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Big Bad Evil Guy

2021-05-17T18:06:59Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy */

[[Image:Sauron.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Lord of the Rings|Sauron]], pretty much the archetypal "Dark Lord" common to fantasy and an inspiration to countless BBEGs. We love (to hate) you big S! :D]]

The '''Big Bad Evil Guy''', typically shortened simply to '''Big Bad''' or '''BBEG''', is roleplaying gamer slang for the primary antagonist of an adventure or campaign. He is the one who is ultimately responsible for whatever shit his associates or minions do, and defeating him usually means the successful conclusion of a campaign (or at least a part of it). To ensure that this is sufficiently dramatic, [[DM]]s often make the BBEG a powerful character, making this final encounter something of a boss fight. The BBEGs seem to know this is coming, so they will usually construct a suitably impressive lair for the suitably dramatic confrontation to take place in.

Many of these fantasy villains often like to address themselves as 'The Dark Lord' or add 'Dark Lord' before their name, just in case you goblin-fondling peasants weren't paying attention to who they are.

Hilariously though, the [[Abaddon the Despoiler|sheer incompetence of some of these big bads]] [[Black Crusade|is at times a beauty to behold]], as their over-arrogant natures, the stupidity of their minions, or luck and/or skill on the part of their opposition means their plans fall apart dramatically. For example Harry Potter, despite being a teen and knowing as much magic as a mouse for most of the series, time and time again foiled Voldemort's plans. Despite having control of one of the key factions in 40k, [[Abaddon]] failed to get anything done until about 10,000 years (the fact that Abbadon hasn't been killed or overthrown yet is because Games Workshop won't let the story go in that direction). And yet how do they get by with so much failure when they would have roasted their henchmen alive if they had done the same? Simple; if you dare to mention it to their face about their joy-to-watch failures, YOU will be the one roasting alive!

Note the title of "Big Bad Evil GUY", as this character is most often a man (note the BBEG's in the list below). It is uncommon for the BBEGs to be women, a "Big Bad Evil Gal" if you will. Having the main antagonist be female is rarer than antagonists that are genderless or forces of nature (such as A.Is or natural disasters in disaster films). The reasons for this are... contentious, and not well explored. [[Skub|Some could say it's sexist against women by assuming that female villains will never be as effective as male villains, or it could be sexist against men by assuming that men are more evil than women, a combination or something else]]. Leaning towards the latter, a female Big Bad is more likely to be shown mercy or have it offered to her than her male counterpart, and is less likely to die or suffer for her crimes. If the hero is a man, it's also less likely that he will directly kill a Big Bad Evil Gal. It could also just be cultural: there are no shortages of evil queens and faeries in German fantasy, from the poisoner of ''Sleeping Beauty'' to Xayide in ''Never Ending Story''. But, well... Germans.

In most video games the BBEG is usually the final villain which you and maybe a couple of hanger-ons have to defeat to win the game. Whether it will be a hard fight or not depends how merciless the game designers are feeling.

[[Paladin]]s are automatically required to attempt to offer the BBEG mercy, [[derp | even if they have happily slaughtered hundreds of relatively less evil minions without mercy on their way to the BBEG's lair.]]

==Requirements to become a BBEG==
# Kill a lot of innocents (unimaginative, but kind of a must-do on the list; a tradition).
# Make big grandiose plans that also include big holes in them, just enough for someone to mess up if needs be.
# Surround yourself with minions and right-hand men. Your evil meter goes higher the more bodies you can pile up there.
# Have a characteristic to define you from the masses, like a menacing eye (Sauron), the ability to shoot lightning from your hands (Sidious) or an embarrassing track record of failure no-one can mistake (Abaddon).
# Perfect evil laugh and twisted sense of humour.
# Have a super bad-ass evil lair.
# [[Ahriman|Don't melt into goodness at the sight of baskets of kittens or puppies.]]
# Pretend you don't have any possible mental problems even if they are there.
# Beat up anyone that even looks like competition.
# [[Kharn|Be a dick to everyone, even your own side]] (tough love).
# IMPORTANT: Do something memorable. It is not enough to just do all of the above, you need to really do something unique to stand out from your peers. Sidious masterminded the complete destruction of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith to masters of the Galaxy. Sauron helped fuck up his world and make a lasting legacy of evil by creating so many evil races. Asdrubael Vect established the single most unpleasant city realm in the galaxy and allowed the Dark Eldar to flourish as a people. What will YOU do to get your enemies quaking in jealously and respect?
# You must wear pitch black armor that covers EVERY. PART. OF. YOUR. BODY. Your face must not be shown, not even once, because that makes you a mysterious badass (unless you're ugly as fuck). Bonus point if your armor is possessed or has some evil origin. Also, coat yourself with as many spikes as possible.
# Developing a bizarre taste of carrying human remains on you like some kind of fashionista. Examples include wearing a human skin cape or skulls hanging on you. Everyone must see it.

==The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy==
An honour bestowed only to the most truly deserving head honchos of villainkind, not just any hireling with ideas above their station can get here!

* '''Sauron''' ([[Lord of the Rings]]): The dude who originally created the term "Dark Lord" in modern high fantasy (though ironically only the second, lesser Dark Lord, see below) and was willing to get stuck into the action himself too. Pretty much an undead fallen angel who wants to bring order by tyrannically ruling Middle-earth. Once, the men of Númenor, one of the most powerful nations ever to rise in Middle-earth decided to kick his ass, and proceeded to lay siege to his fortress and capture him. After his capture he managed to corrupt the whole nation, made them worship his old boss (Morgoth, again see below) and got them to invade the Undying Lands of the Valar (angelic beings with god-like powers). As a result, Eru Ilúvatar himself (THE 'real' God and creator of the universe) was forced to intervene: he sank Númenor into the sea, and transformed the once flat planet into a globe, removing the Undying Lands from the plane altogether. This still wasn't sufficient to kill Sauron, who managed to come back - albeit highly weakened - to fuck shit up. His one weakness, the destruction of his ring, still required an incredible amount of good luck and perseverance to pull off, as arguably one of his most sinister powers was using the ring to control whoever possessed it; this fact alone was what kept him alive long after his body was destroyed, as nobody was willing to finish the job by destroying the ring until a crazed halfling stole it and fell into a volcano. For all his celebrity, for many years he was just a thrall of next entry.

* '''Melkor''' ([[The Silmarillion]]): If Sauron was the Antichrist, Melkor is Satan himself, quite literally in this case, with Eru being a parallel to the Christian God. More famous as Morgoth ("The Dark Enemy"), the most powerful of the Valar (basically angels, but with god-like powers and comparable in their roles and manners to Hellenic or Norse gods) and second only to Eru in terms of sheer power. His calls to fame are many, among them: destroying the planet's only light sources not once, but twice, torturing Elves (or Men, depending on source) badly enough to turn them into Orcs, creating Dragons, Wights and Werewolves, resisting a centuries-long siege, winning a battle that made the Battle of the Somme look like a picnic, making people associate the color black with evil and ruling nearly the whole of Middle-earth with an iron fist. Most importantly, he managed to drive a wedge between Elves and Men, by turning most of mankind to darkness, instilling them with unnatural fear of death. He was only defeated when the whole host of the god-like Valar assaulted his fortress and captured him (this happened twice), in a battle so violent the whole Beleriand sank beneath the oceans - a land about the same size of Middle-earth. He ''still'' was not killed, but was thrown off the fucking planet, and is prophesied to return in an apocalyptic final battle. Fun fact: do you remember Sauron's One Ring, his creation, in which he put much of this power and how it was impossible to kill him without destroying the Ring? Well, it's canon that Morgoth's Ring is ''the whole Middle-earth''. Think about the implications. To be fair half of the Silmarilion is him getting weaker and weaker as he pours more and more of his powers into his creations, developing fear, losing the ability to change his appearance and finally being even unable to recover from a wound, dealt to him in single combat by the Elven High-king, and thus developing a limp.

* '''Darth Sidious''' ([[Star Wars]]): Creepy old freak who single-mindedly engineered the complete destruction of the Jedi Order and turned the galaxy on its head so he could rule it as a tyrant (and fend off the the Yuuzahn Vong; think Dark Eldar crossed with Tyranids and the Imperium's religious extremism) upon their inevitable [[Rape|arrival]] into galaxy... much like another famous [[Emperor]]. Unfortunately not everything [[Not as Planned|transpired]] according to his design). His favorite trick was using his force lightning to make toast (always too overdone).

* '''The Timeless One''' ([[Halo]]): AKA The Flood and The Gravemind, came from a race of nigh-omniscient eldritch abominations called the Precursors that came before the Universe was born. Single-handedly destroyed an interstellar [[The Culture|Culture]]-level civilization, the Forerunners, for insane sobbing cynical vengeful shits and giggles [[FAIL|after it led a genocide against the Precursors, their peaceful creators now gone insane with the god equivalent of PTSD]], all because the Precursors thought humans were less stuck up than the Forerunners, and is now coming back in the form of a horrifying fusion of The Thing, [[Tyranids]] and X-Parasite; so that he can force every single living thing in the Universe to "join" him in a very fucked up version of [[Communism]] via OM NOM NOMING their bodies and souls in eternal torment and pain. This Flood also acts as a computer virus in later stages, and The Gravemind's ultimate plan is to wipe the universe clean and start over, having gone way past over-the-top friendly fire several hundred thousand years late vengeance, when everyone responsible is already dead. Also proclaimed as the greatest [[Troll]] to come out of Sci-Fi since the introduction of [[Tzeentch]] and [[Eldrad]], considering how he manages to slowly and painfully rip apart the 10 million year old culture and beliefs of the Forerunners by forcing them to do things that are both hypocritical and outright contradictory of their pacifistic religion as well as tormenting and mind-raping the Forerunner's greatest heroes into deranged psychopaths. The most perfectionist of the lot and [[Get shit done|getting the most shit done.]]

* '''Dracula''' ([[Castlevania]]): Was the big bad in the majority of the Castlevania games (but subverted for the two recent games). How bad is he? Well... when even [[Aza'Gorod|Death]] considers him as "Boss", then it should tell you the power differences here in pure EVIL.

* '''Voldemort''' ([[Harry Potter]]): The big bad evil wizard of the HP setting Voldemort spent most of the series as an evil spirit before coming back in a body made from a mixture in a cauldron (as you do). He runs on a platform of genocide against muggles and anyone with muggle blood (even though he has muggle blood himself, but hey, this the BBEG list and hypocrisy is evil), so basically he's Wizard Hitler. He failed to kill the Boy Who Lived as a baby, then failed again against him as a teenager and was hoisted by his own petards against him as an adult while failing to take over a High School. And he failed twice to take over the wizarding world, making one wonder about his track record.

* '''Jadis, the White Witch''' ([[C. S. Lewis|The Chronicles of Narnia]]): This frigid bitch likes to freeze everything and will turn you to stone at the drop of a hat if you displease her. She's so evil in fact, that she managed to keep Santa Claus out for 1,000 years so that nobody could celebrate Christmas (<s>We remind you this is a children's story, so</s> this is a big fucking deal, even [http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Darkseid-vs.-Santa.jpg ''Darkseid'' couldn't pull that off]). She had eternal life after eating a cursed apple and froze Narnia into a state of perpetual winter to be her [[Magical Realm|perfect place]], but was challenged by a gang of motley kids and killed by a Prince. Unlike most female villains, she actually gets a painful death - first she gets mauled to death by Aslan (who is literally Jesus in the form of a lion) then, [[Skub|if the theory that she came back in ''The Silver Chair'' as the Lady of the Green Kritle is true]], she was killed a second time by being impaled on a sword. Whichever theory is true, she dies painfully. In the past, on her original homeworld of Charn, she discovered a spell called the Deplorable Word that would slay all life with the sole exception of its speaker, and used it to kill every living thing on her own world so she could be Queen. That's right, a villain from a series of children's novels committed ''world-wide genocide''; given the debut of [[Warhammer Adventures]] that means C.S Lewis technically wrote books darker than a Warhammer setting.

* '''Nothing to see here, move along. -Your friendly neighborhood inquisitior. {{BLAM|'''''[[HERESY|HERESY!]]'''''}} '''{{BLAM|<nowiki>*</nowiki>BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*}}'''

*'''Dio Brando''' ([[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]): This is one of those rare cases where we get to see most of the Big Bad's rise to power, from a normal but sociopathic aristocratic brat to a hundred-year-old vampire able to stop time itself. Like most things in JJBA, Dio is famous for his bombastic personality and his ability to kick ass in a fight. And his minions, all quite powerful in their own unique ways, simply serve as appetizers for the sheer mindfuckery he's capable of whenever he activates his Stand, <s>The World</s> ZA WARUDO! Even after he's killed, enough of his minions survived to stir up trouble, including plots to try and reset the universe to revive him.

*'''[[Yawgmoth]], the Ineffable''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): This is the formerly ordinary human that turned [[Phyrexia]] from a backwater plane to the nightmarish world that we all knew and loved via turning the people of his home into nightmare zombie robots from hell (badass), and his will influencing the 'oil' on Phyrexia. After his apotheosis, the Father of Machines was able to take on Oldwalkers and come out on top. As such, he was too powerful (post apotheosis) to print, and some of the most powerful cards bear his name (Yawgmoth's Will and Yawgmoth's Bargain are both banned in legacy). Hell, until 2018 he wasn't even in card art. In 2019 we got a pre-apotheosis card.

*'''[[Nicol Bolas]]''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): The first Planeswalker to ever exist, and possibly the oldest Dragon in the multiverse. In terms of a singular bad guy, Nicol Bolas is currently the biggest one in Magic. (Phyrexia is more of an evil civilization and the Eldrazi <s>are a trio of cosmic horrors</s> is a cosmic horror that is sealed away, for now). Bolas has created countless planes, and destroyed twice as many. His signature ability is to shatter a person's psyche by simply touching them (which is an inborn ability.) Practically all of the major catastrophes that have happened in recent times in the Multiverse have been his doing or were the result of his meddling (such as the release of the [[Eldrazi]], Ugin's Death, and the Destruction of [[Amonkhet]]), with many of the more recent ones being part of his ultimate goal of obtaining the [[Pun Pun|Multiverse shaking power]] that a Planeswalker's Spark once granted. He also prefers to simply be called Nicol Bolas because once you have practically every title, they lose meaning.

*'''Lord Zedd''' (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): The Emperor of Evil, Ruler of All He Sees, and the one who gave you nightmares as a child in the mid 90s. (Well him, and staying up past your bed time watching X-Files). He was the character that became the first real threat to the Power Rangers, and was only finally defeated by an intense letter writing campaign by your mom. Shame because even with the over acting he came off as a badass in those early episodes. Evil atrocities include: destroying the original Dinozords, slowly draining Tommy's (Green Ranger) powers, and trying to brainwash and marry your prepubescent crush Kimberly (Pink Ranger). Biggest flaws are: his schemes always backfiring and making the Rangers more powerful, his Zord Serpentera runs on 2 AA Batteries, and excessive maniacal laughing.

*'''Thanos''' ([[Marvel Comics| Marvel Cinematic Universe]]): Thanos is one of the major villains in Marvel Comics, famous for the iconic storyline ''The Infinity Gauntlet''. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had its own villains for individual movies, but setting up for its homage to the classic storyline had Thanos as the big overarching villain of the film franchise. He saw his planet suffer from an overpopulation crisis and suggested killing half the population at random in order to allow more resources to go around. He was rejected and his people went extinct. This caused Thanos to believe the entire universe was in a population crisis and set out to gather six objects called the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life, and along the way he attacked numerous other worlds where he killed half their population. Seeing that relying on others to get the stones for him wasn't working he finally decided to gather the stones himself, and despite the best efforts of the Avengers, he gathered all the stones and killed half the universe before making his escape, at the cost of losing the few beings he cared about. The Avengers tracked Thanos down to his hiding place only to find Thanos used the Infinity Stones to destroy the stones to ensure his work couldn't be undone, and was killed by Thor in response. When the Avengers went through time to collect the Infinity Stones to bring back everyone Thanos killed, Thanos' younger self was alerted to their plans and followed them to the present. The fact that the Avengers killed his future self wasn't important, what mattered was they sought to undo his life's work. Seeing that the people of the universe wouldn't accept him killing half of them to preserve life, Thanos sought to use the Infinity Stones to destroy the universe and recreate it so it would be grateful, showing he was nothing more than a madman seeking validation (which was already clear since he could've used the Infinity Stones in other ways, such as doubling resources, but didn't).

===Games Workshop===
*'''[[Nagash]]''' ([[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]], [[Age of Sigmar]]): Former [[Tomb King]] (via usurping the throne) from back when they were living humans, the inventor of necromancy, the one who caused undead factions to exist in the game and the greatest threat to the Warhammer world outside of the Chaos Gods (even planning to supplant them). And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for [[Skaven|those meddling rats]] and Nurgle. Became the god of death with his own realm in AoS and despite [[Abbadon|numerous failures on his part]], Nagash is starting to bring the grim to the Nobledark of Age of Sigmar and even the Chaos Gods are wary of his plans.

*'''[[Malekith]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): The Witch King and Lord of the Druchii, [[Malekith]] is (or was) one of the less pompous of the Big Bads of Fantasy - On his throne in the center of his evil and cold domain of Naggaroth, Malekith could see the entirety of the world, no matter where it was, but his eyes were fixed at one point - Ulthuan and the throne of the [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)#Finubar.2C_The_Seafarer|Phoenix King]], which he will always strive towards. After 6,000 years of civil war, started after his mother Morathi fucked up his coronation, the [[The End Times|End Times]] reveals something incredible and unheard of among Big Bads - He was the good guy! Or, the gods had chosen him like he said they had and they decided to let him retake their test. Which he passed. After retaking Ulthuan and killing [[Tyrion]], who was possessed by the [[Widowmaker]], Malekith was chosen as the Phoenix/Eternity King. Now the leader of all elfkind, he is the only one who can assure the survival of the entirety of the elven race... Now fused with his pet dragon and allies with Tyrion duo to salvage elves/aelfs' souls from Slaanesh's stomach.

*'''[[Archaon]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): Elected bro for life of the Chaos Gods and doer of getting shit done and given the current state of [[Age of Sigmar|AoS]] arguably the most successful BBEG ever. Formerly a righteous man until the machinations of Chaos made him go off the rails. [[Failbaddon]] lives in constant terror of Archaon getting fed up and coming to kick him out of existence.

*'''[[Asdrubael Vect]]''' ([[Warhammer 40k]]): More dangerous than Failbaddon could ever be even in his dreams, Vect passes the time causing countless millions to be tortured, just for his bored amusement. Master of dick moves and getting others to get others to do ''his'' dirty work. The only reason he hasn't conquered the galaxy is <s>Games Workshop's refusal to let the plot of 40K go in that direction</s> because endlessly dicking with the galaxy is infinitely more fun and sustainable than conquering it. It's implied that the reason Vect was removed from the codex as a playable character is because GW was that scared of Vect changing the status quo. He arranged a plan to let the oldcron [[Aza'Gorod|Nightbringer]] out of his box so he could talk about killing stuff with someone who could match his tally. Last seen arranging his death and restoration to unify the Dark Eldar under his banner after Ynnead's rise to prominence.

*'''[[Matt Ward]]''' ([[Games Workshop]]): Dark Lord of [[Fluff]] [[Rape]] and [[Codex]] Destruction, his plan to unleash his hordes of [[Ultramarine]] servants to take over the galaxy in a wave of blue and to subject the [[Grey Knights]] to eternal ass rape. He's also managed to defeat the [[C'tan]] and take control of the [[Necrons]] to aid his blue-clad minions. Few, if any, are as diabolical as this man! In fact, he was so much of an evil mastermind that none of his plans were ever really challenged, and so he quit his goddamn job. As in, literally. The Throne of Defilement of Fluff and [[Crunch]] sat vacant years, but then Ward returned.

*'''[[Horus|Fucking Horus]]''' (Warhammer 40k): The great bastard himself, Horus Lupercal. He turned the galaxy from a universe that, while grey, still had light at the end of the tunnel (what with the [[Primarch]] the [[Emperor]], the [[Space Marine Legions]], and the recovery of [[STC]]), to the [[Grimdark]], Black vs. Black "we are all going to fucking die, and [[Genestealer|that's]] [[Daemon|if]] [[Necrons|we're]] [[Dark Eldar|lucky]]" shithole we know it as now. Turned the Nine Legions of Traitor Astartes and butched his way to Holy Terra (A.K.A Earth after mad max, nuclear annihilation, and rebuilding the place from the ground up with THE GLORIOUS POWER OF INDUSTRY!), where he was only defeated by 40k space Jesus. Essentially [[Abbadon]] if he was more successful.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* '''[[Acererak]]''': The original demi-lich of the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and a petty dick with way too much time on his hands. This guy has been killing adventurers since 1E DnD with strange dungeons and diabolical traps, largely because he can; he's got back-up bodies and a personal pocket dimension he can jump into if things go tits up. Lately he's been having fun killing everything that has been resurrected through a big fucking machine and an [[Atropal|aborted fetus of a god]].

* '''[[Strahd von Zarovich]]''': Maybe the ultimate DnD villain, Strahd's only weakness is that he's pretty much Dracula in DnD - But ''how''. He's nearly omniscient about everything that goes on in his domain, he regularly tortures adventurers for centuries and trap them just to have a bit of a break from his boredom, and best of all, the reason he's evil is not because he wants to conquer or be immortal - he got those two parts down already. No, he's just a possessive, manipulative asshole who believes one woman is his property, and so, everyone else gets to suffer because he can't take a fucking hint. Strahd's so relaxed with his position that he invites people to his castle just to fuck with them. Even better, he can randomly turn up while playing [[Curse of Strahd]], which no-doubt creates a pant-wetting moment when a party of Level 2 adventurers has to engage with an immortal, all powerful vampire with boundary issues.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:supervillain.jpg|Now you know.
Image:bearcula.jpg
Image:dr no.jpg|Antagonists with crazy schemes of megalomaniac conquest and revenge upon the world, their lairs full of traps and minions...Ian Flemming might have been a good DM.
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Harry Potter

2021-05-17T18:02:55Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Would you like to know more? */

{{Topquote|You're a [[wizard]], Harry|Hagrid, to Harry Potter}}
[[File:Hogwarts.webp|thumbnail|right|400px|Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry: A+ in Magical Education, F on OSHA compliance]]
'''Harry Potter''' is a series of seven fantasy books written by J.K. Rowling, whose plot can be summed up as:

An Evil Overlord that was thought to be long gone is coming back. The Chosen One must defeat him by embarking on a epic quest to destroy magical objects related to said Evil Overlord - objects that reveal ties between Our Hero and the antagonist. He has the assistance of a wise old Wizard with a long grey beard, that will leave him along the journey. [[The Lord of the Rings|Yes, you've seen it before]].

It's a much beloved young adult fantasy series that started as a story for kids and kinda grew in tone along with the age of the audience. [[C. S. Lewis|Yes, you've seen ''that'' before, too]]

[[Star Wars|Oh, did I mention that the boy is an orphan living with his uncles and that the BBEG killed his parents?]]

Harry Potter is basically the forefather of the current young adult Urban fantasy genre, and series like [[Percy Jackson|Percy Jackson and the Olympians]] owe more than a small intellectual debt to it. While things like Anne Rice's novels and Vampire the Masquerade may have brought the urban fantasy genre into being in a recognizable format (well, disregarding western comic books, which are either considered their own genre or a kind of urban fantasy depending on who you ask), it was Harry Potter that brought the genre to kids.

Essentially, any fictional series about a kid from the ordinary world being whisked away into a secretive mystical one to face mystical problems - as well as the issues of it being hard to be a kid growing up - made from the 90s onwards owes something to Harry Potter, even if it's a story about deconstructing the Harry Potter type narrative. It also showed that there was a '''huge''' amount of money to be made from writing for tweens and teenagers specifically instead of choosing to go for either young children or adults. We're talking "quite possibly the most profitable demographic to market towards" here.

In spite of this, no book has gotten even close to as much popularity among kids as Harry Potter. The closest to recapturing that kind of magic was Percy Jackson which was hobbled by some amazingly poorly thought out movie adaptations, though the Percy Jackson fandom is still very much on the large side for a fandom. However you could also argue that this is because after Harry Potter, when the young adult urban fantasy genre took off with a bunch more writers getting into it the readership also fragmented into a bunch of other series. Much like how no other space fantasy series has ever really managed to get even close to Star Wars level popular, and no Gothic Space Fantasy series has even approached 40k's popularity. The first in the genre to really take off tends to get the benefit of having no real competition when it first grows, while everything following it will have to fight a bunch of other people who also want to ride that wave.

Has a [[Skub|sequel]] (considered canon by the author) in the form of a stage play (and later a published script) where an adult Harry Potter struggles to deal with his past while his second son is troubled with living up to his father's reputation, all these while a dark, sinister plot is abrewing.

It also involves lot of time travel. And alternate timelines. And that woman with the food trolley on the Hogwarts Express [[grimdark|having worked there so long she's forgotten her own name and family]].
==Would you like to know more?==
The story is about an orphaned boy living with awful relatives. [[The Earthsea Cycle|He soon finds out he has magical abilites and goes to a Wizard boarding school where he makes friends, learns magic and does magical sports]]. Soon enough, learns about his family and gets wrapped up in affairs involving a Dark Wizard version of Hitler called Lord Voldemort and his associated assholes (including a Dark Wizard version of the Klan called Death Eaters and Nazgul rip-offs called Dementors). So basically the pipe dream of every disaffected teenager; this more than anything probably explains the series' breakout popularity.

The books sold really well, got a series of very popular movies which grossed higher than any other series of movies in history, probably got a fair bit of people interested in fantasy literature (given that they were mainly targeted to young adult readers) and generated a moderate amount of [[skub]] back in its day before the haters moved onto [[Twilight|things which were more uniformly panned]]. Given the target audience, it was also inevitable that the fandom created an unholy amount of fanfiction, including what's universally recognized as [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6829556/1/My-Immortal the worst fanfiction ever.] But it is also the source of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V4VxlsMuQ4 the best (and most batshit insane) fanfiction ever, as well].

Besides its reputation for producing an ungodly amount of NSFW fan fictions produced by horny and sometimes illiterate teens, the fandom (particularly the adults that most of the initial audience has aged into) also has a reputation for [[TVTropes|having their worldview constrained entirely by Harry Potter]], constantly comparing real world events to the fictional book series; any time you see a political tweet or protest sign reference Harry Potter, it’s inevitably met with dozens of people screaming “READ ANOTHER BOOK” in response. It can be truly embarrassing to witness.

In general the series has good characters, even though the main cast looks a bit lacklustre when you think about them, and the main antagonist has not much to him besides "I'm Hitler, but with a snake face and magic". Most of the supporting cast are reasonably fleshed out, engaging in their way with decent motivations which make sense and are part of the story both in the individual books and over the course of the series.

The lore and world-building is at best hit and miss, and sometimes you feel that the author is pulling ''deus ex machinas'' and lore out of her ass to railroad the story forward, but the series is not the worst gateway drug to the world of fantasy literature a young kid could have, even if traditionalists would favor [[Tolkien]], and of course many a writefag would argue that worldbuilding and lore are secondary at best to a consistent theme, plot, and good characterization. Similarly, as what is essentially the forefather of teenager oriented urban fantasy; it's obviously going to have the usual issues that plague other series that basically spawn a subgenre around them; other later series can learn from it and build on it. Much like how Seinfeld doesn't seem all that special today because its lessons have been so thoroughly disseminated throughout the genre that looking at Seinfeld now is like looking at a prototype of a line of products you're already familiar with. That being said despite quite a lot of competition (the most serious being Percy Jackson though the fandoms themselves are on good terms), Harry Potter still generally holds up as one of the better examples of young adult urban fantasy literature.

Eh, no reason you can't try both Tolkien and Rowling.

===Main Cast===
* '''Harry Potter''': The Boy Who Lived and main protagonist. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Books_of_Magic An unassuming English kid with glasses that obtains a pet owl, and takes up his preordained destiny to enter a secret world of magic hidden in plain sight]. The Dark Lord tried to kill him when he was a toddler, but his parents loved him and the spell bounced and made the Dark Lord vanish instead (if that raises questions you've probably already put more thought into it than the author did). Went to stay with his abusive aunt and uncle and didn't notice he was a Wizard until a hobo came to his house and told him. Not the smartest knife in the drawer, and for much of the series he's actually more hated than loved by the wizardry world due to him being an angsty kid and the author catering to the needs of the angsty kid audience.
* '''Hermione Granger''': Smart nerd girl and probably your first erection. When she gets a magical object that allows her to travel through time she uses it to study more instead of, for example, [[Old Man Henderson|solving every problem ever]]. Out of the blue she decided to bone the Comic Relief character at the end of the last book despite treating him as a dimwit for 7 years. The author has later admitted this was a mistake, even going as far as to say their relationship would be tumultuous.
* '''Ron Weasley''': Redhead comic relief. That's about it. Once he had a pet rat that was an old hairy man in disguise and slept with him. His brothers, due to the Marauder's Map (a magical object that shows the location of everybody in Hogwarts, [http://eggabase.com/wp-content/uploads/Easter_Eggs/Movies/Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban/Naughty-Marauders-Map-MI-350x300.jpg with all the unfortunate implications]), probably knew about this and was totally ok with it. Bangs a chick way out of his league due to contrived plot reasons.
* '''Voldemort''': aka Magic Hitler but with the brush moustache swapped for complete hair loss and a snake face. No, really. He wants to eliminate everyone with muggle ancestry, wizard or not. Why? Because his mother date-raped his father with a love potion, said father abandoned them after getting off the potion and she died giving birth to him. That sucks, but no need to take out your issues on the rest of mankind. For half of the series he's in a ghostlike state until he gets himself a new body (he was noseless before, it was a side-effect of splitting his soul and putting the pieces in soul jars), thanks to the fact that he [[Lich|split his soul up into a bunch of different objects]]. Is finally killed for real when Harry destroys all the Horucruxes - himself included. WHAT A TWIST! But then Harry's still alive because he's the master of the Deathly Hollows! DOUBLE TWEEST!
* '''Albus Dumbledore:''' Headmaster of Hogwarts, most powerful wizard in the world and all around cool old coot. Initially considered a bit of an airheaded old codger who was none the less nice and supportive, but as the books progress, we learn he'd been playing 5D time travel diamond chess against the forces of Voldemort, secretly and clandestinely pulling the strings of all other characters in the series. Dies, but its okay, because he [[Just as Planned|planned around it]].

== Harry Potter stuff relating to tabletop games ==
*[[Harry Potter and the Tabletop RPG]]
*There are up to several [[GURPS]] modifications for a Harry Potter-themed setting.

[[category: Literature]]

Big Bad Evil Guy

2021-05-17T17:57:14Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy */

[[Image:Sauron.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Lord of the Rings|Sauron]], pretty much the archetypal "Dark Lord" common to fantasy and an inspiration to countless BBEGs. We love (to hate) you big S! :D]]

The '''Big Bad Evil Guy''', typically shortened simply to '''Big Bad''' or '''BBEG''', is roleplaying gamer slang for the primary antagonist of an adventure or campaign. He is the one who is ultimately responsible for whatever shit his associates or minions do, and defeating him usually means the successful conclusion of a campaign (or at least a part of it). To ensure that this is sufficiently dramatic, [[DM]]s often make the BBEG a powerful character, making this final encounter something of a boss fight. The BBEGs seem to know this is coming, so they will usually construct a suitably impressive lair for the suitably dramatic confrontation to take place in.

Many of these fantasy villains often like to address themselves as 'The Dark Lord' or add 'Dark Lord' before their name, just in case you goblin-fondling peasants weren't paying attention to who they are.

Hilariously though, the [[Abaddon the Despoiler|sheer incompetence of some of these big bads]] [[Black Crusade|is at times a beauty to behold]], as their over-arrogant natures, the stupidity of their minions, or luck and/or skill on the part of their opposition means their plans fall apart dramatically. For example Harry Potter, despite being a teen and knowing as much magic as a mouse for most of the series, time and time again foiled Voldemort's plans. Despite having control of one of the key factions in 40k, [[Abaddon]] failed to get anything done until about 10,000 years (the fact that Abbadon hasn't been killed or overthrown yet is because Games Workshop won't let the story go in that direction). And yet how do they get by with so much failure when they would have roasted their henchmen alive if they had done the same? Simple; if you dare to mention it to their face about their joy-to-watch failures, YOU will be the one roasting alive!

Note the title of "Big Bad Evil GUY", as this character is most often a man (note the BBEG's in the list below). It is uncommon for the BBEGs to be women, a "Big Bad Evil Gal" if you will. Having the main antagonist be female is rarer than antagonists that are genderless or forces of nature (such as A.Is or natural disasters in disaster films). The reasons for this are... contentious, and not well explored. [[Skub|Some could say it's sexist against women by assuming that female villains will never be as effective as male villains, or it could be sexist against men by assuming that men are more evil than women, a combination or something else]]. Leaning towards the latter, a female Big Bad is more likely to be shown mercy or have it offered to her than her male counterpart, and is less likely to die or suffer for her crimes. If the hero is a man, it's also less likely that he will directly kill a Big Bad Evil Gal. It could also just be cultural: there are no shortages of evil queens and faeries in German fantasy, from the poisoner of ''Sleeping Beauty'' to Xayide in ''Never Ending Story''. But, well... Germans.

In most video games the BBEG is usually the final villain which you and maybe a couple of hanger-ons have to defeat to win the game. Whether it will be a hard fight or not depends how merciless the game designers are feeling.

[[Paladin]]s are automatically required to attempt to offer the BBEG mercy, [[derp | even if they have happily slaughtered hundreds of relatively less evil minions without mercy on their way to the BBEG's lair.]]

==Requirements to become a BBEG==
# Kill a lot of innocents (unimaginative, but kind of a must-do on the list; a tradition).
# Make big grandiose plans that also include big holes in them, just enough for someone to mess up if needs be.
# Surround yourself with minions and right-hand men. Your evil meter goes higher the more bodies you can pile up there.
# Have a characteristic to define you from the masses, like a menacing eye (Sauron), the ability to shoot lightning from your hands (Sidious) or an embarrassing track record of failure no-one can mistake (Abaddon).
# Perfect evil laugh and twisted sense of humour.
# Have a super bad-ass evil lair.
# [[Ahriman|Don't melt into goodness at the sight of baskets of kittens or puppies.]]
# Pretend you don't have any possible mental problems even if they are there.
# Beat up anyone that even looks like competition.
# [[Kharn|Be a dick to everyone, even your own side]] (tough love).
# IMPORTANT: Do something memorable. It is not enough to just do all of the above, you need to really do something unique to stand out from your peers. Sidious masterminded the complete destruction of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith to masters of the Galaxy. Sauron helped fuck up his world and make a lasting legacy of evil by creating so many evil races. Asdrubael Vect established the single most unpleasant city realm in the galaxy and allowed the Dark Eldar to flourish as a people. What will YOU do to get your enemies quaking in jealously and respect?
# You must wear pitch black armor that covers EVERY. PART. OF. YOUR. BODY. Your face must not be shown, not even once, because that makes you a mysterious badass (unless you're ugly as fuck). Bonus point if your armor is possessed or has some evil origin. Also, coat yourself with as many spikes as possible.
# Developing a bizarre taste of carrying human remains on you like some kind of fashionista. Examples include wearing a human skin cape or skulls hanging on you. Everyone must see it.

==The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy==
An honour bestowed only to the most truly deserving head honchos of villainkind, not just any hireling with ideas above their station can get here!

* '''Sauron''' ([[Lord of the Rings]]): The dude who originally created the term "Dark Lord" in modern high fantasy (though ironically only the second, lesser Dark Lord, see below) and was willing to get stuck into the action himself too. Pretty much an undead fallen angel who wants to bring order by tyrannically ruling Middle-earth. Once, the men of Númenor, one of the most powerful nations ever to rise in Middle-earth decided to kick his ass, and proceeded to lay siege to his fortress and capture him. After his capture he managed to corrupt the whole nation, made them worship his old boss (Morgoth, again see below) and got them to invade the Undying Lands of the Valar (angelic beings with god-like powers). As a result, Eru Ilúvatar himself (THE 'real' God and creator of the universe) was forced to intervene: he sank Númenor into the sea, and transformed the once flat planet into a globe, removing the Undying Lands from the plane altogether. This still wasn't sufficient to kill Sauron, who managed to come back - albeit highly weakened - to fuck shit up. His one weakness, the destruction of his ring, still required an incredible amount of good luck and perseverance to pull off, as arguably one of his most sinister powers was using the ring to control whoever possessed it; this fact alone was what kept him alive long after his body was destroyed, as nobody was willing to finish the job by destroying the ring until a crazed halfling stole it and fell into a volcano. For all his celebrity, for many years he was just a thrall of next entry.

* '''Melkor''' ([[The Silmarillion]]): If Sauron was the Antichrist, Melkor is Satan himself, quite literally in this case, with Eru being a parallel to the Christian God. More famous as Morgoth ("The Dark Enemy"), the most powerful of the Valar (basically angels, but with god-like powers and comparable in their roles and manners to Hellenic or Norse gods) and second only to Eru in terms of sheer power. His calls to fame are many, among them: destroying the planet's only light sources not once, but twice, torturing Elves (or Men, depending on source) badly enough to turn them into Orcs, creating Dragons, Wights and Werewolves, resisting a centuries-long siege, winning a battle that made the Battle of the Somme look like a picnic, making people associate the color black with evil and ruling nearly the whole of Middle-earth with an iron fist. Most importantly, he managed to drive a wedge between Elves and Men, by turning most of mankind to darkness, instilling them with unnatural fear of death. He was only defeated when the whole host of the god-like Valar assaulted his fortress and captured him (this happened twice), in a battle so violent the whole Beleriand sank beneath the oceans - a land about the same size of Middle-earth. He ''still'' was not killed, but was thrown off the fucking planet, and is prophesied to return in an apocalyptic final battle. Fun fact: do you remember Sauron's One Ring, his creation, in which he put much of this power and how it was impossible to kill him without destroying the Ring? Well, it's canon that Morgoth's Ring is ''the whole Middle-earth''. Think about the implications. To be fair half of the Silmarilion is him getting weaker and weaker as he pours more and more of his powers into his creations, developing fear, losing the ability to change his appearance and finally being even unable to recover from a wound, dealt to him in single combat by the Elven High-king, and thus developing a limp.

* '''Darth Sidious''' ([[Star Wars]]): Creepy old freak who single-mindedly engineered the complete destruction of the Jedi Order and turned the galaxy on its head so he could rule it as a tyrant (and fend off the the Yuuzahn Vong; think Dark Eldar crossed with Tyranids and the Imperium's religious extremism) upon their inevitable [[Rape|arrival]] into galaxy... much like another famous [[Emperor]]. Unfortunately not everything [[Not as Planned|transpired]] according to his design). His favorite trick was using his force lightning to make toast (always too overdone).

* '''The Timeless One''' ([[Halo]]): AKA The Flood and The Gravemind, came from a race of nigh-omniscient eldritch abominations called the Precursors that came before the Universe was born. Single-handedly destroyed an interstellar [[The Culture|Culture]]-level civilization, the Forerunners, for insane sobbing cynical vengeful shits and giggles [[FAIL|after it led a genocide against the Precursors, their peaceful creators now gone insane with the god equivalent of PTSD]], all because the Precursors thought humans were less stuck up than the Forerunners, and is now coming back in the form of a horrifying fusion of The Thing, [[Tyranids]] and X-Parasite; so that he can force every single living thing in the Universe to "join" him in a very fucked up version of [[Communism]] via OM NOM NOMING their bodies and souls in eternal torment and pain. This Flood also acts as a computer virus in later stages, and The Gravemind's ultimate plan is to wipe the universe clean and start over, having gone way past over-the-top friendly fire several hundred thousand years late vengeance, when everyone responsible is already dead. Also proclaimed as the greatest [[Troll]] to come out of Sci-Fi since the introduction of [[Tzeentch]] and [[Eldrad]], considering how he manages to slowly and painfully rip apart the 10 million year old culture and beliefs of the Forerunners by forcing them to do things that are both hypocritical and outright contradictory of their pacifistic religion as well as tormenting and mind-raping the Forerunner's greatest heroes into deranged psychopaths. The most perfectionist of the lot and [[Get shit done|getting the most shit done.]]

* '''Dracula''' ([[Castlevania]]): Was the big bad in the majority of the Castlevania games (but subverted for the two recent games). How bad is he? Well... when even [[Aza'Gorod|Death]] considers him as "Boss", then it should tell you the power differences here in pure EVIL.

* '''Voldemort''' ([[Harry Potter]]): The big bad evil wizard of the HP setting Voldemort spent most of the series as an evil spirit before coming back in a body made from a mixture in a cauldron (as you do). He runs on a platform of genocide against muggles and anyone with muggle blood (even though he has muggle blood himself, but hey, this the BBEG list and hypocrisy is evil), so basically he's Wizard Hitler. He failed to kill the Boy Who Lived as a baby, then failed again against him as a teenager and was hoisted by his own petards against him as an adult while failing to take over a High School. And he failed twice to take over the wizarding world, making one wonder about his track record.

* '''Jadis, the White Witch''' ([[C. S. Lewis|The Chronicles of Narnia]]): This frigid bitch likes to freeze everything and will turn you to stone at the drop of a hat if you displease her. She's so evil in fact, that she managed to keep Santa Claus out for 1,000 years so that nobody could celebrate Christmas (<s>We remind you this is a children's story, so</s> this is a big fucking deal, even [http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Darkseid-vs.-Santa.jpg ''Darkseid'' couldn't pull that off]). She had eternal life after eating a cursed apple and froze Narnia into a state of perpetual winter to be her [[Magical Realm|perfect place]], but was challenged by a gang of motley kids and killed by a Prince. Unlike most female villains, she actually gets a painful death - first she gets mauled to death by Aslan (who is literally Jesus in the form of a lion) then, [[Skub|if the theory that she came back in ''The Silver Chair'' as the Lady of the Green Kritle is true]], she was killed a second time by being impaled on a sword. Whichever theory is true, she dies painfully. In the past, on her original homeworld of Charn, she discovered a spell called the Deplorable Word that would slay all life with the sole exception of its speaker, and used it to kill every living thing on her own world so she could be Queen. That's right, a villain from a series of children's novels committed ''world-wide genocide''; given the debut of [[Warhammer Adventures]] that means C.S Lewis technically wrote books darker than a Warhammer setting.

* '''Nothing to see here, move along. -Your friendly neighborhood inquisitior. {{BLAM|'''''[[HERESY|HERESY!]]'''''}} '''{{BLAM|<nowiki>*</nowiki>BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*}}'''

*'''Dio Brando''' ([[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]): This is one of those rare cases where we get to see most of the Big Bad's rise to power, from a normal but sociopathic aristocratic brat to a hundred-year-old vampire able to stop time itself. Like most things in JJBA, Dio is famous for his bombastic personality and his ability to kick ass in a fight. And his minions, all quite powerful in their own unique ways, simply serve as appetizers for the sheer mindfuckery he's capable of whenever he activates his Stand, <s>The World</s> ZA WARUDO! Even after he's killed, enough of his minions survived to stir up trouble, including plots to try and reset the universe to revive him.

*'''[[Yawgmoth]], the Ineffable''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): This is the formerly ordinary human that turned [[Phyrexia]] from a backwater plane to the nightmarish world that we all knew and loved via turning the people of his home into nightmare zombie robots from hell (badass), and his will influencing the 'oil' on Phyrexia. After his apotheosis, the Father of Machines was able to take on Oldwalkers and come out on top. As such, he was too powerful (post apotheosis) to print, and some of the most powerful cards bear his name (Yawgmoth's Will and Yawgmoth's Bargain are both banned in legacy). Hell, until 2018 he wasn't even in card art. In 2019 we got a pre-apotheosis card.

*'''[[Nicol Bolas]]''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): The first Planeswalker to ever exist, and possibly the oldest Dragon in the multiverse. In terms of a singular bad guy, Nicol Bolas is currently the biggest one in Magic. (Phyrexia is more of an evil civilization and the Eldrazi <s>are a trio of cosmic horrors</s> is a cosmic horror that is sealed away, for now). Bolas has created countless planes, and destroyed twice as many. His signature ability is to shatter a person's psyche by simply touching them (which is an inborn ability.) Practically all of the major catastrophes that have happened in recent times in the Multiverse have been his doing or were the result of his meddling (such as the release of the [[Eldrazi]], Ugin's Death, and the Destruction of [[Amonkhet]]), with many of the more recent ones being part of his ultimate goal of obtaining the [[Pun Pun|Multiverse shaking power]] that a Planeswalker's Spark once granted. He also prefers to simply be called Nicol Bolas because once you have practically every title, they lose meaning.

*'''Lord Zedd''' (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): The Emperor of Evil, Ruler of All He Sees, and the one who gave you nightmares as a child in the mid 90s. (Well him, and staying up past your bed time watching X-Files). He was the character that became the first real threat to the Power Rangers, and was only finally defeated by an intense letter writing campaign by your mom. Shame because even with the over acting he came off as a badass in those early episodes. Evil atrocities include: destroying the original Dinozords, slowly draining Tommy's (Green Ranger) powers, and trying to brainwash and marry your prepubescent crush Kimberly (Pink Ranger). Biggest flaws are: his schemes always backfiring and making the Rangers more powerful, his Zord Serpentera runs on 2 AA Batteries, and excessive maniacal laughing.

*'''Thanos''' ([[Marvel Comics| Marvel Cinematic Universe]]): Thanos is one of the major villains in Marvel Comics, famous for the iconic storyline ''The Infinity Gauntlet''. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had its own villains for individual movies, but setting up for its homage to the classic storyline had Thanos as the big overarching villain of the film franchise. He saw his planet suffer from an overpopulation crisis and suggested killing half the population at random in order to allow more resources to go around. He was ignored and his people went extinct. This caused Thanos to believe the entire universe was in a population crisis and set out to gather six objects called the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life, and along the way he attacked numerous other worlds where he killed half their population. Seeing that relying on others to get the stones for him wasn't working he finally decided to gather the stones himself, and despite the best efforts of the Avengers, he gathered all the stones and killed half the universe before making his escape, at the cost of losing the few beings he cared about. The Avengers tracked him down to his hiding place only to find Thanos used the Infinity Stones to destroy the stones to ensure his work couldn't be undone, before the Avengers killed him. When the Avengers went through time to collect the Infinity Stones to bring back everyone Thanos killed, Thanos' younger self was alerted to their plans and followed them to the present. The fact that the Avengers his future self wasn't important, what mattered was that they were planning to undo his life's work. Seeing that universe would be grateful he killed half of it to preserve life, Thanos sought to use the Infinity Stones to destroy the universe and recreate it so it would be grateful, showing he was nothing more than a madman seeking validation.

===Games Workshop===
*'''[[Nagash]]''' ([[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]], [[Age of Sigmar]]): Former [[Tomb King]] (via usurping the throne) from back when they were living humans, the inventor of necromancy, the one who caused undead factions to exist in the game and the greatest threat to the Warhammer world outside of the Chaos Gods (even planning to supplant them). And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for [[Skaven|those meddling rats]] and Nurgle. Became the god of death with his own realm in AoS and despite [[Abbadon|numerous failures on his part]], Nagash is starting to bring the grim to the Nobledark of Age of Sigmar and even the Chaos Gods are wary of his plans.

*'''[[Malekith]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): The Witch King and Lord of the Druchii, [[Malekith]] is (or was) one of the less pompous of the Big Bads of Fantasy - On his throne in the center of his evil and cold domain of Naggaroth, Malekith could see the entirety of the world, no matter where it was, but his eyes were fixed at one point - Ulthuan and the throne of the [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)#Finubar.2C_The_Seafarer|Phoenix King]], which he will always strive towards. After 6,000 years of civil war, started after his mother Morathi fucked up his coronation, the [[The End Times|End Times]] reveals something incredible and unheard of among Big Bads - He was the good guy! Or, the gods had chosen him like he said they had and they decided to let him retake their test. Which he passed. After retaking Ulthuan and killing [[Tyrion]], who was possessed by the [[Widowmaker]], Malekith was chosen as the Phoenix/Eternity King. Now the leader of all elfkind, he is the only one who can assure the survival of the entirety of the elven race... Now fused with his pet dragon and allies with Tyrion duo to salvage elves/aelfs' souls from Slaanesh's stomach.

*'''[[Archaon]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): Elected bro for life of the Chaos Gods and doer of getting shit done and given the current state of [[Age of Sigmar|AoS]] arguably the most successful BBEG ever. Formerly a righteous man until the machinations of Chaos made him go off the rails. [[Failbaddon]] lives in constant terror of Archaon getting fed up and coming to kick him out of existence.

*'''[[Asdrubael Vect]]''' ([[Warhammer 40k]]): More dangerous than Failbaddon could ever be even in his dreams, Vect passes the time causing countless millions to be tortured, just for his bored amusement. Master of dick moves and getting others to get others to do ''his'' dirty work. The only reason he hasn't conquered the galaxy is <s>Games Workshop's refusal to let the plot of 40K go in that direction</s> because endlessly dicking with the galaxy is infinitely more fun and sustainable than conquering it. It's implied that the reason Vect was removed from the codex as a playable character is because GW was that scared of Vect changing the status quo. He arranged a plan to let the oldcron [[Aza'Gorod|Nightbringer]] out of his box so he could talk about killing stuff with someone who could match his tally. Last seen arranging his death and restoration to unify the Dark Eldar under his banner after Ynnead's rise to prominence.

*'''[[Matt Ward]]''' ([[Games Workshop]]): Dark Lord of [[Fluff]] [[Rape]] and [[Codex]] Destruction, his plan to unleash his hordes of [[Ultramarine]] servants to take over the galaxy in a wave of blue and to subject the [[Grey Knights]] to eternal ass rape. He's also managed to defeat the [[C'tan]] and take control of the [[Necrons]] to aid his blue-clad minions. Few, if any, are as diabolical as this man! In fact, he was so much of an evil mastermind that none of his plans were ever really challenged, and so he quit his goddamn job. As in, literally. The Throne of Defilement of Fluff and [[Crunch]] sat vacant years, but then Ward returned.

*'''[[Horus|Fucking Horus]]''' (Warhammer 40k): The great bastard himself, Horus Lupercal. He turned the galaxy from a universe that, while grey, still had light at the end of the tunnel (what with the [[Primarch]] the [[Emperor]], the [[Space Marine Legions]], and the recovery of [[STC]]), to the [[Grimdark]], Black vs. Black "we are all going to fucking die, and [[Genestealer|that's]] [[Daemon|if]] [[Necrons|we're]] [[Dark Eldar|lucky]]" shithole we know it as now. Turned the Nine Legions of Traitor Astartes and butched his way to Holy Terra (A.K.A Earth after mad max, nuclear annihilation, and rebuilding the place from the ground up with THE GLORIOUS POWER OF INDUSTRY!), where he was only defeated by 40k space Jesus. Essentially [[Abbadon]] if he was more successful.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* '''[[Acererak]]''': The original demi-lich of the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and a petty dick with way too much time on his hands. This guy has been killing adventurers since 1E DnD with strange dungeons and diabolical traps, largely because he can; he's got back-up bodies and a personal pocket dimension he can jump into if things go tits up. Lately he's been having fun killing everything that has been resurrected through a big fucking machine and an [[Atropal|aborted fetus of a god]].

* '''[[Strahd von Zarovich]]''': Maybe the ultimate DnD villain, Strahd's only weakness is that he's pretty much Dracula in DnD - But ''how''. He's nearly omniscient about everything that goes on in his domain, he regularly tortures adventurers for centuries and trap them just to have a bit of a break from his boredom, and best of all, the reason he's evil is not because he wants to conquer or be immortal - he got those two parts down already. No, he's just a possessive, manipulative asshole who believes one woman is his property, and so, everyone else gets to suffer because he can't take a fucking hint. Strahd's so relaxed with his position that he invites people to his castle just to fuck with them. Even better, he can randomly turn up while playing [[Curse of Strahd]], which no-doubt creates a pant-wetting moment when a party of Level 2 adventurers has to engage with an immortal, all powerful vampire with boundary issues.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:supervillain.jpg|Now you know.
Image:bearcula.jpg
Image:dr no.jpg|Antagonists with crazy schemes of megalomaniac conquest and revenge upon the world, their lairs full of traps and minions...Ian Flemming might have been a good DM.
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Big Bad Evil Guy

2021-05-17T17:51:09Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy */

[[Image:Sauron.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Lord of the Rings|Sauron]], pretty much the archetypal "Dark Lord" common to fantasy and an inspiration to countless BBEGs. We love (to hate) you big S! :D]]

The '''Big Bad Evil Guy''', typically shortened simply to '''Big Bad''' or '''BBEG''', is roleplaying gamer slang for the primary antagonist of an adventure or campaign. He is the one who is ultimately responsible for whatever shit his associates or minions do, and defeating him usually means the successful conclusion of a campaign (or at least a part of it). To ensure that this is sufficiently dramatic, [[DM]]s often make the BBEG a powerful character, making this final encounter something of a boss fight. The BBEGs seem to know this is coming, so they will usually construct a suitably impressive lair for the suitably dramatic confrontation to take place in.

Many of these fantasy villains often like to address themselves as 'The Dark Lord' or add 'Dark Lord' before their name, just in case you goblin-fondling peasants weren't paying attention to who they are.

Hilariously though, the [[Abaddon the Despoiler|sheer incompetence of some of these big bads]] [[Black Crusade|is at times a beauty to behold]], as their over-arrogant natures, the stupidity of their minions, or luck and/or skill on the part of their opposition means their plans fall apart dramatically. For example Harry Potter, despite being a teen and knowing as much magic as a mouse for most of the series, time and time again foiled Voldemort's plans. Despite having control of one of the key factions in 40k, [[Abaddon]] failed to get anything done until about 10,000 years (the fact that Abbadon hasn't been killed or overthrown yet is because Games Workshop won't let the story go in that direction). And yet how do they get by with so much failure when they would have roasted their henchmen alive if they had done the same? Simple; if you dare to mention it to their face about their joy-to-watch failures, YOU will be the one roasting alive!

Note the title of "Big Bad Evil GUY", as this character is most often a man (note the BBEG's in the list below). It is uncommon for the BBEGs to be women, a "Big Bad Evil Gal" if you will. Having the main antagonist be female is rarer than antagonists that are genderless or forces of nature (such as A.Is or natural disasters in disaster films). The reasons for this are... contentious, and not well explored. [[Skub|Some could say it's sexist against women by assuming that female villains will never be as effective as male villains, or it could be sexist against men by assuming that men are more evil than women, a combination or something else]]. Leaning towards the latter, a female Big Bad is more likely to be shown mercy or have it offered to her than her male counterpart, and is less likely to die or suffer for her crimes. If the hero is a man, it's also less likely that he will directly kill a Big Bad Evil Gal. It could also just be cultural: there are no shortages of evil queens and faeries in German fantasy, from the poisoner of ''Sleeping Beauty'' to Xayide in ''Never Ending Story''. But, well... Germans.

In most video games the BBEG is usually the final villain which you and maybe a couple of hanger-ons have to defeat to win the game. Whether it will be a hard fight or not depends how merciless the game designers are feeling.

[[Paladin]]s are automatically required to attempt to offer the BBEG mercy, [[derp | even if they have happily slaughtered hundreds of relatively less evil minions without mercy on their way to the BBEG's lair.]]

==Requirements to become a BBEG==
# Kill a lot of innocents (unimaginative, but kind of a must-do on the list; a tradition).
# Make big grandiose plans that also include big holes in them, just enough for someone to mess up if needs be.
# Surround yourself with minions and right-hand men. Your evil meter goes higher the more bodies you can pile up there.
# Have a characteristic to define you from the masses, like a menacing eye (Sauron), the ability to shoot lightning from your hands (Sidious) or an embarrassing track record of failure no-one can mistake (Abaddon).
# Perfect evil laugh and twisted sense of humour.
# Have a super bad-ass evil lair.
# [[Ahriman|Don't melt into goodness at the sight of baskets of kittens or puppies.]]
# Pretend you don't have any possible mental problems even if they are there.
# Beat up anyone that even looks like competition.
# [[Kharn|Be a dick to everyone, even your own side]] (tough love).
# IMPORTANT: Do something memorable. It is not enough to just do all of the above, you need to really do something unique to stand out from your peers. Sidious masterminded the complete destruction of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith to masters of the Galaxy. Sauron helped fuck up his world and make a lasting legacy of evil by creating so many evil races. Asdrubael Vect established the single most unpleasant city realm in the galaxy and allowed the Dark Eldar to flourish as a people. What will YOU do to get your enemies quaking in jealously and respect?
# You must wear pitch black armor that covers EVERY. PART. OF. YOUR. BODY. Your face must not be shown, not even once, because that makes you a mysterious badass (unless you're ugly as fuck). Bonus point if your armor is possessed or has some evil origin. Also, coat yourself with as many spikes as possible.
# Developing a bizarre taste of carrying human remains on you like some kind of fashionista. Examples include wearing a human skin cape or skulls hanging on you. Everyone must see it.

==The Big Bad Evil Guy Hall of Infamy==
An honour bestowed only to the most truly deserving head honchos of villainkind, not just any hireling with ideas above their station can get here!

* '''Sauron''' ([[Lord of the Rings]]): The dude who originally created the term "Dark Lord" in modern high fantasy (though ironically only the second, lesser Dark Lord, see below) and was willing to get stuck into the action himself too. Pretty much an undead fallen angel who wants to bring order by tyrannically ruling Middle-earth. Once, the men of Númenor, one of the most powerful nations ever to rise in Middle-earth decided to kick his ass, and proceeded to lay siege to his fortress and capture him. After his capture he managed to corrupt the whole nation, made them worship his old boss (Morgoth, again see below) and got them to invade the Undying Lands of the Valar (angelic beings with god-like powers). As a result, Eru Ilúvatar himself (THE 'real' God and creator of the universe) was forced to intervene: he sank Númenor into the sea, and transformed the once flat planet into a globe, removing the Undying Lands from the plane altogether. This still wasn't sufficient to kill Sauron, who managed to come back - albeit highly weakened - to fuck shit up. His one weakness, the destruction of his ring, still required an incredible amount of good luck and perseverance to pull off, as arguably one of his most sinister powers was using the ring to control whoever possessed it; this fact alone was what kept him alive long after his body was destroyed, as nobody was willing to finish the job by destroying the ring until a crazed halfling stole it and fell into a volcano. For all his celebrity, for many years he was just a thrall of next entry.
* '''Melkor''' ([[The Silmarillion]]): If Sauron was the Antichrist, Melkor is Satan himself, quite literally in this case, with Eru being a parallel to the Christian God. More famous as Morgoth ("The Dark Enemy"), the most powerful of the Valar (basically angels, but with god-like powers and comparable in their roles and manners to Hellenic or Norse gods) and second only to Eru in terms of sheer power. His calls to fame are many, among them: destroying the planet's only light sources not once, but twice, torturing Elves (or Men, depending on source) badly enough to turn them into Orcs, creating Dragons, Wights and Werewolves, resisting a centuries-long siege, winning a battle that made the Battle of the Somme look like a picnic, making people associate the color black with evil and ruling nearly the whole of Middle-earth with an iron fist. Most importantly, he managed to drive a wedge between Elves and Men, by turning most of mankind to darkness, instilling them with unnatural fear of death. He was only defeated when the whole host of the god-like Valar assaulted his fortress and captured him (this happened twice), in a battle so violent the whole Beleriand sank beneath the oceans - a land about the same size of Middle-earth. He ''still'' was not killed, but was thrown off the fucking planet, and is prophesied to return in an apocalyptic final battle. Fun fact: do you remember Sauron's One Ring, his creation, in which he put much of this power and how it was impossible to kill him without destroying the Ring? Well, it's canon that Morgoth's Ring is ''the whole Middle-earth''. Think about the implications. To be fair half of the Silmarilion is him getting weaker and weaker as he pours more and more of his powers into his creations, developing fear, losing the ability to change his appearance and finally being even unable to recover from a wound, dealt to him in single combat by the Elven High-king, and thus developing a limp.
* '''Darth Sidious''' ([[Star Wars]]): Creepy old freak who single-mindedly engineered the complete destruction of the Jedi Order and turned the galaxy on its head so he could rule it as a tyrant (and fend off the the Yuuzahn Vong; think Dark Eldar crossed with Tyranids and the Imperium's religious extremism) upon their inevitable [[Rape|arrival]] into galaxy... much like another famous [[Emperor]]. Unfortunately not everything [[Not as Planned|transpired]] according to his design). His favorite trick was using his force lightning to make toast (always too overdone).
* '''The Timeless One''' ([[Halo]]): AKA The Flood and The Gravemind, came from a race of nigh-omniscient eldritch abominations called the Precursors that came before the Universe was born. Single-handedly destroyed an interstellar [[The Culture|Culture]]-level civilization, the Forerunners, for insane sobbing cynical vengeful shits and giggles [[FAIL|after it led a genocide against the Precursors, their peaceful creators now gone insane with the god equivalent of PTSD]], all because the Precursors thought humans were less stuck up than the Forerunners, and is now coming back in the form of a horrifying fusion of The Thing, [[Tyranids]] and X-Parasite; so that he can force every single living thing in the Universe to "join" him in a very fucked up version of [[Communism]] via OM NOM NOMING their bodies and souls in eternal torment and pain. This Flood also acts as a computer virus in later stages, and The Gravemind's ultimate plan is to wipe the universe clean and start over, having gone way past over-the-top friendly fire several hundred thousand years late vengeance, when everyone responsible is already dead. Also proclaimed as the greatest [[Troll]] to come out of Sci-Fi since the introduction of [[Tzeentch]] and [[Eldrad]], considering how he manages to slowly and painfully rip apart the 10 million year old culture and beliefs of the Forerunners by forcing them to do things that are both hypocritical and outright contradictory of their pacifistic religion as well as tormenting and mind-raping the Forerunner's greatest heroes into deranged psychopaths. The most perfectionist of the lot and [[Get shit done|getting the most shit done.]]
* '''Dracula''' ([[Castlevania]]): Was the big bad in the majority of the Castlevania games (but subverted for the two recent games). How bad is he? Well... when even [[Aza'Gorod|Death]] considers him as "Boss", then it should tell you the power differences here in pure EVIL.
* '''Voldemort''' ([[Harry Potter]]): The big bad evil wizard of the HP setting Voldemort spent most of the series as an evil spirit before coming back in a body made from a mixture in a cauldron (as you do). He runs on a platform of genocide against muggles and anyone with muggle blood (even though he has muggle blood himself, but hey, this the BBEG list and hypocrisy is evil), so basically he's Wizard Hitler. He failed to kill the Boy Who Lived as a baby, then failed again against him as a teenager and was hoisted by his own petards against him as an adult while failing to take over a High School. And he failed twice to take over the wizarding world, making one wonder about his track record.
* '''Jadis, the White Witch''' ([[C. S. Lewis|The Chronicles of Narnia]]): This frigid bitch likes to freeze everything and will turn you to stone at the drop of a hat if you displease her. She's so evil in fact, that she managed to keep Santa Claus out for 1,000 years so that nobody could celebrate Christmas (<s>We remind you this is a children's story, so</s> this is a big fucking deal, even [http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Darkseid-vs.-Santa.jpg ''Darkseid'' couldn't pull that off]). She had eternal life after eating a cursed apple and froze Narnia into a state of perpetual winter to be her [[Magical Realm|perfect place]], but was challenged by a gang of motley kids and killed by a Prince. Unlike most female villains, she actually gets a painful death - first she gets mauled to death by Aslan (who is literally Jesus in the form of a lion) then, [[Skub|if the theory that she came back in ''The Silver Chair'' as the Lady of the Green Kritle is true]], she was killed a second time by being impaled on a sword. Whichever theory is true, she dies painfully. In the past, on her original homeworld of Charn, she discovered a spell called the Deplorable Word that would slay all life with the sole exception of its speaker, and used it to kill every living thing on her own world so she could be Queen. That's right, a villain from a series of children's novels committed ''world-wide genocide''; given the debut of [[Warhammer Adventures]] that means C.S Lewis technically wrote books darker than a Warhammer setting.
* '''Nothing to see here, move along. -Your friendly neighborhood inquisitior. {{BLAM|'''''[[HERESY|HERESY!]]'''''}} '''{{BLAM|<nowiki>*</nowiki>BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*}}'''
*'''Dio Brando''' ([[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]): This is one of those rare cases where we get to see most of the Big Bad's rise to power, from a normal but sociopathic aristocratic brat to a hundred-year-old vampire able to stop time itself. Like most things in JJBA, Dio is famous for his bombastic personality and his ability to kick ass in a fight. And his minions, all quite powerful in their own unique ways, simply serve as appetizers for the sheer mindfuckery he's capable of whenever he activates his Stand, <s>The World</s> ZA WARUDO! Even after he's killed, enough of his minions survived to stir up trouble, including plots to try and reset the universe to revive him.
*'''[[Yawgmoth]], the Ineffable''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): This is the formerly ordinary human that turned [[Phyrexia]] from a backwater plane to the nightmarish world that we all knew and loved via turning the people of his home into nightmare zombie robots from hell (badass), and his will influencing the 'oil' on Phyrexia. After his apotheosis, the Father of Machines was able to take on Oldwalkers and come out on top. As such, he was too powerful (post apotheosis) to print, and some of the most powerful cards bear his name (Yawgmoth's Will and Yawgmoth's Bargain are both banned in legacy). Hell, until 2018 he wasn't even in card art. In 2019 we got a pre-apotheosis card.
*'''[[Nicol Bolas]]''' ([[Magic: The Gathering]]): The first Planeswalker to ever exist, and possibly the oldest Dragon in the multiverse. In terms of a singular bad guy, Nicol Bolas is currently the biggest one in Magic. (Phyrexia is more of an evil civilization and the Eldrazi <s>are a trio of cosmic horrors</s> is a cosmic horror that is sealed away, for now). Bolas has created countless planes, and destroyed twice as many. His signature ability is to shatter a person's psyche by simply touching them (which is an inborn ability.) Practically all of the major catastrophes that have happened in recent times in the Multiverse have been his doing or were the result of his meddling (such as the release of the [[Eldrazi]], Ugin's Death, and the Destruction of [[Amonkhet]]), with many of the more recent ones being part of his ultimate goal of obtaining the [[Pun Pun|Multiverse shaking power]] that a Planeswalker's Spark once granted. He also prefers to simply be called Nicol Bolas because once you have practically every title, they lose meaning.
*'''Lord Zedd''' (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers): The Emperor of Evil, Ruler of All He Sees, and the one who gave you nightmares as a child in the mid 90s. (Well him, and staying up past your bed time watching X-Files). He was the character that became the first real threat to the Power Rangers, and was only finally defeated by an intense letter writing campaign by your mom. Shame because even with the over acting he came off as a badass in those early episodes. Evil atrocities include: destroying the original Dinozords, slowly draining Tommy's (Green Ranger) powers, and trying to brainwash and marry your prepubescent crush Kimberly (Pink Ranger). Biggest flaws are: his schemes always backfiring and making the Rangers more powerful, his Zord Serpentera runs on 2 AA Batteries, and excessive maniacal laughing.
*'''Thanos''' ([[Marvel Comics| Marvel Cinematic Universe]]): Thanos is one of the major villains in Marvel Comics, famous for the iconic storyline ''The Infinity Gauntlet''. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had its own villains for individual movies, but setting up for its homage to the classic storyline had Thanos as the big overarching villain of the film franchise. He saw his planet suffer from an overpopulation crisis and suggested killing half the population at random in order to allow more resources to go around. He was ignored and his people went extinct. This caused Thanos to believe the entire universe was in a population crisis and set out to gather six objects called the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life, and along the way he attacked numerous other worlds where he killed half their population. Seeing that relying on others to get the stones for him wasn't working he finally decided to gather the stones himself, and despite the best efforts of the Avengers, he gathered all the stones and killed half the universe before making his escape, at the cost of losing the few beings he cared about. The Avengers tracked him down to his hiding place only to find Thanos used the Infinity Stones to destroy the stones to ensure his work couldn't be undone, before the Avengers killed him. When the Avengers went through time to collect the Infinity Stones to bring back everyone Thanos killed, Thanos' younger self was alerted to their plans and followed them to the present. The fact that the Avengers his future self wasn't important, what mattered was that they were planning to undo his life's work. Seeing that universe would be grateful he killed half of it to preserve life, Thanos sought to use the Infinity Stones to destroy the universe and recreate it so it would be grateful, showing he was nothing more than a madman seeking validation.

===Games Workshop===
*'''[[Nagash]]''' ([[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]], [[Age of Sigmar]]): Former [[Tomb King]] (via usurping the throne) from back when they were living humans, the inventor of necromancy, the one who caused undead factions to exist in the game and the greatest threat to the Warhammer world outside of the Chaos Gods, he even plans to supplant them. And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for [[Skaven|those meddling rats]] and Nurgle. Became the god of death with his own realm in AoS and despite [[Abbadon|numerous failures on his part]], Nagash is starting to bring the grim to the Nobledark of Age of Sigmar and even the Chaos Gods are wary of his plan.
*'''[[Malekith]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): The Witch King and Lord of the Druchii, [[Malekith]] is (or was) one of the less pompous of the Big Bads of Fantasy - On his throne in the center of his evil and cold domain of Naggaroth, Malekith could see the entirety of the world, no matter where it was, but his eyes were fixed at one point - Ulthuan and the throne of the [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)#Finubar.2C_The_Seafarer|Phoenix King]], which he will always strive towards. After 6,000 years of civil war, started after his mother Morathi fucked up his coronation, the [[The End Times|End Times]] reveals something incredible and unheard of among Big Bads - He was the good guy! Or, the gods had chosen him like he said they had and they decided to let him retake their test. Which he passed. After retaking Ulthuan and killing [[Tyrion]], who was possessed by the [[Widowmaker]], Malekith was chosen as the Phoenix/Eternity King. Now the leader of all elfkind, he is the only one who can assure the survival of the entirety of the elven race... Now fused with his pet dragon and allies with Tyrion duo to salvage elves/aelfs' souls from Slaanesh's stomach.
*'''[[Archaon]]''' (Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar): Elected bro for life of the Chaos Gods and doer of getting shit done and given the current state of [[Age of Sigmar|AoS]] arguably the most successful BBEG ever. Formerly a pious man until the machinations of Chaos made him go off the rails. [[Failbaddon]] lives in constant terror of Archaon getting fed up and coming to kick him out of existence.
*'''[[Asdrubael Vect]]''' ([[Warhammer 40k]]): More dangerous than Failbaddon could ever be even in his dreams, Vect passes the time causing countless millions to be tortured, just for his bored amusement. Master of dick moves and getting others to get others to do ''his'' dirty work. The only reason he hasn't conquered the galaxy is <s>Games Workshop's refusal to let the plot of 40K go in that direction</s> because endlessly dicking with the galaxy is infinitely more fun and sustainable than conquering it. It's implied that the reason Vect was removed from the codex as a playable character is because GW was that scared of Vect changing the status quo. He arranged a plan to let the oldcron [[Aza'Gorod|Nightbringer]] out of his box so he could talk about killing stuff with someone who could match his tally. Last seen arranging his death and restoration to unify the Dark Eldar under his banner after Ynnead's rise to prominence.
*'''[[Matt Ward]]''' ([[Games Workshop]]): Dark Lord of [[Fluff]] [[Rape]] and [[Codex]] Destruction, his plan to unleash his hordes of [[Ultramarine]] servants to take over the galaxy in a wave of blue and to subject the [[Grey Knights]] to eternal ass rape. He's also managed to defeat the [[C'tan]] and take control of the [[Necrons]] to aid his blue-clad minions. Few, if any, are as diabolical as this man! In fact, he was so much of an evil mastermind that none of his plans were ever really challenged, and so he quit his goddamn job. As in, literally. The Throne of Defilement of Fluff and [[Crunch]] sat vacant years, but then Ward returned.
*'''[[Horus|Fucking Horus]]''' (Warhammer 40k): The great bastard himself, Horus Lupercal. He turned the galaxy from a universe that, while grey, still had light at the end of the tunnel (what with the [[Primarch]] the [[Emperor]], the [[Space Marine Legions]], and the recovery of [[STC]]), to the [[Grimdark]], Black vs. Black "we are all going to fucking die, and [[Genestealer|that's]] [[Daemon|if]] [[Necrons|we're]] [[Dark Eldar|lucky]]" shithole we know it as now. Turned the Nine Legions of Traitor Astartes and butched his way to Holy Terra (A.K.A Earth after mad max, nuclear annihilation, and rebuilding the place from the ground up with THE GLORIOUS POWER OF INDUSTRY!), where he was only defeated by 40k space Jesus. Essentially [[Abbadon]] if he was more successful.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* '''[[Acererak]]''': The original demi-lich of the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and a petty dick with way too much time on his hands. This guy has been killing adventurers since 1E DnD with strange dungeons and diabolical traps, largely because he can; he's got back-up bodies and a personal pocket dimension he can jump into if things go tits up. Lately he's been having fun killing everything that has been resurrected through a big fucking machine and an [[Atropal|aborted fetus of a god]].
* '''[[Strahd von Zarovich]]''': Maybe the ultimate DnD villain, Strahd's only weakness is that he's pretty much Dracula in DnD - But ''how''. He's nearly omniscient about everything that goes on in his domain, he regularly tortures adventurers for centuries and trap them just to have a bit of a break from his boredom, and best of all, the reason he's evil is not because he wants to conquer or be immortal - he got those two parts down already. No, he's just a possessive, manipulative asshole who believes one woman is his property, and so, everyone else gets to suffer because he can't take a fucking hint. Strahd's so relaxed with his position that he invites people to his castle just to fuck with them. Even better, he can randomly turn up while playing [[Curse of Strahd]], which no-doubt creates a pant-wetting moment when a party of Level 2 adventurers has to engage with an immortal, all powerful vampire with boundary issues.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:supervillain.jpg|Now you know.
Image:bearcula.jpg
Image:dr no.jpg|Antagonists with crazy schemes of megalomaniac conquest and revenge upon the world, their lairs full of traps and minions...Ian Flemming might have been a good DM.
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]

Rage

2021-05-17T17:38:18Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Things that /tg/ Loves to Hate */

[[Image:Rage-a.jpg|thumb|The famous Rageface]]
'''FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF...''' Rage is the most important fuel on which the [[neckbeard]] runs (with [[meatbread]] coming at a close second), and the only way to get his share of rage is to grapple the [[troll]] whenever he appears on /tg/. Here is a summary of the things /tg/ hates and the most common sources of trolling.

Sometimes known as Raeg, never to be confused with [[Commissar Raege|Raege]], or there '''will''' be rage. Also, this has nothing to do with that boring 2011 video game.

==Things that /tg/ Loves to Hate==
* [[/tg/]]
* [[1d4chan]]
* [[4chan]]
** Anonymous
** [[/b/|/b/tards]]
** [[/tg/|Itself]]
*** [[Neckbeards|Fatbeards]]
* The Alphabet
* [[Avatar]]
** James Cameron's idea of a furry vs human world
** Ridiculous premise
** Plot holes so big you could walk through them
** Furries(see below)
* ''[[The Book of Weeaboo Fightan Magic]]''
* [[C.S.Goto|A CERTAIN MUTILATOR OF INK AND PAPER WHO HAS A RAGING CHUBBY FOR MULTILAZORS AND FLUFF-MUTILATION]]
* [[Chakat]]s
* [[Chris-Chan]]
* [[/d/M]]s
* [[Dawn of War 2]]'s Multiplayer Mode outside of [[Last Stand]]
* [[Derp]]
* [[Drizzt]]
* [[Drowtales]]
* Dungeons and Dragons; all editions, but especially [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|Third Edition]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|4th Edition]]
** [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]
*** People who hate said Fourth Edition
*** People who like said Fourth Edition
*** World of Warcraft clone
*** Removes the versatility/complexity of 3.5
** People who complain when the biggest problem of the last edition got fixed
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''
** Graphic tileset ''Dwarf Fortress''
** ASCII ''Dwarf Fortress''
* [[Dwarves]]
* [[Elves]]
* Emoticons
* Everything
* Existence
* Ex-Sharran emo/goth [[elves|elves]] seeking [[Dark Angels|redemption]].
* [[FATAL]]
** Overly complicated
** [[wizard|Wizards]] are overpowered
** Need a prestige class to be successful
** Literally runs on rape (plus age and anatomy are no barrier).
* [[:Category:Stories|Fanfics/Writefaggotry]]
* Fiction
* [[Fish of Fury|Fish of Fucking Fury]]
*Floppy premises.
**[[gay|/tg/ only likes strong and virile, shafts with a strong girth capable of going deepe enough to cause a righteous orgasm and a sticky mess.]]
* [[Furry|Furries]], especially [[Flare]]
** [[Werewolf|Werewolves]]
* Games Workshop
* [[Halo]] (maybe)
* [[/tg/'s homebrews|Homebrews]]
** Forcing <the homebrew> on to your players
** Creating your own personal FanFic
** Because a random person on the internet has better insight into game mechanics than a professional game designer
* [[User:Imperial32|Imperial32]]
* [[Jokaero]]
** Mainly the barrel of monkeys
* [[Kender]]
* [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]]
* [[Matt Ward]]
** [[Robin Cruddace]]
*** [[Phil Kelly]]
* [[Yu-Gi-Oh|That fucking game]]
* [[My Little Pony]]
** Could be [[skub|arguable]], as some fa/tg/uys actually ''like'' it.
*** This causes the rest to rage hard enough to make up for the loss.
****Hey, if its popular enough to be parodied by famous internet people like the nostalgia critic, it must have some merits, right? {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|One could make the same argument for Twilight, heretic.}}
* Nothing
* [[Orc|Orcs]]
* [[Ork|Orks]]
* <strike>[[Skub]]</strike>
* The [[Star Trek]] reboot.
** J. J. Abrams's lens-flare faggotry
** J. J. Abrams fucking remorseless destruction one of the 3 founding worlds
* ''[[StarCraft]]''
* Steven Universe
* [[Fags of 4chan|Tripfags]]
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]''
** The art is shitty.
** Even if the art is done on purpose, it's still shitty.
** Where are the jokes?
** Wall of Text/WORDSWORDSWORDSWORDS
** The story sucks [and, implied, that this doesn't make up for shitty art/no joke]
* [[Page 42]]
* Reality
* Quests, and those participating in them.
* [[RPG|Roleplayers]]
* [[RPG|Rollplayers]]
* [[Suptg]]
* [[RPG|Tabletop]] [[Wargame|Games]]
* [[That Guy]]
* The End Times
** '''''YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! DAMN YOU! SIGMAR DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!!
'''''
* [[Troll]]s
* ''Twilight''
* [[/v/|Video games]]
* [[Weeaboo]]s
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''
** Expensive figurines
** [[C.S. Goto|Multilasers]]
** [[Matt Ward|Matt Fucking Ward]]
** [[loli|Kids]] obsessed with [[Space Marines|SPEESH MAREEENS]]
** the death company
** Ultramarines
* [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]
**People who hate said AoS (WAAC faggots)
**People who like said AoS (GW shills)
* [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] 3rd Edition
** Special Dice
** <s>It's a Damned Card Game</s> <s>No it isn't. Fuck you. </s> Yes it is.
* [[WARMACHINE]]
* [[-4 Str|Women]]
* [[WoD]]
* [[World of Warcraft|WoW]]
* You
**Especially You
*Matt Ward

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Rage-b.jpg
Image:Rage-c.jpg
Image:CUP OF RAGE.jpg
Image:Blurage.png
Image:Redrage.png
Image:MustNotRage.jpg
Image:Pcrageblue.jpg
Image:Blueragelow.jpg
Image:Vegetarage.jpg
Image:Altrageface.jpg
Image:Screamrage.jpg
Image:Derprage.png
Image:Grouprage.jpg
Image:Smileyrage.png
Image:Atomicrage.png
Image:Ragearab.jpg
Image:Ffffffffff.png
Image:Neckbeardrage.gif
Image:Kirbyrage.png
Image:ARGH.jpg
Image:FATRAGE.jpg
Image:Rage doom tv.jpg|[[Rip and tear|Rage and TV!]]
Image:Incoming rage.jpg
Image:Diglet rage.jpg
Image:Neckbeard skub rage.jpg
Image:Ork rage.png
Image:angrynerdrage.png|
Image:FIST_OF_THE_FUCKING_NORTH_STAR_RAGE.jpg|As long as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth exist, everything will RAGE. Wait, wrong [[anime]]...
Image:Countenance of fury.JPG
Image:Endrage.jpg|An improbability: THE RAGE HAS ENDED.
Image:emperage.png|The Emperor is displeased.
Image:Thomas the RAGE Engine.jpg|ALL ABOARD THE RAGE TRAIN
Image:TG's_avatar.jpg
Image:Explosive_Rage.jpg
Image:Dungeon the dRAGEoning.jpg
Image:Techrage.jpg
Image:HD-epic-rage.jpg|Now in HD, for the new decade.'''NO THE RAGE HAS RAGED INTO COLOR'''
File:Kanaya_chainsaw.gif|[[Sisters of Battle|Sister of Battle]] initiate [[Homestuck|Kanaya Mayram]] shows you how [[rage]] is done. (With a chainsaw)
Image:TheresultofeveryTCGgeneral.jpg|http://duelistgroundz.com/index.php?/topic/156119-100-reasons-why-your-game-is-awful/
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Anger]]
*[[Angry Marines]]
*[[Heresy]]
*[[Ribbon]]
*[[Skub]]
*Not directly related to [[MAD]] but it may a source of rage.

P.S: If your Rage can be heard a) on the other side of the Planet, b) in Space, c) in Limbo AND d) by your own Son twenty Years into the Future, then you're doing something right! Or not. Depends on who's at the receiving end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5VGZebsmEA

Also, read this. Seriously, keep reading you won't be disappointed. http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Slaanesh's_sacrifice.pdf
[[Category:RAGE]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:29:59Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* "Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate" */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when armor is discussed. For various physical, psychological and cultural reasons, throughout human history women have been much less involved in armies than men. As a result, examples and depictions of female armor are less common and some of the most popular examples are geared towards ceremony or fanservice. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that are anatomically correct or emulate sexual characteristics, including some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding... depending on the size of the breasts.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest.

While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two '''outward''' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:28:32Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Main Source of Skub */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when armor is discussed. For various physical, psychological and cultural reasons, throughout human history women have been much less involved in armies than men. As a result, examples and depictions of female armor are less common and some of the most popular examples are geared towards ceremony or fanservice. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that are anatomically correct or emulate sexual characteristics, including some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding... depending on the size of the breasts.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest.

While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:23:30Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Main Source of Skub */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that are anatomically correct or emulate sexual characteristics, including some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding... depending on the size of the breasts.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest.

While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:22:43Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Main Source of Skub */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that emulate physical sexual characteristics, including some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding... depending on the size of the breasts.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest.

While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:20:44Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* The Main Source of Skub */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that emulate physical sexual characteristics, including some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding... depending on the size of the woman in question and her breasts.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest. While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:16:48Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* "Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate" */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that had some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding. Depending on the size of the breasts, at least.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest. While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves deflecting blows away from the center; they're on the sides of the boobplates opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:15:32Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* "Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate" */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that had some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding. Depending on the size of the breasts, at least.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest. While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that there are two ''outward'' curves; they're on the sides of the boobplate opposite the cleavage), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:14:01Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* "Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate" */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that had some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding. Depending on the size of the breasts, at least.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest. While counterarguments have been made (such as the fact that boobplate is two semi-circles on the chest so can also direct blows ''away'' from the torso), but at this point we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Fantasy Armor

2021-05-17T17:08:45Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Bare Minimum */

{{Promotions}}

'''Fantasy armor''' has a long and noble tradition of [[awesome]]ness, [[Derp|awe-inspiring]] [[FAIL|stupidity]], and [[skub|lively debates]]. Many kind of fantastic armor, such as sexy bear skin speedos, chain mail bikinis, massive codpieces, ridiculously massive suits of plate mail, armor made of gold or even gems, and other overly elaborate forms of armor are all standard equipment for adventuring parties. Threads dedicated to fabulous and ridiculous armors are a common sight on /tg/, and discussions regarding people's favorite type of armor are also a common way to pass the time, [[cancer|although doing so has a risk of starting an ugly political debate over issues best not discussed on this page]].

Most agree that even the most over-the-top armor designs aren't a huge problem for anything other than historically accurate settings, and in terms of the [[crunch]] it simply doesn't matter, as the stats and the design do not need to be linked in any way - after all, the key word is "fantasy".

==Common Types==
As you may see with the images to the side, fantasy doesn't need its armor to be logically sound. Due to this, armor design is usually done more to appease the eye than the mind. Thus, armor design and usage that tends to be over-the-top usually leans on the following styles:

===Living Fortress===
The character is so excessively armored with large pieces of armor that you must wonder how they can even walk unassisted without falling over. Usually done to give characters a stoic and/or intimidating look. Issues such as avoiding heatstroke and being unable to use a toilet in that armor are usually sidestepped in fiction, but then those issues are [[Magical Realm|almost]] never addressed in fiction anyway. In real-life these drawbacks were trade offs for the protection the armor offered, and the armor itself can't be put on or removed by the person wearing it without someone else helping - in practice it's usually one of the jobs of a squire. To avoid heatstroke, the wearer had to drink and minimize activity where possible, and as for the toilet problem since the armor can't be properly removed without help, there was a flap at the back - otherwise the squire would have to clean it afterwards.

===Bare Minimum===
Not an armor type, so much as a lack thereof. Characters in this style typically wear just enough to keep them from being classified as naked (think "Red Sonja" and you'll get the idea). Traditionally given to characters who favor speed over protection (or fanservice, depending on the setting), it is also sometimes given to those who use some kind of supernatural protection against damage to supplement their armor or simply happen to be so good at withstanding/dodging attacks that they don't normally need to worry about being hurt in the first place. The average magic user is a good example of this, given that the traditional wizard robes are just natural fiber clothing and aren't usually much better in terms of their protective value (enchantments and other forms of magical protection notwithstanding). One popular example is Conan being depicted wearing only boots, a loincloth and a belt. This look originated from artwork of Conan by renowned artist Frank Frazetta. Frazetta himself depicted Conan this way because he liked drawing the human body and put that personal preference in his art style (which is why men and women in his art tend to be scantily clad whenever possible).

It should be noted that the "almost naked female armor" is not actually as common as one might expect. The worst offenders are usually fantasy pinups and JRPGs (and in the latter case, often applies to both men and women); for actual tabletop RPGs and most western-developed videogames, they're actually somewhat uncommon in recent years due to - among other things - ideological pushback, the practical objections and widespread mockery (as such, if the setting doesn't revolve around fanservice then the nakedness is usually either made more "artistic", or more effort is used in "justifying" it in-universe).

===Flash to the Extreme===
The character's armor is excessively decorated and designed in an over-the-top manner (ranging from bright colors to it being encrusted in precious gems and metals) that they basically scream: "walking target" and/or "mobile treasure chest" when out into the field. Usually given to the upper hierarchy of a setting to denote either their position or wealth. [[Chaos Space Marine|Large spikes]] count as an "evil" version of this; while they can make a villain look intimidating, they'd also be getting in the way, either poking yourself or your allies ''constantly''.

===Style over Substance===
The character's armor includes elements that reduce its practicality in favor of looking flashy or appealing. Such features are found almost entirely on female armor and includes high heels, contoured breastplates, no clear means of fastening it together, thigh-high boots, and a lack of padding. Then again, one can easily point to countless real-world examples of the above-mentioned traits (Yes, even heels - riding a horse with stirrups is much easier wearing boots with heels), but most of the time were usually reserved for ceremonial armor or just not totally optimized for combat (because even the best armor available for one age would have been outstripped and improved upon in design in later years).

===Fear Me===
The character's armor is specially designed to intimidate their enemies, either by just looking menacing or realizing what the armor is, is enough to inspire dread. This is typically reserved for villains, who will dress all evil-like to intimidate their foes and cement their position as a, or ''the'', big bad. The good guys sometimes use this style, as an attempt to show his allies and the enemy he means business. This can take a variety of forms, such as:
*Dreadful armor - simply designed to intimidate foes while looking dignified. They make take the shape of beings feared throughout the setting, like dragons, wolves, angelic/daemonic warriors, or what else have you. While sometimes they're adorned with iconography that their enemies would fear.

*Eldritch abomination - armor that looks like something H.P Lovecraft would make. Such style incorporates features that are designed to either disgust or horrify the enemy [[Chaos Space Marines|at the mere thought that something like them could exist.]] Typically used by big bads, who either have armor writhing like its alive or have fused with their armor like its their second skin.

*Armored hedgehog - covered in big sharp spikes. Some armors in this school have so many spikes that wearing them in real life would run the genuine risk of impaling oneself. Sometimes the user is even portrayed as using the spikes themselves as a weapon.

*The Faceless - some very intimidating primary villains wear helmets which completely obscure their face. This usually indicates to the viewer what it does to characters - this person is not to be fucked with. For some reason villains with full face protection tend to be very dangerous. They got so strong because they [[Reasonable Marines|wore helmets]] long enough to not get killed before [[Level|levelling up]] a lot.

===What are these "ergonomics"===

One thing should be emphasized about real world armor: It's already bloody uncomfortable to wear an at least 20 pound (or 10 kg) over shirt (which is about what the very lightest armor will weigh), never mind fight in such a thing. Padding was absolutely required for even the most basic of armor (most cutting weapons can do double duty as (expensive) clubs), and that's just the first obvious problem you'll have when fielding armor (and, in fact, there was and is a non-trivial amount of armor that was ''nothing but'' padding (go look up the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambeson Gambeson] if you don't believe us; D&D calls it "padded armor" and undervalues it because game balance)). Padding, needless to say, is hard to move around in. The Ergonomics of Real World armor was (and remains to this day) very important, as a result of these and other factors.

Fantasy armor frequently ignores such considerations as "weight", "flexibility", "range of motion", "chafing", "padding", and "comfort", among other considerations, with exceptions being people who wear armor that shows a lot of skin (which sorta defeats the point of armor, but there you go) or where magic compensates for ergonomics or function (e.g.; a metal bikini enchanted to protect its wearer). This is also ignoring the tendency for almost everybody to walk around without any kind of helmet.

== The Main Source of Skub ==
{{skubby}}

Female armor is the main source of [[skub]] when Armor is discussed. Three points are probably indisputable:

# The forces that produce cheesecake outfits in Real Life probably exist in your game world.
# The realities of combat also probably exist in your game world, which directly counteracts #1.
# The armor worn by women in Fantasy Art veers strongly towards the cheesecake side of the line.
# In the real world, there were actual suits of armor that had some ''very'' goofy looking codpieces; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_of_Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor here's one famous example].
# In the real world, practical armor is fairly unisex - breasts just don't get as much in the way as you might expect, particularly once you start adding the necessary padding. Depending on the size of the breasts, at least.
* [[Derp|Yes, we know that's five points, when we said three are indisputable.]] [[Irony|Which three of the above five are indisputable is widely disputed.]]

(For example, point number two is dependent on how much of a roleplayer vs. [[rollplaying|rollplayer]] you are. You wouldn't care much about how well armor covers you if it's +3 defense regardless of hit location. You'll also have people argue that artistic license is more important than adherence to reality when it comes to fiction, since it's not supposed to be a literal interpretation of reality anyway, but by that point you're entering a philosophical debate.)

Beyond those few points, expect to see nothing but a sea of bullshit, and maybe a few well meaning but absolutely wrong "Best Practices" suggestions.

==="Breast"plate a.k.a. "Boobplate"===
A somewhat specific case of "Female Armor skub" is a breastplate that has boobs on it, for use by female users who want to advertise their femaleness. There are a metric shitload of arguments centering around just this one specific variant of fantasy armor; the main somewhat objective complaint being that most such designs create an obvious weakness in the armor: you create an inward curve to drive the blow '''towards''' the center of the wearer's chest, rather than an outward curve which drives the blow '''away''' from the center of the chest. But from there, we rapidly enter the sea of skub and bullshit, without even the thin veneer of the "Best Practices" suggestions.

== A Mild Digression about Ceremonial Armor ==

In Real Life, armor was usually divided into practical and ceremonial armor. Practical armor was intended to actually be used (i.e., protect a dude (or dudette, as the case may be) from that spear or knife in the middle of an actual melee). Ceremonial armor was intended to look good. This resulted in occasional wild differences between the two, such as the ridiculous codpieces mentioned above. That is not too say that no piece of ceremonial armor has ever been used in battle: there are more than a few surviving examples with marks of wear, though the circumstances of their incurrence are not always clear.

Fantasy armor is usually inspired by the ceremonial armor, as that's what was usually put into artistic depictions and survived long enough to be put in museums. This is reinforced by seemingly period-accurate reproductions taking their inspiration from both sources.

== The Warhammer Line ==

As a side note, if your armor is as or more ridiculous than Warhammer's (either [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] or [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy]]), expect to be mocked. Yes, this means you, generic anime-inspired MMORPG, and you, [[That Guy]] who uses a screenshot from said MMORPG as his character portrait.

==See Also==
*[[Helmet]]
*[[Armor]]
*[[Pauldrons]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

== Gallery ==

<center><gallery>
File:Skelerotic Warrior.png|It separates, AND supports!
File:Bikini-Armor-Cosplay.jpg|This armor protects the most vital parts of the body.
File:Megnets.jpg|Perfectly safe, proven by practical evidence.
File:Glamour armor.jpg| Fantasy armor is known to reveal Fabulous Secret Powers to its wearer.
File:Armour of Bulk.png|[[Centurion Squad|The Centurion armored suit]]. An armor system where [[Derp|the guy wearing powered armor wears another powered armor suit on top of it]]. At least the title is correct.
</gallery></center>

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

[[Category: Meme]]

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Lumineth Realm-Lords

2021-05-17T16:00:50Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Syar */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Lumineth Realm-Lords|Logo=Eltharion's essence.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=FOR <s>ULTHUAN</s> HYSH!!!!!}}

The time of isolation is over, and now the Lumineth Realm-lords (not capitalizing the "-L") finally rise to defeat the forces of chaos with their unwavering resolve, unstoppable magic, angry cow people, stupid and impractical headgear even by this setting's standards and crippling drug addiction! (No really, that last part is actually part of their rules)

New battletome incoming!

==Why Play Lumineth Realm Lords?==
*You were a big fan of High Elves in The World that Was.
*You saw <s>300</s> Alexander the Great and thought to yourself "Yeah, this is cool, but you know what would be awesome? If they had pointy ears and a drug addiction!"
*Because you agree with most people that Eltharion was done dirty in The [[End Times]] and thought he deserved a new chance to shine.
*Because you want a more defensive playstyle with very durable infantry and a lot of flanking and ranged firepower.
*While you are an Elf fan, you also secretly like Dwarfs and want a factions that mixes elements of both.

'''Pros:'''
*Extremely durable core options with your Vanari units being able to automatically give enemies -1 to hit for your standard spears, archers and cavalry.
*If you absolutely need to hit a unit before it gets away or fights back, you can with Lightning Reactions.
*You can give your units buffs out the ass, and you don't need magic to do so.
*Speaking of magic, did we mention all your Vanari units are mages? You are *the* magic army, with only the likes of Tzeentch being able to keep up with you... and then you could take Teclis, who gives Lords of Change penis envy. Nobody expects Geminds and Lifeswarms to come out of your battleline.
*You can't throw a rock without hitting something that deals Mortal Wounds.
*Very powerful HQ choices. Obviously they have Teclis but if you don't want/can't afford him their other options are pretty damn good.
*Sweet spell lores. Being able to drop all enemy Bravery, make all your opponent's command abilities cost double, giving one of your units Ethereal or teleporting them means you have a spell for every situation.
*Horde factions are going to hate your guts because you have a lot of ways to get cheap, plentiful models off the field.
*You can turn the main weakness of using Aetherquartz, the -1 to bravery, and give it to your enemy, giving factions like Grots and Skaven a massive middle finger.

'''Cons:'''
*Remember all those buffs we mentioned above? Well, most come with drawbacks. Sure, you can get your wardens to give the enemy -1 to hit having their models all touching, but now they can't run or charge. Sure you can break into your Aetherquartz reserve to give your troops a rush, but now they have -1 to bravery. You need to make sure you are using them at the best time to mitigate the drawbacks.
*No multi-casters outside of bringing Teclis or <s>snorting crystal meth</s> using aetherquartz.
*The models are bad to transport. There's a lot of bits sticking off them like weapons, tassels and braids. The Vanari Dawnrider models are only connected to their bases by one hoof from their horsies. They'll likely need the Nighthaunt or Sylvaneth solution.
*Their bravery is mediocre, and gets even worse if they use aetherquartz.
*Your only allies are your edgy cousins from the sea, questionable lore be damned.
*Though you have the military style down from the High Elves, you traded the awesome stuff like Dragons, Lions, and eagles for weird <s>furries</s> Elemental spirits and amalgamation mounts.

==Army Rules==
===Battle Traits===
*'''AETHERQUARTZ RESERVE:''' This is your big army-wide resource, more akin to the Kharadron's Aethergold in application. Every unit in your army has a single share of Aetherquartz. Once per phase, you can let one unit blow their reserves for one of the following powers below. However, using it has drawbacks: After using it, the unit suffers <s>Drug withdrawal</s> -1 to their Bravery for the rest of the game.
**''Heightened Senses:'' Triggered before the unit shoots or fights. The unit adds +1 to hit with any attacks they make for this phase (Shooting/Combat Phase).
**''Heightened Reflexes:'' +1 Save when chosen as an attack target (Shooting/Combat Phase).
**''Magical Boost:'' +1 or reroll cast (Your Hero Phase).
**''Magical Insight:'' Cast an extra spell (Your Hero Phase).
*'''ABSORB DESPAIR:''' Once per phase, a Cathallar wholly within 18" of a unit who uses an Aetherquartz can absorb it. If they do, don't reduce that units Bravery by 1 and instead choose an enemy unit within 18" of the Cathallar and reduce its Bravery by 1 for the rest of the battle. An enemy unit can't be affected by this more than once per battle. Its effectiveness depends on your opponent. It's great against some armies (nearly all Destruction armies will hate this), but worthless against others (Ossiarch Bonereapers laugh this off). However, your unit still shrugs off the -1 to its Bravery, even if there is no eligible enemy target.
*'''LIGHTNING REACTIONS:''' When you get to select a unit to fight, instead of picking only 1, you get to pick 2 units with this ability. They then fight one after the other.
*'''SHINING COMPANY:''' Any {{AOSKeyword|Vanari}} units (Auralan Sentinels, Wardens, bladelords, and Dawnriders) that is set up where a model is touching bases with two other models is automatically made a Shining Company, encouraging block-like tactics of old. Units in this fashion are harder to hit with a -1 to hit them., but they can't run or charge and they only get a pile-in distance of 1". It's better to stagger your models in the crook of the circle bases than it is to line up in a proper rectangle. BE VERY CAREFUL when pulling casualties to make sure you don't accidentally lose the buff, since it's gone for good once it is.
*'''ENDURING AS ROCK:''' Before the first battle round of the game and at the start of your hero phases, you can set up any number of {{AOSKeyword|Alarith}} units (Hammerboys, stonemages, and Moontains) into the Mountain Stance. Until the end of your next Hero Phase, your units now ignore Rend -1. There is currently no reason to opt out of doing this. Always have it on.
*'''TECTONIC FORCE:''' At the end of all combat phases, your {{AOSKeyword|Alarith}} units can each nominate an enemy unit within 1" of them (Though two units can't nominate the same enemy). The enemy is then shoved 2" in any direction so long as they are more than 1" from any {{AOSKeyword|Alarith}} unit and then you can let these units within 3" pile in 1" to continue fighting. This is your means of dominating the objective game and tossing enemies into deadly terrain.
*'''MOVE LIKE THE WIND:''' Any time a {{AOSKeyword|Hurakan}} unit piles in, it doesn't need to pile in to the closest enemy model. In addition, when they charge, they can fly and move 3" for piling in. All of it helps establish their role as alpha-strikers, the pile-in trick helping them move to more favorable fights.

===Command Traits===
<tabs>
<tab name="Lords of the Warhosts">
{{AOSKeyword|Vanari}} only.

#'''Grand Strategist:''' If your general is on the field during the first turn, you gain 1 CP.
#'''Consummate Warrior:''' Once per turn, your general can re-roll a failed hit, wound or save roll they make.
#'''Astute Commander:''' When your general is on the field, you can roll a die any time you spend a CP and regain that CP on a 6+.

It's more a toss-up between Consummate Warrior and Astute Commander, hinging on how much you need your CP. If you don't spend them much, then Consummate Warrior will give a bit of an edge in combat. Otherwise, Astute Commander gives a meager chance of winning back some CP.
</tab>
<tab name="Lords of Brilliance">
{{AOSKeyword|Scinari}} only.

#'''Spellmaster:''' Once per turn in your Hero phase, you can re-roll 1 failed casting attempt.
#'''Loremaster:''' Your General knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of Hysh.
#'''Warmaster:''' When your general is on the field, at the start of your Hero phase, you get a CP on a 4+.

If you're bringing a Cathallar you could honestly go for any of these. Spellmaster is strong enough, as there's so many good spells you really want to go off. Loremaster is good if you want some more versatility from your spellcaster and if you give it a Silver Wand you could get a caster that can get a ton of magical value in one turn. Warmaster can get you some nice CP if you're lucky though if you want consistency from your general you're better off with the other two.
</tab>
<tab name="Lords of the Air">
{{AOSKeyword|Hurakan}} only, meaning only your nimbus-wizard.

#'''Grand Windrider:''' When a Windchargers unit wholly within 24" of the general moves, their movement is upped to 16" and they can fly.
#'''Swift:''' Your general adds +3" to movement.
#'''Loremaster:''' Your general knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of the Winds.

Grand Windrider pretty much expects that you'll be running a windcharger-heavy list so it can actually see use, as it provides nothing to the archery foxes. Swift serves as a decent choice if you plan to sprint a lot between supporting foxes and charges as you'll be needing to heal the former while making sure the latter can be free to move where they wish. Naturally, Loremaster is as powerful here as it is in any other list.
</tab>
<tab name="Lords of Stone">
{{AOSKeyword|Alarith}} only, so for right now, just floaty rock guy

#'''Majestic:''' Add 1 to Bravery of friendly Lumineth wholly within 12" of the General. Also, your enemies subtract 1 from Bravery while they are within 18" of the General.
#'''Enduring:''' Add 3 to the General's wounds characteristic.
#'''Loremaster:''' General knows 1 extra spell from the Lore of High Peaks.

Majestic seems boring, but with all the bravery debuffs in this army, you could easily have most of the opposing army at -3 Bravery while you're able to at least walk off the Bravery penalty of spending your share of Aetherquartz. A few casualties over multiple units could see elite armies heading for the hills real quick. Enduring isn't bad when the big hat man is public enemy number one for keeping your war cows at top bracket, improving Rend of Cow Elves around him, and providing re-rolls to saves in the Moo Cow battalion. A very good choice when mixing the various defensive buffs available to him. Loremaster is, obviously, a solid enough choice.
</tab>
</tabs>

===Artefacts===
<tabs>
<tab name="Heirlooms of the Sun">
{{AOSKeyword|Vanari}} only.

#'''Syari Pommel:''' The bearer gets another share of Aetherquartz.
#'''Senlui Amulet:''' The bearer can run and charge in the same turn.
#'''Sun Stone:''' The bearer can now dispel endless spells and unbind normal spells as if they were a wizard. If they were already wizards, then they can add +1 to their first unbind and dispel rolls.

The Syari Pommel is not as potent as Syar's ability to give everyone extra shares, this is enough to help boost your forces once over or grant the Cathallar another shot at debuffing the enemy. The Senlui Amulet is pretty much tailor made for the lord regent who absolutely needs a massive charge range, though the bannerblade can also benefit from it if they're not bothering with supporting their allies. The Sun Stone pretty much is there as an insurance policy if you're not expecting your wizard to survive.
</tab>
<tab name="Heirlooms of Hysh">
{{AOSKeyword|Scinari}} only.

#'''Phoenix Stone:''' If a friendly {{AOSKeyword|Lumineth Realm-Lords Hero}} is slain within 12" of the bearer, before removing that model from play, roll a dice. On a 6 that model is not slain, all wounds allocated to it are healed and any wounds that currently remain to be allocated to it or its unit are negated
#'''Silver Wand:''' The bearer can cast 1 extra spell in their hero phase.
#'''Blade of Leaping Gold:''' Pick 1 of the Bearer's weapons. Add 3 to the Attacks characteristic of that weapon.

You will be taking the Silver Wand. Nothing else even has half as much versatility in use. The Phoenix Stone has it's uses, with it not being 1 use, but it's still very unreliable. Maybe in a hero heavy list it has a place. The Blade of Leaping Gold is best used on the Loreseeker as they have the best melee profile of any of the Scinari
</tab>
<tab name="Gifts of the Winds">
{{AOSKeyword|Hurakan Heroes}} only.

#'''Windblast Fan:''' Once per game during the enemy's movement phase, you can pick a unit within 3" of the bearer. This unit most move and must retreat from the enemy, no questions asked.
#'''Wind Stone:''' You get a single-use grenade you can throw at an enemy unit within 18" of the bearer. On a 2+, that unit takes 3 mortal wounds, but a 5+ makes it d6.
#'''Buffeting Aspiragillum:''' 5+ FNP save.

The Windblast Fan can provide some breathing room when dealing with battles, but it also means that you're still in range for a second charge if you don't bail immediately. The Wind Stone gives you a single shot at some undeniable damage, but nothing else. The Buffeting Asipragillum is perhaps the one with the most uses, as an FNP is something that even the stonemages lack and they're likely more of an target since they are so vital for keeping the spirits of the wind alive.
</tab>
<tab name="Gifts of the Mountain">
{{AOSKeyword|Alarith Heroes}} only.

#'''Hearthstone Amulet:''' 5+ FNP save.
#'''Ebony Stone:''' Each time the bearer is affected by a spell or endless spell, you can roll a die. On a 4+ Ignore the effects of that spell on the bearer.
#'''Magmic Hammer:''' If the bearer is a {{AOSKeyword|Wizard}} (Which the only one model to take this item is), add 1 to the number of mortal wounds inflicted by Arcane Bolt spells that are cast by the bearer.

All 3 have their uses, but the Ebony stone is probably the weakest of the bunch as you should have no problem stopping any and all harmful spells headed your way via other means. The Amulet adds even more survivability to your already potentially hyper-tanky mages (between ignoring rend, the sanctum, and this, you could have a pretty annoying model to remove), and the Magmic hammer just adds more punch in case your don't need to buff any Alarith squads.
</tab>
</tabs>

===Great Nations===
your bog standard subfaction list. We only have 6 so far, with a theoretical max of 10.

====Syar====
*'''Gleaming Brightness:''' All your {{AOSKeyword|Syar}} units get 2 Aetherquartz reserves instead of 1. With how powerful these boosts are, you'll definitely appreciate a second wave of these working without worry about Morale. Pair with a Cathallar to avoid a permanent -2 to your bravery.
*'''Command Ability''' - ''Deplete Reserves:'' If a {{AOSKeyword|Syar}} unit uses an aetherquartz reserve ability, you may pick another {{AOSKeyword|Syar}} unit within 18" that still has a reserve. You may spend that reserve to give them the same ability. Great for boosting your forces in a big charge
*'''Command Trait - Goading Arrogance:''' Choose 1 enemy hero within 6" of this hero. That enemy hero must attack your general, and your general gets +1 to hit for attacks against that enemy hero. Best on a Lord Regent or a Loreseeker, but can be pure troll even with a spellcaster. For example, park your Cathallar 6" from Archaon and watch as he spends the rest of combat seething helplessly while she makes fun of his daddy issues from behind a wall of spears he can't attack.
*'''Artefact - The Perfect Blade:''' Unmodified 3+ hits always hits, Unmodified 3+ wounds always wound, and unmodified 3s to save always fail. Absolutely worth it for your Lord Regent, Loreseeker or Bannerblade.

These guys will make your aetherquartz last much longer, and feel more impactful. <s>The meth lab workers among the Lumineth, hence their larger stash</s>. A Cathallar is pretty much a requirement in this army because otherwise your troops will have the bravery of most Skaven troops after blowing their reserves. Have a Vanari Lord Regent or Loreseeker somewhere so you'll actually have someone reasonable to give the Perfect Blade to.

====Iliatha====
*'''Unity in Purpose:''' Once per phase, after a {{AOSKeyword|Iliatha Vanari}} uses a command ability, you may select another {{AOSKeyword|Iliatha Vanari}} within 3". That unit gains the same ability for free.
*'''Connected Souls:''' +2 Bravery to all Vanari and Aelemantari troops, making up your your mediocre base bravery. You can use an Aetherquartz now and still be in a better bravery position than normal
*'''Command Ability''' - ''Strike in Unison:'' During your shooting or combat phase you may select one {{AOSKeyword|Iliatha Vanari}} unit with 2 or more models and they reroll hit rolls of one.
*'''Artefact''' - ''Simulacra Amulet:'' The Stacy Simulacra Amulet vs The Becky Phoenix Stone. The first time the bearer dies, roll a dice. On a 4+ heal them back to full.

If you're a sucker for good 'ole High Elf aesthetic, then this is your choice. While it doesn't explicitly buff your aelementari stuff, it doesn't mean they don't fit in with the +2 bravery. This will probably be your best choice if you wanna go for quantity rather than quality, though you're still going to be fairly elite.

====Zaitrec====
*'''Lambent Mystics:''' The first cast, dispell, or unbind from *EACH* wizard in your army gets +1 every command phase. Each wizard hero knows one extra spell, and each wizard in the army gets the spell overwhelming heat in addition to the spells they know.
*'''Command Trait''' - ''Fast Learner:'' General can dispel 1 additional spell and can reroll the second unbinding roll.
*'''Lore of Zaitrec''' - ''Overwhelming Heat:'' Casts on 7. Enemy unit within 24" has halved movement, and if you roll a die and its equal to or higher than their save, they take D3 MWs. It's a solid little spell, but you'll usually be casting if you've already done everything else.
*'''Artefact''' - ''Gift of Celennar:'' 6+ shrug for MWs, +2 if Teclis is on the battlefield

The magic choice. Taking Teclis with this Great Nation will probably bring the most out of them for that sweet, sweet MW avoidance - although he isn't an auto-include. Obviously protecting your mages is paramount and if the heroes die early you're pretty much screwed. ALWAYS combine this with the twin stones for more magic shenanigans.

====Ymetrica====
*'''Mountain Realm:''' Ignore up to -2 Rend for units in Mountain Stance, instead of -1
*'''Command Ability''' - ''Redoubled Force:'' End of combat phase, one unit that's used Tectonic Force and within 18" of a {{AOSKeyword|Ymetrica Hero}} can use Tectonic Force again against another enemy unit within 1".
*'''Command Trait''' - ''Almighty Blow:'' When you pick the general to fight, instead of fighting you can pick an enemy unit within 1" and deal D3 MW on a 2+.
*'''Artefact''' - ''Mountain's Gift:'' +1 damage to a single attack made by a single weapon, 6+ FNP, and 5+ Spell ignore

Obviously, this one is meant of Alarith units, so you should be going with a stoneguard, mountain spirit and stonemage army for this one. It's not quite as powerful as it was in the 2020 battletome, but it remains very focused on using the Alarith, tanking blows and shoving around enemies.

====Alumnia====
*'''Claim the Field:''' Right before the battle begins you can pick up to three {{AOSKeyword|Alumnia Vanari}} or {{AOSKeyword|Alumnia Scinari}} units to move immediately, but they can't run.
*'''Command Ability''' - ''Seize the Moment:'' During the charge phase, pick a friendly unit that already ran. This unit can charge after running.
*'''Command Trait''' - ''Burning Gaze:'' At the start of the fight phase, your general can target one enemy unit within 3" ad deal a MW on a 2+.
*'''Artefact''' - ''Waystone:'' Once per game, the bearer can forgo moving and pick a unit within 12" of them. The bearer can immediately teleport to any spot 1" from that chosen location so long as it's not within 3" of an enemy unit.

Another mobility-focused nation, though not nearly as focused on any single faction like Helon. The battle trait grants your troops a much-needed scouting move, while the command ability gives all your units a very useful perk when stuck in combat.

====Helon====
*'''Gale of Killing Shafts:''' All {{AOSKeyword|Helon}} missile units within 3" of an enemy gain +1 attacks.
*'''Command Ability''' - ''Gone Like the Wind:'' At the end of combat you may pick one {{AOSKeyword|Helon}} unit that is within 12" of a {{AOSKeyword|Helon}} hero. That unit may move but not run.
*'''Command Trait''' - ''Skyrace Grand Champion:'' Your general can reroll one run, charge and casting roll per battle.
*'''Artefact''' - ''Metalith Dust:'' Once per battle you may select one enemy unit within 3" of the bearer. That unit suffers -1 to hit and wound rolls until the end of the phase.

You pick this one if you REALLY want to piss your opponent off. Giving you ranged units extra shots and the ability to escape from close quarters combat will drive them to want to bash your face in with a hammer. It's also great if you want to go with a Hurakan themed army.

===Spell Lores===

*'''Power of Hysh:''' Casts on 6. This can be cast by the battleline units with Sunmetal Weapons, and allows them to dish out mortal wounds on a 5+ instead of a 6+. Very, VERY good, especially on <strike>Bladelords</strike> (Bladelords have Sunmetal weapons but not the ability as the spell states, therefore it won’t work on them), Wardens or Sentinels.
**'''Greater Power of Hysh:''' Casts on 7. The version given to Lord Regents and Lyrior Uthralle essentially lets you spread this to d3 other units wielding Sunmetal weapons within 18" of them. Pretty much there so you're not fretting about which unit you want to use Power of Hysh on.

<tabs>
<tab name="Lore of Hysh">
#'''Speed of Hysh:''' Casts on 5. Double the movement of a friendly unit within 18" of the caster. Amazing for sprinting onto objectives, stealing away an important enemy charge, or slinging some cavalry almost 30" across the board.
#'''Solar Flare:''' Casts on 8. Pick a point on the battlefield within 10" of the caster. If there is an endless spell there, dispel it. If there is a unit there, roll # of models dice, Each +6 does 1 MW and until next hero phase -2 to enemy wizards cast, unbinds, and dispels. Very useful in mirror matches.
#'''Lambent Light:''' Casts on 5. Pick an enemy unit within 18", you can reroll missile weapon attacks against that unit until your next hero phase. Remember you can reroll even if you don't miss. Your other "auto-include" if you're following the competitive route of a decent number of archers.
#'''Ethereal Blessing:''' Casts on 6. Give Ethereal to a friendly unit within 18". Remember that this also includes positive buffs like cover or drugs. Think before you cast.
#'''Total Eclipse:''' Casts on 8. Until next hero phase, your opponent has to spend 2 CP instead of 1 when using command abilities. Easily our most trolly spell, use it to absolutely cripple some of the stronger combinations in the game by stopping almost all Command ability shenanigans. You should almost always have this, just in case.
#'''Protection of Hysh:''' Casts on 8. Give friendly units wholly within 9" of the caster 5+ FNP. Doesn't stack with Teclis' sadly.
</tab>
<tab name="Lore of the Mountains">
#'''Unyielding Calm:''' Casts on 4. Unit wholly within 18" doesn't have to take Battleshock tests. Super nice if you didn't bring Eltharion for some reason.
#'''Crippling Vertigo:''' Casts on 6. Pick an an enemy unit within 18" of the caster. Until your next hero phase, roll 2d6 each time the unit tries to make a normal move, pile in, or charge. If the roll is higher than the unit's bravery, it cannot make that move. The most obnoxious spell in this tree, use it to even further stall that big monster who got hit by your stonemage's signature spell.
#'''Voice of the Mountains:''' Casts on 6. -2 Bravery to all enemy units until end of turn, and then -1 until your next hero phase.
#'''Living Fissure:''' Casts on 6. Draw a 1mm line to a point 9" from the caster, on a 2+ deal D3 MWs to a unit that lines passes over
#'''Entomb:''' Casts on 7. Pick an enemy model within 18" and visible to the caster. Roll a dice, if the result is higher than the model's Wound characteristic, it is slain. If you roll a 6 and it is not enough to kill, deal D6 MW instead.
#'''Assault of Stone:''' Casts on 8. Choose an enemy unit wholly within 24" and visible to the caster. Roll a number of dice equal to the casting roll. For each result *lower* than the enemy unit's save value, they take 1 MW. Rolls of 1 or 2 never deal a mortal wound and Saves of "-" count as 6 for this rule. Really god for digging through chaff, but not much else.
</tab>
<tab name="Lore of the Winds">
#'''Freezing Squall:''' Casts on 5. An enemy unit within 12" is unable to run until your next Hero Phase. Annoying, though it may not matter much to certain armies.
#'''Howling Gale:''' Casts on 7. An enemy unit within 12" will be unable to use or benefit from command abilities. Oh, this can prove to be a right pain, especially in armies that really rely on their leaders.
#'''Guiding Flurries:''' Casts on 7. One friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 12" of the wizard can pick between either adding 6" to the range of their missile weapons or adding +1 to hit with their missile weapons. This is a pretty handy support option, though it can be hamstrung depending on circumstances.
#'''Calming Zephyr:''' Casts on 6. A friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 16" of the wizard heals d3 wounds and ignores battleshock for the turn. Pretty solid for support.
#'''Burning Simoom:''' Casts on 6. Pick an enemy unit within 12" of the wizard and roll a number of die equal to the number of models in this unit; Each model suffers a mortal wound on a 6, though this can be improved to a 5+ if you scored a 10 or better on the casting check.
#'''Transporting Vortex:''' Casts on 8. One friendly Lumineth unit wholly within 12" can now immediately redeploy anywhere on the field so long as it's over 9" away from any enemy unit. You'll definitely be needing this for your more mundane forces, as your Hurakan units can easily skip around where needed.
#* Worth mentioning that you can redeploy a Vanari unit that exited out of shining company, back into shining company, as per the last FAQ. So dropping a hurt unit of wardens on a point will make them quite immovable.
</tab>
<tab name="Endless Spells">
#'''Sanctum of Amyntok:''' 30 points, creates a triangle around the caster and now counts as part of their model. Gives the enemy -1 to hit against the caster, gives the caster +1 to their save and a 50/50 shot to deal some MWs to anyone standing too close. Cheap and a good way to protect your squishy wizard, plus since the spell counts as part of their model, it makes their bubbles slightly bigger, which is good for those rules which require the unit to be "Wholly within" range.
#'''Hyshian Twinstones:''' 30 points, starts at 1 and gets a charge every time a spell is cast within 12 inches of it (maxes out at 6). While within 12" of it, your wizards can choose to add the value of the charges to their casting roll. Easily your best endless spell. As per the FAQ on its order of operations, after one spell is cast, it can give the rest of your wizards within range a permanent +2 to cast every single time. This means you're looking at a +4 to cast on nearly every spell you sling if you bring Teclis and Zaitrec. Since our stuff is expensive, if you have <100 points left over, bring it. Always.
#'''Rune of Petrification:''' 70 points, subtracts 1 from the run and charge rolls of non-Lumineth within 6, and does d3 Mortal Wounds to non-Lumineth within 6 on a 4+ at '''both''' the start and end of '''both players''' movement phases. That's 3d3 minimum if your opponent moves out of range on their first turn. If you get a double turn that's 5d3 ''if'' they can move out of range at the first opportunity. It's a good way of controlling enemy movement, but it's expensive. Probably the hardest to use of the three, plus being more expensive than both of the other spells combined means this is less than ideal most of the time, but still holds potential.
</tab>
</tabs>

==Unit Analyis==
===Named Leaders===
* '''Archmage [[Teclis]] and Celennar , [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Teclis%20-%20eng.pdf Spirit of Hysh] (660 pts):''' One of the dual gods of Hysh and another of the [[Everqueen|big]] [[Lord Kroak|literal]] [[Nagash|god]]-[[Be'lakor|tier]] [[Archaon|models]]. He went from "the best wizard who's not a daemon, demigod or Slann" to "gives Greater Daemons penis envy and makes Slann second-guess themselves". While he's not a slouch in CC, he shouldn't try to take on big scary things alone, as he'd rather be slinging spells and ruining your opponents day.
**He can cast 1, 2, or 4 spells. Depending on the number of spells he choses, they cast at differing values (1 spell meaning a 12 with no unbinding allowed, 2 spells means a 12, but otherwise normal, and 3/4 spells going off on a 10)
**Celennar’s Aura: +1 to cast, dispel, and unbind to everyone within range. Keep this in mind for when you cast the twinstones in a Zaitrec list for +3-8 on your casts.
**Can auto dispel 1 endless spell in your hero phase and auto unbind 1 enemy spell in their hero phase, and can still unbind unlimited enemy spells after his auto-unbind.
**Friendly units in Celennar's aura ignore spells on a 4+, and bounces a handful of MWs at an enemy within 18" of said unit when it works.
**Spells: (1) ''Protection of Teclis'': 10 to cast. 5+ FNP within 18", can't be cast same turn as Hysh Protection. (2)''Storm of Searing White Light'': 10 to cast. Roll a dice for each enemy unit within 18" and visible. 1, nothing happens; 2-4 D3 MW, 5+ D6 MW. Oh, plus EVERY spell from all three Lumineth trees. And when new elemental temples get released, they generally get a new accompanying spell lore, meaning that he's only going to get stronger as time goes on.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Eltharion_EN.pdf Light of Eltharion]:''' (220 pts) [[Eltharion]] returns to us as a living suit of armor. A melee beat-stick with ethereal bonuses, a ranged d3 mortal wound shot, and a massive leadership bonus tied to his command ability. He wants to aim at a character and rip and tear untill it is done. Once your enemies duelists/buffs/characters who looked at you funny are down, aim Eltharion at whatever you want and have fun. Tanky, killy, and obnoxious, Eltharion is easily one of your best HQs.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Avalenor%20-%20eng.pdf Avalenor, the Stoneheart King]:''' (360 points) The Mega Moo himself. Avalenor is a great support character for your army, He has a 30” ranged attack which can do D6W at rend 2 (range decreases with damage) and has 6 attacks (7 if it didn’t make a charge move this turn) that are Rend 1 with 5 Damage each in melee. He also has a debuff aura which makes all enemy units within 12” have a -1 to hit, which is awesome when he's properly positioned in the middle of your front line. He also has a command ability which can give D3 Alarith Aelf units +1 attack, sorry other moontains. All these nice things get a bit worse with damage taken, but if you have a Stonemage within 12" of him, he can pretend to be max health, so keep your little mage friend safe. His last ability, Elder Wisdom, allows a hero within 6" to use a command ability for free next turn, so keep him within <s>grumbling</s> advising range of your dudes.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Sevireth.pdf Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind]:''' (300pts) DO YOU NEED SPEED? Just as Avalenor is king of the earth-moos, this guy is one of the seventy-seven most powerful winds (or <s>kitsunes</s>). Unlike Avalenor, his stats never degrade, which means that he can always shoot at maximum efficiency. Since unlike Avalenor he isn't a mountain but a wind, he is also fast. Fast as in 24" flying - something necessary because his bow is actually quite short-ranged at 18" but comes with a dangerous -3 rend and D3 damage. To keep his 5+ save out of trouble he can move another 12", but he can slso still charge. That's great since his melee power's not too bad. Impact damage on the charge and doing more Mortal Wounds as he flies over enemies, debuffing enemies close to him. As he's quite fragile for a monster, he does need support - Take a Windmage so they can heal him up. Remember, he is a Hurakan unit, so should you find yourself in a fight you are unlikely to survive, just leave and laugh as you do, Hurakanspirits were playful and giggling once. His last ability is Scour, which allows him to essentially render enemy setpieces into ineffective hunks of plastic on a 2+. If you ever wanted to tell the OBR Obelisk to shove it, here you go.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Ellania_Ellathor.pdf Ellania and Ellathor]:''' (260pts) The new hot pair of Elven twins, one of whom is a master mage and the other a peerless warrior. This totally-not-Tyrion-and-Teclis combo will probs take the place of them, especially since one serves Tyrion and the other serves Teclis. Like Syll'esske and the Sisters of Twilight, these two are effectively one model. To no one's surprise <s>Ellathor's</s> not-Tyrion's new sword is terrifying, with damage equal to the turn number and a one-off batch of mortal wounds in a line a la Sunfang, while <s>Ellania</s> not-Teclis' staff is merely decent with a -1 rend. Riding on top of this, the end of each fight phase gives the chance of vanishing if you roll a dice and it's under the turn number or amount of wounds suffered they vanish to a spot 12" away from any enemies as well as healing d6 wounds - likely very useful earlier on, but prone to wearing out its welcome as the game carries on. Not Teclis can also cast/unbind two spells, and comes with a unique spell that grants a 5+ FNP, which you will be using.
**Their neatest gimmick is that they can be taken as allies with any army who's general has the {{AOSKeyword|Order}} Keyword and can generate Command Points on a 4+ if they are within 3' of them, though this comes at the cost of never being generals themselves. Internationally focused elves? What a unique and interesting idea, cough cough.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_LyriorUthralle.pdf Lyrior Uthralle, Warden of Ymetrica]:''' (210 pts) The head general of the Lumineth and Tyrion's right hand man. He's your named lord-regent, and much like the other forms of named "melee HQ on bigger than average mount" that AOS released, he'll probably be a bit better, but a bit less flexible than his normal form. If his lance wounds a {{AOSKeyword|Chaos}} or {{AOSKeyword|Daemon}} Keyword model, he automatically does 3 damage instead of d3, but it still only has 1 attack, so don't get too excited about it. It's worth noting he lets you get more CP when you don't have Teclis hanging around, and since he has the same spell as the lord regent, it becomes clear that he's meant to be hanging around the other Vanari units.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Myari_Lightcaller_en.pdf Myari Lightcaller]:''' (220 pts) The new character from the Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm box set. While he’s a single model unit, he must be accompanied by his retinue, and their points are included in his points cost. Same stat-line as the Stonemage, he trades tankyness for a decent shooting attack and okay close combat. His Scryowl Familiar adds 1 to his casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls and, similar to the Sentinels, can choose a unit 24” away and out of line of sight to have LOS on. His unique spell, '''Dazzling Light''' subtracts 1 from hit rolls from missile weapons that target him, or a unit wholly within 6” of him. Mathematically, this will mean you can fit a Cow Mountain in this bubble, giving a -2 modifier to hit when stacked with Avalenor’s '''Guardian of Hysh''' ability.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Myaris_Purifiers_en.pdf Myari’s Purifiers]:''' (220 pts) A separate unit from Myari Lightcaller, but included in his points cost. You get one Bladelord, one Sentinel, and one Stoneguard. The Bow gets two shots, but only has the 18” profile, the Mallet retains the '''Crushing Blow''' ability to do extra damage, and Greatsword and Bow are both Sunmetal weapons, but they cannot access Power of Hysh. Their '''Guardians''' ability is their saving grace, allowing them to intercept a wound or mortal wound on Myari Lightcaller while he is within 3”. Basically, they’re here to be a tax to bringing Myari, which was a bit of a pain before all the new HQs got announced.

===Leaders===

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Alarith%20Stonemage%20-%20eng.pdf Alarith Stonemage]:''' (130 pts) Floaty cow-kin him/herself. You will be seeing him in every list with Cow Elves (Stonegaurd) and Spirits of the Mountain. Fairly squishy at 5 wounds and only a 5+ save, until you remember he is ignoring Rend 1 (and Rend 2 in '''YMETRICA''' armies) among other defensive buffs. She is your standard 1 cast/1 unbind wizard that provides a powerful buff in the form of his '''STONEMAGE STANCE'''. In the start of the combat phase, the Stonemage can strike a pose that allows every '''ALARITH AELEMNTIRI''' WHOLLY WITHIN 12 inches an additional Rend on their melee weapons in exchange for not making a pile in move. Easy Rend 2 on all my Stoneguard? Yes please. His spell, '''Gravitic Redirection''' is cast on a 5+. The stonemage gains fly, and picks an enemy units within 18", cutting their speed in half and turning off fly. It also does a mortal wound, but that's definitely not the main point. Pick the enemy's big flying threat and laugh at the waster 400+ points. S/He's got a pretty standard mage melee statline, but his/her real job is to buff till the cows come home. If you can't tell, the model's sex is hard to tell, go elves!

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Scinari%20Cathallar%20-%20eng.pdf Scinari Cathallar]:''' (140 pts) These professional mourners are excellent at debuffing foes and mitigating the drawbacks of <s>crystal meth</s> aetherquartz. Aside from the obvious Scinari benefits, she also gains the '''Emotional Transference''' ability, allowing her to target any Lumineth unit within 18" and let them ignore battleshock. What's more, if that unit lost models, you can later target an enemy with 18" and add their casualties to their bravery roll. Basically her job is to ruin the fun your opponent thought he was having when his Scary charge killed 15 elves.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_ScinariLoreseeker.pdf Scinari Loreseeker]:''' (160pts) LOREMASTERS OF HOETH RETURN TO US NOW, AT THE TURN OF THE TIDE. Since they embody the balance of tyrionic and teclian ideals like none other, they perform well in both melee, a 12" shooting atack and casting a single spell a turn. That however is not what you take them for. You take him for his special rules. With "Loreseeker" he generates a CP everytime a enemy with an artifact dies within 3" of him, but the real ticket is the Rule <s>"In Addition"</s> "Lone Agent" He gets +1 to his save if he is away 9" from friendlies, he gets to set up 3" away from enemy models and not your territory. If you set him up near an objective without enemies it's his and it cannot be stolen until he dies. Either game breaking or a neat trick, the jury is still out on this one.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_ScinariCalligrave.pdf Scinari Calligrave]:''' (100pts) A new wizard who's job it is to un-chaos lands he visits with totally-not-dwarf-runes. Their unique spell is a like arcane bolt, but it only works against other heroes and instead of rolling really high, you need to spend a turn marking an enemy hero with this spell before casting it again to deal D6 MW. Since 2D3 is statistically better than 1D6, it's pretty bad, even more so since you also need to cast the spell again to get the chance to completely botch your D6 roll. Once per game, he can roll a dice and write out a single rune on a 5+; this rune makes it so that no friendly Lumineth units wholly within 9" need to make battleshock tests while wizards within this area can add +1 to their casting/dispelling/unbinding checks. Since you play a 100 points for a bad spell and an ability that wont work 66% of the time whats the point? Have him contemplate and spam Total Eclipse, people will hate you.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_HurakanWindmage.pdf Hurakan Windmage]:''' (120pts) The not-last Airbender with Horns comes in fast with 16" on his little cloud friend. A 5+ Save and standard mage whacky stick is nothing to write home about, he is your buff boy for all things windy. With the rule on the "Windmage Symbiosis" on the Windspirit scroll he replenishes their power, with his own "Windleap" he has your Windchargers go a bit faster and since Calming Zephyr from his spell lore is kind of the default he has some more heals to go around. For his own protection his little fan redirects enemy missile attacks to give him a better save and on an unmodified 6 on his save he can send a mortal wound back to an enemy within 9". No matter how small or big your Hurakan temple will be, he's a part of it.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_VanariLordRegent.pdf Vanari Lord Regent]:''' (150pts) Your new generic melee hero on a bomb ass amalga-mount. His addition means you finally have something other than wizards to give those melee focused artifacts to, as well as an HQ who can actually keep up with the dream of a cav-spam list. 14", 6 wounds and a 3+ save as well as good melee sees him pose a mobile threat. His Pure Aetherquartz not only makes his casting a little better but also offers an innate -1 to hit against him, so he shines bright like a diamond until he uses his Quartz up, then the ability dies. Greater Power of Hysh is your safety net, should a Vanari unit fail to get their power of Hysh cast. On a 7 you can give the same Power of Hysh to D3 units wholly within 18". A fantastic all around choice.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_VanariBannerblade.pdf Vanari Bannerblade]:''' (110pts) An elf with a massive banner. Friendly Lumineth within 18" add +1 to their bravery just by seeing this flag, but this is boosted to +3 when this guy's within 3" of an enemy. In addition, once per game during any phase you can trigger the power of their banner - enemy units within 18" need to roll a d6 and if they roll under the current turn number, they eat D3 MWs and a -1 to hit in melee for the phase. Despite being no slouch in Melee, he is more of a niche choice, but not one you'll have to feel bad about.

===Battleline===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Wardens_EN.pdf Auralan Wardens]:''' (Battleline, 120pts, Min:10, Max:30) The Elven phalanxes finally return home, and they come equipped with 3" range Sunmetal <s>spears</s> pikes that get -1 rend and +1 to wound when they are charged. Like all the other Sunmetal weapons, each hit roll of a natural 6 causes a MW. The unit champion comes with a -1 rend sword, a one-use mortal wound bomb used at the ''start'' of the combat phase. On top of that he is a wizard as long as there are at least 5 models in the unit. All this combined with the shining company bonus makes these guys amazing charge screens for your archers and objective holders. Wardens are the only unconditional Battleline unit of the Lumineth. But for every unit of Auralan Wardens, you can take a unit of Auralan Sentinels or Auralan Dawnriders as Battleline.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Dawnriders_EN.pdf Auralan Dawnriders]:''' (Conditional Battleline, 130pts, Min:5, Max:20) Their Deathly Furrows ability grants bonuses for attacking infantry: 1 additional attack for all weapons (ie rider & mount) if the target has 2 wounds or 2 additional attacks if the target has 1. This *ONLY* works against units without mounts, so try to aim for infantry if you can. This Translates to a lot of dead chaff and 1-wound elite infantry. If speed is your game, cast speed of Hysh on them and you'll be looking at a 28" standard move, meaning you have no excuse to not pick the perfect charges.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Sentinals%20-%20eng.pdf Vanari Auralan Sentinels]:''' (Conditional Battleline, 140pts, Min:10, Max:20) More MWs, delivered at a distance & w/o line of sight. While the spear elves poke & hold the line against heavy hitters (or Stoneguard, if that's how you swing) with your horses mulching chaff, Sentinels are ideal assassins- pumping mortal wounds into the opposing (support) heroes from 30" away with Sunmetal arrows. Since mortal wounds trigger on natural 6+ (Or 5+ with Power of Hysh) 'Look out, Sir!' does not help those supporting heroes. Conveniently their bows have a second firing mode that deals more consistent normal damage with higher Rend, this is at a "shorter" range though (18") so really is more for supporting your spears or whatever flavor of tarpit needs the firepower after the opponent's general is kaput. Remember that the unit leader does not have a bow, so to maximize shooting and mortal wounds taking max size units is probably better. Remember that rules that remove specific models can remove your ability to fire out of line of sight if they kill the squad leader.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Alarith%20Stoneguard%20-%20eng.pdf Alarith Stoneguard]:''' (Conditional Battleline, 100pts, Min:5, Max:15) Your elite infantry choice and a battleline if you're playing Ymetrica. They come in two types, a dual handed diamondpick hammer or stone mallet with -1 rend and a captain with *OPTIONAL* dual hammers for more attacks. If you roll an natural 6 with the stone mallets you get 1 extra damage and if you get a 6 with diamond picks you get 1 mortal wound. This means mallets are better at killing crowds where as picks are better at dealing with armored units. Flexible elite choice depending on how you build them. Even if you're not focusing on Alarith units, a squad of 5-10 of these guys work great at one end of your phalanx to prevent flanking and losing your buffs. How historical.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_HurakanWindchargers.pdf Hurakan Windchargers]:''' (Conditional Battleline, 130pts, Min:5, Max:15) Aelven archers riding battle tauntaun-furdino-kanga-joust mounts. 14" pseudo-flying movement, 2 wounds and a whimpy 5+ save. Their Bows hit and wound on the aelven standard of 3+, at range with -1 rend and -2 rend when used in melee. Yes, they use their Bows as sticks in melee and are rewarded with an extra rend for it. The Bows only have 12" or range when shot, which can place them in harms way, but remember that you can use the Hurakan rules to just have them leave.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_VanariBladelords.pdf Vanari Bladelords]:''' (Conditional Battleline, 120pts, Min:5, Max:15) Swordmasters reborn. Now you can have heavy infantry without the need for stupid hats/conversions, HOORAY! Each one comes with a sunmetal greatblade that doesn't have the Sunmetal rule, so no Mortal Wounds. Instead they can use in one of two ways: either a single high rend stabs that auto-hits (to hunt characters and monsters), or an anti-horde swings based on how many enemies are nearby. Paired with their innate extra magic protection, and you have a flexible unit to plug gaps in your line, HOWEVER don't be overconfident. 10 of these guys only kill 3 chaos warriors a turn or ~13 marauders (or equivalents), so don't expect them to be fully self sufficient. They also don't get to cast spells, which makes them rather dependent on others. In exchange they are bodyguards. Before a Scinari allocates suffers a wound nearby Bladelords can take the hit instead for 1 MW on a 2+. 10 Bladelords make any Scinai functionally immortal.

* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Hurakan_Spirit_Wind.pdf Hurakan Spirit of the Wind]:''' (250 pts). The generic Fox is Severith, but lesser. Eight wounds instead of ten, a slightly less impressive bow and he loses some rules. No "Scour" to take the rules off of faction terrain, no fly-over Mortal Wounds and his quiver is way less cool. But he retains the movement shenannigans of his named counterpart, same regeneration from the Windmage, same absolutely insane 24" move.

===Artillery===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_VanariStarshardBallistas.pdf Vanari Starshard Ballista]:''' (100pts) Your new and only artillery unit, ultimately proving to be more like a classic ballistae than the Stormcast's machine gun blasts. It fires twice at -2 Rend and d3 Damage, making it a bit of a menace - especially if you manage to get a hero in position so they can grant a ballista a +1 to hit so the attack is pretty much guaranteed to hit. They also have a once-per-game ability to stun an enemy rather than harm, dealing a -1 to hit so you can annoy enemies until you can have someone else handle them.

===Behemoths===
* '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Lumineth_Warscroll_Alarith%20Spirit%20of%20the%20Mountain-%20eng.pdf Alarith Spirit of the Mountain]:''' (340 pts). The Moontain. Your primary beat-stick and use for command points when you bring 'em. Outside of heroes, your only source of >1 damage attacks (well, the Stoneguard can get it on a 6 to wound with the Mallets) - at full health, his hammer is hitting on 3s, wounding on 2s, -2 rend, and 5 damage each. Keeping a stonemage within 12" of him allows you to ignore his damage table. Finally, his command ability allows you to add 1 to the attack characteristic of 1 unit's melee weapons.

===Terrain===
*'''Shrine Luminor''': A floating shrine meant to power up your already crazy strong mages. It lets you nominate a hero to be the shrine guardian, who gets to use their command ability for free, as well as giving heroes 1 free reroll on cast/deny/dispell a turn within 12", growing to 24" turn 2 onwards.

===Battalions===

*'''Alarith Temple:''' (120) '''MIN:'''690/'''MAX:'''1510
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Avalenor or Alarith Spirit of the Mountain, 1x Alarith Stonemage, 1-3x Alarith Stoneguard.
**'''Ability:''' At the start of your combat phase, a Stoneguard unit from this battalion that is wholly within 12" of a hero from the same batalion can reroll saves until end of phase but can only pile in 1".
If you are playing Ymetrica you may as well take this one with Avalenor. Makes your already annoyingly tough units even tougher.
*'''Auralan Legion:''' (120) '''MIN:'''780/'''MAX:'''2820
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Scinari Cathallar, 2-4x Vanari Auralan Sentinels, with an equal amount of Vanari Auralan Wardens
**'''Ability:''' Units within 3" of another unit from this Battalion can reroll saves of 1.
Again, make your top objective holders better at holding objectives. Cast Etherial Blessing vs Rend or otherwise use your Aetherquartz against that key charge and you will definitely keep control of that objective. This is particularly good for Iliatha armies, since you want to keep your Auralan units near each other anyway.
*'''Dawnrider Lance:''' (120) '''MIN:'''380/'''MAX:'''1680
**'''Requirements:''' 2-3x Vanari Dawnriders
**'''Ability:''' Units from this Battalion may reroll 1’s to hit on the charge.
A cute buff that pumps up the offensive half of your cavalry are a fairly manageable cost. Toss 2 10-man squads in here for a solid enough flanking force.
*'''Hurakan Temple:''' (180) '''MIN: '''680/'''MAX:'''1770
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Sevireth or Hurakan Spirit of the Wind, 1x Hurakan Windmage, 1-3x Hurakan Windchargers.
**'''Ability:''' Any unit from this battalion wholly within 12" of a hero at the start of the fight phase will count as having charged this round.
Useful for movement and kiting shenanigans. If you're playing Helon you may as well pick this up.
*'''Starshard Battery:''' (120) '''MIN: '''520/'''MAX:'''720
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Scinari Calligrave, 3-5x Vanari Starshard Ballistas
**'''Ability:''' The ballista's Warding Lanterns ability now triggers on a 5+ instead of a 6 if they're within 3" of another pack of ballistas.
A pretty decent grab if you're focusing on the ballistas, as this makes them a bit more durable. The calligrave gives you a wizard that can also grant you a decent safezone for your army as well.
*'''Vanari Bladehost:'''
**'''Requirements:''' 1x {{AOSKeyword|Vanari}} or {{AOSKeyword|Scinari}} hero, 2-3x Vanari Bladelords
**'''Ability:''' Any units that charged this turn can re-roll 1s to hit.
Pretty much an auto-take if you're running any builds not focused on Teclis or any temple heroes. The units are pretty much going to be taken anyways.

===Super Battalions===

*'''Teclian Vanguard:''' (80) '''MIN:'''2370/'''MAX:'''14,470
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Archmage Teclis and Celennar, 0-1x The Light of Eltharion, 1x Alarith Temple, 1-3x Auralan Legions, 2x Dawnriders Battations.
**'''Ability:''' While wholly within its own territory, every friendly unit from this Battalion has a 6+ Feel No Pain.

Not a terribly bad bonus, better than a poke in the eye with a Sunmetal Spear. If you're playing 2,500 point games for some reason, the value of this battalion is VERY mission dependent, depending almost exclusively on the size of the territory.

*'''Lumineth Battlehost:''' (50) '''MIN:'''2430/'''MAX:'''15,290
**'''Requirements:''' 1x Vanari Lord Regent, 1x Vanari Bannerblade, 0-3x Scinari Heroes, 0-1x Alarith Temple, 0-1x Hurakan Temple, 1-2x Auralan Legion, 1-2x Dawnrider Lance, 1x Bladelord Host, 1x Starshard Battery
**'''Ability:''' For every hero in this battalion, roll a dice, and for every 6 you get a command point.

Considering that you can have up to 11 heroes in this army that is up to 11 chances at more CP, which is always appreciated. If you take Lyrior Uthralle as your General (He does have the Hero and Lord Regent keywords after all) you can get 12 chances of regaining CP.

==Allies==

Oddly, the army may only take Idoneth Deepkin as allies. Some of them have gotten over their Teclis hate/fear boner, good for them (Or they've realized there's shit out there that's way scarier than their old absentee father and his new favorite kids). The Ankhelian half of the army patch the speed issues of Lumineth. You don't need more anvils, so the trident eels and alopexes are definitely the right choice. With the Broken Realms: Morathi update to their warscroll, a squad of 3 Alopexes with nets may be just the high rending damage, speed, and flying that this army is greatly missing. Alternatively you can take a soulscryer and two Alopexes to give your army some much needed backline deployment. Another option to consider is bringing an Ankhelian king and a single squad of trident eels for two mobile, multidamage units to help your cav deal with their primary weakness.

Your also have the Order option of '''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//ENG_Gotrek_Warscroll.pdf Gotrek Gurnisson]'''. For a similar point cost you are probably better off taking Teclis. While he doesn't benefit from speed of Hysh, his speed isn't as detrimental to the Lumineth compared to other armies since you're already slow as sin if you don't bring Hurakan units.

*'''Bundo Whalebiter''': A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. He could be a useful way to play up your strength by moving midfield objectives back into your defensive line, but his cost is a very large hurdle to deal with, as you're nearing teclis levels of points and cheese.

==Tactics==

*'''High Elf roleplaying''': For those of us who remember the halcyon days of WHFB, focusing on your Vanari units can let you relive peak High-elf fun! 2 or 3 spear bricks and a lot of archers as your backbone, with a ballista and some totally-not-Swordmasters. Not the most effective list we could run, but good enough to handle most things. THis list gets significantly more viable come all the new generic HQs.

*'''Moontains march to war!''': Building your list around 2 Alarith temples (1 of which has Avalenor) and a buncha hammers as ymetrica lets you build a surprisingly tanky list that hits like a bull. 2-3 moontains will mulch through anything short of a god or mega-gargant without much worry, though you should try to keep in mind that this list only has 2 casters, and none of the spells that really screw with your opponent.

*'''The Tryhard''': Sticking Teclis, 2 units of minimum spears, and FAR too many archers with the twinstones enables you to run the competitive tryhard list of your dreams! No one likes you for doing it, and you'll have minimal actual fun, but it can be done for an easy way to guarantee a win against most factions.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-05-17T15:54:56Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Allied Armies */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

Get ready to send a chill down your opponent's spine, for this is no time to be humerus. Nagash is rising, and he has a bone to pick with the Mortal Realms!

==Why play Ossiarch Bonereapers?==
* They're SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS!
* You liked playing super-elite units like Blood Knights? Well you now play a different elite FACTION!
* You miss the Tomb Kings and this is as close as it gets for now with a vulture being called a Carrion, undead constructs and a war machine that hurls flaming skulls.
* They collect protection payments of bone like a skeletal version of the Mafia.
* Part of the reason for their existence is to troll Sigmarines.
* You want a sneak peek at what civilization would be like if Nagash wins.

===Pros===
* [[Awesome|'''Immunity to Battleshock!''']]. Not just bravery 10, the Bonereapers do not take battleshock tests. They have no guts, but they're braver than everyone else.
* Excellent at debuffing their enemies in various ways, especially their bravery (spells, Morghasts...)
* Conversely, they have numerous ways to buff themselves.
* Very durable, and various ways to boost that to the point of being arguably the most durable army in the game.
* Point-for-point, they have some of the strongest warscrolls of the game as few units can beat their ossiarch counterpart (Mortek Guard and Kavalos Deathriders are strong contenders for best battleline units in the game).
* They use the Relentless Discipline Points mechanic (also called RDP) instead of Command Points. Things that screw with CP won't work on them. Despite this, they still benefit from Command Abilities (but cannot utilize any generic command abilities at all).
* They're a Death army that isn't reliant on Heroes. Unit champions have the HEKATOS keyword, which gives a smaller radius of 6+ Deathless saves and allows them to use RDP abilities. Certain elite units are also HEKATOS, so they can function completely independently.
* If you're sick of those magic-heavy armies like Tzeentch's forces, the Lizardmen and the Lumineth, the Null Myriad Bonereaper Legion is for you with army-wide +5 immunity to spells that can be buffed.
* Almost everything is 3+ to hit, with various ways to boost it.
* With the Crematorians Bonereaper Legion, your guys can take enemies down with them when/if they're slain - the more they attack you, the more they die! [[Awesome|Rinse and repeat, since you can bring back slain models!]]
* Nagash and [[Arkhan the Black|bro-tier mini-Nagash]] are part of the army roster; [[Awesome|they also benefit from keywords and Battle Traits]].
* Numerous characters and a unit that can heal anything in your army - including themselves - or bring back dead models.
* Our Endless Spells are awesome. Not only that, they're soul linked, so no friendly fire and they're always under the casting player's control.
* If you like bone puns...

===Cons===
* Most of your army is slow (though there are a few abilities to mitigate this).
* Shooting is almost non-existent. Apart from the amazing Mortek Crawler, you only have the Gothizzar Harvester's shooting and Nagash's laser eyes.
* No extra protection against shooting beyond certain spells. Shooting armies tend to really hurt the Ossiarchs (especially the Kharadron Overlords).
* The army's quite straightforward and lacking in useful tricks. There's no summoning, deepstrike or special combat mechanics like striking twice. Any decent opponent knows what you will do. There is a teleportation mechanic, but it's very gimmicky, limited and requires a lot of cunning to get something out of it.
* Limited means to deal Mortal Wounds. Ossiarchs tend to bounce on really armored units if stalkers aren't around. This can be mitigated with MW dealers like the Crematorians Legion and anyone with "Kavalos" in their name, but still relies a lot on the dice.
* Magic is average and mostly around buffing allies and debuffing enemies. Sure, Nagash and Arkhan are there, but the magic lore is still unimpressive, especially compared to real magical factions (looking at you, Tzeentch and Seraphon).
* Low model count, slightly mitigated by having the means to bring back (re)dead models.
* No allies apart from the Mega-Gargant Drogg; their foreign policy makes the Daughters of Khaine look like the Stormcast Eternals (can still have mercenaries though - unless you bring Nagash or Arkhan).
* If you know the Greek language, it'll be hard to take any unit or hero with "Kavalos" in their name seriously.
* Hope you like bone puns.

==Rulebooks==
{{AOSRulebooks|tome=Ossiarch Bonereapers}}

==Allegiance Abilities==
===Battle Traits===
*'''Ranks Unbroken by Dissent:''' [[Awesome|Do not take battleshock tests for friendly OSSIARCH BONEREAPER units]]. Yes, you read that right, immunity to Battleshock. Your enemy's only options are killing, flee or be killed. In addition, you do not generate Command Points. Instead, you generate Relentless Discipline Points at the start of each battle round but lose them when you generate your next batch (they should be all spent before that happens).
**Generate a Relentless Discipline Point if:
*** EACH {{AOSKeyword|Ossiarch Bonereapers Hero}} - 1
*** EACH Warscroll Battalion - 1
*** EACH Friendly {{AOSKeyword|LIEGE}} - 1
*** If KATAKROS is the general and on the battlefield - 3
*** Roll a die for each UNIT with the {{AOSKeyword|OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS}} keyword, including the previous {{AOSKeyword|HEROES}}. On a 6, you get 1.
**Unfortunately, you can't use the Generic or Scenario command abilities (rerolling Run, charge, shooting rolls) but you have a ton of CAs that will Guzzle your DP.

*'''Deathless Warriors''': It's Deathless Minions from Legions of Nagash, albeit with a rename. It allows you to ignore wounds and mortal wounds on a 6+. However, you'll be able to get more mileage out of it than other Death armies, as any unit wholly within 12" of a {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS Hero}} or 6" of a Hekatos (i.e: the leader for your battlelines) count for the ability, removing the need to have your Heroes babysitting your units. Units that are {{AOSKeyword|HEKATOS}} (elite bone warriors units) always benefit from the ability, allowing them to strike out entirely unsupported.

*'''Unstoppable Advance (CA)''': In Movement Phase. Pick 1 unit within X" of a hero or hekatos. +3" movement. It can still run OR charge. You cannot pick the same unit more than once per phase.

===Command Traits===

====Liege-Kavalos====
*'''Ancient Knowledge:''' While on the battlefield, get an extra RDP at the start of the battle round.
*'''Immortal Ruler:''' Deathless Warrior trait works on a 5+ for this general. Always good.
*'''Dark Acolyte:''' Becomes a 1 cast/unbind {{AOSKeyword|WIZARD}} with one Mortisan Lore spell.
*'''Peerless Warrior:''' Melee wound rolls of 6 deal an extra mortal wound.
*'''Hatred of the Living:''' +1 to hit in melee (including their mount) against non-{{AOSKeyword|DEATH}} units.
*'''Life-stealer:''' If they kill any models in combat, heal 1d3 wounds at the end of that phase.

====Mortisan====
*'''Ancient Knowledge:''' While on the battlefield, get an extra RDP at the start of the battle round.
*'''Immortal Ruler:''' Deathless Warrior trait works on a 5+ for this general. Always good.
*'''Dire Ultimatum:''' -2 to Bravery for enemies within 12". Although it requires coordinating a couple of units, you can cause a MASSIVE debuff to enemy Bravery by combining this and the Scroll of Command (see below).
*'''Grave-sand Bones:''' Knows an extra spell from the Lore of the Mortisans.
*'''Oathbreaker Curse:''' Every time your opponent gets a CP, on a d6 roll of 6 it is lost. Obviously Katakros does it better, but this does work more than once per turn if your enemy has CP-generating abilities.
*'''Soul Energy:''' You can re-roll casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls, but whenever you do you take a mortal wound.

===Artefacts===
*'''Relics of the Kavaloi (Liege-Kavalos)'''
#'''Mind Blade:''' Pick one of bearer’s melee weapons. If unmodified hit roll is a 6, and target is a hero, opponent loses a Command Point and the hero can’t use command abilities for the rest of the battle. Apart from only working on sixes this is incredible.
#'''Lordly Phylactery:''' Once per battle start of any phase, gain D3 RD points.
#'''Scroll of Command:''' Subtract 2 Bravery from enemy units within 6” of bearer. Only really recommended if you're going for Mortis Praetorians (see their Legion description for more information). Although, a Liege-Kavalos with this, with a Mortisan general with the Dire Ultimatum command trait nearby drops enemy Bravery by a whopping -4!
#'''Grave-sand Boneplates:''' At the end of the combat phase, roll dice for each enemy unit within 3”, on a 4+ that unit suffers a mortal wound. Mediocre.
#'''Marrow Pact:''' Once per battle, in hero phase pick one enemy unit within 6” of bearer. On a 3+, unit suffers D3 mortal wounds, heal the same number of wounds.
#'''Helm of the Ordained:''' Add one to hit rolls for attacks made by {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} units and mounts while wholly within 12” of the bearer. One of the best choices for a Liege-Kavalos if including Bonereaper Legion weapons, otherwise it's the best unless you have a very specific playstyle in mind.

*'''Tools of the Boneshaper (Boneshapers)'''
#'''Artisan's key:''' Before using the bearer’s bone shaper ability, roll a dice and on a 4+ either you can pick two units instead of one, or the same unit twice within 6”. The best of the three by a narrow margin.
#'''Lode of Saturation:''' At the start of the Hero phase, choose a unit within 1”, deathless warrior battle trait on 5+ instead of 6.
#'''Crafter Gems:''' Hero phase, heal up to 3 wounds. Once the total wounds healed in the battle is 3 you cannot use it any longer.

*'''Treasures of the Soulmason (Soulmasons)'''
#'''Gothizzar Cartouche:''' +1 to melee wound rolls for units wholly within 9” of bearer if target does not have Death keyword. The best option if you're not facing {{AOSKeyword|DEATH}} armies.
#'''Soul Reservior:''' +2 to cast, but if casting roll is unmodified 10+ artifact cannot be used again.
#'''Thorne of Dzendt:''' +2 to wounds and +2 attacks for mount. A good all around choice, especially for keeping your chair bound wizard safe.

*'''Weapons of the Soulreaper (Soulreapers)'''
#'''Luminscythe:''' minus 1 for hit rolls targeting bearer. +1 casting rolls for bearer for Lore of Mortisans or warscroll spell.
#'''Vial of Binding:''' Once per battle in hero phase, pick enemy model within 12" of bearer and roll a D6. If roll is equal or greater than the wound characteristic they are slain. The best choice if you take a Soul Reaper, and the obvious choice for offensive.
#'''Guardian Reavesoul:''' Negate wound on a 5+ instead of 6+ for deathless minions. Can shatter to negate last wound if about to die. If you're not taking Vial of Binding, this is the go-to choice.

===Spell Lore===
#'''Arcane Command:''' CV5. Gain D3 Relentless Discipline Points. Nice if you've got an extra spell, or had some bad luck with your rolls.
# '''Empower Nadirite Weapons: ''' CV5. Pick 1 {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, the units Nadirite Weapons ability explodes on a 5+ instead of 6, or 4+ if its a {{AOSKeyword|DEATHRIDERS}} attacking with spears after charging.
# '''Protection of Nagash: ''' CV6. 5+ FNP for the caster. If any wounds get through your FNP, and the caster isn't slain, remove them from the battlefield after all wounds have been allocated, and place them anywhere on the board 9" away from enemy models then dispel this spell. Great for getting important casters out of sticky situations, or absolutely hilarious on Nagash if you wanna fuck with your opponent.
# '''Reinforce Battle-shields: ''' CV6. Pick 1 {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit armed with Shields or Nadirite Battle-shields wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, they gain a 5+ FNP but only for mortal wounds. Pair this with a gothizzar harvester, the reroll saves command ability for some truly unkillable troops.
# '''Drain Vitality: ''' CV6. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. Until your next hero phase, reroll unmodified hit and save rolls of 6 made by that unit. Good for blunting a spooky unit's charge, but less useful than the other options available.
# '''Mortal Contract: ''' CV7. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. For the rest of the '''BATTLE''', roll a die at the end of any phase that the unit dealt damage to a friendly {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit (but only if it was with an attack). On 3+, the cursed unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Lawdy, this is probably the most obnoxious spell we can sling, if you can remember who you marked the entire game. Great into low unit-count armies.

===Endless Spells===

An important distinction to note between these Endless Spells and others that exist is that the ones presented below have the '''Soul-Linked''' ability, meaning they always move before Endless Spells without the Soul-Linked ability and are controlled by the casting Player only, meaning your opponent cannot control these Endless Spells to mess with your plans. However on the flip side, the Wizard who cast the spell has a -1 to his casting rolls and cannot cast anymore soul-linked spells while their soul-linked endless spell is up. If the caster dies then the soul-linked spell is also dispelled, so keep him alive if you want the spells to last.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Bone-tithe-Shrieker-en.pdf Bone-tithe Shrieker]''': 30 points, Gives -1 bravery, and +1 to be hit to enemy units within 12" of it. Simple, but effective. Place it just in front of your battle line to make the enemy think twice, or use it to make holding an objective less than desirable.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Soulstealer-Carrion-en.pdf Soulstealer Carrion]''': 20 points, Gives LOS to the Soul-Linked wizard. You won't be taking it for this. Instead, you'll be taking it for it's actual ability: Soul Thief. Roll a D6 at the end of each Phase if any Chaos, Order, or Destruction models were slain within 6" of it. On a 1 or 2, the Wizard this Endless Spell is Soul-Linked with heals a wound. On a 3 or 4, it does 1 Mortal Wound on each Chaos, Destruction or Order unit within 6" of it, and on a 5-6, it does both effects. AMAZINGLY fun, if you're not playing into Death, so do with that as you will. The COMBO with this spell is to cast it near a horde unit, snipe a model with the nexus in the hero phase, and then also shoot some stuff in the shooting phase with the crawler. This has the potential to produce a multi-phase aoe mortal wound pulsing engine.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Nightmare-Predator-en.pdf The Nightmare Predator]''': 40 points, Your standard causes Mortal Wounds Endless Spell (dealing D3 Mortal Wounds to all non-bonecasts within 3" of it), but with a twist - when cast, pick an enemy Hero to be marked as it's prey. If this spell gets within range of them, it spits out d6 mortal wounds instead. For it's dirt cheap point cost, this is almost auto-include.

==<span style=color:Gray>Famous Legions</span>==

For awhile the best Legion was Petrifex Elite, by far. But due to Petrifex spam and the resulting complaints GW jumped them with something even they couldn't take - the nerf-bat. Oh, the old gray Petrifex, it ain't what it used to be. Now, Mortis Praetorians (with Katakros) are in the lead and the others are good but situational, eg; Crematorians are worth considering if you spam Mortek Guard and Null Myriad against a magic-heavy opponent.

<big>Mortis Praetorians</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''The Dread Legion''':-1 bravery to enemy units within 12".
*'''Command Trait''': '''Katakros' Chosen''': Once per battle if the general is on the Battlefield, gain D3 RDP points.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Counter-strike''': Pick a friendly unit Wholly within 6" of a HEKATOS or Wholly 12" of a HERO. If charged, they can re-roll hits.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Artificer's Blade''': Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons. It has -3 Rend.
The poster boys, the jack-of-all-trades and the best choice if you’re bringing Katakros, otherwise it's decent but not an auto-take. Plus other death armies capitalize on "fear-bombing" a bit more effectively (looking at you, Legions of Grief and Blood). With the nerf to Petrifix, bringing Katakros in this legion is basically the only viable competitive list at this point.

<big>Petrifex Elite</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Unstoppable Juggernauts''': Re-roll save rolls of 1 in melee.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Mighty Archaeossian''': +2 Wounds.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Bludgeon''': In the combat phase, give a unit +1 rend on one weapon, can't stack.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Godbone Armor''': The first wound allocated to the bearer in each '''phase''' is negated.
Makes your entire army (including Nagash) overall more tanky, gives your commander a few extra wounds for a chuckle, lets you put some durability on a caster via the relic (especially useful if you're bringing some Endless Spells), AND comes with a command ability that makes you killy, just to throw your opponent for a loop. Pre-nerf it added +1 to everyone's armor save and was THE choice of Bonereaper Legion. Now it's decent but no longer the one best choice.

<big>Null Myriad</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Eldritch Nulls''': Ignore the effects of spells on a 5+.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Unsettling and Sinister''': -1 to Bravery in 3", and -1 to be hit during combat phase.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Holdfast''': Make the battle trait work on a 2+ instead of 5+.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''<s>Cheese</s> <s>Chad</s> Baleful Blade''': Pick 1 of the bearer's weapons. [[Awesome|Saves can't be made against attacks from this weapon and wounds can't be negated]] (though they can later be healed).
The magic choice. Their innate rules mean you can focus more on offensive magic, and the Artefact is perfect for any combat character... but is obviously best on a Liege-Kavalos. One of the best choices, but if your meta is very magic heavy this is clearly the best. Make those six hallowheart battlemages cry because they can do nothing to you (and then notice that you can't probably do much to them either, so the battle is probably a void of winds of magic).

<big>Ivory Host</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': At the start of each combat phase, any IVORY HOST unit within 6" of an IVORY HOST <i>model</i> that is wounded is subject to rage for that phase. While subject to rage, get +1 to hit, but -1 save. Dependent on having damaged multi-wound models nearby and can potentially really mess your own forces up, but can lead to you hitting very hard. Fortunately, as it's only for the combat phase, you don't have to worry about it when you're being shot at.
*'''Command Trait''': Every hero phase your general gains 1 attack for all his melee weapons on a 5+. Best to have a Liege-Kavalos as your general for this.
*'''Command Ability''': Cancel the -1 save from the battle trait. This is what makes the Ivory host interesting, letting you pull some shenanigans with a screen unit or pulling some clutch damage out at a vital time.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Beastbound Blade''': One of the bearer's melee weapons gets +1 attack.
The combat choice, though dependent on good dice rolls, positioning and carefully picking your fights. Decent in and of itself, but very situational and the worst choice crunch-wise compared to the others.

<big>Stalliarch Lords</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': Run and charge. Pretty good for increasing your threat range on a slow army.
*'''Command Trait''': Pick an enemy hero within 3" at the start of the combat phase. Gain +1 to hit against it but -1 to anything else. Pretty situational and lackluster.
*'''Command Ability''': Retreat and charge in the same turn. Good for repositioning or getting your charge bonuses again. Here's looking at you, Deathriders.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Nadir-Bound Mount''': Can only be taken by a Liege-Kavalos. They roll D3 additional dice for their Unstoppable Charge ability.
The speedy and somewhat trollish choice. Do you wanna go fast? Do you want a liege or Zandtos to run fast next to fast cavalry? Or if you take a Liege make them hit like a ton of bricks? Then go these guys. They let you skimp out of the costly battalion with their inherent command ability, and make your already fast cavalry even faster. They even pair well with Stalkers, Morghast Harbingers or Harvesters, to just really irritate your opponent.

<big>Crematorians</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Immolation''': When a model dies you get a chance to cause MW to an enemy within 3" on a 5+, with monsters and characters adding 1 to their roll/going off on a 4+.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Wrathful Avenger''': If the general dies, add 2 to the dice roll for Immolation and it does D3 Mortal Wounds rather than 1.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Levelers of Cities''': One friendly CREMATORIANS unit with 6" of a Hekatros or 12" of a hero ignores cover saves.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Searing Blade''': Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons and add 1 to the Damage characteristic.
The TRUE trolling choice. Paired with some revives and harvesters, and laugh as your opponent realizes that killing your models meant their guys died and then revived the dudes they just tried to kill, rinse and repeat. Especially lulzy against Sons of Behemat, given how reliant they are on combat... which is ground zero for your skeleton suicide bombers.

==<span style=color:Gray>Warscrolls<span>==
The common keywords of these warscrolls are: '''DEATH''', '''OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS'''

===Leaders===
====Named Leaders====
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Katakros-Mortarch-of-the-Necropolis-en.pdf Orpheon Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis]''': (500pts) Like Skarbrand, his attacks get stronger the more wounds he takes. Katakros himself has [[Awesome|Rend and Damage 3]] and he can bop foes with his shield to dole out Mortal Wounds, so he can dish out some hurt in combat, but not until he's taken some wounds representing his companions dying so Katakros himself joins the fray. However, he is one of the slowest characters in the game - 4" move (which doesn’t much matter when he’s on a '''12 centimetre''' base, and you can use the Relentless Advance to boost Katakros' movement to 7") and can't fly, but Mortarch of Necropolis allows Katakros to heal up to three friendly OBR units wholly within 24" of his model for 3 wounds worth on your hero phase. Katakros is a friendly OBR unit within 24" of himself, so he can choose to heal himself for 3 wounds every one of your hero phases. Because he is so slow, he hates cannons even more than his boss so engage shooty armies at your own risk. He's pricey in points and cash, but you get what you pay for - no more no less - as he's a good beatstick and support character, just don't try to send him up against other super combat lords who have a damage of 3 or better because he can easily get his shit kicked in, especially if they have some serious wound negation. If your opponent is fielding a character with either (or worse, both) then make sure to screen him out. It's better to not get him in combat and keep your Relentless Discipline points, heals and Command Point sabotage than it is for you to possibly lose all of those.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Nagash-Supreme-Lord-of-the-Undead-en.pdf Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead]''': (880pts) Changed from his early forms, Nagash is now 30 points more expensive, and no longer loots the spells from all of his Death-based allies. (but he does know the whole spell lore by default.) Instead, he can now restore wounds/models to 5 of his Bonecast Eternals, and can sling Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt as much as his undead heart (and casting limit) desire.
**As Nagash and Arkhan gain the OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS keyword, they can heal themselves, making them quite a bit more resilient in an OBR army than when accompanying their own legions. Go figure.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkhan-the-Black-Mortarch-of-Sacrament-en.pdf Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament]''': (360pts) Much like Nagash, Arkhan is more expensive now, at a "whopping" 20 points more than before. With an extra cast and deny, and the ability to sling Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield like his Boss, (along with learning the whole spell lore,) it sounds like that price increase came with some buffs. However, overall Arkhan's in a slightly more disappointing place. Curse of Years no longer succeeds on 1s, meaning it's slightly more fair, and his command ability has now been limited to one use a turn, spoiling an awful lot of fun that could have been had. Also worth noting that Arkhan is one of the few ways to actually bring back models in the hero phase, and he does it quite well. An extremely strong choice as a recursion and magic defender unit.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arch-Kavalos-Zandtos-en.pdf Arch-Kavalos Patru Zandtos]''': (220pts) A named Mortis Praetorians Liego-Kavalos, with additional abilities like more damage on the charge, rerolls to wound, and another CA that grants a Praetorians unit the same reroll ability. A good choice for leader - practically an auto-take if you want a Liege-Kavalos in Mortis Praetorians.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Volkmortian-Master-of-the-Bone-tithe-en.pdf Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe]''': (180pts) He is a HOT GARBAGE Wizard that should be very close to the front lines. He has a chance to prevent a model within 3" from attacking him on a 5+ as a defense. He also has a 12" aura of -1 to bravery and -1 to any Wizard attempting to unbind any spell he casts (which improves in that rare instance an enemy General dies near him). His Unique spell can instantly kill any model within 1" of him on a 5+, and the range on it cannot be modified, which can be used to punish any foolish combat heroes or big monsters he ends up fighting - though it is a bit unreliable to make him a dedicated assassin.
**A bit unreliable is the undersell of the century. First, a caster with a terrible save profile has to be within 1" of an enemy. Then this caster, with NO BONUS TO CAST, has to roll an 8 to get this garbage spell off. BUT OH, you say, THOSE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED! Well hold up friend, now you have a 33% chance of the spell actually doing anything. 180 points btw. Overall, he should be in the garbage, or if you insist on running him, standing behind your troops (ideally Immortis Guard or Mortek Guard), providing the debuff and using his 2 spells per turn.

====Generic Leaders====
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Liege-Kavalso-en.pdf Liege-Kavalos]''': (200pts) Your commander on a big-boned mount that gives two guaranteed Relentless Discipline points. Lots of decent attacks, but nothing too nutty. When he charges he has an increased pile in and the ability to fling out some extra mortal wounds. His Command Ability gives a unit wholly within 12" +1 attack. He probably functions best running with some deathriders for a spoopy cavalry wing, though having him roam around your anvils can make for some good time damage output.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Soulreaper-en.pdf Mortisan Soulreaper]''': (120pts) Our CC battlemage, though with his weapon the most he'll be reaping is chaff mobs. His unique spell lets him smack one unit at range, or every unit in CC with him with a few mortal wounds. Probably our worst unit, as outside of his spell-slinging, he's basically a really expensive cairn wraith from nighthaunt. Look elsewhere, unless you really love his amazing model.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Boneshaper-en.pdf Mortisan Boneshaper]''': (130pts) Your only generic hero way to heal units in the hero phase, and part of the <s>glue that holds your army together</s> calcium that strengthens your bone boys. With the ability to restore 3 wounds (or 3 wounds worth of boys (raise 3 Mortek Guard, or 1 Kavalos Deathriders everything else has 4+ wounds)) to a friendly squad and sling a few spells, he feels close to auto-include, especially if you left Nagash or Arkhan at home. His unique spell lets him fling [[Awesome|BONESTORM!]] at an enemy unit, roll for each model within 18" and every 6 deals a mortal wound, a nice anti-horde spell being easy to cast on 5. Keep him out of combat and out of LoS so he can spend your whole game building bonecasts in a dark corner away from anyone else.
** Boneshapers and Immortis Guard are a good match, as they can take wounds for him and he can heal them if they take too many hits.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Soulmason-en.pdf Mortisan Soulmason]''': (140pts) The grand vizier will see you now. He's got a passable melee profile, but that's not why you take him. He's a wizard with 2 casts and unbinds and a unique spell, Soul-Guide, that gives a friendly Ossiarch Bonereapers unit the ability to reroll 1's to hit. Pretty good so far, but it gets better. At the end of your hero phase, on a 2+ cast Soul-Guide more times even if it was already attempted that turn. Basically, bring him when you're spamming catapults (or anything, really) and spread the re-rolling to hit love.
** For extra fun, his potential multiple casts force the enemy to consider whether to unbind these spells or other spells.

===Battleline===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortek-Guard-en.pdf Mortek Guard]''': (Battleline, 130/440pts, Min:10, Max:40) Your basic skellies are a decently-protected lot with a 4+ save. Their basic weapons are 2 attacks with -1 Rend sword or a spear, both can double the hits inflicted on a 6+ to hit. The greatblade, on the other hand, trades that for a slightly better wound score, which isn't remarkable but at least keeps the sword's Rend. Their slow speed is helped by their banner giving them +1 to runs and charges, and the +3" move order mentioned above. A good choice for loadout is sword for smaller units and spears for bigger units.
**'''Mortek Hekatos''': This boy is a mini-HQ that gives to your Relentless Discipline pool and keys to a lot of other things. (in big units you have to pack a lot of models very close together to have Deathless Warriors). He's only got an attack more than the base guard, but he also confers a command ability that lets his pack re-roll all saves for the combat phase - much more valuable for their survival.
** With the Petrifex Elite, you can take the spears and use the Petrifex command ability to give them rend, just save the spears for larger units of Mortek Guard.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Kavalos-Deathriders-en.pdf Kavalos Deathriders]''': (Battleline, 180/460pts, Min:5, Max:15) Your basic skellies, but on a horse! When compared to their foot-slogging brothers, these guys have +1 attack and 3 wounds each, the 2 extra pony swings we all know and love (actually, even their horses are on steroids, wounding on a 3+), and a whopping 12" move compared to the former's 4". Not only that, but their spears have exploding hits on a 5+ roll on the charge, giving you a bit more reason to consider selling the rend on your swords.
**'''Mortek Hekatos''': Much like the Mortek Guard, the Deathrider's hekatos has +1 attack with their weapon, but his command ability gives you some mortal wound output on the charge and a double-range pile in. FAQ'd to confirm a unit can only benefit from this once per phase.

===Hekatos===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Necropolis-Stalkers-en.pdf Necropolis Stalkers]''': (180pts, Min:3, Max:6) Speedy, Re-rolling, <s>tyranid warriors </s> skeleton boys. Each turn, these massive lads pick whether they want to re-roll hits, wounds, saves, or add +1 to their weapons' Rend and Damage. While rerolling saves is nice when you get charged by something scary, you'll almost always use +1 rend and damage, as it turns your basic stalker into a stormcast blender, and your unit leader <s>into a literal monster</s> into an equally strong blender as the normal weapons, when enhanced with -1 rend and +1 dmg, are actually stronger than the special weapon, proven by Mathhammer. Their command ability that lets them re-roll run and charge rolls while also ignoring terrain as if they could fly.
** Another option is to run them with a Soulmason equipped with the Gothizzar Cartouche in support which gives +1 to wound rolls. Now, assuming you also have Katakros on the board and you can get Soul-Guide onto your Stalkers then the best Aspect to run is the Destroyer Aspect because this combo would then mean your hitting on 2's and re-rolling 1's '''AND''' wounding on 2's (with spirit blades)
** Upon testing with Mathhammer, in this precise scenario, precision still pulls far ahead if you take 3 of the normal weapons and give them all of these buffs. There is around an average damage difference of 5 per round.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Immortis-Guard-en.pdf Immortis Guard]''': (180pts, Min:3, Max:12)The Anvil to the stalker's hammer. These guys have a lower damage output, with 2 3+/3+/-2/2 damage (though the base rend 2 is nice), and the ability to bop someone with their shields for a bit of extra damage, with the occasional mortal wound when rolling a 6. Their main draw, however, is their base 3+ save and bodyguard ability. Whenever they're within 3" of a friendly hero, on a 2+ they must eat a wound or mortal wound that would have been applied to said hero. Their command ability lets them immediately pile in and swing again after their first go, but only with their shields. Less than impressive, but nice for positioning. Having two weapons means they get more out of the Liege's extra attack command ability, and with their own on top of that the mortal wounds do become bit more reliable. Unfortunately, OBR doesn't have the luxury to be spending points on these awesome bodyguard chads so these guys have to date never seen any competitive play.

*'''Morghasts [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Morghast-Archai-en.pdf Archai] & [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Morghast-Harbingers-en.pdf Harbingers]''': (190pts, Min:2, Max:6) Nagash's angels of death come in 2 flavors, with the archai having a chance to shrug off mortal wounds, and harbingers getting a 3d6 charge. Beyond those differences either one is monstrous combatants, and tough to boot, with 6 wounds 4+ armor and being Hekatos for the death save. They also have a bravery debuff as a bonus. You should always take the halberd for 3 attacks at 3+/3+/-2/3, as they will only do less damage against units with a 6+ save, shown by Mathhammer. You don't want your Morghasts engaging Chaff, as they aren't meant to be wiping chaff for you. Additionally, adding attacks to the Halberd from your Liege is much stronger than doing so to your swords.
** See the above option for Stalkers and apply to Morghasts - you'll lose out on the re-rolling wounds but up the rend to -2 and the damage to 3 (with halberds) so the Mathammer will result in more wounds on average (even if you run swords) - only real issue with this is keep up with the Morghasts on your bone throne.
** Following the Petrifex nerf, these guys just got a bit more viable. They mesh well with quite a few Legions (the Archai save against spells compliments Null Myriad spell nullifying, the Harbingers compliment the Stalliarch rules - and they're probably our best unit against the Kharadron Overlords and more).

===Behemoths===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Gothizzar-Harvester-en.pdf Gothizzar Harvester]''': (200pts, Behemoth) Big guy has 10 wounds and a 4+ save. Has good damage potential with 4 solid ranged attacks and a BUNCH of 2 damage melee swings, with a choice between bludgeons or sickles. These weapons have the exact same melee stats, but different effects. Bludgeons do 2 mortal wounds on unmodified hits of 6 instead of normal damage, (basically giving the guy a Nighthaunt's frightful touch) while the sickles get +1 to hit against units with 5+ models. The Bludgeons are the better choice, as there are other ways to boost hit rolls and Mortal Wounds are useful whoever you're up against. More importantly than that, this guy is another source of precious calcium/healer. Each time any models (friend or foe) die within 3" of him, he can heal an Ossiarch Bonereaper unit within 6" on a 4+. The heals he gives depends on the wounds characteristic of the model slain. It's worth noting he can do this to himself, making his relatively fragile 10 wounds and 4+ save last a little longer.
**For the Crematorians, this guy makes the list even more trollish. Camp him by your Mortek Guard, and when they die and cause mortal wounds, he can heal them right back up. Free mortal wounds, anyone?
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortek-Crawler-en.pdf Mortek Crawler]''': (200pts, Artillery, Behemoth) The most trolltastic catapult in all of AoS. With a nice 36" range and solid durability, it starts as a remarkably strong springboard for the absolute terror of its ammo types. Once per battle, you can fire a different choice of ammo from two different options and their effects are trolltastically memeable.
**Necrotic Skulls: Your normal shots. You're getting a pretty hefty 3 2+/3+/-/variable shots that start at 5 damage, and dips down to 1 as the model takes damage. Great as a general all-rounder, and in MOST scenarios is strictly better than going for one of the situational special shots below.
***Just to reiterate however: 3 shots at 5 damage initially. Although lack of rend hurts, this is a horde killing volley beyond compare, particularly as their hit and wound rolls are so good.
**Cauldron of Torment: the first of the meme shots. Instead of firing like normal, you roll a dice for every model in the target unit, and whenever you meet or beat their '''UNMODIFIED''' Bravery, one model is slain. "But Anon," you reply, "lots of units have high Bravery! That's not good," To which I say, sure, you're right. this isn't good against undead, Stormcast, or Chaos, but do you know what it IS good against? grots, where you wipe half of whatever squad you fire at. Or freeguild, where you gun down a third of whatever unit you want in a ghostly fog. And we're STILL not done with this bad boy.
**Cursed Stele: Does your local meta not really do hordes? Or do they just love low model-count armies with high leadership? Well, have I got a unit for you! Instead of shooting normally, pick a model within range (so, characters, banners, unit leaders, etc.) and roll 2d6. If you roll equal to or higher than their wound stat, the guy dies (with some modifiers, starting at -3 to your roll, slowly turning to +3 as you lose wounds). This right here is disgusting. With an average roll of 4, you kill support heroes about 60% of the time or get to guaranteed snipe off important banners or unit champions whenever you're feeling cheeky. Worth noting that forcing support heros to make saves or take 5 damage from the normal shot is often also enough to kill the hero outright. Did that daemon prince swoop in and drop you to 1 wound? Wouldn't it be great if his failure meant your average roll is now a 10 and insta-gibs the winged sexy, sexy biscuit daemon? (Lovely to consider, but the 6" minimum range on the Crawler's attacks means if it's in melee it's been neutered - protect at all costs!)

===Scenery===
*'''Bone-tithe Nexus''': (0pts) Your mandatory accompanying setpiece is a giant monolith surrounded by bones upon bones. In truth it acts more like a sentry that can chuck out one of four different Punishments each turn: -1 to hit, MW Sniping, causes problem for a wizard, or Can't run and only roll 1d6 for charges. The physical footprint of this thing is BIG. You're supposed to place the terrain before defining and placing any of the game's (neutral) terrain. Placing the damn thing can therefore be problematic in organized events, where terrain is pre-set before the game starts.

==Battalions==
<big>'''Ossiarch Cohort'''</big> 100 pts (min points: '''4450''')
''Katakros, Zandtos or Liege Kavalos, 1-3 Mortek Shield-Corps, 1-3 Kavalos Lances, 1 Mortisian Trident, 1-2 Katakrosian Deathglaives, 1 Aegis Immortal, 1 Mortek Ballistari''
* The Super Battalion.
For putting together all that dough together your general generates 1d3 additional RDPs at the beginning of your hero phase.

<big>'''Aegis Immortal'''</big> 80 pts (min points: '''690''')
''1 Archai, 2 Immortis.''
The ARCHAI from this battalion has the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS ability from the Immortis Guard warscroll. In addition, if you use the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS and the roll is a 5+, the wound/MW is negated instead of allocated to a unit from this battalion. Take with Petrifex Elite (now nerfed to not make them tankier, so probably not) to make your characters near unkillable. Solid choice, pun intended, the only drawback is if you want a more offensive playstyle since this is defensive-based.

<big>'''Katakrosian Deathglaive'''</big> 80 pts (min points: '''690''')
''2 Stalkers, 1 Morghast Harbinger''
After units are set up but before the first battleround, if all units from the btn are WHOLLY WITHIN 12" of the Harbingers, you can move any of them up to 6" The best name for a Battalion in all of AoS. Useful for strategic positioning and claiming objectives, it's a decent choice. One foe it does help against is Kharadron Overlords, positioning your Morghasts and Stalkers to better catch their fliers. Especially useful in Stalliarch Lords as those units can then run and charge after. This is OBR's best way to alpha strike.

<big>'''Kavalos Lance'''</big> 120 pts (min points: '''680''')
''Arch-Kavalos OR 1 Liege-Kavalos, 2 Kavalos Deathriders.''
Units from this battalion can retreat and charge if wholly within 12" of the Liege when the charge roll is made. In addition, once per turn, you can use the Deathrider Wedge CA for a unit from this battalion without spending RDP. Pretty good, especially if you bring a spellcaster with Empower Nadirite Weapons, more so if you're running Petrifex to give the weapons extra rend. Just remember it's a waste of points if you're using the Stalliarch Lords legion because they do this but better and for free.

<big>'''Mortek Ballistari'''</big> 100 pts (min points: '''760''')
''1 Boneshaper, 1 Mortek Guard, 2 Crawlers.''
Roll a die before you allocate a wound/MW to a Crawler from this btn while it is within 3" of the Mortek Guard unit from the same btn. Add 2 if the Crawler is within 3" of the Boneshaper from the same btn. On a 4+, it is instead allocated to the GUARD instead of the CRAWLER. A decent way to keep your crawlers alive, but this will likely just result in your opponent blowing up entire units of guard instead, which likely means you lose the game.

<big>'''Mortek Shield-corps'''</big> 120 pts (min points: '''630''')
''Either Volkmortian, a Boneshaper, a Soulreaper OR a Soulmason, and 3 Mortek Guard.''
Once per turn, you can use Shieldwall for one unit in the battalion without spending RDP. The cheapest option, and a decent choice, making your Mortek Guard that much more durable and freeing RDP to be spent elsewhere. It's a good safety net if a unit loses their Hekatos. A valid option if you find yourself having the points to spare and want another artefact, as you will likely be running these units anyway,

<big>'''Mortisan Trident'''</big> 110 pts (min points: '''700''')
''1 Boneshaper, 1 Soulreaper, 1 Soulmason, 1 Harvester.''
EACH Mortisan from this battalion can attempt to cast 1 extra spell if WITHIN 18" of the harvester AND the harvester is within 3" of any enemy units. Very situational and not very impressive for the points. Simply needs a lot of specific conditions to occur for this to even be activated. For example, unless you are charged turn one, this ability will not be active as your harvester won't be within 3" of any enemies.

<big> '''Vokmortian’s Retinue''' </big> 120 pts (min points: '''840''')
''Volkmortian, 1 Mortek Guard, 1 Stalker, and 1 Archai.''
The exclusive battalion from Feast of Bones. At the start of your hero phase, you can return 1 slain model to a unit within 8 inches of Morty.
This battalion, and it's older dreadier brother, is the armies only reliable method of bringing back dead Stalkers and Archai. It does require you to run Vokmortian, who is probably the worst unit in the entire army, so that's quite a downside to dream this big.

<big> '''Vokmortian’s Dread Retinue''' </big> 130 pts (min points: '''850''')
''Vokmortian, 1-3 Mortek Guard, 1 Stalker, and 1-2 Archai or Harbingers, in any configuration.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion. Comes with the same ability as Vokmortain's Retinue, but also gives you a start of game ability to hurt the chances of a single enemy hero hitting Vokmortian. Because you can take Harbingers instead of Archai with this battalion, which opens up returning Morghast Harbingers to play, this battalion is much better than the regular Retinue. However, it still requires you to pay for Vokmortian, the overcosted caster with a terrible warscroll spell and no natural bonus to cast.

<big> '''Harvester Scythe Corps''' </big> 100 pts (min points: '''660''')
''2 Kavalos Deathriders and 1 Gothizzar Harvester.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion. Battalion lets you add one to wound rolls for the Harvester if within 12 of the dead ponies. Decent if you need to generate the RDP and the artefact, but if you are taking a pair of Deathriders, you might as well be taking a Liege and going for the Kavalos Lance battalion, which also doesn't restrict you out of the better legions.

<big> '''Vokmortian's Tithe Legion''' </big> 110 pts (min points: '''5640''')
''This list of other battalions: 1 Vokmortian's Dread Retinue, 1-3 Mortek Shield Corps, 1 Mortisan Trident, 1-2 Katakrosian Deathglaives, 1 Aegis Immortal, 1-3 Kavalos Lances or Harvester Scythe Corps in any configuration, 1 Mortek Ballistari, 1 Harvester Scythe Corps.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion.
The boring part of this battalion is that you probably won't ever get to field it, and even if you do, the abilities from it aren't the best. You get to generate an additional D3 RDP per hero phase, and you get to take '''any number of''' Nighthaunt allies, without them counting against ally rules. Super battalions are fun, but this one means that outside of the nearly 6k points you have to spend on it, you also need Nighthaunt to make use of it. It's a good goal for a collection, though.

<big>'''Horrek's Dreadlance'''</big> -- pts (min points: '''---''')
''1 Arch-Kavalos (Horrek), 2 Kavalos Deathriders.''
A battallion from Broken Realms. This battallion must be taken with the Stalliarch Lords legion.
The Arch-Kavalos is a named character (Horrek) and has to be the first '''LIEGE''' to take an artifact and take the Nadir-bound Mount (his legions artifact), if he is chosen as general he has the Twisted Challenge Command Trait (His legion's again).
This battallion allows you to regain the RDP you spent on Rally Back (The Stalliarch Lord's unique command abilitty) on a 4+.. It is extremely boring and probably not worth the cost since you can just spend the battallion cost on another unit of deathriders.

==Army Building==
=== Getting Started ===
When getting started with the Ossiarch Bonereapers, it's important that you understand the direction you want to take your list in. If you are going for competitive, you're going to be making the most out of Mortek Guard, while if you are going for fun and cool, you have a lot of fun and cool options.

If new to the game, look out for a Feast of Bones set half, as it can be a great start to your Ossiarch Army. Another way to start would be with a box of Mortek Guard and a Liege Kavalos, as this gives you a little bit less than a Start Collecting worth of points, but a lot of cool units to start working on.

=== Currently Competitive ===

The best lists right now center around the fact that Mortek Guard units are incredibly over-statted for their points cost. As for which Legion, following the nerfing of Petrifex, Mortis Praetorians have stepped up to top spot. Petrifex are still viable, but no longer auto-take.

==== Heroes ====

A Petrifex-aligned Liege-Kavalos is a mainstay in the General position, as the Mighty Croissant command trait and Godbone Armor artefact make it a 9 wound, ignoring first wounds of every phase monster, along with the extra RDP generation for being a liege, and a built in Mystic Shield effect making the Liege basically indestructible, as Nagash would want. The other best hero seems to be the Soulmason, as it has great casting for the points, and really fills out the support role of your army.

You can also build Nagash or Arkhan centric lists, and those typically look like Nagash/Arkhan + 40 blobs of guard and a support unit or two.

==== Battleline ====

Mortek Guard, usually a pair of 2 40 blobs are great (and also almost half your army, so its probably best to run them in smaller groups to have more board presence.) Then, fill out the battleline with some of those dead ponies. Seriously, Mortek Guard are only 130 points right now, can be given exploding 5+s and additional rend (in Petrifix Elite.) They're practically the backbone of any Ossiarch army.

==== Other Models ====

Necropolis Stalkers are your can-openers, popping heavily armored units. They can also move as if flying, opening up more options, and are cheaper than the other Hekatos units.

Gothizzar harvesters can be run as a one of per blob of Guard you manage to field. This means that your Mortek Guard is going to have a 4+/6+/4+ save, which is equal to about a 13.88% (or a "1.25+" save equivalent) chance to wound. Per model. That's like having a 0.83+ save.

Mortek Crawlers can be utilized to constantly rampage as your large blobs of guard gum up the board, create incredibly tough tar pits, and slow down enemy units. Another benefit is that if a cheap unit is used by your opponent to attempt to capture an objective, you might be able to wipe it out before it gains any points if you notice it soon enough and identify that part of your opponent's game plan.

==== Spells ====

There are several good spells that you can take, although overall the spell lore is kind of boring. Empower Nadirite Weapons is the best spell in the lore, mainly because most lists are running blobs of 40 Mortek Guard and the spell makes them table. Arcane Command can be taken on a second support wizard, as can Mortal Contract, depending on who you think you might be facing. Reinforce shield walls can also be a decent spell, especially if you are combining several layers of saves to make Mortek Guard the ultimate pit of bone.

==== Using Battalions ====

Because of the ability to increase RDP generation, there are some ways you can use cheap battalions to increase the amount of RDP you have, and lower the amount you need for specific units. One of the best and cheapest battalions is the Mortek Shield Corps battalion, which requires one of your 3 Mortisans or Vokmortian and 3 units of 10 Mortek Guard, allowing you to use one of the CAs on the Mortek Guard for free, once per turn. It also presents you with an additional RDP per turn. The shield wall ability allows you to reroll saves, which means that your 4+/6+ save turns into a 4+/4+/6+ save. Now, add in one of those Harvesters, meaning that you have a 4+/4+/4+/6+ save, or a 10% chance to fail incoming non-rend armor saves. That means that for every 20 armor saves, less than three should convert to a wound.

The Kavalos Lance battalion makes use of a pair of the fantastically modelled (by Nagash or GW) Kavalos Deathriders, and a Liege Kavalos. This battalion allows you to make up some of the difficulties of movement that the Ossiarch are presented with, and the additional RDP are always great for the +3" movement.

Another interesting battalion to consider taking is the Mortisan Trident Battalion, which would be how you go about building a strong Magical Ossiarch Bonereapers army. With the current state of Tzeentch, however, this army might be a bit rough to play. This battalion requires you to take all three Mortisans, as well as a Harvester, allowing you additional spell casts, when close to the harvester. That battalion and an Arkhan would allow you some crazy amounts of spells, and if you can take full advantage of that, you might end up thrashing a lot of armies that can't deal with heavy spell usage. Sadly, a lot of your spells work much better when you have a lot of your points in Mortek Guard, who are core to any army you create.

Other battalions can be taken solely for RDP generation and the artefacts you can take, seeing as your first artefact will generally have to be the specific legion artefact. Both Boneshapers and Soulmasons have decent "tools" for their artefacts, but they are not necessary, so don't feel forced to take a battalion for some bad models.

==Tactics==

===Mr. Arkhan’s Wild Ride===
Take Arkhan the Black as your general, along with two Gothizzar Harvesters and a buttload of Mortek Guard. Finally put them all under the Crematorians legion. Your boney boys will proceed to explode in the faces of the enemy and then be brought back to un-life from the ashes thanks to the Mortarch and Harvesters’ restoration abilities. Is this trolling? Yes. Is it fun? ''Oh yes.'' Also take a Mortisan Boneshaper as a cherry on top for extra heals and bring an Endless Spell or two; cast with Arkhan to laugh off that casting penalty.

* Nerfed slightly in December 2019 Errata. Now Gothizzar Harvester ability only triggers "each time a model is slain within 3" of any models with this ability." No double dipping on the Gothizzar heals anymore by choosing to remove a model within 3" of both. Personally, I'd say this is a good thing since this formation would be pretty much unbeatable without enough ranged firepower/artillery to snipe the 10 wound Gothizzars out of the Mortek blob (and in a single shooting phase to prevent 6 wound auto-heal from Arkhan and the Boneshaper).

===Trolling with Catapults===
Take a Soulmason as your general and put him in a massive blob of 60 Mortek Guard with 4 Mortek Crawlers behind. With some amazing dice rolls (which can be helped by using the Soul Resevoir artefact) the Soulmason can give all 4 Crawlers rerollable hits of 1. The Guard can block any incoming attackers whilst the catapults bombard your enemies from across the table. Even if your skellie dudes are taken out and the enemy damages your Centipedes of Doom it just means that their characters are more likely to be decimated by the most trolling shot in AoS, the Cursed Stele. So just sit back, relax and watch your enemies die before they even reach you.

Alternatively, take 2 of Ballistari battalions. Lose the Soulmason but gain some mad defenses.

=== Feast of Bones upgrades ===

If you started with the Feast of Bones kit, there are several ways to build the army. The first is the (maybe subjectively) best, which is to go with the Rule of Cool - buy the cool models. Run 3x10 Mortek Guard to get Battleline out of the way, and then take advantage of how cool Morghasts are to scare your opponents.

Starting with Vokmortian, 10x Mortek Guard, 3x Necopolis Stalkers, and 2x Morghasts, and the Vokmortian's Retinue battalion, you can instead use the Dread Retinue Battalion, to use Morghast Harbingers instead of Archai. Or, get a second unit of Stalkers and create the objectively coolest battalion, the Katakrosian Deathglaive. Add in some more guard or Kavalos Deathriders, and whatever else you want that you like. That's it. It's the rule of cool. With Morghasts - the coolest rule of cool unit.

The other way is to move to a more competitive list, but sadly, the Feast of Bones units aren't great. Vokmortian is pretty bad, as are Morghasts, relative to what is offered in the army, although they can be used as a tool. You can run Vokmortian as a Boneshaper, especially if you figure out a cool conversion for it. Then, add in a Soulmason and another support HQ or Liege, and a lot of Mortek Guard. Add in a few Gothizzar Harvesters and/or Crawlers, and you have the fundamentals to a competitive list.

==Allied Armies==
No Allies. Nope, none. Nighthaunt hate your guts. The army formerly known as Legions of Nagash hate your attitude. Not even the Flesh Eater Courts is crazy enough to be your friend. Don't like it? Go play Stormcast, and go fuck yourself while you're at it.

There is... one... however...

*'''Big Drogg Fort-Kicka''': A Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant available to all Death factions as an ally. Functions like Gotrek in the Order factions where he uses up your whole allies allowance in exchange for a very destructive monster of a unit. His most important feature is the ability to destroy terrain, including faction terrain. He also has a unique breath attack that attacks one unit within 3" at the end of the combat phase; roll a dice for each model in the unit and deal 1MW on a 6+.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-05-17T15:52:02Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Named Leaders */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

Get ready to send a chill down your opponent's spine, for this is no time to be humerus. Nagash is rising, and he has a bone to pick with the Mortal Realms!

==Why play Ossiarch Bonereapers?==
* They're SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS!
* You liked playing super-elite units like Blood Knights? Well you now play a different elite FACTION!
* You miss the Tomb Kings and this is as close as it gets for now with a vulture being called a Carrion, undead constructs and a war machine that hurls flaming skulls.
* They collect protection payments of bone like a skeletal version of the Mafia.
* Part of the reason for their existence is to troll Sigmarines.
* You want a sneak peek at what civilization would be like if Nagash wins.

===Pros===
* [[Awesome|'''Immunity to Battleshock!''']]. Not just bravery 10, the Bonereapers do not take battleshock tests. They have no guts, but they're braver than everyone else.
* Excellent at debuffing their enemies in various ways, especially their bravery (spells, Morghasts...)
* Conversely, they have numerous ways to buff themselves.
* Very durable, and various ways to boost that to the point of being arguably the most durable army in the game.
* Point-for-point, they have some of the strongest warscrolls of the game as few units can beat their ossiarch counterpart (Mortek Guard and Kavalos Deathriders are strong contenders for best battleline units in the game).
* They use the Relentless Discipline Points mechanic (also called RDP) instead of Command Points. Things that screw with CP won't work on them. Despite this, they still benefit from Command Abilities (but cannot utilize any generic command abilities at all).
* They're a Death army that isn't reliant on Heroes. Unit champions have the HEKATOS keyword, which gives a smaller radius of 6+ Deathless saves and allows them to use RDP abilities. Certain elite units are also HEKATOS, so they can function completely independently.
* If you're sick of those magic-heavy armies like Tzeentch's forces, the Lizardmen and the Lumineth, the Null Myriad Bonereaper Legion is for you with army-wide +5 immunity to spells that can be buffed.
* Almost everything is 3+ to hit, with various ways to boost it.
* With the Crematorians Bonereaper Legion, your guys can take enemies down with them when/if they're slain - the more they attack you, the more they die! [[Awesome|Rinse and repeat, since you can bring back slain models!]]
* Nagash and [[Arkhan the Black|bro-tier mini-Nagash]] are part of the army roster; [[Awesome|they also benefit from keywords and Battle Traits]].
* Numerous characters and a unit that can heal anything in your army - including themselves - or bring back dead models.
* Our Endless Spells are awesome. Not only that, they're soul linked, so no friendly fire and they're always under the casting player's control.
* If you like bone puns...

===Cons===
* Most of your army is slow (though there are a few abilities to mitigate this).
* Shooting is almost non-existent. Apart from the amazing Mortek Crawler, you only have the Gothizzar Harvester's shooting and Nagash's laser eyes.
* No extra protection against shooting beyond certain spells. Shooting armies tend to really hurt the Ossiarchs (especially the Kharadron Overlords).
* The army's quite straightforward and lacking in useful tricks. There's no summoning, deepstrike or special combat mechanics like striking twice. Any decent opponent knows what you will do. There is a teleportation mechanic, but it's very gimmicky, limited and requires a lot of cunning to get something out of it.
* Limited means to deal Mortal Wounds. Ossiarchs tend to bounce on really armored units if stalkers aren't around. This can be mitigated with MW dealers like the Crematorians Legion and anyone with "Kavalos" in their name, but still relies a lot on the dice.
* Magic is average and mostly around buffing allies and debuffing enemies. Sure, Nagash and Arkhan are there, but the magic lore is still unimpressive, especially compared to real magical factions (looking at you, Tzeentch and Seraphon).
* Low model count, slightly mitigated by having the means to bring back (re)dead models.
* No allies apart from the Mega-Gargant Drogg; their foreign policy makes the Daughters of Khaine look like the Stormcast Eternals (can still have mercenaries though - unless you bring Nagash or Arkhan).
* If you know the Greek language, it'll be hard to take any unit or hero with "Kavalos" in their name seriously.
* Hope you like bone puns.

==Rulebooks==
{{AOSRulebooks|tome=Ossiarch Bonereapers}}

==Allegiance Abilities==
===Battle Traits===
*'''Ranks Unbroken by Dissent:''' [[Awesome|Do not take battleshock tests for friendly OSSIARCH BONEREAPER units]]. Yes, you read that right, immunity to Battleshock. Your enemy's only options are killing, flee or be killed. In addition, you do not generate Command Points. Instead, you generate Relentless Discipline Points at the start of each battle round but lose them when you generate your next batch (they should be all spent before that happens).
**Generate a Relentless Discipline Point if:
*** EACH {{AOSKeyword|Ossiarch Bonereapers Hero}} - 1
*** EACH Warscroll Battalion - 1
*** EACH Friendly {{AOSKeyword|LIEGE}} - 1
*** If KATAKROS is the general and on the battlefield - 3
*** Roll a die for each UNIT with the {{AOSKeyword|OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS}} keyword, including the previous {{AOSKeyword|HEROES}}. On a 6, you get 1.
**Unfortunately, you can't use the Generic or Scenario command abilities (rerolling Run, charge, shooting rolls) but you have a ton of CAs that will Guzzle your DP.

*'''Deathless Warriors''': It's Deathless Minions from Legions of Nagash, albeit with a rename. It allows you to ignore wounds and mortal wounds on a 6+. However, you'll be able to get more mileage out of it than other Death armies, as any unit wholly within 12" of a {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS Hero}} or 6" of a Hekatos (i.e: the leader for your battlelines) count for the ability, removing the need to have your Heroes babysitting your units. Units that are {{AOSKeyword|HEKATOS}} (elite bone warriors units) always benefit from the ability, allowing them to strike out entirely unsupported.

*'''Unstoppable Advance (CA)''': In Movement Phase. Pick 1 unit within X" of a hero or hekatos. +3" movement. It can still run OR charge. You cannot pick the same unit more than once per phase.

===Command Traits===

====Liege-Kavalos====
*'''Ancient Knowledge:''' While on the battlefield, get an extra RDP at the start of the battle round.
*'''Immortal Ruler:''' Deathless Warrior trait works on a 5+ for this general. Always good.
*'''Dark Acolyte:''' Becomes a 1 cast/unbind {{AOSKeyword|WIZARD}} with one Mortisan Lore spell.
*'''Peerless Warrior:''' Melee wound rolls of 6 deal an extra mortal wound.
*'''Hatred of the Living:''' +1 to hit in melee (including their mount) against non-{{AOSKeyword|DEATH}} units.
*'''Life-stealer:''' If they kill any models in combat, heal 1d3 wounds at the end of that phase.

====Mortisan====
*'''Ancient Knowledge:''' While on the battlefield, get an extra RDP at the start of the battle round.
*'''Immortal Ruler:''' Deathless Warrior trait works on a 5+ for this general. Always good.
*'''Dire Ultimatum:''' -2 to Bravery for enemies within 12". Although it requires coordinating a couple of units, you can cause a MASSIVE debuff to enemy Bravery by combining this and the Scroll of Command (see below).
*'''Grave-sand Bones:''' Knows an extra spell from the Lore of the Mortisans.
*'''Oathbreaker Curse:''' Every time your opponent gets a CP, on a d6 roll of 6 it is lost. Obviously Katakros does it better, but this does work more than once per turn if your enemy has CP-generating abilities.
*'''Soul Energy:''' You can re-roll casting, unbinding and dispelling rolls, but whenever you do you take a mortal wound.

===Artefacts===
*'''Relics of the Kavaloi (Liege-Kavalos)'''
#'''Mind Blade:''' Pick one of bearer’s melee weapons. If unmodified hit roll is a 6, and target is a hero, opponent loses a Command Point and the hero can’t use command abilities for the rest of the battle. Apart from only working on sixes this is incredible.
#'''Lordly Phylactery:''' Once per battle start of any phase, gain D3 RD points.
#'''Scroll of Command:''' Subtract 2 Bravery from enemy units within 6” of bearer. Only really recommended if you're going for Mortis Praetorians (see their Legion description for more information). Although, a Liege-Kavalos with this, with a Mortisan general with the Dire Ultimatum command trait nearby drops enemy Bravery by a whopping -4!
#'''Grave-sand Boneplates:''' At the end of the combat phase, roll dice for each enemy unit within 3”, on a 4+ that unit suffers a mortal wound. Mediocre.
#'''Marrow Pact:''' Once per battle, in hero phase pick one enemy unit within 6” of bearer. On a 3+, unit suffers D3 mortal wounds, heal the same number of wounds.
#'''Helm of the Ordained:''' Add one to hit rolls for attacks made by {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} units and mounts while wholly within 12” of the bearer. One of the best choices for a Liege-Kavalos if including Bonereaper Legion weapons, otherwise it's the best unless you have a very specific playstyle in mind.

*'''Tools of the Boneshaper (Boneshapers)'''
#'''Artisan's key:''' Before using the bearer’s bone shaper ability, roll a dice and on a 4+ either you can pick two units instead of one, or the same unit twice within 6”. The best of the three by a narrow margin.
#'''Lode of Saturation:''' At the start of the Hero phase, choose a unit within 1”, deathless warrior battle trait on 5+ instead of 6.
#'''Crafter Gems:''' Hero phase, heal up to 3 wounds. Once the total wounds healed in the battle is 3 you cannot use it any longer.

*'''Treasures of the Soulmason (Soulmasons)'''
#'''Gothizzar Cartouche:''' +1 to melee wound rolls for units wholly within 9” of bearer if target does not have Death keyword. The best option if you're not facing {{AOSKeyword|DEATH}} armies.
#'''Soul Reservior:''' +2 to cast, but if casting roll is unmodified 10+ artifact cannot be used again.
#'''Thorne of Dzendt:''' +2 to wounds and +2 attacks for mount. A good all around choice, especially for keeping your chair bound wizard safe.

*'''Weapons of the Soulreaper (Soulreapers)'''
#'''Luminscythe:''' minus 1 for hit rolls targeting bearer. +1 casting rolls for bearer for Lore of Mortisans or warscroll spell.
#'''Vial of Binding:''' Once per battle in hero phase, pick enemy model within 12" of bearer and roll a D6. If roll is equal or greater than the wound characteristic they are slain. The best choice if you take a Soul Reaper, and the obvious choice for offensive.
#'''Guardian Reavesoul:''' Negate wound on a 5+ instead of 6+ for deathless minions. Can shatter to negate last wound if about to die. If you're not taking Vial of Binding, this is the go-to choice.

===Spell Lore===
#'''Arcane Command:''' CV5. Gain D3 Relentless Discipline Points. Nice if you've got an extra spell, or had some bad luck with your rolls.
# '''Empower Nadirite Weapons: ''' CV5. Pick 1 {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, the units Nadirite Weapons ability explodes on a 5+ instead of 6, or 4+ if its a {{AOSKeyword|DEATHRIDERS}} attacking with spears after charging.
# '''Protection of Nagash: ''' CV6. 5+ FNP for the caster. If any wounds get through your FNP, and the caster isn't slain, remove them from the battlefield after all wounds have been allocated, and place them anywhere on the board 9" away from enemy models then dispel this spell. Great for getting important casters out of sticky situations, or absolutely hilarious on Nagash if you wanna fuck with your opponent.
# '''Reinforce Battle-shields: ''' CV6. Pick 1 {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit armed with Shields or Nadirite Battle-shields wholly within 24" and visible. Until the start of your next hero phase, they gain a 5+ FNP but only for mortal wounds. Pair this with a gothizzar harvester, the reroll saves command ability for some truly unkillable troops.
# '''Drain Vitality: ''' CV6. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. Until your next hero phase, reroll unmodified hit and save rolls of 6 made by that unit. Good for blunting a spooky unit's charge, but less useful than the other options available.
# '''Mortal Contract: ''' CV7. Pick 1 enemy unit within 18" and visible. For the rest of the '''BATTLE''', roll a die at the end of any phase that the unit dealt damage to a friendly {{AOSKeyword|BONEREAPERS}} unit (but only if it was with an attack). On 3+, the cursed unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Lawdy, this is probably the most obnoxious spell we can sling, if you can remember who you marked the entire game. Great into low unit-count armies.

===Endless Spells===

An important distinction to note between these Endless Spells and others that exist is that the ones presented below have the '''Soul-Linked''' ability, meaning they always move before Endless Spells without the Soul-Linked ability and are controlled by the casting Player only, meaning your opponent cannot control these Endless Spells to mess with your plans. However on the flip side, the Wizard who cast the spell has a -1 to his casting rolls and cannot cast anymore soul-linked spells while their soul-linked endless spell is up. If the caster dies then the soul-linked spell is also dispelled, so keep him alive if you want the spells to last.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Bone-tithe-Shrieker-en.pdf Bone-tithe Shrieker]''': 30 points, Gives -1 bravery, and +1 to be hit to enemy units within 12" of it. Simple, but effective. Place it just in front of your battle line to make the enemy think twice, or use it to make holding an objective less than desirable.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Soulstealer-Carrion-en.pdf Soulstealer Carrion]''': 20 points, Gives LOS to the Soul-Linked wizard. You won't be taking it for this. Instead, you'll be taking it for it's actual ability: Soul Thief. Roll a D6 at the end of each Phase if any Chaos, Order, or Destruction models were slain within 6" of it. On a 1 or 2, the Wizard this Endless Spell is Soul-Linked with heals a wound. On a 3 or 4, it does 1 Mortal Wound on each Chaos, Destruction or Order unit within 6" of it, and on a 5-6, it does both effects. AMAZINGLY fun, if you're not playing into Death, so do with that as you will. The COMBO with this spell is to cast it near a horde unit, snipe a model with the nexus in the hero phase, and then also shoot some stuff in the shooting phase with the crawler. This has the potential to produce a multi-phase aoe mortal wound pulsing engine.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Nightmare-Predator-en.pdf The Nightmare Predator]''': 40 points, Your standard causes Mortal Wounds Endless Spell (dealing D3 Mortal Wounds to all non-bonecasts within 3" of it), but with a twist - when cast, pick an enemy Hero to be marked as it's prey. If this spell gets within range of them, it spits out d6 mortal wounds instead. For it's dirt cheap point cost, this is almost auto-include.

==<span style=color:Gray>Famous Legions</span>==

For awhile the best Legion was Petrifex Elite, by far. But due to Petrifex spam and the resulting complaints GW jumped them with something even they couldn't take - the nerf-bat. Oh, the old gray Petrifex, it ain't what it used to be. Now, Mortis Praetorians (with Katakros) are in the lead and the others are good but situational, eg; Crematorians are worth considering if you spam Mortek Guard and Null Myriad against a magic-heavy opponent.

<big>Mortis Praetorians</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''The Dread Legion''':-1 bravery to enemy units within 12".
*'''Command Trait''': '''Katakros' Chosen''': Once per battle if the general is on the Battlefield, gain D3 RDP points.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Counter-strike''': Pick a friendly unit Wholly within 6" of a HEKATOS or Wholly 12" of a HERO. If charged, they can re-roll hits.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Artificer's Blade''': Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons. It has -3 Rend.
The poster boys, the jack-of-all-trades and the best choice if you’re bringing Katakros, otherwise it's decent but not an auto-take. Plus other death armies capitalize on "fear-bombing" a bit more effectively (looking at you, Legions of Grief and Blood). With the nerf to Petrifix, bringing Katakros in this legion is basically the only viable competitive list at this point.

<big>Petrifex Elite</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Unstoppable Juggernauts''': Re-roll save rolls of 1 in melee.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Mighty Archaeossian''': +2 Wounds.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Bludgeon''': In the combat phase, give a unit +1 rend on one weapon, can't stack.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Godbone Armor''': The first wound allocated to the bearer in each '''phase''' is negated.
Makes your entire army (including Nagash) overall more tanky, gives your commander a few extra wounds for a chuckle, lets you put some durability on a caster via the relic (especially useful if you're bringing some Endless Spells), AND comes with a command ability that makes you killy, just to throw your opponent for a loop. Pre-nerf it added +1 to everyone's armor save and was THE choice of Bonereaper Legion. Now it's decent but no longer the one best choice.

<big>Null Myriad</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Eldritch Nulls''': Ignore the effects of spells on a 5+.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Unsettling and Sinister''': -1 to Bravery in 3", and -1 to be hit during combat phase.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Holdfast''': Make the battle trait work on a 2+ instead of 5+.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''<s>Cheese</s> <s>Chad</s> Baleful Blade''': Pick 1 of the bearer's weapons. [[Awesome|Saves can't be made against attacks from this weapon and wounds can't be negated]] (though they can later be healed).
The magic choice. Their innate rules mean you can focus more on offensive magic, and the Artefact is perfect for any combat character... but is obviously best on a Liege-Kavalos. One of the best choices, but if your meta is very magic heavy this is clearly the best. Make those six hallowheart battlemages cry because they can do nothing to you (and then notice that you can't probably do much to them either, so the battle is probably a void of winds of magic).

<big>Ivory Host</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': At the start of each combat phase, any IVORY HOST unit within 6" of an IVORY HOST <i>model</i> that is wounded is subject to rage for that phase. While subject to rage, get +1 to hit, but -1 save. Dependent on having damaged multi-wound models nearby and can potentially really mess your own forces up, but can lead to you hitting very hard. Fortunately, as it's only for the combat phase, you don't have to worry about it when you're being shot at.
*'''Command Trait''': Every hero phase your general gains 1 attack for all his melee weapons on a 5+. Best to have a Liege-Kavalos as your general for this.
*'''Command Ability''': Cancel the -1 save from the battle trait. This is what makes the Ivory host interesting, letting you pull some shenanigans with a screen unit or pulling some clutch damage out at a vital time.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Beastbound Blade''': One of the bearer's melee weapons gets +1 attack.
The combat choice, though dependent on good dice rolls, positioning and carefully picking your fights. Decent in and of itself, but very situational and the worst choice crunch-wise compared to the others.

<big>Stalliarch Lords</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': Run and charge. Pretty good for increasing your threat range on a slow army.
*'''Command Trait''': Pick an enemy hero within 3" at the start of the combat phase. Gain +1 to hit against it but -1 to anything else. Pretty situational and lackluster.
*'''Command Ability''': Retreat and charge in the same turn. Good for repositioning or getting your charge bonuses again. Here's looking at you, Deathriders.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Nadir-Bound Mount''': Can only be taken by a Liege-Kavalos. They roll D3 additional dice for their Unstoppable Charge ability.
The speedy and somewhat trollish choice. Do you wanna go fast? Do you want a liege or Zandtos to run fast next to fast cavalry? Or if you take a Liege make them hit like a ton of bricks? Then go these guys. They let you skimp out of the costly battalion with their inherent command ability, and make your already fast cavalry even faster. They even pair well with Stalkers, Morghast Harbingers or Harvesters, to just really irritate your opponent.

<big>Crematorians</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Immolation''': When a model dies you get a chance to cause MW to an enemy within 3" on a 5+, with monsters and characters adding 1 to their roll/going off on a 4+.
*'''Command Trait''': '''Wrathful Avenger''': If the general dies, add 2 to the dice roll for Immolation and it does D3 Mortal Wounds rather than 1.
*'''Command Ability''': '''Levelers of Cities''': One friendly CREMATORIANS unit with 6" of a Hekatros or 12" of a hero ignores cover saves.
*'''Artefact of Power''': '''Searing Blade''': Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons and add 1 to the Damage characteristic.
The TRUE trolling choice. Paired with some revives and harvesters, and laugh as your opponent realizes that killing your models meant their guys died and then revived the dudes they just tried to kill, rinse and repeat. Especially lulzy against Sons of Behemat, given how reliant they are on combat... which is ground zero for your skeleton suicide bombers.

==<span style=color:Gray>Warscrolls<span>==
The common keywords of these warscrolls are: '''DEATH''', '''OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS'''

===Leaders===
====Named Leaders====
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Katakros-Mortarch-of-the-Necropolis-en.pdf Orpheon Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis]''': (500pts) Like Skarbrand, his attacks get stronger the more wounds he takes. Katakros himself has [[Awesome|Rend and Damage 3]] and he can bop foes with his shield to dole out Mortal Wounds, so he can dish out some hurt in combat, but not until he's taken some wounds representing his companions dying so Katakros himself joins the fray. However, he is one of the slowest characters in the game - 4" move (which doesn’t much matter when he’s on a '''12 centimetre''' base, and you can use the Relentless Advance to boost Katakros' movement to 7") and can't fly, but Mortarch of Necropolis allows Katakros to heal up to three friendly OBR units wholly within 24" of his model for 3 wounds worth on your hero phase. Katakros is a friendly OBR unit within 24" of himself, so he can choose to heal himself for 3 wounds every one of your hero phases. Because he is so slow, he hates cannons even more than his boss so engage shooty armies at your own risk. He's pricey in points and cash, but you get what you pay for - no more no less - as he's a good beatstick and support character, just don't try to send him up against other super combat lords who have a damage of 3 or better because he can easily get his shit kicked in, especially if they have some serious wound negation. If your opponent is fielding a character with either (or worse, both) then make sure to screen him out. It's better to not get him in combat and keep your Relentless Discipline points, heals and Command Point sabotage than it is for you to possibly lose all of those.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Nagash-Supreme-Lord-of-the-Undead-en.pdf Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead]''': (880pts) Changed from his early forms, Nagash is now 30 points more expensive, and no longer loots the spells from all of his Death-based allies. (but he does know the whole spell lore by default.) Instead, he can now restore wounds/models to 5 of his Bonecast Eternals, and can sling Mystic Shield and Arcane Bolt as much as his undead heart (and casting limit) desire.
**As Nagash and Arkhan gain the OSSIARCH BONEREAPERS keyword, they can heal themselves, making them quite a bit more resilient in an OBR army than when accompanying their own legions. Go figure.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkhan-the-Black-Mortarch-of-Sacrament-en.pdf Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament]''': (360pts) Much like Nagash, Arkhan is more expensive now, at a "whopping" 20 points more than before. With an extra cast and deny, and the ability to sling Arcane Bolt and Mystic Shield like his Boss, (along with learning the whole spell lore,) it sounds like that price increase came with some buffs. However, overall Arkhan's in a slightly more disappointing place. Curse of Years no longer succeeds on 1s, meaning it's slightly more fair, and his command ability has now been limited to one use a turn, spoiling an awful lot of fun that could have been had. Also worth noting that Arkhan is one of the few ways to actually bring back models in the hero phase, and he does it quite well. An extremely strong choice as a recursion and magic defender unit.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arch-Kavalos-Zandtos-en.pdf Arch-Kavalos Patru Zandtos]''': (220pts) A named Mortis Praetorians Liego-Kavalos, with additional abilities like more damage on the charge, rerolls to wound, and another CA that grants a Praetorians unit the same reroll ability. A good choice for leader - practically an auto-take if you want a Liege-Kavalos in Mortis Praetorians.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Volkmortian-Master-of-the-Bone-tithe-en.pdf Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe]''': (180pts) He is a HOT GARBAGE Wizard that should be very close to the front lines. He has a chance to prevent a model within 3" from attacking him on a 5+ as a defense. He also has a 12" aura of -1 to bravery and -1 to any Wizard attempting to unbind any spell he casts (which improves in that rare instance an enemy General dies near him). His Unique spell can instantly kill any model within 1" of him on a 5+, and the range on it cannot be modified, which can be used to punish any foolish combat heroes or big monsters he ends up fighting - though it is a bit unreliable to make him a dedicated assassin.
**A bit unreliable is the undersell of the century. First, a caster with a terrible save profile has to be within 1" of an enemy. Then this caster, with NO BONUS TO CAST, has to roll an 8 to get this garbage spell off. BUT OH, you say, THOSE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED! Well hold up friend, now you have a 33% chance of the spell actually doing anything. 180 points btw. Overall, he should be in the garbage, or if you insist on running him, standing behind your troops (ideally Immortis Guard or Mortek Guard), providing the debuff and using his 2 spells per turn.

====Generic Leaders====
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Liege-Kavalso-en.pdf Liege-Kavalos]''': (200pts) Your commander on a big-boned mount that gives two guaranteed Relentless Discipline points. Lots of decent attacks, but nothing too nutty. When he charges he has an increased pile in and the ability to fling out some extra mortal wounds. His Command Ability gives a unit wholly within 12" +1 attack. He probably functions best running with some deathriders for a spoopy cavalry wing, though having him roam around your anvils can make for some good time damage output.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Soulreaper-en.pdf Mortisan Soulreaper]''': (120pts) Our CC battlemage, though with his weapon the most he'll be reaping is chaff mobs. His unique spell lets him smack one unit at range, or every unit in CC with him with a few mortal wounds. Probably our worst unit, as outside of his spell-slinging, he's basically a really expensive cairn wraith from nighthaunt. Look elsewhere, unless you really love his amazing model.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Boneshaper-en.pdf Mortisan Boneshaper]''': (130pts) Your only generic hero way to heal units in the hero phase, and part of the <s>glue that holds your army together</s> calcium that strengthens your bone boys. With the ability to restore 3 wounds (or 3 wounds worth of boys (raise 3 Mortek Guard, or 1 Kavalos Deathriders everything else has 4+ wounds)) to a friendly squad and sling a few spells, he feels close to auto-include, especially if you left Nagash or Arkhan at home. His unique spell lets him fling [[Awesome|BONESTORM!]] at an enemy unit, roll for each model within 18" and every 6 deals a mortal wound, a nice anti-horde spell being easy to cast on 5. Keep him out of combat and out of LoS so he can spend your whole game building bonecasts in a dark corner away from anyone else.
** Boneshapers and Immortis Guard are a good match, as they can take wounds for him and he can heal them if they take too many hits.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortisan-Soulmason-en.pdf Mortisan Soulmason]''': (140pts) The grand vizier will see you now. He's got a passable melee profile, but that's not why you take him. He's a wizard with 2 casts and unbinds and a unique spell, Soul-Guide, that gives a friendly Ossiarch Bonereapers unit the ability to reroll 1's to hit. Pretty good so far, but it gets better. At the end of your hero phase, on a 2+ cast Soul-Guide more times even if it was already attempted that turn. Basically, bring him when you're spamming catapults (or anything, really) and spread the re-rolling to hit love.
** For extra fun, his potential multiple casts force the enemy to consider whether to unbind these spells or other spells.

===Battleline===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortek-Guard-en.pdf Mortek Guard]''': (Battleline, 130/440pts, Min:10, Max:40) Your basic skellies are a decently-protected lot with a 4+ save. Their basic weapons are 2 attacks with -1 Rend sword or a spear, both can double the hits inflicted on a 6+ to hit. The greatblade, on the other hand, trades that for a slightly better wound score, which isn't remarkable but at least keeps the sword's Rend. Their slow speed is helped by their banner giving them +1 to runs and charges, and the +3" move order mentioned above. A good choice for loadout is sword for smaller units and spears for bigger units.
**'''Mortek Hekatos''': This boy is a mini-HQ that gives to your Relentless Discipline pool and keys to a lot of other things. (in big units you have to pack a lot of models very close together to have Deathless Warriors). He's only got an attack more than the base guard, but he also confers a command ability that lets his pack re-roll all saves for the combat phase - much more valuable for their survival.
** With the Petrifex Elite, you can take the spears and use the Petrifex command ability to give them rend, just save the spears for larger units of Mortek Guard.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Kavalos-Deathriders-en.pdf Kavalos Deathriders]''': (Battleline, 180/460pts, Min:5, Max:15) Your basic skellies, but on a horse! When compared to their foot-slogging brothers, these guys have +1 attack and 3 wounds each, the 2 extra pony swings we all know and love (actually, even their horses are on steroids, wounding on a 3+), and a whopping 12" move compared to the former's 4". Not only that, but their spears have exploding hits on a 5+ roll on the charge, giving you a bit more reason to consider selling the rend on your swords.
**'''Mortek Hekatos''': Much like the Mortek Guard, the Deathrider's hekatos has +1 attack with their weapon, but his command ability gives you some mortal wound output on the charge and a double-range pile in. FAQ'd to confirm a unit can only benefit from this once per phase.

===Hekatos===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Necropolis-Stalkers-en.pdf Necropolis Stalkers]''': (180pts, Min:3, Max:6) Speedy, Re-rolling, <s>tyranid warriors </s> skeleton boys. Each turn, these massive lads pick whether they want to re-roll hits, wounds, saves, or add +1 to their weapons' Rend and Damage. While rerolling saves is nice when you get charged by something scary, you'll almost always use +1 rend and damage, as it turns your basic stalker into a stormcast blender, and your unit leader <s>into a literal monster</s> into an equally strong blender as the normal weapons, when enhanced with -1 rend and +1 dmg, are actually stronger than the special weapon, proven by Mathhammer. Their command ability that lets them re-roll run and charge rolls while also ignoring terrain as if they could fly.
** Another option is to run them with a Soulmason equipped with the Gothizzar Cartouche in support which gives +1 to wound rolls. Now, assuming you also have Katakros on the board and you can get Soul-Guide onto your Stalkers then the best Aspect to run is the Destroyer Aspect because this combo would then mean your hitting on 2's and re-rolling 1's '''AND''' wounding on 2's (with spirit blades)
** Upon testing with Mathhammer, in this precise scenario, precision still pulls far ahead if you take 3 of the normal weapons and give them all of these buffs. There is around an average damage difference of 5 per round.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Immortis-Guard-en.pdf Immortis Guard]''': (180pts, Min:3, Max:12)The Anvil to the stalker's hammer. These guys have a lower damage output, with 2 3+/3+/-2/2 damage (though the base rend 2 is nice), and the ability to bop someone with their shields for a bit of extra damage, with the occasional mortal wound when rolling a 6. Their main draw, however, is their base 3+ save and bodyguard ability. Whenever they're within 3" of a friendly hero, on a 2+ they must eat a wound or mortal wound that would have been applied to said hero. Their command ability lets them immediately pile in and swing again after their first go, but only with their shields. Less than impressive, but nice for positioning. Having two weapons means they get more out of the Liege's extra attack command ability, and with their own on top of that the mortal wounds do become bit more reliable. Unfortunately, OBR doesn't have the luxury to be spending points on these awesome bodyguard chads so these guys have to date never seen any competitive play.

*'''Morghasts [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Morghast-Archai-en.pdf Archai] & [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Morghast-Harbingers-en.pdf Harbingers]''': (190pts, Min:2, Max:6) Nagash's angels of death come in 2 flavors, with the archai having a chance to shrug off mortal wounds, and harbingers getting a 3d6 charge. Beyond those differences either one is monstrous combatants, and tough to boot, with 6 wounds 4+ armor and being Hekatos for the death save. They also have a bravery debuff as a bonus. You should always take the halberd for 3 attacks at 3+/3+/-2/3, as they will only do less damage against units with a 6+ save, shown by Mathhammer. You don't want your Morghasts engaging Chaff, as they aren't meant to be wiping chaff for you. Additionally, adding attacks to the Halberd from your Liege is much stronger than doing so to your swords.
** See the above option for Stalkers and apply to Morghasts - you'll lose out on the re-rolling wounds but up the rend to -2 and the damage to 3 (with halberds) so the Mathammer will result in more wounds on average (even if you run swords) - only real issue with this is keep up with the Morghasts on your bone throne.
** Following the Petrifex nerf, these guys just got a bit more viable. They mesh well with quite a few Legions (the Archai save against spells compliments Null Myriad spell nullifying, the Harbingers compliment the Stalliarch rules - and they're probably our best unit against the Kharadron Overlords and more).

===Behemoths===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Gothizzar-Harvester-en.pdf Gothizzar Harvester]''': (200pts, Behemoth) Big guy has 10 wounds and a 4+ save. Has good damage potential with 4 solid ranged attacks and a BUNCH of 2 damage melee swings, with a choice between bludgeons or sickles. These weapons have the exact same melee stats, but different effects. Bludgeons do 2 mortal wounds on unmodified hits of 6 instead of normal damage, (basically giving the guy a Nighthaunt's frightful touch) while the sickles get +1 to hit against units with 5+ models. The Bludgeons are the better choice, as there are other ways to boost hit rolls and Mortal Wounds are useful whoever you're up against. More importantly than that, this guy is another source of precious calcium/healer. Each time any models (friend or foe) die within 3" of him, he can heal an Ossiarch Bonereaper unit within 6" on a 4+. The heals he gives depends on the wounds characteristic of the model slain. It's worth noting he can do this to himself, making his relatively fragile 10 wounds and 4+ save last a little longer.
**For the Crematorians, this guy makes the list even more trollish. Camp him by your Mortek Guard, and when they die and cause mortal wounds, he can heal them right back up. Free mortal wounds, anyone?
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Mortek-Crawler-en.pdf Mortek Crawler]''': (200pts, Artillery, Behemoth) The most trolltastic catapult in all of AoS. With a nice 36" range and solid durability, it starts as a remarkably strong springboard for the absolute terror of its ammo types. Once per battle, you can fire a different choice of ammo from two different options and their effects are trolltastically memeable.
**Necrotic Skulls: Your normal shots. You're getting a pretty hefty 3 2+/3+/-/variable shots that start at 5 damage, and dips down to 1 as the model takes damage. Great as a general all-rounder, and in MOST scenarios is strictly better than going for one of the situational special shots below.
***Just to reiterate however: 3 shots at 5 damage initially. Although lack of rend hurts, this is a horde killing volley beyond compare, particularly as their hit and wound rolls are so good.
**Cauldron of Torment: the first of the meme shots. Instead of firing like normal, you roll a dice for every model in the target unit, and whenever you meet or beat their '''UNMODIFIED''' Bravery, one model is slain. "But Anon," you reply, "lots of units have high Bravery! That's not good," To which I say, sure, you're right. this isn't good against undead, Stormcast, or Chaos, but do you know what it IS good against? grots, where you wipe half of whatever squad you fire at. Or freeguild, where you gun down a third of whatever unit you want in a ghostly fog. And we're STILL not done with this bad boy.
**Cursed Stele: Does your local meta not really do hordes? Or do they just love low model-count armies with high leadership? Well, have I got a unit for you! Instead of shooting normally, pick a model within range (so, characters, banners, unit leaders, etc.) and roll 2d6. If you roll equal to or higher than their wound stat, the guy dies (with some modifiers, starting at -3 to your roll, slowly turning to +3 as you lose wounds). This right here is disgusting. With an average roll of 4, you kill support heroes about 60% of the time or get to guaranteed snipe off important banners or unit champions whenever you're feeling cheeky. Worth noting that forcing support heros to make saves or take 5 damage from the normal shot is often also enough to kill the hero outright. Did that daemon prince swoop in and drop you to 1 wound? Wouldn't it be great if his failure meant your average roll is now a 10 and insta-gibs the winged sexy, sexy biscuit daemon? (Lovely to consider, but the 6" minimum range on the Crawler's attacks means if it's in melee it's been neutered - protect at all costs!)

===Scenery===
*'''Bone-tithe Nexus''': (0pts) Your mandatory accompanying setpiece is a giant monolith surrounded by bones upon bones. In truth it acts more like a sentry that can chuck out one of four different Punishments each turn: -1 to hit, MW Sniping, causes problem for a wizard, or Can't run and only roll 1d6 for charges. The physical footprint of this thing is BIG. You're supposed to place the terrain before defining and placing any of the game's (neutral) terrain. Placing the damn thing can therefore be problematic in organized events, where terrain is pre-set before the game starts.

==Battalions==
<big>'''Ossiarch Cohort'''</big> 100 pts (min points: '''4450''')
''Katakros, Zandtos or Liege Kavalos, 1-3 Mortek Shield-Corps, 1-3 Kavalos Lances, 1 Mortisian Trident, 1-2 Katakrosian Deathglaives, 1 Aegis Immortal, 1 Mortek Ballistari''
* The Super Battalion.
For putting together all that dough together your general generates 1d3 additional RDPs at the beginning of your hero phase.

<big>'''Aegis Immortal'''</big> 80 pts (min points: '''690''')
''1 Archai, 2 Immortis.''
The ARCHAI from this battalion has the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS ability from the Immortis Guard warscroll. In addition, if you use the SOULBOUND PROTECTORS and the roll is a 5+, the wound/MW is negated instead of allocated to a unit from this battalion. Take with Petrifex Elite (now nerfed to not make them tankier, so probably not) to make your characters near unkillable. Solid choice, pun intended, the only drawback is if you want a more offensive playstyle since this is defensive-based.

<big>'''Katakrosian Deathglaive'''</big> 80 pts (min points: '''690''')
''2 Stalkers, 1 Morghast Harbinger''
After units are set up but before the first battleround, if all units from the btn are WHOLLY WITHIN 12" of the Harbingers, you can move any of them up to 6" The best name for a Battalion in all of AoS. Useful for strategic positioning and claiming objectives, it's a decent choice. One foe it does help against is Kharadron Overlords, positioning your Morghasts and Stalkers to better catch their fliers. Especially useful in Stalliarch Lords as those units can then run and charge after. This is OBR's best way to alpha strike.

<big>'''Kavalos Lance'''</big> 120 pts (min points: '''680''')
''Arch-Kavalos OR 1 Liege-Kavalos, 2 Kavalos Deathriders.''
Units from this battalion can retreat and charge if wholly within 12" of the Liege when the charge roll is made. In addition, once per turn, you can use the Deathrider Wedge CA for a unit from this battalion without spending RDP. Pretty good, especially if you bring a spellcaster with Empower Nadirite Weapons, more so if you're running Petrifex to give the weapons extra rend. Just remember it's a waste of points if you're using the Stalliarch Lords legion because they do this but better and for free.

<big>'''Mortek Ballistari'''</big> 100 pts (min points: '''760''')
''1 Boneshaper, 1 Mortek Guard, 2 Crawlers.''
Roll a die before you allocate a wound/MW to a Crawler from this btn while it is within 3" of the Mortek Guard unit from the same btn. Add 2 if the Crawler is within 3" of the Boneshaper from the same btn. On a 4+, it is instead allocated to the GUARD instead of the CRAWLER. A decent way to keep your crawlers alive, but this will likely just result in your opponent blowing up entire units of guard instead, which likely means you lose the game.

<big>'''Mortek Shield-corps'''</big> 120 pts (min points: '''630''')
''Either Volkmortian, a Boneshaper, a Soulreaper OR a Soulmason, and 3 Mortek Guard.''
Once per turn, you can use Shieldwall for one unit in the battalion without spending RDP. The cheapest option, and a decent choice, making your Mortek Guard that much more durable and freeing RDP to be spent elsewhere. It's a good safety net if a unit loses their Hekatos. A valid option if you find yourself having the points to spare and want another artefact, as you will likely be running these units anyway,

<big>'''Mortisan Trident'''</big> 110 pts (min points: '''700''')
''1 Boneshaper, 1 Soulreaper, 1 Soulmason, 1 Harvester.''
EACH Mortisan from this battalion can attempt to cast 1 extra spell if WITHIN 18" of the harvester AND the harvester is within 3" of any enemy units. Very situational and not very impressive for the points. Simply needs a lot of specific conditions to occur for this to even be activated. For example, unless you are charged turn one, this ability will not be active as your harvester won't be within 3" of any enemies.

<big> '''Vokmortian’s Retinue''' </big> 120 pts (min points: '''840''')
''Volkmortian, 1 Mortek Guard, 1 Stalker, and 1 Archai.''
The exclusive battalion from Feast of Bones. At the start of your hero phase, you can return 1 slain model to a unit within 8 inches of Morty.
This battalion, and it's older dreadier brother, is the armies only reliable method of bringing back dead Stalkers and Archai. It does require you to run Vokmortian, who is probably the worst unit in the entire army, so that's quite a downside to dream this big.

<big> '''Vokmortian’s Dread Retinue''' </big> 130 pts (min points: '''850''')
''Vokmortian, 1-3 Mortek Guard, 1 Stalker, and 1-2 Archai or Harbingers, in any configuration.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion. Comes with the same ability as Vokmortain's Retinue, but also gives you a start of game ability to hurt the chances of a single enemy hero hitting Vokmortian. Because you can take Harbingers instead of Archai with this battalion, which opens up returning Morghast Harbingers to play, this battalion is much better than the regular Retinue. However, it still requires you to pay for Vokmortian, the overcosted caster with a terrible warscroll spell and no natural bonus to cast.

<big> '''Harvester Scythe Corps''' </big> 100 pts (min points: '''660''')
''2 Kavalos Deathriders and 1 Gothizzar Harvester.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion. Battalion lets you add one to wound rolls for the Harvester if within 12 of the dead ponies. Decent if you need to generate the RDP and the artefact, but if you are taking a pair of Deathriders, you might as well be taking a Liege and going for the Kavalos Lance battalion, which also doesn't restrict you out of the better legions.

<big> '''Vokmortian's Tithe Legion''' </big> 110 pts (min points: '''5640''')
''This list of other battalions: 1 Vokmortian's Dread Retinue, 1-3 Mortek Shield Corps, 1 Mortisan Trident, 1-2 Katakrosian Deathglaives, 1 Aegis Immortal, 1-3 Kavalos Lances or Harvester Scythe Corps in any configuration, 1 Mortek Ballistari, 1 Harvester Scythe Corps.''
One of the battalions from May 2020's issue of White Dwarf. This battalion must be taken with the Mortis Praetorians legion.
The boring part of this battalion is that you probably won't ever get to field it, and even if you do, the abilities from it aren't the best. You get to generate an additional D3 RDP per hero phase, and you get to take '''any number of''' Nighthaunt allies, without them counting against ally rules. Super battalions are fun, but this one means that outside of the nearly 6k points you have to spend on it, you also need Nighthaunt to make use of it. It's a good goal for a collection, though.

<big>'''Horrek's Dreadlance'''</big> -- pts (min points: '''---''')
''1 Arch-Kavalos (Horrek), 2 Kavalos Deathriders.''
A battallion from Broken Realms. This battallion must be taken with the Stalliarch Lords legion.
The Arch-Kavalos is a named character (Horrek) and has to be the first '''LIEGE''' to take an artifact and take the Nadir-bound Mount (his legions artifact), if he is chosen as general he has the Twisted Challenge Command Trait (His legion's again).
This battallion allows you to regain the RDP you spent on Rally Back (The Stalliarch Lord's unique command abilitty) on a 4+.. It is extremely boring and probably not worth the cost since you can just spend the battallion cost on another unit of deathriders.

==Army Building==
=== Getting Started ===
When getting started with the Ossiarch Bonereapers, it's important that you understand the direction you want to take your list in. If you are going for competitive, you're going to be making the most out of Mortek Guard, while if you are going for fun and cool, you have a lot of fun and cool options.

If new to the game, look out for a Feast of Bones set half, as it can be a great start to your Ossiarch Army. Another way to start would be with a box of Mortek Guard and a Liege Kavalos, as this gives you a little bit less than a Start Collecting worth of points, but a lot of cool units to start working on.

=== Currently Competitive ===

The best lists right now center around the fact that Mortek Guard units are incredibly over-statted for their points cost. As for which Legion, following the nerfing of Petrifex, Mortis Praetorians have stepped up to top spot. Petrifex are still viable, but no longer auto-take.

==== Heroes ====

A Petrifex-aligned Liege-Kavalos is a mainstay in the General position, as the Mighty Croissant command trait and Godbone Armor artefact make it a 9 wound, ignoring first wounds of every phase monster, along with the extra RDP generation for being a liege, and a built in Mystic Shield effect making the Liege basically indestructible, as Nagash would want. The other best hero seems to be the Soulmason, as it has great casting for the points, and really fills out the support role of your army.

You can also build Nagash or Arkhan centric lists, and those typically look like Nagash/Arkhan + 40 blobs of guard and a support unit or two.

==== Battleline ====

Mortek Guard, usually a pair of 2 40 blobs are great (and also almost half your army, so its probably best to run them in smaller groups to have more board presence.) Then, fill out the battleline with some of those dead ponies. Seriously, Mortek Guard are only 130 points right now, can be given exploding 5+s and additional rend (in Petrifix Elite.) They're practically the backbone of any Ossiarch army.

==== Other Models ====

Necropolis Stalkers are your can-openers, popping heavily armored units. They can also move as if flying, opening up more options, and are cheaper than the other Hekatos units.

Gothizzar harvesters can be run as a one of per blob of Guard you manage to field. This means that your Mortek Guard is going to have a 4+/6+/4+ save, which is equal to about a 13.88% (or a "1.25+" save equivalent) chance to wound. Per model. That's like having a 0.83+ save.

Mortek Crawlers can be utilized to constantly rampage as your large blobs of guard gum up the board, create incredibly tough tar pits, and slow down enemy units. Another benefit is that if a cheap unit is used by your opponent to attempt to capture an objective, you might be able to wipe it out before it gains any points if you notice it soon enough and identify that part of your opponent's game plan.

==== Spells ====

There are several good spells that you can take, although overall the spell lore is kind of boring. Empower Nadirite Weapons is the best spell in the lore, mainly because most lists are running blobs of 40 Mortek Guard and the spell makes them table. Arcane Command can be taken on a second support wizard, as can Mortal Contract, depending on who you think you might be facing. Reinforce shield walls can also be a decent spell, especially if you are combining several layers of saves to make Mortek Guard the ultimate pit of bone.

==== Using Battalions ====

Because of the ability to increase RDP generation, there are some ways you can use cheap battalions to increase the amount of RDP you have, and lower the amount you need for specific units. One of the best and cheapest battalions is the Mortek Shield Corps battalion, which requires one of your 3 Mortisans or Vokmortian and 3 units of 10 Mortek Guard, allowing you to use one of the CAs on the Mortek Guard for free, once per turn. It also presents you with an additional RDP per turn. The shield wall ability allows you to reroll saves, which means that your 4+/6+ save turns into a 4+/4+/6+ save. Now, add in one of those Harvesters, meaning that you have a 4+/4+/4+/6+ save, or a 10% chance to fail incoming non-rend armor saves. That means that for every 20 armor saves, less than three should convert to a wound.

The Kavalos Lance battalion makes use of a pair of the fantastically modelled (by Nagash or GW) Kavalos Deathriders, and a Liege Kavalos. This battalion allows you to make up some of the difficulties of movement that the Ossiarch are presented with, and the additional RDP are always great for the +3" movement.

Another interesting battalion to consider taking is the Mortisan Trident Battalion, which would be how you go about building a strong Magical Ossiarch Bonereapers army. With the current state of Tzeentch, however, this army might be a bit rough to play. This battalion requires you to take all three Mortisans, as well as a Harvester, allowing you additional spell casts, when close to the harvester. That battalion and an Arkhan would allow you some crazy amounts of spells, and if you can take full advantage of that, you might end up thrashing a lot of armies that can't deal with heavy spell usage. Sadly, a lot of your spells work much better when you have a lot of your points in Mortek Guard, who are core to any army you create.

Other battalions can be taken solely for RDP generation and the artefacts you can take, seeing as your first artefact will generally have to be the specific legion artefact. Both Boneshapers and Soulmasons have decent "tools" for their artefacts, but they are not necessary, so don't feel forced to take a battalion for some bad models.

==Tactics==

===Mr. Arkhan’s Wild Ride===
Take Arkhan the Black as your general, along with two Gothizzar Harvesters and a buttload of Mortek Guard. Finally put them all under the Crematorians legion. Your boney boys will proceed to explode in the faces of the enemy and then be brought back to un-life from the ashes thanks to the Mortarch and Harvesters’ restoration abilities. Is this trolling? Yes. Is it fun? ''Oh yes.'' Also take a Mortisan Boneshaper as a cherry on top for extra heals and bring an Endless Spell or two; cast with Arkhan to laugh off that casting penalty.

* Nerfed slightly in December 2019 Errata. Now Gothizzar Harvester ability only triggers "each time a model is slain within 3" of any models with this ability." No double dipping on the Gothizzar heals anymore by choosing to remove a model within 3" of both. Personally, I'd say this is a good thing since this formation would be pretty much unbeatable without enough ranged firepower/artillery to snipe the 10 wound Gothizzars out of the Mortek blob (and in a single shooting phase to prevent 6 wound auto-heal from Arkhan and the Boneshaper).

===Trolling with Catapults===
Take a Soulmason as your general and put him in a massive blob of 60 Mortek Guard with 4 Mortek Crawlers behind. With some amazing dice rolls (which can be helped by using the Soul Resevoir artefact) the Soulmason can give all 4 Crawlers rerollable hits of 1. The Guard can block any incoming attackers whilst the catapults bombard your enemies from across the table. Even if your skellie dudes are taken out and the enemy damages your Centipedes of Doom it just means that their characters are more likely to be decimated by the most trolling shot in AoS, the Cursed Stele. So just sit back, relax and watch your enemies die before they even reach you.

Alternatively, take 2 of Ballistari battalions. Lose the Soulmason but gain some mad defenses.

=== Feast of Bones upgrades ===

If you started with the Feast of Bones kit, there are several ways to build the army. The first is the (maybe subjectively) best, which is to go with the Rule of Cool - buy the cool models. Run 3x10 Mortek Guard to get Battleline out of the way, and then take advantage of how cool Morghasts are to scare your opponents.

Starting with Vokmortian, 10x Mortek Guard, 3x Necopolis Stalkers, and 2x Morghasts, and the Vokmortian's Retinue battalion, you can instead use the Dread Retinue Battalion, to use Morghast Harbingers instead of Archai. Or, get a second unit of Stalkers and create the objectively coolest battalion, the Katakrosian Deathglaive. Add in some more guard or Kavalos Deathriders, and whatever else you want that you like. That's it. It's the rule of cool. With Morghasts - the coolest rule of cool unit.

The other way is to move to a more competitive list, but sadly, the Feast of Bones units aren't great. Vokmortian is pretty bad, as are Morghasts, relative to what is offered in the army, although they can be used as a tool. You can run Vokmortian as a Boneshaper, especially if you figure out a cool conversion for it. Then, add in a Soulmason and another support HQ or Liege, and a lot of Mortek Guard. Add in a few Gothizzar Harvesters and/or Crawlers, and you have the fundamentals to a competitive list.

==Allied Armies==
No Allies. Nope, none. Nighthaunt hate your guts. Legions of Nagash hate your attitude. Not even the Flesh Eater Courts is crazy enough to be your friend. Don't like it? Go play Stormcast, and go fuck yourself while you're at it.

There is... one... however...

*'''Big Drogg Fort-Kicka''': A Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant available to all Death factions as an ally. Functions like Gotrek in the Order factions where he uses up your whole allies allowance in exchange for a very destructive monster of a unit. His most important feature is the ability to destroy terrain, including faction terrain. He also has a unique breath attack that attacks one unit within 3" at the end of the combat phase; roll a dice for each model in the unit and deal 1MW on a 6+.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Soulblight Gravelords

2021-05-17T15:44:53Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:28BE:E963:F402:F2A1: /* Army Building */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Soulblight Gravelords|Logo=Gravelords.png|Alliance=Death|Motto= I HAVE COME TO SUCK YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!!!!}}
'''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''
Darkness falls across the land and the midnight hour is close at hand. Time to make the Mortal Realms to remember the Vampire Counts of old with their successors, the Soulblight Gravelords.

==Overview==
==Why Play Soulblight==
===Pros===
===Cons===
==Allegiance Abilities==
===Battle Traits===
*'''The Unquiet Dead''': Like Legions of Nagash before us, you get to place four gravesites; two in your deployment area, and two outside that must be more than 1" from terrain or objectives. One of your {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}} units for every unit that you regularly deploy can be set up in reserve and pop in within a foot of one of these, so long as there are no enemies within 9". These gravesites also act as focuses for some of your other traits.
*'''Deathless Minions''': The Gravelord version of the classic 6+ death save after save affects all units wholly within 12" of both their heroes and gravesites. If a gravesite is near enough an objective, you can skip a babysitter hero for your backline campers with a little less worry.
*'''[[Recursion|Endless Legions]]''': This lets you respawn your destroyed zombie or skeleton units with the {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}} keyword wholly within 12" of one of your gravesites at the end of your battleshock on a 5+ die roll, with a +1 for each enemy unit you destroyed earlier that turn. They only come back at half strength and must be placed at least 9" from enemies as well, but you're not spending a command point like Legions of Nagash used too.
*'''Locus of Shyish''': Death armies lean heavily into magic, and Gravelords get to resolve their lore spells (NOT their warscroll spells, arcane bolt or mystic shield) twice if they get an unmodified 9+ on their cast roll, provided it's not unbound.
*'''Reanimated Horrors''': Non-death models within 6" of your {{AOSKeyword|Deathrattle}} or {{AOSKeyword|Deadwalker}} units get a -1 to their bravery, or -2 if they are within 6" of two or more of them. Begs the question on how a giant undead bat with 'terror' in its name is less frightening, but can turn the tide if leveraged properly, especially as the second level can easily be satisfied with a support unit like a corpse cart or Wight king that wants to stick tight to some of those guys anyhow.
*'''Deathly Invocation''': Peeled out of the various warscrolls, heroes can heal a number of {{AOSKeyword|summonable}} units within 12" of d3 wounds/equivalent models. The Mortarchs get four units, vampires can do three, while wights and necromancers can top off two. Unfortunately, a unit can only benefit from this once per turn, and can't get the healing if they were already healed by Nagash's beefed up version of this ability in the same turn.

===Bloodlines===
There's five subfactions for soulblight each with a full complement of relics and command traits, and all of them have access to at least one special character.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

====Legion of Blood====
Regal and lethal, these schemers are the all around sub faction, though their specialty lies with the Deathrattle.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

=====Traits=====
*'''Immortal Majesty''': D3 additonal models flee if they fail a battleshock test within 3" of any {{AOSKeyword|Legion of Blood Vampire}} units.

*'''Favoured Retainers''': Ignore negative modifiers to hit and wound rolls for {{AOSKeyword|Legion of Blood Deathrattle}} while wholly within 12" of {{AOSKeyword|Legion of Blood Vampire}} or 18" of the general.

======Command Traits======
*'''Premeditated Violence''': Unmodified hit rolls of 6 are 2 hits.

*'''Soul-crushing Contempt''': -1 brave within 3. Synergy with their battle trait, but probably still bad.

*'''Aristocracy of Blood''': 12" reroll charge aura. This is good.

*'''Aura of Dark Majesty''': Subtract 1 from hit rolls targeting the general in melee. Solid choice.

*'''walking Death''': If an unmodified wound roll is a 6 for the general, that wound does mortals equal to the damage of the weapon used. Could be good on the Vengorian Lord.

*'''Sanguine Blur''': +3" of pile in while wholly within 12 of the general. Doesn't let a unit fight from further away, but +3 pile in is great just in general, and who doesn't want 9" pile in zombies?

======Artifacs======
*'''Ring of Dominion''': When you fight, pick one model within 3" and roll a dice, on a 5+ you do mortals equal to the weapons damage. You can't pick any weapon that charts or has a see below rule.

*'''Shadeglass Decanter''': After set up, but before first round, pick a hero. If that hero and the bearer are on the battlefield at the start of your hero phase you roll a dice. If it's equal to or greater than the current battle round, the hero takes a mortal. This is hilarious.

*'''Orb of Enchantment''': Once per battle, pick one enemy hero within 3 and roll a dice. On a 3+ that hero can't fight this phase. This is random, once per game, and insanely power. None of those things make for a good artifact of power to pick.

*'''Soulbound Garments''': You're wearing a player character's clothing for some reason, this gives you +1 to save rolls. Nice.

*'''Oubliette Arcana''': Once per enemy hero phase, when they cast a spell and it's not unbound, you can roll a dice. On a 5+ it's unbound. Extra unbinding is always good.

*'''Amulet of Screams''': Once per game when an enemy casts a spell that isn't unbound you can deal d3 mortal wound to them. Trash.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

====Legion of Night====
Description
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

=====Traits=====
*'''The Bait''': +1 to save rolls on the first turn for {{AOSKeyword|Deathrattle}} and {{AOSKeyword|Deadwalker}} units. Since these are likely the first to move into the line of fire, you'll be needing that boost to defense.

*'''Ageless Cunning''': You can set up one unit in reserve for every unit you have placed on the board and bring them in with ambush 6" from a board edge outside of 9" from enemy units at the end of your movement phase. At the start of round 4, units still in reserve are destroyed.

======Command Traits======
*'''Above Suspicion''': Deep strike the general from outflank onto the board anywhere on the battlefield at the end of your movement fase. (Outside of 9 from enemy units like normal)

*'''Swift Form''': 2+ Movement. Good if you’re using the footslogger Vampire for some reason.

*'''Unbending Will''': No battleshock wholly within 12 of the general.

*'''Merciless Hunter''': +1 to wound rolls for general in melee.

*'''Unholy Impetus''': If the general slays an enemy model in close combat, one friendly unit wholly within 12" gets +1 attack on all their melee weapons until the end of the phase. Changed to wholly within 12 instead of 3, probably your best choice.

*'''Terrifying Visage''': Subtract 1 from wound rolls against the general in melee.

=====Artifacts=====

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

====Kastelai====
Kastelai are the entourage of Prince Vhordrai in the magically teleporting crimson keep, and seem to be the replacement for the old blood dragons, and similarly lean into blood knights, who they get as battleline.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

=====Traits=====
*'''The Shifting Keep''': Kastelai Blood Knights up to half your unit count can be placed in reserve instead of on the battlefield, and be setup within 6" of any table edge and more than 9" from enemies at the end of your movement phase. The pretty standard rider of them being destroyed if not place by round four also applies.
*'''Might of the Crimson Keep''': {{AOSKeyword|Vampire}} keyword units gain a characteristic bonus when they destroy units; +1 damage to non-mount melee weapons if it was a {{AOSKeyword|Hero}}/{{AOSKeyword|Monster}}, +1 to it's wounds if it had 3+ wounds, or +2" to run and charge for everything else.
=====Command Traits=====
*'''Beacon of Bloodshed''': After the general charges you do d3 mortals on a 3+ to one unit. Trash.

*'''Master of Retaliation''': At the end of the combat phase if this model was wounded and not slain, you pick a unit within 1" and do d3 mortals on a 2+. Trash.

*'''Power in the Blood''': If an enemy is destroyed within 6" of this model he also gets Might of the Crimson Keep even if he didn't kill them. This is bonkers, and will probably be the go to choice.

*'''Rousing Commander''': Once per game at the start of combat you can give all {{AOSKeyword|Kastelai Dynasty Vampire}} units the Bloodied Strength and Stolen Vitality abilities for that phase, if they didn't already have them. This is honestly one of the strongest single turn effects in the game, and might actually get chosen.

*'''Swift and Deadly''': Reroll charges while within 12" of the general. Always a good buff.

*'''A Craving for Massacre''': Run and charge on the general. Good for getting in there fast, but probably not worth it.

=====Artifacts=====
*'''Sword of the Red Seneschals''': If an enemy model is slain by the bearer's melee weapon, add +1 to wound roll attacks made by a friendly unit wholly within 12" of the bearer until the end of the phase.
*'''Bloodsaint's Shield''': Enemy Wizards within 6" of the bearer subtract -1 from casting rolls.
*'''Standard of the Crimson Keep''': Missile weapons shot at the bearer subtract -1 from hit rolls.
*'''Shard of Grave-Sand''': At the start of the hero phase, the bearer crushes the Shard and adds +1 to Deathless Minions rolls for friendly units wholly within 12". Once per game.
*'''Fragment of the Keep''': Enemy units within 6" of the bearer subtract -1 from wound rolls.
*'''The Red Casket''': At the start of your charge phase, you can add +3 to your charge rolls. Once per game.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

====Avengorii====

Monstrous looking vampire-centaurs that only feed on the blood of great beasts. They get battleline zombie dragons and terrorgheist and appropriately have a heavy lean to these monsters.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

=====Traits=====
*'''Cursed Abominations''': {{AOSKeyword|Terrorghiests}} and {{AOSKeyword|Zombie Dragons}} get to have a mutation. You get 1 per army, and 1 more per battalion you take.

*'''Monstrous Might''': Subtract 1 from wound rolls against your monsters in melee unless the opponent is also a monster. This should help keep your big guys alive for a little longer than normal.

*'''Unstoppable Nightmares''': In the combat phase you can pick one of your monsters to fight at the top bracket. Each monster can only do this once per battle, so having a bunch of monsters is going to be good.

=====Command Traits=====
*'''An Eye for An Eye''': +1 damage until the end of the phase if this model is damaged. Really solid on the Vengorian Lord.

*'''Master of Retaliation''': At the start of the combat phase roll a dice for every enemy unit within 3 of the general. 5+ you take a mortal wound, and can only attack this general in that phase after the general has already fought this phase. This is...weird. It protects you from attacking until you attack, so it makes you want to have him in with a unit to soak damage.

*'''Unhinged Rampager''': Reroll charges for the general. Boring but useful.

=====Artifacts=====

=====Cursed Mutations=====

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

====Vyrkos====

Bestial Vampires who run with the pack, especially dire wolves. This is the kind of army that wants plenty of heroes to buff their zombies and wolves and use the kind of tactics that wolves would use.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

=====Traits=====
*'''The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf''': '''Vyrkos Deadwalker''' and '''Deathrattle''' units within 9" of a '''Vyrkos''' vampire heroes get +1 to their wound rolls.

*'''The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack''': Those same vampire heroes get to reroll cast rolls.

=====Command Traits=====
*'''Pack Alpha''': The general gets to use of their command ability for free once per turn, pretty good in an army that will have a lot of command abilities to choose from.
*'''Driven by Deathstench''':
*'''Kin of the wolf''':
*'''Hunter's snare''':
*'''Spoor trackers''':
*'''United by blood''':
=====Artifacts=====

</div></div>

===Spell Lores===

There are two spell lores to pick from, one for your necromancers and the two Mortarchs, and one for your vampires, with Nagash getting all of them. There is also an additional spell, Invigorating Aura, that ALL your wizards get for free, and may be cast by any number of spell casters in a turn.

* '''Invigorating Aura:''' Casting Value 8. Pick 1 summonable unit wholly within 18" of the caster. You can heal up to 3 wounds, or return slain models that have a combined wounds characteristic of 3 or less to it. Add +1 to the casting roll for each hero on the battlefield. No unit can benefit from this more than once per turn. Even more healing options is always welcome, especially with deathly invocation only being used once per turn per unit now.

====Lore of Vampires====

* '''Blades of Shyish:''' Casting Value 5. Roll a dice for each enemy unit within 12" of the caster. On a 3+ that unit suffers a mortal wound.

* '''Spirit Gale:''' Casting Value 5. Pick 1 enemy unit wholly within 18" and roll 2D6. If the roll is greater than that unit's bravery, that unit suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the difference between the unit's bravery and the 2D6 number rolled.

* '''Soulpike:''' Casting Value 6. Pick a unit wholly within 18". If that unit tries to charge, roll a number of dice equal to the charge value. For each 4+ the unit suffers a mortal wound.

* '''Amethystine Pinions:''' Casting Value 5. Add +6" to the caster's Move characteristic. Does not stack with Locus of Shyish.

* '''Vile Transference:''' Casting Value 4. Pick an enemy unit within 6". Roll a number of dice equal to half the unit's wounds. For each 6, you heal 1 wound.

* '''Amaranthine Orb:''' Casting Value 6. Pick a point within 9" of the caster, and draw an "imaginary straight line" from the point to the caster. Roll a dice for each unit the line passes by, and on a 2+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Does not work on Death units so feel free to draw a line over your own units. Sub optimal for mirror matches.

====Lore of Deathmages====
*
*
*
*
*
*

==Warscrolls==

===Leaders===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Vampire_Lord.pdf Vampire Lord]''': The average vampire is pretty potent for a warrior with flight, a modest weapon with -1 Rend and the ability to heal d3 wounds whenever it kills an enemy model in combat - meaning that you might actually be able to hang on even if you just kill a few models in a mob each turn. It's also a wizard with a command ability that gives one summonable unit extra attacks, which you'll need because those goons are going to go down quickly.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Vampire_Lord_OnZombieDragon.pdf Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon]''':

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Coven_Throne.pdf Coven Throne]''':

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Bloodseeker_Palanquin_2021.pdf Bloodseeker Palanquin]''':

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Vengorian_Lord.pdf Vengorian Lord]''':

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Wight_King.pdf Wight King]''': The pure beatstick of the heroes. While the weapon's about as effective as the vampire's, though the wight king also deals a mortal wound on a nat 6 to hit. His command ability's specifically made for skellies, making a {{AOSKeyword|Deathrattle}} unit within 12" re-roll 1s to hit in melee. If you're planning to focus more on the bone-boys, then you'll be just well-served by this guy as you would with a vampire.

*'''Wight King on Skeletal Steed''': For 15 more points than the footsloger, you get +2 wounds and triple your movement, and swap out the chance at mortal wounds on 6's for more reliably causing them on the charge.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Necromancer.pdf Necromancer]''': A wizard clad in tatters. Then again, why would he need anymore when he can just have some nearby summonable units soak up the wounds for him. Indeed, he does need them around because aside from summoning them and using them as meatshields, he can also cast a unique spell that can let them fight again, a stark upgrade from the vampire lord's command ability and only casts on a 6+.
====Named Characters====
Nagash and Soulblight named characters with a dynasty (save the Cursed City characters) all have a special rule that allows them to be treated as general in addition to the one that you choose in an army of their dynasty (or any of them for Nagash). You can use this to your advantage if you want to utilize the generic command abilities, or in certain battle plans.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Nagash.pdf Nagash]''': The supreme lord of the undead has increased in points cost yet again, now a whopping 975. He gets access to all 13 spells in the book in addition to his own, giving him a good versatile selection for him to use, and gives him more flexibility than casters who must select their spell. Beyond that he's largely the same as he always has been, but keep an eye out to which Dynasty that you play him with, as several of their traits are tied to the '''Vampire''' keyword and he will not benefit/proc benefits.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Neferata.pdf Neferata, Mortarch of Blood]'''('''Legion of Blood'''):

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Mannfred_von_Carstein.pdf Mannfred Von Carstein, Mortarch of Night]''' ('''Legion of Night'''):

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Prince_Vhordrai_2021.pdf Prince Vhordrai]'''('''Kastelai'''):

*Belladamma Volga, First of the Vyrkos ('''Vyrkos'''):

*Radukar, The Wolf ('''Vyrkos''', if you happen to have Cursed City):

*Radukar, The Beast ('''Vyrkos'''):

*Kritza, The Rat Prince ('''Vyrkos'''): Largely a cheaper Vampire Lord, Kritza trades off a point of armour for an extra wound, and swaps spellcasting for a -1 th hit in melee against him and a rather impressive ability to, when slain, be set up again elsewhere on a 4+ role, making him relatively resilient despite also lacking 'The Hunger'.

*Annika, The Thirsting Blade ('''Vyrkos'''): Another lord equivalent, Annika also swaps armor for wound, and her spellcasting for 4+ wound negation and completely healing all wounds when she slays a model instead of d3.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Lauka_Vai.pdf Lauka Vai, The Mother of Nightmares]''' ('''Avengorii'''):

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Prince_Duvalle.pdf Prince Duvalle] & [https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_The_Crimson_Court.pdf The Crimson Court]''':

===Battleline===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Deathrattle_Skeletons.pdf Deathrattle Skeletons]''': {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}}. Renamed and remodeled skeletons with mediocre weapons with no rend. Rather than the utterly pointless 6+ saves of old, they come with a 5+, and the ability to re-roll 1s on their Deathless Legion's checks. Also helping bolster their numbers is the ability to resurrect models slain during the fight phase. Granted, this means nothing for skellies shot down by arrows or artillery, but it can make them more of a nuisance once they're stuck in.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Deadwalker_Zombies.pdf Deadwalker Zombies]''': {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}}. The real disposable fodder, not even getting a save. Fortunately, they have a much larger range to get stuck in and consolidate an additional 3", so they can get stuck in pretty quickly. Also helpful is that they can rise up again from the fight phase very easily on a 2+. They can deal a mortal wound if they roll a nat 6 to hit, and that will help if the enemy in question lacks any sort of protection. However, considering how much of a joke they are in combat, don't expect them to kill much.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-dire-wolves-en.pdf Dire Wolves]''':

===Behemoth===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Terrorgheist.pdf Terrorgheist'''](Battleline in '''Avengorii'''):

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Zombie_Dragon.pdf Zombie Dragon'''](Battleline in '''Avengorii'''):

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Mortis_Engine.pdf Mortis Engine]''':

===Other===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Grave-Guard.pdf Grave Guard]''': {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}}. Essentially tougher skeletons with a full command group that enables them to charge at full range. While they can't reinforce themselves in combat, they have the option between either a sword and shield (giving them a 4+ save) or a big sword, and both weapons deal mortal wounds on a 6+. Since they're still summonable, you can make them a bit more reliable as a bunker against archers.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_The_Sepulchral_Guard.pdf The Sepulchral Guard]''': The Shadespire warband. Though you have plenty of models, you're not going to get much out of them since most of the weapons lack any form of Rend and even a nat 6 to hit just deals an additional hit. Really, they're just a more easily maintained pack of skeletons that can't be summoned. As long as the leader remains, he can raise d3 of his boys each hero phase.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Black_Knights.pdf Black Knights]''': (Battleline in '''Legion of Blood''') {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}}. Your skeletal cavalry, equipped with a full command group and 0 rend weapons. Fortunately, they can deal mortal wounds on the charge, which is what they'll rely on to make the most out of their attacks.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Corpse_Cart.pdf Corpse Cart with Unholy Lodestone]''': A mobile support unit for your necromancers and goons. All of your wizards add +1 to their casting rolls for being within 12" of this cart, which you'll need because your army depends on those spells. Your zombies also pick up a 6+ save for being within 12" of the cart, the which you'll probably not be needing.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Corpse_Cart_Balefire_Brazier.pdf Corpse Cart with Balefire Braizer]''': While the Unholy Lodestone makes the cart into a support unit, this is more of a debuff unit. Enemy wizards suffer a -1 to casting for being within 18" of this fiend, and enemies within 9" of this cart suffer -1 to wound in melee - not much against dedicated bruisers, but it can be annoying for otherwise normal foot soldiers like Freeguild.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Fell_Bats.pdf Fell Bats]''': {{AOSKeyword|Summonable}}. Roving irritants and screens. They're about as flimsy as zombies with their only redeeming factor being their mobility. Not only can they fly, but they can also retreat and charge at the same turn, making them annoying to catch in a crowded space.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Vargheists.pdf Vargheists]''' (Battleline in '''Legion of Night''') Some furious monsters that come with -1 Rend so they can at least rip through armor and focus more upon overwhelming enemies with their swings. However, they're glass cannons with only a 5+ save to protect them. Fortunately, you can throw them in reserves and then drop them at a later turn, primed and ready to lash out at whatever they come across.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/Eng_Blood_Knights.pdf Blood Knights]''' (Battleline in '''Kastelai Dynasty'''): The moment we've all been waiting for; Blood Knights, bane of The world-that-was, are reborn in fabulous plastic! Some of the most iconic heavy calvary since Bretonnia got squatted, these guys are both tough and hard hitting, with a 3+ save, 3 wounds and vampire kill/regen, accompanied by quality 3/3+/3+/-1/1 attacks that gets +1 damage on the charge, (along with their mounts trampling, but those rarely amount to much in the long run). They can also go over units in their movement phase, if they start within 3" of one and only over those with 3 or less wounds and without mounts (so for example, Orruk Brutes are game but Kavalos Deathriders aren't) and deal d3 mortal wounds on a 2+ if they do. They are expensive, but worth investing in if you need a good hammer. Special mention should go to Kastelai Blood Knights, who can outflank if set up in reserves.

==Battalions==
==Army Building==
Given its contents, and depending on the bloodlines that you are going to play, Start Collecting! Flesh-Eater Counts is once again one of the best products [[GeeDubs]] has to offer. Get as many as you need or want for you Battleline Zombie Dragons, Terrorgheists or Vhargheists. While you can't use the ghouls, they have the same base size as zombies, and look zombie-ish...

At the moment of writing this, if you local store still has a Start Collecting! Skeleton Horde, or an even rarer Battleforce with them, you can grab them and get you Mortarch of choice (but can't use Arkhan, as he is not part of the army roster) while getting extra Black Knights and Skellies, who also happen to be Battleline choices.

==Allies==
*'''Drogg Fort-Kicka''': The Mega-Gargant allocated as an ally for '''DEATH''' armies, he's a big smashy monster with the extra ability to deal out some easy mortal wounds to a bigger unit, and most importantly, the ability to destroy terrain. This includes faction terrain, so send him after that lumineth waterfall and the wizard sitting on it, the priest standing on an altar of blood, or knock a ghoul king off his throne.
*'''Nighthaunt''': Sadly, since they rely on 'summonable', and most of your abilities are specifically SOULBLIGHT summonable...not actually a good deal. Still, they have some very nice units...
*'''Flesh Eater Courts''': You share units, they have some nice ghouls that in a pinch can 'counts as' zombies, and they have a powerful wizard AND a spell that buffs the heck out of them? A very nice choice.

==Tactics==

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}