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M4 Sherman

2023-02-11T10:24:49Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:EDEB:861A:D4A:E677: /* In Real Life */

{{America}}

{{topquote|War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.|General William Tecumseh Sherman}}

{{topquote|Someone call the cavalry?|M4 Sherman, Company of Heroes}}

[[File:M4 Sherman.png|thumb|I can be whatever you want me to be baby.]]
The '''M4 Sherman''' is the poster child of freedom, the Freeaboo's ideal body type, and the backbone of the Western allies' armored forces. It was mass produced at a higher rate than even the Russian [[T-34]], and came out as the 2nd most produced tank of the war. It came in a dizzying number of variants, with a wide variety of weapons, engines, and even suspensions and hull types. It is one of only a few tanks to be deployed on all theaters of the war, including the Eastern Front, China, and the Pacific. It's one of the first tanks to enter service with stabilization for the main gun. It's reliable, easy to fix, ergonomic, and extremely versatile, both in Flames of War and in real life.

For all this, the Sherman tends to get a bad rep. Most of this focuses on it's armor and firepower, which is weaker than [[Panther|German]] [[Tiger|tanks]] of the later war period. We won't get into this debate here more than to say that you will have to find ways to compensate for your weaker armor and cannon when going up against German and Soviet heavy tanks as a Late War Flames of War player. However, with effective combined arms, mobile tactics, and a little bit of luck the M4 will serve you just as reliably as it served the allies in World War 2.

==In Mid War==
===American===
===British===
==In Late War==
==='''American'''===
The M4 Medium Tank is just as it was in Mid War, but this time with far better crews! The Americans get the option of "trained" M4 crews that are hit on a 3+ and have a 3+ last stand, or "Veteran" M4 crews that trade all that in for a 4+ to hit and a 3+ tactics. What really makes the M4 stand out in the American force is its 'Stabilizer' special rule. This lets the M4 maintain it's rate of fire of 2 on the move, though it suffers a -1 to hit. This gives you a higher chance of hitting a shot in almost all situations, making the American M4 the king of mobile warfare and exceptionally flexible. A second point in the Sherman's favor is the sheer number of machineguns it brings, pumping out 5 shots per tank stationary and making it very capable at pinning enemy infantry and blocking enemy infantry assaults.

The US has a few different platoons to bring their M4s in late war. The first is the Dday formations, which bring M4 Sherman and Sherman 76 platoons. Compared to the bulge platoons, the 76mm platoons are more expensive and the 75mm platoons are slightly cheaper for their value. That being said, the Dday formations are less flexible than the Bulge formations, with homogenous platoons and fewer M4 variants available.

The Bulge formations is where the Sherman really blossoms into its full potential. The US unlocks access to the Late 75mm M4, the Easy Eight, the Jumbo, HVAP ammo, and up armored M4 variants. The coolest part though is that you can mix and match any of these variants freely within a platoon, letting you essentially customize your force completely ''down to the individual tank'' (with the exception being that you can only bring one jumbo per unit, including the HQ). Do you want something to hunt heavy tanks? Boom, E8s with HVAP, maybe a jumbo. You want something a bit more durable to maybe duel with enemy heavies and mediums? Slap a Jumbo 76mm on with some 76mm M4s and add some 75mm M4s with smoke. Need something cheaper to support and flank? Bring base M4s and tack on a jumbo for some good survivability. The possibilities are truly as endless as your imagination.

First off, we'll go over some of the command card options available in the Bulge: American book. The first is HVAP. This card costs half a point per tank and boosts all your 76mm cannons to pen 13. This is practically a must take, taking your 76mm M4s from scary medium tank hunters to capable heavy tank hunters as well for a relatively trivial rise in points.

Second is the uparmored sherman. This can be added to M4 (late), M4 (76mm), and E8s on an individual tank basis. This costs a point and boosts the front and side armor by one in exchange for a -1 on its cross rating. This can really help deal with medium tanks like the Stug and Panzer IV, but still leaves you rather vulnerable to heavy AT and limits your ability to take cover from them. As such, it really depends on your local meta if you take these: if PaK 40s and stugs or other medium tanks are the thing where you're at, or if you just really like the look, then take them! If not, it's not really worth it.

====M4 Sherman====
This is the generic stat card for the M4, M4A1, and early M4A2s in US service. The base M4 Sherman is a cheap middle of the road tank with a cannon that can deal with enemy medium tanks and armor that keeps it safe against light and medium antitank guns. That said, AT10 will struggle against the side armor of 8 on heavy tanks like the Tiger and IS-2, meaning that while the 75mm is a capable vehicle in most situations, it struggles against heavy tanks. Use the maneuverability provided by the stabilizer and artillery smoke to avoid enemy heavy tanks and heavy antitank guns and focus on breaking through and exploiting enemy light vehicles and medium tanks. This is where the M4 truly shines, being cheap and mobile. In addition, it has direct fire smoke, meaning that this tank can act in support to help smoke out enemy tanks and cover your own infantry and tanks from enemy infantry and antitank guns.
====M4 Calliope====
[[File:M4 Sherman Calliope Statcard.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Exorcist Multiple Missile Launcher|"Can you hear an Organ play?"]]]]
Rocket's on a armored platform, and before you ask, sadly you can't use the gun because the rocket launcher is bolted to it.

====M4 (Late)====
This is the stat card for the later model M4A2s and M4A3s in US service. These models had their frontal armor increased to 65mm and wet stowage installed, but retained the reliable 75mm cannon. In game this gives them bonuses to frontal armor and remount, something that can really help in duels with German panzers. This tank is just as versatile and capable as the base vehicle, though without improved penetration it will still struggle to deal with heavier enemy armor.

====M4 (105)====
The [[Leman Russ Demolisher]] of the lot, the M4 (105) is the odd one out here, being essentially an artillery/assault gun variant on the Sherman. It's got an AT9, FP2+, Brutal and Slow-Firing 105mm gun as well as the FA7 of the 76mm Sherman. All in all, it's kinda hard to find a place for, trying to fill a niche that doesn't really exist. It's got the armor to go toe to toe with enemy mediums, but not the penetration. It's helpless against heavies. It's job as artillery is done better by the cheaper priest and 105mm towed artillery. It lacks the volume of fire to deal with enemy infantry platoons in direct fire. It may find a place hunting enemy light and medium AT guns, but it will get slaughtered by enemy heavy AT. It might be useful as an integrated artillery asset in an M4 tank company, but you have so many other units you can put in there, why bother. If someone comes up with a use for this thing, let me know!

====M4 (76)W====
This stat card represents the M4 (76)W, M4A1 (76)W, M4A2 (76)W, and M4A3 (76)W fielded by the US. The M4 (76) is a capable enough antitank vehicle, with a 76mm high velocity gun that bumps the antitank up to 12, wet stowage that gives it a 3+ remount, and a front armor of 7 thanks to the up armored T23 turret. This, combined with the stabilizer, makes it a capable QRF vehicle for dealing with heavy tank breakthroughs as well as the king of dueling with enemy medium tanks. It also makes it a relatively pricy vehicle, with a full veteran platoon coming in at 28 points for 5. Nevertheless, this is currently ''the'' final word in American antitank and will serve you well if used properly. Consider escorting them with some form of infantry to help assault and capture enemy tanks, because FP3+ always bails when you need it to kill and chances are you really can't afford to lose these tanks. Something worth noting is the "No HE" rule on the main gun, meaning it suffers against infantry, but if you were looking for an infantry killer you shoulda just gone with the cheaper 75mm anyway.

====M4A3E8 Easy Eight====
[[File:Sherman Ez8 Statcard.jpeg|thumb|left|[[wikipedia:Easy (Commodores Song)#Im Easy/Be Aggressive|"Cause I'm eaaaasssaayyy~!"]]]]
The E8 takes everything the 76mm does and does it better. For a point boost, it gets 2 major bonuses: a 2+ cross and smooth ride, which essentially says that as long as it moves less than 4" it fires as if it was stationary. This is essentially a '''free''' blitz move that lacks some of the major drawbacks of an actual blitz move: you can assault following it (lmao you better be desperate to assault with M4s) and you can stack it with a regular blitz move to get an 8" blitz. This makes them the unparalleled masters of terrain and reserves, with their ability to reliably traverse all kinds of terrain and shoot at full rate of fire on their first turn on the table. That said, these things come with a hefty price tag: 7 points per tank for the elite variant, as much as a Soviet IS-2 heavy tank, and its not very tough for that cost. Be careful with them, use terrain and smoke to keep them alive so they can do their job. You aren't a brainlet Soviet or German player that can just push his tanks forward and suck up shots, you're a US player, be smart about it. It's generally smart to take this variant by itself, since the other variants will often slow it down, particularly the Jumbo.

====M4A3E2 Jumbo====
One tank in each Sherman platoon may be upgraded to one of the heaviest armored tanks in the game, the M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo. This thicc boi has front armor 11 and side armor 8 and comes in 2 variants, the 75mm and 76mm. Paired with the target allocation rules and smart use of terrain and distance, this tank can effectively halve the number of casualties you take to AT14 cannons ''at least.'' This does come with a massive drawback though: 4+ cross. This really limits your options when it comes to using terrain and advancing through walled fields, though its armor reduces your need for such cover. Consider pairing it with a lucky card to help with the occasional failed armor or target reallocation.

==='''British'''===
The US provided the British with 17,184 Sherman Tanks of all models throughout the war.

A notable British variant was the Firefly, which carried a QF 17-pounder 76.2mm cannon. Introduced in early 1944, Sherman Fireflies could pierce the armor of Panther and Tiger Tanks.

As a notable aside, it was the Brits who decided to give the M4 medium tank the official designation of Sherman.

==='''Soviet'''===
Some 4,102 Sherman Tanks were sent to the USSR as part of Lend Lease. These were notably equipped with Diesel Engines so they could use the same fuel that T-34s used. Fun fact: the Soviets that got to ride into lend-lease Shermans were full of praise about it, rating it as equal or even better than their own T-34; unlike the M3 which they called the "grave for seven brothers". The higher level of quality control also played a factor in it's success on the battlefield, with the survival rate of M4 crews being 4% higher than that of T-34 crews.

==In Real Life==
[[File:M4 Sherman IRL.jpg|thumb|"This American tub's not half bad wot?"]]

The M4 epitomizes the US Government's commitment to supplying its soldiers with massive quantities of good enough equipment. From the onset, the M4 was designed to maximize ease of repair and part longevity over all other concerns since the damn thing had to serve an ocean away from the factory making the parts for them. Mechanically, it was largely a continuation of the ''definitely not good enough'' M3, minimizing the amount of factory changes needed to produce it. Ultimately M4s would be churned out by a dozen companies with half a dozen different engine setups, ranging from V8s to twin diesels to repurposed aircraft engines (this was originally designated by the "Able" suffix; the Army's preferred V8 Sherman was the M4A3. Meanwhile Britain used Roman numerals and proper names, so their preferred multi-bank engine M4A4 instead became the Sherman V). Its slab-sided high profile was a consequence of a secondary requirement that it be easily transportable by existing railroads, which initially limited its overall width to 103 inches. It is fitting then that with all these considerations in mind, most of which were pragmatic consideration for logistics of waging an overseas war, that the vehicle would be named after one of the United States' most infamously pragmatic Generals.

Contrary to popular belief, the Sherman was very much intended to fight other tanks; its original 75mm gun M3 (the same as the M3's sponson gun, but more sensibly mounted in the turret) was the best possible tank gun the Americans had at the start of the war, and projects to find a replacement began as early as 1942. The 75mm was adequate against Panzer IIIs and IVs and could perform surprisingly well against the big cats as battles like Arracourt demonstrate. 75mm HE ammo was also highly regarded for its ability to kill enemy infantry (and this ''was'' a pretty significant consideration for tankers, with one tank battalion claiming to have used 55 AP rounds in 5 months but 19,634 HE rounds during that same time), and the Marine Corps retained the older Shermans for this reason while 76mm-using Sherman's HE rounds were largely considered disappointing by comparison (containing a third less explosive filler).

Additionally, the tank was technically supposed to be capable of providing anti-air fire with the M2 Browning 50. caliber machine gun attached at the back of the turret; however, the other methods the Allies used to control the skies were working well enough that the gun in this spot was rarely used in this role. Instead, they tended to be used against infantry and light armored vehicles, with aircraft as something of an afterthought. Early variants had the M2 mounted on the rear of the turret on the principle of supporting infantry using it, but many later had it moved to the front to be fired from inside the metal deathbox by one of the crew. More so, it was just American doctrine, due to the obscene number of M2s manufactured before and during the war, to bolt the damn things onto any vehicle that could take them. This tradition continues to this day, everyone and their dog in the vehicle sections has an M2.

Early attempts to add more powerful guns resulted in extremely cramped turrets, significantly compromising the ability to lay guns and make follow-on shots. The British decided the added anti-tank ability was worth the compromises, resulting in the Ic and Vc "Firefly" tanks incorporating their massive 17 pdr gun; these were effectively ambush vehicles, and would always be incorporated into larger units with 75mm Shermans. The US would finally adapt the T23 turret (with 76mm gun M1) from the Pershing prototypes in the "easy six" conversion, although very few of these tanks arrived in Europe in time for D-Day.

Like most prewar US tanks, the Sherman incorporated a bogie suspension system, with its initial incarnation using a vertical volute spring for each bogie. This made replacement of suspension elements very easy in the field, compared to a Christie or torsion bar system or ''Gott helfe dir'', a Schachtellaufwerk system. However, the Sherman had more limited roadwheels, narrower tracks and a correspondingly higher ground pressure, making it a more difficult tank to operate in rough terrain. The US Army would attempt to mitigate this through "duckbill" end connecters, giving a somewhat wider track (the tank pictured has both a VVSS suspension and duckbills). Later, the "easy eight" modification introduced a new suspension bogie, with dual road wheels and a horizontal volute spring. The HVSS would make the Sherman more of an off-road contender, and its smoother travel allowed tanks to more effectively shoot on the move.

In spite of this, the Sherman gained a reputation for being a deathtrap on tracks that would go up in flames or explode after suffering a hit with even the Jerries being said to nickname them "Tommycookers", which had some basis due to poor storage of ammo, but later variants moved the ammo and introduced wet-ammo storage to mitigate this (In reality, most burning tanks are the result of deliberate overkill to prevent recovery). Their height tended to be a liability in open plains, making them easier to see and hit, and harder to employ in ambushes compared to casemate assault guns like Hetzers or Archers. By the end of the war the vehicle suffered against the immense number of weapons that could penetrate it, because two [[Nazi|fanatical]] [[Communism|retards]] thought that having a tank arms race was hilarious. Compare this to the Pacific Theater, where the Sherman was better than literally any of the tanks the Japanese were fielding operationally.

Shermans, being one of the most modular chassis in the entire war, had tons of variants that we won't waste your time with. Instead, we'll just focus on the two cool ones: The "105 Sherman" and the Flame variant, but we encourage you to look up "Hobart's Funnies."

Officially called the M4A3(105), the Sherman 105 is what happens when you look at the [[M8 Scott|Scott]], decide that its a good start, then proceed to shove a 105mm howitzer in the turret of a larger tank. 500 were built, and they were used in much the same role as the Scott fully replacing the [[M7 Priest]] in armor battalions. The 105 would go on to serve after his brothers had been withdrawn from US service until the end of the Korean War.

The U.S. Marine Corps, somewhat fed up with dealing with people with Katanas and bayonets at close range with flamethrowers decided to yank out the cannon and shove in a heavy flamethrower, creating an "M4 Zippo". It gave up its anti-tank capability and shared the same overall shortcomings as the conventional M4, but Marines loved this thing, because torching the enemy in their caves and bunkers with a [[Metal Boxes|MEHTUL BAWK]] was vastly better than going in after them with nothing but a shirt and a prayer between you and their bullets. Officially called the M4A3R3 because technical designations.

Despite it's shortcomings as a combat vehicle, the Sherman can easily be considered one of the "greatest tanks of WW2". Sure, it didn't fire [[Tiger|88mm shells of death over 2km]], or [[T-34|shrug off dozens of 40mm AT shells]], but no one can deny that it fulfilled one goal that almost no other tank fielded in that conflict could: That it was everywhere that it was needed and did its job well enough, and could do just about anything you needed it to, from the Deserts of North Africa to the Jungles of Burma, the Mountain Passes of Italy, the Beaches of the Pacific, the Rice Fields of China, the Steppes of Russia, the Hedgerows of Normandy, and finally the Streets of Berlin. The Sherman was everywhere.

Israel used the upgraded M-50 and M-51 "Super Shermans" retrofitted with high velocity French 75mm and 105mm guns in that order. These Shermans both served until the end of the Yom Kippur War. The M-50 was given as aid to Israel aligned factions in the Lebanese Civil War and some were exported to Chile which retrofitted 60mm self loading autocannons until being replaced by Leopard 1s. The post-war models saw combat service until 1999 when they were withdrawn from Yugoslav War service. Paraguay had 10 for training and support and 5 in storage usually deployed for parades until 2018 when these last few were retired from service.

{{US Forces in Flames of War}}
{{British Forces in Flames of War}}
{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

Team Yankee

2023-02-11T10:13:01Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:EDEB:861A:D4A:E677: /* Middle Eastern Powers */ If we can talk about sweden we can quickly mention these as well.

[[File:Team-Yankee-cover.jpg|250px|right|thumb|FREEDOM, BITCHES!!!]]
''"Sunday, August 4, 1985 the Warsaw Pact thundered across the Iron Curtain. 6 Soviet Armies, backed up by the forces of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, hammered into the NATO forces guarding the border. The Americans, supported by the armies of West Germany, Britain, and France, are strained to the breaking point at the Soviet Advance. It is 1985, and the Cold War has just gone hot."''

Welcome soldier to Team Yankee, Battlefront Miniatures' alternate history game where World War 3 breaks out on the fields of central Germany. Maybe you're here for the cool tanks, maybe you're here to fight to spread your preferred form of economic system, or maybe you're here to titillate your acronym fetish. Team Yankee is based on the book of the same name by Harold Coyle, the story of Team Yankee follows a unit of the US Army named Team Yankee (of course) as they struggle to hold off those damn commies, with viewpoints from the other armies added in their respective Army rule book.

==The Story==
So, obviously the story of Team Yankee is a bit unrealistic but bear with us, alright? In 1985 the Soviet Union is dealing with mounting internal issues, and with the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR was faced with a choice between Mikhail Gorbachev or another hard line communist. In our world Gorbachev was elected as the Premier of the Soviet Union, which would eventually lead to its collapse, but in the Team Yankee universe an old Stalinist took his place instead.

Believing that after the disastrous war in Afghanistan, the best way to reassure the people of the Union's strength would be a victorious war with the West, and any seized resources could be used to immediately shore up the slumping economy (incidentally, this is probably why there was not a nuclear exchange and the subsequent destruction of the world).

It was in the Persian Gulf that the USSR found its excuse to begin preparing for war. The Iran-Iraq war had been blazing for 4 years and though it was an active warzone, the trade of oil continued mostly unabated. That was until a pair of Iranian jets attacked and sank a Saudi tanker with huge loss of life. The United States began increasing its Naval presence in the Gulf to prevent additional attacks on commercial vessels in international waters. As part of this action, on the 27th of July, the destroyer ''USS Charles Logan'' was patrolling off the Strait of Hormuz when it was rammed by a Soviet cruiser, which was ostensibly there to do the same thing. In the confusion, both ships fired on each other before retiring to their respective ports.

Claiming that this was a blatant attack on a Soviet warship, the Warsaw Pact issued a statement of solidarity and then began to increase troop movements toward the Iron Curtain. In response, the United States began to react in kind, and over 100,000 national guardsmen were federalized as front line combat units started moving to their wartime posts. The Warsaw Pact subsequently invaded West Germany, driving through to part of the Netherlands, but their efforts have met with stiff resistance, and the fortunes of war could soon turn the other way.

==The Game==
Team Yankee is a 15mm (about 1:100 scale) Table Top Wargame, usually played on a standard 6x4 game table. To play Team Yankee, you will need a tape measure (both Inches and Centimeters work), a whole bunch of D6 dice, an army of models, and some friends to play with (that one will probably be the toughest, to be honest).

===Playing the game===

;Example Turn
What follows is a basic layout of a standard turn

'''1. Starting Step''' 
This is where most of the administrative stuff happens. Check the Morale of your formations and units, roll for reserves, rally pinned units, free bogged down tanks, remount bailed out tanks, remove smoke from the previous turn, etc. etc. etc.

'''2. Movement Step''' 
Move your units (duh). The amount a unit can move is dictated by the terrain they have to deal with. The majority of orders are given in this phase as well.

'''3. Shooting Step''' 
No problem cannot be solved through the application of superior fire power. Team Yankee uses abstraction rather than true line of sight, meaning that tanks clearly visible behind slopes may not actually be seen due to terrain height rulings. All shooting and artillery occurs in this phase, with smoke being fired before any other shooting.

'''4. Assault Step''' 
Time to get up close and personal. Units charge into close quarters to beat the enemy to death with their rifle butts or crush them underneath their treads. Infantry teams don’t get saves in close combat so be wary.

===List Building===
Note that all lists are based on historically based equipment at a specific point in time, even if that equipment was unique or incredibly rare.

Army lists in Team Yankee are usually built from a single book or 'codex' which tells you what your country has access to. Each nation has different 'sub lists' but most follow three types: armoured and mechanized infantry. Armoured companies let you bring several platoons of tanks, while mechanized infantry does the same with infantry that can come in your bog-standard metal boxes or a metal box with an autocannon. Some armies have more unique options, but those will be discussed on their respective pages.

NATO armies tend to be cheaper thanks to their smaller sizes, while Pact forces have much more units that are identical across the 4 nations. If you buy an M1 it can only be used for a USA army; paint a T-72 in Soviet green (without national emblems) and it can be used in four armies.

Want a cheaper single army? Buy American (or any other NATO power). Want a cheaper collection and several army lists? Buy Soviet.

'''Force Command''' 
Your force will always have an HQ. Your Force Commander and 2nd in Command (also known as the meatshield) represents you in the game, commanding the battle on foot or some vehicle. If the Force commander dies, your army will begin to panic. Lose too many platoons and you will immediately lose the game. At higher point games, you may have two or more force commanders to mitigate this (as you will probably be forced to utilize multiple formations to fill out the points). For NATO Players, the Force Commander is generally a company commander wielding his company and any company-level support the higher-ups have deemed to send his way. For PACT players, the Force Commander is usually at the Battalion level, which is made up of several companies, to balance out the power differential between the average NATO and Pact units.

HQS usually DO NOT count as platoons for Company, or even Battalion strength. They function as 40k independent characters do, so you would have 4 units on the field whether your company commander joined a platoon or ran around on their own.

'''Combat Platoons''' 
AKA Troops choice: like with 40k, each organization chart will have a minimum requirement of a Company Commander and two platoons of troops, which could be [[Motor Rifle Company|IFV-mounted infantry]] or a unit of [[Huey Rifle Platoon|heliborne infantry]]. This is where your list building starts, with the size of your unit and taking additional weaponry like anti-tank weapons, medium machine guns, or anti-air missiles.

'''Platoon Support''' 
Unlike 40k, platoon support is unique to each company. This is the reason you selected the specific Company: access to unique toys that your other companies or nations can't take. Historically, this would be a platoon from the support company of the battalion: infantry companies might have a mortar platoon, while armoured companies might have a platoon of vehicle-mounted ATGMs. Your platoon support may also have platoons of the alternate unit type: tank companies almost always have the option to take a platoon of infantry, and vice versa.

'''Division Support''' 
These are the rarest systems in your army, and often among the most expensive options. Historically, it would be things like air support, heavy artillery or attached helicopter squadrons. This varies from nation to nation: some countries have platforms that serve [[AMX Roland|crucial support roles but won't win the war for you]] to [[ADATS|snowflake units that provide the teeth to your force]]. These options are open to all company types, and should therefore be used to round out the weaknesses of your list. Additionally, platoons for troops like tanks and infantry might be purchasable here.

'''Allied Support''' 
These are your 'Allies of Convenience', to continue the 40k analogy. Generally, only one allied formation (company, battalion, whatever) is allowed. Generally this would mean NATO Allies for NATO countries, and vice versa for the Warsaw Pact (but not the Middle Eastern powers, who all want to kill each other and are much more uncaring in where they get their gear from). Additionally, smaller factions may have allied units that fall under the same lines as Divisional Support, just with a different flag. For example, Canadians have access to German Leopard 2s and American Abrams' to round out their lack of modern battle tanks.

These units do NOT count as platoons which add to your last stand count, so your army may rout if the last Canadian troops have been picked off even if half of your (American Allied) units are on the table. Like Division Support, this is taken to smooth out the rough edges of your list and might be very interesting if you like the idea of a British-French coalition battlegroup, or are a powergamer who just wants the best companies of each nation.

As a disclaimer to the young teens reading this wiki and calling themselves a military expert, Team Yankee is a HISTORICAL FANTASY game. The models might represent real weapon systems, but the organization of lists ranges from relatively accurate to outright blasphemous. Pretty much all your tanks and artillery fired across kilometres in real life, but only fire up to several hundred meters on the tabletop. [[M247 Sergeant York|Prototypes that never made it past the testing phase can be found]], while organizational details have been simplified for gameplay purposes.

For the prospective kommandant who reached this point, consider reading the rulebooks at your FLGS or read on to decide which nation might be for you.

===List Archtypes===

Like any other tabletop game, each army has its own pros and cons leading to very distinct archetypes: just like the real-life counterparts, an infantry company will have a much happier time holding a town than a bunch of tanks. Here are a few of the many variants, found in the tournament scene and casual table:

====Mechanized Infantry====
Kings of the tournament scene, mechanized infantry are THE premium choice for players seeking cost efficiency, holding power or firepower in some cases. Over 90% of all infantry in the game arrives in a motorized tin can of some sort, meaning that these lists have an overabundance of machinegun fire. Some lists might use infantry fighting vehicles such as the [[BMP]] or [[Marder Zug|Marder]], but most are characterized by hordes of cheap infantry in the cheapest transports. Mechanized lists are incredibly split in specialization depending on your faction of choice as well.

In tournaments, the French and British are defined by the sheer amount of Milans they can bring to the field. They may lack in firefighting capability, but their ability to destroy armoured lists are second to none. They can be used in urban operations as well, but excel in open fields where their Milans can chew through tank after tank.

The Soviet, Iranian and Polish lists are the Communist equivalent of the Milan horde; trading the latest in wargear for the latest in childbearing technology. While these troops lack in weapon systems that can engage armour from a distance, they are characterized by sheer numbers coupled with 3+ morale stats allowing them to keep pushing forward when other armies would fall back.

On the other end of the spectrum are the spam lists of Czechs and Iraqis. Characterized by their horrendous morale, and basic weaponry, these lists have little to no offensive capability. [[Imperial Guard|However, their low pointage allows you to bring waves of men to the field that will HOLD the line like no other.]] In an urban setting, these troops can turn all buildings on your side of the field into deathtraps for enemy armour.

Somewhere in the middle are Soviet [[BTR-60|BTR]]/ [[BMP]] and Dutch [[YPR-765]] lists. Typically, these lists would feature armoured elements and focus more on punching through the weak points of the enemy's line with the superior firepower of infantry fighting vehicles complementing a couple of tanks. A jack of all trades list, these forces are capable of defending and can counterattack on a dime when required.

Universally feared by all players and the cheapest unit in any force, the mechanized infantry are the benchmark of every other unit: a platoon only needs to kill 1-3 tanks to make its points back. For tournament players, prepare to build lists that counter infantry. For casual players, expect to see some form of them in every single game.

====Armoured====
The poster boys of the game, Armoured forces rely on the overwhelming superiority of tanks to crush virtually any opposition in its path. These units represent the fastest, heaviest units in the army that are not only capable of taking ground, but holding it. Strong in standard games and deadly in larger tables, Armoured forces would be unmatched if not for their Achilles heel: overpriced units.

Tank units often cost dozens of points for a single platoon, leaving them as niche choices for the average player. In a tournament setting where every point counts and every wasted unit may cost you the game, tanks are treated as specialized units in different lists. Some may use armour as [[Chieftain|firebases]]; [[M1 Abrams|maneuver elements in a hammer and anvil force]], or solely as snipers [[Leopard 2|to destroy armour]]. Regardless of their tournament viability, here are the traditional makeups of armoured lists.

With unparalleled mobility and firepower, armoured lists excel on the attack. This greatly favors offensive nations such as the West Germans or the Soviet Union who can conduct ‘blitzkrieg’ tactics on the tabletop scale: rather than exploiting strategic weaknesses, these lists employ a mix of tank killers like the [[T-64]] and the [[Leopard 2]] to compliment the firepower of support tanks: outdated models that may not beat the latest metal boxes, but could chew through any other vehicle like a masochist on a sanding belt.

Protection against missiles comes in the form of artillery. Other lists may occasionally get away without running artillery, but is not optional in the current meta. Used to protect your tanks from Milan spam or the tank killers of the enemy force, smoke is probably the most important task of the artillery in an armoured list, neutralizing Milans for you to get within their firing range, forcing Chieftains to move or even dividing the force to reduce the amount of return fire.

The strongest armoured lists are anachronisms; with no nation having a single tank that does the job of both a tank killer and support. Hence, they are generally defined as lists that run a substantial amount of armour (two platoons or so) with singular platoons of infantry, artillery, reconnaisance, etc. For a competitive player choosing the path of an iron grave, consider using allies for access to ROF 2 brutal tanks to compliment your AT22 tank killers. If you are a Soviet player, rejoice! Your tanks all-in-one and are countered by any form of missile, tank cannon or bomber. Have fun!

====Cavalry====
Distinct from the armoured and mechanized archetypes, cavalry forces employ fast, mobile vehicles to outmaneuver the enemy while avoiding head-on engagements with the heaviest elements of the enemy list like tanks or infantry. While WILL be employing their own infantry and tank forces, cavalry forces are defined by their reliance on autocannon-armed vehicles to destroy soft-skinned vehicles like APCs, anti-air and artillery.

Generally used for reconnaissance in a combined arms list rather than serving as the frontline troops who fight and die on your behalf, the British are known for having some of the best cavalry units with the Scorpion and Scimitar coming in low, cheap and with both variants having the firepower to take on anything but battle tanks. Hampered by their mediocre moving ROF, their main purpose is to deny spearhead movement to your opponent while threatening their soft skinned vehicles, providing an extremely dangerous (but easily answered) threat that hamper much more expensive units such as infantry and tanks from doing their job on the frontline.

The only true Cavalry lists seen in tournaments are US Marine LAV lists, employing hordes of moving ROF 3 LAVs to outmaneuver, threaten, and destroy soft-skinned vehicles. However, it must be noted that cavalry forces still rely on infantry and armour to actually win the game: your cavalry are force multipliers to neutralize the support elements of your opponent, not the ones who will carry the day on their own.

====Air Assault====
Rarely seen in the tournament scene aside from Soviet VDV lists, Airborne lists employ helicopter infantry and their superior mobility to win battles. Almost universally worthless in a 6x4 game where the marginal infantry buff and loss of fighting transports can be crippling, air assault forces have a niche of larger team games spanning several maps. Whether used to grab vulnerable objectives or serve as firemen where the line is weakest, air assault troops have greatly different roles among the nations that can field them: the USA, Soviet Union and British.

The American air assault list is the archetypical airborne force: lightly equipped, highly trained and absolutely deadly in firefights, these units are barely worth their weight against armour but are almost unparalleled in a firefight. Combining Soviet morale with American firepower, heliborne infantry may not be able to kill a tank to save their life but are best suited to urban warfare or any other setting where dug-in infantry must die.

While the US Huey technically has its M60s, consider them one time use guns that cannot be considered fire support unlike an M113.

Soviet VDV lists are THE most accurate depiction of a proper air assault operation: deploying highly trained, versatile troops in highly dangerous environments while supported with helicopter gunships. The most ‘competitive’ of the three nations, VDV troops are equipped not only to win infantry fights, but also carry the heavy weapons that make infantry what they are: unmovable rocks that take a disproportionate amount of firepower to move, while having the tools to destroy armour that strays too close. While your infantry are few, your transports are terror on rotors: enter the Hind.

A flying tank unmatched by the West until the development of the Apache, the Hind is one of the only gunships with transport capacity. While nerfed by its lack of stationary ROF and 3+ to hit, Hinds have a weapon for any target. See a Merkava? The Hind can kill it. Unprotected artillery? The hind can kill it. Infantry hordes in the open? The hind can fuck them all at the same time.

By playing the VDV, you are committing to a list that combines air assault and air cavalry through the investment of points into gunships. Add on some Frogfoots and the VDV becomes a tournament worthy list that preys on any meta without sufficient anti-air. Not to mention, your blue berets are more than a match for the average foot soldier from the capitalist west...

The British air assault list are a competitive unit that sees fringe play, albeit as a fever dream that would make the Sergeant York wet. Worthless on their own and pathetic in a firefight, the Gordon highlanders see their niche as a Milan horde that happen to ride in helicopters.

====Air Cavalry/Leafblower====
Air Cavalry lists, unlike their real-life equivilants, are forces that spam airpower to win battles. Combining strike aircraft with helicopter gunships, these lists aim to destroy air-defence units before destroying the enemy force piece by piece. While most nations have access to bombers and ATGM helicopters, only the USA, Soviets and French have access to true leafblower lists; given their access to gunships like the [[MI-24 Hind]], [[Cobra|Cobra]], and [[Gazelle Helicopter|Gazelle]].

Prospective commanders should note that these are all-in lists with over 40 points being funnelled into airborne units and are easily countered by tournament metas. Essentially, you are praying that your opponent does not aim to counter your lists; given that Air Cavalry aims to outrace a platoon of dedicated air killers like [[SA-8 Gecko|SA-8 Geckos]] or [[Tracked Rapier|Rapier]]. Uncounterable for the casual player who does not plan ahead, and easily beaten by tournament players who do their homework. They may fufil your ride of the valkyrie fantasies, but will lead to games which end faster than your opponent's patience.

Not recommended if you wish to stay friends with your opponents. Acceptable (but weak) if you want to win games.

====Combined Arms====
Like most tabletop games, Team Yankee favours players who can mix and match each of the previous components; diluting the strength of each troop type and compensating with the power of diversity (yay!). As implied by the previous articles, building a spam list of infantry or tanks might be acceptable in a multiplayer game but will lead to your quick and laughable defeat in a competitive 1v1 game. Without artillery, your infantry and tanks can’t attack without taking a million casualties. Without cavalry, your tanks risk being flanked and blown up. Without infantry, your tanks and cavalry will not take objectives.

The overwhelming majority of competitive lists feature an infantry or armoured company with support elements to cover all angles. While an infantry list might see itself playing the defensive under ideal circumstances, the counterblow from a tank platoon coming from reserves can decisively swing games in your favour. Similarly, armoured lists require smoke to cover the advance of your tanks or mounted infantry. Experienced players may dabble in ‘all-in’ lists, but you, prospective general, will find the best results when your lists have no clear weakness.

Want to muddy the mixture? Consider taking combat troops as allies with your ‘chosen’ nation providing nothing more than combat (and moral) support.

Mandatory:
2-6 Combat Troops (2 platoons of tanks or infantry, 1 platoon of infantry/tanks)
1-2 Artillery (for smoke and pinning)
1-4 Recon (for spearheading and/or denying spearheads)
1-2 Air Defence (Multirole air defence acceptable below 26 points, dedicated air defence required above 30 points)

Optional:
1-2 Air support (used as suicide units)
1-1 Armoured ATGM carriers (overlaps with combat troops)

==The Forces of WW3==
With the new Ally rules, take the following with a pinch of salt. Using the combat units of an ally faction as the bulk of your force while keeping your 'actual' faction for its support choices is a totally legal (if cheesy) option. The scores are strictly in relation to one another; and does not account for terrain, list building and other stuff.

The Breakdown Scores:
5: Auto-include for competitive lists.
4: Good for the purpose, if overshadowed by other factions.
3: Not terrible, but needs a good reason to be included.
2: Not recommended due to inefficiency.
1: Overshadowed by other options in the same force organisation.
-: Role filled by Allied units within the force organisation. Minor nations only.

===NATO===
{{topquote|The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm [...] [t]hey are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area. They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security. They therefore agree to this North Atlantic Treaty|The North Atlantic Treaty}}

The free world takes their freedom seriously, and armies operate very differently from one another. Entries for similar units (M113 mortars) will have different roles when used in another nation, while most countries have their own unique units which may similar versions but nothing completely identical. NATO is generally more beginner friendly, but varies between nations when it comes to cost and budgeting.

====United States of America====
{{topquote|I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.|General Jack D. Ripper}}

Difficulty: 1/5 (excellent for beginners!)

They may not have shown up on time for the last two world wars, but they sure have brought some firepower into this one. The principal founder of NATO and its strongest military power, the United States moved immediately to bring its full strategic might to bear against the seemingly-endless masses charging west from behind the Iron Curtain.

Three of the U.S.A.'s armed forces feature in this game, primarily their Army; the United States Army is one of the most technologically advanced forces on the Battlefield. An all-volunteer force, the average US Soldier is backed up by some of the most advanced weapon systems rumbling into war with them (including the first ever METUL BOX). Particularly the principal tank of the US forces in Europe, the M1 Abrams is arguably the most influential main battle tank of the 80s, influencing almost every other tank design in the Western world.

''Stripes'' covers most frontline combat units in the US Armed Forces, from an Amphibious Assault Unit to an Airborne Infantry Company. Their units may not be the best in the world, but you have so many options in your list that you should have a counter for anything your opponent brings up. This versatility makes them the only faction to rival the Soviets, matching their cost efficiency with incredibly flexible listbuilding.

For players concerned with historical accuracy, remember to toss out the Yorks, RDF/LTs and the Hueys (except for Marine Airborne)!

Defining Units: [[M1 Abrams]], [[M163 VADS]]

;Strengths
*Most versatile faction in the game, with options to fill almost all roles.
*Ideal for Armored and combined arms playstyles, with the flexibility to attack or defend.
*Decently easy to learn, and is rather straightforward.
*Ability to upgrade entire force to carry AT23 TOW2s
*Capitalism

;Weaknesses
*Second most expensive faction in-game.
*Poor cost efficiency compared to other NATO equivalents.
*The TOW tax quickly adds up.
*Capitalism.
*Can't point out the enemy on a map.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Solid and cost-efficient. 4/5
Transports: The best 'free' transports in the game. 3/5
Tanks: All the flavors of M1s. 4/5
Anti-Tank: No longer cost efficient, but packing serious heat. 4/5
Recon: Decent Army options, Good Marine options. 3/5
Artillery: Decent, if expensive mortars. 3/5
Aircraft: Best helicopters, mediocre aircraft. 4/5
Anti-Air: Overpriced. Where's the air force?? 2/5

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Great Britain====
{{topquote|Why do you suppose we went into it?" "To strengthen the brotherhood of free western nations." "Oh really, we went in to screw the French by splitting them off from the Germans.|Yes, Minister}}

Difficulty: 2/5 (Good for beginners and vets!)

Steadfast, courageous, and absolutely devoted to their time-honoured traditions of tea, crumpets, and silly hats, the British Armed Forces became a founding member of NATO after World War II, in which they earned great fame for their many triumphs over impossible odds. Two major commands, British Army of the Rhine and Royal Air Force Germany, were dedicated to stand guard against the threat of Soviet invasion and have dutifully done so for 40 years. The British military is well-known for its discipline, professionalism, and for actually showing up on time for world wars (not like those louts across the pond).

Thanks to a little disagreement on the far side of the Atlantic in 1982 (not to mention the decades long troubles in Northern Ireland), the British military is one of only a few in NATO with combat veterans in its ranks going into the fight. They may not have the numbers or superpower status that they did in the glory days of the Empire, but as Argentina could tell you, they can still fight with the best of them. When the Warsaw Pact barged westward and brought war to Europe for the third time in a century, the British forces in West Germany stubbornly refused to give ground, forcing their enemy to bypass them rather than sacrifice the entire invasion's timetable. The rules for these tea-chugging bastards are found in “Iron Maiden” and updated rules can be found in "WW3: British".

The Brits lack the cutting-edge advanced technology of the other NATO forces (Advanced Stabilisers, Thermal Imaging except on the Challenger) but compensate with sheer firepower and ridiculously well-armoured tanks. Thanks to their Assault 3+ Infantry and abundance of units which benefit from staying still and taking potshots like the Chieftain and Milan, the British excel on the defence; sipping tea and destroying anything which strolls into their fields of fire. Should the enemy fix bayonets, you have assault 3+ on most infantry and vehicles, a lynchpin that makes the entrenched British rifleman one of the most resilient units in the game.

Also there is one other slight thing to mention with regard to the British during this time period: they are Troubled, the good Friday agreement which ended (or at least paused) The Troubles would not be signed for another 13 years (1998). What does that mean for team Yankee? well likely nothing but in real life you could bet your ass the Soviets would love to pour gasoline on that little fire to try and distract the Brits, so if we ever get a partisan list or something, maybe keep an eye open for that.

Defining Units: [[Chieftain]], [[Milan Section (Mechanized)|Milan Section]]

;Strengths
*One of the strongest factions on the defensive.
*Best infantry in the game with plentiful ATGMs on human (and armored) platforms.
*Ideal for defensive or infantry players.
*Has the almost invincible, if overcosted, Challenger.

;Weaknesses
*Lacks units that can effectively fight while on the move.
*Seriously struggles to damage heavy MBTs.
*Vulnerable to smoke and rushes; units rely on staying still to deliver the most firepower.
*Commonly seen as the seal clubber's favorite due to superior infantry stats and milan spam, which makes new players ragequit.
*Everything, absolutely ''everything'' stops for tea at four o'clock.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Excellent defence and long ranged AT, poor offensive abilities. 4/5
Transports: Average APCs and IFVs alike. 3/5
Tanks: Expensive, armoured monsters with deadly firepower but incapable of mobile warfare. 4/5
Anti-Tank: Excellent options for dealing with previous generation tanks, struggles against 20+ armour. 3/5
Recon: Dangerous but squishy. 3/5
Artillery: Good mid-low caliber pieces. 4/5
Aircraft: Best bomber, overcosted helicopters. 3/5
Anti-Air: Excellent Rapier, ludicrously good Marksman, mediocre Spartan Blowpipe. 4/5

{{British Forces in Team Yankee}}

====West Germany====
{{topquote|Well that certainly doesn't apply to the Germans..." "No no, they went in to cleanse themselves of genocide and apply for readmission to the human race.|Yes, Minister}}

Difficulty: 4/5 (Challenging listbuilding.)

Following the complete destruction of Nazi Germany in 1945, about half of the country was occupied by the British, French and Americans, who merged their three occupation zones to form the Federal Republic of Germany. From its capital in Bonn, West Germany's leaders have focused their efforts on redeeming (West) German standing in the world through a restored representative democracy, a careful and conservative foreign and defense policy, and some truly outstanding cars, wurst and beer. And thanks to their longstanding membership in the NATO alliance, (half of) Germany gets to be the ''good guys'' this time!

West Germany was the first featured expansion in "Team Yankee," centering around the Bundeswehr's Heer, one of two current successors to the legendary German Army of the past. With their homeland invaded for a second time by their enemy from two previous world wars, the West Germans are intensely motivated and have all the tenacity, discipline and professionalism of their fathers and grandfathers. Their former countrymen, the East Germans, are among the leading forces of the Warsaw Pact, making the war especially personal as both German armies do their utmost to see that their cause triumphs. The West Germans are literally battling in their own streets, homes and fields, while the East Germans are leaping at their chance to forge a unified, socialist Germany. The Rules for the West Germans can be found in "West German", which replaced Leopard and Panzertruppen.

The West Germans have continued the famous German tradition of quality over quantity and then some: their units rank among the very best (and most expensive) in the entire game. The perfect example is the Leopard 2, a monument to armoured superiority that costs eleven points per tank, as opposed to a mere four per tank for the East Germans' T-72M. One exception is the Leopard 1; your budget tank at 3 points. In addition to Thermal Imaging, they field devastating units like the Gepard Flakpanzer and the Panavia Tornado fighter-bomber, which can make their points back over several times in the hands of an effective commander. A well-balanced army capable of different playstyles, but ultimately held back by its inability to sustain losses. Expect to be outnumbered 2-1 against NATO, or 3-1 or even 4-1 against PACT forces.

Defining Units: [[Leopard 2]], [[Marder II Zug]]

;Strengths
*Strongest armoured units in the game.
*Soviet-equivalent morale.
*Ideal for aggressive or challenge-seeking players.
*Hard-hitting units that can punish your opponent's mistakes very harshly.

;Weaknesses
*Small units with some of the game's most expensive models.
*Poorly suited to attrition tactics.
*Ex-Nazis.
*Forgot their cold-weather gear AGAIN.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Effective, but few and expensive. 2/5
Transports: Strongest transport in the game, but no built-in missile. 4/5
Tanks: Overcosted Leopard 2s, decent Leopard 1s. 2/5
Anti-Tank: ATGMs expensive and few. Role filled by Leopard 2s. 1/5
Recon: Cheap and dangerous. 3/5
Artillery: Solid NATO artillery. 4/5
Aircraft: Good bomber, overcosted helicopters. 2/5
Anti-Air: Versatile, competitive options. 4/5

{{West German Forces in Team Yankee}}

====France====
{{Topquote|Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.|Jed Babben}}

Difficulty: 3/5 (Beginner unfriendly, many glass cannons.)

The gall of those cultureless, crass Americans! We hate all of them! Our king bankrupted us to save them in their "Revolutionary War," and now they make memes of us on the internet!

Despite the many dank memes and jokes about French military incompetence on the internet today, France has a long, long history of kicking ass with one of the largest and most powerful armed forces in human history. It may seem funny to mock them now, but nobody was laughing as Napoleon stomped one opponent after another into the dust, and millions of French soldiers held the line against the Kaiser's armies in the Great War, whereas the Americans couldn't be bothered to show up until 1917. France also <s>let the Germans take everything</s> was one of the major Allied powers in World War II, and French soldiers repeatedly making last stands against the Germans bought badly-needed time for the British evacuations at Dunkirk, saving not only <s>those stupid English</s> their British allies from getting overrun by the Nazis, but maybe also the world.

As explained in "Free Nations," France sort-of left NATO under Charles de Gaulle, a... very complicated man whose egomania could well have one-upped Douglas MacArthur if they hadn't been kept on totally separate sides of the planet. To summarize, de Gaulle fought nails and teeth (and all the rest too) to keep ''his'' France independent: politically, economically and militarily. This lead to France having its own military industry and designs and also lead to it leaving-but-not-really-leaving NATO and expelling all non-French military forces stationed on French soil. Secret agreements were made, however, and France retained the right to declare its re-integration into the NATO military alliance if it saw fit to do so; i.e. in case of WW3/something grave enough that would threaten France directly. The reasons for de Gaulle's stubbornness are multiple but the two main ones were that he wanted no part in what he fully expected to be "League of Nations II: Incompetence Boogaloo" or being pressured into sending his soldiers into conflicts where France had neither cause to nor interest in participating. Early in the events of "Team Yankee", seeing that a major war in Europe was on the horizon for the third time in a single century, France officially rejoined NATO in full. The Communist hordes will not find us such easy prey <s>as the Germans did</s> as they may expect, ''mon ami''.

As of 1985, France is one of the few NATO nations with genuine combat experience after World War II, alongside the United Kingdom and the United States, and it has the third-largest number of atomic weapons in the world - a distant third behind USA and the USSR, mind you, but third-largest nonetheless. The French ORBAT is unlike any of the major military powers, with their early Cold War history covering the first and second Indochinese (Vietnam) wars and their different mission needs. The post-WWII/Indochine French army has a doctrine that can be summarized in one sentence: "Engage the enemy on your own terms; never his!". Lacking a tank capable of trading blows with any modern platform and near-universal <s>cowardice in the ranks</s> 5+ morale among French personnel, a French commander must rely on maneuver and a terrifying abundance of gun platforms with Brutal to cripple an enemy's force before taking significant damage. In fact, among the NATO nations, the French were the only ones to eventually adopt autoloaders for their main battle tanks (starting only with the Leclerc, though), but they also tend to come from the 'speed is armour' school of tank design, which made them a bit glassy both in and out of the game. While similar to the Canadians in their lists naturally countering BMP and infantry spam, they lack the moosemen's balls and require a different playstyle to excel. They do have Milan spam if that's your thing though (you powergaming ''bâtard'').

Defining Units: [[AMX-10 RC]], [[Gazelle Helicopter|Gazelle 20mm]]

;Strengths
*Strong firepower on even the lightest units
*Milan AT spam on par with the Brits.
*Ideal for aggressive or experienced players.

;Weaknesses
*Tissue-thin armour made from stale baguettes.
*<s>Cowards</s> Unreliable (seriously, do NOT expect Morale 5+ troops to stay in the fight.)
*Smell like bad cheese.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Good firepower but unreliable morale. 3/5
Transports: You get what you pay for: very solid. 4/5
Tanks: Incapable of tanking damage for the army. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Milan spam just got stronger. 5/5
Recon: Deadliest 'recon' units in the game. 5/5
Artillery: Lacking in utility arty. 2/5
Aircraft: Fragile but VERY deadly when played well. 4/5
Anti-Air: Respectable, but expensive. 3/5

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
A Quick Note About the Morale Thing
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Almost universally in Team Yankee, the French have ''shit'' morale, and this is a little weird at first glance. After all, the "ha ha, France = surrender monkeys" meme is about as nuanced and accurate as a company of Soviet motor rifles - especially by 1985. The French army has more actual recent combat experience than nearly any other playable nation, and previous morale crises have only improved the ''Armée de Terre'''s ability to deal with such issues. So, what gives?

Turns out, much like a few other terms for various Battlefront franchises, "Morale" is a slight misnomer. To be precise, the poor roll value that the French have isn't to represent that they are somehow more cowardly (the parallel 3+ Courage roll indicates as much), but rather to integrate French doctrine into the game, since most nation-specific special rules have been removed in order to streamline the rules. You see, in older FoW versions there used to be a dozen different special rules indicating unique attributes that would modify the two base values for specific traits. Courage, Rally, Assault and Counterattack are all new, and were created so as to whittle down the truly obscene rules clutter that was starting to really drag down games of FoW.

But that still doesn't answer the question ''"Why are my goddamn frogs running away so much?"''. The answer is simple: <s>the chemicals in the water turned them gay</s> they're being ordered to retreat: the French just don't stick around for a slugging match they fully know they simply can't win! If the French learned anything from the various wars of the 20th century, it's that they have to be able to give ground for time and that they absolutely do not have the ability to engage in attritional slogs and trade casualties for the same. As they quickly realized going solo meant they would never be able to field armor in the same volumes the Soviets could, the French army doctrine evolved into a very mobile and elastic thing that put their entire emphasis on high mobility with lighter motorized units, creating a 1985 doctrine of maneuver warfare with lightly armoured units. [[skub|The more callous say they just mixed Guderian's ''blitzkrieg'' with Model's ''schild und schwert'']], however nobody can deny they are very efficient at what they do best: hit hard, fast and overwhelmingly where the enemy doesn't expect it then redeploy before they can strike back.

This is well-represented in-game by the French having good skill but poor morale scores. This is also why the Czechoslovaks, despite being far less motivated than the French in every respect, have a better Morale rating despite literally having worse morale. Such a broad and encompassing term as Morale isn't restricted to the one stat that shares its name, and is technically the collective sum of all the stats on the left half of the base section since it was broken into those three in the first place.
</div>
</div>
{{French Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Canada====
{{topquote|I know a lot of you are going through separation anxiety... but there's nothing I can do about getting a Tim Hortons in Kabul.|Col. Al Howard (FYI, they did eventually get a Tim Hortons in a trailer)}}

Difficulty: 3/5 (Limited unit variety, technical playstyle.)

[[Imperial Guard|Cadians!]] Wait. Not quite. Though, they too have an amazing, cost-effective and plentiful tank option. As for their place in Team Yankee, the Canadians took one look at the current infantry spam meta, and they decided that they hated it. Where the US brought their meanest guns and the West Germans brought their biggest machines, the ''4th CMBG'' showed up to the fight with a [[Leopard 1#Canada|tree grinder]], intending to reenact that scene from Fargo.

While you're fairly limited in what you can take, the options Canada does have can be both versatile and extraordinary. Between a nearly-universal +3 skill roll and an abundance of options for laying down smoke, you can acquire the firing positions you require while denying the enemy any of their own. Agility is essential to Canadian lists, using evasion rather than armour in a naturally offensive force. In essence, the Canucks seem at their best in vehicles and on the move, shadowing the enemy line until it has been withered beneath a barrage of precise and overwhelming fire.

The Canadians apologize for borrowing American and German units, such as aircraft and heavy tank platoons.

<s>Defining Units</s> ''Standard List in BMP/T-55 Meta'': [[ADATS]] and as many [[Leopard 1#Canada|Leopard C1's]] as you can take

;Strengths
*Units tend to be agile, multi-purpose or hard-hitting. Sometimes, all three.
*Ideal for offensive and maneuver-minded players.
*Actually pretty good at fighting.

;Weaknesses
*Glass cannons whose vehicles can cost a pretty pound of points.
*The Americans don't like you for some reason.
*Apologize every time they shoot at anybody.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. 3/5
Transports: It's cheap, it's free! 3/5
Tanks: Best generation-two tanks, and you can take a LOT of them. 4/5
Anti-Tank: Enough TOW platforms to do damage, plus the spillover from AA. 3/5
Recon: Sneaky, but not much else. 2/5
Artillery: Some mortars, some howitzers. Nothing special. 3/5
Aircraft: Grounded by lack of parts. -/5
Anti-Air: Your primary AA platform also cracks open heavy tanks... for a price. 4/5

{{Canadian Forces in Team Yankee}}

====The Netherlands====
''"Lucas, get out of the lingerie!"''

Difficulty: 2/5 (Versatile units with some drawbacks. Beginner viable.)

The Netherlands! A country so friendly and fun to visit that when World War III finally kicked off in August 1985, the Warsaw Pact drove a spear right through West Germany and brought the party to them. High on weed and hookah, the Dutch wade blindly into battle with a combination of dated equipment from the early 60s and the cutting edge of modern weaponry.

Clearly influenced by the Wehrmacht of yesteryear, the Royal Netherlands Army boasts one of the toughest mechanized lists around. With the holy trifecta of Leopard 2s, IFVs and Carl Gustavs, Dutch lists have few weaknesses, with numbers and the ability to deal with armour from just about any range and IFV hordes.

They are less advanced than their alcoholic West German brothers (infrared), but are considerably cheaper.

The Dutch share many similarities with the Americans and the West Germans, playing as a middle ground between the two. Much of their equipment is West German in origin, from the terribly pricy Leopard 2 (with a 1 point discount, no less) to the terrifyingly effective Pantserluchtdoel PRTL, or "Dutch Gepard". Your units have training similar to the Americans rather than the underequipped West Germans.

The strength of the Dutch lies in their mechanized forces. While their tanks are mediocre compared to other NATO nations, they are unique in their ability to pump out infantry fighting vehicles while carrying full-sized platoons with some very scary firepower, unlike their French and German counterparts. The West Germans have also granted support units to your Dutch band of (definitely straight) brothers.

Defining Units: [[Leopard 2]], [[YPR-765]]

;Strengths
*Able to spam IFVs with infantry to boot.
*Ideal for mechanized players or jacks of all trades.

;Weaknesses
*Long ranged anti-tank capability only from Leopard 2s.
*Jack-of-all-trades faction without any overpowered units.
*Drug peddlers.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: decent, but made deadly by virtue of their transports. 4/5
Transports: It's cheap, and also the best NATO IFV. 4/5
Tanks: Not great, but you don't have any other AT options. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Expensive, fragile and mediocre. 2/5
Recon: Does the job, but nothing more. 3/5
Artillery: Below-average, but still passable. 3/5
Aircraft: Our pilots are still in rehab. -/5
Anti-Air: Weaker than the West Germans, but still very strong. 4/5

{{Dutch Forces in Team Yankee}}

====ANZAC====
''"Oi! Mate! Get off the fekkin' gun and stab the bloody cunt!"''

Difficulty: 4/5 (Beginner unfriendly. Vet recommended.)

Legendary for their daring, elan and professionalism, the armed forces of Australia have a long record of making somebody ''very'' sorry that they picked a fight with the Empire. Or with Australia. Or that there was a fight going on, and the Australians heard about it and showed up. Where Canada runs in circles around the enemy and France runs away from the enemy, the Aussies and Kiwis run ''at'' the enemy. By all accounts they really shouldn't be present, they aren't even officially part of NATO (due to that whole "North Atlantic" thing), yet here they are in 1980's Germany. Down-under magic? Down-under magic. The Queen calling for aid? Or maybe has something to do with the complicated system of alliances in the pacific that were thrown around very early on in the cold war. The Aussies and Kiwis both had actually signed a treaty referred to as the ANZUS with the US in the 50's guaranteeing defensive cooperation if any hostilities were launched against them or a number of allied states, hence their military presence in Vietnam and now, in Germany. (Though historically ANZUS was falling apart at the time due to New Zealand's Nuclear-Free stance putting it at odds with the United States).

Your PACT players are going to be wondering: "Wait, aren't ''we'' supposed to be ones who're invading?". This will occur just as several packs of foul-mouthed Bogans roll around the corner, firing on the move and charging into melee from their tanks to show the Gopniks how it’s really done. Keep in mind, this is during an era whereby that shit should '''not''' fly. But looking at their stats, that's specifically what they're here to do. Skilled, courageous, all while packing lots of tools designed for staring the dirty communist in the eyes as you kill him. Your infantry may not be amazing, but your scorpions and leopards can literally roll over the communists with assault 3+. The Australians may not actually be in NATO at all, but having decided to show up anyway, they're polite, they're efficient, and they have a plan to kill everyone they meet.

The ANZACS have British support units such as the Tracked Rapier and Harrier, thanks to their plea deal with the crown.

Defining Units: [[CVRT#Kiwi Variant|Scorpion]], [[AT Land Rover]]

;Strengths
*'Tank' units are nearly unmatched in close quarters, and set to win damn near ''every'' melee they enter.
*Ideal for you melee junkies out there.

;Weaknesses
*Suffers from yet another serious lack of organic support.
*Units are few as is, but a lack of variety can seriously limit flexibility.
*Can't handle cold.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Average NATO infantry, but essential in any list. 3/5
Transports: It's free I guess.... 3/5
Tanks: Your tanks can shred light armor on the move while running infantry over. 4/5
Anti-Tank: Good against light armor, terrible against high-end tanks. 3/5
Recon: Kiwis go ''hard''. 2/5
Artillery: Mortars only, but the Brits can help you out! 2/5
Aircraft: They haven't discovered aviation yet. -/5
Anti-Air: It's bad. It's REALLY bad. 1/5

{{ANZAC Forces in Team Yankee}}

===Warsaw Pact===
{{topquote|The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

'''''Working Men of All Countries, Unite!''
'''|Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto}}

Unlike NATO, standardization was enforced in the Warsaw Pact at most levels of the military. From the caliber of firearms to the strategies used by commanders, each country only made the slightest of adjustments. Expect little variation in equipment compared to NATO. Tactics do vary of course, but always rely on numerical superiority to win the day. Most Pact nations have inferior equipment to the Soviet Union which was historically accurate: Soviet Union entries can generally be used for your own faction. The playstyles vary more on your army list than individual factions: an infantry list is going to play very similarly, whether there are Russians or Poles in their ranks. For budget players without care for bling and army decals, consider leaving all units in the standard Russian green and they can be Russians, Czechs or Russians disguised as <s>Ukrainians</s> Poles.

====Soviet Union====
-''What should a Soviet soldier do if he finds himself in an immediate vicinity of a nuclear explosion?''

-''Stretch out his arms and hold his assault rifle in such a way that no molten metal get on state-issued boots.''

- Soviet army joke

Difficulty: 3.5/5 (Tough to learn, easier to master.)

Massive, heavily armed, and with a record of Nazi-stomping in World War II that makes the whole Western front pale in comparison, the Soviet Armed Forces were a force to be reckoned with through the entire Cold War. Far outnumbering their adversaries and their own voluntold allies, the Soviet military possessed enough tanks, artillery, aircraft, automatic rifles and machine guns to make all of NATO's vaunted quality-over-quantity ideas count for absolutely nothing in a real war. Rules for the Soviet Hordes can be found in the Team Yankee Rulebook, “Red Thunder”, and, most recently, the "Soviet" book.

In addition to the mechanized forces of the Red Army, Red Thunder gives you the rules for running an Air Assault Battalion from the VDV. They have a totally different list from other PACT factions and were the best infantry that the PACT can buy.

With the release of the new book, the Soviets gained access to the T-80 Shock Company formation. This elite formation is closer to a NATO force than other WarPac formations. Platoons of 2-3 tanks hit on 4+ with 3+ skill break the traditional horde structure and come with a hefty points cost to boot. They can also take a platoon of 2-3 recon BMP-3s with the same stats AND a company of BMP-3 mechanised infantry (with the option to downgrade to shock BMP-2s). Expensive as hell with the usual low ROF of Soviet armour, expect to be heavily outnumbered.

As a Soviet player, you are the proud owner of the most advanced army among REDFOR, rivalled only by the US (in games without allies, that is). Point for point, few armies can equal your ability to bring reliable firepower. Near universal 3+ Remount and Morale ensures that your glorious Communists will (probably) never falter against the Capitalist pigs. While their 3+ to hit ensures that they suffer losses at a far greater rate, the USSR has viable units in almost every archetype. Whether it's a tank battalion, an air assault list, artillery spam or half of a motor rifle brigade, the USSR is cost-effective enough to make most archetypes work. An ideal army for the experienced or the powergamer, although you must be prepared to counter your low skill ratings.

Defining Units: [[Motor Rifle Company]], [[2S1 Carnation|2S1 Gvozdika]]

;Strengths
*Cheap, cost-effective units for all roles but tanks. Excellent morale.
*Ideal for veterans to Flames Of War, horde and powergamers.
*Communism.

;Weaknesses
*Reliant on effective combined arms tactics.
*Units will lose 1-on-1 confrontations against most NATO counterparts.
*Communism.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Cheap and insanely cost-efficient. 5/5
Transports: Meta defined by BMP parking lots. 5/5
Tanks: Cheap but mediocre. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Cheap, but tiny unit sizes. 2/5
Recon: Acceptable, but not amazing. 3/5
Artillery: Unreliable, weakest PACT artillery. 2/5
Aircraft: Good; only competitor to the US. 4/5
Anti-Air: Cheap but deadly. 5/5

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}

====East Germany====
''"For the protection of the workers' and the peasants' power" ''
-Motto of the Volksarmee

Difficulty: 4.5/5 (Weak units and weak list. Vets only.)

After getting stomped into oblivion by the Soviets during World War II, half of Germany has been rebuilt in the Soviet image. Founded in the mid-1950s, the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic, known as the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army), [[Mordian Iron Guard|combine Prussian heritage, iconic German military discipline, and Soviet mass-unit doctrine]] to forge one of the most formidable enemies NATO will ever face on the battlefield. Even though they must make do with downgraded Soviet export equipment, they fight with a tenacity that rivals that of their forefathers. NATO military officers have consistently rated the NVA as the best force in the Warsaw Pact based on its discipline, thoroughness of training, and the leadership ability of its commissioned officers. Following Soviet tradition, the Volksarmee lends the names of various Communist heroes to regimental-sized units and above, such as Panzerregiment 23 "Julian Marchlewski", one of the three armored regiments of the 9th Panzer Division. Rules for the East Germans are found in “Volksarmee.”

As the Volksarmee you stare enviously at USSR-Sempai and employ 30-year-old tanks with such reckless ambition that an Imperial Guardsman would question your value for human life. Your soldiers are as zealous as your Soviet counterparts and have more skill than <s>the illiterate peasants in the Red Army</s> your honored Soviet allies. The downside you might ask? You are using whatever even the ''Soviet Union'' thinks is too unsafe for their soldiers, using all the hand me downs with gusto. The majority of the Volksarmee gets the T-55AM2, which is great at exploding, and the first-rate armored regiments get the T-72M, which is also great at exploding but shoots better. You may be (mostly) bringing tanks from the mid-50s, but you can bring 30 of them for a little less than the cost of 2 West German tanks. Hell, even if you fight against the Soviets, you will outnumber them more than 2 to 1 (Even with both of you bringing T-72s). If you want the discount of non-Soviet PACT nations without the lopsided characteristics of the Poles or the Czechs, the National People's Army stands ready to invade capitalist-occupied West Germany at your order.

Defining Units: [[Motor_Rifle_Company#Mot-Schützen Kompanie|Motorschützen]], [[T55AM2]]

;Strengths
*Second cheapest units in the game, with rather decent stat lines.
*Ideal for horde players with too much money, or tactical geniuses.
*Sweet spot between the elite Poles and the conscript Czechs.
*Communist Prussians

;Weaknesses
*Units outmatched by most NATO equivalents; West Germany has much, ''much'' better Panzers.
*Players must rely on superior planning to win games due to the VAST technological gap.

The Breakdown
Infantry: Soviet numbers with low-end NATO stats. 3/5
Transports: Like the Soviets, but slightly worse. 3/5
Tanks: Useless in head-on engagements, good as flanking units. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Tanks do it better than these pieces of crap. 1/5
Recon: On par with Soviet Recce (AKA pretty bad). 3/5
Artillery: NATO skill and Soviet arty? Pretty good! 4/5
Aircraft: Decent air force. 3/5
Anti-Air: Cheap but lacks high-end anti-air missiles. 3/5

{{East German Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Poland====
''"When the Red Army makes a mess, why do we always have to clean it up?"''

Difficulty: 4.25/5 (Mix of decent units but nothing to write home about, with a cost that suggests more. Vets only.)

Coming from a background of militarism, Poland has had a fairly shitty history in the 20th century. They've been stuck in wars since the Great War (despite not being a nation), and Poland has become a plaything for the powers of Europe. Poland was the first country the Nazis occupied (as opposed to annexing), and thanks to the Soviets "liberating" them 40 years ago, by 1985 the original Polish government has been waiting to return home for nearly half a century. Yay. There's some division on that, however, as the Polish People's Army was first organized in 1943 and fought well on the Eastern Front against the Germans before establishing themselves as Poland's official armed forces for the next 40-plus years. Florian Siwicki, the Minister of Defence under the Polish People's Republic in 1985, first joined up in 1942 and has thus shot at (West) Germans before.

The Polish People's Republic has one of the largest and strongest armies in Eastern Europe short of the Soviets (complete with their own 6th Airborne Division and a specialized amphibious landing division), and possesses its own arms industry, manufacturing more cheap tanks and guns than anybody except the USSR. Their foreign customers include the East Germans (a lot of those commie Panzers are, ironically, from a Polish factory) and those fun guys in North Korea. They've kept the old Polish national anthem, and, bizarrely for a Soviet bloc state, the Polish People's Army provided chaplains to its troops throughout its existence. The Polish People's Army is large, well-armed, and well-trained; going into World War III, they can dish out and take plenty as the Warsaw Pact and NATO have a frank exchange of ideas over the fate of Europe and the world.

In Team Yankee, the Poles are troops with 4+ skill, 3+ courage and 3+ rally, giving them the determination of Soviets with the skill of the NVA. Second only to the Afgantsy VDV veterans, the Poles are some of the best-trained forces of the Warsaw Pact. Despite costing almost as much as the Soviets, they have even less equipment than the East Germans with the same downgrades by PACT forces, except for a handful of special units to even the balance. Boasting the best trained motorized infantry of the PACT armies, Polish battlegroups rely on the superiority of their infantry to win the day, while vehicles serve in support roles.

Defining Units: [[Motor_Rifle_Company|Zmotory Kompania]], [[T-72M]], [[T-72B]]

;Strengths
*Reliable units unlikely to get pinned or bailed.
*Best PACT infantry at firefighting and attacking.
*Ideal for players who want a horde of morale-resistant units.

;Weaknesses
*Poor anti-tank capability.
*2nd tier equipment with near-Soviet costs.
*Will carjack your vehicle wrecks.

Infantry: The best PACT infantry in firefights, at a cost... 3/5
Transports: Like the Soviets, but slightly worse. Few BMP-2s. 3/5
Tanks: Good at flanking, bad at tanking/killing tanks. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Your tanks do the job better than these things. 1/5
Recon: Cheap but bad. 3/5
Artillery: It kills, it's reliable! 4/5
Aircraft: Passable. 3/5
Anti-Air: Pretty solid, actually. 4/5

{{Polish Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Czechoslovakia====
''"To be honest, I'd rather fight for NATO. please don't kill us"''

Difficulty: 5/5 (For hardened vets only.)

Ah, yes, Czechoslovakia, the Reluctant Conscript of the Warsaw Pact. Lied to and annexed by the Nazis, then brutally occupied for years, then "liberated" and forced to join the Soviet Union in the Warsaw Pact. What fun! A year ago, someone wrote (rather accurately) that the NVA were the enthusiastic conscripts taking the equipment that the Soviets were afraid of using. Now, imagine these same conscripts, but terrified of death and shivering in their boots. As of October 20, the German goblin hordes have been dethroned by the Czechs! Second-line, underequipped, cowering Slavs being shoved into battle by the Soviets and marching in hordes that would make the Chinese blush (seriously, you'll outnumber the damn East Germans in most scenarios.)

The Czechs take the hordes concept to the next level, with their armies outnumbering the other PACT armies. As the least willing participants of the conflict, virtually all their stats are 5+ apart from 4+ skill and 4+ morale. They might have the least trustworthy men in the game, but their discounts allow you to bring enough 125mm cannons and RPGs that a pinned/bailed unit won't save your opponent from the wall of firepower you can produce. The Czechs favour two playstyles: an aggressive list with enough T-72Ms to ignore losses or a defensive list that literally buries your side of the table with men.

Defining Units: [[T-72M]], [[Dana SpGH]]

;Strengths
*Units are 20-33% cheaper than Soviet counterparts.
*4+ skill for aggressive tank pushes and artillery spammers.
*Ideal for horde players and rich blokes.

;Weaknesses
*Least reliable units in the game, vulnerable to pinning and morale shock. They ''really'' don't want to be there.
*Units without support are almost guaranteed to lose any engagements.
*Constantly hungover.

Infantry: You get a horde...but they won't listen to your orders. 2/5
Transports: Like the Poles, with untrained crews. 2/5
Tanks: THE cheapest tank hordes in the game. Good for alpha strikes. 4/5
Anti-Tank: No missiles that can reliably beat heavy tanks, but your T-72s fill the gap. 1/5
Recon: Cheap but bad. 3/5
Artillery: Cheaper, but just as deadly! 4/5
Aircraft: Passable. 3/5
Anti-Air: Cheaper and scarier. 4/5

{{Czech Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Cuba====
-'' Hasta la victoria Siempre; always until victory !''

- Ernesto "CHE" Guevara

Cuba is a rather interesting subject when it comes to the Cold War. In 1959, Castro and his forces overthrew the Batista government and established a Communist government right in America's backyard. 2 years later, the US tried and failed to topple the government through the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Then we get the missile crisis where Russia began stationing Nukes on Cuban Soil. And lets not forget the countless assassination attempts on Castro's life. In most cases, this is where the story ends, a foot note in history. Not Cuba. Throughout the Cold War (and even today) Cuba was something of an abnormality. For starters Cuba had a tendency to get involved in foreign conflicts, offering medical and military aid. In 1973 they joined the Yom Kippur War against Israel, and so far as they're concerned (both in 1985 and 2022) that war never actually ended. Cuban forces were very prominent in Africa, and even fought directly against the South African Defense Forces in Angola. This is turn meant that compared to their Communist Allies, Cuba had a substantial amount of military experience. Despite this and their close ties to the Soviet Bloc, Cuba never officially joined the Warsaw Pact, probably because they didn't want to so visibly poke the superpower next door. Despite this, Cuba was something of a well-regarded ally for the Soviets.

Do you remember when East Germany was the goblin hoards of the communist forces? I miss those days. The Cubans are what you want to play if the Czechs aren't cheap enough and the Iraqis aren't skilled enough. Armed with weaponry straight from the Arab-Israeli wars of the 1960s and 70s, they fight bravely (if suicidally) for the liberation of American working peoples. To help them in their quest, they have the skill and motivation of the East Germans, making pulling off movement orders and using artillery less incredibly frustrating thanks to their combat experience in Angola. Their best tank is the base model T-62, roughly equivalent to East German T-55AM2s, and their worst is the SU-100, a vintage WW2 tank destroyer with absolutely no redeeming qualities in this era, other than that it costs less than a point per tank. If you like large amounts of subpar equipment, lots of painting, and killing communists, Cubans are just the army for you!

Cuba is present in the new Red Dawn book as a Warsaw Pact force. The justification for Cuba's presence is twofold. The first is that as a Communist nation right next to the US, Cuba would have been seen as an asset during any invasion of the Americas. The second is due to their presence in the movie as something of a Rear-Guard force and leader of the Spanish speaking allies.

Defining Units: [[SU-100]]

;Strengths
*
*
*

;Weaknesses
*
*
*

Infantry:
Transports:
Tanks:
Anti-Tank:
Recon:
Artillery:
Aircraft:
Anti-Air:

{{Cuban Forces in Team Yankee}}

===Middle Eastern Powers===
{{topquote|The whole melodrama of the Middle East would be improved if amnesia were as common here as it is in melodramatic plots.|P. J. O'Rourke}}
What's that, the folks in Europe are shooting each other again? The War To End All Wars ended up getting another sequel?! Time for a renewed surge of violence in the Middle East!

Apart from Turkey, which did join NATO, nobody anywhere near the Middle East (except maybe the various Soviet "Stans" depending on where exactly your draw the middle east's borders) ever actually joined NATO or the Warsaw Pact. Both of those coalitions made overtures to the various nations in that region, partly because they knew the other was going to, and partly because some of those Middle Eastern countries are absolutely loaded with oil. Iran, Iraq, and Israel are the three major players as World War III in Europe inevitably spreads into the Middle East, and the one thing they agree on is they all hate each other with pretty much equal intensity.

In 1985, Iran is a theocratic Islamic republic that was westernizing until a few years ago when they decided to tell America to get rekd. Their neighbor is Iraq, a one party authoritarian dictatorship enjoying the benefits of America's new "Fuck Iran" policy. The two have been at war since 1980, and to pour gas on the fire they follow different branches of Islam.

Meanwhile on the coast, Israel is at war with... well pretty much everyone. The Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973, pitting Israel against Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and [[What|Cuba because why the fuck not]]. Officially most of these countries are still technically at war with Israel in 1985, although the fighting is mostly confined to Lebanon.

When WWIII winds its way into the desert, it finds two wars in full swing and a mess of complex backroom deals for arms and oil. The easiest case to understand is Israel. Israel in the 80's is the west's BFF, but they're regarded as a loose cannon for their tendency to [[That Guy|start shit and assassinator people]] seemingly just to remind the world that they exist. They're also known for not throwing ANYTHING away; in a serious fight their reservists would be using WW2 vintage hardware if they had to.

The Soviets best friend in the region is Iran, although this loyalty is only skin deep. The Ayatollah is no communist, he simply hates the decadent, heretical westerners. Right up until 1978 the Iranians had been getting the best hardware the west was willing to sell them. America wanted to make Iran a big fortress of freedom keeping the Soviets away from all the oil, but the revolution threw those plans out the window.

Iraq for their part had never really been anyone's friend. The Ba'athist party came to power in 1967 basically because the army was really mad at Israel. The Soviets were willing to sell them weapons but not the best stuff. But after Iran flipped off America, the CIA and the Saudis got really interested in propping up Iraq as an angry puppet against Iran.

Which brings us to the most notable non-participants in WWIII, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. The Saudis in 1985 are disgustingly rich, chummy with NATO but not vocal about it, and very vocal about hating Israel but talk is cheap. Meanwhile, Egypt in the 80's is under the leadership of a reformer who is less interested in war and more interested in using the Suez as an economic engine to rebuild Egypt (of course, even if Egypt were to not take sides in WW3, the Suez is just too strategically important to ignore...). Then there's Turkey. Turkey joined NATO in 1952, so it would very much be in this fight, and with it's location keeping the Black Sea fleet in the Black Sea and not causing trouble in the mediterranean, they very quickly be a front the Soviet would open to uncork that fleet and let it cause some real chaos, yet the Turk's lack an army list. . .yet.

In summary, the Middle East of the 80's is a mess of ambiguous allegiances colored by both extremely old and very new animosities. But in practical gameplay terms what it means is the opportunity to wield PACT hordes with the support of the latest western airbrrrrrrt (Iraq), or field older NATO tanks at Soviet discount prices (Iran), or shred <strike>goyim</strike> BMP and Milan spam with equal efficiently (Israel).

====Israel====
{{topquote|Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses: He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil.|Golda Meir}}

Difficulty: 3/5 (Effective against other Oil War armies, struggles against v2 armies)

Forged by near-constant war since State of Israel declared its independence in 1948 (instantly starting a war as its enraged Muslim neighbors all attacked), the Israel Defence Forces stand as one of most effective armies in 20th-century history. They are an army of Jews, sworn to act as the sword and shield of the long-dreamt-of Jewish homeland, and they are both well-trained, battle-hardened, and fiercely motivated. The IDF have lived with a "backs to the wall" mentality since the beginning; they know that losing once in the wrong time and wrong place could well mean losing Israel. But they also know that they're safer being feared; eighteen years before Team Yankee, Israel fought the Six Day War against all its neighbors and won, virtually obliterating the Egyptian and Jordanian air forces while taking the Sinai, and six years later held their gains in the Yom Kippur War.

Driven by constant pressure and the endless threat of danger and defeat, the IDF has been extremely innovative and adaptable with their equipment right from the start. They deliberately use literally ''anything'' they can get their hands on, with an array of weaponry ranging from World War II-vintage Sten SMG's, Soviet-made Shilkas captured from their not-so-friendly Muslim neighbors, purchased American tanks and a handful of home-grown items. While the WW2 tech has been passed to the reservists by now, Team Yankee's IDF options largely ignore this ramshackle history beyond a few looted wagons, which is a shame because M50 "Super Shermans" would be fun to use. You could, if you really wanted, use "Flames of War" and "Fate of a Nation" units to put together an IDF reservist force, but that would require extra work. The IDF in any format are well-trained and well-motivated. No matter what they're driving, flying or shooting, they are skilled and brave, making them a formidable enemy to anyone who goes up against them.

Israeli battlegroups have one of the deadliest anti-infantry arsenals with napalm bombers, tanks with Brutal and ROF 2 on the move, and infantry that could outfight the Americans' legendary 82nd Airborne. Anti-armour is a clear weakness, you only have a handful of units able to punch through previous generation tanks and nothing capable of hurting the latest tanks from the front. IDF units have nearly identical stats to the West Germans: 3+ stats across the board, except for 4+ assault and courage.

The Israelis may take allied NATO formations in their battlegroups.

Defining Units:
[[Merkava]], [[Pereh]]

;Strengths
*Deadliest anti-infantry weapons currently in the game.
*Infantry platoons which can beat tanks, and excel at firefights.
*Ideal for combined arms players with some experience.
*The closest thing IRL has to Cadians.

;Weaknesses
*Extremely few units which can penetrate 3rd generation tanks.
*Mediocre anti-air arsenal.
*Literally everyone else expects you to stab them in the back at some point.
*Terrified of shellfish.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Good at firefighting with strong stats but not much else. 3/5
Transports: The metal box of the free world...again. 3/5
Tanks: Great fire support, terrible tank killer. 3/5
Anti-Tank: Seriously lacks tools to deal with heavy tanks. 2/5
Recon: Mediocre, but cheap. 3/5
Artillery: 3+ skill, and you have an artillery piece for every mission. 4/5
Aircraft: Slightly weaker anti-armour, excellent anti-infantry. 4/5
Anti-Air: Solid SPAAGs, but suffers against NATO aircraft. 3/5

{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Iraq/Syria====
''Why are we on the same side as Israel?...and why are those Abrams giving me Déjà vu?"''

Difficulty: 4/5 (The challenge of a WARPAC list, made easier with NATO allies)

Universally feared in the Middle East as the strongest conventional military force in numbers and technology, the Iraqi Armed Forces boast a mix of Western and Soviet equipment and the largest military in the region. Despite being bested by the Israelis during the Six-Days War, the 80s Iraqis were a very respectable force in the context of a head-on conventional war. By 1990, they were the 4th largest army in the world with over 900,000 troops in the military with one of the largest tank fleets in the Middle East, though take that statement with a grain of salt about their effectiveness since by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War 1991 they had the second largest army in Iraq]. That being said, this all took place well after 1985, when back in 1979, despite Iraq being in the Soviet sphere of influence, the US gave some material support to Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war. You can make an argument for Iraq being on either NATO's or PACT's side in this conflict.

Iraqi lists are 'constructed' at the Division level, meaning that you have access to support units that would usually be found at the company level in other armies. While you do have a few French units, your combat troops have Soviet equipment and can be expected to perform like poorly trained PACT troops. Iraqis have 4+ stats across the board, except for 5+ assault and 5+ skill. They also operate at the company level like other PACT armies.

Uniquely for a faction with as much soviet gear as they do, Iraqis may take NATO allied formations in their battlegroups, if you've ever fantasized about a functional Iraqi-US coalition force. In game terms, this lets you have cheap conscript horde working alongside the best of the West. If you want a tarpit of conscripts protecting objectives while your Leopard 2s or Merkavas tear things up, this is the faction for you. You also have the USAF providing air cover with Warthogs and Harriers.

The Syrians are an official modification to the Iraqi list, losing the AMX AuF1, VCR/TH, AMX Roland, AMX-10P, US air support and all NATO allies. In exchange, they get access to the SU-25 and PACT allied formations.

Defining Units: [[T-62M|T-62]], [[Motor Rifle Company]]

;Strengths
*Large unit sizes with a point cost between East Germans and Czechs.
*Access to NATO tools like the AMX-AuF1 and the Gazelle HOT.
*Ideal for WARPAC commanders dabbling in NATO equipment and allies.

;Weaknesses
*Almost all support units at the divisional level.
*[[Planetary Defense Force|Units have the morale of WARPAC troops and the training of Russian conscripts.]]
*Addicted to nerve agents.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Tanned Pact troops with Ruskie training videos. 3/5
Transports: Many mediocre options for versatility. 3/5
Tanks: Inferior to Pact tanks, in training and tech. 2/5
Anti-Tank: Very fragile, but you can beat 3rd-gen tanks. 3/5
Recon: Cheap scout that can't kill anything. 2/5
Artillery: High-tech, average cost, low skill. 2/5
Aircraft: Nothing overpowered, but you have a solution for every problem. 4/5
Anti-Air: Plenty of options for the perfect AA net! 5/5

{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}

====Iran====
{{topquote|Throw away your prayer chain and buy yourself a gun. For prayer chains keep you in stillness while guns silence the enemies of Islam.|Ayatollah Khamenei}}

Difficulty: 4/5 (Excels in the hands of veterans, unfriendly to beginners.)

Formerly an American ally of convenience, and already at war with Iraq before World War III started in August 1985, the Islamic Republic of Iran has wound up as a de-facto ally of the atheistic Warsaw Pact. The underdogs of the Middle East, the Iranian military lack the generations of combat experience of the Israelis or the raw numbers of the Iraqis but compensate through sheer fanaticism. By the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian military was only able to repel invading Iraqi forces thanks to foreign equipment and local militias slowing the initial Iraq advance.

Iranian armies featured iconic Soviet platforms but typically used Western vehicles - without the latest upgrades, of course. It’s strange to see Iran side with the Soviet Union in this scenario, if only because they were one of the major backers of the Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan War. But politics can make for strange bedfellows indeed, and this fiercely religious state's alliance with the explicitly atheist USSR and its client states in Eastern Europe is far from the only unusual partnership of the 20th century.

The Iranians play with NATO vehicles using PACT doctrine (holdovers from the last regime, when the Americans propped up Iran as a buffer state against the Soviet Union), operating M113s and Chieftains as the backbone of their force. The Americans and British are obviously no longer supplying spare parts, but the Iranians manage somehow, running their bizarre mishmash of NATO and WarPac machines and weapons, some of which are still in service today. Statwise, the Iranians are more fanatical than Soviets with 3+ across the board, but with 5+ assault and skill. Your illiterate hajis won't understand orders but are guaranteed to outlast nearly any foe on the battlefield in a contest of attrition.

Iranian armies operate at the platoon level much like NATO's forces except for the Basij, and may take allied formations from the Warsaw Pact despite the communist hatred of all things religious. If you like NATO tanks, painting desert camo and <s>unironically saying Allahu Akbar </s> getting placed on FBI watchlists, boy do I have the army for you.

Defining Units:
[[Chieftain]], [[Basij Infantry Company]]

;Strengths
*Insanely cheap platoons that let you bring several companies easily.
*High morale means units can practically disregard pinning/bails/losses.
*Beige.
*Literal jihadists.

;Weaknesses
*Extremely squishy armour formations capped at 3 tank platoons.
*Atrocious anti-armour capability.
*I hope you like painting beige.
*Literal jihadists.

The Breakdown:
Infantry: Good balance between infantry spam and mediocre infantry. 4/5
Transports: Average transports with quite a bit of choice. 3/5
Tanks: Soviet tanks and outdated Chieftains. 2/5
Anti-Tank: Your strongest AT platoons can't penetrate an M1IP. 1/5
Recon: Passable: not bad, but not great. 3/5
Artillery: A calibre for every target and every list. 4/5
Aircraft: Passable anti-tank, lacks a bomber. 3/5
Anti-Air: Nearly identical to PACT anti-air. 4/5

{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}

===Asian powers===
You may have noticed that this may be a 'world war' but there is one notable part of the world currently left out of the fighting: Asia, and by Asia we mean China, and to a much lesser degree Japan and Korea. Korea is an easy one: that is a situation that would almost 100% pop off in a world war three situation. In our world Russian reduiced aid to North Korea in 1985 as under Mikhail Gorbachev, but in Team Yankee we got a military Hawk which is what set all this off. So this is a fight the USSR would be stoking if for no other reason then the USSR would love to draw US troops away from Europe and really put America's claim of being able to fight "Two-and-a-half wars" to the test. North Korea with heavy support from the USSR would also likely go for it. Japan meanwhile is still technically barred from waging offensive wars, but in 1960 they signed a defensive treaty in place with the USA that also is the legal justification for US military bases. So in a WW3 situation, USSR declares war on Europe, NATO triggers so America is at war, then the "''Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan''" triggers and Japan is also at war with the USSR, and presumable North Korea in the aforementioned situation where the USSR start's that up. There you go battlefront just wrote the plot of an entire expansion for you.

And now to address the Dragon in the room: China. China is. . .complicated. They are 100% a communist power and had this game been set during the late 50-60's China would be in this fight as well on the USSR side since the USSR helped the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in one of the Cold War's first proxy conflicts with the USA supporting the Nationalist who would later be reduced to Taiwan. But the two nations would drift apart and by the time of Team Yankee the two communists governments are very much split. Now a days China is seen as a super power and by 1985 it's very much a regional "Big Dog" just starting to flex it's international muscles in ways that it's still doing to this day. The big question of course is if WW3 started between the USSR and NATO: would China get involved? That is very hard to predict. You could say they join, reluctantly, with the Russians to prevent the USA from taking all of North Korea and putting a unfriendly power on there border. You could also say that the USA could preemptively strike China expecting them to join a war and wanting to get a cheap shot before there ready, which would make them join Russia that way. You could even make the argument they would join the American/NATO side in order to get territory grabs from the USSR and resolve some territorial disputes while there distracted. Really it's a crap shoot with them. And despite how logical it is for Asian action in this WW3 alternate history Battlefront is using, it's an open question they even show up at all given how touchy the CCP is about depictions of China and how tense things are between China and the west.

===Unofficial Rules - Alternative Nations and Special Forces===

Unlike the Swedish, who will undoubtedly get their own rules in years to come, you can follow the link below to play as one of the following nations: Spain (which actually joined NATO in 1982), Greece (joined NATO in 1952), Ireland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Denmark, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Portugal, Mexico, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, and Cuba.

You can also find unofficial rules for US Army Rangers, British Royal Marines, ANZAC SAS, Polish Spec Forces, Canadian Airborne, Iranian Spec Forces, East German Paratroops, Czech Airborne, French Foreign Legion, Soviet Naval Infantry, Iraqi and Syrian Republic Guard, Israeli Commandos and West German and Dutch Marines. You can even play now as Terrorists/ Guerrillas!

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344587741_TEAM_YANKEE_UNOFFICIAL_RULES_COMPENDIUM_-_NATIONAL_AND_SPECIAL_FORCES_RULES

Also it's not been done ''yet'' (and probabby in bad taste to do so just yet) but you could easily cobble together a pair of army lists to represent the Ukraine and Russian in there ongoing War given that most of the vehicles involved are already stated. The only thing you'd have to figure out would be how the hell to represent drones and it be a relatively easy project.

===The Neutral Powers===

(Only mentioned at the BF open so far, but don’t let that get your hopes down)

====Sweden====
Maintaining a policy of armed neutrality (leave us alone, we have guns) since 1814, Sweden never joined NATO despite its neighbors Denmark and Norway being among the first to sign up. The idea being that if ww3 ended up in an atomic fireball, Sweden be at the bottom of the target list and have a better then average chance of making it through, Finland had the same tactic BTW and went so far as to make literally every building a bunker to live through it.. However, it is extremely likely that in the event of a war, the Swedes would have broken their long-standing neutrality to support their Scandinavian comrades against the Communist threat to their way of coffee breaks every 2 hours.

This actually happens in Sir John Hackett's novel ''The Third World War: The Untold Story'', which Harold Coyle's ''Team Yankee'' is set within- the Swedes don't take kindly to the Soviet Air Force repeatedly invading their airspace to bomb Norway, and Sweden becomes a de facto NATO ally when they attack the Soviet bombers and the Soviets retaliate. So far that hasn't been made canon in Team Yankee: The Tabletop Game, but Battlefront Miniatures could change that at any time.

The Swedish military of 1985 was armed with some of the most distinctive weapons of the Cold War thanks to their homegrown defence industry. Designs, like the Stridsvagn 103 (or 'S' tank) and the Saab 35 'Draken' and 37 'Viggen' were strange even for the time. The Draken was of the first aircraft to successfully implement a delta-wing configuration and Viggen the canard delta layout; the design used in modern interceptor aircraft like the Rafale and the Typhoon fighter jets.

Sweden's infantrymen of the 80's had access to an excellent selection small arms, pragmatically picked from the best designs Europe had to offer. Their basic kit includes Glock pistols and a domestic clones of the H&K G3 and the FN FNC rifles, supported with 84mm Carl-Gustafs and a bewilderingly diverse inventory of machine guns. Their latest homegrown gadgetry at the time of Team Yankee is the then-prototype m/94 Strix, a 120mm mortar round with anti-tank heat-seeking terminal guidance; essentially a poor man's copperhead but in some sense a better overall system.

As with other Scandinavian armies, their forces were rather small. This meant that their funding per soldier was almost equal to other Western European nations, giving them a small force of well-trained and equipped troops that constantly stink of pickled herring.

Defining Units:
[[Strv 103]]

;Strengths
*Free shipping for orders above $50.
*Excellent cars and fishes.

;Weaknesses
*Has [[Munchkin|min-maxed tanks]]
*Screwdriver sold separately.

The Breakdown:

{{Swedish Forces in Team Yankee}}

==FAQ/General Bulletin==
*There are three kinds of teams: Tank Teams, Infantry Teams, and Aircraft Teams
**Tank Teams include every type of ground based vehicle, not just literal tanks. It is further broken down into Armoured, Unarmoured, and Transport types
**Infantry Teams include all units made up of men fighting on foot
**Aircraft Teams are comprised of Strike Aircraft and Helicopters

*For most units moving will lead to worse shooting (or not being able to shoot at all)
*Tactical Speed allows you to shoot after moving
*Dash speed prohibits shooting and the maximum distance depends on the unit and the terrain
*Tank Teams must roll higher than their Cross value when moving into or through terrain or immediately end their movement
*Movement can be enhanced using various orders based on Skill or Motivation
*Friendly Tank and Infantry Teams can move through each other
*Tank Teams can never move through other Tank Teams (except wrecks)

*Units are hit based on their own Is Hit On value and not the shooting team's skill
**A unit's Is Hit On value is modified by Concealment, Smoke, and other factors
**Remaining in place and not shooting will make your units Gone To Ground
**Units that are Gone to Ground and also Concealed are even harder to hit
*Infantry, aircraft, and soft skinned vehicles that are hit must make a saving throw or be destroyed
**If the infantry unit is in Bullet Proof Cover the shooting team must also pass a Fire Power test
**Armored vehicles take the armor value (AV) on the card, add a d6, and compare it to the shooting weapon's anti-tank (AT) value
***If the total is less than the shooting weapon's AT then the target fails their Armour Save (if the weapon's AT exceeding your AV by 6 or more you will automatically fail)
***If the total is the same as the shooting weapon's AT then the target also fails but the shot does limited damage
***Failing an Armour Save does not mean automatic destruction. If the shooting unit then fails a Firepower roll the target stays alive (but is possibly Bailed Out)
***The hull and turret are considered separately. Roll a d6 if both are exposed. On a 4+ the turret (if there is one) is hit instead of the hull
****This only matters if the shooting unit is flanking the target (behind a line drawn across the front of the hull or turret)
*Long Range shooting carries a penalty to hit and AT (but this is often negated by rules for Laser Range Finders or Guided Missile technology)

*You will find the rules on the back of cards, but just in case you're simply browsing, here are what they all mean
**Brutal: Forces infantry units to reroll saves against this weapon
**Laser Rangefinder: Negates penalty of shooting at longer range
**Advanced Stabilizer: Increases the units maximum Tactical Speed
**Stabilizer: Increases the units maximum Tactical Speed, but adds a penalty to shooting when moving beyond the standard Tactical Speed
**Dedicated AA: Allows you to use full ROF against air units instead of just one die
**HEAT: Negates Firepower penalty for Long Range
**Guided: Negates hit penalty for Long Range
**Thermal Imaging: Allows unit to ignore smoke, friendly or foe

==Books==
<gallery>
File:Team-Yankee-cover.jpg|Da Big Rulebook
File:Iron Maiden Cover.jpg|Iron Maiden
File:Leopard Cover.jpg|Leopard
File:Panzertruppen Cover.jpg|Panzertruppen: sort of an addendum to Leopard
File:Volksarmee Cover.jpg|Volksarmee
File:FW909.jpg|Red Thunder
File:Stripes cover.jpg|Stripes
File:Freenationscover.jpg|Free Nations
File:Czech book.jpg|Czechoslovak Peoples Army
File:Polish book.jpg|Polish Peoples Army
File:Oilwar.jpg|Oil War
File:WWIII-BRITISH-cover.jpg|British Book II
</gallery>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:McPizza_King.jpg|Ramirez! Defend the <s>Burgertown</s> McPizza King!
File:Lynx & Btr-60s.jpg|''Gott im Himmel'' there's hundreds of them!
File:Marinecorps AAVP7.jpg|ONE TWO THREE FOUR, I LOVE THE MARINE CORPS!
File:CheiftainvsT64.jpg|Take that you dastardly Russians!
File:Afgantsy Choppers.jpg|Like a swarm of angry hornets.
File:Cheiftain on the road.jpg|Yes, the might of Great Britain has arrived.
File:New Bradley Mini.jpg|
File:Desert Bradley.jpg|

</gallery>

==External Links==
[http://www.team-yankee.com/ The Official Team Yankee website]

[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrwatpGKP655UI1CjcmKQrcY5uiO_HHB7/ A somewhat outdated starter guide]

[[Category:Wargames]]
[[Category:Battlefont Miniatures]]
[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Flames Of War]]

Nagash

2023-02-11T09:38:41Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:EDEB:861A:D4A:E677:

{{cleanup}}
{{sick|The biggest douchebag in the entire setting is him & give or take the Chaos Gods.}}

[[File:Age Nagash.jpg|right|600px|thumb|What an [[Assholetep|asshole]] and a colossal skeletal dickhead.]]

<div style="text-align:left;font-size:1.10em;font-weight:italic;font-style:bold;font-family:MS Gothic;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em">FEAR ME AND MY SKELETAL APPENDAGES! - Nagash overcompensating with his top hat.'''</div>

{{Topquote|If you won't '''bow''' before a sultan, '''THEN YOU WILL COWER BEFORE A SORCERER!!!'''|Jafar, Aladdin}}

{{Topquote|There will be no escape, no blessed oblivion. I can end your life as easily as I can extinguish a candle, and before your corpse is cold, I can reach out and grasp your soul. You will be my slave for all eternity, and I shall laugh at the depths of your pain. Such is the power of Nagash.|The man himself}}

40K has [[Erebus]], and Fantasy/Age of Sigmar has this asshole.

'''Nagash''' the Undying, also known as '''kreekar-gan''' (translation; The Burning Man) by the Skaven, Skelepope and Big Bone Daddy, is the <s>god of overly giant hats</s> first [[Necromancer]] and arguably the second <s>most evil character</s> <s>biggest asshole</s> most evil badass asshole Mortal character to ever curse the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] world. Ever. How he ranks compared to the the Chaos Gods and [[Matthew Ward]] we leave as an exercise for the readers.

Nagash has zero redeeming factors and was an obvious sociopath from day one (more on that below). His favourite food is chocolate ganache.

He went into hand-to-hand combat with the likes of [[Sigmar]], and has plans to kick [[Khorne]], [[Tzeentch]], [[Slaanesh]], and [[Nurgle]] (as of Age of Sigmar, the [[Horned Rat|Great Horned Rat]] as well) out of the [[Warp]] and become [[Chaos]] itself. Despite being the setting's main villain apart from [[Archaon]] and the Chaos Gods, he hasn't been directly involved in as much as you think. To be fair, he did destroy Nehekhara, nearly killed Sigmar (but successfully handicapped him until his ascension) and used his armies of undead to [[Awesome|fight THE ENTIRE SKAVEN EMPIRE to a stalemate]], but until the End Times (see below), his main mark on the setting was creating Necromancy and what his various [[Vampire Counts|fan-clubs]] and [[Tomb Kings|critics]] did with it. In [[Age of Sigmar]], he leads [[Grand Alliance: Death]].

==Early life==
Nagash was the firstborn son of King Khetep of Khemri. Unlike most places, in Nehekhara the firstborn sons of the royal family were given to the temples and the second sons became kings. Before he was forced to joined the Mortuary Cult, Nagash joined a Nehekharan war against Lizardmen who were attacking Lybaras. The Khemrian army was led by his father Khetep, but after Khetep fell ill during the campaign Nagash took command. He relentlessly pursued his father's campaign until the Lizardmen leader was finally killed in action. After that, Nagash ruled the city of Rasetra (which Khetep had used as a strategic point against the Lizardmen) as a king for 6 months while his father recovered. At which point Khetep left the city of Rasetra to one of his generals and gave Nagash to the Mortuary Cult. For unknown reasons, Khetep covered up Nagash's brief period of rulership, rewriting history to call Nagash a "brave warrior" and nothing more. It was Nagash first taste of rulership, and the first time he had it ripped from his grasp.

As a Mortuary Priest, Nagash was brilliant and quickly rose to become its High Priest. Nagash at that time was able to accurately predicted Morrslieb's sighting, a feat no other priests were able to accomplish. Like all Mortuary Priests, he was searching for a means to achieve immortality at the command of the by then (oh irony!) long-dead [[Settra the Imperishable]]. Unlike most Mortuary Priests, Nagash hated his job and craved greater magical power and king, lamenting that in every other nation he knew of firstborn sons took the throne. One day he saw the hot chick his brother was betrothed to, feeling sexual attraction for the first time in his life. He sought to steal her from his brother (note: Nagash merely saw her as a trophy, not a person to adore or treasure), and failed horribly. Knowing she would've been his if not for the royal traditions and priests' traditional celibacy, Nagash decided enough was enough for him. It was time to act (read: scheme)!

When King Khetep died horribly in battle against Zandri's army, Nagash's younger brother Thutep took the throne and became the ruler of Khemri. Nagash seethed under Thutep's weak rule, a perception which was only reinforced by Thutep's diplomatic concessions and Khemri's dwindling prestige. While tending to his father's body, the only thing Nagash felt about his father's death (which was the first red flag for the uninitiated that something was wrong with the guy) was interest in what killed him, for his corpse bore the marks of powerful dark magic. While extracting Khetep's organs for mummification, Nagash saw they had been blackened and twisted together by unknown foul magic; a power unlike that of any Nehekaran Mortuary Priest or the blessings of their gods.

Unfortunately for the Khemrians, and the world as a whole, Nagash found the source of this magic. During his father's burial ceremony, a Zandrian diplomat arrived and offered [[Dark Elves|three unidentified humanoids with snow white hair, pale skin and pointy ears]] as sacrificial slaves. This immediately drew Nagash's attention, and he speculated that they may have been used by the Zandrian army as slaves/mercenaries against his father, but had become so feared thanks to their dark magic that the Zandrians chose to betray them. His suspicions were proven correct when he sensed a weak and cold power from one of the female captives, who was quietly channeling her power (Note: the three of them were all drugged up to make them easier to subdue). Nagash, quick to an seize opportunity when he saw one, ostensibly agreed and took custody of the three elves. Although they were supposed to be poisoned and entombed along with his father, he ordered his assistant priest to drug them with sleeping medicines instead and had them imprisoned somewhere else.

This brings in two interesting pieces of trivia. The first that this trio of Dark Elves were the leaders of the covert-op unit that was killing Dwarf caravans to start the [[War of the Beard]]. So we can place Nagash in the timeline properly; the first Nagash novel occurs approximately just after the second War of Vengeance novel and demonstrates another way the Dark Elves have helped fuck up the world. The second is that, before being put under, the male captive spoke to the Nehekharan crowd in their language saying that [[Irony|whoever killed them would have their flesh slough from their bones and their land would fall to ruin]], [[Tomb Kings|which would come true, just not in the way anyone would've predicted]]. Apparently, the Dark Elves had a natural talent at unknowingly predicting other's doom, just like how they predicted Malekith's.

===Invention of Necromancy===

[[File:Wallpaper-nagash-sorcerer.jpg||thumb|right|400px|Nagash; once was human, always was an asshole.]]
But back to Nagash: he trapped the three magic-users in his father's pyramid full of lethal traps, and forced them to barter their sorcerous knowledge for him revealing what and where the traps were. Despite this, they were far from subdued, demanding whatever they could from Nagash, from silk pillows to books (particularly ones about tomb construction, architecture and escapology...). From the trio, Nagash learned of the Chaos Gate in the far north and the Winds of Magic that blew from it, and how they could be harnessed by a careful practitioner. Unlike the magics of Khemri, which relied on the intercession of the Nehekaran gods, Nagash learned that mortals could manipulate magic for themselves. He learned of Dark Magic and of how it coagulated into warpstone.

Although the Dark Elves withheld their juiciest secrets, Nagash still managed to reach an unparalleled (in humans) mastery of dark magic, because he was still an extremely intelligent member of the Mortuary Cult. However, Nagash very quickly deduced that his very human nature limited his ability to draw and channel magical energy (the reason why [[Teclis]] would create the Imperial Schools of Magic drawing on a single aspect instead of the full raw power like High/Dark magic does). He performed many experiments of his own along with other evil magic-y things; combining what he could use of the Dark Elves' craft with ways to call upon power as a human (all of which invariably involved mass human sacrifices, which was how the Dark Elves showed him the limits of his power, but Nagash didn't give a single fuck about human life besides his own and only did the bare minimum to remain discreet).

Eventually the Dark Elves read enough Harry Houdini books to escape the tomb. Near the exit, they found Nagash standing in their path to freedom, who told them their freedom rested upon them beating him in a magical battle. Although the Dark Elves outnumbered Nagash, one had been crippled by a poison dart from the tomb's traps and the rest still underestimated Nagash, so he still ended up brutally killing them and consuming their souls (you know that when someone can out-evil and out-betray '''Dark Elves''', they're cold mothafuckas).

Taking everything he’d learnt, Nagash created an elixir out of human blood which allowed him to stay alive through death (although the body degenerated, becoming essentially a lich without a Phylactery). He wandered the Necropolis of Khemri, summoning spirits of the departed and daemons with his new power, and learned great secrets. He penned nine different [[Necronomicon]]s/Books of Vile Darkness which contain all of his work and experiments (which nobody to date has ever managed to attain the same degree of working knowledge of; because Nagash took a leaf from [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]] and infused part of himself in each of his artefacts so no one but him could master them). The books explain the details and use of Necromancy, a form of magic that Nagash had codified from death magic along with the rituals of the Tomb Kings and the various Dark Magic tidbits his Dark Elf tutors gave him (He was not the first to attempt this, but he was the first to be so unequivocally successful). Necromancy, although usable by the forces of Chaos, also repels it; in a way the Undead are artificial Daemons made of equal amount of magic and material which flips the middle finger at the laws (as much as Chaos can be said to have such laws anyway) of both.

===King of Khemri===
During his studies Nagash also planned to overthrow his brother, scheming with several disgruntled military officers and nobles ([[Arkhan the Black|including a certain wastrel called Arkhan who would go on to become his infamous right-hand man]]). He gave them all a sip of his elixir, with Arkhan being the first to take it. When Thutep learned (warned by his vizier) of Nagash's experiments with dark magic via investigating the disappearances of the people he sacrificed, he took some royal guards and confronted Nagash. While many of Nagash's followers died, his inner circle didn't and Nagash used his dark magic to kill all but Thutep. Nagash then killed his brother by entombing him alive in their father’s pyramid.

The next morning, Nagash claimed the throne of Khemri for himself along with Thutep’s wife, Neferem (finally gotten that squared away). Despite being the only woman he's ever been attracted to, Nagash was a terrible husband to her. It's all but stated he abused her, used her as a sex object with no care for her pleasure (she later then cut off his penis for revenge), her handmaidens were terrified of him and his murder of Thutep was about as secret as [[A Song of Ice and Fire|the incestuous habits of the Lannister twins]]. To secure his throne, he secretly murdered her son (also his nephew) and used his body and soul to make a variant of the elixir to make her his sort of undead sex-slave (bruh). Nagash assembled the largest pyramid in Nehekhara (a big feat) made entirely out of black marble. However, doing so was expensive, and Nagash demanded such a large tribute of building materials and slaves that he nearly bankrupted Nehekhara; the fabulously wealthy kingdom became as poor as Detroit. During this time, his unholy work had become an open secret, and many others in Khemri flocked to his promises of immortality and power as well as a third of the Priests of Khemri (the rest of the priests were killed when they rebelled).

However, the other Kings of Nehekhara were utterly appalled at Nagash's reign of terror. Enraged at the corruption he had brought, and in fear of the wrath of the gods, the kings from seven other lesser cities formed an alliance to force Nagash from his throne. A powerful army was raised against Khemri.

Nagash, in turn, used the Black Pyramid to channel the energies of his Necromancy and raise an army of the undead - a horde of skeletons to destroy the attacking armies. [[Just as planned]]. Such a thing was unheard of, and in the death-obsessed culture of Nehekhara, it was recognised as the greatest of obscenities. Hundreds fled, terrified by the thoughts of battle against the departed. Things got even worse when Nagash had his undead wife killed, ending her bloodline and breaking the covenant between the Nehekharans and their gods. However, all was not lost. Although many did flee the sight of the dead army, the forces of the other kings rallied; Lybaras brought with them new technologies (including [[Awesome|steam-powered hot air balloons]]). Rasetra bought their Lizardmen mercenaries as well as their hardened soldiers that fights them on daily basis. The Lahmian, led by Lamashizzar, brought his famed '''Dragon Force''' soldiers who wields "dragon staff" (guns) that was bought from Cathay (which they made a deal with the Cathayan by giving them their city if they couldn't pay them). With the awesome new tech, they managed to push the undead back to Khemri and after a final battle at Maharak, they defeated Nagash.

There were TWO crucial details about Nagash's defeat. First was that his undead army suffered months of brutal attrition during the siege of Mahrak. The city of hope had the most powerful of the gods blessings and the most powerful Ushabti (not statues, actual demi-god soldiers) garrisoned in the city as well as magic defences like a high temperature death field and a force field that blocked catapult shots. By the time Nagash had figured out that killing Neferem was the only way to take away Nehekharan's blessing from the gods and thus neutralize Mahrak's defences, his army was already in tatters. The second was the surprise attack from Lamashizzar's dragon staff troops. Lamashizzar had so long desired Nagash's elixir of longevity that he went to pledge Nagash his allegiance prior the final siege. Little did Nagash knew Lamashizzar ended up betraying him just as Nagash reached the heart of the city where the many temples of the gods resided. The ranged firepower coming from Lamashizzar's Dragon Force mortally wounded Nagash and shattered his skeleton army. For some reason, the gunfire left an incurable wound on his left shoulder which he was unable to regenerate, even with the power of his elixir or with the pyramid's power. His resulting loss of consciousness from the injury meant that his followers, including Arkhan, and what remained of his undead army had to cover his retreat to his sarcophagus within the Black Pyramid.

After the battle, it was generally decided at that time that all that Nagash had wrought during his accursed reign should be destroyed: the cabal of twisted followers he had ensnared to his ghastly practices were put to the sword, the Black Pyramid was sealed and great fires consumed much of what Nagash had done and written — even his precious Nine tomes were believed to be among the ashes...

==The Great Necromancer==
{{Topquote|If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live after he's died, then maybe he was a great man. Immortality is the only true success.|James Dean}}
Nagash had not been destroyed, but had fled into the desert; the Saharan-style one with no water anywhere. He wandered through the desert, yelling and raging to scare off the hungry jackals that followed him, until he got far enough into the desert that even they abandoned the chase. Without any of his elixir, he was doomed to perish in the wastes.

One night, he did die. During this time his brother Thutep's soul (as well as many others he had fucked over) found his and rightfully castigated Nagash over all of his evil. They pointed out that breaking the covenant with the gods had made it hard for the dead to find Nehekhara's version of heaven, and they wanted payback against Nagash. However, the next morning, Nagash returned to his body, got right back up and kept walking.

[[Awesome|That's right, Nagash went "fuck this!" to being dead and just kept going.]] (Once again, another being who makes the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emprah]] look like a failure. [[Archaon|It's sort of a theme in Fantasy though]]).
[[File:Nagash-necromancer.jpg|400px|thumb|right|"Death? Been there, done that, no thanks."]]

This is where he first encountered the Skaven. He was traveling towards the direction of the Sour Sea (the area on the upper right of the Nehekhara), sensing some sort of magical power from one of its "dark mountains". He saw four Skaven warpstone scavengers, and had an idea. Nagash, like a smooth undead assassin, pretended to be dead and when one of the rat hunters found and decided to eat him, Nagash surprised the rat with a bite to the neck. The others, except one that ran away, were killed and eaten by Nagash. In consuming them, he found that a mysterious power within the rat's blood gave him more replenishment than all the elixir he had ever consumed. Then, a faintly glowing green light on one of the rat hunters' clothes caught Nagash's attention, and that's how he discovered warpstone.

As Nagash examined the rock, he found bite marks on it, prompting the assumption that it was not only edible, but also the source of power that he had felt when he consumed the rat. He then decided to eat the stone, the smallest piece out of the 3 he had smashed it into. The stone gave Nagash a painful sensation like never before, but gave him enough power to heal his incurable gunshot wounds from the war, popping the bullets from his body like some anime character, as well as the energies he needed to continue his search. Sadly, the stone also fucked up his vision and his sense of direction, forcing him to [[Fail|wander the wasteland for 139 fucking years]] like an undead meth-head Moses.

After that embarrassing 139-years-[[drug|warpstoned trip]], Nagash came off his high and started to study (one of the only things he excels at) the warpstone for other purposes. Naming it Ab-ni'khat, Nagash learned warpstone pieces resonate near each other, which led him to start a warpstone hunt. Although he found some of them during his hunt, too many times for his liking he found that the Skaven got there first and took all the warpstone, which made Nagash swear to kill and eat every ratman he came across. After that, he eventually decided to just rely on his instincts and head to the dark mountain. By the time he arrived, the mountainside was inhabited by a tribe of humans formed during the century he'd spent "stoned".

This barbarian tribe were called '''Yaghur'''. Unlike the Norscan barbarians, which Nagash knew only as slaves back in his days at Khemri, these barbarians' appearances had much more in common with Nehekharans, with a few mutations due to the warpstone's influence. While studying the daily lives and behavior of the Yaghur, he realized that while most of the tribesmen had a mutated appearance, a few of them, namely their "high priests" (who wore long robes and carried out funeral rites and other rituals) were not mutated due to their thorough understanding and control of the stones. These priests sat at the top of the barbarian hierarchy, and were in fact a type of necromancer who used the barbarians to harvest souls and dead bodies for their own means while chilling in the hilltop castle like the nobility they are.

In order to gain more power and information on warpstone, Nagash decided to take over the barbarian tribe. With some luck and his magic, he secretly resurrected the dead for his warpstone manual labor, and even gained a living follower after he "accidentally" spared him. He then used his undead armies and his magic power (amplified by the warpstone he had mined) to conquer them and, with an army of living and undead, made a new domain for himself. After 247 years of some fighting and slaving against the chaos worshipers living in the east at the plain of bones (the location where Vorag's fortress "will" be) led by a chieftain with 3 sorcerers, he began turning the mountain into a fortress-city to inspire terror and awe the world over - [[Nagashizzar]].

Such a large amount of warpstone drew other creatures (helped along by a treacherous servant of Nagash), namely Skaven. Upon learning about the mountain full of warpstone, [[derp|the Skaven councils began their usual backstabbing contest to see who gets the mountain, which laughably lasted for 25 years]]. They only stopped backstabbing each other when they remembered they'd miss out on the warpstone if they focused on infighting, thus they decided to form an alliance and created the biggest expedition in Skaven history. It was filled with a clusterfuck of rats from each clan, so big that the councils believed they'd conquer the mountain within a month. This expedition was led by Eekrit Backbiter, Warlord of Clan Rikek with his Chief assassin Eshreegar by his side and his idiotic assistant Lord Hiirc on the other.

When the Skaven began attacking the mining force, Nagash sensed the absence of his skeleton miners and initially believed to be the work of treacherous "living" barbarians among his army. When he actually saw an armored Skaven through the vision of one of his skeletons, Nagash's reaction was reasonably ''PISSED OFF''. He hated the Skaven for being cowardly, coyote-like beasts who used any means to get their dirty little paws on '''his''' warpstone. He wasted no time and took control of his army, hoping he could find the rat hole they came from and erase their existence from the world for good.

The Skaven armies were vast, but Nagash's magic abilities were also great, as was his army of undead. At the time, the Skaven had a very old version of a warpfire thrower - a very large bronze device mounted on a wooden cart pushed by four ratmen - and it was powerful enough to melt some of Nagash's living servants. The warpfire thrower even almost killed Nagash himself. Though he raised corpses in front of him fast enough to avoid getting completely facefucked, and destroyed it with a magic missile to the back as the rats turned the weapon away, the warpfire left permanent damage to Nagash's body and weakened his powers.

At one point, Nagash launched a crucial battle against the skaven stronghold after extracting information from a Skaven chieftain's mind using a torture device of his own creation to discover its whereabouts. His battle plan was to ambush the Skaven from two sides using secret tunnels he had dug. The plan wasn't known to his servants because he believed there are traitors that could leak it to the Skaven. Still, his plan was known to the Skaven already and thus Nagash's invading forces in the tunnel were met with Skaven forces pushing them back. On the battlefield , Nagash hacked and slashed the ratmen using an obsidian blade he took from a certain northern barbarian's grave and buffed with his own spellwork (possibly '''Mortis''' aka '''Zefet-nebtar'''). His enemies were strong, led by Hiirc and an old as fuck Grey seer named '''Velsquee'''. Although Nagash's ambush plan failed, he was able to devastate the main Skaven army with him and his combined army of barbarians and undead skeletons alone while being bombarded by poison wind mortars.

He managed to get near Hiirc and was going to kill him, only to be blasted by magic from his enslaved barbarian witch '''Akatha'''. She confirmed his prior suspicions by announcing she was the traitor who called the Skaven into the mountain and revealed his plans to the rats by telepathically sending messages to their Grey Seers. Nagash tried to retaliate, but his magic was depleted and Akatha's magical charm protected her, forcing Nagash to direct some of his undead troops to take it from her. Without her charm, the vulnerable Akatha had her soul joyfully devoured by Nagash with the mocking parting words of "''darkness awaits you''", leaving her dried body to be ripped apart by the undead Skaven.

With the traitor eliminated, Nagash uncovered his other hidden forces from the caves on top as well as scarab constructs he had created to fight the Skaven. He later fought the grey seer in a melee duel. Despite the rat's old age, he put up a decent fight against Nagash, even dealt a mutual wound that broke his horn but broke Nagash's skull in return. Still, the tide turned when Nagash destroyed the poison wind mortar team by throwing skaven slaves onto its ammunition, causing a chain explosion that spelled the doom to the weapon teams, as well as the main Skaven army that inhaled the poison wind. The Skaven had lost this important battle. Velsquee was wounded but survived, but Hiirc was met with a treacherous knife from Lord Eekrit after he was found near the ruins of his War Litter.

After this defeat, the Skaven forces were not only forced to abandon their previous conquered warpstone mine, the councils also dissolved the alliance of clans and disbanding the expeditionary force due to its war of attrition against Nagash. Lord Eekrik's forces were left with no reinforcement nor resources and Nagashizzar is now known infamous among the Skaven as '''The Cursed Pit'''. Although befret of a conquering army, the Skaven resort to futile guerrilla harassment against Nagash and his forces also depleted of manpower/corpses and warpstone. It was at that moment Nagash decided to send his servant to offer the Skaven a truce: he would give them some warpstone if they gave him slaves in exchange.

The Skaven, wary of his plans (due to being naturally untrusting and a prophecy foretold by the Grey Seer '''Qweeqwol'''), but coveting the warpstone, agreed. Although Lord Eekrit was disappointed and frustrated for failing to beat bone daddy, he had no choice for he has nowhere left to go (going back to Skavenblight would mean embarrassment and execution by a council assassin). Lord Eekrit grudgingly accepted the truce after hearing Lord Velsquee's suggestion (Eekrikt will take the deal and later kill Nagash at the right moment). Eekrit's forces lured several Savage Orc tribes into the pits beneath the fortress for Nagash to slaughter and use for his rituals. It wasn't profitable however, since the warpstones they received was about as much as they had mined during the war, and taking captives from orcs was difficult and dangerous. The large amount of souls from the captives allows Nagash to replenish him and strengthen his newly raised undead soldiers like never before. Having witness all this, Eekrit's resentment of the arrangement could only grow.

Having finally made a truce with the Skaven and gaining lots of useful materials from their trade, Nagash decided to further strengthen himself with a set of war gears. At The mountain's highest peak was its tower, Nagash and his three lieutenants forged his Black Armour (AKA '''Morikhane''') in a long and painful ritual using Gromril (a known Dwarf favored mineral he got from the Skaven), obsidian, and some warpstone dust. Although Nagash had no idea how to into smithery, let alone work gromril, he did it nonetheless with the help of his three lieutenants and lots of magic. Obsidian and Gromril in the pot was mixed in with warpstone and fused onto Nagash's body, piece by piece through a long and complicated incantation he had thought of. The armor was a success, offering powerful protection and undoing the damage the Skaven warpfire had wrought on his body. It is also at that time Arkhan the Black was brought back from the dead by Nagash and has been acting as a negotiator for the skaven as well as his spokesman for guests.

His three lieutenants, completely worn out and their flesh withered by the magics used in the forging, were complimented by Nagash for a job well done... then killed and sent to the "destroyed underworld" to deliver his hated foes (aka his brother and other people he fucked over) a message that their vengeance will never come. He then went to forge his '''Crown of Sorcery''' using the remaining materials in the pot. The crown was special however because it required an even longer and complicated incantation and had to be forged by Nagash alone, who -again - had never studied smithery in his life. As Nagash struck the metal with his hammer, he injects it with memories and experiences his living life; his hatred, lust, vengeance and all that edgy stuff went into the crown. The finished crown was ugly, but nonetheless a dangerous yet powerful artifact that made Nagash even stronger.

While forging the crown, Nagash was telepathically bothered by a [[W'soran|nerdy bloodsucking fanboy of his]] who wished to summon him. Though magic or astronomy, Nagash had learned of the day where Sakhmet the green witch (aka Morrslieb) covered Neru (moon) and put that in one of his books. That book was stolen by Lamashizzar and found its way into W'soran's hands, who used it to find that exact time and use its power to summon Nagash. Not appreciating the interruption, Nagash took one look at W'soran with his green burning eyes then telepathically grasped him with his invisible hand, squeezed him like an insect then blots out the pathetic nerd's mind. W'soran will be staked in the heart and imprisoned soon after, but will be freed 22 years later where Lahmia will be besieged.

After [[Neferata]] and other well known Vampires failed defending Lahmia, the surviving vampires fled to other corners of the world like bitches. [[W'soran]] and his vampire followers too survived and made a long journey to Nagashizzar in order to pledge their allegiance to Nagash by offering his stolen book. Upon meeting W'soran, Nagash at first was about to devour W'soran until the vampire mentioned "a usurper" by the name Alcadizzar, a Rastraian who has claimed the throne of Khemri and even claimed himself to be one of Settra's descendants. Intrigued, Nagash spared W'soran, had him spill the beans and took in the Vampires as part of his invasion forces.

With W'soran and Arkhan leading his MASSIVE SKELETON LEGION including many deadly constructs and bone giants, Nagash was ready to destroy Nekehara!! Or so he thought. [[Alcadizzar]], a Rastran prince and the new king of Khemri/Nehekhara has long since informed about Nagash's invasion and has been doing a fuck ton of homework and improvements to his military technology. Alcadizzar was not only a brilliant strategist, but also an innovator. Despite Nehekharans no longer being capable of using their gods' miracles, Alcadizzar built magic academies and created a fuck ton of ways to kill the undead (all without the help of some [[Teclis|pointy ears]], suck it Volan!). Limited magical rune weapons were produced at Ka-sabar and were distributed among the Nehekharan armies. They allow the Nehekharan soldiers to one-shot undead in combat (some serious power creep only the Empire wishes they could achieve). A [[Farsqueaker|telepathic communication (aka magic telephone)]] network was also established in order for Alcadizzar to track the undead armies' movement as well as allow him to make other improvements without the need to travel around the countryside.

Despite having a gigantic army and shared master, W'soran and Arkhan didn't get along. W'soran considered Arkhan a coward while Arkhan considered W'soran an arrogant fool. They suffered heavy casualties even against a typical Nehekharan army, now armed with magic arrows and weapons good for killing undead warriors. Arkhan found it annoying that his spells kept getting dispelled by the enemy casters, but they still destroyed them with their larger army. They managed to raze Maharak to the ground at least (as revenge from Nagash) since not only it is the closest Nehekharan city near Nagashizzar (Lahamia was the closest, but was razed in the aftermath of the Vampire war), it is also the home of those salty mortuary cult priests, a bunch of old folks who no longer had any power, were facing poverty, and were too stubborn to accept any improvement from Alcadizzar.

Arkhan and W'soran would face their utter defeat at the Valley of Kings (also known as Charnel Valley, as well as [[Queek Head-Taker]]'s [[Total War: WARHAMMER|starting province in Mortal Empires]]). That valley path is a well known strategical location for the Nehekharans since the era of Settra. Alcadizzar carefully [[Rogal Dorn|fortified its position]], hid numerous traps and installed artillery such as flaming tar rock throwers against the undead legion. By the time the undead had breached all three sturdy walls and their defences, they suffered losses that halved their number. Alcadizzar and his armies then came at the right moment, just as the undead legion had arrived at the end of the valley, and dealt a swift blow against the undead forces. Arkhan was forced to retreat and W'soran escaped using some kind of scarab magic after all of his vampire servants were slain in battle. After this, the once mighty undead legion was merely a regular-sized army, forced into a fighting retreat against the Nehekharans. By the time Arkhan retreated back to Nagashizzar, only a tenth of the original legion remained.

Alcadizzar was going to chase after Nagash but gave up after he learned from his trusted prophetess that he would win such a fight but lose everything in winning, so he decided to enjoy the life he had always wanted with his family.

Nagash was so furious at his army's poor performance that he raged for 7 days and 7 nights. His voice trembled across the fortress and tunnels causing quakes and his magical power spikes to make his body light up the fortress like a lantern. Once he stopped killing failed minions and wrecking shit, he sat down and brooded. Nagash had gained knowledge of all of the Winds, including those that did not blow through Nehekhara, and became one of the only mortals to gain a grasp of understanding about the Chaos Gods without his mind breaking. Far from it in fact, he saw them as a goal; to become Chaos and rule over the material plane consisting only of the mindless Undead. His first targets were, naturally, the Nehekharans. He paid the Skaven to poison the Vitae Tarn (also known as Mortis Tarn after this incident), a lake that contributed the primary water source of the entire Nehekhara region and spread its corruption through every river it connects, including the crucial River Vitae (later known as the River Mortis after this incident) and unleashed a magical plague to decimate every living thing in Nehekhara (ironic, considering Nagash and Nurgle don't get along later). Note that the poison was warpstone disks with various rune carved on them, suggesting that it was actually warpstone particles that was flowing down the river which allowed Nagash to control whoever inhaled those particles. After the plague decimated over three quarters of the living population, Nagash sent an undead army to Khemri to slaughter the rare few who had survived the plague, except Alcadizaar, who was to be captured and brought to Nagash.

Nagash had a massive plan, and he had spared Alcadizzar for a reason, even made sure his magical plague wouldn't infect Alcadizzar no matter what. Nagash needed him as a focus for his new master plan: [[Grimdark|a massive spell that would kill EVERYTHING living in Nehekhara and render it a literal no-man's-land with no water, no vegetation, no animals, nothing; just skeletons up the ass which he would raise into a gigantic undead army under Nagash's command. By using Alcadizzar to represent the ruler of the entire Nehekhara, a powerful symbolic meaning in magic, every damn thing in Nehekhara would have their soul bound to their dead body and serve. Nagash would then use this army to kill every living thing in the world and turn it into a kingdom of undeath, where only he would rule for all eternity]].

After the biggest summoning in history, Nagash was weakened so much he needed to recuperate for the last part. He had Alcadizaar thrown into a dungeon for later torture and took a power nap on his throne. Fortunately for the rest of the world, Alcadizaar was spirited away by two VERY frightened Skaven, Lord Eekrit and Eshreegar, into Nagash's throne room itself and given [[Fellblade#Warhammer_Fantasy|a sword made of pure Warpstone which was SO deadly, Alcadizaar only had a short amount of time to use it before he himself died just from touching it]]. During this time, Nagash was confronted by the ghost of his ex-wife/brother's widow, who was enraged at all he did and subtly mocked him about the coming beatdown he was going to get. Cue our "hero" arriving in the big bad's throne room, where he charged in and chopped off Nagash’s hand before he could react. While the Skaven DIDN'T directly attack Nagash themselves, the Council of Thirteen did use their magic to protect Alcadizaar from Nagash's magic even as it slowly killed them; the fact that SKAVEN were co-operating with each other AND risking their lives to help a non-Skaven shows just how bad things had gotten.

Despite both being fatigued and weakened by their ordeals, the ensuing battle was titanic, for even in his weakened state, Nagash was a foe to be reckoned with. But finally, it was Alcadizaar who emerged victorious. Flying into a rage, Alcadizaar flew at Nagash and hacked away at him until he was dead and his corpse left in many small pieces. Alcadizaar took his crown as a trophy and staggered off, with Eekrit and Eshreegar gathering all of Nagash's body parts (except for his right hand, which crawled away unnoticed during the fight...) and burning them in Warpstone fire.

===Nagash’s Return===
Nagash's nine books were lost, popping up in various times and places. Alcadizaar's body, bearing the Crown of Sorcery made by Nagash and still carrying the Fellblade, washed up on shore in the [[Old World]] along the Mediterranean equivalent. The Skaven tracked him down and took the Fellblade back from his lifeless body, but left the corpse and crown alone. Later the sorcerer Kadon found Alcadizzar's body and the crown. Taking both, he interred Alcadizzar's body in a cairn and used the crown which gave rise to the Necromantic kingdom of Mourkain.

Nagash did not stay dead. Using the power of his Black Pyramid, he was able to knit his body back together, piece by tiny piece, over 1,111 years minus the severed hand. The next time he rose, he found the lands of Nehekhara defended by many jealous undead kings with their combined armies of skeletons equal to anything he could muster. Nagash challenged the reigning king of Khemri, the first King Settra, for the rule of Nehekhara. Settra and the other Kings, furious at what Nagash had done, chased him from Nehekhara. They had no fear of his monstrous form or the undead hordes he commanded, for they commanded skeletal legions of their own and had become just as ghastly in appearance as him. And while powerful, Nagash no longer had the power to bend them all to his will, despite being their creator. He had lost too much, and the Tomb Kings had grown in power and independance while he regenerated.
[[File:The Black Pyramid.PNG|thumb|right|300px|The Black Pyramid, when active.]]
Returning to his fortress, Nagash found the Skaven had mined most of the warpstone away. Nevertheless, he took command of a horde of Ghouls, and in one night they drove all the Skaven from Cripple Peak, venting his frustrations on the ratmen. The Skaven made many attempts at regaining Cripple Peak, but after being defeated by Arkhan who once again joined his master, they eventually decided that they had gathered enough of the warpstone, and left Cripple Peak for good.

After wiping out the Skaven who'd taken over his fortress, Nagash realized that he needed his old magical artefacts to reassert his power, including his stolen crown. So Nagash forged a new hand to replace his missing one out of a warpstone alloy. The crown had been taken north into the Badlands, where it fell into the hands of Orcs who raided across the Black Mountains and seemingly disappeared. Nagash led a great army into the nascent Empire to reclaim it. During the final battle he fought in a duel with [[Sigmar]] himself and nearly defeated him. Sigmar, realizing what was at stake went on a [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Humanity Fuck Yeah!]] (Though Nagash was also a (undead) human, so how does it apply here? Who cares? Its awesome from both perspectives) [[Rage|rampage]] and finally crushed Nagash's skull with his hammer. The spirit of Nagash fled the battlefield and went back to his fortress where he recovered, having learned that the world now has powers capable to match him. Even Sigmar at the height of his power only just managed to defeat Nagash, and even then only by wearing Nagash's own crown to protect him from Nagash's magic. A crown that had pretty much sent Sigmar insane the last time he wore it. Even then, fighting Nagash crippled Sigmar; while he still kicked a lot of ass he did not regain his full strength until much later.

Nagash did pop up a few times more after that, but each time he did, he was weaker than the time before; pre-retcon every time he died the ghosts of people he killed would gang up on him in the Afterlife and hurt him a bit more each time. Post-retcon the Fellblade was ''so'' deadly, its killing blow was continuing to eat away at Nagash's very spirit, slowly making him less and less powerful with each incarnation. Nagash once again returned to life, 1,666 years after his death at the hands of Sigmar, in the night known as the Night of the Restless Dead because his return prompted undead to awaken across the world, but was so weak he was only alive for a single night before his power weakened and he slipped back into the afterlife. Between this and knowledge of the Chaos Gods, he made a plan to come back for good and be free of what the Fellblade did to him. To this end, he charged Arkhan with working to restore him.

During the downtime, Nagash recruited a "young" Vampire named [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to serve him, and teamed him up with Arkhan the Black to resurrect their master. Now the time has come... FOR [[Games Workshop|GAMES WORKSHOP]] TO UNLEASH THEIR LATEST CASH COW IN THE NAME OF NAGASH!

==[[The End Times]]==
[[Image:Nagash White Dwarf.jpg|500px|thumb|right|1000 points in WFB and costs 100 <strike>Naggaroth</strike> 'Murican dollars, now 70-99% derp free! (Percentage largely depends largely on your opinion of the pope hat to end all pope hats; some players cut it down, or replaced it with the larger skeleton head from the Necrosphinx. Also ignore the derp-faced staff)]]
'''GUESS WHO'S BACK!!!!!!!'''

Nagash is back, with fuckawesome (and fuckexpensive) model (*It would be 100% if not for the derpy skull face on the staff - which can be solved by using the sword instead, the ridiculous skeleton pope hat that is the size of a man standing on another man's shoulders - though that is meant to evoke [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pschent the Pschent crowns] of real-life Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, the [[/d/|naughty tentacle]] spinal cords borrowed from Doctor Octopus, the buck-teeth on the ghosts and that long bone hanging between his legs - which is meant to be a loincloth made from a spine but it looks like something else...) and another storyline chapter that involves everyone this time.

His primary goal is to bring order to the world; with the dawn of the End Times we see the [[High Elves]] and [[Dark Elves (Warhammer)|Dark Elves]] getting railed by massive chaos incursions while the [[Wood Elves (Warhammer)|Wood Elves]] sit in their forest laughing about how everyone is gonna be speared on [[Slaanesh|Slaanesh's]] dick but them. The [[Beastmen]] who are massing disagree with this assessment however. The [[Empire]] is currently taking it from behind by nearly every faction in the game (mainly the [[Warriors of Chaos]] lead by [[Archaon]] who is determined not to end up looking like a little shit this time) at the moment, with [[Kislev]] having been almost entirely wiped out (assuming this "End Times" is a wash like the last one they'll have rebuilt their green wood castles in a week, but still). [[Bretonnia]] was in flames as civil war tore through the country, but has mostly united now, even if 50% of the population died. The [[Orcs & Goblins]] have been decimated by the attacks of [[Eltharion]] against their race as WAAAGH!s that lasted since the dawn of time were obliterated with fire magic, leaving no spores to repopulate. The remainder of their race (barring individuals and their bands such as [[Skarsnik]], Warlord of the Eight Peaks and [[Grimgor Ironhide]]) are heading straight for eastern [[Ulthuan]] into a trap that could possibly work and wipe out most of the greenskins. The [[Skaven]] backstabbing and plotting against the world hasn't changed of course and are currently conquering the majority of the southern human nations with numbers that even vampires think is excessive.[[Lizardmen]] are under assault from [[Chaos|Daemons]], and Mazdamundi declares that the great plan has failed and that a great exodus must begin. [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] have barricaded themselves in their holds, or else gone about trying to retake and rebuild the [[Eight Peaks]] thanks to being shunned by both the Empire and [[Tyrion]] when help was offered in their missions against the Undead (of course, thanks to the fact that Dwarfs will rather destroy their own race than let grudges go, it's unlikely that the Dwarfs will be around long after reunification and the chance to avenge themselves at each other with impunity).

Just before the End Times, Teclis managed to contact Nagash with an offer of gaining the Wind of Shyish and forming an anti-Chaos alliance with the living. Nagash, being Nagash, threw Teclis' offer back in his face. However, he secretly co-opted Teclis' plan with a few alterations: harness the Wind of Shyish to control all Death magic (something even Nagash himself hadn't thought of and grudgingly commended Teclis for), overthrow the Chaos Gods and become the only god of a world of undead. To this end, Nagash had Arkhan fast-track his resurrection plan. In his own End Times book, after much scheming, magic and war from Arkhan and Mannfred, Nagash has risen again. He does this via a ritual after Volkmar the Grim (who as it turns out is Sigmar’s descendant) and Aliathra were captured, Volkmar’s hand was forcibly replaced with Nagash's remaining one the claw of Nagash, Aliathra was slain to power the ritual, and Nagash’s soul possessed Volkmar’s body and transforming it into a new one for Nagash. Unfortunately Nagash miscalculated because Aliathra as it turns out is not the Phoenix King’s daughter but actually Tyrion’s meaning Nagash ends up getting the curse of Khaine from her blood instead of Asuryan’s power not that it matters later on once he ascends to Godhood and becomes incarnate of the Wind of Death. By the way you can read the efforts of Arkhan and Mannfred to bring back Naggy in the "The Return of Nagash", brought to you by Black Library, among the highlights of the novel you get Count Nyktolos "Count Von Count", finally fulfilling the long time wish of /tg/ to get the old Sesame Street star as a vampire Count.

Once he came back he held up his hands for quiet, then told the assembled peoples of the world this; "Guys, I got a plan. Everyone just take off your skin and meat, and line up over there. Trust me guys, this'll work for sure." As one can imagine, that isn't going over so well. The first to get crushed was [[Settra the Imperishable]], who united the [[Tomb Kings]] (and punished those who refused to kiss the ring and get in line by ordering their unliving skull by used as artillery ammunition) against just such a threat. The idea that anyone rule over SETTRA THE FUCKYOU was too much for the old man, but it turned out badly and his army (plus one of his gods) were destroyed/eaten by Nagash. Likewise, Archaon stopped his march into the Empire and instead followed a route that would lead him to the massive Undead fuckhead that DARED to take HIS rightful place as big-bad of the setting.

Following similar logic, [[Queen Neferata]] has gathered a massive army pulled from the Undead across the world, as well as the living armies whose leaders have been under her thumb since day one. But she has not yet decided who she'll follow; on one hand, serving Nagash would be beneficial as he's seeking to become the Chaos God of Undeath (replacing all four of the other Chaos Gods and BECOMING Chaos Undivided) which would make her ruler of all beneath him. On the other hand..."serving" isn't something she does, to the point that one of her earliest decisions after leaving his service originally involved [[Ushoran|pooling all the forces available to her to go fuck up one of her closest allies and his entire kingdom because he implied that he was better at ruling than her.]] If she DOES choose to serve however (as in, if the player who shells out $79 for her model fields her as a model in the [[Undead Legion]] army) she becomes known as the Mortarch of Blood and takes place in Nagash's trinity of servants.

But Nagash has planned for his return well. His first servant and first in the big three Mortarchs, [[Arkhan the Black]], became known as the Mortarch of Sacrament. Arkhan leads Nagash's main army against the forces of the world. Meanwhile [[Vlad von Carstein]], Mortarch of Shadow, leads a detachment of Nagash's forces against Archaon's Chaos army to ensure that the <s>Nordic fuckup</s> half-blooded EMPIRE Daemon Prince fuckup that got boo-ed offstage in [[Storm of Chaos]] doesn't interfere with Nagash's big moment in the spotlight. He even cemented power by entering the Afterlife, defeating and consuming the god of the dead for humanity Usirian (AKA Morr and all the other names humans have for their god of the dead in Warhammer Fantasy). He even tore Settra apart, though didn't kill him, and forced Settra to watch the destruction of Khemri. Nagash then went on to bitch-slap the Tomb Kings into submission, destroying the few that resisted and finally has his FUCKHEUG undead army to conquer the world, which he will use to ruin the day of Chaos' forces, he also has now <s>a Necron Monolith</s> his own Flying Black Pyramid.

Nagash landed the Black Pyramid in Sylvania, surrounded by a River Styx expy where the magic builds up, and spent the next three books chilling in a sarcophagus, slowly absorbing the wind of Death Magic. During that time Arkhan took a leaf from [[The Lord of the Rings|the Witch King and the Mouth of Sauron]], keeping the undead legions in order. When Isabella and the turncoat Nameless lead a Nurglite host attack Sylvania, Arkhan arranged a battle plan. The undead hold them off but they force their way to the front, even slaying Krell and Arkhan. Just after Arkhan is killed by Isabella, Nagash wakes up and enters the battle, but while Isabella distracts Nagash by trolling him her Skaven allies destroy the Black Pyramid with warpstone bombs (the warpstone equivalent of nukes) placed by tunneling teams. Nagash gets pissed enough to impress an [[Angry Marine]] and destroys all the daemons, including a Great Unclean One, with a single blast of magic. After venting, Nagash took stock. Between that epic, magical temper tantrum and the Black Pyramid's destruction he can't reach godhood as he originally planned. After much introspection Nagash swallowed his pride and conceded that he would either have to serve the Chaos Gods or ally with the living to survive. He reluctantly chose the latter, bringing back Arkhan and Krell; despite his frustration over their failure, he needed loyal, intelligent servants.

He leaves Neferata to rule Sylvania and its undead legions before going to Athel Loren, sending Mannfred as a messenger to parley. During the meeting Nagash tries to engender goodwill by handing Mannfred to the elves as compensation for Aliathra's death, but he also taunts Alarielle and Tyrion about Aliathra's fate and withholds Arkhan's involvement because he's too useful (the only reason Nagash even did this was because Malekith had nearly convinced the other Incarnates that they didn't need Nagash and, combined, the six Incarnates present could have destroyed him). His army is ordered to stay out of Athel Loren, except for Vlad and Arkhan. Nagash and his accompanying two Mortarchs are escorted everywhere under heavy guard including at least two other Incarnates because (understandably) no-one trusts him. When the forces of Chaos arrive, Nagash goes "Bitch Please!" and gives a beatdown to anything thrown at him, from Beastmen warbands to monsters; he even solos A [[Bloodthirster|BLOODTHIRSTER]]... AND WINS! After being teleported to Middenheim with Arkhan, Krell, Vlad and part of his army he roflstomps his way through the Chaos forces occupying Middenheim until they get to the the excavation. Along the way he kills Chaos' prisoners, bringing back all the dead as zombies under his control. His forces do take losses, including Krell being killed by Sigvald. He then he meets Settra, who was restored by the Chaos Gods. He tells Nagash he was sent to kill him, before killing a daemon that was about to attack Nagash. Settra explains that NO ONE COMMANDS HIM, that he's going to take down the Chaos Gods for offering him rulership for service, then he'll come back and Nagash had either better bend the knee or be slain. Settra then goes off to fight the Chaos army, leaving Nagash to join with the others. Nagash gives Arkhan the remaining Morghasts and tells him to cover his retreat and hold the line until dead.

Nagash reaches the artefact with the other incarnates and tries to fight the forces of Chaos, providing a rearguard of zombies raised from the combined dead of Middenheim. He continues curbstomping anything that directly engages him, only fighting an opponent who can match him in the form of a stronger than average Bloodthirster, Ka'bandha.

After all the Chaos forces are defeated with Archaon MIA, the Old Ones artefact destabilizes, creating a magical rift that will consume the world. The surviving Incarnates and Teclis (who takes two winds of magic into himself) start to contain the Rift but fail when Mannfred disrupts the ritual by killing Balthazar. This led to Teclis' death as he tried to re-stabilize the magic by taking a third wind but the power is too much and he is disintegrated. Free of their control, the rift grows; when it touches the surviving Incarnates it sucks out all of their magic, including Nagash's. He is last seen collapsed and panicking while his body crumbles to dust.

==[[Age of Sigmar]]==
{{Topquote|THOSE SOULS ARE MINE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!|Nagash bitching at Sigmar and co}}
{{Topquote|'''KING KONG, AIN'T GOT SHIT ON ME!!''' That’s right, that’s right. Shit, I don’t, fuck. I’m winning anyway, I’m winning… I’m winning any motherfucking way. I can’t lose. Yeah, you can shoot me, but you can’t kill me.|Nagash shortly before getting rekt by rats. Again}}

In the new setting, Nagash has achieved godhood, but not on his terms and with others who can challenge him. According to Black Library, after the End Times, Nagash was originally trapped by the Chaos Gods in "a crypt of forgotten moments, burying him in the weft of time itself"; we still wonder how it is that Sigmar managed to free him, as well as '''why''' he freed him, as it's obvious that apart from GW favouritism, there's no possible reason that Sigmar could've had that would justify all the shit that Nagash could (and did) do later. Once freed (and being the [[assholetep|asshole]] that he is), he immediately set up shop in the realm of Shyish, declared himself its king and tried claiming ownership of everyone that died (despite not running the place or providing its afterlives, but just being the biggest kid on the playground). He also planned to betray all of the other gods in the setting (who are at this point his allies), with his reasoning being that they were probably going to betray him sooner or later so he might as well be the first to do it. Given what happens later, it's not really a surprise that so many races chose to ignore his (unsubstantiated) claim to their people's souls.

For a while he was allied with the other incarnate gods in this new era, mutually tolerating Sigmar (not counting his planned betrayal), providing order, and occasional undead reinforcements. Morathi eventually found her way to the pantheon in her aelven form and, as is her style, tried to seduce the other members. Sigmar ignored her so she focused her efforts on Nagash. Nagash responded with an epic pimp slap that struck Morathi down, revealing her true serpentine form, which caused Morathi to flee in humiliation and rage. At one point, Alarielle, now the ruler of Ghyran, managed to strike a bargain with him to deal with some rampaging undead in the Realm of Life; Nagash could consider the undead-infested part of Ghyran his sovereign territory, in exchange he kept the undead contained to it. Nagash agreed to Alarielle's terms, likely with his finger bones crossed behind his back.

When the Age of Chaos rolled in, Nagash found that his territory was already rife with well established chaos cults. This was completely shocking to him, and only him because the evil fuck was so terrible a ruler that the onset of chaos was seen as an improvement by many of his subjects ([[FAIL|and they're probably right]]). How the fuck he missed all of these cults and had no clue there were Chaos worshipers in his realm is also a mystery, until you remember that his ego is so high that airplanes have to fly around it. And while it should be acknowledged that some of that ego is indeed well-earned, his inexhaustible arrogance has a tendency to just make him stupid when left unchecked.

When things were looking bleak, the various gods started going their separate ways to defend their own lands. [[Not As Planned|Surprisingly]], Nagash was the last one to abandon Sigmar and step out on [[Grand_Alliance:_Death|his own]]. [[Just As Planned|Unsurprisingly]] he did so in the most [[dick]][[Eldrad|ish]] way, kicking Sigmar's forces in the balls on the way out (and fucking over any hope the pantheon had of holding Chaos in check, meaning he also fucked himself over). This was the last straw, with Sigmar going back to being a barbarian god-king and roflstomping his way through Shyish to try and teach Nagash a lesson. They 'fought' twice, with Nagash running like a bitch both times before Sigmar could finish him. After working out his rage, Sigmar finally bothered to check his inbox... and found out that in his absence Chaos went "all your bases are belong to us!" on the realms. This made Sigmar head back and seal off his realm before working on [[Stormcast Eternals|his newest weapons]]. Nagash on the other hand tried fighting off the forces of Chaos (barely even having recovered from Sigmar's invasions), only to get his shit kicked in by Archaon (who destroyed his body). His armies were crushed, his territory was claimed by Chaos and without Arkhan he might've died permanently (which probably would've been better for everyone in the setting). From this point on, instead of trying to fight Chaos in any way Nagash just gave up and waited for somebody else to do it, only stepping back into the fray when Sigmar showed up with the Stormcast Eternals. This time he rejected Sigmar's request to team up against Chaos, figuring he can do just fine against them on his own, because that worked out so fucking well for him last time. He also later had a rematch against Archaon where he once again lost, his army was destroyed a second time, but instead of getting his body obliterated he chose to run like a bitch.

Unsurprisingly Nagash didn't take kindly to Sigmar keeping the souls of his dead to remake into Stormcast Eternals; he claimed he'd never forgive Sigmar for his 'soul-theft' and whined that he'd been betrayed (ignoring that he'd planned well before this to betray everyone else and that the souls don't technically belong to him). He began plans to fight Sigmar's forces and take back what he saw as his, because that worked so fucking well the last two times he got his ass kicked by Sigmar, who at the time didn't have superhumans helping him. To add insult to injury Nagash is the reason the Stormcast Eternals degrade with each death, whenever they die Nagash sticks his skeletal fingers in Sigmar's pie to try and grab some each time; the bits of memory and personality that each Stormcast loses with each death and rebirth are the bits Nagash claims. It took a while, but Sigmar eventually learnt of this (actual) soul-theft. In response, Sigmar marshaled his forces and directed them to Shyish to find Nagash and/or liberate the souls.

The first expedition, led by Lord Celestant Tarsus Bullheart, found Nagash with predictable results. Nagash threw their message and Sigmar's offer back in their faces, and then attacked (Nagash struck first). When the rest of the Stormcast attacked Nagash, he killed all but Tarsus. Tarsus got up and noticed that the Stormcast's souls were being trapped by Nagash and that he was unable to return to Azyrheim and Sigmar. He mocked Nagash and hit him with a bolt from of his cape hammers, which hurt Nagash enough to distract him, the lapse in concentration allowing the Stormcasts' souls to escape. Livid, Nagash killed Tarsus with a wave of amethyst fire and imprisoned Tarsus soul, gloating to the imprisoned Stormcast about how he would torture Tarsus' soul and pry as many of Sigmar's secrets as he can from him.

Sigmar isn't the only one who pissed Nagash off however, the new book revealed that Nagash ''really'' wants aelf souls, as they can be manipulated more than most others, being more easily used in more complicated craftings like weapons of war, rather than just becoming more undead servants. He was unable to acquire them however, thanks to Slaanesh eating them all. Furthermore, when Tyrion and Malerion cut Slaanesh open Nagash sensed the souls spilling out, though once again (and perhaps, unsurprisingly) he wasn't able to get any; he was really steamed about that. He's also equally pissed at the Idoneth Deepkin who steal the souls of their victims, though he hasn't been able to catch them either. Furthermore there's a number of other factions who do whatever they want to their souls and the souls of their dead, and unless Nagash or his forces show up in person there's fuck-all he can do about it. When he does show up though, he makes sure to let everyone know it by punishing those who keep their souls in as dickish a manner he possibly can, although sometimes it fucks him over too (since Nagash is just the king of foresight), like altering a city so that the souls of anyone in it can't leave the city and preventing him from doing anything with them (Other than creating more Nighthaunt).

Nagash still likes his black pyramids, so much so he built many of them, turned them upside down (because why not) and made them all fly, in theory making them Skaven-proof although in practice they definitely are not. He also managed to get some use out of them, in the ''Malign Portents'' campaign he built a new inverted black pyramid and surrounded it with realmstone, think crystals that are literally magic in solid form. His plan was to cause all the magic in the realm to coalesce into the center, where he'd absorb it all to become the true master of death, giving him control over all the dead in all the realms, [[The End Times|because that worked so fucking well the last time he tried it.]] Unsurprisingly he got the exact same fucking outcome as last time, drawing all the magic to himself, finding he's not as awesome as he thinks he is, because just like last time, the ritual is corrupted (this time by the Skaven, who could have predicted they'd fuck him over) and having the magic spill back into the land, fucking things up for everyone in the setting (while his pyramid started spinning and [[FAIL|accidentally burrowed into the ground]]). During this ritual the Chaos Gods themselves show up to first get laughed at by Nagash, then laugh at Nagash, then get laughed at by Nagash again, who viewed his failure as success. As a by-product, souls everywhere coalesced into the Nighthaunt, under the dictations of Nagash's ironic sense of justice. The sudden influx of spooky ghosts resulted in Sigmar having to open up his special mage chamber, the ones formerly guarding his anvil-of-apotheosis. The failures in Sigmar's reforging process have become more common because of the Necroquake, making him more desperate to fix the flaw of reforging.

Out of all the deities in the setting, Nagash is easily the most impotent. While Nagash claims every soul for himself, and every soul has to travel to the Shyish underworlds, many of the other Deities do what they will with the souls of their people and don't give a shit about what he thinks. Necromancers are likewise free to do as they please because unless Nagash happens to be right there, he's not going to be affecting shit amd seems unable to enforce anything from afar. He still sticks his bony fingers into everything he pretends is his, see Shadespire, where they cheated death using shadeglass and Nagash weaved a great ritual to trap their souls in a prison of eternal torment.

Among other things, Shyish consists of afterlives that are created by the beliefs of mortals of what happens after they die. Most people who die go to one of these places, where they remain until those places fade away (if the civilization they're from is destroyed) upon which they can just go elsewhere - except, since the Necroquake, many of those underworlds are being dragged to the epicenter of the ritual and are ripped apart into more raw magic, and more nighthaunt. Additionally, since Nagash has claimed dominion over Syhish, many of those underworlds have been twisted by his presence - pyramids, obelisks, and other monuments to his vainglory dot the various landscapes.

He might as well be a cartoon villain given how often he tries to repeat past events while forgetting their outcomes. Each and every time he seems surprised he's getting exactly the same results and then he holds a grudge because he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling Skaven/Chaos gods/Sigmar/Archaon. Luckily this never gets him down, since Nagash sees negatives as positives, his cowardice during the Age of Chaos was just him biding his time, his petty and unreasonable grudges are him punishing thieves who are stealing his (unjust) due. His planned betrayals of his closest allies were just him demonstrating how much foresight he has (aka, none) and his routine failures have just instilled in him the confidence [[Skaven|that he is never to blame for any of his mistakes]], so he carries no doubt in his unbeating heart that he will, one day, rule over everything.

Incidentally Sigmar considered Nagash his closest ally back in the 'good old days', in fact, they initially went on a super smash bros tour cleaning the still forming Mortal Realms from eldritch abominations which would have given even Chaos a run for his money. Arkhan the Black even believed that the two need to be reunited in order to beat back Chaos. Neither of the two gods seem keen on that idea, in Sigmar's case he gave up on forming an alliance after getting betrayed again by having an entire army of Stormcasts get wiped out during the Allpoints' Shyish gate siege because Nagash never sent the promised reinforcements, and in Nagash's case, he's a fucking moron.

Recently it's been retconned that when Nagash was helping create Sigmar's cities, he built secret underground tombs beneath them that nobody noticed in however long it's been from the age of myth until now. How the fuck they went undetected, even by the [[Skaven|race that literally burrows up into areas exactly like these]] has gone unanswered, but it's probably fair to blame shitty writing. In these crypts were super-skeletons made from several bodies, in effect being the prototype versions of one Nagash's designs that he'd later call the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]]. This means that he planned to betray Sigmar twice when they were still working together, but don't think this means he's not still upset at imaginary betrayals against him. After the necroquake, Nagash would summon all of the undead in the crypts beneath the cities, and apparently, they all made their way to back to the realm of death, making one wonder what the point of building the crypts was in the first place. After they arrived he spent time perfecting his design, working them into their current appearances and distilling souls to ensure that the beings housing them were free of all negative traits (those being any he doesn't like), and once satisfied with the result he then unleashed them to collect more bones for him so that they can build him fancy bone cities and bone statues.

The latest development in Nagash's story comes courtesy of the second book of the Broken Realms saga, Broken Realms Teclis. In it, Nagash, buoyed by the power boost he got from the Necroquake and backed by all the undead raised in its wake sets his eyes on the realm of Hysh and sends an army of Nighthaunts there to try and conquer the joint human-aelf town of Settler's Gain only for Teclis to appear and spank the army good and hard and send the survivors running back to Nagash. A furious Teclis then astrally projects into Nagash's throneroom and tells him to knock his bullshit off, only for Nagash to tell Teclis "bitch I do what I want!" and dispel the projection. He then orders his three OG Mortarch's (the newer ones being off fighting Archaon in the Eightpoints) to seal many of the realm gates leading directly into Shyish to slow or stop any Hyshian retaliation, before sending them out through some one-way realm gates leading out into other realms with the intention of corrupting them on the other side into what are essentially black hole generators that will suck the other realms into the Shysian Nadir. Unfortunately for Nagash, his plans go wrong pretty damn fast. First Neferata's scheme in Chamon is accidentally uncovered by a random Kharadron Airship captain who manages to warn the rest of her people who then promptly launch an assault on Neferata's operation and force her to retreat. Then Arkhan fails not once but twice at his attempts to corrupt some Hyshian realm gates and gets stabbed and temporarily killed by a vengeful Eltharion for his trouble. As for Mannfred, his attempts in Ghyran also fail when his army gets too spread out dealing with a bunch of Nurgle troops and the combination of the fighting and the energy from the corruption ritual ends up alerting Alarielle and the local Sylvaneth to what's going on. Alarielle and company then fight their way through the two opposing armies and shut the ritual down, though Mannfred's internal monologue as he retreats reveals he knew his plan was doomed from the beginning meaning he's been playing everyone in this whole mess for his own unknown gains.

Meanwhile, while this was going on Teclis uses a hidden Realmgate into Shyish that Nagash was unaware of to launch a series of retaliatory strikes with the goal of showing Nagash wasn't as all-powerful as he made himself out to be and thus not only bring hope to the inhabitants of the realm of Shyish but hopefully spark a rebellion against the Necromancer god. Although the campaign turns out to be more difficult than expected Teclis succeeds in destroying the Ossiarch fortress known as the Triptych, purifying the land around it and freeing several of Nagash's cities from Ossiarch control before calling it a day and heading back home. Understandably enraged by all this, Nagash orders the remnants of Arkhan's Ossiarch forces in Hysh to destroy one of the local flesh-eater court enclaves so as to have bodies to rebuild their armies with. Nagash then wraps himself in captured Aelf spirits to shield himself from direct attack before personally accompanying more of his Ossiarchs (their numbers grown swollen with the dead of the invading force) to Hysh to link up with Arkhan's former forces before they all head over to Ymmetria to corrupt the great mountain spirit Avelanor, the greatest of his kind, and thus give the magical equivalent of a giant middle finger to the Lumineth. Teclis hears about this and backed by the moon spirit Celennar, an army of Lumineth, nature spirits, and other allies he heads to the mountain to intercept Nagash. After arriving at the chosen battlefield and throwing insults at each other for a bit Teclis and Nagash then throw down in an intense battle that leaves neither god unscathed with Nagash's Nine books incinerated and all his trapped souls (including the ones he claimed in the world that was) being blasted away by Teclis' magic, while Teclis ends up cut up by Nagash's blade and cursed by death magic. In the end, it is the Lumineth who claim victory though as the Lumineth manage to wear down the Ossiarch forces enough to leave Nagash vulnerable to a barrage from some magical laser artillery brought courtesy of the allied human mages of Settler's Gain. Teclis then magically chains Nagash against Avalenor's slopes before the entire Lumineth army dogpiles Nagash and beats the tar out of him until his physical form is destroyed and his spirit retreats to Shyish where he discovers he has been magically bound so that he can't leave Nagashizzar. Teclis then uses the last of his strength before passing out to carve a magical banishment rune in the sky of Hysh that's so powerful it not only banishes all traces of the Undead and their magic from the realm of Hysh it also ends up reverberating through the fabric of the Mortal realms itself and ends up finally quelling the power of the Necroquake.

As a result, Nagash is left without a body like he was during the Age of Chaos, but now he doesn't have his books. Though he can still directly interact with his Mortarchs, Morghasts and Vokmortion, he's gotten a bit scatterbrained, occasionally forgetting that Arkhan fell in Hysh. But he remembers what Teclis did -destroying his books, helping destroy his body and undoing the Necroquake, and he's '''REALLY''' mad at Teclis. There's going to be big changes when Nagash puts himself back together.

Things only continue to go from bad to worse for Nagash when [[Alarielle]] performs her rite of life and resurrects the Oak of ages, an act which unleashes a blast of life energy so potent it spreads throughout all of existence and forces back most of the death magic that had spread throughout the realms during the Necroquake (it also released the ancient god of destruction and earthquakes [[Kragnos]] and woke up the living content of Thondia in Ghur but that’s not important to Nagash). What is important is that it leaves Nagash even further weakened to the point he can’t ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL over his generals outside of Shyish. Something which stings Nagash something fierce especially once he finds out about all the souls Morathi stole from him to ascend as well as all the ones she gave to the Idoneth to make peace with them. Enraged at the theft of what he saw as his property but too weakened still to deal with the matter himself Nagash decides to summon Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King, since while he’s competent he’s not one of his more powerful generals which is good since he won’t try to usurp him upon learning of Nagash’s weakened state. He then tasks Kudross to reclaim some souls specifically from Morathi since Nagash still doesn’t know where most of the Idoneth are located. Kudross thus summons his crossbow-wielding Craventhrone Guard and sets out to attack Har Kuron to reclaim some souls alongside Vayon of the Withered Quill, one of the dreaded Scriptors Mortis, and a merciless Nighthaunt army. They wait until the Daughters of Khaine are distracted with some of their big arena fights and attack the city from below killing a whole bunch of civilians. Unfortunately for the Nighthaunt the reaping of souls is cut short when the Daughters realize what’s going on and retaliate faster than anticipated with High Gladiatrix Yelena and company chasing the Nighthaunt back into the underground catacombs and eventually pushing them out of the city. Still the Nighthaunt did manage to claim a bunch of civilian souls so the whole effort wasn’t a total loss, especially since the attack definitely would piss off Morathi once she learned of it.

==On The Tabletop (Warhammer Fantasy)==
[[Image:Nagash_Derp.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Nagash in all his [[Derp|derptastic]] evilness.]]
Nagash was actually a special character back when it was just ''Warhammer Armies: Undead'' and all the dead boys were united in one armybook. Despite being described as "a pale shadow of his former self" he was an unholy rapetrain - a statline with the lowest stats being 6's (init and attacks) and everything else being a 7. Add in a completely unmodifiable 4+ save against everything (including any and all spell effects), a sword that gives him +1 str and lets him use any wounds he causes to heal himself and being one of the most powerful mages in the game making him pretty much unstoppable. (<s>''Unless you threw a High Mage at him with Drain Magic and Banishment which resulted in epic lulz.''</s> Foolish Elf. Nagash would take High Magic with his book just to prevent you from doing that.)

It used to be speculated, before Games Workshop advanced their storyline with [[Skub|The End Times and Age of Sigmar]], that Nagash getting off his bony ass and doing shit would be a game ender. There were only a handful of non-divine characters equal to or more powerful than him such as Sigmar (who'd beaten him once before), Kroak (though now he's much weaker as a ghost-Slann) and other First Spawning Slann who would simply think Nagash out of existence if they were still alive. Arguably Morathi, Malekith and Aenarion could stand up to him, Teclis is described as being if not his equal in magic, then close behind, and Archaon the Everchosen would be a fine matchup.

In those days Games Workshop chose to give him what might very well be the single most [[Derp|derptastic]] model to ever blight a tabletop with its presence, an unholy abomination of fail so ridiculous that it makes the [[Tyranid]] [[Biovore]] look like a towering monument of awe and might in comparison. Even the beardiest of [[cheese]]mongers thought twice before fielding it, knowing all too well that they would pay for it not only in army points, but in dignity and self-respect. There was a running joke that the model was made stupid-looking to prevent people from using Nagash, therefore keeping him from changing the status quo (see "trivia" below for the true reason behind the derpy model).

Then the End Time rolled around.

[[The End Times]] update brought Nagash back into the game as a powerhouse, boasting higher stats and better spellcasting than anything else in the entire game. In short he's a Level 5 Wizard with access to the Lores of Death, Light (he's Nehekharan, remember?), Vampires, Nehekhara, and a new Lore called "Undeath". He carries his nine books of Nagash which lets him carry NINE spells (total), one being "Ryze, the Grave Call", with the rest generated from any combination of the mentioned Lores as he pleases (with the newest rules from the Khaine book, he will have ALL spells from all 5 of those lores, plus a special Summon Arcane Fulcrum spell, giving him 41 spells in total). But wait, there's more. He re-rolls any Miscast (but must accept the new result) and can store, at any time in the Magic Phase, up to four Power Dice for later, surpassing the six-dice-per-spell-limit; he can also empower attacks by adding the ''Heroic Killing Blow'' to his already powerful sword (+1 Strength and Multiple Wounds (D3), but only one die per attack has that rule), and being a Monster he also has the Thunderstomp Attack; this guy is a rape machine in close combat.

Thought that was bad? It gets worse; any Undead within 12" suffer two fewer wounds from Unstable, plus any other rule that stacks (for example, Battle Standard Bearer). And the cherry on this hell cake: each time he casts a summoning spell of Undeath the points summoned and the range are TRIPLED (e.g. Ryze, The Grave call he ALWAYS has: with difficulty 9+, anyone else can summon 50 points of troops within 12" or 100 at 14+. At best(16+) 150 points worth of Monstruous Infantry at the same range. Nagash summons 150, 300 and '''450''' respectively at 36"). This also includes Raise the Dead tokens, so spend five tokens and now Nagash can raise 600 points worth of models, whereas all other wizards can only raise 200.

Lastly he's 1000 points to field, which is fine because End Times came with a rule update allowing half your army points to be spent on Lords and Heroes, so fielding Nagash has to be at a 2000 point game at the minimum, <s>although you will have no other characters at all (including a Battle Standard Bearer</s> and thankfully Lords and Heroes have a SEPARATE allowance, so if you get Nagash in a 2000 point game you cannot have any other lords (don't forget, he can summon characters with a base 195pt cost, not to mention any tokens he spends to up that total), but you can have plenty of heroes (which a BSB is). He costs a whopping $105 Ameribucks, although considering the size of his model it's not a terrible deal (for GW anyway). He also currently has the biggest hat in either Warhammer setting, proving that he's the single biggest force to be reckoned with.

Nagash can only be fielded with the [[Undead Legion]], his own army that consists of everyone from [[Vampire Counts]] and [[Tomb Kings]] that he's brought under his rule. As a result there's no "wrong" way to field Nagash; everything you CAN field him with is supported in fluff. His army is even Neutral in alignment, meaning you can get in a 2v2 battle with any army in the game supporting any army in the game. Throwing an Empire army lead by Karl Franz on the field being BFFs with Nagash against Wood Elves and Ogre Kingdoms is completely copacetic in the fluff.

==On the Tabletop (Age of Sigmar)==

Luckily on the Tabletop Nagash isn't the complete bitch he is in the lore. Not only does Nagash sport a whopping 16 Wounds with a 3+ Save, he hits really hard both with magic and with melee. He not only knows every spell known to all Death Wizards on the board, but by default he gets +3 to all his casting/unbinding rolls (which can be buffed further with his army rules/artefacts, provided he's near the ones who have them), while being able to cast/unbind 8(!) spells by himself at default. On top of this, he has one of the most notorious spells in the game, Hand of Dust, which can instantly kill any model in the game, no matter who they are or how well protected they are, unless they're like Archaon or Gotrek and have a rule that triggers once an enemy wizard uses a spell on them. For a laugh take 3 Warscroll Battalions and then use Arkhan's command ability for times to give the spell a 27" range, just to say 'fuck you' to your opponent's general right off the bat. He also has Soul Stealer, a spell that tests the units Bravery in a similar manner to a banshee, with them suffering D3 to D6 mortal wounds if they fail, and with Nagash regaining wounds that are successfully allocated.

In the combat phase he's no slouch either, boasting solid hits, rends and damages across the board, doing so much damage that most elite units will easily be ripped apart in only one round (provided he didn't get charged by something like a large group of blood/chaos knights or Morghasts), and his own Command Ablity further helps this, as well as his entire army by boosting hit and wound rolls.

Like many other monster Nagash has a wounds table, with his performance getting worse the more he is hurt. Thankfully it's relatively minor, not only can he heal himself, but the bonuses lost are just attacks with his sword and the number of bonus spells he can cast, as well as the extra amount he casts/unbinds with (which can be boosted through other means). Thankfully he also has a way to prevent his stats from dropping too fast due to mortal wounds, he wears armour that protects him on a 4+, with a 6+ reflecting the MW back to the unit that caused it.

Unfortunately Nagash still struggles somewhat against hordes. Despite doing a lot of damage, he can easily be brought down if he's charged and his (justifiably) high points cost mean your opponent can likely swamp him with models (if they're so inclined, and somehow you have let him get through your never ending hordes). While he's trying to deal with the major threats your opponent brought, they can surround him with clanrats, stormvermin or (ironically) zombies, all of which can pile on so many wounds and who have so many models to remove (especially since with a command point they auto-pass their bravery test) that his stats can be knocked down quick, causing him to do less damage and becoming a weaker spellcaster in general. Given he also has an ability to revive slain models and heal wounds dealt to units (healing 5 summonable units for D3 each) you should make sure that such units are only fighting the ones they should be up against (at least until you've whittled them down some), leaving Nagash free to take on the enemy's elite.

Nagash also has the exact same issue in this edition as he had in Warhammer Fantasy: Artillery. Cannons in general can royally fuck him over since each shot brings him down to a 5+ save and does D6 damage when he fails it. Rockets are even worse, their presence on the field virtually guarantees he's going to be having a very bad day. If you're going to use him, just be aware of his limitations, as well as what can bring him down quick as while he's certainly tough, he's not invincible.

==Why Nagash is so evil==
While most evil characters on the game have done their share of bad deeds, Scumbag Nagash has a special place amongst them thanks to sheer volume and scope from the very personal like domestic abuse and rape to various genocides and mass slaughters. Also, unlike most of the poor bastards that live in a Warhammer setting, he doesn't do these for survival, being tricked into it or to seek the favor of a more powerful being. He does it because he is a fucking prick. The following list illustrates how sick this fuck is:

* Started out learning magic through sacrificing people. Although it was due to Nehekhara's desert lacking much of the winds of magic and the people Nagash sacrificed were usually unwanted sons and daughters of nobles, who were despair ridden from gambling and drinking. Still, Nagash did not feel a pang of sympathy for them and was being taught by Dark Elves at the time, in the most sadistic evil way possible, by torturing the sacrificial victim with pain for hours or so before slitting their throat. Then again, it's not like he had a heart to begin with.
* In order to dethrone his brother, Nagash made his city suffer by unleashing his magic to afflict the nobles with a plague, secretly disrupted the market price and used his servants to spread lies that these were punishments from the gods. When Nagash took the throne, he got rid of the plague and made the market prices go back to normal [[Just as Planned|in a selfish publicity stunt]].
* Out Betrayed the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]], whom were one of the most evil creatures in the setting (besides the Skaven) and were far superior than the humans at that time (in terms of military, magic and economy). In details, the three dark elves were figuring out how to escape the pyramid Nagash had them trapped in, using the various books and knowledge they extorted from Nagash, while Nagash had to learn magic from them as soon as possible before the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]] made their escape. Not only did Nagash manage to master his own dark magic on a time crunch, he even caught up to the three dark elves at the pyramid exit, killing them in a heated magic duel. It was no easy task for Nagash at the time since the dark elves had withheld some of their arcane knowledge from Nagash, but Nagash still did it, the absolute mad man!
* During his first and last violent encounter with his brother Thutep, Nagash used his followers as meatshields, having them killed by Thutep's much superior bodyguard only to use their souls to power up his spell and cast on the guards in return. After all the bodyguards were dead, Nagash restrained his brother with magic, taunted him for his inability to move/use his Khopesh while sadistically watching his brother furiously trying to move his body, face red and tears flowing from his eyes. Note that this battle took place after Nagash had defeated his three [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elf]] mentors, which means he was exhausted in the aftermath and was still able to destroy his brother's forces, much respect.
* Entombed his own brother alive and stole his wife, Neferem. Right before the entombment, Nagash even told Thutep about him claiming Neferem just to watch his painful and tormented expression for extra sadism. A century after when his skull was dug up, it's jaw position suggests Thutep died a painful yet slow death while screaming in agony.
* Nagash has always hated his father's Vizier: Ghazid, a wise man well known for his two watchful blue eyes, which he continued to serve Thutep with the same remarkable ability. The fact Khetep prevented him from being entombed beside him made it all the for unfortunate for the poor old man. Nagash had spared Ghazid after Thutep's death just so he could get kicked around by his underlings. Years of torment from Nagash's cruelty combining with aging has turned the once wiseman into a childlike senile old man. Having witnessed Sukhet's death and kept alive by the elixir (just a reminder it is made out of human blood and dark magic by the way), he continued to suffer while accompanying the equally tormented Neferem as living corpses until both finally died in Mahrak.
* After taking the throne, Nagash married Neferem and was a cruel husband to her since she was but a trophy to be owned, a subject that does nothing but used to flaunt his massive ambitious ego at everyone. Her handmaidens fled in fear when he entered their room and at one point she got a look of stoic resignation and said "just get it over with", with it likely being sex. Her son '''Sukhet'''; who was also Nagash's nephew was poorly treated as well. He was to be kept locked in a dirty storage room under the palace with the former Vizier Ghazid, separated from his mother. Because on top of being a kinslayer, a usurper and an evil wizard, he was a domestic abuser and a rapist.
** At a court meeting with Lahmian King Lamasheptra (the brother of Neferem), Nagash shamelessly used Neferem and her son as hostages in order to demand more slaves (1,000 slaves per month!) for his ''literally'' goddamned pyramid in exchange for a short meeting with one of them at a time. Unfortunately for Nagash, his scheme failed when both of them came from the dark and met each other for the first time in 10 years in front of various great city ambassadors. Their meeting moved Lamasheptra and other guests, but not a cold motherfucker like Nagash, who then proceed to murdered Sukhet out of anger as well as to secure his throne from any potential heir and made an elixir out of him. After that, Nagash appeared before Neferem, making a mocking promise to never harm Sukhet and telling her, she is free to stay by his side or end her life with the aforementioned elixir in disguised as a poison. [[grimdark|Now lets recap. It's already fucked up that Neferem wishes to kill herself, but instead she humiliated herself into drinking her son, yet at the same time she was unknowingly turned into Nagash's immortal slave.]] That's some 400 IQ evil play right there Nagash.
*** Upon realized the of priests of Khemri and their covenant, his first servant Khefru and Neferem has started a coup against him, Nagash immediately use his pyramid's power to darken the entirely of Nehekhara and '''KILLED''' every priests that has touched its darkness. Doing so however greatly used up pyramid's power and it only killed thousands of priests that were not inside a room. Still, only a evil super villain like him could own a superweapon powered by dead soul and shadow-kill anyone in an area of a fucking continent.
*** To punish his first servant Khefru, Nagash had his soul bind to him so he could serve him for all eternity. Arkhan will soon suffer the same fate. Such is the fate of those who serves Nagash.
**** After survived the said coup, he revealed to Neferem the elixir she had drunk was in fact made from her son's blood, then turned the said wife into an agony-ridden walking corpse and kept her that way for centuries.
* Started a war which destroyed many of the Nehekharan cities and killed even more of the population.
* Brutally sacked the city of Zandri and destroy the Zandri army lead by its king with his own dark magic. While slavery and raiding weren't uncommon in any Nehekharan military campaign, Nagash made it extra evil with the introduction of his elixir, made from the blood of innocents captured from Zandri, which is then drunk by Nagash and his servants to power them up. Note that Nagash created its elixir based on the concept where Nehekharan warlord would drink the blood of a sacrifice before battle (a sacrificial cow blessed by Geheb just before the battle, '''not''' human slaves). Nagash won by using his magic to mentally tormenting Zandari's Norscan slave soldiers into rebellion. Oh and despite Zandri's king being responsible for the death of Nagash's father Khetep, Nagash didn't destroy them to avenge his dad, but for his own ego and greed. After the battle, the Zandari army was not only forced to surrender without any negotiation, the surviving soldiers were then forced into slavery and its king was stripped of any valuables like crowns and clothing. The king was forced to return to his sacked city wearing only ragged clothing while riding a flea ridden donkey.
** Apparently, the tomb of Zandri contained ancient blue prints of many terrible engines of war, and Nagash sent an engineer to study its knowledge. As a reward for learning all this knowledge, Nagash had the engineer's tongue cut so he couldn't share it with anyone.
* His reign was responsible for the deaths of at least tens of thousands of people, and he even cancelled out his excuse of wanting the throne because he considered Thutep an ineffective king, since Nagash nearly destroyed Nehekhara's economy to build his Black Pyramid. He is so dissatisfied with the amount of time that is required to build his pyramid (at least 200 to 250 years according to his calculation) that he forbade any other constructions in Khemri until his Pyramid was complete. To further speed up the progress, he forced prisoners and even regular non-slave civilians into building the damned thing, alongside the aforementioned Zandri POWs as well as barbarian slaves from the north, all while they were suffering from disease and famine (priests wouldn't help curing the disease because they were mad at Nagash for holding Neferem hostage as well as defying the ancient treaty). Nagash, being an edgy evil tyrant, specifically ordered the dead workers' bodies to be used as foundation for the pyramid or to have their bones used as carving tools. The details of how the workers were to these things was not important to him, as long as their death offered something to the pyramid's construction. The construction killed so many people that all their souls combined generated enough energies to be stored in the pyramid and used by Nagash for his various horrifying spells.
* When Nagash was confronted with news about citizens in Khemri dissatisfied with their lot and protesting, his solution to restore the order was to send his immortal generals and a handful of soldiers to [[Vlad von Carstein|kill every man, woman and children they'd find in that quarter of the city, then impale their corpse on a spike to serve as a reminder to the rest of the public masses]]. It was so cruel that ''Arkhan the Black'', of all people (do remember Arkhan used to be a lowlife scum who'd seen some shit), called out his master's method of 'restoring order' counterproductive to the construction of the Black Pyramid. Unironically, Arkhan was completely right since the high mortality rate in the construction had the labor pool shrink at an unsustainable pace.
** When the pyramid's architect (old and mortal, unlike Nagash and his immortals) informed his master about the pyramid's completion, Nagash was so overjoyed to test out his pimped out doomsday device that he slit the architect's throat like a cold gangster motherfucker. Then the poor architect's blood was feasted upon by the immortal officers, just to point that out.
* Captured the spirits of his enemies and kept them in eternal torment. Just because he felt like it.
* When Bhagar opposed the rule of Nagash from Khemri, Arkhan the Black lead a punitive expedition that enslaved most of the Bhagarites and killed/drove to extinction all of their prized god given horse herds (Arkhan made it extra evil by having the horses slaughtered in front of the Bhagarites). The slaves were then used to build the black tower of Arkhan and sacrificed on an altar, having their souls sent back to Nagash's pyramid to fuel it. The Bhagarites' loss had to do with their leader Shahid ben Alcazzar surrendering, and doing so he broke the ancient oath his people had made to [[Settra the Imperishable|Settra]]. '''Khsar''', the god of desert, took no pity on them for that betrayal, dried up their wells and erased their safe routes through the desert, forcing the Bhagarites to live like a nomadic tribe for the rest of their days. As if it wasn't already bad enough the Khemrian gods did not straight up smite down Nagash, they even did backstab their own people. Guess Nagash wasn't wrong about the gods being [[Eldrad|dicks]], [[Star Wars|from a certain point of view.]]
* Using the death energies from the aforementioned massacre, Nagash called upon rain of blood on the city of Quatar. The rain unleashed a plague that droves both livestock and men mad, forcing them to tear each other to shreds and then die of fever. Everyone that wasn't hiding inside the magic proof white palace of Quatar died within a week.
* When [[Arkhan the Black]] failed to take down the priest king of Rastraen, '''Rakh-Amn-Hotep''' (also [[Alcadizzar]]'s grandfather) in Quatar, Nagash harshly punished Arkhan by commanding a swarm of tomb beetles to chew on Arkhan's already rotten skin. Since Arkhan had achieved immortality through Nagash's elixir, he was unable to be freed from his punishment through death and had to endure it for hours and hours on end, squirming on the floor in his own rotten meat fluid while [[Ripper|many tiny mouths bit him]]. And whenever Arkhan tried to scream the beetles immediately swarmed into his mouth, choking him and tearing out his throat from inside out. To the remainder of Nagash's immortal champions that were forced to observe, it was a cruel reminder of their fate if they ever failed and that not even immortality could save them from such torments. The still-living vassal kings of Nagash that were present the gruesome spectacle fainted and afterwards hopelessly consumed lot of wine and black lotus in an attempt to dull the horror of what they were forced to witness (which still doesn't help them).
* Tainted a god-given spring just to deny his enemy from replenishment. To put emphasis on how sick Nagash could be, the observer at that time kings Hekhmenukep and Rakh-amn-hotep were on their sky boat, where they overlooked Nagash's work and trembled in disgust. The Spring used to be a beautiful greenish oasis with many pools of silvery water, until Nagash's underlings defiled them by filling them with corpses and blood. Aside from its new grotesque scenery, it reeked of dry dead air that stung the eye and now housed a swarm of a blackened pool of cannibalistic insects that could reach even the kings' sky boat. Both of them were so sickened and afraid (for the first time in their life even, as Rakh-amn-hotep was described as a stalwart and fearless warrior) of such a thing, they truly dreaded monsters like Nagash and his men who were capable of such debasement.
* Nagash broke the covenant between the Nehekharan gods and their people by finally killing Neferem (who is the daughter of Ptra from the bloodline that formed the pact between the gods and Nehekharans), not only removing the divine powers of the Nehekharans but ensuring that after death they wouldn't be able to go to their gods and would have to stay in a nether dimension forever. Especially jarring if you remember that he used to be the High Priest of their Death Cult. In all honesty, Nagash hadn't thought of killing her until he was trying to breach the gate of Mahrak, the city of hope that is built with magical defenses made by the priests themselves (from magic force field, high temperature death field and LIVING SPHINX GUARDIAN). After her death, all the priests lost their power and every Ushabti (just god blessed elite troops, not even constructs at that time) lost their strength and went mad.
* Everything Nagash had done above has effectively ended Nehekharan's golden age. Many Great Cites were either unable to recover like Bhagar (most of its population enslaved then sacrificed. The rest turned into banditry, living in the life style of clannish nomads) or left in ruins like Khemri (which was ruled by Nagash himself and had suffered total loss of life due to the said bastard's need for his pyramid and human sacrifice for his dark magic). The most important thing Nagash took away has to be Neheharan's pact with their god, which robbed them of god blessed power ranger, magic and other important relics. The Great Cities were stuck in an hiatus of recovery for 540 years (mostly due to Neferata manipulating the Great Cities into warring among themselves) until [[Alcadizzar]] took down the said bitchy vampire and took the throne of Khemri (fixing Nehekhara's economy took him 37 years). Did I mentioned all these tragedies happened because Nagash was salty at the gods for not letting him rule?
* Indirectly corrupted some of the nobility of Nehekhara, who became the first vampires. This is partly thanks to Lamashizzar's greed for Nagash's knowledge that instead of destroying them, he bought one of the tome as well as Arkhan as a hostage to his city, beginning a series of event that led to Neferata becoming the first vampire and doomed Lahmia as well as the rest of Nehekhara.
** Letting the Vampires spread their corruptions by turning others into vampires. Nagash only sees humans as cattle while treating his vampire servants like pawns. To him, the only thing worth about the vampire is their ability to produce other vampires as well as creating other undead (because more undead things = more power for Nagash!). One of the primary reason to keep them around despite their constant treachery.
* After he reached the mountain that contains the warpstone mine, he discovered a tribe living nearby. Upon making first contact with the first four villagers he encountered, [[murderhobo|instead of trying to making any communication with them, he decided to just kill and dissect them in order to learn about their biology like some fucking monster (which he already is in appearance due to the inhuman side effect from the life elixir, warpstone and the wounds he received from the war)]].
* During his time in the waste, he created a technique that allows him to rip and eat the memory of a person's soul in order to absorb their knowledge. His victims at that time were mostly barbarians and Nagash, being the typical Nehekharan tyrant, viewed them as inferior beings and callously discarded most of their memories as garbage, effectively erasing the individuality of their souls.
* Turned a whole tribe of his followers into ghouls because they annoyed him several times by asking him to give them a promised reward. In truth, Nagash was helping the tribe after he posed as their god to fight against their northern chaos worshiping tribe. Before the battle, Nagash promised them a secret that would make them stronger than that tribe. What he intended to reveal was just simple smithing technology the Nehekharans used as well as a couple useful fighting techniques to behave like an army instead of a mob. However, they proved [[that guy|so hopelessly incompetent]] (for these assholes alerted the enemies with their war cries while fucking off the entire time or wasted time looting the enemies' belonging instead of fighting them) Nagash just decided 'Fuck it!' While he never had any high expectation for them, viewing them as unbefitting for any profession (even as slaves in Nehekhara), their behavior in battle made him realize that these barbarians were too fucking stupid to see any value in what he was planning to teach them, and might in fact be expecting some kind of fucking miracles like turning them into superman or something. Being the nice and rational person he is, Nagash turned them to cannibalism by claiming they could gain the strength of their foes by ingesting their flesh. His mortal servant was horrified to deliver the message, but he still did it and the entire tribe were dumb enough to follow Nagash's cruel sense of humor, becoming the only [[ghoul]] "Yaghur" (also their tribe's name) in the setting, creatures of hairless, naked ape like monster that eats humans ([[grimdark|preferably woman and children]]). To this day, the Yaghurs hunts for the flesh of any living being as well as their own in the area around the shores of the Soul Sea, probably killed some Dwarf thus earned some grudges and fought some orcs where they either ate them, got krumped by them or ate each other like a dumb ass lovers.
* After Nagash finally conquered the northern tribe by forcing his enemy to starvation by denying them farming (his undead army does not need to eat and his ghouls sustain themselves on their kills), he had every "heretical priests" of the tribe burned alive while chained on a totem of their [[Chaos God|four-faced god]]. Nagash was having a blast where he sadistically insulted their god(s) in front of their cult's leader. Nagash then rounded up every tribesman and subjected them to his [[1984|EXTREME undead-feudalism, where women are to be treated like a cattle, continue to giving birth so the children would grow up to either become his slave warriors, slave miners, or died in the process while being either of them, then raised back as undead to repeat in death their slavery in life]]. Still, Nagash was at least 'reasonable' in his rule (and may be even approaching some remote form of kindness for the '''first''' time in his life), for he allowed the mortal tribes to farm and eat as long as they served him, and even rewarded those that were smarter and more capable with some form of nobility and useful trinkets (even if he personally despised every last one of them and wished to use them as pawns to destroy his homeland). That said, he was still being Nagash, and those who opposed him met with death, having them as well as their entire families (from women to children) devoured by his ghouls. Anyone foolish enough to rebel was punished by their undead ancestors, raised from their graves that were just so happened to entombed outside their village's surrounding.
* Despite having studied architecture in Khemri for 20 years, the buildings he designed are grim, dull, dangerous and scary. His Black Pyramid (unlike those of other tomb kings who were white marble pyramids) is pitch black as fuck (since is made out of black marble, with its purpose being some kind of magical super weapon and power storage, but not for preservation and honoring gods). His Nagashizzar is even more frightening with its green flame torches and poison gas coming out of warpstone mines like some fucking death metal album. When Nagash and his newly enslaved barbarian followers arrived at its front gate, the view traumatized his battle-hardened forces. Some of his constructs are built from human tendon (in case you are wondering, making constructs (robots) is part of Nehekharan's architecture studies).
* While ruling Nagashizzar, he had a constant urge to kill his "living" followers out of thoughtless paranoia (a frustrating experience he had learned from his betrayal in the past). When Braghad, one of Nagash's top living servants, criticized him for not protecting Braghad's village, Nagash telepathically rebuked him by saying that they're his tools for all eternity (because they have drunk the life elixir and are now Nagash's BITCH). Nagash followed up by spitefully choking his barbarian witch servant for criticizing Nagash's callousness with the lives her warriors. So in short, Nagash is a self-obsessed, paranoid, greedy, power-hungry, murderous, selfish being that loves warpstone; [[Skaven|does that seem-sound familiar?]]
* He used his loyal vassals as tools in a terrible incantation to make himself a magic set of amour and then, for the only time in any of his fluff, he does something nice for someone besides himself by complimenting them for exceeding his expectations. After complimenting them, he sent them to the '''now destroyed afterlife''' where they would tell the dead Thutep and others that their vengeance would never come.
* Started a new war against Nehekhara. Managed to destroy Maharak as a revenge, but that was it since Nehekharans were too well prepared under Alcadizzar's guidance.
* Employed the Skaven to taint the river of his own birth land and unleash a horrible plague to annihilate the entire Nehekharan civilization after losing the war against them; because on top of being a mad wizard and an immoral bastard, he's a sore loser. The plague makes any normal being rot from their inside out, slowly torment them with pain, finally drive them to madness then die. Despite Alcadizzar's effort, the entire Nehekaran society crumbled within a year. All food prices suddenly spike up, forcing many plague bearing citizens to resort to violence and thievery for food and clean water. This ultimately destroyed everything Alcadizzar worked for and killed his two sons and wife. By the time the undead legion launched their second invasion, Alcadizzar's forces consisted of merely a thousand plague weakened soldiers, wearing little to no armor while wielding farming tools (because armor and other good weapons were too heavy for the sick).
** Bonus evil point that the plague killed animals and plants too; wild or domesticated. All lifeforms were targeted by this plague just like how he tainted the god given lake in life. Nagash's crime against nature makes any modern corporation's illegal chemical dumping practice look like a child's play.
* After capturing Alcadizzar and subjecting him to harsh captivity on the trip to Nagashizzar, Nagash taunted Alcadizzar, asking him how it felt to watch his people and loved ones die. He then explained why he'd spared Alcadizzar, and how the entirety of Nehekhara's souls would be enslaved by using him as the key, and how he'd use the legion of the dead of every dynasty combined as the ultimate army to annihilate all life in the world. Nagash capped this off by telling Alcadizzar how he was going to take Alcadizzar's (un)dead wife as his consort if he liked her enough - similar to what Nagash did to his brother Thutep before entombing him... (Except Nagash genuinely lusted after Neferem. This he just said to taunt Alcadizzar further.)
** Said ritual also used up a lot of captured Savage Orcs' souls, which is a crime because even deserved to die fightin' in a WAAAGH rather than being sacrificed to some ded humies' borin' magic.
* Almost destroyed the Empire and nearly crippled Sigmar in a duel by using a poisoned blade.
* Cursed the [[Vampire Counts|Vampires]] with a vulnerability to Sigmar's power and other curses after the assholes were too self-absorbed to help Nagash out during the two major battles: war with the Empire and the Nehekhara war. While this might seem like good riddance because of the vampires' treacherous and dickish nature, the evil thing about these curses is that it prevents vampires from enjoying life with their new found immortality and it also applied to the vampires who were loyal to him.
* The End Times adds killing several demigods, including [[Valaya]], the ancestor goddess of the Dwarfs, while she slumbered and Usirian, the Nehekharan's chief god of death, so he could take on and destroy the Chaos Gods (and then failing to do that).
* After defeating Settra and uniting nearly all of the Tomb Kings under his banner, he destroyed Nehekhara despite all the resources the nation held (not to mention depriving Neferata of ever going to Lahmia again).
* Killing messengers from the Empire asking for his help when a 'no' would have been enough, then turning around and expecting to get help when he's forced to ask the living for it.
* Mocked Tyrion and Alarielle about the fact that he was brought back to life by their daughter being sacrificed; (Which makes this list because [[That Guy|he did so while asking for their help]]). The actual quote was something like "MY DESTRUCTION WILL NOT BRING HER BACK... THE SOUL OF THE EVERCHILD IS NOT MINE TO GIVE. LIKE ALL YOUR KIND, SHE IS ALREADY FODDER FOR THE [[Slaanesh|DARK PRINCE]]!" Gotta hand it to Nagash for this one, since he clearly hasn't lost his funny bone despite being a cold-blooded lich who kill people as he pleases.
* When invading a Chaos-controlled Middenheim to stop Archaon, Nagash and his forces encountered captive soldiers and civilians of the Empire. Arkhan suggested freeing them to use as extra fighters (while privately thinking to use this as a goodwill gesture for their living allies), but Nagash decided to kill them, turn them into a zombie army, and joked about how they're now free and how he plans to "free" the forces of Chaos.
** In the aforementioned invasion, Nagash had [[Throgg]] by the throat but was told by him (a fucking troll, of all living beings!) that serving Chaos is better than serving Nagash. The best thing is that Throgg made a reasonable statement and quite valid observation, conceding that both were servitude but lucidly contrasting Nagash's undying, static, slavering one with the Chaos Gods' adaptable, occasionally rewarding one; and how the latter was just so much more appealing than the former. Of course, Nagash [[rage|simply couldn't stand getting told]], and Throgg was turned into dust on the spot.
* Nagash's evil extends beyond his universe. Apparently, GW must have bribed Naggy with souls or whatever, because in the new Death Faction Nagash didn't see fit to bring back the Tomb Kings.
* Murdered even more death gods in order to take over the realm of Shyish.
* Started hiding undead armies, who would go on to become the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]], beneath cities of the forces of Order for when he would make his bid for power.
* Betrayed Sigmar and the forces of Order to try to become the supreme god, which allowed Chaos to take over seven eighths of the realms while he got beaten down by Archaon. Notable because it began with Nagash's undead army turning on Sigmar's forces during a crucial battle against Chaos.
* When a group of queens ruling island-nations, collectively called the Skull Isles, offered themselves to Nagash if he would spare their people, Nagash claimed them for himself... then had their kingdoms destroyed by his undead armies (in that same audio drama, Nagash outright states he does not have mercy, honor or pity).
* [[Warhammer Underworlds|At some point while ruling his realm of Death, he punished the citizens of Shadespire for cheating death with the use of some magic mirrors by throwing the entire fucking city into the void of between the realm of life and shadow, forcing them into an unlife of torment.]]
** As a revenge for destroying Krell (wait, Nagash actually care about something other than himself? or is it because Krell was one of his favourite toys?), Nagash trapped Sigvald's fractured soul inside a [[Warhammer Underworlds|Shadespire]] mirror and cursed it so that viewers will only see idealized version of themselves instead of Sigvald. The mirror was then thrown into the direction where [[Warhammer Underworlds|Shadespire]] was supposed to be just so it could end inside one of its many pocket dimensions inside any mirror of the cities, trapped inside them for eternity. Thankfully it did not work out for Nagash and the mirror was flung to Slaanesh's prison instead and Sigvald became a demon prince because of this.
* A necromancer and tribal leader named Tamra ven Drak released some spirits he'd imprisoned in order to save her people from a Nurglite invasion; Tamra and her people were devout worshippers of Nagash. When Nagash confronted Tamra, she begged for mercy for her people. Nagash killed them all right down to the last child and turned them into an undead army, stating this preserved their souls forever, put them under her charge and said this was what he calls mercy. While Nagash did make Tamra a Deathlord, he only did so because Arkhan and Neferata insisted. (And they had to work together to convince Nagash Tamra would be more useful if he spared her.)
* He never showed up during the siege of the Allpoints Shyishian Gate despite promising reinforcements in a supposedly renewed alliance, which meant not only making Sigmar lose (temporally) an entire army of Stormcasts, but allowing Archaon to keep a direct avenue of attack to his own realm.
* Attempted to enact a ritual that would raise all dead in the Mortal Realms in order to exterminate all life. This would also deprive all the other gods of their worshipers, so they would have to bend the knee.
* About that ritual, he started it long before the Age of Chaos, which means he outright planned to betray Sigmar, despite Sigmar freeing him from the atemporal tomb.
* His Nighthaunt armies include Dreadscythe Harridans, spirits of healers who he has turned into tormented killing machines for the 'crime' of saving people from dying and thus preventing their souls from coming to Shyish ''even though this is temporary since mortals all die over time''. Other examples are enslaving the ghosts of betrayed people to the ones who killed them (Lord Executioners) and forcing ghosts into servitude because they didn't pray to Nagash to free them when they were still alive (Bladegheists and Chainrasps). He considers this "justice", even calling himself "...a just god, if nothing else". Yes, he is so evil he can deny good people from going to their specific afterlife paradises, which actually ''do exist'' in the Age of Sigmar setting.

[[TL;DR]] He was a spiteful person who blamed [[Malekith|the gods and everyone else in his homeland for denying his throne]], which got worse overtime where he is tormented by his own failures, then his inhumane undead transformation through warpstone, dark magic and life elixir, further made him spiteful at all living life.

While some of the deeds on this list may have been done by your average [[Skaven]], [[Dark Elves|Dark Elf]] or [[Chaos]] Lord there is a big difference between them and Nagash. The former usually do this either to advance a group they're part of or to appease their gods, and no single member of those factions has done as much as Nagash. Points of case; [[Thanquol]] at least respects and pays homage to the Horned Rat, [[Malus Darkblade]] actually cared up to a certain point for his own troops while loving his mother and his pet/steed Spite, and [[Archaon]] was very protective of his adopted father and lover (the only people Archaon had ever gave a shit about) before they died. Nagash on the other hand didn't care about anyone, despised the gods and had no empathy for anyone besides himself. He killed off his remaining family, fucked up his own nation and a large section of the world for selfish gain and, so far as the fluff goes, he has never cared or done anything for anyone other than himself, with his ultimate plan being to literally turn everything into undead with no will under his command.

On one hand, Nagash honestly believed this to be the best thing for the Warhammer world and had something of a point. Chaos has a hard time corrupting the undead, and Nagash had already managed to steal one of Khorne's favoured champions (Krell). On the other hand, undead are resistant to Chaos but can be corrupted by it. In the End Times, Chaos managed to steal two of Nagash's champions (Kemmler and Walach), not to mention Nagash himself briefly considered bending the knee to the Chaos Gods after the destruction of the Black Pyramid. And Nagash himself was already an omnicidal sociopath, even without Chaos corruption; [[Malekith]] called Nagash an evil monster who needed to be destroyed, the once-human daemon Bea'lakor considered Nagash his equal in evil and Teclis - while using divine vision from Lileath - noted that Nagash's aura was only slightly less black than the invading Khorne daemons. Nagash is so evil he's considered only slightly less evil than daemons, which are literal embodiments of evil. In Age of Sigmar, Archaon actually managed to work on Nagash's vaingloriousness to make him betray Sigmar (more jarring when it was revealed they fought together to save the Mortal Realms from ancient abominations), and the vampire Vhordrai tried to betray Nagash to the Chaos Gods.

Black Library seemed to share the idea, since a banner promoting the book ''"The Return of Nagash"'' names him as ''"The Greatest Villain in the Warhammer World"''. He also appears to have helped GW [[Squat]] the Tomb Kings. On a side note Nagash also enjoys the occasional orphanage being slaughtered as a snack, we wonder how is that Sigmar kept him in check during the entire Age of Myth, probably judicious application of Ghal Maraz to the skull (cue squeaky toy hammer sounds).

==Trivia==
* It is possible, especially considering GW's love of basing things in both 40k and Fantasy on actual history and famous works, that Nagash could have been inspired by a variety of sources:
** Most obviously, Nagash is Warhammer's answer to [[Vecna]], being an evil man who invented necromancy, used it to decimate a kingdom, lost a hand that became a powerful magical artefact and could operate independently and went on to become a god of death and unliving. Amusingly, on the roleplaying show [[Critical Role]] the end of their first campaign involves a battle with Vecna, who is represented by a conversion of Nagash's model. (And they're helped by a character named Arkhan)
** There is also a fictional shout-out to the works of Lovecraft, as his backstory resembles that of Nephren-Ka from Yog-Sothothery (he was a tyrannical Pharaoh who set up an unholy cult, built a giant evil structure, and was overthrown by his people because of his tyranny; all evidence of his reign was purged and he became immortal after the defeat).
** His name could be derived from Nahash, which is both one of the names used for the serpent in the Abrahamic faiths that tempted Adam and Eve and is also the name for a warlike king during Old Testament days.
* If you ever wondered about what would have happened if Nagash was a elf, check Mannimarco, the Worm King from the Elder Scrolls verse. Seriously, They are both badass, evil, awesome, FAKHIGNH OLD and both became gods of death through sheer evil.
* Interestingly, there could have been a chance to have a non-derpy old-school Nagash model the whole time. The true reason for this terrible model was a design disagreement between departments. [[Old School Roleplaying|Years ago, when GW cared somewhat about the customers more than their money]], the sculptor wanted Nagash to have more of a desiccated corpse look, while a skeletal look was being demanded from his superiors. [[Just As Planned|In an attempt to force them to accept a resculpt with a non-skeletal face, he made Nagash's skull as stupid-looking as he could]] (oh, how he succeeded). [[Not As Planned|Unfortunately, they decided to go with that sculpt instead of demand he redo it]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Nagash.jpg|Old school Nagash art. ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])
Image:Nagash White Dwarf 2.png|Just when you thought you had convinced the Dwarfs not to bring 6 cannons, they get justification for it.
Image:Nagash's_return.jpg|Fuck mortality
File:Uncle_Nagash.jpg|"I WANT '''YOU''' FOR UNDEAD LEGION"
Image:Settra V Nagash Dawn of Boner.jpg|The Tomb Kings undergo a... management dispute.
Image:Nagash Thirsters.jpg|Nagash, CRUSHING A FUCKING BLOODTHIRSTER in the final battle.
Image:Nagash Fanart.JPG
Image:Nagash-shyish.jpg|Nagash, uncharacteristic in that he is coloured with the Wind of Death instead of ectoplasmic matter and has no bucket teeth, also, no wonder why the Mortal Realms beelined to sign for Chaos if this guy was all you could expect for an eternity upon dying.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}
{{AoS-Gods}}

[[Category:Vampire Counts]][[Category:Undead Legion]][[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]][[Category:Ossiarch Bonereapers]]
[[Category:Legions of Nagash]]

Kragnos

2023-02-11T08:19:16Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:EDEB:861A:D4A:E677:

[[File:Kragnos.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
'''Kragnos''', the God of Earthquakes, the End of Empires, the last of the Drogrukh, and a central leader for the warmongering tribes of Destruction. He got an entire supplement dedicated to his awakening called ''Broken Realms'' and serves as the big bad for AoS third edition as his mere presence has sent bestial shockwaves across the Mortal Realms.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
Before Sigmar estalished himself as ruler of Azyr, Kragnos was born a mortal member of a race of [[centaur]]s living in Ghur called the Drogrukh, presumable they have no relationship to centigor. The Drogrukh carved caves and made a nation of mountain-sized cities called Donse. They were a fierce yet honorable people, only taking what they needed, and while proclaiming themselves the lords of Ghur, they got along with the Draconith (originally a race of reptilian humanoids, retconned to be GW's patent-friendly name for dragons), who worshipped Dracothion and had powerful magic. Together, the Draconith and the Drogrukh won a war that drove the Dragon Ogors out of Ghur before going their separate ways peacefully. Said Dragon Ogors are still pretty pissed about this and loathe Kragnos in the modern day.

Kragnos was the son of the Drogrukh elder Gorgos and a greedy, short-tempered guy; unusual among the utilitarian yet honorable Drogrugk. One day Kragnos beat up his brother because they both wanted the same Drogrukh mare. When the Drogrukh elders reprimanded him for it, Kragnos got fed up and decided to strike out with his four best bros (likely not including the aforementioned brother), and thus began his violent path that unintentionally led to godhood.

Over the years he accomplished many legendary tasks, some by himself, some with his companions. Among them were crafting the Dread Mace out of the heart of a mountain (which knowing all the living mountains that are in [[Ghur]] is probably literal), climbing the Beastgrave peak and claiming the legendary Shield Involatile, which he made from a disc of rock that [[Gorkamorka (Deity)|Gorkamorka]] himself had broken a tusk on, leaving it with the power to eat spells. His actions earned him the attention and admiration of the Orruks, who named Kragnos "Da Boss Trampla" and his shield "Tuskbreaker". As Kragnos and co. wandered Ghur, he also started killing and eating every big and tough critter he encountered and wiped out any of the nascent Empires that were starting to emerge in Ghur, thus earning him the title of "The End of Empires".

The few local human tribes who survived his rampage began to see him as a god of Earthquakes, while the numerous races of Destruction quickly decided he was a pretty cool guy and began worshipping him in addition to Gorkamorka (aided by the fact that Gorkamorka himself developed a healthy respect for the guy after Kragnos' attack on the Draconine Empire, see below). Given how the power of belief works where Orruks are concerned, Kragnos being the god of Earthquakes became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Humans and Orruks started killing monsters and leaving them as sacrificial offerings to Kragnos - which he happily accepted, as Kragnos actually absorbed more strength from eating the remains of beasts along with offerings of Amberstone. He was happy to be worshipped as a god and co-exist with the greenskins, because the greenskins like him believed that "might makes right". The fact that this stopped the greenskins from attacking his kin back in Donse was lost on Kragnos.

Kragnos and his companions later arrived at the Draconine empire. While they'd never made an alliance following the defeat of the Dragon Ogors, there was a non-aggression pact between them and Gorgos along with mutual respect.

But at that point the proud and headstrong Kragnos didn't care about the accord anymore. He saw the Draconith as a challenging foe worthy of his new power. He and his four companions waged war on them, the act of aggression winning the approval of the belligerent god Gorkamorka. The war waged on, with many Draconith dying and Kragnos and his companions taking many wounds. Eventually the Draconith fell back before Kragnos' might... but they gathered their remaining strength to kill Kragnos' four companions, then withdrew from the ruins of their empire to wipe out the Drogrukh cities of Donse in revenge. Ignorant of the destruction of Donse, Kragnos was devastated and enraged by the deaths of his four companions and destroyed everything he could find of the Draconith, determined to erase them from history for the deaths of his friends. This reached such a boiling point that he even smashed Draconith eggs into scrambled abortion.

Kragnos' attempted genocide of the Draconith was the last straw for the forces of Order. Several Draconith sorcerers, including the brothers Krondys and Karazai, made contact with the legendary Lord Kroak. In exchange for giving Kroak the last of their eggs, Lord Kroak helped them deal with Kragnos. With the aid of the godbeast Dracothion, who personally restrained Kragnos in his coils, Kroak and a bunch of other allied sorcerers wove a powerful spell that finally halted Kragnos rampage. Kragnos was sealed away in a mountain, which was then isolated from the flow of time itself thanks to the spell something which they hoped would help to keep it intact, and it was…for several millennia at least…

===Soul Wars===
The only notable thing that happened at this time was that Nagash's Necroquake left residual energies that, when combined with their opposite in life, would have devestating consequences on Kragnos' prison.

===Broken Realms===
During the [[Broken Realms Saga|Broken Realms crisis]], the energies of Alarielle's Rite of Life reacted with the energy of the Necroquake. It also made the roots of trees on the mountain grow until they pierced the rock encasing Kragnos. These two things unintentionally broke the spell of Kragnos' prison, allowing him to gradually smash his way free.

Unaware that any time had passed since his imprisonment, Kragnos began a rampage across Ghur fueled by his anger at captivity and the desire to reunite with his people ASAP.

Along the way, Kragnos encountered a tribe of five Mega-Gargants, the two immediately attacking each other; the first of several Mega-Gargants to join Kragnos did so after he killed the other four. When Kragnos reached Donse, he found it a lifeless ruin and got a major sad. This turned to rage when he saw [[Gordrakk]]'s WAAAGH! and the city of Excelsis in the distance... but first he and his Mega-Gargant groupies had to deal with Gordrakk's army. Both sides fought for a bit, with Kragnos fighting Gordrakk and his Maw-Krusha Bigteef before Kragnos triggered a rockslide that buried the three of them. After fighting their way out, Kragnos - after a distraction from [[Skragrott]] and a timely appearance of the Bad Moon, shrugged and invited the Orruks to help him destroy Excelsis...something they were more than happy to do given they were already on their way to do just that when they ran into him.

Kragnos charged the Southern Wall of the city and tore down a large chunk of it while the defenders were distracted by Gordrakk's attack on the North Wall. After Gordrakk's battering ram was shattered by Lord Kroak's enchantment, Kragnos reached the main gate, reared up and hit it with all his might using his front hooves and club simultaneously. Lord Kroak's enchantments couldn't withstand Kragnos' raw might, and the gate shattered with explosive force on impact. This combined with the city’s Ogor mercenaries revealing themselves to be agents of the Loonking and turning on the defenders allowed the Orruk's and their allies to flood into the city.

After Morathi's reinforcements dealt with Kragnos' Mega-Gargant supporters attacking the city docks, Morathi sicced her big serpentine body on Kragnos to distract him while her elven body sought Lord Kroak. But Kragnos was too powerful for any of them to kill, his shielding letting him harmlessly tank Kroak's spells while he beat down Morathi's serpent body. Barely saving herself from death at Kragnos' club, Morathi convinced Kroak to send Kragnos away where he can be someone else's problem. Kroak opened a massive portal which Morathi cast an illusion on to trick Kragnos into thinking it was a city of his sworn foes, the Draconith Empire (who Morathi knew about from studying their ruins in the Age of Myth). Being about as dumb as he is big, Kragnos fell for the illusion and - after promising to finish off Morathi and/or Excelsis - charged through the portal, which proceeded to drop him on the far side of Ghur. Without his presence in the city, the Orruk lines begin to crumble, allowing the defenders to push them back.

Meanwhile Kragnos, upon realizing he'd been duped, proceeded to take out his frustration on the local Chaos fortress while a bunch of local Kruleboyz Orruks, who happened to be an isolated tribe of Kragnos worshippers, looked on in awe at the spectacle. Shortly after finally quelling his rage, he was approached by an Orruk shaman who called himself Gobsprakk, the Mouth of Mork. Surprisingly not only could the orruk speak his language but said that he had foreseen his arrival. Gobsprakk went on to say that he foresaw Kragnos at the front of a great army that would crush the realms under his hooves, and offered to be his intermediary and advisor in this endeavor. Kragnos, not immune to flattery and able to see the value in a strategist and translator, accepted the offer.

Following this Kragnos and his new herald Gobsprakk have taken up cause with other orruk waaaghs and is whipping up as many of them as he can to create a mighty horde. With Gobsprakk acting as an intermediary, Kragnos can actually command his followers as a functioning army, rather than them just following him like bunch of groupies. With more and more followers of Destruction flocking to his banner, Kragnos is shaping to be a true threat to the greater realms.

==Worship==
All the Destruction races have a reverence for Kragnos, some bordering on full on worship. The easy explanation for this being Gorkamorka’s own respect for the End of Empires, which flows down to his children. However each subculture/faction will have additional reasons for following him.

* Orruks of all breeds are the most common followers of Kragnos, who love getting into a good scrap alongside him. Ironjawz in particular follow him as the dead ‘ardest warboss around. The feral Bonesplitterz venerate his beastial appearance and how his godhood was attained via eating the bones of great monsters, literally the cornerstone of their own faith. The Kruleboyz meanwhile are an opportunistic lot who revel in the madness and chaos that ensue following Kragnos’ rampages. A perfect chance for their own sneaky schemes.
* The Grots of the Gloomspite Gitz have a similar mindset like the Kruleboyz; capitalizing on the insanity of Kragnos’ murder spree to pillage and backstab everything in their way. They also understandably fear Kragnos for his ability to casually flatten them without even trying to.
* Little is said about the Hobgrots’ opinion on Kragnos, though given their similar attitude to Kruleboyz and Grots, it can be assumed that they enjoy the discord sewn in the Boss-stompa’s wake.
* Troggoth minds are simple. They see Kragnos, and they know there’s gonna be food wherever he goes. Thus they follow him.
* Ogors of all sorts respect Kragnos’ “eating till you become a god” feat, especially the Gutbusters. The Beastclaw Raiders however focus on his many hunts of great beasts and draconic monsters. The Bloodgullet Mawtribe of Gutbusters view Kragnos as a powerful but blasphemous figure; opening fissures in the land that they view as extra mouths to be fed.
* Gargants respect size above all else. Kragnos towers over Gargants, and although most Mega-Gargants are still head and shoulders taller than Kragnos, they recognize his ability to easily break their bones. However not all Mega-Gargants respect him, chief among them [[King Brodd]], who insists that the only being worthy of gargant worship is their progenitor Behemat.

==Tabletop==
Kragnos can be taken by any {{AOSKeyword|DESTRUCTION}} aligned army.

This big boy is the epitome of the term "mighty glacier", moving only "10 but... read on. He has a 2+ save, a 6+ ward save, 18 wounds and his shield Tuskbreaker to keep himself alive. On top of this, the rule "Avatar of Destruction" makes him immune to instant death, so anything that would do that only does D6 mortal wounds to him. Tuskbreaker, in addition to providing the 6+ ward, makes it so if he beats the spells casting value on a 3D6, the spell won't work on him. Note, that’s casting ''value'', not casting ''roll'', so Teclis, Nagash, Kroak? None of their bonuses matter.

Naturally, he hits like a runaway train, fitting for the god of earthquakes. His weapon, The Dread Mace, hits harder than Ghal Maraz itself, wounding on 2's, -3 rend and does 4 damage with each attack, and he has six attacks which doesn't diminish if he takes damage. He can also bash enemies with his shield for three Rend -2, D3 damage hits and hit with his hooves for 2 damage at -1 rend up to six times.

And then there's his ultimate ability "Rampaging Destruction". After the charge, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 1" or two dice for an enemy monster within 1"; if the former is chosen, on a 2+ each unit suffers D6 Mortal Wounds, but monsters get it worse if you choose a the latter. On a roll of 7 nothing happens, otherwise the monster suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the numbers rolled on the dice multiplied... meaning a monster could potentially suffer '''36 MORTAL WOUNDS, AND THAT'S ''BEFORE'' KRAGNOS ATTACKS IN COMBAT!'''

As the god of earthquakes, he has a roar that can burst eardrums, level buildings and make Bloodthristers look like they have laryngitis. Whenever he suffers wounds, roll a dice for each unit and defensible terrain feature within 6". If the number is equal to or greater than the score on the table (the required score decreasing as Kragnos takes wounds), enemy units within 6" suffer D3 Mortal Wounds and that defensible terrain feature is demolished and no longer defensible (any models garrisoning it are slain if they roll a dice roll of 1).

He also buffs the charge range of {{AOSKeyword|DESTRUCTION}} units within 12" to being able to charge within 18' of an enemy unit and their charge distance to 3D6 instead of 2D6. Finally, he shares the "Might makes Right" type rule of the Sons of Behemat, counting as a boosted number of models for the purpose of contesting objectives, with Kragnos counting as 30 models, the number going down as he takes wounds (but it takes 10 wounds to make him reach his first bracket).

{{Destruction-Gods}}
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]]