2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Arkhan the Black

2021-10-18T04:48:00Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8803:F84:6CEF:1B86: /* Early History */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|You underestimate the power of The Dark Side. I must obey my master.|Darth Vader}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition WFB Arkhan had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich and was only playable in the original 4th Edition "Warhammer Armies: Undead" armybook. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the only new lore being Arkhan became a warlord-for-hire and his newest plan to restore Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). He's also Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters (starting with Warhammer Fantasy's first, Heinrich Kemmler).

Before the audio books and video game, Vincent Price was considered by a few fans as a good choice to voice him. As of now, he's voiced by Ramon Tikaram in the audio books and an unknown VA in the Total War video games. While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, they do a good job. See below for more.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
===Early History===
Arkhan was born into a rich noble family of Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage, Arkhan was the black sheep (geddit!) of the family because he often forsook his duties to enage in petty crime and serial gambling. On top of this, most of Arkhan's money was spent on drugs and whore-mongering at the temple of Asaph (which practiced ritual prostitution at the time, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him).

He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, giving him the ancient equivalent of meth mouth; his teeth were reduced to black shards, and he probably had bad breath too.

Side Note: all official art depicting his skeleton form has normal (except for one piece with fangs) bone-white teeth. <strike>Mabye Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why Arkhan's so loyal to him</strike> A later retcon made it so neither the teeth nor the skull on his skeleton from are his original ones - Arkhan's first true death was retconned into being from decapitation.

===Vizier of Khemri===
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. They were convinced by a demonstration of Nagash's newly created art of necromancy, and first supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the streets to both supply Nagash with test subjects and undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of Nagash's elixir, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. Arkhan carried out Nagash's orders with a loyalty and alacrity he'd never shown before due to Nagash giving Arkhan everything he wanted and relying on Nagash for more of the elixir. This tyrannical regime led the Priest Kings of Nehekhara to form an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed, putting his newfound necromantic talents to use helping maintain Nagash's undead armies. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

In the battle for Khemri, Arkhan led the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding off his foes with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before he fell. There are different acounts of Arkhan's defeat across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan died, his body consumed by black flames and leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand they didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "spear thrown into the heart by an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

===Imprisonment in Lahmia===

After his defeat, Arkhan and one of the Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There, Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and his cabal buddies (including Ushoran, W'soran and Abhorash - the latter wasn't interested in immortality and is only there to protect his king) to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons (because she is a priestess of the moon goddess and they have knowledge on potion making).

Neferata, caught between this and trying to prevent their [[Cathay|Cathayan]] trade partners from screwing Lahmia over, visited Arkhan to seek out his dark knowledge. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To their mutual surprise, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic, and when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night; Arkhan despaired of captivity and greatly appreciated any freedom he got. Eventually Arkhan's tutelage (and knowledge he gave Neferata about her brother's cabal members) led to Neferata overthrowing Lamashizzar, reducing him to a figurehead under her thumb, and taking the throne for herself. Neferata kept her word to Arkhan and granted his request right down to the silver bells.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still with many supporters, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. At the time Arkhan had come back from a nighttime excursion on the outskirts, and only learned about this after two of the least intelligent members of the cabal tried to assassinate him. Although Arkhan manage to slay them, he realized they'd gone after Neferata too, and by the time he reached Neferata it was already too late.

Arkhan tried to save Neferata, roping a random servant girl named Aiyah into helping him with the ritual, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar with the king's own Cathayan gun (the state he was in caused Arkhan to overlook Aiyah, who fled to Lybaras and spilled the beans to Khalida). The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan, his magic had in fact saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. With her brother dead, Neferata took over the throne and then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis, despite Abhorash recommending that she cremate Arkhan.

===The Liche King===
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar and more powerful than before, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again, he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings alongside W'soran. The two became bitter rivals, with Arkhan considering W'soran reckless and W'soran considering Arkhan cowardly, and argued often; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague-riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army when the second part of the ritual raised all of Nehekhara's dead, Arkhan was instead put on the backfoot when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower and later forced to flee when Settra returned. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for Nagash's death or becoming an undead ruler in his own right to relish his newfound freedom (depending which lore you follow), Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) and left with a few of Nagash's most important books. He then marshalled an army and attacked Araby, battering its kingdoms for generations in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts. At some point Arkhan made himself a sweet new ride; a [[Awesome|flying]] chariot made from the body, wings and still beating heart of a Manticore and pulled by four skeleton horses.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortress of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly, Settra was be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command, their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted, but Settra was too proud to ask for their help (and writer's bias ensured he forgot he could just order them to help him) and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's tactical and strategic skills through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar. When not doing something for Nagash or providing military aid to certain Tomb Kings, Arkhan stayed in his tower practicing magic or losing himself in years or even decades of introspection and reminiscing.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and after The Night of the Restless Dead fiasco, Nagash fast-tracked his latest restoration plan by several centuries and told Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash, Arkhan needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing two of his nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions and killed his libido, Arkhan still loved [[Queen Neferata]] for all that time.

===The End Times===
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup which resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]].

At Khemri, he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests was a mole for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, trading in his old chariot for the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash traveled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan is the one who speaks to the Incarnates on Nagash's behalf because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim.

Hilariously enough, while becoming the undead turns a person into an insufferable ass 99 times out of 100, it seems that it had reverse effect on Arkhan, who transformed from a degenerate wastrel and womanizer into a more-or-less decent human being, with actual standards and pragmatic thought. Too bad that his sovereign was a sociopathic retard... For example, when they launched an invasion to the north to capture chaos-infested Middenheim, they encountered captive soldiers and civilians. Arkhan suggested to free and arm them, and use them as auxiliary army, and this would also be a PR move aimed at the living, with message being "See? Being undead doesn't necessarily mean that you're a malevolent cretin." Of course, Nagash being [[Fail|Nagash]], just killed them and turned them into zombies.

Arkhan then helps to co-ordinate Nagash's army, just as Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him (to Arkhan's consternation in the gamebook, but his relief in the novel). Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos.

Arkhan tried to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars, and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead, Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

With the completion of [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Nagash's latest pet project]], Arkhan has been given an entire legion of Bonereapers for his use, the magic-resistant Null Myriad. His most recent mission has been to invade Hysh at the head of a Bonereaper army and (forcibly) enlist some local [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Mordant Courts]] to conquer the Great Nation of Ymetrica. While Mannfred and Neferata brought living captives as sacrifices to power their spells, such is Arkhan's sorcerous might, he didn't need sacrifices, just his own power.

Arkhan tried to corrupt a realmgate leading to Hysh, but was repelled by the Lumineth. He fled to a second realmgate at the edge of Hysh and attempted to corrupt that one, only to be thwarted by a Lumineth army led by the Light of Eltharion looking for some payback. Arkhan remembered Eltharion and why he'd come before the two engaged in a short but vicious fight, which ended with Arkhan being hurled from the edge of Hysh, with Razarak rushing to him before both Arkhan and his steed disappearing in a burst of Light magic.

It's heavily implied Arkhan will return, especially since he returned despite the destruction of the World-That-Was and lore hinting he will exist as long as Nagash does. Mannfred even indicated he's certain Arkhan will be back, and Mannfred both hates Arkhan and would relish him being killed once and for all. But its unknown when it will happen. Neferata outwardly doesn't seem bothered that Arkhan fell, but called out Katakros for being such a buzzkill she "almost" misses Arkhan.

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

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

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

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

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties (possibly the aforementioned manticore chariot), and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]). Seems to wear a commissar cap and sport the 8-pointed Icon of Chaos on his staff.
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Posing for his End Times photo.
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Ossiarch Bonereapers]]

Arkhan the Black

2021-10-18T04:47:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8803:F84:6CEF:1B86: /* Early History */ The link is dead.

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|You underestimate the power of The Dark Side. I must obey my master.|Darth Vader}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition WFB Arkhan had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich and was only playable in the original 4th Edition "Warhammer Armies: Undead" armybook. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the only new lore being Arkhan became a warlord-for-hire and his newest plan to restore Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). He's also Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters (starting with Warhammer Fantasy's first, Heinrich Kemmler).

Before the audio books and video game, Vincent Price was considered by a few fans as a good choice to voice him. As of now, he's voiced by Ramon Tikaram in the audio books and an unknown VA in the Total War video games. While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, they do a good job. See below for more.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
===Early History===
Arkhan was born into a rich noble family of Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage, Arkhan was the black sheep (geddit!) of the family because he often forsook his duties to enage in petty crime and serial gambling. Most of Arkhan's money was spent on drugs and whore-mongering at the temple of Asaph (which practiced ritual prostitution at the time, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him).

He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, giving him the ancient equivalent of meth mouth; his teeth were reduced to black shards, and he probably had bad breath too.

Side Note: all official art depicting his skeleton form has normal (except for one piece with fangs) bone-white teeth. <strike>Mabye Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why Arkhan's so loyal to him</strike> A later retcon made it so neither the teeth nor the skull on his skeleton from are his original ones - Arkhan's first true death was retconned into being from decapitation.

===Vizier of Khemri===
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. They were convinced by a demonstration of Nagash's newly created art of necromancy, and first supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the streets to both supply Nagash with test subjects and undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of Nagash's elixir, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. Arkhan carried out Nagash's orders with a loyalty and alacrity he'd never shown before due to Nagash giving Arkhan everything he wanted and relying on Nagash for more of the elixir. This tyrannical regime led the Priest Kings of Nehekhara to form an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed, putting his newfound necromantic talents to use helping maintain Nagash's undead armies. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

In the battle for Khemri, Arkhan led the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding off his foes with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before he fell. There are different acounts of Arkhan's defeat across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan died, his body consumed by black flames and leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand they didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "spear thrown into the heart by an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

===Imprisonment in Lahmia===

After his defeat, Arkhan and one of the Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There, Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and his cabal buddies (including Ushoran, W'soran and Abhorash - the latter wasn't interested in immortality and is only there to protect his king) to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons (because she is a priestess of the moon goddess and they have knowledge on potion making).

Neferata, caught between this and trying to prevent their [[Cathay|Cathayan]] trade partners from screwing Lahmia over, visited Arkhan to seek out his dark knowledge. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To their mutual surprise, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic, and when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night; Arkhan despaired of captivity and greatly appreciated any freedom he got. Eventually Arkhan's tutelage (and knowledge he gave Neferata about her brother's cabal members) led to Neferata overthrowing Lamashizzar, reducing him to a figurehead under her thumb, and taking the throne for herself. Neferata kept her word to Arkhan and granted his request right down to the silver bells.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still with many supporters, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. At the time Arkhan had come back from a nighttime excursion on the outskirts, and only learned about this after two of the least intelligent members of the cabal tried to assassinate him. Although Arkhan manage to slay them, he realized they'd gone after Neferata too, and by the time he reached Neferata it was already too late.

Arkhan tried to save Neferata, roping a random servant girl named Aiyah into helping him with the ritual, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar with the king's own Cathayan gun (the state he was in caused Arkhan to overlook Aiyah, who fled to Lybaras and spilled the beans to Khalida). The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan, his magic had in fact saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. With her brother dead, Neferata took over the throne and then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis, despite Abhorash recommending that she cremate Arkhan.

===The Liche King===
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar and more powerful than before, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again, he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings alongside W'soran. The two became bitter rivals, with Arkhan considering W'soran reckless and W'soran considering Arkhan cowardly, and argued often; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague-riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army when the second part of the ritual raised all of Nehekhara's dead, Arkhan was instead put on the backfoot when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower and later forced to flee when Settra returned. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for Nagash's death or becoming an undead ruler in his own right to relish his newfound freedom (depending which lore you follow), Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) and left with a few of Nagash's most important books. He then marshalled an army and attacked Araby, battering its kingdoms for generations in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts. At some point Arkhan made himself a sweet new ride; a [[Awesome|flying]] chariot made from the body, wings and still beating heart of a Manticore and pulled by four skeleton horses.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortress of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly, Settra was be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command, their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted, but Settra was too proud to ask for their help (and writer's bias ensured he forgot he could just order them to help him) and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's tactical and strategic skills through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar. When not doing something for Nagash or providing military aid to certain Tomb Kings, Arkhan stayed in his tower practicing magic or losing himself in years or even decades of introspection and reminiscing.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and after The Night of the Restless Dead fiasco, Nagash fast-tracked his latest restoration plan by several centuries and told Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash, Arkhan needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing two of his nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions and killed his libido, Arkhan still loved [[Queen Neferata]] for all that time.

===The End Times===
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup which resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]].

At Khemri, he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests was a mole for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, trading in his old chariot for the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash traveled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan is the one who speaks to the Incarnates on Nagash's behalf because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim.

Hilariously enough, while becoming the undead turns a person into an insufferable ass 99 times out of 100, it seems that it had reverse effect on Arkhan, who transformed from a degenerate wastrel and womanizer into a more-or-less decent human being, with actual standards and pragmatic thought. Too bad that his sovereign was a sociopathic retard... For example, when they launched an invasion to the north to capture chaos-infested Middenheim, they encountered captive soldiers and civilians. Arkhan suggested to free and arm them, and use them as auxiliary army, and this would also be a PR move aimed at the living, with message being "See? Being undead doesn't necessarily mean that you're a malevolent cretin." Of course, Nagash being [[Fail|Nagash]], just killed them and turned them into zombies.

Arkhan then helps to co-ordinate Nagash's army, just as Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him (to Arkhan's consternation in the gamebook, but his relief in the novel). Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos.

Arkhan tried to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars, and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead, Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

With the completion of [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Nagash's latest pet project]], Arkhan has been given an entire legion of Bonereapers for his use, the magic-resistant Null Myriad. His most recent mission has been to invade Hysh at the head of a Bonereaper army and (forcibly) enlist some local [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Mordant Courts]] to conquer the Great Nation of Ymetrica. While Mannfred and Neferata brought living captives as sacrifices to power their spells, such is Arkhan's sorcerous might, he didn't need sacrifices, just his own power.

Arkhan tried to corrupt a realmgate leading to Hysh, but was repelled by the Lumineth. He fled to a second realmgate at the edge of Hysh and attempted to corrupt that one, only to be thwarted by a Lumineth army led by the Light of Eltharion looking for some payback. Arkhan remembered Eltharion and why he'd come before the two engaged in a short but vicious fight, which ended with Arkhan being hurled from the edge of Hysh, with Razarak rushing to him before both Arkhan and his steed disappearing in a burst of Light magic.

It's heavily implied Arkhan will return, especially since he returned despite the destruction of the World-That-Was and lore hinting he will exist as long as Nagash does. Mannfred even indicated he's certain Arkhan will be back, and Mannfred both hates Arkhan and would relish him being killed once and for all. But its unknown when it will happen. Neferata outwardly doesn't seem bothered that Arkhan fell, but called out Katakros for being such a buzzkill she "almost" misses Arkhan.

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

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

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

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

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties (possibly the aforementioned manticore chariot), and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]). Seems to wear a commissar cap and sport the 8-pointed Icon of Chaos on his staff.
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Posing for his End Times photo.
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Ossiarch Bonereapers]]

Arkhan the Black

2021-10-18T04:46:42Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8803:F84:6CEF:1B86: /* Early History */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|You underestimate the power of The Dark Side. I must obey my master.|Darth Vader}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition WFB Arkhan had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich and was only playable in the original 4th Edition "Warhammer Armies: Undead" armybook. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the only new lore being Arkhan became a warlord-for-hire and his newest plan to restore Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). He's also Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters (starting with Warhammer Fantasy's first, Heinrich Kemmler).

Before the audio books and video game, Vincent Price was considered by a few fans as a good choice to voice him. As of now, he's voiced by Ramon Tikaram in the audio books and an unknown VA in the Total War video games. While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, they do a good job. See below for more.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
===Early History===
Arkhan was born into a rich noble family of Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage, Arkhan was the black sheep (geddit!) of the family because he often forsook his duties to enage in petty crime and serial gambling. Most of Arkhan's money was spent on drugs and whore-mongering at the temple of Asaph (which practiced ritual prostitution at the time, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him).

He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, giving him the ancient equivalent of meth mouth; his teeth were reduced to black shards, and he probably had bad breath too.

Side Note: all official art depicting his skeleton form has normal (except for one piece with fangs) bone-white teeth. <strike>Mabye Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why Arkhan's so loyal to him</strike> [https://occultdetectives.tumblr.com/post/187823103997/how-did-arkhans-tooth-turn-from-black-to-white A later retcon made it so neither the teeth nor the skull on his skeleton from are his original ones - Arkhan's first true death was retconned into being from decapitation].

===Vizier of Khemri===
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. They were convinced by a demonstration of Nagash's newly created art of necromancy, and first supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the streets to both supply Nagash with test subjects and undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of Nagash's elixir, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. Arkhan carried out Nagash's orders with a loyalty and alacrity he'd never shown before due to Nagash giving Arkhan everything he wanted and relying on Nagash for more of the elixir. This tyrannical regime led the Priest Kings of Nehekhara to form an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed, putting his newfound necromantic talents to use helping maintain Nagash's undead armies. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

In the battle for Khemri, Arkhan led the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding off his foes with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before he fell. There are different acounts of Arkhan's defeat across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan died, his body consumed by black flames and leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand they didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "spear thrown into the heart by an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

===Imprisonment in Lahmia===

After his defeat, Arkhan and one of the Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There, Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and his cabal buddies (including Ushoran, W'soran and Abhorash - the latter wasn't interested in immortality and is only there to protect his king) to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons (because she is a priestess of the moon goddess and they have knowledge on potion making).

Neferata, caught between this and trying to prevent their [[Cathay|Cathayan]] trade partners from screwing Lahmia over, visited Arkhan to seek out his dark knowledge. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To their mutual surprise, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic, and when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night; Arkhan despaired of captivity and greatly appreciated any freedom he got. Eventually Arkhan's tutelage (and knowledge he gave Neferata about her brother's cabal members) led to Neferata overthrowing Lamashizzar, reducing him to a figurehead under her thumb, and taking the throne for herself. Neferata kept her word to Arkhan and granted his request right down to the silver bells.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still with many supporters, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. At the time Arkhan had come back from a nighttime excursion on the outskirts, and only learned about this after two of the least intelligent members of the cabal tried to assassinate him. Although Arkhan manage to slay them, he realized they'd gone after Neferata too, and by the time he reached Neferata it was already too late.

Arkhan tried to save Neferata, roping a random servant girl named Aiyah into helping him with the ritual, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar with the king's own Cathayan gun (the state he was in caused Arkhan to overlook Aiyah, who fled to Lybaras and spilled the beans to Khalida). The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan, his magic had in fact saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. With her brother dead, Neferata took over the throne and then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis, despite Abhorash recommending that she cremate Arkhan.

===The Liche King===
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar and more powerful than before, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again, he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings alongside W'soran. The two became bitter rivals, with Arkhan considering W'soran reckless and W'soran considering Arkhan cowardly, and argued often; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague-riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army when the second part of the ritual raised all of Nehekhara's dead, Arkhan was instead put on the backfoot when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower and later forced to flee when Settra returned. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for Nagash's death or becoming an undead ruler in his own right to relish his newfound freedom (depending which lore you follow), Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) and left with a few of Nagash's most important books. He then marshalled an army and attacked Araby, battering its kingdoms for generations in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts. At some point Arkhan made himself a sweet new ride; a [[Awesome|flying]] chariot made from the body, wings and still beating heart of a Manticore and pulled by four skeleton horses.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortress of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly, Settra was be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command, their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted, but Settra was too proud to ask for their help (and writer's bias ensured he forgot he could just order them to help him) and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's tactical and strategic skills through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar. When not doing something for Nagash or providing military aid to certain Tomb Kings, Arkhan stayed in his tower practicing magic or losing himself in years or even decades of introspection and reminiscing.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and after The Night of the Restless Dead fiasco, Nagash fast-tracked his latest restoration plan by several centuries and told Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash, Arkhan needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing two of his nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions and killed his libido, Arkhan still loved [[Queen Neferata]] for all that time.

===The End Times===
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup which resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]].

At Khemri, he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests was a mole for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, trading in his old chariot for the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash traveled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan is the one who speaks to the Incarnates on Nagash's behalf because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim.

Hilariously enough, while becoming the undead turns a person into an insufferable ass 99 times out of 100, it seems that it had reverse effect on Arkhan, who transformed from a degenerate wastrel and womanizer into a more-or-less decent human being, with actual standards and pragmatic thought. Too bad that his sovereign was a sociopathic retard... For example, when they launched an invasion to the north to capture chaos-infested Middenheim, they encountered captive soldiers and civilians. Arkhan suggested to free and arm them, and use them as auxiliary army, and this would also be a PR move aimed at the living, with message being "See? Being undead doesn't necessarily mean that you're a malevolent cretin." Of course, Nagash being [[Fail|Nagash]], just killed them and turned them into zombies.

Arkhan then helps to co-ordinate Nagash's army, just as Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him (to Arkhan's consternation in the gamebook, but his relief in the novel). Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos.

Arkhan tried to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars, and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead, Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

With the completion of [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Nagash's latest pet project]], Arkhan has been given an entire legion of Bonereapers for his use, the magic-resistant Null Myriad. His most recent mission has been to invade Hysh at the head of a Bonereaper army and (forcibly) enlist some local [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Mordant Courts]] to conquer the Great Nation of Ymetrica. While Mannfred and Neferata brought living captives as sacrifices to power their spells, such is Arkhan's sorcerous might, he didn't need sacrifices, just his own power.

Arkhan tried to corrupt a realmgate leading to Hysh, but was repelled by the Lumineth. He fled to a second realmgate at the edge of Hysh and attempted to corrupt that one, only to be thwarted by a Lumineth army led by the Light of Eltharion looking for some payback. Arkhan remembered Eltharion and why he'd come before the two engaged in a short but vicious fight, which ended with Arkhan being hurled from the edge of Hysh, with Razarak rushing to him before both Arkhan and his steed disappearing in a burst of Light magic.

It's heavily implied Arkhan will return, especially since he returned despite the destruction of the World-That-Was and lore hinting he will exist as long as Nagash does. Mannfred even indicated he's certain Arkhan will be back, and Mannfred both hates Arkhan and would relish him being killed once and for all. But its unknown when it will happen. Neferata outwardly doesn't seem bothered that Arkhan fell, but called out Katakros for being such a buzzkill she "almost" misses Arkhan.

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

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

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

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

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties (possibly the aforementioned manticore chariot), and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]). Seems to wear a commissar cap and sport the 8-pointed Icon of Chaos on his staff.
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Posing for his End Times photo.
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Ossiarch Bonereapers]]

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-10-17T14:33:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8803:F84:6CEF:1B86: /* Cons */

{{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.
* Bonereaper legions bring awesome upgrades to your skellies. Want to reduce bravery and stockpile RDP? go Mortis Praetorians. Want to worsen the enemy's rend? go Petrifex Elite.
* 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.
* 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 Bonded, so no friendly fire and they're always under the casting player's control. Also no more -1 to cast from the old "Soul-linked" rule.
* If you like bone puns...

===Cons===
* Most of your army is slow. As a result, shooting armies can really hurt Bonereapers (especially the Kharadron Overlords), though there are a few ways to take the sting off.
* Shooting is almost non-existent. Apart from the amazing Mortek Crawler, you only have the Gothizzar Harvester's shooting and Nagash's laser eyes.
* Third edition was not kind to Ossiarch Bonereapers. Not only was ability for armies to stack command abilities removed, but there were several sweet generic Command Point abilities added... that Bonereapers alone are unable to use due to the RDP mechanic. Between that, the fact that you still gain a regular command point each turn which you can't use... but your opponent can steal and other armies gaining ways to access tricks formerly exclusive to the Bonereapers, the super-skeletons have taken a big kick to the shins.
* 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 including 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, Lumineth and Seraphon).
* Nagash is overcosted. Despite what he brings, his points cost is way too high.
* 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... until 3rd edition, where Petrifex gained the ability to reduce rend as a consolation prize. And given that Mystic Shield now gives a +1 to saves bonus... Guess who's back, back again. Petrifex's back, tell a friend. Now it's more even with a wider range of strategies.

<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, Nighthaunt). Also recommended to take Zandtos if you insist on a Liege-Kavalos unless you have another plan in mind.

<big>Petrifex Elite</big>
*'''Battle Traits''': '''Unstoppable Juggernauts''': As of the new FAQ: Worsen the Rend characteristic of weapons that target Petrifex Elite units by 1, to a minimum of ‘-’.
*'''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) mostly 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. It went from great to meh then good. One of the best choices, but no longer the auto-take.

<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]''': (975pts) Changed from his early forms, Nagash is now '''95''' 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]''': (185pts) 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==
Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and doodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.
<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. Solid choice, pun intended, the only drawback is if you want a more offensive playstyle since this is defensive-based and you're focused on bubble-wrapping a character.

<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. Pro-tip; as is, don't take Vormortion with this battalion, he's not worth it here.

<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 in 2.0 and the slight buff in 3.0, Mortis Praetorians and Petrifex share the top spot.

==== 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 penalty to rend rolls 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, blobs of 30 guard and a support unit or two. Taking Arkhan and Katakros together is a potent alternative to taking Nagash, especially following Nagash's points increase and Katakros' points drop.

==== Battleline ====

Mortek Guard, usually a pair of 2 30 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 140 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 RDP, plus an Endless Spell or two.

* 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/Destruction/Sons of Behemat

2021-10-17T14:01:06Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8803:F84:6CEF:1B86: /* Why Play Sons Of Behemat? */ AoS 3.0 coming in like a wrecking ball and declaring unbinding for all and double casting for Taker tribes if you really want to, thanks to Arcane Tome.

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Sons of Behemat|Logo=Kraken-eater.jpg|Alliance=Destruction|Motto= Big and friendly these giants are not...}}

Three new, MASSIVE THICC BOIS, the biggest plastic GW kit so far, able to stare Archaon in the eye while he's on Dorghar; plus some regular gargants; are ready stomp on your face.

==Why Play Sons Of Behemat?==
* 'Cuz they are fucken [[Awesome|GIANTS]]. Chicks dig drunken giants.
* Ultra elite army. In 2000pts min four models, max ten.
* No need to bother with that other faff other factions have to think about: No allies, no wizards (unless you take an item from the Takers Tribe), no endless spells, no faction scenery, no special dice.
* In 40k your favorite army are Imperial Knights.
* You watched Attack on Titan and sympathized more with the naked monsters than the humans (can’t say I blame you).

'''Pros:'''
* BATTLELINE MEGA-GARGANTS!
* Getting your army built and painted will be really quick, despite the initial impression. Given they are basically oversized [[fa/tg/uys]], they are ripe for customization too.
* Rending attacks everywhere.
* Decent shooting attacks (including Drogg's halitosis).
* Single model units are immune to bravery checks.
* If you thought Nurgle was EXTRA THICC...
* Unspeakably beefy. All your giants have a bunch of wounds, with your mega-gargants having more wounds than the oversized HQs of other factions while being immune to instant death.
* Your faction acronym is SoB.
* A shit-ton of spare parts to share with your gaming group; shields, bones, debri, even dead animal bits! This all makes for fantastic scenery and all kinds of kitbashes.
* A single, specific Mega can join any other Allegiance. This is flavorful, considering how many factions could contract a Giant back in [[The Old World]].
* Third edition was incredibly kind to Sons of Behemat. Between the new artifacts being absolutely broken on any Mega, the fact that Mega-Gargants are battleline now, the combination of Heroic Actions and Monstrous Rampages (All the megas are eligible for heroic actions, and everything in the army can Rampage), and the new command abilities being fantastic, the Gargants are rolling in the love.
* The General's Handbook 2021 was also incredibly kind. Your grand Strategy is basically a free 3 points if you take Beast Master, since you've either been tabled, or you get it. You get bonus points for scoring most of the Battle Tactics if you do so with a monster, and the new command ability, Feral Roar, lets a Gargant who's wounded fight at top strength for a combat phase, which is quite useful on a Mega-Gargant who's been smacked on for a couple turns.

'''Cons:'''
* You're the AoS equivalent of Knights player, except for the pretty static poses (unless you’re creative with modifications), and nowhere near to be as magnet-friendly as Knights. The poses are workable, but transportation is a bit of a chore.
* Just two plastic kits. (Okay, one of those is amazing, and the other is ok). Bonegrinder is also part of this faction, but he's from FW.
* Everyone is a MONSTER, so good luck surviving specialist monster hunters. Other Destruction factions, especially Bonesplitterz Warclans and Beastclaw Raiders Mawtribes, will be your bane.
* In general, your interaction with your opponent will be limited to smashing his models into goop. Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing, but the opponent's going to be teleporting, casting spells, and generally ignoring everything except your enormous bases. A good opponent will out-position you every time, and you can't be everywhere at once, so your objective control is limited to whatever is directly beneath a gargant's ass.
* Being ultra elite, you’re almost always bringing single digit models.
* +4 Save is by no way bad... when you are an elite unit from a conventional army. But that's all you have to defend yourself without taking the FnP artifact. So don't think you can sponge MW all day long: you have lots of wounds but you'd expect they would have much thicker hides. Vastly improved with the new All-Out Defense command ability, for a nice 3+ save.
* You will probably never get a Start Collecting box and if you do it's going to be like, half a kit
* Your faction acronym is SoB. [[Age_of_Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Slaves_to_Darkness|Could have been a lot worse...]]
*The General's Handbook 2021 added a new rule: killing a '''Monster''' gives a free VP once per battle round, so as long as your opponent is actively trying to kill your gargants, you'll inevitably give away a few free VP, especially considering how vulnerable the Mancrushers are.

==Rulebooks==
{{AOSRulebooks|tome=Sons of Behemat|points=Generals Handbook 2021}}

==Allegiance Abilities==

*Mightier Makes Rightier: For objectives,one {{AOSKeyword|MEGA-GARGANT}} model counts as 20 models, and each {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}} count as 10.

*Chuck Rocks: During your Shooting phase, your {{AOSKeyword|MEGA-GARGANT}} General can command one {{AOSKeyword|mancrusher gargant}} unit wholly within 18" unit to chuck rocks (18" d3 attacks 4+/3+/-1/D3)
**Quite effective in with units of 3. Will soften lots of enemies.

==Tribes==
Each SoB army belongs to a tribe, dependant on your choice of general.

===Stomper Tribes===
'''General''': Warstomper
*'''Getting Stuck In''': All {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s attacks get +1 damage against units of 10+ models, or +2 against 20+

*'''Bawling Bellowing Lunks'''
Command Abilities that affect all {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s within 18" of your general (they can't use other Command Abilities).
#'''Get a Move On, You Slackers!''': At the start of the movement phase, only one {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}} unit Runs 6" instead of rolling.
#'''Grab Those Rocks and Chuck 'em at Somethin'!''': At the start of the shooting phase, All {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}} units in range chuck rocks
#'''Oi You, Yes! Charge!''': At the start of the charge phase, a unit Rerolls charge rolls for all {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s in range.
#'''Stop Muckin' About and Hit 'em!''': At the start of the combat phase, Reroll hits of 1 for all {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s in range.
#'''Watch Your Backs You Gormless Lot!''': At the start of the combat phase, Reroll saves of 1 for all {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s in range.
#'''Where Do You Think You're Going!''': At the start of the battleshock phase, Don't take battleshock for all {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANT}}s in range.

'''Command Traits - Veterans of One-Sided Battle'''
# '''Monstrously Tough''': You have 40 wounds instead of 35. Harder to kill, but degrades just as easily.
# '''Old and Gnarly''': Re-roll save rolls of 1. An alternative to the above CT, but no protection from Armor save ignore attacks and MWs.
# '''Louder than Words''': Add 1 to your attacks for the club. Your maximum number of attacks is still 10 but you need one less model in range to be most combat effective.
# '''Inescapable Grip''': Re-roll the dice roll for Hurled Body ability. Greatly increases the likelihood of picking up that 3 to 4 wound model and then dealing that much MW to another unit.
# '''Very Shouty''': D3 extra CP's at the start of the first battle round. The Stompers use Command Abilities to milk a lot out of Mancrushers, so this is always useful.
# '''Eager for a Fight''': Roll 3D6" for your charge and you can charge 18". Gets the big guy into combat as fast as possible.

'''Artefacts of Power - Trappings of the Titan'''
''Warstomper Only.''
# '''Ironweld Cestus''': Reroll failed Saves and deal a mortal wound on an unmodified save roll of 6 if the reroll was a 6 only. 4+ is Already a good save, and then milking even more DPS.
# '''Club of the First Oak''': In your hero phase, heal 1 wound. In addition, if the bearer is slain roll a dice on a 4+ the wound is negated as well as any unallocated ones, it doesn't break so you can keep using this. 1 wound doesn’t seem to matter initially, but remember that 1 wound can potentially potentially keep you on the higher end of the damage chart.
# '''Mantle of the Destroyer''': Friendly gargant units within 12" have a bravery characteristic of 10 and they can re-roll charges. Save you spending CP and that 10 bravery can protect you from some particular save-or-die(or be hampered) abilities.

===Breaker Tribe===
'''General''': Gatebreaker
*'''Fierce Loathings''': All {{AOSKeyword|Gatebreaker Mega-Gargants}} and {{AOSKeyword|Mancrusher Gargants}} get +1 to all hits against one of the following unit types.
** '''Bossy Pants and Clever Clogs''': {{AOSKeyword|HERO}} or {{AOSKeyword|WIZARD}}.
** '''Idiots with Flags''': {{AOSKeyword|TOTEM}} or any unit with command models.
** '''Shiny 'Uns''': Save characteristic better than 5+ that aren't a {{AOSKeyword|HERO}} or {{AOSKeyword|monster}}.
** '''Crowds''': Units with 20 or more models.
** '''Wannabes''': {{AOSKeyword|monster}} or {{AOSKeyword|war machine}}.
** '''Piggybackers''': Units with a mount that are not a {{AOSKeyword|monster}}.

*'''Breaking Down The Houses''': {{AOSKeyword|Mancrusher Gargants}} gain the Gatebreaker’a Smash Down ability (+1 Damage on attacks against enemies on terrain or Garrisoned and ability to destroy terrain). Greatly boosts their attack power especially on boards that force the enemy to move onto the terrain.

'''Command Traits - Unstoppable Besiegers'''
#'''Monstrously Tough''': 40 wounds instead of 35. Just as easy to degrade, but more difficult to put down for good.
#'''Old and Gnarly''': Re-roll save rolls of 1. An alternative to the above CT, but no protection from Armor save ignore attacks and MWs.
#'''Louder than Words''': +2 to flail attacks. At full health, a Gatebreaker gets 12, Rend-3, 3 damage attacks, so definitely consider this.
#'''Extremely Bitter''': Pick an additional Fierce Loathing, but only applies to the General. Situational, unless you want that extra oomph against enemy characters and Monsters.
#'''Smasher''': Re-roll Smash-Down ability. You’re very likely to get the roll anyway and only have a problem at low health. Hard pass.
#'''Sees Red''': When within 9" of a terrain that can have a garrison, attack as if it hasn't suffered any wounds. A very situational trait.

'''Artefacts of Power - Legacy of Demolition'''
''Gatebreaker only.''
#'''Enchanted Portcullis''': 6+ FNP. Better than it looks, with the sheer number of wounds a Gatebreaker has, this is a lot of dice rolled, and therefore a lot of wounds saved. 100% weaker than the '''Amulet of Destiny''' so it no longer has a reason to be taken, but it's important to note how strong Ward saves are for Gargants.
#'''The Great Wrecka''': Unmodified hit rolls of 6 with Fortcrusha Flail does a MW and +1 to Smash Down ability.
#'''Kingslaughter Cowl''': Reroll wound rolls of 1 that target a Hero (or all failed wound rolls for the enemy General).

===Taker Tribe===
'''General:''' Kraken-eater
*'''Get Rid of 'Em!''': For objectives, {{AOSKeyword|MEGA-GARGANTS}} count as 30 models, {{AOSKeyword|MANCRUSHER GARGANTS}} count as 15. If you're having trouble with the objectives game, then maybe this is for you. Center a Mega on a 6" objective, and it's going to be tricky for your opponent to get 31 models into that circle.
*'''More Stuff For Me Collection''': Roll a triumph every time you kill an enemy wielding an artefact. You're going trigger this once, maybe twice per battle, so not the best. However, if your opponent really doesn't want you to gain these, then it's going to force them to play defensively with their artefact wielders (or even cause them to bring non-optimal lists).

'''Command Traits - Irascible Old Bullies'''
#'''Monstrously Tough''': You have 40 wounds instead of 35. Just as easy to degrade, but more difficult to put down for good.
#'''Old and Gnarly''': Re-roll save rolls of 1. An alternative to the above CT, but no protection from Armor save ignore attacks and MWs.
#'''Louder than Words''': Add 1 to your attacks for the club. Helps to offset the Kraken-Eater’s more objective based gameplay.
#'''Strong Right Foot''': “Get Orf Me Land!” now allows you to roll 3d6 instead of 2d6 when determining how far you kick the objective.
#'''Very Acquisitive''': You get 2 artefacts instead of 1 and your general can carry 2 artefacts. Double up on your general or spread the power to a second Kraken-eater.
#'''Extremely Intimidating''': -1 to hit rolls for every enemy model within 3". More durability is always good, just be cautious of any ranged units.

'''Artefacts of Power - Trophies Taken By Force'''
''Kraken-eater only.''
#'''Jaws of Mogaladon''': Once per phase, re-roll one save, hit, or wound roll. You do have a lot of big damage attacks, so this saves on CP, especially to get off that Death Grip attack.
#'''Walloping Tentacles''': At the start of the combat phase, pick an enemy {{AOSKeyword|hero}} within 3". Roll a dice and on a 4+ it takes 1 MW and you can re-roll hit rolls of 1 with all your attacks. More situational than the Jar of Burning Grog, especially if your opponent uses back campers or has big bubble-wraps of chaff.
#'''Jar of Burning Grog''': Once per battle at the start of the combat phase, pick 1 enemy unit within 3" of the bearer, on a 2+ it takes D3 MW's and re-roll wounds for gargants that target the unit, on a 1 you take D3 MW's. With all the attacks your Gargants can dish out, mass rerolls are always good.
#'''Net of the Beast-Reaver''': Start of the combat phase, on a 4+ roll, for one enemy monster, they get -1 to hit, you get +1 to hit
#'''Glowy Lantern''': [[Awesome|Your Gargant is now a Wizard.]] He can cast Mystic Shield or Arcane Bolt in your Hero phase and unbind 1 enemy spell in their phase. '''But wait! This is AoS3 now so the lantern JUST makes you a wizard. That means endless spells AND the incredibly toolbox Universal spells too. Flaming Weapon ain't no joke on a mega... ''' This allows you to cast endless spells too - those leftover points are suddenly useful
#'''Krakenskin Sandals''': Almighty Stomp has 3 attacks, rend -3 and damage 3.

==Battalions==
Surprise! 3rd Edition brought universal battalions for free!

You will only be able to pick Linebreaker and Battle Regiment from universal battalions (and only Linebreaker will be actually useful for the SoB faction), with more battalions later on with new battlepacks.

Linebreaker is genuinely useful though, as it issues the effect of Command Abilities without the Order being issued, meaning that you can double dip the effect on two of your units in the same phase. Decent.

The August 2021 White Dwarf gave us two exclusive battalions. Both of each are far superior to the standard Linebreaker one:
*'''Bosses of the Stomp''': 2-4 Megas. Grants unified deployment or an extra enhancement.
*'''Footsloggas''': 2-3 Mancrushers (units, not models), and 0-1 Mega. Grants unified deployment or a free use of the ‘At the Double’ or ‘Forward to Victory’ command abilities to one unit from this battalion.

==Warscrolls==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
All Mega-gargants have the following:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*35 wounds, with 12 wounds needed to drop from the top entry on warscroll, and even then they don't drop much. These guys are beasts! Sadly that thick leathery skin only gives 4+ save, and they still need protection against some of the biggest damage dealers in the game, which is tricky when you don't have many models for screens.
*'''Death Grip''': Whilst only a single attack, this is Rend -3 and flat out removes the chance of stopping attacks for anything with a 4+ or worse save. Don't underestimate it. Plus, using '''Death Grip''' you can reroll hits of 1 against '''MONSTER'''s - GW is hinting about the best way to use it.
*'''Almighty Stomp/Jump:''' Get at least 2 less powerful '''Death Grip''' but get a reroll hits of 1 against non-'''MONSTER'''s.
*All our other attacks are at least rend -1 or -2.
*'''Son of Behemat''': Auto kill abilities and spells instead just deal D6 mortals. Whilst it'd be hilarious to see an SoB fall wiped out this way, it's quite an essential auto-lose preventer.
*'''Crushing Charge''': After making a charge move, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 1" of this model. On a 2+ they suffer D3 wounds if they're a '''MONSTER''' or D6 wounds if they aren't.
*'''Terror''': Enemies within 3" get -1 bravery. Given the ways to avoid battleshock, this isn't really going to make any difference most of the time.
*'''TIMBERRRR!''': When it dies, the winner of a roll-off chooses a point 5" away. Every unit within 3", except {{AOSKeyword|Mega garagants}}, gets D3 mortals. Essentially it's a 50% chance of sending a few mortals at the guy that just killed you. If your enemy is fully within 2", then this isn't going to do anything (assume they were stood between his legs). Also potentially deadly for your single unit Mancrushers.
*'''Longshanks''': Basically, limited flying, or hovering? Let me explain: you can walk over models with up to 10 wounds, terrain, and endless spells (including the not-endless spells exclusive to Fyreslayers, Khorne, and Daughters of Khaine) up to 4" tall.
</div></div>

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/SonsOfBehemat_Warscroll_Warstomper.pdf Warstomper Mega-Gargant]''' (470)
**For those who just want to pummel hordes into the dirt. They are the anti-number Mega-gargant, Getting 4 stomp attack instead of 2, and the number of club attacks is based on how many models are within 3" and his current wounds (Monster count as 5 [because the +4 stacks with the +1 for nearby models], min:1, Max: 10 attacks) (get max attack when near 8 models at first health bracket). they can also roll to instant slay a single model(best against 3 wounds or lower) and then on a 4+ inflict MW on another enemy. A Warstomper's greatest strength is also its biggest weakness - it relies on being caught in deep combat to do its maximum number of attacks. If it can't face a horde, it's probably going to underperform.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/SonsOfBehemat_Warscroll_Gatebreaker.pdf Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant]''' (525)
**Probably the best all-rounder of the bunch. Definitely the go to option if you hate faction terrain like the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|OBR Tithe Nexus]] or [[Sylvaneth|the constant sprouting Wyldwoods]]. Has a lower damage potential than a fully powered up Warstomper, but its damage output is much more reliable. He is most effective at attacking enemies that try to hide in cover for that +1sv, but can easily face foes in the open as well. The extra damage and rend May remove that benefit and his ability to destroy the terrain and turn it into Deadly scenery can make the opponent want to stay away from cover.
**A single shooting attack with -3 rend. That's 18" on 3/2/-3/4 damage Youch. And it hits on 2s if you're running Breaker Tribe!

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/SonsOfBehemat_Warscroll_KrakenEater.pdf Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant]''' (490)
**The most tricky of the chonky lads. Lets you play football with the objectives. The least damaging potential of the Mega-Gargants, outside of a Hurl range attack that will inflict casualties to low armour saves units. Has retained the ability to stuff 'lil 'uns in bags for a chance to instant slay D3 models each combat - and you choose which ones are removed. These may be command models with strong buffs. The ability to move an objective in range 2D6" is a hilarious feature that could be used to great effect for point scoring and denial.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/SonsOfBehemat_Warscroll_MancrusherGargants.pdf Mancrusher Gargants]''' (170 single, 490 as a Mob of three)
**Not as strong as their bosses, but do have their uses, such as providing extra ranged attacks or serving as a meat shield for your Megas. They are susceptible to battleshock if affected by bravery manipulation, so be careful where you send them. They can be objective holders with a unit of 3 counting as 30 models (45 if Taker tribe). Their speed is slower than Mega-Gargants but its unaffected by decreasing wounds and can run and charge when near a Mega, for an 8"+3d6" threat range. Like the big'uns, each model can inflict MW on a charge, as well as roll to selectively kill 1 model, and inflict MW on death but don't affect other Gargants. They deal a lot of damage (one high rend and damage ’Eadbutt and Kick attack plus many weaker club swing that degrading with health), especially when using the Stomper Tribe’s command abilities to further boost their fightiness.
**In a trio of Mancrushers, only one of them will take damage. That one gargant can tank all the hits while the others remain at their top bracket. However, they will only be able to attack multiple units if the enemy is clumped together. Also, they will only be able to capture and hold 1 objective - but they'll do a great job at it, thanks to Mightier is Rightier. And under the AoS 3 monstrous rampage rules, each of them gets to pick an effect, which may be really useful if they've engaged a unit that you'd like to both stomp and roar at, for example. They do give away vp like candy in the new ghb though so okay cagey.

===Other===
{{anchor|FWBonegrinder}}
*'''[https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/qoNOUvdzwe7R46S3.pdf Bonegrinder Mega-Gargant]:''' (500pts)
**Forgeworld exclusive that's a strange watered down amalgam of the other Mega-Gargants and probably a few points overpriced. Well rounded with the stomp being more unreliable with his only other good trait being able to selectively slay a model(kill most squishy wizards on a 6+).
**No death grip, but gets the Gatebreaker's shooting attack.
**No mortal wounds on charge.
**Not a {{AOSKeyword|hero}} but doesn't matter too much since they don't get any hero benefits from the tribe and does let them avoid some situational enemy abilities.

==Allies==
None. But the Mega Gargants can join other armies using the Mercenary rules (Including if you so wish; Mega-Gargants Mercs in your own Behemat army.)

==Mercenaries==
Mercenaries allow you to take a special named Sons of Behemat hero in a army for the cost of one CP on top of its standard points. One mercenary per list, with no other allies and restrictions depending on your allegiance - only Destruction get a choice. Remember you're not getting any of those juicy SoB alliance abilities or tribe bonuses, just a bit scary centerpiece monster.

*'''Bundo Whalebiter''' ''Order or Destruction''
A Kraken-eater mercenary. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls.

*'''One-Eyed Grunnok''' ''Chaos or Destruction''
A Warstomper mercenary. Reroll jump attacks of 1, plus enemies within 6" get -1 to hit if the giant used his jump attacks earlier in the combat phase.

*'''Big Drogg Fort-Kicka''' ''Death or Destruction''
A Gatebreaker mercenary. He has a 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+.

*'''Brawlsmasha:''' ''Destruction''
A Bonegrinder mercenary from Forgeworld. Gives friendly Orruk wholly within 12" +1 Bravery. Nope. This guy is an overpriced weaker Mega-Gargant whose ability is limited to only Orruks and it’s not even that good to begin with. Just ignore him.

==Tactics==

===Tribe Playstyle===
With so few units, most of Sons of Behemat army building is affected by what Tribe you take.
====Stomper====
* Has a preference for multiple Mancrusher Gargants units. Revolving around the Warstmper general, the Mancrushers effectively have their damage doubled when hitting 10+ size units and you Can spend lots of CP to improve their Speed, damage, and durability. Also a line of fire seeing that with one CP all off them can launch stuff.
*The goal is keeping groups of Mancrushers always wholly within 18" of the general so they can go on a killing spree.
*Has a good range game as you can usually command 2 units of 3 to hurl boulders.

====Breaker====
*Not as much damage potential as Stomper but are more free in list building as they affect Mancrushers and Gatebreakers about as evenly.
*Breaker Tribes are extra effective selective parts of an army (decide what to focus on at the start of each game) and counter lists that are reliant on their special terrain or on terrain heavy boards with good effects.

====Taker====
*Takers are the objective claimers. Gargants count as 1.5 more models paired with Kraken-Eaters’ ability to yeet objectives to a more favorable position, the Takers are geared to claim and hold objectives over the increased damage enjoyed by the other tribes.
*Being more about holding the line and have so few models, you should also consider giving your General a defensive CT.
*There is also a side aspect of hero hunting as you gain can Triumphs.

===3rd Edition Artifacts===
With the new edition come a handful of new artifacts, and they're actually really, really good. So good, in fact, that they're worth considering over your existing ones from your tribe, doubly so if you're running a Taker Tribe with Very Acquisitive.
* The '''Arcane Tome''' is the first interesting choice. Having a spell caster who knows both Mystic Shield (For a super tanky Gargant) and Flaming Weapon (for when it's time to just go right down on a motherfucker) is insane in the army, and every hero phase your opponent will sweat at the idea of either spell getting through without being dispelled. Lastly, this artifact let's you dispell, meaning that it slightly reduces your greatest weakness, your inability to interact with the enemy in the shooting phase. But seriously, it can't be understated how good the choice between Mystic Shield and Flaming Weapon are. The Glowy Lantern does exactly this as well. In fact, you can rock a double cast wizard if you want. It's not very good, but it IS funny.
* The '''Amulet of Destiny''' is another absolutely insane choice, being the best way to get a Ward for your Mega Gargant. On average, you're getting an effective 11.66 more wounds out of your guy, and 13.33 if you're '''Monstrously Tough'''. That's a LOT of extra wounds on a huge beatstick, and obviously keeping your army alive is very important. Lastly, it's 100% better than the Breaker Tribe's '''Enchanted Portcullis''', so never, ever take that over the Amulet.
*Lastly, the '''Vial of Manticore Venom''' is a good all-around damage increase, though several attacks on each Mega Gargant's profile already wound on 2's. Combine this with the '''Krakenskin Sandals''' for a truly scary attack profile of 3 attacks 3's/2's/-3 rend/3 damage, which will scare anyone approaching. Or more simply, throw it on your club or flail for great success.

===List Building===
With SoB allignment you don't have much choice.

====2000 points====
*Exactly 4 choices to make (one for each 500 point "slot")
*Every option counts as one battleline, no way to get that wrong.
*Obviously you'll need at least one Mega-Gargant
*Min 4 models; max 10 models.

If you're not taking any Gatebreakers, all these options are valid:
{|class="wikitable
!# !! Slot1 !! Slot2 !! Slot3 !! Slot4 !! #Models !! #Models for objecctives !! #Drops || #Wounds
|-
| 1 || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 4 || 80 || 4 || 140
|-
| 2 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 6 || 90 || 6 || 141
|-
| 3 || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 6 || 90 || 4 || 141
|-
| 4 || colspan=2 | 6x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 8 || 100 || 8 || 142
|-
| 5 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 8 || 100 || 6 || 142
|-
| 6 || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 8 || 100 || 4 || 142
|-
| 7 || colspan=3 | 9x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 10 || 110 || 10 || 143
|-
| 8 || colspan=2 | 6x 1 Mancrusher || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 10 || 110 || 8 || 143
|-
| 9 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 10 || 110 || 6 || 143
|-
| 10 || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 10 || 110 || 4 || 143
|-
|}

====2000 points: Gatebreakers====

For Gatebreakers, it's a little more complicated.
{|class="wikitable
!# !! Slot1 !! Slot2 !! Slot3 !! Slot4 !! #Models !! #Models for objecctives !! #Drops || #Wounds || Points
|-
| 1 || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 4|| 80 || 4 || 140 || 1990
|-
| 1 || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 4 || 80 || 4 || 140 || 1995
|-
| 2 || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 6 || 90 || 4 || 141 || 1995
|-
| 3 || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 8 || 100 || 4 || 142 || 1995
|-
| 4 || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 10 || 110|| 4 || 143 || 1995
|-
| 5 || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 4 || 80 || 4 || 140 || 1935
|-
| 6 ||{{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 4 || 80 || 4 || 140 || 1955
|-
| 7 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 6 || 90 || 6 || 141 || 1975
|-
| 8 || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 6 || 90 || 4 || 141 || 1955
|-
| 9 ||{{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 4 || 80 || 4 || 140 || 1975
|-
| 10 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 6 || 90 || 6 || 141 || 1995
|-
| 11 || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|teal|Kraken-eater}} || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 6 || 90 || 4 || 141 || 1975
|-
| 12 || Mancrusher Mob || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 8 || 100 || 8 || 142 || 1975
|-
| 13 || 3x 1 Mancrusherb || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|maroon|Warstomper}} || {{color|Olive|Gatebreaker}} || 8 || 100 || 6 || 142 || 1995
|-
|}

====1000 points====
*For 1000 points you just have two slots, and a very limited choice.
*A Breaker Tribe has two lists: a Gatebreaker and 2 single Mancrushers, or a Gatebreaker and a Warstomper.

{|class="wikitable
!# !! Slot1 !! Slot2 !! #Models !! #Models for objecctives !! #Drops || #Wounds
|-
| 1 || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 2 || 40 || 2 || 70
|-
| 2 || 3x 1 Mancrusher || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 3 || 50 || 4 || 71
|-
| 3 || Mancrusher Mob || {{color|saddlebrown|Mega-Gargant}} || 3 || 50 || 2 || 71
|-
|}

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}