either for the right price or to suit his plans. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions, he's still in love with Queen Neferata, which could lead to an interesting development if he is forced to choose between Neferata and Nagash.

With the coming of The End Times, Arkhan made his move to bring Nagash back. He entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of Nagash's books, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and Arkhan arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Despite attacks from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's attempts at betrayal, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world. During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (bled out as a the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara, he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Quatar in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to. At Khemri he was cut in half by Settra, who'd had enough of him by that point, and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri. After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was free to go to war at the behest of his master once more. Now the Mortarch of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... but, perhaps, is starting to reconsider serving him.

On the Tabletop

As a Tomb King

Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use.

As Mortarch of Sacrament

So, how does Arkhan change in the Undead Legion? He costs 650 points, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this make him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While Nagash is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, altough still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want Nagash to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

Gallery

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