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Grav-Weaponry

2021-06-10T22:26:20Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F:

[[File:Bits-graviton-gun.jpg|thumb|right|Soon to be featured in Portal 3. YMMV as a plastic Thunderhawk is more likely than Portal 3.]]

{{Topquote|It just works.|Every techpriest questioned about grav-weaponry}}

Weapons that employ ancient Graviton technology, selectively altering gravity to turn the target's mass against them. Grav weapons were used by many of the [[Space Marine]] [[Space Marine Legions|Legions]] during the [[Horus Heresy]]. However, in the 41st millennium, the secrets of how to build and maintain them are locked deep within the vaults of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] on [[Mars]] and are even rarer than [[Plasma|plasma guns]], and like Plasma guns this will not stop every marine and his [[primarch]] from fielding bucketloads of them. Only a select few know these secrets and only the most promising [[techmarine]]s are trusted with them.

[[Graviton weapons]] from [[Forge World]] operate completely differently than the grav-weapons shown in the new Space Marine Codex. The reason for this was a mystery up until Horus Heresy III - Extermination came out and actually had a Graviton weapon that behaved like a Grav weapon: the ''Graviton Imploder''. The explanation is that all 40k grav weapons started out as graviton weapons, but graviton weapons were not actually intended to be used as weapons at all; more likely, they were to be used like Star Trek tractor beams. Nevertheless, they were used as weapons until some guy on the Forgeworld of Tigrus figured out how to make a cheaper replacement which concentrated the energy into single targets rather than over wider areas. The tech-priests called this [[Heresy|blasphemy]], owing to the fact that it was not how the technology was originally intended, but considering they are generally more useful on the battlefield they became more common than the original design.

=Tabletop=

===In 7e===
Grav-guns are something of an alternative plasma gun in terms of use. It has [[MEQ]] and [[MEQ#TEQ|TEQ]] killing potential comparable to plasma, without the chance of blowing up and if they stand still they get a extra shot. However, this comes at the cost of shorter range (which is further shortened by moving due to Salvo) and a weakness to light armor which makes them worthless against Guardsmen, Ork Boyz, and the like. Because of this grav-guns are best used at mid to short range, prioritizing heavy units to get the best use out of them. Also capable of tearing through vehicles when used in large numbers via hull point stripping that can be argued to both ignore a vehicle's cover save and deal two hull points worth of damage for every six after the first.

Essentially, grav guns are meant for killing the big, tough units in an enemy army while leaving the fodder for the rest of your army to handle.

Unfortunately, as a consequence of high RoF and AP values combined with a simply peerless anti-vehicle capacity, grav-weapons, specifically grav-cannons for space marines, single handedly shattered the relevance of vehicles in 7th edition. Statistically, a grav devastator squad pays approximately 51 points per glance for any armour value, where lascannons pay 60-210 points over the ranges of armour 10-14.

===In 8e===

8e addressed the above by smacking grav-weapons hard with the nerf bat; they now have S5 AP-3 D1, and Graviton has been replaced by increasing the damage to D3 if it wounds an enemy with an armor save of 3+ or better. Between the stat changes, the removal of glancing/penetrating hits and AV, the buffs 8e gave to all plasma weapons, and the pitifully short range grav-weapons have when compared to said plasma weapons, they've been relegated to anti-heavy infantry roles (and even in that niche plasma is better most of the time).

===In 9e===

9e has once again shaken up the Grav/Plasma balance. While Grav weapons have seen a shift to a flat D2, Plasma has been hit by a trio of indirect nerfs:
* The arrival of [[Eradicator|Eradicators]], which are both extremely powerful and ''criminally'' undercosted, makes Plasma less point-competitive for tank-popping
* The general shift of Space Marines of both flavours to 2W, meaning you MUST overcharge to have a shot at killing, combined with...
* The change in how modifiers work with Gets Hot triggering on unmodified 1s and reduced access to rerolls, make overcharging much riskier
Grav and standard Plasma have the same AP and to-Wound versus MEQs, with the critical difference that Grav actually does enough damage to kill. Against overcharged Plasma their to-Wound is slightly worse but without risk of blowing up, which is far likelier than 8e. Of major note are the heavy variants, as the Grav Cannon now hits 4 times versus the Plasma Cannon's 3, and is marginally cheaper to boot.

Overall, the range difference is still noticeable (but not excessive) and you do get slightly better to-wound rolls with overcharged Plasma. But for players who want safe and reliable MEQ-wreckers and have more important units their re-roll auras could be babysitting, Grav weapons are a very attractive choice in 9e.

=Special Rules=
In 7e, all grav weapons have the Concussive and "Graviton" rules. Instead of comparing Strength to Toughness when rolling to wound, the firing player (you) instead rolls the target's armor save, down to a minimum of 6+. For example, if the target has a 2+, that's what they get wounded on. (Go Orks!) When rolling to Pen on vehicles, 1-5 does nothing and a 6 immobilizes the vehicle and takes a hull point (so an already immobilized vehicle loses two hull points). Graviton weapons have no effect on buildings. All grav weapons were also AP 2.

8e nerfed this down to causing D3 damage against anything with a 3+ armor save or better along with S5 AP-3, and quite frankly the things deserved it. Now that immobilization doesn't exist and the gun itself is overshadowed by the improved plasma weapons, it's gone from being a gamebreaker to a bolter that's a little bit better against MEQs.

They come in four varieties, similar to the way plasma weapons do.

=Imperial Variants=
==Close-Range Grav-Weapons==
===Graviton Hammer===
[[File:Graviton_Hammer.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Hammer]]

Giant one punch hammers in the shape of a gauntlet.

The Graviton Hammer was a type of Graviton Weapon built into the frame of Domitar Class Robots used by the Mechanicum during the Great Crusade and [[Horus Heresy]]. These powerful close-combat weapons amplified the robot's blows with waves of gravitational force which could pulverize battle tanks and even Space Marine Dreadnoughts.

On tabletop, because it is a Graviton weapon, the Graviton Hammers can handle vehicles and buildings in equal measure thanks to four attacks at S10 and its WS4 makes it so it'll hit all other automata on 3. Additionally, Graviton Hammers are able to force opponents to make disordered charges when hit, making it a great weapon for [[Squad Broken]].

Could also provide for a utterly new meaning for the term [[Anal circumference|fisting.]]

===Graviton Maul===
[[File:Graviton_Maul_2.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Maul]]
The big beatstick to clobber enemies to death.

The Graviton Maul was a Graviton Weapon adapted by [[Perturabo]] for use by his Iron Circle. Whilst technically a Graviton/Grav weapon, in function it fares more like a [[Power Weapon|Thunder Hammer]]. A variant on the Mechanicum's Graviton Hammer, these weapons were capable of crushing armored targets and particularly destructive when employed against fortifications.

On tabletop, the Graviton Maul is a giant fuck off bat. This thing is a S10 AP2 beatstick with a concussive, wrecker and crushing blow rules. On a hit roll on a 6, you are allows an additional attack to beat the shit out of your enemies right and proper.
==Hand-Held Grav-Weapons==
===Grav-Pistol===
[[File:Grav-Pistol_2.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Grav-Pistol]]
The smallest of the grav-weapons and comparable to Plasma Pistols in terms of how often people use them. Its effect is not quite as powerful as that of its larger counterparts, but it can still do enormous damage to targets possessed of a large mass.

Like all Grav-weaponry, the Grav-Pistol fires a stream of graviton particles which affects the local gravitational field of a target area, making the targeted object either far heavier or lighter depending on the weapon's setting.

{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-7-8|name=Grav-Pistol|r7=12|s7=-|ap7=2|type7=Pistol|abil7=Concussive, Graviton|r8=12|s8=5|ap8=-3|type8=Pistol 1|d8=1|abil8= Becomes D3 damage vs. targets with armor save of 3+ or better}}
{{clear}}
=== Grav-Gun ===
[[File:Grav-Gun.png|200px|right|thumb|Grav-Gun]]
The middle sized of the Grav Weapons. This medium-sized Grav-weapon utilizes the gravitic reaction principle most commonly seen powering grav-vehicles such as the Land Speeder. Each gun is a rare relic left over from the Dark Age of Technology and are now sacredly guarded by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and very rarely will they allow one to leave their armories, but some Space Marine Chapters still field a handful of such weapons.

The effect is generally non-lethal and can be used to incapacitate foes who need to be captured alive, but the power of the Grav-gun's highest settings is sufficient to rupture organs and crack bones even inside armor. Some living targets will be affected more variably; a very large creature may be killed under excessive weight, but most targets will either be slowed or completely immobilized.

{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-7-8|name=Grav-Gun|r7=18|s7=-|ap7=2|type7=Salvo 2/3|abil7=Concussive, Graviton|r8=18|s8=5|ap8=-3|type8=Rapid Fire 1|d8=1|abil8= Becomes D3 damage vs. targets with armor save of 3+ or better}}
{{clear}}

=== Grav-Cannon ===
[[File:Grav_Cannon.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Grav-Cannon]]
The biggest of the Grav Weapons fielded by space marines, Grav-Cannons are carried by [[devastator squad]]s and [[centurion squad|devastator centurions]].

The Power of the Graviton Cannon is sufficient to rupture organs and crack bones even inside armor, but its primary use is to counter enemy machinery without the risk of secondary explosions. Graviton Cannons have also been seen mounted on [[Rapier Armoured Carrier|Rapiers as well.]] Standard devastators can now take them too as of recent updates.

Space Marine Chapters are among the few warriors of the Imperium to be gifted with the use of Grav-weaponry let alone the Grav-Cannon, and it is considered a sacred responsibility to wield such a potent weapon.

{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-7-8|name=Grav-Cannon|r7=24|s7=-|ap7=2|type7=Salvo 3/5|abil7=Concussive, Graviton|r8=24|s8=5|ap8=-3|type8=Heavy 4|d8=1|abil8= Becomes D3 damage vs. targets with armor save of 3+ or better}}
{{clear}}

=== Heavy Grav-Cannon ===
[[File:Heavy_Graviton_Cannon_(Kataphron).jpg|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Grav-Cannon]]
The bigger, blacker Grav-Cannon, for [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] of course. This things can turn a tank inside out or turn the METHUL BAWKS into a even smaller and boxier METHUL BAWKS. Such is the Heavy Grav-Cannon that it is seen as a serious threat to even superheavy vehicles such as the [[Baneblade]] and its dozen brothers or even [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]].

Space Marine Chapters are among the few warriors of the Imperium to be gifted with the use of Grav-weaponry let alone the Heavy Grav-Cannon, and it is considered a sacred responsibility to wield such a potent weapon.

At 30' range and salvo 4/6, it could make Wraithknights cry.

As of 8th, the Heavy Grav-Cannon will outright delete any MEQ infantry - AP-3 will fuck over anything with a 2+/3+ save (Invulns are still a problem, though), and that D3 damage against units with said save is nasty against single-wound models.

{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-7-8|name=Heavy Grav-Cannon|r7=30|s7=-|ap7=2|type7=Salvo 4/6|abil7=Concussive, Graviton|r8=30|s8=5|ap8=-3|type8=Heavy 5|d8=1|abil8= Becomes D3 damage vs. targets with armor save of 3+ or better}}
{{clear}}

=== Grav-Amp ===
[[File:Grav-Amp.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Grav-Amp]]

A piece of specialist wargear that allows any grav-weapons being used in the same squad as the model holding it to re-roll failed wounds and vehicle damage (i.e. gain Shred). Large enough to rival even a Grav-Cannon. The Grav-Amp is a wonder of ancient technology all by itself as it focuses the field of a users Grav-Weapon, further amplifying the already devastating affects of a Grav-weapon due to its unique gravitational lens, hence its name, the Grav-Amp.

It is often wielded by Centurions who are big and strong enough to wield a Grav-Cannon with ease, which in itself can be upgraded into a Grav-Amp. In fact, it seems that only Grav-Cannons are big enough to allow a secondary attachment such as the Grav-Amp to act a as a force multiplier. A better view of the Grav-Amp can be seen on the Grav-Cannon image. It is the weird looking lens below the barrel of the Grav-Cannon.

As of 8e, it no longer has any affect whatsoever and just comes built into the Grav-Cannon.
==Vehicle Grav-Weapons==
=== Graviton Pulsar ===
[[File:GravitonPulsar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Pulsar]]
The baby version of the Graviton Singularity Cannon.

Graviton Pulsars are a type of Graviton Weapon that is capable of crumpling power armor or ripping the treads from a tank via the projection of its crushing force. Unusually enough for Imperial standards, while able to cause great destruction, such weapons are more often employed to disable and impede rather than destroy, fired to halt the advance of war machines so that they might be captured largely intact.

Funnily enough, despite being the baby version of the Graviton Singularity Cannon, the Graviton Pulsar can also be found in ship-form. Oh yes, starship-sized graviton weapons sure sounds [[Exterminatus|like a recipe to make an]] [[Inquisitor]] [[/d/|quite erect indeed.]]

On 8th Edition, they are basically a super Grav-Cannon, with D6 shots at S6 AP-3 D2, up to D4 vs 3+ or better saves. Falls to the same pitfalls as most Grav weapons, as while the AP and Damage scream Anti Tank, the lackluster Strength holds it back, while the 4 damage is gross overkill against any Infantry that isn't a Character. Has a strong niche against Light Vehicles with good armour, like Armoured Sentinels and Landspeeders, but the Lightning Lock and Volkite Veuglaire have very similar stats at better range. It still does surprisingly well in the anti-tank roll with its high rate of fire and assurance that if a shot does wound, it's going to fucking hurt - provided you are shooting targets that have a 3+ or better save, at least 4 wounds, and don't have a great invuln, this will usually be your best gun.

===Graviton Ram===
[[File:Graviton_Ram.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Ram]]

When you want to [[Anal circumference|anally fist vehicles and buildings instead of people.]]

This weapon is the Graviton Hammer on bath salts that is used primarily and exclusively by the [[Legio Cybernetica|Thanatar-Calix-class Siege-Automata.]] It looks like one scary-ass metal brick with three large barrels in which compressed gravity is expelled out.

The Graviton Ram is an ancient design of unknown origin once believed to have been used for mining and excavation during the [[Dark Age of Technology]], these Graviton Weapons have been turned into implements of destruction by the Mechanicum.

The Graviton Ram is capable of pulverizing rock, metal and flesh in cascading waves of gravitational force. These weapons can send out powerful gravitic shock waves even at a distance, allowing the Thantar to attack enemy units that are believed to be out of melee range.

In the [[Horus Heresy]] tabletop, the Graviton Ram is a Assault - S10, AP1, Armourbane, Concussive, Structural Collapse weapon that fires a Heavy 1, Concussive, Graviton Wave, Haywire flamer template. As you can imagine, in assault it is gonna punch and fist everything to death whilst doubling out any T5 monsters into pulverized meat. Structural Collapse makes this a D weapon against any buildings or fortifications.

In shooting, Graviton wave makes models take a strength test on a D6 or take a wound, so useful against T3 4+ save troops certainly. Additionally morale checks caused by this weapon are taken at -2 LD. But mostly you want it for the haywire, which if attacking a squadron could hit multiple models if placed right.

===Graviton-Charge Cannon===
[[File:Graviton-Charge_Cannon.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton-Charge Cannon]]
The Graviton's equivalent of the [[Plasma#Hellex Plasma Mortar|Hellex Plasma Mortar.]]

Graviton-Charge Cannon is the primary weapon found on the smol [[Legion Arquitor Bombard]] artillery tank. Despite the small size of the vehicle, the sheer size of that Graviton cannon allows this little sucker to fire weaponized gravity on an ''arc''.

What this means is that the Graviton-Charge Cannon could outright not only fire with no line of sight, but the sheer splash damage coming from that artillery piece is gonna give any fortifications a very bad day.

Unfortunately, the size of the Arquitor Bombard and the limited power needed to charge the Graviton-Charge Cannon, means that it has a disappointing short range for an artillery piece. Given the expanse required to make a Grav weapon in the [[Great Crusade]] let alone the 41st Millennium, along with the short range and piss-weak defenses coming from such a smol tank, don't expect the Graviton-Charge Cannon to be used that often.

<gallery>
File:GCC_Back.JPG|Back of the Graviton-Charge Cannon.
</gallery>

=== Grav Flux Bombard ===
[[File:Grav-Flux_Bombard.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Grav Flux Bombard]]
The Grav Flux Bombard is a type of heavy Graviton Weapon and it is fucking ECKS BAWKS HUEG.

Developed for unique use by the Leviathan Dreadnought, the Grav Flux Bombard is a short range siege weapon that is essentially the Grav version of a [[Awesome|Demolisher Cannon]]. A Leviathan Grav-flux Bombard creates a spiraling vortex of gravitation-torsion force, and is a fortress-breaching weapon which can reduce the toughest armor to twisted scrap and crush anything living beyond recognition. Additionally, the Grav Flux Bombard looks sweet as hell, by far one of the coolest looking toys in the Horus Heresy games.

Seriously this thing clears mobs of infantry like butter. Usually leaving behind an icky paste since they get crushed by the gravitational waves. <s>We just wish we could add this in the 41st millennium.</s> Now we can, and [[Heresy|it's even better than it used to be!]]

=== Graviton Imploder ===
[[File:Graviton_Imploder.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Imploder]]
The Graviton Imploder is a type of superheavy Graviton Weapon used by the Adeptus Mechanicus. It is one of the primary hull weapons used by the [[Macrocarid Explorator]]. It is a relatively rare weapon model-wise as the Macrocarid is no longer available on [[Forge World]] and not a lot of people use the model, rather opting for a [[Mauler Bolt Cannon]] for versatility.

The weapon was designed on the Forge World of Tigrus. Also called the 'Tank Crusher', it was a concentrated beam that created a collapsing grav-field which brought down kinetic force proportional to the density and mass of the material it struck. It thus proved effective against heavily armored foes and vehicles. Crude and power-hungry, the design was deemed blasphemous by some Magos who saw it as a perversion of ancient patterns. However its capabilities proved invaluable during the [[Horus Heresy]].

On the [[Horus Heresy]] tabletop, these are the 40k grav-guns you're used to. Trouble with Terminators? Belial-led Deathwing got you down? Accept no substitute! These are Salvo 2/4 AP2 grav guns, so the roll to wound mirrors the armor save of the target, with 18" range. So now you can have it both ways. It has problems when faced with large blobs with poor/no armour, but those things are generally easily killed by everything else, so it balances out.

<gallery>
Graviton_Imploder2.JPG
</gallery>

=== Graviton Singularity Cannon ===
[[File:Graviton_Singularity_Cannon.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Graviton Singularity Cannon]]
Okay okay, we may be cheating a little here, but this gun is so devastating it might as well be part of the Grav family rather then the Graviton family (And seriously, would anyone complain about the similarities?).

The Graviton Singularity Cannon is a type of Graviton Weapon used by Imperial Knights. This motherfucker as its name implies, shoots motherfucking [[Awesome|<u>BLACK HOLES!</u>]] It makes the Eldar D-Cannons look fucking limp in comparison. The weapon is extremely effective against any target that is trapped in the singularity, however it is especially effective against vehicles, the more massive the better.

Of course this cannon is a violently destructive but potentially unstable and hazardous weapon to its user since every time it is fired there is the risk of the singularity collapsing, the Graviton Singularity Cannon is typically mounted on the [[Cerastus Knight Atrapos|Knight Atrapos.]]
{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

=Necron Variants=
==Vehicle Grav-Weapons==
===Singularity Generator===
[[File:Singularity_Generator.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Singularity Generator]]

The Necrons too have Grav-Weaponry on their own and theirs are obviously far and beyond the technological capability of the Imperium's. The Singularity Generator is essentially the Necron equivalent of the Graviton Singularity Cannon.

Singularity Generators are weapons mounted on the Necron [[Seraptek Heavy Construct|Seraptek Walker.]] These heavy weapons create miniature quantum singularities, drawing in nearby matter before collapsing in a catastrophic implosion that damages anything nearby.

Crunchwise, this thing is the one of the ultimate Necron anti-vehicle and anti-monster weapon. The Singularity Generator can put out between 6-18 shots at strength 8, -3 AP, d6 damage at 36" inches, and any 6's to wound cause one additional mortal wound on top of other damage. Ironically, this means that the Singularity Generator is ''technically'' weaker than the [[Synaptic Obliterator]]s, which is compensated by [[Dakka|having more shots.]] [[Wat|Yes, the gun meant for anti-vehicular warfare behaves more like a anti-infantry weapon than the <u>''actual''</u> anti-infantry weapon.]]

{{40k-Necron-Weapons}}
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Radium Weaponry

2021-06-10T22:23:48Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F:

{{topquote|Vulkan: "There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."<br>[[Ferrus Manus|Ferrus]]: "Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"<br>Vulkan: "I don't understand the question.|A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs}}

Radium Weapons sometimes called '''Rad Weapons''' are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used exclusively by the forces of the [[Skitarii]] Legions of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. [[Awesome|Think of them as nuclear rifles.]] [[Grimdark|Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders.]] Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture more into [[Derp|Grimderp territory more than anything else.]] Made worse that the Imperium does have extremely potent small arms scale radiation protection in both material and energy field form. Most likely the Skitarii don’t use the protection because Skitarii are blatantly disposable. Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.

Despite Rad weapons seemingly being [[Derp|Grimdark for the sake of being Grimdark]], there is a precedence for these weapons actually existing. Energy weapons of all types would throw out huge amounts of Bremsstrahlung radiation each time they are fired (which is German for "to brake"). This mean that even [[Lasgun|las weaponary]], [[Plasma|Plasma guns]], [[Melta]], [[Volkite]]s and just every type of energy weapons would be spewing between trace to large amounts. Even high velocity weapons such as [[Gauss]] [[Railgun]]s and certain [[Autogun]]s would do this for each bullet, sabot, etc, when fired. As modern firearms have housing to prevent them from overheating, most weapons by the [[Great Crusade]] would have systems in place so they don't cause damage to the user or their armor. Having to clean up even small amounts of radiation would require extensive decontamination of both their gear and the weapon itself.
Though the Admech, being made up of cyborgs, just don't care; they can just get themselves a fancy new limb, or an organ (or two, if they survive the battle of course).

On tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage, although stats do differ depending on what type you're using. In 30k 6s to wound do two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Normally Ork troops would have that much. While having shootouts with the Tau and can even win. But that's how the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] rolls.

Radium Rifles and Pistols both existed before Warhammer in John Carter of Mars, though in both cases they were far less lethal to the user unless their ammunition was exposed to sunlight. Which makes even less sense but given a pass because the internet didn't exist back then.
==Imperial Variants==

===Radium Pistol===
[[File:RadiumPistol.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Pistol]]
A small pistol (Small!? It’s bigger than an arm!) that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear armed hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.

On 8th Edition, this little nuclear powerhouse is a single shot pistol with the abovementioned base stats. If you choose this pistol, you are essentially replacing a Skitarii Alpha's main weapon. Their base weapon does in a turn what this pistol does in two or three. If you choose to drop your main gun for a pistol, there are better alternatives...although this one is free.

<gallery>
image:RadiumPistolBit.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:RadiumPistol1.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Carbine===
[[File:RadiumCarbine.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Carbine]]

The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard. The Radium Carbine rapid firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire, it is the main armament of Skitarii Vanguard. The Carbine is noted for its amazing fire rate, sometimes, bordering on the absurd, such as destroying vehicles by sheer [[Dakka]].

If you want to roleplay as [[Fallout]] in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3 [[Awesome|allowing Vanguard to cover lots of ground and still hit on 4+]], the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.

<gallery>
image:SkitariiRadiumCarbine.png|<center>Side View</center>
RadiuMCarbineAim.jpg|<center>Bottom View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Jezzail===
[[File:RadiumJezzail.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Jezzail]]

[[Awesome|A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle.]] The Radium Jezzail is a long sniper-like weapon that is sometimes used by [[Sydonian Dragoon|Sydonian Dragoons]] instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper version as a weapon choice for the Dragoon, in place of its Taser Lance, for free.

Seriously, it has more power than other armies' sniper rifles, beginning at [[Cheese|S5 Heavy 2]], it would be more accurate to call it an anti-materiel rifle than a sniper rifle. It is offset for its relatively short range (For a sniper rifle) of 30". It could also Wound at 6's, which causes an extra mortal wound, just to make sure that poor sod is right and proper dead.

Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.

<gallery>
RadiumJezzailSide.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:SydonianRadiumJezzail.png|<center>Top View</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Irradiation Projector===
[[File:Irrad.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Irradiation Projector]]
Dating back to the [[Great Crusade]] and working much like an oversized [[Flamer]] rather than a light machine gun firing pure Uranium. An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, are specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapons. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.

Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level. Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die a short time later from late-term effects of acute radiation sickness (compare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation-induced_cognitive_decline#War_fighting "Walking-Ghost-phase"]).

The biggest users are [[Thallax|Thallaxes]] whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.

<gallery>
MagosRadCleanser.jpg|<center>Magos Dominus</center>
image:MechanicumRadiumEngine.png|<center>Myrmidon Destructor</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Rad Missile Launcher===
[[File:Rad_Missile_Launcher.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Missile Launcher]]

The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons.
Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]. These Terran-derived missiles are a horror of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges lined with radioactive isotopes.

The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim no matter their resilience. Because of its contaminating and hideous nature, it was deployed sparingly, most commonly by [[Destroyer_Squad|Destroyer Space Marines]]. The effects of these weapons were so horrific that they were only used against Xenos. Even the worst among the Legion Astartes had very little trust for those would dare use them. Exceptions being the [[Death Guard]] and the Dreadwing of the [[Dark Angels]]. The effects of Rad Missiles would force Destroyer Marines to replace their limbs with cybernetics. As the ammunition fired by the launcher itself caused aggressive forms of cancer that can deter Space Marines. The outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]] turned Rad Missiles Launchers and Destroyers into a necessary evil for both sides. This is the first pre-Grey Knight answer against [[Daemon|Chaos Daemons]] or [[Dark Eldar|anyone dumb enough to not wear]] or [[Cultist|too broke ass to afford]] [[Power Armor]].

[[Tl;dr]], it's a missile launching dirty bomb.

<gallery>
image:RadMissileFront.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
image:RadMissileBack.jpg|<center>Back View</center>
</gallery>

===Rad Cannon===
[[File:Rad_Cannon.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Cannon]]
Rad Cannons are a type of Rad Weapon and the big daddy of the lot. They are known to be used by House Van Saar gangers on [[Necromunda]]. These are extremely bulky weapons that essentially shits out Chernobyl-levels of radiation at the particular vicinity.

They are extremely powerful, albeit, unwieldy and dangerous weapons. It should not surprise us that users of Rad Cannons often could count their lifespan in months from constant usage, due to the radiation backwash. For some unknown reasons, the AdMech never seems to use these, despite the fact that they would probably in all likelihood, ''should''. Though their version would be much less shitty and look like a larger Irradiation Projector.

On the Necromunda tabletop, this is a 5” and 32” range blast weapons. For House Van Saar which sorely lacks blasts, this weapon could be a god send. However, [[Wat|the weak-ass Strength of 2]] means that you are not hitting above your weight. As such, [[Skub|it is a pretty mix-bag weapon, quite situational honestly.]]
<gallery>
Rad_Cannon_model.JPG
</gallery>
{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

== Tau Variants ==

The [[Tau Empire]] only utilize one type of rad weapon in which only the Vespids are known to use.

=== Neutron Blaster ===

[[File:NeutronBlaster.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neutron Blaster]]

The primary weapon of the [[Vespid|giant cockroaches]]. Neutron Blasters are some type of rad weapon that fires irradiated neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. [[What|This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals.]] Whilst some may claim that this allows ''only'' the Vespids to utilize these weapons which is a great enemy denial tool. It also presents the problems of the usefulness of this weapon in closed, cramp spaces, or the hard vacuum of outer space which may render the weapon quite useless....whoops....

The Neutron Blaster in a sense, is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of Tau manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

For ''some'' reason, the Neutron it fires is a [[Derp|sickly green]] despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.

<gallery>
image:NeutronBlasterSmall.jpg|<center>Standard Variant</center>
image:VespidNeutron.png|<center>Sergeant Variant</center>
</gallery>

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[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Imperial]]

[[Category: Adeptus Mechanicus]]

[[Category: Space Marines]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tau]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Warhammer Weapons]]

{{Template:40k-Tau-Weapons}}

Nagash

2021-06-10T21:18:58Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Early life */

{{cleanup}}[[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"><span style='color:teal;font-size:100%'> THOSE SOULS ARE MINE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!<br>- Nagash bitching at Sigmar and co.'''</span></div>
{{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.|Nagash the Undying}}
{{Topquote|Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it is here. Or should I say, I am.|Thanos (MCU version)}}
{{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}}

{{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}}

'''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 character to ever curse the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] world. Ever. After [[Matthew Ward]], of course.

Nagash has practically zero redeeming factors and was an obvious sociopath from day one (more on that below).

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 would become kings. Before he was forced to joined the Mortuary Cult, he led a military campaign against the Lizardmen who were attacking their allies living in the city of Lybaras. The army at the time was originally led by his father Khetep, but after falling ill during the campaign, Nagash ended up continuing where his father left off. Nagash continued his father's campaign until the Lizardmen leader was finally killed in action. After that, Nagash wounded up ruling the city of Rasetra (which Khetep had used as a strategic point against the Lizardmen) as a king for 6 months. After Khetep was cured, he left the city of Rasetra with a general of his and gives Nagash to the cult. Khetep even made sure to keep the details of Nagash's short "reign" forbidden from been discussed among his army, and removed it from history by calling Nagash a "brave warrior" and nothing more. It was the first time in his life that Nagash felt the glory to be a king, also the first time he felt to have his power removed from him.

He joined the Nehekharan Mortuary Cult and quickly rose to become High Priest. Like all Mortuary Priests, he was searching for a means of achieving immortality; following the command of the by then (oh irony!) long-dead [[Settra the Imperishable]]. Unlike most Mortuary Priests, Nagash really hated his job and wanted to be king instead (for obvious reasons), lamenting that in every other nation he knew of firstborn sons that took the throne. He also coveted even greater magical power. Then one day he saw the hot chick his brother was betrothed to; and sought to steal her from his brother and failed miserably in the process. At this point Nagash was sick to the back teeth of not only his brother getting a state appointed 9/10 GF just for being born second, but also with the strict policy of celibacy practiced within the Mortuary Cult. It was time to act (read: scheme)!

After their father, 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, considering Thutep to be a weak king, a belief only reinforced by Thutep's diplomatic concessions. When tending to his father's body, instead of mourning his father's death (which was the first red flag for the uninitiated that something was wrong with the guy), Nagash became incredibly interested in what killed him, for his corpse bore the marks of powerful dark magic. To put it in detail, while extracting his dead father's organs to put them in a canopic jar, Nagash discovered that his father's inner belly organs had been blackened, twisted together by some unknown foul magic, a power that should not be possible for any Nehekharan mortuary cult priest to wield at that time.

Unfortunately for the Khemrians, and the world as a whole, Nagash found the source of this magic. During his father's burial ceremony, a Zandari diplomat had 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 Zandri army as slaves/mercenaries against his father, but had become so feared thanks to their dark magic that the Zandari chose to betray them. His suspicions were proven correct when he sensed a weak and cold power from one of the female captives, whom was quietly channeling her power (Note: the three of them were all drugged up to make them easier to subdue). Nagash, quick to seize opportunities 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 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]].

==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 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 versus 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 detail about Nagash's defeat. One was that his undead army suffered months of attrition during the siege of Mahrak. The city of hope itself has the most powerful of the gods blessing for it has the most powerful Ushabti (not statue, actual demi-god soldiers) garrisoned in the city as well as magic defences like high temperature death field and force field that blocks 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, his army was already in tatters. The second was the surprised attack from Lamashizzar's dragon staff troops. Lamashizzar had long desired for Nagash's elixir of longevity that he went to pledge Nagash his alliance 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 resides. The ranged firepower coming from Lamashizzar's Dragon Force mortally wounded Nagash and shattered his skeleton army. For some reasons, 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. He lost conscious from the injury that his followers, 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, 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==
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 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 to 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 compared to all the elixir he had consumed in the past. Then, a faintly glowing green light on one of the rat hunters' clothing 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 energies 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]].

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 the Skaven got the 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 are 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 of Hiirc and was going to kill him, only to be blasted my 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 protection 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.

Without the traitors' presence, 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 is met with a treacherous knife from Lord Eekrit after he was found near the ruins of his War Liter.

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 grew.

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 though 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 grew 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. 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 <b>EMPIRE</b> 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 roftstomps 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]]==
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 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 asshole that he is), he immediately set up shop in the realm of Shyish, declared himself its king and tried claiming ownership of everyone who died (despite not running the place or providing its afterlives, 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 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) and 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 of 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 he really is just that stupid.

When things were looking bleak, the various gods started going their separate ways to defend their own lands. Surprisingly, Nagash was the last one to abandon Sigmar and step out on [[Grand_Alliance:_Death|his own]]. Unsurprisingly he did so in the most dickish 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.

==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. 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, then tricked Neferem to drink it after he made a mocking promise to never harm Sukhet again.
*** After survived a coup staged by his first servant Khefru, Neferem and whats remained of mortuary cult priests in Khemri, 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 sacrificed before battle (Note: In an earlier chapter of the novel, there was a scene where the Nehekharan nobles were drinking the blood of a sacrificed cow blessed by Geheb just before the battle. No human slaves were sacrificed.). 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 is not only forced to surrender without any negotiation, the surviving soldiers were then forced into slavery and its king were stripped of any valuables like crowns and clothing. The king is forced to return to his sacked city wearing only ragged clothing while riding a flea ridden donkey.
** Apparently, the tomb of Zandri contain ancient blue prints of many terrible engines of war, which Nagash has sent an engineer to study its knowledge. As a reward for learning all this knowledge, Nagash had the engineer's tongue cut just 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 dissatisfying with the amount of time that is required to build his pyramid (at least 200 to 250 years according to his calculation) that he forbid any other constructions in Khemri to be permitted until his Pyramid is 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 POW as well as barbarian slaves from the north, all while they were suffering from disease and famine (priests won't help curing the disease because they are 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 a foundation of the pyramid or to have their bones used as carving tools. The details of how the workers to do these things is not important to him, so long their death could offer 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.
* Captured the spirits of his enemies and kept them in eternal torment.
* When Bhagar opposed the rule of Nagash from Khemri, Arkhan the Black lead a punitive expedition that enslaved most of the Bhagarites and killed/extinct 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 its soul sent back to Nagash's pyramid. Bhagarites' loss has to do with their leader Shahid ben Alcazzar surrendered, doing so broke the ancient oath they've made to Settra and Khsar the god of desert, whom the later took no pity, dried up their well and erase their desert safety route, forcing the Bhagarites to live like a nomadic tribe for the rest of their days.
* 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 man mad, forcing them to tear each others out and then died of fever. Everyone that wasn't hiding inside the magic proof white palace of Quatar died within a week.
* Tainted a god given spring just to deny his enemy from replenishment. To emphasis the detail of its sickness, the observer at that time: Hekhmenukep and Rakh-amn-hotep were on their sky boat, where they overlooked Nagash's work and trembling in disgust. The Spring used to be a beautiful greenish oasis with many pools of silvery water, that's is until Nagash's underling defied it with corpses and blood. Aside from its new grotesque scenery, it reeks of dry dead air that stings the eye and now house a swarm of a blackened pool of cannibalistic insects that could reach even the king's sky boat. Both of them were so sickened and afraid (for the first time in their life even, one was even a warrior king) of such a thing, they dreaded monsters like Nagash and his men who were capable of such evil.
* Upon realized the priests of Khemri and the their covenant has started a coup against him, Nagash immediately use his pyramid's power 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.
* 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.
* 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 made the northern tribe strong, but is actually just simple smithing technology as well as useful fighting technique the Nehekharans used. However, they [[that guy|incompetent, for these assholes alerting the enemies with their war cries while fucking off the entire time, looting the enemies' belonging instead of fighting them]]. Nagash never had any high expectation for them, viewing them as unbefitting for any profession, even as slaves in Nehekhara, which their behavior on the battle has made him realized in fact that these barbarians were too fucking stupid to see any value in the knowledges he was planning to teach them, and might in fact expecting some kind of fucking miracles like turning them into superman or something. Being the rational person he is, Nagash had his servant to convince them into cannibalism by claiming they could gain the strength of their foes by ingesting their flesh. The servant was horrified to deliver such message, but he still did so 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 shore of Soul Sea, probably killed some Dwarf thus earned some grudges and fought some orcs by either ate them, got krumped by them or ate each other like a dumb ass lovers.
* After Nagash finally conquered the northern tribe (he did so by forcing his enemy to starvation by denying them from farming, and his undead army do not need to eat, nor does his ghouls who eats their enemies flesh), 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 their slavery in life]]. Still, Nagash is at least reasonable (and may be kind for the '''first''' time in his life) allowing them to farm and eat so long as they serve him, and even reward them nobility and other good shit if they were smarter and more capable, even if he wished to use them as pawns to destroy his homeland. However, those who opposed his treaty are met with death, having them, as well as their family's (from women to children) flesh devoured by his aforementioned cannibal followers. Anyone foolish enough to rebel are to be 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 other tomb kings white marble pyramid 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 frightened with its green flame torches and poison gas coming out of warpstone mine like some fucking death metal album. When Nagash and his newly slaved barbarian followers arrived at its front gate, the view traumatized his battle-hardened forces. Some of his constructs are function from using 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 will tell the dead Thutep and others that their vengeance will 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 drove 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 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 consists of merely a thousand plague weakened soldiers, wearing little to no armor while wielding farming tools (because armor and other good weapons are 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 feels to watch his people and loved one die. He then explained why'd spared Alcadizzar and how the entirety of Nehekhara's souls will be enslaved by using him as the key, and using the legion of the dead that is worth of every dynasty combined as the ultimate army of the dead to annihilate all life in the world. Nagash capped this off by telling Alcadizzar how he's going to take Alcadizzar's (un)dead wife as his consort if he likes her enough - similar to what Nagash did to his brother Thutep before entombing him... except Nagash genuinely lusted after Neferem, while this he just said that to taunt Alcadizzar.
** Said ritual also used up a lot of captured Savage Orcs' souls, because even they deserved to die fightin' in a WAAAGH 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 can take 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 ([[That Guy|notable because Nagash did so while he was 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 any living being that serving Chaos is better than serving Nagash while making a reasonable statement, comparing Nagash's virgin undying, static, slavering servitude to their chad adaptable, occasionally rewarding servitude. [[Throgg]] was turned into dust afterwards.
* 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 toy?), 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 throw into the direction where [[Warhammer Underworlds|Shadespire]] suppose to be just so it could flung inside one of its many pocket dimensions inside any mirrors of the cities, trapped inside them for eternity. Thankfully it did not worked 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 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 is 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]]

Nagash

2021-06-10T21:18:29Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Early life */

Nagash

2021-06-10T21:16:03Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Early life */

{{cleanup}}[[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"><span style='color:teal;font-size:100%'> THOSE SOULS ARE MINE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!<br>- Nagash bitching at Sigmar and co.'''</span></div>
{{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.|Nagash the Undying}}
{{Topquote|Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it is here. Or should I say, I am.|Thanos (MCU version)}}
{{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}}

{{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}}

'''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 character to ever curse the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] world. Ever. After [[Matthew Ward]], of course.

Nagash has practically zero redeeming factors and was an obvious sociopath from day one (more on that below).

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 would become kings. Before he was forced to joined the Mortuary Cult, he led a military campaign against the Lizardmen who were attacking their allies living in the city of Lybaras. The army at the time was originally led by his father Khetep, but after falling ill during the campaign, Nagash ended up continuing where his father left off. Nagash continued his father's campaign until the Lizardmen leader was finally killed in action. After that, Nagash wounded up ruling the city of Rasetra (which Khetep had used as a strategic point against the Lizardmen) as a king for 6 months. After Khetep was cured, he left the city of Rasetra with a general of his and gives Nagash to the cult. Khetep even made sure to keep the details of Nagash's short "reign" forbidden from been discussed among his army, and removed it from history by calling Nagash a "brave warrior" and nothing more. It was the first time in his life that Nagash felt the glory to be a king, also the first time he felt to have his power removed from him.

He joined the Nehekharan Mortuary Cult and quickly rose to become High Priest. Like all Mortuary Priests, he was searching for a means of achieving immortality; following the command of the by then (oh irony!) long-dead [[Settra the Imperishable]]. Unlike most Mortuary Priests, Nagash really hated his job and wanted to be king instead (for obvious reasons), lamenting that in every other nation he knew of firstborn sons that took the throne. He also coveted even greater magical power. Then one day he saw the hot chick his brother was betrothed to; and sought to steal her from his brother and failed miserably in the process. At this point Nagash was sick to the back teeth of not only his brother getting a state appointed 9/10 GF just for being born second, but also with the strict policy of celibacy practiced within the Mortuary Cult. It was time to act (read: scheme)!

After their father, 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, considering Thutep to be a weak king, a belief only reinforced by Thutep's diplomatic concessions. When tending to his father's body, instead of mourning his father's death (which was the first red flag for the uninitiated that something was wrong with the guy), Nagash became incredibly interested in what killed him, for his corpse bore the marks of powerful dark magic. To put it in detail, while extracting his dead father's organs to put them in a canopic jar, Nagash discovered that his father's inner belly organs had been blackened, twisted together by some unknown foul magic, a power that should not be possible for any Nehekharan mortuary cult priest to wield at that time.

Unfortunately for the Khemrians, and the world as a whole, Nagash found the source of this magic. During his father's burial ceremony, a Zandari diplomat had 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 Zandri army as slaves/mercenaries against his father, but had become so feared thanks to their dark magic that the Zandari chose to betray them. His suspicions were proven correct when he sensed a weak and cold power from one of the female captives, whom was quietly channeling her power (Note: three of them were all drugged up to make them easier to subdue). Nagash, quick to seize opportunities 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 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]].

==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 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 versus 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 detail about Nagash's defeat. One was that his undead army suffered months of attrition during the siege of Mahrak. The city of hope itself has the most powerful of the gods blessing for it has the most powerful Ushabti (not statue, actual demi-god soldiers) garrisoned in the city as well as magic defences like high temperature death field and force field that blocks 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, his army was already in tatters. The second was the surprised attack from Lamashizzar's dragon staff troops. Lamashizzar had long desired for Nagash's elixir of longevity that he went to pledge Nagash his alliance 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 resides. The ranged firepower coming from Lamashizzar's Dragon Force mortally wounded Nagash and shattered his skeleton army. For some reasons, 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. He lost conscious from the injury that his followers, 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, 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==
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 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 to 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 compared to all the elixir he had consumed in the past. Then, a faintly glowing green light on one of the rat hunters' clothing 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 energies 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]].

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 the Skaven got the 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 are 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 of Hiirc and was going to kill him, only to be blasted my 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 protection 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.

Without the traitors' presence, 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 is met with a treacherous knife from Lord Eekrit after he was found near the ruins of his War Liter.

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 grew.

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 though 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 grew 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. 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 <b>EMPIRE</b> 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 roftstomps 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]]==
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 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 asshole that he is), he immediately set up shop in the realm of Shyish, declared himself its king and tried claiming ownership of everyone who died (despite not running the place or providing its afterlives, 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 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) and 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 of 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 he really is just that stupid.

When things were looking bleak, the various gods started going their separate ways to defend their own lands. Surprisingly, Nagash was the last one to abandon Sigmar and step out on [[Grand_Alliance:_Death|his own]]. Unsurprisingly he did so in the most dickish 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.

==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. 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, then tricked Neferem to drink it after he made a mocking promise to never harm Sukhet again.
*** After survived a coup staged by his first servant Khefru, Neferem and whats remained of mortuary cult priests in Khemri, 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 sacrificed before battle (Note: In an earlier chapter of the novel, there was a scene where the Nehekharan nobles were drinking the blood of a sacrificed cow blessed by Geheb just before the battle. No human slaves were sacrificed.). 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 is not only forced to surrender without any negotiation, the surviving soldiers were then forced into slavery and its king were stripped of any valuables like crowns and clothing. The king is forced to return to his sacked city wearing only ragged clothing while riding a flea ridden donkey.
** Apparently, the tomb of Zandri contain ancient blue prints of many terrible engines of war, which Nagash has sent an engineer to study its knowledge. As a reward for learning all this knowledge, Nagash had the engineer's tongue cut just 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 dissatisfying with the amount of time that is required to build his pyramid (at least 200 to 250 years according to his calculation) that he forbid any other constructions in Khemri to be permitted until his Pyramid is 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 POW as well as barbarian slaves from the north, all while they were suffering from disease and famine (priests won't help curing the disease because they are 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 a foundation of the pyramid or to have their bones used as carving tools. The details of how the workers to do these things is not important to him, so long their death could offer 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.
* Captured the spirits of his enemies and kept them in eternal torment.
* When Bhagar opposed the rule of Nagash from Khemri, Arkhan the Black lead a punitive expedition that enslaved most of the Bhagarites and killed/extinct 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 its soul sent back to Nagash's pyramid. Bhagarites' loss has to do with their leader Shahid ben Alcazzar surrendered, doing so broke the ancient oath they've made to Settra and Khsar the god of desert, whom the later took no pity, dried up their well and erase their desert safety route, forcing the Bhagarites to live like a nomadic tribe for the rest of their days.
* 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 man mad, forcing them to tear each others out and then died of fever. Everyone that wasn't hiding inside the magic proof white palace of Quatar died within a week.
* Tainted a god given spring just to deny his enemy from replenishment. To emphasis the detail of its sickness, the observer at that time: Hekhmenukep and Rakh-amn-hotep were on their sky boat, where they overlooked Nagash's work and trembling in disgust. The Spring used to be a beautiful greenish oasis with many pools of silvery water, that's is until Nagash's underling defied it with corpses and blood. Aside from its new grotesque scenery, it reeks of dry dead air that stings the eye and now house a swarm of a blackened pool of cannibalistic insects that could reach even the king's sky boat. Both of them were so sickened and afraid (for the first time in their life even, one was even a warrior king) of such a thing, they dreaded monsters like Nagash and his men who were capable of such evil.
* Upon realized the priests of Khemri and the their covenant has started a coup against him, Nagash immediately use his pyramid's power 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.
* 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.
* 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 made the northern tribe strong, but is actually just simple smithing technology as well as useful fighting technique the Nehekharans used. However, they [[that guy|incompetent, for these assholes alerting the enemies with their war cries while fucking off the entire time, looting the enemies' belonging instead of fighting them]]. Nagash never had any high expectation for them, viewing them as unbefitting for any profession, even as slaves in Nehekhara, which their behavior on the battle has made him realized in fact that these barbarians were too fucking stupid to see any value in the knowledges he was planning to teach them, and might in fact expecting some kind of fucking miracles like turning them into superman or something. Being the rational person he is, Nagash had his servant to convince them into cannibalism by claiming they could gain the strength of their foes by ingesting their flesh. The servant was horrified to deliver such message, but he still did so 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 shore of Soul Sea, probably killed some Dwarf thus earned some grudges and fought some orcs by either ate them, got krumped by them or ate each other like a dumb ass lovers.
* After Nagash finally conquered the northern tribe (he did so by forcing his enemy to starvation by denying them from farming, and his undead army do not need to eat, nor does his ghouls who eats their enemies flesh), 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 their slavery in life]]. Still, Nagash is at least reasonable (and may be kind for the '''first''' time in his life) allowing them to farm and eat so long as they serve him, and even reward them nobility and other good shit if they were smarter and more capable, even if he wished to use them as pawns to destroy his homeland. However, those who opposed his treaty are met with death, having them, as well as their family's (from women to children) flesh devoured by his aforementioned cannibal followers. Anyone foolish enough to rebel are to be 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 other tomb kings white marble pyramid 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 frightened with its green flame torches and poison gas coming out of warpstone mine like some fucking death metal album. When Nagash and his newly slaved barbarian followers arrived at its front gate, the view traumatized his battle-hardened forces. Some of his constructs are function from using 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 will tell the dead Thutep and others that their vengeance will 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 drove 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 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 consists of merely a thousand plague weakened soldiers, wearing little to no armor while wielding farming tools (because armor and other good weapons are 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 feels to watch his people and loved one die. He then explained why'd spared Alcadizzar and how the entirety of Nehekhara's souls will be enslaved by using him as the key, and using the legion of the dead that is worth of every dynasty combined as the ultimate army of the dead to annihilate all life in the world. Nagash capped this off by telling Alcadizzar how he's going to take Alcadizzar's (un)dead wife as his consort if he likes her enough - similar to what Nagash did to his brother Thutep before entombing him... except Nagash genuinely lusted after Neferem, while this he just said that to taunt Alcadizzar.
** Said ritual also used up a lot of captured Savage Orcs' souls, because even they deserved to die fightin' in a WAAAGH 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 can take 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 ([[That Guy|notable because Nagash did so while he was 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 any living being that serving Chaos is better than serving Nagash while making a reasonable statement, comparing Nagash's virgin undying, static, slavering servitude to their chad adaptable, occasionally rewarding servitude. [[Throgg]] was turned into dust afterwards.
* 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 toy?), 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 throw into the direction where [[Warhammer Underworlds|Shadespire]] suppose to be just so it could flung inside one of its many pocket dimensions inside any mirrors of the cities, trapped inside them for eternity. Thankfully it did not worked 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 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 is 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]]

Warpstone

2021-06-10T21:13:58Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F:

[[File:Warpstone of turmoil.jpg|thumb|Definitely not kryptonite.]]

'''Warpstone''' (also called ''wyrdstone'' or known by [[Nagash]] as ''abn-i-khat'' (burning rock), foulstone by the Dwarf) is a substance in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] universe best described as crystallized [[Chaos]]. When the polar [[warp]] gates of the Warhammer World collapsed, warpstone was scattered around the world as dust and as larger chunks, and large pieces occasionally fall to the ground as meteorites. It is not known if these are naturally-occurring chunks that drifted through space and were captured by the Warhammer World or if they were launched into orbit at the collapse and subsequently returned.

It is potent, nasty, dangerous stuff, as it is literally solidified magic. It can be used to fuel magic rituals and machines, but it is volatile and mutates anything exposed to it -- whole towns and regions have been permanently altered and rendered uninhabitable by the accumulation of warpstone. The "hero" factions won't touch the stuff, and place very stiff penalties on people who possess and traffic it, and of course the forces of [[Chaos]] can't get enough of it and are willing to pay good money (or spend a lot of lives) to get it. The [[Skaven]] are particularly fond of warpstone -- they eat it, use it as currency, and use it in rituals. [[Clan Skryre]] also uses lots of it in their inventions, either as a power source or as ammunition.

After Nagash's first defeat and exile to the wasteland, he encountered and killed 3 skaven hunters. He found the warpstone in one of their pockets and ate the tiniest piece of it. By that time, Nagash has been mutilated so much by his "youth elixir", he was no longer a human and was able to withstand and harness the warpstone's power. The stone's power is also so chaotic that it made him lose his magic control, senses and mentality.

The town of [[Mordheim]] got whacked by a big warpstone meteorite, which sent the civilians all running and drew in adventurers like moths to a flame. The forces of Chaos all wanted the warpstone for themselves, the forces of Order wanted to keep the warpstone out of enemy hands, and the possibility of [[loot]] drew in most everyone else.

One of the two moons in the Warhammer World is made out of nothing but the stuff. People often forget there are two moons, including [[Black Library]] authors from time to time. Any astrological event involving the Chaos Moon [[Morrslieb]] usually heralds bad things (like [[Advancing the Storyline|plot development]]).

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Warpstone alchemist.png
Warpstone token.png
Mordheim cover art.jpg
Skaven celebration.jpg
Warpstone mine.jpg
Warpstone tokens.jpg
</gallery>

== Realmstone ==

A category of substances in [[Age of Sigmar]], Realmstone is essentially Warpstone but solidified from one of the Winds of Magic instead of Chaos energy. Indeed, Warpstone is referred to as the Realmstone of the Realm of Chaos. Though not as outright evil as Warpstone, Realmstone still has a shady reputation, also being known as "Cursestone" due to it being said to bring disaster upon those who rely on it, while the regular old Warpstone is still very very bad.

Unsurprisingly, the Skaven still covet this substance as it has proved to be an even more effective source of power for their many doomsday devices.

There are:

* Chamonite (Chamon)

* Aetherquartz (Hysh)

* Grave-Sand (Shyish)

* Celestium (Azyr)

* Amber Bone (Ghur)

* Cyclestone (Ghyran)

* Emberstone (Aqshy)

* Shadowstone (Ulgu)

* Warpstone (Chaos/Blight City)

* Varanite (Eightpoints)

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]

[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]

[[Category: Chaos]]

[[Category: Skaven]]

Nazi Equipment

2021-06-10T21:01:19Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Wunderwaffen */

[[Nazi|Nazis]]. History's most stylish villains. They're famous as much for their cool equipment as for their total evilness, and because of its distinctive aesthetic and reputation- they did develop some of the most technologically advanced weapons of the 1940s, after all- it gets a lot of use in games, both traditional and otherwise. Here's a hilariously non-brief overview. As a general rule of thumb (with the exception of the Karabiner 98 which predated the Nazis by decades) Nazi equipment was [[plasma|very advanced in concept and potentially quite strong, but overly complicated and unreliable to the point of being dangerous to its user.]]

The vast majority of what you see below fall into two categories, staples of Nazi engineering: Too little too late, or too much too soon.

===Small Arms===
* '''''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBrh1euWg0 Karabiner 98 kurz]'':''' ("Carbine 1898 short" in German, also called simply ''Gewehr 98'', "rifle of [18]98") The standard German infantry rifle during WWII from the old Mauser family (the Mauser action was used in dozens of countries and is still in wide use today: Mauser rifles from WWI era caches and beyond are still being demilitarized and sold to people, primarily for hunting, ''today''.) It was beginning to become dated in WWII, given that it was essentially just a shorter version of the venerable Gewehr 98 which armed most German soldiers in WWI. It used 7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition (often shortened to "8mm Mauser"). Probably the least "Nazi equipment" example on this list while also one of the most manufactured, the rifle's strengths were that it was fairly cheap, very accurate, and reliable. But its drawbacks were that it had a slow rate of fire and only a five-round magazine. The easiest weapon to compare it to in WWII would be the Soviet Mosin Nagant, which was cheaper to make (and currently in something of a renaissance as very inexpensive Soviet era demilitarized versions were sold in huge numbers not too long ago.) It fell short compared to the British SMLE rifle, which had a ten-round magazine and had a good rate of fire for a bolt action, though it has a substantial advantage due to 8mm Mauser being rimless while .303 British is not. Worse yet, the Karabiner 98k also went up against the semi-automatic American M1 Garand (which General Patton had called "the greatest weapon ever devised") which vastly outperformed it in spitting bullets down range. (All of the above are roughly the same range of calibre—.30 [inches] or 7 to 8mm—one which remains in use today by almost every major military as well as many civilian uses, although today's fashion is for smaller calibre, higher velocity rounds for infantry.) Even then, the gun was generally quite well regarded for what it was and there was plenty of them to go around. It was also the go-to weapon for German snipers who affixed a scope to it. The gun is still in production today (albeit with modern style furniture), it is still the German army's drill rifle, some states still use versions of it as a sniper rifle and it's sometimes found in Iraq and other third world nations where it acts as a cheap marksman's rifle. Of course, it's also an excellent hunting rifle in civilian hands.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUjPeAgvf3U '''''Gewehr 43'']:''' "Rifle 1943". the German army's semi-automatic rifle. This weapon was developed in response to their invasion of the Soviet Union, where the Germans were shocked to find Soviet troops brandishing semi-automatic rifles (the SVT-40, primarily), drastically out-gunning their troops in firefights. The result was a fairly decent semi-automatic rifle/carbine chambered for the same rounds as the Kar98k, which derived many of it's concepts, while not being an outright clone of, the SVT-40. The rifle's magazine was also not built-in in that its detachable (allowing for quick reloads) but still had the option of allowing the shooter to rapidly use stripper-clips when reloading (either attaching them directly to the weapon from above, or using them to push several bullets at once into a magazine which attached to the rifle below.) Much like the Kar98k, it worked well as a marksman/sniper's weapon when affixed with a scope. Unfortunately, mechanically it was far from perfect as it was overgassed (not surprising, as the gas pressure that was tapped from the barrel to cycle the semi-automatic action proved to be too strong for the rifle's quite complicated mechanism, especially when made by unskilled workers from lower-quality steel). This resulted in (comparatively) frequent breakdowns and shattered parts, in addition to requiring more maintenance. Copying overmuch from the SVT-40 may have also contributed to this problem, as the 7.62x54mmR cartridge in the SVT-40 produces a lower gas pressure than the 7.92x57mm Mauser. For this reason, the G43 wasn't a very popular weapon among German troops, though its firepower was still welcome. The G43 has an interesting legacy that lasts to this day, however. Engineers discovered that, on occasion, the roller lock could fire fully automatic, careful adjustments to the mechanics provided. This discovery lead to the Development of the '''Gerät 06''' or '''StG 45 (M)''' which was the ancestor of the roller-delayed blowback systems used in guns like the MP5 or the G3.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdQhO8FtY7c '''''Maschinenpistole 38/40'']:''' "Machine pistol 1938/1940", the iconic MP 40 is a slightly updated variant more suitable for mass-production. The most common German submachine gun through the war used mainly by squad leaders and troops fighting in urban areas. It was also the go-to weapon of specialist units like paratroopers and the SS. Uses a 32-round magazine chambered for 9x19mm rounds and typically comes with a folding wire stock. In general pretty good but only a million of them were produced, compared to the millions of SMGs made by the British, Americans and Soviets. [[Derp|The primary weapon of the Nazis, according to Hollywood at least, where every single German grunt has one.]] Known for its rather simplistic design; the weapon had only one fire setting (automatic), though its cyclical rate was much lower than equivalent Allied SMGs, allowing aimed single shots at the cost of some room-clearing power. Was a major influence that can still be seen in SMG development.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX1EL1hTmE '''''Pistole Parabellum 1908'']:''' "Pistol Parabellum 1908". The Nazis used a bunch of pistols in truth, but none are as iconic of the Third Reich as the P08 Luger with its joint armed breech. It could load an eight-round box magazine or a thirty-two-round drum. The 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge was initially designed for this pistol and is still one of the most common pistol calibers in the world. It was eventually phased out in favor of the P38 as being a standard-issue sidearm due to the Luger being too expensive to manufacture for the entire German army, although the Luger was still available for the troops and officers who could afford it. The Luger was also somewhat unique at the time in that it could still double as a pistol carbine by affixing a stock and a 32-round drum-magazine to it, when carbine-convertible pistols had started falling out of fashion years before. The exotic toggle-lock mechanism of the gun meant it had shitty reliability in field conditions, but the gun was made at a time when sidearms were typically issued to specialists, officers, and policemen, who were typically away from conditions that could foul up the gun. WW2 era produced Lugers go for several thousand dollars *today* as collectibles.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXAMma6mUq8 '''Walther ''Pistole 38'']:''' "Walther Pistol 1938". The Walther P38 replaced the Luger P08 as the Wermacht service pistol just before World War II due to it being cheaper to produce. It loaded a 9x19mm eight-round detachable box magazine. Nerds will recognize this as G1 Megatron's alt-mode, and attentive [[James Bond]] fans will recall it seeing some use in ''Goldfinger''. MUCH more common than the Luger despite what Hollywood would tell you, and a decent pistol, if a bit annoying due to its hard-to-pull trigger. The Italians cloned its internals in the M1951, meaning the Beretta 92 is the P38's grandchild.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkU3CIPdMk '''Mauser ''Construktion 96'']:''' "Construction 1896". Popularly known as the "Boxcannon" (by the Chinese) and "Broomhandle" (by most everyone else); it loaded ten rounds from a stripper clip into an internal magazine, although there was also an option for a 20-round magazine that had the added bonus of the entire magazine being detachable instead of being built-into the weapon. The C96 was typically chambered for either the newer 9x19mm or the original 7.63x25mm rounds (which were so high velocity for a pistol cartridge of the time that they were only surpassed with the later development of the .357 Magnum). The C96 was not typically issued to the main German army during WW2—only the Luftwaffe were known users of the weapon during the war, as sidearms for their pilots. It was also one of the first and most iconic of the pistol carbine designs, innovating the wooden holster that could double as a detachable stock, making it (and Spanish and Chinese knockoffs) extremely popular in areas like China where proper longarms might be either too expensive or banned from import. However, by the 30s and 40s, this feature had fallen out of fashion in the West and wasn't included in newer production models, with only a few being modified to restore the functionality. Nerds will recognize this as Han Solo's DL-44 blaster pistol from the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, with some gubbins glued to it to make it more sci-fi.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4COZpIw9UMI '''Walther Polizeipistole/Polizeipistole Kurz''']: "Police Pistol/Police Pistol short". You know this one, it's the gun made popular by Ian Fleming and [[James Bond]] super-spy character. The Walther PP is a compact pistol that was typically issued to German police units (Kripo, Gestapo, Gefepo and Feldgendarmerie), but also as a sidearm to military officers and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rz-jKH_V04 senior party members]. The PPK variant was an even smaller version of the PP, designed for concealed carry in mind (in fact it was so small that it can typically fit into the sleeves of most longcoats, making it useful for infiltrators). It could come chambered for either 7.65mm (.32 ACP to Americans) or 9x17mm (.380 Auto) rounds. The Cold War era Soviet Makarov pistol would largely be based on the PP pistols, though in a (slightly) more powerful cartridge known as 9x18 or 9mm Makarov (which is actually thicker than the now ubiquitous 9x17/9mm Parabellum, since Soviets measured width from a different part of the cartridge). The PPK and cheaper clones (such as the Bersa Thunder, in .380 ACP or 9mm Kurz "Short") are readily available today and basically never stopped production. If you're looking to buy one in the states, be aware that there have been several license holders: Interarms (1978-1999, truest to the original design), S&W (2002-on, have had some recalls over serious defects), and Black Creek (1999-2001, very limited numbers).

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M30_Luftwaffe_drilling '''''M30 Luftwaffe Drilling'']:''' The Germans had never been too keen on combat shotguns for various reasons (during WWI Kaiser Wilhelm was famously mocked for his protests that the American use of pump-action shotguns constituted a war crime), but the emergent Luftwaffe air force saw the need for equipping their pilots with survival weapons, in the event that they were shot down far from friendly forces and needed to hunt or defend themselves. They decided on a drilling combination gun (a double-barreled shotgun with a single-shot rifle barrel) as the ideal solution. However, the Luftwaffe's commander Hermann Goering had a propensity for being vain and flashy instead of practical, and chose the fancy high-end hunting rifles that aristocrats would purchase, instead of putting out an order for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M6_Aircrew_Survival_Weapon cheap, mass-produced weapons that would get the job done] at a fraction of the cost. As a result, the few surviving M30 drillings are extremely collectible and valueable.

* [https://www.forgottenweapons.com/evolution-of-the-sturmgewehr-mp431-mp43-mp44-and-stg44/ '''''Sturmgewehr 44'']:''' The "Assault rifle 1944" was the first assault rifle adopted on a large scale. Fun fact - the name was suggested by Hitler and was pure propaganda. Chambered for the new 7.92x33mm Kurz cartridge, it gave a rifleman the power and accuracy of a rifle with the rate of fire of a submachine gun. As its name suggests, it entered the war very late, even though it is only an updated version of the MKB42, which, as the name suggests, came into the war mid-early 1942. In a rare demonstration of common sense, Hitler vetoed its mass deployment early on due to logistics (replacing over 10 million '98k' rifles with a new model that used different ammo couldn't be done overnight, or cheaply), though he approved of the idea and changed his mind later in the war when it became clear a limited impact would be better than none at all. This, combined with the fact that producing the Stg44 required the industry to adapt their tooling, and recurrent shortages of resources later in the war, heavily limited the scale at which they were produced. It was not that difficult to make though, being to Kar98 what Panther was to Panzer IV - roughly 120% of resources for superior result. It also had some mechanical issues, including a fragile feed mechanism which could jam if the rifle was knocked over. Anecdote: one of its optional attachments was the ''Krummlauf'', a curved barrel and periscope for firing around corners or from inside a vehicle hatch. Yes, it worked, but the bullets often shattered as they skittered along the curve of the barrel, causing a shotgun-like spread, and the barrels wore out quickly. In any case, the troops who received the regular Stg44 loved them because it gave the firepower of a submachine gun at about three times the effective range—and it was particularly interesting to the Russians, with contest for new "avtomat" design starting in 1943, even before Stg44 entered official mass production. Due to effectively already winning a war, USSR's Ministry of Defense decided that, instead of taking what they could in 1944, all designs should be perfected as neither suited demands perfectly (especially the one about the same weight as the Stg44 was deemed to be too heavy) - and we all know what the final result was after some young Red Army engineer named Mikhail Kalashnikov got his hands on a few.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zielgerät_1229 '''Zielgerät "Vampir"''']: Night vision rifle. Produced too late too few. Per usual Nazi gimmicks, quite capable, powerful, but not produced enough because the industrial base and time wasn't enough. Caused distress to Soviets briefly.

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfJkU4Sah8I '''''Maschinengewehr 42'']:''' "Machine gun 1942". German military doctrine during WWII was built around the machine gun and, as such, the Germans developed an exceptional machine gun in the MG 42 (basically an improved but functionally identical version of the earlier MG 34). It was lightweight at 11.7 kg, was belt fed unlike the magazine fed LMGs it usually went against, and it could nominally fire 1,200 rounds per minute (although, in practice, it was actually even faster) while most other machine guns could barely reach 600. That much [[dakka]] causes a lot of heat, so the gun was designed for easy swapping of barrels; although even with the barrels being regularly changed it was not uncommon for these guns to fire so fast that a cartridge would ignite before being fully loaded, completely breaking the gun and potentially injuring the gun's crew. Its terrifying rate of fire and distinctive report earned it the nickname "Hitler's Buzzsaw". The MG 42 was the basis for numerous other weapons throughout the Cold War (and is still used in NATO-forces today as MG3, they only changed to NATO-standard-caliber and reduced the firing rate to actually be 1200 rounds per minute, as opposed to the 1500 rpm of the original MG42). The MG3 is still widely exported and its production licensed to NATO and allies. A ''double barrel'' variant of the MG3 was also produced as a ''low cost Minigun alternative''.

* '''''Maschinengewehr 34'':''' The predecessor to the MG 42, it was still in wide use at the start of the war. It had a lower, more controllable rate of fire of around 800-900 RPM, and had a single-shot mode that was removed in the MG 42. Its production went on parallel to the MG 42 because its swing-down barrel-swap method was more compatible with vehicle ball mounts than MG 42's slide-open method, so all MGs seen on German tanks even late in the war were still MG 34's.

* '''''Fallschirmjägergewehr 42'':''' "Paratrooper rifle 1942", and if a K98k and a MG42 could have a baby together this battle rifle would be it. Created in limited numbers for the exclusive use of German paratroopers. The high-ups realized that the K98k was too long for paratroopers, and the MP40 wasn't suitable outside of urban combat, so they wanted something that handled like a carbine but could fire like a machine gun. the FG 42 was designed as a shorter, automatic battle rifle to give paratroops superior firepower, using a side-loading box magazine. Its high recoil made automatic fire inadvisable, as with later automatic high-caliber battle rifles such as the US M14. While it never really took off, it was quite the solid design, and is notable for influencing the design of the MG 42 (along with the American M60 machine gun after the war).

* '''''Hafthohlladung'':''' In English, "Attachable Shaped Charge" (get used to this very literal naming scheme, it continues below). Very soon into the war, the Germans realized they would never have enough tanks and AT guns to go around, so they developed weapons that would allow an infantryman to (in theory, at least) deal with a tank. The Hafthohlladung was such an early attempt. A big AT grenade with three magnets that allowed it to stick to any metallic surface, it would make a nice hole into any tank it was attached to... Which makes the weapon's main drawback immediately clear: [[Tankbustas|running up to an operational tank to slap a bomb to its flank wasn't exactly safe]]. In theory, you could also try to [[Genestealer#Genestealer_Cults|wait and hide in ambush]] for the tank to pass close by since visibility from inside a tank wasn't that great, but that would require being able to anticipate the path of the tank (without accidentally getting run over), and tanks were often supported by infantry anyway. At the very least, they were less suicidal than the Japanese "lunge mine." The Hafthohlladung wasn't really a successful weapon and saw only limited use, but it paved the way for the next item on the list:

* '''''Panzerfaust'':''' "Armor fist", or, more literally, "tank fist". A disposable one-shot anti-armor weapon for use against tanks and entrenched positions. Really cheap to produce, lightweight, and able to do a lot of damage to tanks at close range (maximum range being at most 150 meters for the later models). And it was really easy to use: hold in crook of the arm, flip a switch up that becomes an iron sight (and also arms the weapon), aim, squeeze the firing lever, and enjoy the fireworks. The basic idea of how they were used was to give one guy in every squad (or more) one of them so that if a tank ever did get close, there was a chance they'd be able to take it out or do some damage. This, among other things, made allied generals wary about sending tanks to clear out German infantry forces, especially among the ambush-friendly hedgerows of northern Europe. That said, Panzerfausts were useless for trying to snipe at tanks from a distance (with an effective range of about 60m of the most produced versions) and could not be reloaded with another rocket, preventing most troops from carrying more than one shot on their person. In the last days of the war, the Nazis gave these to grannies and kids on the off-chance that they could destroy an allied tank when they rolled into town. In fact, it was so cheap to produce every member of late Volkssturm was generally issued one, while every third was lucky enough to be issued a rifle. Looked like a fist in a tube, hence the name. Its general design was later copied by the Russians, eventually used in the RPG-2 and RPG-7 rocket launchers. The concept of the Panzerfaust is still very much alive in the form of many "Light Anti-tank Weapons" (M72, AT4, MATADOR,...) in use today.

* '''''Panzerschreck'':''' "Armor terror", or "tank fright". A reusable anti-tank rocket launcher based off captured American bazookas, and you can almost imagine the Nazi scientist getting one and saying "[[Ork|Bigga is Betta!]]"! (Although the actual reaction was probably also: "VHY DIDN'T VE ZHINK OF ZHAT!!!", see next item on the list.) The Panzerschreck was larger than the Bazooka, with an 88mm muzzle size (where the first Bazooka was only 60mm)—in fact, it is still larger than most rocket launchers and mortars in use today. Like the Bazooka, but unlike the Panzerfaust, it could be reloaded, and had a longer range than the Faust bar the latest version. The Panzerschreck has a distinctive steel blast shield in front, which has to do with the larger rocket blowing hot exhaust into the users face. Early models without the shield ended up requiring the operator to wear a gasmask and protective poncho (which must have sucked for the first person to test it, before they figured that out). The Panzershreck was more useful as an offensive weapon than the Panzerfaust, since it was capable of easily penetrating the armor of any tank they faced (and at better ranges) thanks to the bigger rocket. But on the other hand, it was very much a temperamental weapon that required trained operators, so its use was restricted to dedicated tank hunter teams (unlike the Panzerfaust, which was simple enough that a 10-year old kid could handle it).

*'''''Sturmpistole'':''' An early attempt at making a lightweight anti-tank weapon, the sturmpistole was little more than a modified flare gun equipped with a stock and sighting system, and fired oversized warheads out of the muzzle like the Panzerfaust. Unlike the panzerfaust, it didn't see much success due to the small size of the warhead.

*'''''Raketenwerfer 43'':''' At the time Germany [[Blood Ravens|acquired]] the Bazooka and refined it into Panzerschreks, they had there own version of a two-man team rocket based anti-tank weapon: the Raketenwerfer 43 a.k.a. the "Puppchen" or "Little Doll". Why such a weird nickname? Because it was, for all purposes and intent, a miniature artillery piece: wheeled and towed and working from a a closed breech exactly like the rest of the German field guns and howitzers (except it fired rockets). Despite its better range and accuracy it was more expensive and harder to make then the Panzerschreck or Bazooka, so not nearly as many of them were made as compared to 'schrecks.

*'''''Panzerwurfmine'':''' "Mine to be thrown at tanks" (don't say we didn't warn you about the names). Another attempt at allowing infantrymen to deal with a tank, this is basically a shaped charge with deployable stabilizing cloth fins that was thrown overhand to land on the top a tank and blow a nice, big hole through it. Cheap to produce and very efficient, but it required lots of practice to use, so it was only given to trained "[[Tankbustas|tank-hunter]]" teams. The Russians captured some of those, were duly impressed, and promptly refined the German concept into their own "RPG-6" AT hand grenade that was just as cheap and efficient but way easier to use, and so good it was still part of their arsenal when the Soviet Union fell and can still be found all over the world in relatively low-intensity conflicts. Sure, it won't kill a modern tank, but it sure as hell will kill third-world militia in up-gunned Toyotas.

*'''Various AT-Rifles''': Germany utilized a lot of AT-Rifles at the very beginning of the war, just like every other major power at the time did, and just like their counterparts, they became obsolete really, really quickly, with only the USSR really committing to their use thorughout the entirety of the war. Here are some of the AT-Rifles the Germans used.
**'''''Tankgewehr M1918''''': The daddy of the AT-Rifle and, in a sense, most anti-materiel rifles to this day. Developed near the end of WW1 by the German Empire in search of an reliable alternative to light or medium field guns in the role of anti-tank weaponry. It essentially is a Mauser Gewehr 98 on steroids firing a massive 13mm round that could penetrate up 20 millimeters of armour on ranges of 100 meters and below. It needed a lot of training to make it work right; the recoil was reported to be strong enough to dislocate a mans shoulder if used incorrectly and even if done right, the marksman would become nauseous after just 2 or 3 shots at maximum. To put it in perspective: Imagine firing a gun, whose recoil feels like a seasoned boxer just hit you in the nuts. The Wehrmacht used some of them that were still lying around in arsenals all over Germany and some they took from the Polish army.
**'''''Panzerbüchse 39''''': Or "Tank Rifle Model 39". Whereas other nations like the British and the Soviets tried to improve their AT-Rifles by using larger calibers with bigger powder charges (the British used a .55 cartridge, the Soviets 14,5 by 114 millimeters), the Germans actually made their bullets smaller, using a 7,92mm by 94 cartridge. The idea was basically to increase the kinetic force of the bullet through speed instead of mass and it sorta worked, the PzB 39 was comparable to most other AT-Rifles of the time. It's shortcomings main came from (as is tradition) overengineering; the PzB 39 was a breech-loading rifle (like an artillery gun) and the action was expensive and labour-intensive to produce. Additionally, unlike most of its comtemporaries and even some of the other AT-Rifles the Germans used, it was single shot only (The Boys AT Rifle had a 5 round magazine, as did the Soviet PTRS-41). The rifle proved barely effective already in Poland and France and was subsequently either phased out or coverted into grenade launchers.
**'''''Panzerbüchse SS41''''': An insanely complicated, impractical marvel of engineering developed specifically for SS troops. The need for alternative weapons for the Waffen-SS divisions arose when Himmler wanted to use the SS alongside traditional Wehrmacht units; however the Wehrmacht Generals disliked the idea of a paramilitary force loyal only to the Nazi party, yet alone an army of glorified thugs and some political lobbying lead to the Wehrmacht keeping its monopoly on all weapons produced by the german arms industry, a priviledge the SS didn't have, so Himmler sourced weapons from all over Europe and took whatever he could get his filthy hands on (In spite of what /pol/lacks and Wehraboos might tell you, most SS units were poorly equipped and used a huge variety of surplus or obsolete rifles, submachineguns and looted guns). The SS41 differs in this regard as it was developed in secret specifically for the SS in Czechia from prototypes the Czechs developed on their own before their annexation into the Greater German Reich. Cycling this monstrous contraption requires the soldier operating it to slide the entire forward assembly forwards and backwards, a process that looks as awesome as it was tedious. Speaking of looks, this gun is really a beauty, you gonna hand it to them, and a Bullpup design on top of that. It fired the same 7.92 by 94mm cartridge the PzB 39 used, so it's fair to say that it didn't take long to become obsolete and surviving examples are exceedingly rare.
**'''''Solothurn S18/1000''''': A ludicrously massive gun more akin to a cannon than anything else. Developed as part of the German schemes to gain access to modern firearms in spite of the conditions of the Versailles treaty in the late 20s. It was in fact so large that the Swiss put wheels on it and called it a cannon. It fired a FUCKHUEG 20mm round and needed 3 men or operate and carry it and built the basis of nearly all automatic cannons the German military developed and used through out the war.

*'''''Volkssturmgewehr''''': Literal garbage guns made from parts of broken or defective weapons, surplus barrels and wood that barely deserves to be called so. Part of the vain efforts to make the Volkssturm units into anything resembling an organized fighting force and to make a quick and extremely cheap produced gun to defend what was left of Germany by 1945 and like the German war effort, utterly failed due to being too complicated. Yeah, the last ditch weapons that look like an Ork Mek would think they are too crude for his taste use in fact a fairly elaborate mechanism that put their price tag slightly above that of an StG 44.

*'''''Maschinengewehr 08/15''''': A mid-WW1 improvement on the regular MG 08 of the Imperial German army. It was developed as an answer to the problem that infantry in the field often had problems in the field to assault positions with no support from automatic weapons and the standard MG 08 being too heavy and too cumbersome to carry around. The result saw the mounting of the MG 08 being replaced by a bipod and the coolant jacket being reduced in size and volume, bringing down its weight from almost 40 kilos down to a more comfortable 20, and the addition of a shoulder stock also made it possible to use it like a more modern LMG.By modern standards, still way too heavy to reliably use it in that particular role, but it worked well enough for the GErmans that they continued to improve on it, leading to its late (and due to the end of WW1 ultimately ineffective) , fully air-cooled version of the LMG 08/18, which did away with water cooling entirely, reducing its weight down to 16 kilos, actually making it comparable to guns like the Lewis Gun (Also the reason why Drum-fed LMGs never catched on in the German military, as Germany was forbidden to develop any new automatic weapons under the Versailles treaty conditions). The 08/15 remained the standard MG for the Reichswehr and even the early Wehrmacht. Loads of them remained in stockpile well into the war, where they were issued to rear and police units for what the Nazis called "Anti-Partisan action", with reports of the weapons being used tracking all the way into late 1941 and 1942. Fun fact: The gun was so ubiquotous and regular training tasks on it so tedious, that the word "nullachtfünfzehn" (Zero-Eight-Fifteen) entered the German language as a derogatory term for something mediocre, uninspired and boring.

*'''''Captured Weapons''''': Due to necessity and practicality, German troops also commonly used enemy equipment from all sides, predominantly Soviet weapons due to their large sweeps during the first stage of the invasion of Russia. To ease supply concerns, some weapons were converted to use standard German ammunition like the ''PPSh-41 submachine-gun'' (which was converted from 7.62x25mm to 9x19mm), while others actually had new Soviet-style ammunition made for them in converted factories.

===Artillery pieces and AT-Guns===

*'''''Granatwerfer 36''''': Leave it to the Germans to overengineer a simple tube that spits out explosives. This little critter was supposed to serve as light, indirect fire support on the squad level and a bunch of gizmos tacked onto it that made aiming with it a hell of a lot easier - too bad the small caliber (5cm) limited its range and effectiveness in its intended role. Production was terminated in 1941, the reason given that the thing was too complex and too heavy, which in hindsight is a real headscratcher, as to why the High Command didn't come to this conclusion sooner, although it remained in use throughout the rest of the war.
*'''''Leichtes Infantriegeschütz 18''''': The LeIG 18 was an evolution of the proven and reliable "Leichter Minenwerfer 18", the German answer to the Stokes Mortar that the British used. The idea was to give out a light field artillery piece to take out targets that sat in the niche of targets that were too insignificant to justify a full barrage or tank assault, too strongly defended or entrenched to just assault them solely with infantry. Think isolated pillboxes or MG-Nests holding a minor strongpoint. The odd naming stems from the conditions of the Versailles treaty, to give the Reichswehr plausible deniability for any curious allied noses poking in to German arms research.
*'''''8-cm Granatwerfer 34''''': A carbon copy of the Stokes Mortar. Yes, really.
*'''''15-cm Schweres Infanterie Geschütz 33''''': The largest gun that any given Infantry battallion had on offer. Fired 38 kilograms of explosives over considerable distances, and also served as the main armament of the Sturmpanzer IV.
*'''''LeFH 18''''': The most common field gun of the German army. It was held back by considerable downsides and really couldn't compare with Allied artillery pieces, not notably the Soviet 155mmm M1934 howitzer, which fired a much heavier payload, or the British QF-20-Pounder. Various improvements over the course of the war kept it relevant, but ultimately, it became outdated by 1941.
*'''''3,7-cm PaK 36''''': Probably the most advanced AT-Gun in the interwar period, but often gets a bad rep from reports of German soldiers, who had to fire the thing at Churchills, T-34s and other more modern tanks, earning it the moniker "Heeresanklopfkanone", or "The Heer's(German armed forces) door knocking cannon". Its major boons however were its very light weight and the perfected design of its mounting, making it very easy to transport and move. Seeing how much the German army invested in this gun before the war (over 9000 being built when the war started and an additional 5500 until 1941) they tried their damndest to keep the thing relevant even when it was very clear it could no longer keep up. Still, a remarkable and groundbreaking design for the early thirties, with 6000 being sold abroad and Japan, the USSR and even the United States outright copying the design with few modifications.
*'''''5-cm PaK 38''''': The PaK 38s bigger, beefier brother, intended to fight off bigger tanks the light 3,7-cm couldn't handle - with very mediocre results. Practically identical to the 5-cm gun of the Panzer III.
*'''''7,5-cm PaK 40''''': The first design that came onto the scene with WW2 in mind. A very effective design that in the latter half of the war ultimately became the most AT-Gun the Germans used and only became outdated at the very end of it, when even its significant firepower wasn't enough anymore to crack the armour of the big Soviet beasts. Modified versions of it became the main armament of a lot of German Tanks and Tank destroyers, the most notable of it being the Panther and the Jagdpanzer IV.
*'''''8,8-cm PaK 43''''': A modified version of the infamous 8,8-cm Flak gun, stripped down to its essentials and with added length to act as an AT-gun. Other than that, they're basically identical.
*'''''12,8-cm PaK 44''''': The biggest, baddest AT-gun any side ever devised, although one could argue that it was probably overkill, as it was so impractical and heavy that any use outside of fortified positions would be pointless. Given that the gun was designed when the war effort started to really go south and Germany found itself in a defensive war, probably a negliable downsight, but then again, it didn't really seem to make any difference in the end. Some were used as part of the Siegfried Line and the Defense of Berlin, but they were very rare and the only examples that remain today are the ones built into the surviving Jagdtigers and the Maus.

===Vehicles===
====Tanks====
German tanks were in general well designed, but in hindsight were overengineered and prone to breakdowns in the field. For example, take their ''Schachtellaufwerk'' (interleaved roadwheels system for tracks). The idea was: more roadwheels = weight distributed more evenly over track = less ground pressure = less bogging down and/or a higher maximum load. It was also supposed to lessen tank shaking and allow to fire (relatively) accurately on the move. Great idea on paper, and a pretty good one when testing prototypes at home... but an absolute hell on the Eastern front, where the almost supernaturally awful mud (or ''rasputitza'') infiltrated between the wheels before freezing and breaking everything. Cue hour after hour of work for the maintenance teams, removing the track and wheels for cleaning before mounting them again [[FAIL|each and every time the goddamn tank sortied]], where a more traditional slack-track system would have required much less cleaning. And let's not even get into ''real'' mechanical breakdowns...

Another big weakpoint in the German Panzerwaffe was the lack of standardization between the individual tank models. The Allies, more or less made the variations of their Tanks from existing Models and fitted them with weapons they deemed appropriate for the task at hand, which eased supply and maintenance whereas the Germans designed entirely new vehicles for every purpose. In practice, this meant that parts between German vehicle types were mostly incompatible with each other (i.e. a gear made for a Panzer III could not go into a Panzer IV and vice versa, whereas a T-34 crew could just scavenge for parts in a nearby wreck or just broken tank) and it quickly became a logistical nightmare to sufficiently supply all tank units with spare parts or even fuel. That's not to say that they didn't know or realize this (thoughts in this direction lead into the E-Series of design studies, planned to be a series of tank models that more or less shared all parts with each other except armament and chassis) but by 1944 Germany lacked the industrial capacity and resources to switch to a more economical model of production. Furthermore, the German model of tank production didn't help too; all of the German tanks were hand-crafted, using expensive and elaborate methods with strict tolerances to produce the best results they could offer which becomes redundant when you compare it to the production streets of the T-34 and the Sherman that were put out by the dozens. The "5 to 1 ratio" of allied vs German Tanks is as much the result of the Modus Operandi of the German war industry as it is of failed planning and overly complicated designs.

In the end, the true selling point of the ''Panzerwaffe'' was not the tanks themselves, but instead, primarily, the tactics of using them, the crew members manning them, the mechanics supporting them, and the radios installed in every tank that allowed for a level of coordination between tanks, infantry, and artillery not seen before the start of WWII (which formed the core of ''Blitzkrieg'' tactics). This, along with some powerful late-war designs, occasionally gave German tanks an edge over Allied tanks until production problems, stability issues and most of all fuel shortages became overwhelming.

German tanks are called "''Panzer''", which when directly translated means "''armor''", and more specifically is the shortened version of "''Panzerkampfwagen''" (Armored Fighting Vehicle). The name is often abbreviated to just "PzKpfw" or even "Pz".
* '''Panzer I:''' Designed and produced in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, the ''Panzerkampfwagen I'' was the first Nazi tank. It was small, weighing only 5.4 tonnes, and was armed only with two MG-13 machine guns. Some 1,493 were made, and were most notable in that they allowed tank crews to be trained, and (after being sent to Spain) let tank doctrines be developed that later allowed the Nazis to take over Poland. They saw some use at the beginning of WWII, but were pretty soon deemed to be out of date even on scouting missions. Until they were deemed totally obsolete, they were continuously upgraded and specialized, and had several variants including a potential recon paratrooper-tank. Primary Nazi tank of the Condor legion in the Spanish Civil War. [[File:Panzer I.PNG|thumb|right|300px|Mein Herr! Can't ve get somezing better zan zis Panzer I?]] As with a lot of Nazi tanks that became obsolete, the old PzKpfw I's were sometimes stripped to the chassis and repurposed for things such as artillery and tank-destroyer roles, though this was relatively rare.
* '''Panzer II:''' The ''Panzerkampfwagen II'' was designed using the experience gained in the Spanish Civil War. Heavier than the Panzer I at 8.9 tonnes, it was designed as a stopgap, as the Panzer III and IV were experiencing delays in production. It was armed with a dinky automatic 20mm cannon that was little better than an anti-tank rifle. Common during the early war, it was made obsolete by the arrival of the Panzer III and IV, and relegated to reconnaissance duties, training, or conversion into open-topped tank destroyers. Much like it's younger brother, it too was pushed through several variants; however, instead of trying to upgrade it to stay in main-line action, it was turned into a better scout tank so that the Panzer III could take over the main-line role. Primary Nazi tank for the invasion of Poland and France.
* '''Panzer III:''' One of the two main German tanks of the war, the ''Panzerkampfwagen III'' was about when Germany really got the hang of this whole tank design thing. Introduced in 1939, it weighed 23 tonnes, carried a 37mm anti tank gun, and notably had a turret big enough for three guys (which is actually more important than you might think, as it allows the crew to share the workload, e.g., the Loader's only task would be to load the gun with correct ammo in as short time as possible, the Gunner focuses on aiming and firing the gun, while the Commander can retain situational awareness and, well, give orders). Contemporary tanks usually had two- or even one-man turrets, forcing the crew to share responsibilities, thus lowering combat efficiency. The Panzer III was designed from the ground up to engage enemy tanks, rather than the infantry and light vehicles of earlier models. In Poland, France, and North Africa it did well, even though some French vehicles still outgunned them. Against Soviet T-34s, however, it was completely insufficient, unless upgraded to a 50mm gun and firing APDS. Thankfully, unlike the French and Russians, the Panzer III were all equipped with radios, allowing them to out-maneuver the un-radioed yet otherwise better tanks. Production stopped in 1942, but since they had built 5,774 of them, they stayed in service until the end of the war. The chassis was used to produce the StuG assault cannon (although "Geschütz" is hard to translate to English: it's neither a mere gun, nor a cannon, being more of a tank destroyer, i.e., a "sniper"-style tank), which would be the most widely produced German vehicle of the war. Switched roles with Panzer IV to become the infantry support tank with short barrelled howitzer, though this was soon also replaced with a dual-purpose gun. Primary Nazi tank for the invasion of Soviet Union.
* '''Panzer IV:''' Ultimately the most common German made tank, with nearly 9,000 units being built over the course of the war (now compare numbers with those of Sherman and T-34), the ''Panzerkampfwagen IV'' was the Panzer III's big brother. The Panzer IV was originally intended to be used against infantry and was armed with a low-velocity 75mm gun for blowing stuff up with explosive shells. After the invasion of Russia they switched to a 50mm anti-tank gun, and later a 75mm high-velocity cannon while also being up-armored to an absolute weight limit of a chassis. After that upgrade, it was generally on par with the T-34 and M4 Sherman (on average, at least — they had a less powerful engine, but better optics). Unlike early Soviet tanks, every Panzer IV generally had a working a radio receiver. It's chassis became the foundation of many German vehicles of all classifications. Primary Nazi tank from 1942 to the end of the war in 1945.
* '''Panzer V Panther:''' The Panther was introduced in 1943 and is often argued to be the the best tank of the war. It copied many features of the T-34 and improved on them. It was listed as a "medium tank," despite weighing in at 44.8 tonnes (due to the Germans attributing a class with the intended use in mind, not weight). Its 75mm/L70 gun was one of the most powerful tank guns of the war, and could destroy any Allied tank. Quite mobile for its weight, its frontal armor was more effective than that of the Tiger's thanks to sloping. It truly was a swift and hard as nails death machine... when it was in working order, that is. The Panther was rushed into service and had even more mechanical problems than the Tiger did due to its rushed design. The transmission, for example, broke down on averag after just 250 kilometers (that's 155 miles for you yanks) of use, leading to a lot of abandoned tanks. On the plus side, the Panther was only about 20% more expensive to produce than the Panzer IV, and the Germans managed to produce 6,000 of them, though switching over did cost them in terms of other production due to the necessary retooling time. Along with the Tiger, the Panther was enough of a threat for the Western Allies to up-gun their Shermans (the 'Firefly' with the British 17-pounder gun and the multiple American (76) variants sporting a more powerful 76 mm gun) and the Soviets to make up-armored and up-gunned T-34-85's (with, you guessed it, a 85 mm gun in the turret). Along with the aforementioned US and Soviet tanks, the Panther eventually became one inspiration for the post-war "Main Battle Tank" concept, the other being the British Centurion. An upgraded Panther II was planned, but never entered production. [[File:Panther_Tank.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Zis vill do nicely! Danke!... Gott im Himmel, zat's a lot of Shermans!]]
* '''Panzer VI Tiger:''' Even before invading Russia, the generals of the Wehrmacht sent requests for a tank that could be called "heavy". After seeing French B1's in action, however brief or desperate, they were convinced that a slower brawler that could take punches and return them had its place on the battlefield along the faster but relatively lightly armoured Pz. III and IV. Still, the idea lingered for a couple of years, with only the shock of encountering previously unknown Soviet KV-1s and T-34s giving the necessary push and resources to the project as perceived German tank superiority was shattered. The Nazi top brass took this as a challenge to create the ultimate tanks, and the result of said project were "the Big Cats". The first of these was the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger heavy tank, which entered service in 1942 (yes, the Pz. V actually came out after the VI did). "Heavy" definitely described the Tiger: it weighed 54 tonnes, had a 690 hp engine, had up to 100mm of armor, could reach its 40 kph in good conditions to keep with the little guys and was armed with a hueg 88mm cannon that could take out a T-34 or Sherman from 2 kilometers with ease. In fact, it could do this to ''any tank the Allies would have at any point of the war'' from one kilometer away, barring IS-2s and Churchill VIIs. Despite this, the Tiger was over-engineered mechanically and somewhat under-designed chassis-wise. It was expensive, a drain on strategical resources and labor intensive to build, had reliability issues, and was horribly maintenance-intensive one in the field. The Tiger chassis was essentially an upgraded Pz. IV (and therefore a [[Metal Boxes|metal box]]), and the design took no advantage of the sloped armor concept the Russians were by then fielding in the T-34, which made the Tiger heavier and slower than it could have been for the same armor effectiveness. Only 1,347 Tigers were built, but they did have an effect on Allied morale. In one instance a single Tiger destroyed most of the 22nd Armoured Brigade and forced them to retreat (Battle of Villers-Bocage). The Tiger is without a doubt the most famous (and overrated, due to the problems listed above) tank of WWII, known even to those illiterates who think WWII was only fought between America and Germany, and if most video games are to be believed, every Nazi tank was a Tiger. That is, however, somewhat understandable given just how often allied tankers yelled 'Tiger' whenever they lost a tank, even to a regular Pz IV (which could be mistaken for a Tiger at a distance). The Tiger and Panther tanks, like a used car, came with an owner's manual (the Tigerfibel and Pantherfibel, respectively), and Heinz Guderian (one of Germany's, and possibly the entire war's, best tank commanders) wanted every tank crew to read the manual. But even back then, people understood just how few guys actually read the instruction manual for anything. So it was written as a fun book to read, with humor, poetry, and naked girls alongside the information about how to use two of the most famous heavy tanks to be fielded in WWII.
* '''Tiger II:''' The Tiger II, sometimes known as the King Tiger (from an incorrect translation of ''Königstiger'', meaning "Bengal Tiger", but which literally translates to "Royal Tiger"), was the ultimate German tank, and introduced in 1944 as a successor to the Tiger. It weighed 68.5 tonnes (more than most modern tanks) and had 150mm of frontal armor, which was even sloped (a huge step forward from the boxy Tiger I)! Even so, between limited resources and an increasingly bombed-out industrial base, only 492 of these behemoths rolled off the assembly line before the war ended. These tanks were considered to be just as temperamental as the Tiger I, but for different reasons. The designers learned how to fix some of the problems with the Tiger I, and promptly over-built the Tiger II even more after patching the holes, because they thought they had wiggle room or something. It was damn near unkillable, but a fuel guzzler to the extreme, barely maneuvable and prone to mechanical failures of almost any kind. Some historians argue that the King Tiger only had an effective use as a propaganda piece and little else.
*'''Anything they could steal:''' From French [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_B1#Operational_history B1 heavy tanks] to Soviet [http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzerkampfwagen-t-34r-soviet-t-34-in-german-service.htm T-34's] to American [http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/us/M4_sherman/m4-75-sherman-01.htm Shermans], the Nazis used everything they could get their hands on like Orks in clean uniforms (not that the Allies were any different: Soviets, for example, had several companies armed with Panzers V used as tank destroyers). This became so chronic that the British had a strong rule in place that said any tank which could not be repaired or salvaged was to be destroyed, so the Germans wouldn't pinch it. They deployed stolen tanks pretty much everywhere, and of every type; hell, even Renault FT-17s were used in police roles in some areas.
**'''Panzer 35(t) and 38(t):''' the most famous tanks the Nazi <s>stole</s> were supplied with by puppet governments all across Europe were the PZ 35(t) and 38(t). Light tanks, both were Czech designs (hence the (t) for ''tschechisch'') Germany acquired when they took over first the Sudetenland, and then the rest of Czechoslovakia. While very useful early in the war, the designs were rendered obsolete by 1942 (they simply couldn't compete against a T-34), and the chassis was instead used to produce Marder 2 and Hetzer tank destroyers. A version of the 38(t), called the Stridsvagn m/41, was also used by Sweden. [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|The vehicle's Czech steel was lower-quality than German stock.]]

====Tank Destroyers/Assault Guns====
Between the First and Second World Wars, various nations were still trying to figure out what good designs were for armored vehicles. This is the same era that gave us the British infantry and cavalry tank concept. In response to the super heavy British infantry tanks of the time, the Germans were quick to invent and use an armored doctrine they called ''Panzerjäger'' (tank hunters). The concept was to stick a huge gun (too big to put in a proper turret with then available technology) onto a vehicle with a fixed casemate and open top to allow the heavy gun to be moved around easily. Think like the [[Basilisk]], only built for direct fire. Later in the war, Germany discarded the lighter Panzerjäger tank destroyers and instead designed big heavy tank destroyers, with thick armor and guns big enough to make an ork blush with envy, and labeled the class "''Jagdpanzer''" (hunter-tank). Panzerjäger of both types had the advantage of being cheaper and simpler to make than turreted tanks, and having lower silhouettes that allowed for easier ambushes. Plus it was easy to convert an otherwise out of date, under-gunned tank into a destroyer. The disadvantage was, of course, that they had no turrets, so they could be outflanked and had no way to point their guns at any targets that did not drive in front of them short of turning the entire tank around. Generally speaking, most Tank Destroyers were rather effective in what they were supposed to do, but the turret-less constructions meant that they were sacrificing much needed flexibility in the field and every major power in the post-45 world order didn't want to bother with it, especially since the British Centurion MBT showed the world for the first time that a tank could reliably perform all roles that were previously assigned to a variety of models. Only Sweden and Germany kept some Tank Destroyers around after the war (the Strv 103 and the Kanonenjagdpanzer) and even those were thoroughly outclassed once self-directing ammunition like TOW missiles became available.
*'''Panzerjäger I''': Remember that little note in the Panzer 1's description on how it was repurposed? Well, this is the end result. What basically amounts to a Panzer I with its turret taken off and a casemate installed instead, it had a nice 4.7cm anti-tank gun but was relatively weak otherwise. There were no vision slits in the casemate, meaning that in order to aim, the crew had to peek over the top and get themselves shot in the head (a pressing issue in particular for Anti-Tank battalion 643).
*'''Marder:''' The Marder 1, 2, and 3 were all very similar tank destroyers, hence why they share a listing. The Marder 1 is based on the chassis of the French Lorraine 37L tractor, the Marder 2 is based off the Panzer II chassis, and the Marder III is based of off the Panzer 38(t) (the "T" means it was Czech in origin, not that it weighed 38 tons). All three were open topped and armed with either 7.5 cm cannons or converted Russian 76 mm cannons they stole early in their invasion of Russia. At the start of Operation Barbarossa, German tanks were again under-gunned and -armed compared to their enemies, especially when compared to the T-34 (which one German field marshal quipped was the best tank in the world in 1941). But, like the battle for France, the Germans had more radios and were thus able to make massive advances anyway through superior tactical coordination. Still, a better anti-tank weapon was needed, so the Marders were created and armed with 7.5 cm weapons (although there were never enough of them, so they would revert to using Russian guns).
*'''Wespe''' and '''Hummel''': The Wasp and Bumblebee, respectively, and both with a nasty sting. Both were re-purposed tank chassis, but sporting artillery howitzers instead of AT guns (Which makes them technically self-propelled artillery instead of assault guns, but in the end it's a huge gun on tracks so fuck that noise!) the Wespe was based off the Panzer II and sported a 105mm 'light' howitzer; the Hummel was based on a modified Panzer III chassis and sported a 150mm howitzer. They're the real-life equivalents of (and probably the inspiration behind) the Imperial Guard's [[Basilisk Artillery Gun]].
*'''Hetzer''': Repurposed Panzer 38(t) with a casemate-mounted 75mm gun. A nice late-war re-design and a dangerous opponent since its small chassis and decent speed made it easy to get in position for a good ambush, and its gun was strong enough to take on any allied tank. Notorious for being an absolutely awful thing to be in, the interior was cramped to the point of farce and ergonomics were very poor. The Hetzer lacked in the armour department, though, and couldn't slug it out.
*'''Nashorn''': Also called '''Hornisse''', this was a Marder-like tank-destroyer, with a chassis specially designed to mount the fearsome "Acht-acht" 88mm gun. Just like the Marders it was open-topped, but the huge range of its gun made it a dangerous opponent. The Germans later experimented with even bigger guns (105mm and 128mm) mounted like this, but those vehicles proved simply too heavy and impractical to use, so they did not evolve beyond a couple of prototypes.
*'''StuG III & IV''': By far the most widely produced German vehicle of WWII, the Stug was easily one of the most versatile combat platforms fielded in the war(And famous in Panzer General series for easily knocking out Russian tanks). StuG's, or "''Sturmgeschütz''" or "''assault artillery''", were built to combat a problem Germany learned from the first world war: that infantry lacked the ability to take on fortifications, and the artillery was too slow to keep up to allow direct fire on these targets. The StuG was the solution: by mounting a 7.5 cm <s>howitzer</s> [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmgesch%C3%BCtz_III gun] in a fixed casemate on a Panzer III chassis, they allowed the vehicle to roll up with the infantry and blow any fortifications in the way to rubble. Of course during the invasion of the Soviet Union the Germans ran into tanks much better than their existing vehicles, namely KV-1s and T-34. In order to quickly counter these threats, the StuG was "up-gunned" (quote marks are there because the guns caliber did not change), to mount a high-velocity 7.5 cm anti-tank gun. In 1943, the StuG chassis was changed from a Panzer III's to a Panzer IV's, otherwise no changes were made. StuG's, despite looking like and being compared to tanks, were not considered tanks, and were crewed by artillery men. StuG's are estimated to have destroyed 20,000 enemy tanks in the course of the war, impressive when you consider that just over 10,000 were made, and not all of those were armed with actual anti-tank weapons. After the war, the Soviets gave a number of captured tanks to Syria where they were used up to 1960s. In a funny twist of irony, some of those ended up in Israeli hands during the Six-Day-War and remain on display in Tel Aviv today. (There was a self-propelled-gun with a an actual howitzer, too: the StuH 42.)
*'''Sturmpanzer:''' Known commonly to the Allies as the ''Brummbär'' (Grouch), this infantry support gun was based on the Panzer IV chassis. It mounted a 15cm mortar-sized direct-fire cannon, which fired a combined shell-charge weighing in at over 100lbs, designed to make infantry and buildings explode.
*'''Ferdinand/Elefant''': To put the Ferdinand into perspective, this is a tank that even Hitler though was too complex, too unreliable, and too theoretically advanced to use. The Ferdinand is the result of a contest between two of Nazi Germany's top companies, Porsche and Henschel (both of which still exist today), to produce a heavy tank that could use the 8.8 cm gun. The initial plan was to produce both tanks simultaneously, with contracts to make a "small" series of 100 tanks for both participants signed with Krupp on the same day of 22th of July, 1941. Both Tigers (P) and (H) had A LOT of problems, but due to unclear reasons even before final tests conducted in November 1942 came the order to stop production of Porsche version. That's why, despite losing the contract, Porsche had 90 Porsche Tiger hulls laying around, though he couldn't make more as he lacked production lines of his own. It was decided to turn those unused Tiger P prototypes into tank destroyers, and so they bolted even more armor on and added a fixed super structure for the gun, and thus the Ferdinand (named humbly after Porsche himself) was born. The Ferdinand was a troubled vehicle: rather than one engine, its immense bulk required two, and thanks to poor ventilation they often overheated. Bizarrely, the two engines did not even connect to the drive train (possibly because of issues keeping the two engines synchronized without modern computer control), and were instead connected to a set of electric generators that in turn powered a pair of electric motors. That's right, in 1942, the Nazi's built a 65 ton gas-electric, hybrid-powered tank destroyer, good for the environment maybe (but not actually, because the primitive technology just made the combo even less efficient), but maintenance for the thing was a nightmare worse than the Tiger. And before we forget, it did not have a machine gun. To be honest, it wouldn't have been that much of a deal (StuG-IIIs didn't have a machine gun until December 1942, for example) if Guderian hadn't used them as heavy tanks (he even calls them "Porsches' Tigers" in his memoirs), and even then out of 39 Ferdinands lost during Battle of Kursk only 4 were confirmed to be burned down by Molotov cocktail, and in 3 cases they were damaged either by mines or artillery shells before that. It had one hell of a gun, however: 8.8 cm Pak 43 could destroy any Allied tank at distances exceeding 2000 meters. In 1943, all 48 remaining operational tanks were converted to have a machine gun, more armor, anti-magnetic zimmerite paste coatings, and a commander's cupola. The modified tanks were named Elefants. Overall, more Ferdinands were destroyed by their own crews after their tracks or suspensions were damaged by mines or artillery fire and tanks themselves could not be towed back to a repair base than were lost to enemy fire. Maybe it is the inspiration for the Shadowsword Imperial Guard superheavy.
*'''Jagdpanzer IV''': A Panzer IV chassis mounting a long-barrelled 75mm gun in a casemate mount. Worked generally very well, the low silhoutette being a great advantage it had over comparable tanks, but had some notable downsides too: The inclusion of additional armour and the long 75mm KwK from the Panther strained the Panzer IV chassis to the absolute limit, limiting range and mechanical reliablity. The extra armour and long gun also the tank particularly nose heavy, making it a bitch to drive and limiting its manuverability, nevermind being almost unable to make steep descends without bumping the gun on something, a problem tanks with a similar nose-heavy loadout like the Russian T-34 and SU-85 also had.
*'''Jagdpanther''': A Panther chassis mounting a long-barrelled 88mm gun in a casemate mount. Arguably the best "Jagd-" model combining decent mobility, decent protection and a very powerful gun.
*'''Jagdtiger''': Tiger II chassis outfitted with a long-barrelled 128mm (!) naval gun. Pure overkill, and ultimately a poorly-performing design. To put it in perspective, the M1 ''Abrams'' TODAY has a smaller and shorter 120mm cannon, even if most of its armor busting power comes from the fact it fires modern (and far more deadly) sabot rounds. Even back then, two of the most effective AT guns of the war were the German ''Acht-Acht'' 88mm gun and the British 76.2mm ''17 pounder'' gun; both much smaller, lighter and with a better rate of fire than this 128mm monster. No warmachine used on the frontline called for such a massive gun to be dealt with in World War II (save perhaps for the Soviets's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IS_tank_family IS heavy tanks], which were designed to be have armor good enough to stand up to 88mm AT gun fire, but ironically the Jagdtiger only served on the western front make it a moot point) and even the fact it could double up as artillery support in a pinch didn't make up for the fact it was just too big and unwieldy and slow-firing a gun to deal with tanks. Add to that, a tank with a 128mm main gun is especially stupid when your enemies on both sides favored zerg rushes of Sherman and T-34's medium tanks respectively, much lighter vehicles that could reliably be taken out by much smaller guns. While anticipating future enemy capabilities is important in wartime weapon development, pretty much no one was working on a vehicle sufficiently armored to warrant this firepower (excluding absurd Super-heavy design studies like the American T28/T30 and T95 or the British Tortoise), unless it was intended to fire on battleships from the shore—and firing from a stationary coastal-defense position probably would be for the best, because even at its crawling pace, going off-road tended to knock the gun out of alignment and require it to be recalibrated before firing again, so good luck with flanking maneuvers. The nicest thing that could be said about it was that it was great for shooting at enemy tanks hiding behind buildings, because it would shoot straight through building and tank alike. (Seriously, read Otto Carius' memoirs. His opinion on these is as first-hand as it is scathing.)
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
On a sidenote:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
One could reasonably point out that the Russians weren't much better in that regard, since they too threw a couple of 'overcompensated' tanks/assault guns into the fray over the course of WWII: The KV-2 sported a 152mm howitzer in a gigantic (and horribly impractical) turret, and the SU-152 and ISU-152 were also equipped casemate-mounted 152mm howitzers (basically, the only difference is that the SU was based on the KV chassis and the ISU on the IS chassis). The difference here is that these vehicles had been designed for infantry support (and demolishing ''festungs''), making the huge gun just mobile enough to keep up with the grunts and chucking high explosive death at the enemy from medium/long range instead of blasting other tanks to smithereens. This doesn't mean they couldn't: indeed the ISU-152 was effective enough in that regard to be nicknamed the ''Zveroboy'' (''Beast Killer'' in Russian, which it inherited from the SU-152), but being able to blast a Tiger on its back was merely a handy bonus. Add to that the low-velocity 152mm howitzer was a good 30% lighter than the massive PaK 80; resulting in lighter, more compact, and more mobile vehicles overall once they realized trying to mount a huge howitzer in a turret wasn't such a good idea after all. All the Russians did was switch the unwieldy 152's for lighter 85's, 100's and 122's to make actual tank destroyers.
</div>
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*[[File:Sturmtiger.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Contrary to what it might looks like, this is not a mock-up of a 40k [[Vindicator]] but a real combat vehicle.]]'''Sturmtiger''': The Sturmtiger is one of the most striking example of Nazi "mad genius" given form, to the point that this assault gun could almost belong in the "Wunderwaffe" section. As you can see from the picture, it looks like a [[Vindicator]], which is not a coincidence: both vehicles' role is to rumble up to a strongpoint and obliterate it with extreme firepower. Very quickly, the Germans realized that fortifications were a major pain in their Aryan butts to deal with and that static artillery was too slow and vulnerable to keep up with their ''Blitzkrieg'' attacks. So at first they relied on airplanes, but as their opponents started to contest the skies, they fielded self-propelled howitzers that would rumble up 'close' to the bunker/building/... and blast it to pieces. The Sturmtiger... The Sturmtiger is what you get when the point where you should have stopped putting bigger, larger guns on tracks is long passed, yet one still keeps going... and somehow manages to make it work. Based off of the Tiger 1 chassis, it sported a [[bolter|''380mm gun/rocket launcher'']] [[awesome|''adapted from a Kriegsmarine depth-charge launcher'']] as its main gun; [[wat|and only because the 210 mm howitzer they intended to use first wasn't available]]. Although it sported a gun that could obliterate anything in front of it, the Sturmtiger suffered the same problems as the Tiger itself. Overbuilt drivetrain, maintenance-intensive and prone to breakdown ''Schachtellaufwerk'' tracks to keep ground pressure tolerable, and an underpowered engine. On top of that, the rocket was so powerful that in order to not break the barrel of the gun or kill the crew, the exhaust gasses from launching the depth-charge rocket had to be vented out of a number of tubes that went back up the barrel. Not to mention that by the time the Sturmtiger was being fielded the Germans were in no position to use nor did they require an urban assault vehicle of this kind.
*'''Flakpanzers''': Tanks whose main gun had been replaced with one (or more) anti-aircraft guns. With the Luftwaffe having been squandered by inability to adapt to changes (i.e. realize that ''maybe'' it should have switched priorities to defending the Fatherland before the latter half of 1943), the Germans came up with these SPAAGs in other to try to defend themselves from all those nasty american ''Jabos'' (German shorthand for fighter-bomber) making their lives hell. Didn't really work, because towards the end of the war the ground attack aircraft had become too fast to be engaged reliably by guns relying on human eyes to acquire and follow their target. They were, however, [[rape|murder on tracks]] when facing infantry and lightly armored ground targets.

===Airplanes===
* '''Messerschmitt Bf 109:''' This plane is credited with more kills than any other fighter in the history of man due to the tens of thousands of communists it has sent to hell in burning metal coffins. It is also the most produced fighter of all time. The variants of the 109 and the Spitfire competed with each other throughout the war for the title of "World's Best Fighter" as they were both continually upgraded. The 109 was small, very fast, a good turner, a god tier climber, and was inexpensive to produce and maintain. The 109's speed and climb rate made it a top tier energy fighter.
[[File:Fw190d9jv 1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|When the Nazis applied their sense of style to aerospace engineering, the result was the Fw 190D-9, the second sexiest son of a bitch in the sky, second only to the SR-71]]
* '''Focke-Wulf Fw 190''': When first introduced, the Fw 190 was hands-down the best fighter on the planet, due mostly to its very powerful radial engine. The 190A-3 was rocking 1,700 horsepower at a time when the Spitfire V had 1,450. As the war dragged on, BMW failed miserably to improve the engine and the 190 dropped in effectiveness until it was given a completely new engine in the Dora variant. The 190 was horrifically fast at low altitude, had extremely powerful armament, outstanding high speed handling, and had the best roll rate of any plane in the war. However, it was a very poor turner. This set of attributes made the 190 one of the best "boom and zoom" fighters, going toe to toe with Mustangs and Thunderbolts but once again falling victim to shit production, just as the Russians started getting [[Dakka|P-39 Airacobras]] from America that could take on anything the Nazis had as long as the fight was below 12,000'.
* '''Fieseler Fi 156 Storch''': A product of the early, successful parts of the war, the Storch was a dedicated observation plane for forward air control. It was unique for its '''EXTREMELY''' low stall speed of 31 mph which even in the 21st century is still impressive for a two seater and almost 25% lower than the American equivalent (the Piper Cub). The design continued in production well into the 60's in France and the USSR; modern replicas using even lighter, stronger materials are capable of flight with a takeoff run of as little as 30 meters. Its capabilities for close support were illustrated best during the final days of the war, when famed pilot Hanna Reitsch landed one on a building-lined street in Berlin and then successfully got it airborne again.
[[File:HE111Z.JPG|thumb|left|150px|One of Germany's attempts at packing enough dakka in explosive form]]
*'''Heinkel He 111''': The main German bomber from beginning to end, it was developed in the 1930s; the Nazis called it a high speed passenger aircraft to get around the Treaty of Versailles. It was first put to its real use in the Spanish Civil War. The He 111 was a twin engine medium bomber, cheap to make and maintain and able to carry up to 3,600 kilos of bombs. Early on it performed very well and was one of the most effective bombers in the world but after 1941 the British and Americans began building larger and longer ranged four engine bombers like the Lancaster and the Flying Fortress in large quantities. The german engineers had a plan to counter these with an enhanced version of the HE 111 called the HE 111-Z that consisted of two 111 fuselages fused together on a central wing (which is just as retardedly awesome and awesomely retarded as it sounds) therefore gathering twice the bombs and weaponry of a regular bomber while being powered by 5 engines. They did manage to make it fly but it remained a prototype. Note: Actually it was suppose to be used as a glider tug for the massive Messerschmitt ME-321 and the purposed Junkers JU-322 Mammut.

* '''Messerschmitt ME-163 Komet''': Before the Nazis mastered jet engines, they toyed around with rocket-based fighters instead. The Komet was a tiny, zippy little fighter plane, and the first plane to travel faster than 1000 kph. It was also the first and last rocket-powered fighter, as they only succeeded to shoot down about eighteen allied craft at the cost of ten crashed Komets. This was because despite being far faster than anything the allies could field, the komet proved very temperamental: it was difficult to control while building speed, its fuel dangerous to handle, its landing gear could bounce off and smack the plane, its cannons were too slow to keep up, and it was vulnerable as it glided back to earth. Still, for its time, it was the only fighter capable of threatening the allies' high-altitude bombers, until the ME-262 came about. The fuel, being hypergolic, had a nasty tendency to melt test pilots.
[[File:ME 262.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The ME-262: Nazi Germany's state of the art sky shark]]
* '''Ba 349 Natter''': The meaning of "double down" if Luftwaffe logistics was a poker game. Even crazier than the Komet, Natter was little more than a [[Grot Bomm Launcha]] with unguided rocket batteries up the nose. Adding to the madness was that it's designed to be built from unskilled labor, and wood. Yes, wood. Yes: the British Mosquito was made of wood, but the Mosquito was built by professionals with great care, and was not '''rocket powered!''' What's worse, its fuel was T-Stoff (a highly caustic solution of hydrogen peroxide and a stabilizing chemical) mixed with C-Stoff (a hydrazine hydrate/methanol/water mixture), combustion was spontaneous so extreme care was required to handle both chemicals; leave it to Nazis to use fuel made out of the second most dangerous and villainous compounds (See N Stoff bellow for the stuff even they thought was crazy). The Walter motor generated about 1,700 kg (3,740 lb) of thrust but a loaded Ba 349A weighed more than 1,818 kg (4,000 lb) so liftoff required more power, like a rail launcher or catapult. Simply put, the design was fuck-nut retarded from scratch, killing every test pilot and canceled before it was used, not that a plane nearing the speed of sound made out of shitty wood firing unguided rockets wouldn't hit fuck-all.
* '''Messerschmitt ME-262''': The Me 262 was the world's first operational jet fighter and possibly the most advanced aircraft of all in WWII. It was very fast, able to achieve a speed of 900km/h (in comparison, a P51 Mustang had a top speed of about 700km/h) and carried four 30mm cannons. The latter was its most important feature because around that time, a single HE autocannon hit meant "instant death" for any aircraft facing them, forcing them to exploit 262's slow turning speed. Quality suffered due to a lack of high quality steel, which severely limited the shelf life of their engines to twelve hours. Even so, it was an effective against bombers. Much like every other advanced Nazi weapon, it arrived too late (in part due to delays involving the Nazi top brass-thank God for Hitler on not deciding whether it should be a tactical bomber or a fighter-) and in too few numbers to influence the course of the war, though it spurred development of jet aircraft on both sides of the Iron Curtain postwar. The Japanese built a rather similar jet fighter in the Nakajima Kikka, but that never got beyond prototype.
[[File:Heinkel He 162 CASM 2012 5.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The "Volksjäger" aka. "Spatz" or "Salamander". Tiny. Deadly.]]
*'''He-162''': With a max speed of 900 kph, 2 centerline 20mm cannons, and a 39 lbs/ft^2 wingloading, the He-162 was almost invincible in combat. Where the 262 was an interceptor, the He-162 was designed as a cheap, easy to build and fly air superiority fighter. It was also designed to be piloted by children. Developed as a Volksjäger (”people's fighter”) the He-162 was a last ditch design meant to be piloted by the high school aged Hitler Youth as Nazi Germany had almost completely run out of regular pilots at the time. Amazingly enough despite the incredibly short time between design and full production, it turned out to be a solid design; both cheap and easy to build (most of the frame was made of wood) and a dangerous opponent (allied testing after the war showed that a large number of them would have been a major pain in the rear to deal with). The only point where the "Spatz" didn't deliver was the 'easy to fly' part; like all early jet airplanes it required an experienced pilot at the stick and being able to bench press to just turn the damn thing (which was a problem to everyone until the lessons of the Korean War).

===Ships===
As a general rule, Hitler dumped most of money into the ''Heer'' (army) and ''Luftwaffe'' (air force), leaving the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) out in the cold, so to speak, so they were not overly fond of him. (Although Hitler realised he wouldn't be able to build up a navy to rival the English quickly so he prioritised planes and tanks over ships to seize land and industrial capacity at first, which kind of made sense.) Hitler actually liked the Idea of a huge navy and passed Plan Z in 1937 which would have built a truly massive fleet to fight the Royal Navy in about 1945, as the building up to that point was designed to fight France, and predated the Nazi's rise to power. Like so many of der Furhur's calls it was a bad one as it prevented Admiral Donitz from building up his U-boats before the war started, and as Plan Z was a long term thing none of the ships from it were ever built.
* '''U-Boote''': U-Boote, which are shortened the version of the word "''Unterseeboot''" or "underwater boat", are submarines. They were used in devastating effect to cut off Britain from supplies from the outside world by having "wolfpacks" of U-boats patrol around shipping lanes and sink down any enemy ship they found. Their other uses involved seeking and destroying enemy battleships, placing automated weather stations all over the world (helpful for Kriegsmarine ships) and dropping off a substantial number of spies in Britain and even America, most of which got caught-and subsequently replaced by Loyal British spy's (read about some of the ways the British Bamboozled the Nazi's in world war 2 some of it, like the moment the Germans gave a British agent the Iron cross, is just hilarious). They were so terrifying to Winston Churchill that he spent most of his naval planning on working out ways to subvert or destroy the U-boat wolfpacks. As a consequence of all this, they worked very well in the first years of the war, sinking huge (and i mean HUGE) numbers of ships with very few boats (only about 15 boats, at most, were out at sea at any given time in the first year or so). Being such an absolute pain in the arse, the British thus invested a fuckton of money and manpower into hunting and killing said U-boats, and finally got very, very good at it, through a combination of new technology, a [[Wikipedia:Western Approaches Command|massive information network]] for coordinating defenses, and [https://www.google.com/amp/s/paxsims.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/the-wargaming-wrens-of-the-western-approaches-tactical-unit/amp/ navy wargamers] [[awesome|developing new strategies to counter the U-Boats]]. Right when more and more U-boats were being produced, as German high command finally realized their potential, the British began sinking ever more of them (Example: in all of 1941, 35 boats were lost, in 1943, 244 boats were sunk, with 41 in May alone). Admiral Karl Dönitz, unlike Hitler, loved the U-boats, and built one of the largest structures on earth (at the time) to house them: the German U-boat pens in captured France. U-boats were invented in the first world war, and there unrestricted campaign of sinking any ship, even those with US citizens on them (even after the German government made a very public warning to the US that boarding a ship to England was a very bad idea), that approached England led to the neutral though leaning allied American to join the first world war and for them to be the last straw on the German back to end it.
**'''''Typ VII''''': The most common type and with 703 ships in total also the most built submarine model in history. Generally well regarded as a very good design, it was rather nimble for its tonnage, was able to dive extremely quickly, and much more deeper than even the designers anticipated (U-95, the famous submarine from ''Das Boot'', reportedly sunk as deep as 290 meters after being hit by water bombs, and even though it was quite taxing on the ship itself, the crew survived in full and made it back to port). Its major downfall (as seems to be the norm with many Nazi equipment) was that it wasn't used in its intended role; the Typ VIIc submarines in particular weren't designed to operate as long away from a home port as they were ordered to do, and their firepower against anything larger than a merchant vessel was negligable. They were, at best, Torpedo boats that could also dive, and only the Fall of France even made it even possible for them in the first place to operate in the mid-Atlantic as they did, even tho their main theater was supposed to be the German sea and the Channel. Incompetent leadership as well as the afromentioned efforts of the British in fighting them lead to the Typ VII becoming obsolecent already by 1942 and a major bleed of trained Seamen and Naval officiers.
**'''''Typ IX''''': The Typ VII's bigger sister, and the actual ocean-going submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Much more spacious than the Typ VII, and designed to operate as far away as the ''fucking Indian Ocean''. Quite a few of them remained a considerable threat due to their elusiveness and extreme range; multiple Typ IXs made it as far as New York City and sunk convoys there. As is tradition, incompetent leadership fucked this type and their crews; Dönitz was notoriously iron-fisted about keeping the Typ VII wolfpacks in use and very narrow-minded as far as new technology goes. The Typ IX was for the task at hand superior to its smaller cousin in every way, but materiel shortages and limited Dockyards meant it was damned to take a step back behind the Typ VII.
**'''''Typ XXI''''': A technological marvel that came at the very end of the war, and too late to be used by the Nazis themselves, but these babies were by far the most advanced type of submarine devised at the time. Primarily designed to operate almost entirely under water and as trials with the finished ships by the allies after the war showed, more than capable of that. Typ XXI marks a significant shift in submarine doctrins across the globe, as it proved that Submarines were more than capable of operating far away from a port without needing any assistance and almost completely invisible. The modern nuclear submarines of the US and USSR are direct decendants of the Typ XXI for that very reason.
* '''''Gorch Fock''''': The first of a series of five ships built very early in Germany's rearmament program, when the Nazis were still uncertain what might provoke the allies. Not in any way a warship, these were sail tallships, the last, largest, and finest ever made (although their engine systems were designed to train sailors for operating U-Boats). After the war all the ships of the class were seized as war trophies, notably the ''Horst Wessel'' which was taken by the United States becoming the ''USCGC Eagle''. The modern day ''Gorch Fock'' of the Bundesmarine is a new ship built from the same plans in 1958 and remains a training vessel to this day.
* '''''Deutschland Class Cruiser''''': The archetypal battlecruiser, the ''Deutschlands'' were the first new large ships designed by Germany after the Treaty of Versailles, and were carefully designed to get the most out of a very liberal interpretation of what the treaty permitted. Fast and heavily armed, they were ideal for commerce raiding and all three were used in this role. Of the class, the ''Admiral Scheer'' had the most successful career, sinking the most shipping tonnage of any ship in WW2, while the ''Graf Spee'' would get in a shootout with three British cruisers and be forced to scuttle in the harbor of Montevideo.
* '''''Bismarck and Tirpitz''''': <s>A pair of battleships with guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees. As well as inspiration for a Kickass Sabaton song </s> Memes aside, those were the largest ships built by the Nazis, but they were neither the biggest (that title goes to Yamato) or meanest (Warspite with the most battle honors of any ship in history) or most modern ships of World War 2 (Debatable: but likely Iowa, and technically Vanguard but that was finished after the war). Germany's building skills had suffered under the limitations of the Versailles treaty in the inter-war period, ''Bismarck'' and ''Tirpitz'' were the best they could build on a relatively short notice of five years and with a ten year technological gap to fill on the go. Both ships were envisioned as commerce raiders sinking transport ships and disrupting allied supplies, not to slug it out with the Royal Navy. This being said, while no superweapons capable of turning the war on their own they were far from worthless. Sinking the ''Bismarck'' required an entire Royal navy fleet, six battleships, and battlecruisers and two aircraft carriers, along with a number of cruisers and destroyers in a running battle over several days (albeit this was mostly due to the Brits not learning Jutland's lesson of not putting unarmored battlecruisers in a line battle, incredible luck and terrible luck at the same time on all sides and rank incompetence, stubbornness and general stupidity on all sides). And the ''Bismarck'' was alone. ''Tirpitz'' was similarly tough. The RAF spent most of a year bombing ''Tirpitz'' with everything in their arsenal, including the British Tallboy earthquake bombs. 5,400kg, fortification-destroying ''earthquake bombs'' could not destroy the ''Tirpitz'' despite scoring direct hits until a final bombing raid by 32 heavy Lancaster Bombers managed to score a hit on one of the ammunition magazines. These two ships had a weakness that greatly limited their offensive capability however: Very few facilities existed that were large enough to work on them. Of these few facilities only one of them, the Normandy dock at Saint-Nazaire, was held by the Nazis and remotely in a position where the giant ships could both rest and be in a position to attack. The British (and [[Wikipedia:USS_Buchanan_(DD-131)|one American suicide bomber]]) exploited this by launching a commando raid on the dock, destroying it. This forced the pair to use docks safely in German territory where they presented minimal threat to the allies.
* A lot of the confusion around the capabilities of the Bismarck class in relation to the other ships of WWII is the result of a somewhat understandable lack of understanding of Naval Development interwar, and a prefect storm that let her 1v1 an modernized HMS Hood.
* So the storm above:
# The ''HMS Hood'' was as mentioned modernized, this is due to a clusterfuck of budget constraints and the like but it all ends up the same.
# The rest of the planned German task force wad been mauled whilst sinking the carrier ''HMS Glorious'', whilst this may seem like a bad thing, the Royal Navy would never have dispersed their fleet if there were three battle ships waiting to sortie.
# The ''HMS Prince of Wales'' was brand new, so new in fact about half of her contribution to the fight was spent trying get her guns to work.
# The rough weather limited the British ability to use carriers and the RAF.
# ''HMS Warspite'' had removed most of the modern Kreigsmarne's destroyer fleet in Norway. See above with the Scharnhorsts for why that was (bizarrely) in the Bismarck's favor.
# A [[Crimson Fists|1 in a MILLION]] hit on ''Hood'''s aft magazine.
*So back to that bit about Naval Development, to make a '''long''' story short Battleships are expensive, and arms races in Battleships even more so. So after WWI the Washington and London Naval Treaties were signed to limit the size of ships and have a building holiday. This means the ships of most navies were of a set tonnage and most were quite old.
*Compared to <s>her</s> [[-4_Strength|his]] peers the ''Bismarck''s are actually rather inefficient, they were just finished finished first. The Italian ''Littorio''s carry one more gun in a better layout, and are better at pretending to be in treaty limits, though they have shorter cruising range range. The Americans have the ''South Dakotas'' (think stubby Iowas) which are just flat out better, carrying more bigger guns and better armor. Yamato barely needs an explanation as to her comparative capabilities. Even the French were able to ''almost'' build a solid counter. Finally the British equivalent was the ''King George V'' which, as the lead ship proved when she caught ''Bismarck'' after he sunk ''Hood'', were able to give a a solid match when they had had the time warships needed to work up. Lastly there are just a lot of armature mistakes in her design. Like parts of her fire control not being under the armored deck, or that his main batteries have a bad habit of knocking out his own radar. They also mounted a turtle back armor system that is very good a close ranges but generally considered an outdated concept by the time they were built There are reasons for all of these things but combined they make a ship that succeeds by being the biggest kid on the block, but that was not an advantage they were ever going to keep for very long.

* '''''Graf Zepplin''''': The Nazi's sole attempt at building an aircraft carrier that was a weird carrier/cruiser hybrid. Not the best idea because having the heavy guns meant it could field less planes and having planes meant that it would punch below its' weight in shooting match with other surface assets, though this is theoretical. Never completed, due to the squabbling between Göring and the Admiralty whose department this ship belongs to and the ever decreasing need of an aircraft carrier in continental Europe. Despite never being ''officially'' cancelled until the end of the war, frequent changes to the design and the planes that were supposed to be used with it as well as severe materiel shortages made sure that construction was put on hold in 1943 and the, by that time about 85% complete ship was moved from port to port in the Baltic Sea. The Soviets captured it in 1945, used it for target practice and ultimately sunk it in 1947 off the coast of Danzig (or Gdansk in Polish), where its wreck was rediscovered in 2006.

===Wunderwaffen===
Wunderwaffen. One thing that caught the imagination of the world and started the "Superior German Engineering" meme. As a preface, civilian engineering is great in Germany. Military? Well... you'll see in a bit. This is the place any of the "Nazi Super science" stuff goes. You want lightning guns? Wunderwaffen. Super tanks? Wunderwaffen. Moon rockets? Wunderwaffen. Hitler in a giant robot spider powered by the souls of the damned? Wunderwaffen.

A lot of people can argue that things like the Wunderwaffe and to a lesser degree the Gen 3 heavy tanks like the Tiger and Panther were wastes of time, money and resources in a time where they desperately could not afford to spend all three. These same people argue that it would have been preferable to produce more panzer IV's and Stugs then produce expensive Tigers or Wunderwaffe. However the truth is, as usual, a lot more nuanced. Take a quick look at even a modern map of Europe and you quickly find the same truth the Nazi's ran into no matter how they ignored: German is Small. They don't have the same kind of resources at there disposal that Russia or America, or France and England, especially when there Empires are factored in. There is, frankly, no way German could ever produce enough tanks to match the American hoard of Sherman or Soviet onslaught of T-34's, and there is no way for German to keep all those tanks fueled. It is with this mind set that one can understand the reason for the Wunderwaffen and Gen 3 heavy tanks. If there is no way to produce as many tanks as your enemy's, your only options is to pack so much power into each individual war machine that they can achieve favorable kill/death ratios to make up the difference. At the core it's space marine logic, a few stronger units outfighting many times there number.

When put that way it makes the Wunderwaffe sounds like a good idea on paper <s>sadly</s> '''Gladdly''' because they were nazi's, ideas on paper can often times fail in reality. Yes, the different wonder weapon projects were on the bleeding edge of technology when envisioned, next generation devices which most of the scientists of other nations had been toying with but had yet to reach prototype much less combat stage (because they were, unlike the Germans never that desperate enough to use untested machinery with teething issues in battle). Yes, the Germans pioneered a lot of things that were afterwards [[Blood Ravens|acquired and adapted]] by the Allies and the Soviet Union. The problem was, at the start of the war, the technology to make said Wunderwaffe '''efficient''' weapons (a real guidance system for the V1 and V2, for instance) simply wasn't there yet, and once the war got into full-swing and the attendant drain on fighting a multi-front war along with the effects of Allied strategic bombing became dominant, the Germans never managed to close the gap. All that the Wunderwaffen '''could''' have been agreed upon having accomplished is the initial psychological shock upon deployment (such as the unstoppable V-2 launches), which wasn't much of a big deal after the human mind would adapt to the new threat.

It can be argued that while the German quest for military innovation lead to advances that did have everyone else scrambling to catch up, most were nothing more than a drain on Germany's resources. For every development that led to things like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (which was a very good plane), you had the trials that gave us the Tiger (and the entire extended VK3X.XX series, and the Ferdinand/Elephant, and all the associated waste of time and resources; it really was a lot!). Hitler had a documented fascination with anything that screamed "German Supremacy", and later one once the multi-front war turned against Germany, an arguable desperation for something-anything to one-shot win-the-war. As you can imagine with four hands strangling Germany, one smelling of vodka, one of bourbon and apple pie, one of tea and gin and the last of white bread and frog legs, these weapons were developed and produced with a shortage of resources and time and the lack of quality only exacerbated their various shortcomings and strained an already breaking economy. They were rather dismissively called "voo-vah" by Allied troops, and they allegedly thanked Hitler for ultimately shortening the war by authorizing the waste of resources on them. Perhaps ironically, the wunderwaffen did help to shorten the war, since those resources may have been better used on propping up a failing wartime economy, or building "boring but effective" war materiel. As with anything on this wiki, YMMV and you're encouraged to do your own research (and find a lot of really interesting stories in the process; did you know that at point-blank range, the standard 88mm AP round could rip a furrow through the entire length of the roof of a M4 turret, peeling open the steel like a centre-parting in hair? SCIENCE!)

* '''V1 flying bomb:''' The V1 is considered as an early version of the cruise missile and was used in the bombing of England, since a city was pretty much all they COULD accurately hit (and even then). The V1's used an early version of a Pulse jet and they were quickly called "buzz bombs," "doodlebugs," or "farting furies" to discourage people from calling them "robot bombs," which gives the impression that they were unstoppable. Fun fact about the V1: it uses the same fuel as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_beetle type of beetle] uses to defend itself. It was infamously known for cutting its engine as it dived (due to a fuel flow error), leading to it suddenly becoming silent just before it smashed into the ground. Its entire "guidance computer" was nothing more than a simple gyroscope system to keep it level and flying, plus a small spinning propeller in the nose that would set the flaps to dive the V1 into the ground once it revolved a certain amount of times (calculated to have covered the distance to the target city). Far too inaccurate to be used against a military target, the V1 was ultimately a gigantic waste. After the war though, with American and Soviet resouces, it founded the basis of modern tactical bombardment. Strategic? See right below.
*'''V2 rocket:''' The V2 was the world's first ballistic missile and spacefaring craft. The scientists that developed it, including Werner von Braun, went on to work for NASA and developed the booster rockets on the Saturn V launch vehicle (Nazi science really did put a man on the Moon in the end). Unlike its brother the V1, it was utterly unstoppable by AA; not a single inbound V2 was ever shot down by anti-aircraft fire, owing to it moving at 3 times the speed of sound. It was the first vehicle to ever reach space (but not the first object, that honor falls to Imperial German artillery in WW1, specifically the Paris Gun), from a vertical test launch in 1943, and after the war it was very frequently reused by the Americans (with extra shit often strapped on top) as an early spacecraft, with grainy images returned from suborbital flights in space as early as 1946. Less of a waste than the V1 but even so, without a decent guidance system it had a hard time hitting England as well as the dubious distinction of being the only weapon which killed more people in its manufacture than it did enemies.
* '''Horten 229 and Horten 18:''' While technically Nazi aircraft, they really deserves to be here, not up in Aircraft. Commonly known as the "Nazi stealth fighter," this twin-turbojet flying-wing fighter was found in a secret workshop hangar by invading American forces. Nobody knows for certain if the Horten 229 was originally built for stealth, but it's all-wood construction and smooth radar-fouling shape, coupled with radar-absorbing paint on the outer shell makes a fairly clear case for a stealth aircraft (Though [[Wikipedia:de Havilland Mosquito|the allies had already been fielding wooden aircraft for years]] and the Germans knew Radar worked poorly on them.). The concept that the 229 was build around was the "3x1000": 1000kph, 1000km range, 1000kg bomb payload. This, in 1943. During test flights, it outperformed the Me. 262 while using exactly the same engines. It was probably going to be used to fly through or knock out the British radar array in a second, never-realized "Battle of Britain 2: Electromagnetic Boogaloo." The Horten 18 was an even bigger flying wing, with a huge wingspan and 6 jet engines. This one was designed to be an intercontinental bomber, intending to hit American cities as the western front made Hitler [[rage|angrier and angrier]]. The Horten 18 was never built, but the 229 was rather successfully test flown. Both planes looks quite a bit like the modern B2 stealth bomber, which isn't much of a surprise considering the Americans hauled the Horten 229 prototype back home to be studied in a secret airforce base (where it is today). The designs failed for several reasons: lack of funds and insufficient stabilizing hard/software for flying wing aircrafts in 1940's.
[[File:Maus_Trials_1944.png|350px|thumb|right|[[Approved_anime#Gaming_anime|Panzer vor]], motherfuckers.]]
* '''''Maus'':''' The ''Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus'' ("mouse") is the largest tank ever built. A 200 metric ton monster with a 128mm (5 inch) main gun, and a 75mm co-axial gun in the turret, it crept along at a blistering 13 kph and sucked down liters of gas per kilometer. The most amazing thing is that (beyond not cancelling the project on sight like anyone withing hailing distance of sanity would) ''they actually managed to build this tank''. Five were ordered, but only two prototypes and one turret were built. It was originally going to be called the ''Mäuschen'' (Little Mouse), but because the Germans liked schadenfreude more than irony, just ''Maus'' stuck. Realistically, neither front's tanks would have had the firepower to penetrate the Maus, only extreme-caliber anti-tank guns and artillery fire would have done the job, however it was so big that there was no road or bridge big enough to take it so it had to have special snorkling gear to get past river. Its extremely slow speed and massive size, however, likely would have made it prime bait for bombers (which is one of the reasons why modern militaries don't use heavy tanks anymore). While neither side had anti-tank weapons strong enough to penetrate its armor, it's more then likely it would never get there even if it was built. It's not quite a [[Baneblade]], but they were getting there. The Nazi's really didn't want anyone to get this monster, so they blew up the complete first model. The second Maus, armed with the first one's turret, was towed back to Russia by invading forces, and currently resides in the Kubinka Tank museum for all to see.
* '''''Ratte'':''' The ''Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte'' ("rat") was an even larger tank, or "land cruiser", since it was essentially a naval warship on tracks. Never actually built, despite being ordered by Hitler. [[Wat|The Rat was to be a 1000 metric ton tank, mounting a naval turret with two 280mm guns, a 128mm anti tank gun, eight 20mm FlaK cannons, and two 15mm aircraft cannons]], surpassing even the Eleven Barrels Of Hell of the Baneblade. It would have been so heavy that it would have destroyed every road it used, capable of wrecking a town just by running through it, and it would have collapsed every bridge it crossed. It needed two U-BOAT motors to get around, or maybe EIGHT 20 CYLINDER ENGINES. Not surprisingly, Albert Speer canned the project (mostly because a single bomber dropping a 500kg bomb on top of the thing would fuck its day up immensely), which is a great shame because A- Building and maintaining such a monster would have posed a noticeable strain on Germany's logistics, thus accelerating their defeat (it would have required about six months worth of the Reichs ENTIRE STEEL PRODUCTION just to build the damm thing) and B- It would have made the most [[awesome]] museum piece in the known universe.
*'''''Karl-Gerät''''' The ''Karl-Gerät'' is one of the very few real world weapon ever built that is BIGGER then its 40k equivalent. Karl weighs 124 tons, is armed with a 60cm (24 inch) gun that fires a shell that weights more than a ton, that can hit a target between four and ten kilometers away depending on the size of its shell. This thing was the largest self-propelled gun ever made and it could give even a (admittedly small) Titan pause for thought. These things were actually used in combat to decent effect in Warsaw, but had mixed results in other deployments. It fucked up any target royally when it hit like famously the Prudential in Warsaw, but the Gerät was so big and slow that it had to be disassembled and put on special tractor trailers to move around (one hell of a logistic operation) and and was moved any real distance by train. Its shells were carried by special turret-less Panzer IIIs. Surprisingly one of these things survived the war and was captured by the Russians. It's currently in the Kubinka Tank Museum along side the only Maus heavy tank in the world and assorted other war trophies.
[[File:Hitler-gustav-railway-gun.jpg|350px|thumb|right|If there was a fine line between [[Dakka]], [[Titan|massive overcompensation]], and [[Rape|"Holy shit, Greg! Is that a fucking landship on rails!?",]] then the Gustav sure hits the spot.]]
*'''''Schwerer Gustav'':''' An excellent example of the brilliance and impracticality of Wunderwaffen, ''Schwerer Gustav'' was a railway gun that resembled a cruiser fucking a freight train and an artillery piece, built in the late 30's to defeat the Maginot Line. Two were built, the other called "Dora." It is a descendant of the German Empire's 1918 "Paris gun," a smaller gun ("only" 238mm's) built in World War One to shell Paris from Germany, 120 kilometers away (a range so far they had to account for the curvature of the Earth when firing the damn thing). Gustav was designed to defeat any fortifications in existence; as such, it was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built in terms of overall weight, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. It fired 80cm (31 inch) shells, weighing 4,800kg to 7,100kg up to 48km. The AP shells could penetrate 7m of reinforced concrete. It completely succeeded in its job of defeating any existing fortification, but at the same time was completely impractical: it required two specially-laid parallel railway tracks to move (yes, it was a railway gun too big for the railway), took 54 hours to set up for firing, and had a rate of fire of 14 rounds per day as charges had to be heated up in a special device for roughly 1 day before firing. Since building a gun that fired shells that wouldn't fit through the front door to your house wasn't excessive enough for the Nazis, plans were made to mount the Schwerer Gustav 80cm gun on a 1,500t self propelled artillery platform (the ''Landkreuzer P.1500 Monster'') with two 15cm howitzers and multiple 15mm autocannons as secondary weapons. Unfortunately, both guns were scrapped near the end of the war. The Schwerer Gustav, overall, was the biggest (if the strange rocket exhaust powered V3 listed bellow is not counted) motherfucking gun on the planet. The weapon likely could have blown a Titan away if its shields were down, and much science-fiction set in WW2 features the gun (notably, in Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series, the gun is used to blow up two landed alien spacecraft from sixty kilometers away).The fucking thing was hilariously impractical as there is no recorded cases it of successfully hitting the target (and with the accuracy of that thing it's a miracle no German forces were harmed). There is an urban legend about one AP shot detonating an ammo dump through 15 meters of water and 7 meters of concrete during the Siege of Sevastapol, but no hard proof supports it.
*'''V3''': If you thought Gustav up there was nutty wait to you here about the V3, a gun that's as big as a 40k titan. The V3 was an attempt to make a gun that could shoot across the English channel, and there were a number of sane guns that could do this including railway guns and big bunkers built with battleship battery's. but they could only shoot between the narrowest point between England and continental Europe. The V3 was built to shell London from France. I said early it was as big as a titan, and I was not being sarcastic, (though it would only be as big as a knight, which despite being the smallest titan is still bloody big) from breach to muzzle the gun was 130 meters or 430 feet long with a bore of 150mm or 5.9 inches across. Rather then use a single big explosion to propel the shells, the V3 used rocket motors mounted in pairs, set so there exhaust would thrust a 140kg shell out of the barrel like a reverse bolter. This set up allowed it to fire a shell out to 165km and put London well in range. Of course like all of the Nazi Wunderwaffen, in practice it sounded good but was actually kinda shit. the gun was so big, remember 130meters that it had to be built in a hill meaning it was impossible for it to change target after being built, and after all the time you spent building the damn thing, by the time you were done it might no longer be useful to have, such as what happened during the Nazi Operation Nordwind. Further even if you ignore the logistical issues compared to other period artillery the V3 was just plain shit. The 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns of the USS Iowa class battleship, had a caliber of 16 inch or 406mm, and fired a shell that weighed 1,225 kg, so over twice as big around and almost exactly nine times as heavy, and the Iowa had nine of them, and it could move. and to put the cherry on the HMS sound plan, by the time the first five guns were finally built to shell London, the British airforce destroyed them with Tallboy Earthquake bombs. If anything proves how silly the idea of Nazi Super Science is, let the fate of the V3 super gun stand testament to how many times Hitler's scientists, and Hitler himself, had been hit with the stupid stick growing up.
*'''''N-Stoff:''''' Someday, somewhere in the ''Kaiser Wilhelm Institute'' there was an Evil Overlord that was unhappy about the quantity of flammen his flammenwerfer could werf - so he got around and took two guys named Ruff and Krug to play around with some flourine and some chlorine. Now, if you studied something about chemistry, you may realize that using "flourine" and "chlorine" in the same sentence does not spell good news for anybody, but you know, ''Nazi Evil Overlords..''. What they discovered made their commissioners - yes, the same ol' boys who thought gassing millions was cool - go '''NOPE!''', and when you discover something that's too crazy even for Crazy Nazi Science standards you know you're in for a treat. Indeed, Chlorine Trifluoride (as the compound is called) proved to be pretty good in burning bunkers to the ground - and by "burning bunkers" we mean the ''whole'' bunker, as in ''it reacts with the motherfucking concrete'' - plus it doubled as a chemical warfare agent, giving off corrosive and toxic fumes. N-Stoff (translating to Substance-N; yeah, they kinda failed the naming here) burns at a raging 2400 degrees Celsius - twice the temperature of lava and almost enough to BOIL steel - and can set fire to things that shouldn't burn like glass, wet sand (or asbestos (the same substance that they used to make fireproof stuff out of) and things that have already been burnt. In fact fighting the fire with water is counterproductive, the water is just more fuel and it reacts to create deadly acids and gasses. In the 1950's a ton of the stuff was spilled on a warehouse: the chemical then burned through a foot of Concrete and three feet gravel, while releasing a deadly gas that corroding everything it came into contact with. If there ever was something like [[Dakka|Enuff Dakka]] for flamethrowers, Substance N came close to delivering it. The Nazis planned to use it in war, but were never able to produce enough of it (only a few dozen kg total), presumably because it kept incinerating everyone who tried to make it. It later found its use in the semiconductor and nuclear industry - after being dubbed a bit too violent to use as rocket fuel, one rocket scientist famously said that the best way to deal with a Chlorine Trifluoride accident was "a good pair of running shoes". Also, [[Sly Marbo]] uses Substance N to spice up his Catachan Take Away.
*'''E-Series''': A very obscure piece of German tank engineering history, that was brought to mainstream attention by being featured in World of Tanks. The ''Entwicklung'' series of tanks were pure design studies, never produced or even properly conceptualized as an attempt in streamlining tank production and as replacements for the entire tank pool of the Wehrmacht. It consisted of 5 tanks in total (E-10, E-25, E-50, E-75, E-100) with different purposes and their name corresponded with their weight class. By the time these design studies were made (around late 44 to early 45) producing an entirely new series of tanks was way beyond the capabilities of the by that time disintegrating remainder of the German heavy industry, so it's best not to read too much into these tanks other than them being interesting curiosities. From what was left of reserve steel, the Germans managed to scramble together one incomplete E-100 chassis that was found by the Americans and handed over to the British, which used it for target practive and ultimately scrapped it in 1950.
*'''''Uranprojekt''''': The Uranprojekt (Uraniumproject as the most literal translation) was the attempt of German scientists to create a nuclear bomb, or at least to create a sustainable chain reaction. It found its way into popular fiction as the German attempt in creating an atomic bomb, often claiming they almost had one, but when taking a closer look, this isn't exactly the truth. It didn't exactly go all that well. Germany suffered a major brain drain when it expelled all its jewish scientists and it had next to no access to Uranium or materials that could be used as a moderator (like highly pure Graphite or Heavy Water). The material problems were sorta solved when France and Norway fell into their hands, but the problems only increased from then on. The Scientists were unsure what to use as fuel for the bomb as both proposed elements Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239, are extremely rare and need to be created artificially in breeding reactors; To put it in perspective, Plutonium wasn't believed to be a natural occuring element at all until the 1990s and common Uranium Ore contains usually 2% Uranium in its most stable form, U-238 and generally only 0,7% of all Uranium is of the 235 variety (U-238 is much more stable than U-235 and therefore harder to split). One must also take into consideration that nuclear technology in general was in its infancy and just at the very onset of leaving the purely theoretical stage, which adds to the problems in procuring enough viable fission material outlined above. The lead scientist of the project, Walter Heisenberg, (yes, that's where the name Heisenberg comes from) also had a crisis of conscience and reduced his work on the project significantly. After the Invasion of the Soviet Union, the project was abandoned by the Wehrmacht and handed over to the civilian Reichsforschungsrat (Council of Science of the Reich) because of the material expenses and the lack of results. The project experienced a significant number of setbacks, the most important of which was an explosion of a globe filled with Uranium powder in 1942, which destroyed a substantial amount of Germanys Uranium reserves (The accident in question actually bears a striking resemblance to what happened in Chernobyl in 1986, thankfully only on a much smaller scale). But it didn't stop there. The Allies caught wind of the project and feared that the Germans could succeed in developing a nuclear bomb and sent Commandos in a series of daring operations that make for excellent reading material. In short, all German facilities that could produce materials, together with practically any Uranium and heavy water for use in the Uranprojekt were destroyed by early 1944 either through sabotage or air raids and the project worked off remaining reserves from then on. One last experiment in Haigerloch, South Germany was conducted in Febuary 1945 and failed in producing a nuclear chain reaction. The leading Scientists were taken into custody by the Americans, others from the rank-and-file by the Soviets, where they continued their work on the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons project. The effect the Uranprojekt was more to found in the looming paranoia of the Allies, particularly the Americans, about a possible German nuclear bomb that drove a lot of the reasearch in the Manhattan-Project, with the irony being that the Germans never even came close to create a critical nuclear chain reaction, let alone a bomb. In hindsight, the project was in fact a complete failure.
*'''Die Glocke (The Bell)''': Okay, so you know the Nazi Zombie craze that got started back in 1941 (seriously the first Nazi Zombie film was made during WWII), and the purported occult obssession several higher-ups in the party had? This is one of the end results of that branch of PseudoScience & Conspiracy level crazy. Much like the US's philadelphia Project, or M.K Ultra; Die Glocke was supossed to be "something" that would break the laws of reality, bring back the dead, power all the factories, and mind control the enemies of the Reich. It's also complete horse-shit, potentially made up by a Polish Author/Journalist (I. Witkowski), and then later popularised by a British Author/Military Jornalist (N. Cook). Still as it has helped shape the more fantasical view of the Nazi Wunderwaffen, especially in the realm of /v/idya, and the "factual" books are a good laugh, is worth a mention.
*'''Sonnengewehr (Sun Gun)''': Slightly less fantastical, although just as impossible at the time was the Sonnengewehr, or the Sun Gun. Orginally proposed in 1929 by Hermann Oberth, the Sonnengewehr was a hypothesised Space Station that would orbit around the planet roughly 5 thousand miles up, and focus the Sun's rays into a ray capable of burning down cities, or boiling dry the oceans using a fuckhueg reflector made of metallic sodium. While the numbers involved are probably fairly wooly given just how batshit crazy the Nazi science machine was, the scientists involved claimed that the sun gun could be completed within 50 to 100 years.

===Misc===
[[File:Stalhelm.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Distinctive Stahlhelm. The Germans lucked out helmet design during WWI]]
* '''''Stahlhelm'':''' The many variants of the iconic German helmet were derived from the medieval sallet during the Great War. The purpose of these helmets was to keep shrapnel out of one's head. It was better than it's contemporaries by better protecting the sides and back of the head as well. Not to be confused with the spiked Prussian ''Pickelhaube''. Used by all kinds of German troops but the Fallschirmsjäger (paratroopers) as it is impractical to jump with it. Paratroopers had a special version of the helmet that removed the front and back flanges, giving it a much more streamlined appearance. The basic shape of the helmet would go on to become the basis for most modern helmets, especially as the shape was well suited to wearing a headset under it.

*'''''Stielhandgranate'':''' Often called "stick grenades" or "potato mashers," these are those grenades on sticks you see the Germans always using. Used by popping off the metal cap at the end of the stick, giving the cord which doubled as a fuse a good yank, and throwing it to your target (of course, before the fuse went off). The Stielhandgranate is what is called a "offensive" grenade known now as a "concussive" grenade. The difference is an offensive grenade uses explosive pressure waves to kill an enemy, thus allowing you to use it while advancing without getting a face full of shrapnel, while a defensive grenade (like the US "pineapple" grenade) uses shrapnel to kill an enemy, affecting a much larger area but also putting you in the blast radius, hence they were designed to be thrown over the wall of a fox hole or trench line at advancing enemy troops while you keep your head down. The reason the Stielhandgranate has the stick is to give you more leverage when throwing it as compared to a round grenade, which worked but nonetheless history moved past the concept and grenades on sticks didn't keep.
**'''''Geballte Ladung'':''' Take your grenades off of their sticks, wrap them all up around one stick grenade, and tie them up around it with something. You see, as the Stielhandgranate was basically just a head of TNT lit up after the fuse at the end of the stick reached the explosive filler in the head, cramming more of these explosive heads around one will lead to a bigger boom when that one goes off like planting more TNT on the same detonation location will, though the added weight would reduce the range advantage of hurling it by the stick and made it harder to carry them en masse (regular Stielhandgranates were only barely harder to attach to someone than actual sticks and soldiers could easily cram them just about anywhere on their person). This "bundled charge" was improvised for use against harder targets, like armoured vehicles (though it didn't take long in World War 2 for this to become useless against tanks) and buildings. Six explosive heads fit nicely when tied around one stick grenade's head on the horizontal plane parallel to the head's circular ends, which was the usual upper limit for this improvisation, though logically it would be quite possible to tie even more around the grenade while making it even more difficult to throw and making it more resemble an explosive charge that you can't expect to throw very far with a stick in it.

*'''''Nebelwerfer'':''' A family of weapons whose very name means "Fog/Mist Thrower"; they were listed as smoke screen launchers before the war (to get around the Treaty of Versailles), but in truth were rather deadly artillery pieces designed to deploy chemical munitions, though in the extent of the war they never did (actually they did in Crimea), probably because Hitler had survived gas attacks in the last war and drew the line at using them himself and the fact that using chemical weapons would invite retaliation. These types of weapons included some mortars, but, more importantly, rocket artillery. In Germany between the wars, there was a fair bit of interest in new rocket designs (as conventional artillery was strictly regulated/forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles) and the Nazis knew they had use for that. These rockets were inaccurate, but you could easily fire a whole bunch of the things off at once for a good saturation bombing, though thanks to the smoke you had to scoot away or the other side would drop their own artillery on top of you. The rocket based system made a very distinctive sound. The Germans nicknamed the thing "Heulende Kuh" (Bellowing Cow) and US troops would come to call them "Screaming Mimi" and "Moaning Minnie".
**The Germans would also later on mount the launcher onto a half-track known as the "Panzerwerfer" (armored thrower). In many ways a German analogue to the BM-21, the Panzerwerfer saw intensive use during the Battle of the Bulge.

*'''Goliath:''' A remotely controlled mini-vehicle on treads, stuffed full of explosives. They were driven up to an enemy tank or a bunker and then blown up. (Games Workshop stole the idea and design for the Imperial Guard Cyclops.) Good idea, but the execution was lacking since Radio Control wasn't good enough yet. They had a cable like some sort of bargain remote-controlled car which limited their range dramatically, and cutting this would utterly defeat the weapon. (At least it's not as bad as the Russians and their kamikaze dogs which they trained to run under tanks, that is, THEIR OWN TANKS, but I digress...) On the flip side, American soldiers often made great fun with captured Goliaths by riding them around as the tiny thing could carry quite a load.

*'''Flammenwerfer:''' A werfer zat werfs flammen. Your standard flamethrower in both name and function, though there wasn't much use for it - There were no real line wars like in WW1 where people sat in <s>comfy</s> little (hell) holes and took potshots at each other. not to say they weren't used. but unlike the trench wars of WW1 most of the fighting was mobile rather than static. For added nastiness, some bigger ones were mounted in Flammpanzers, able to shoot hundreds of liters of sticky, burning fuck you over distances exceeding 50 meters. Getting issued one was generally regarded one of the least desirable jobs on all sides of the war, Flamethrower operators were prime targets for reasons that should be obvious but also because everyone shot them on the spot when they surrendered. It also bears mentioning that actually firing a flamethrower is a ''very'' unpleasant sensation.

*'''8.8cm flak gun:''' Known as the "Acht-Acht", this is THE German gun of world war two, and it sums up the German experience in the first part of the war; of never being truly ready but by being very clever and doctrinally flexible. The 88mm was designed as an anti-air weapon (Flak standing for ''Fliegerabwehrkanöne'', or AA gun) built to throw a high explosive shell as high into the air as it could so that it could explode somewhere in the same ballpark as the enemy plane and put one piece of shrapnel into something important and bring it down, which is a role it preformed throughout the war. However against the heavy allied tanks such as the British Matilda 1 and French B1, the German tanks of the time had no ability to penetrate their frontal armor The the 8.8 cm flak guns however, thanks to the high muzzle speed required to fire their explosive shell so high into the air, were able to deal with enemy tanks at unparalleled ranges at the time. So the guns were pulled to the front by a certain Erwin Rommel during the battle of Arras, the barrels lowered, a French-British tank-heavy counterattack stopped; and it snowballed from there. In case your wondering, the reason why the 88's had anti-tank rounds was because while not designed to deal with enemy tanks, they had a secondary role in busting enemy bunkers and fortifications, hence why an ANTI-AIR gun had an AP round. Germany quickly pushed to have both a proper PaK version of the 88 (Pak standing for ''Panzerabwehrkanöne'', or AT gun) that had a lower profile, was easier to move around and had a shield to stop stray bullets from decimating the crew; and a tank armed with the 88 as it became clear that against the soviet union, tanks were only going to get stronger. Which is why the Tiger I is a metal slab with a huge gun: its job was to get an 88mm gun into the battlefield as fast as possible. Using AA guns as AT guns was such a good idea that the US did the same thing with their 90mm AA gun converting it into a anti-tank weapon for the M36 tank destroyer and the Pershing tank; and so did the Russians with their 85 mm gun for the upgunned versions of the T-34 and KV-1. The Imperial Guard Basilisk cannon looks almost exactly like the Flak 88.

*'''2 cm Flak 30/38/Flakvierling:''' Remember the "Acht-Acht"? Now add two of these smaller guns to each flak 88 site, hill, hedge, ditch and rooftop in Europe and watch the fireworks. The German answer to the question of "enuff dakka" in a more reasonable package than MG42 which went through metal reserves was this little bastard, which was like an American 30.cal [[Bolter|firing explosive ''and'' armor piercing rounds]]. Obviously devastating to infantry and aircraft, it even rained sufficient hailstorms of rounds that damaged and threw off approaching lightly armored vehicles enough to make a difference, and given luck, it could rip through tank tracks too. And the Germans made 150.000 of these fuckers. And those 150.000 Bolter-Expies, these unsung weapons, did more damage and inflict casualties than any other weapon during the Normandy landing and the push inland. [https://www.quora.com/In-WW2-why-did-the-Germans-never-develop-heavy-machine-guns-like-M2-Browning-for-their-half-tracks-SP-guns-and-tanks/answer/Allyson-Kliff As explained here.]

*'''The S-mine:''' The Sprengmine (jumping mine), or, to use the name US soldiers gave it, "Bouncing Betty", was one of the most widely used and most effective, weapons of its class. It was a mine that when triggered 'bounced' about three feet into the air before exploding at about waist height in an 'air burst', able to inflict casualities (The military definition of the word meaning more then just dead) at up to 140 feet. And it had a tendency to not kill you, but maim you. [[Grimdark|A deliberate decision, as the Nazis estimated that a wounded soldier takes up a lot more resources than a dead one.]] Later in the war, some were made out of glass and even pottery, with minimal metal parts, to make them even harder to find. Suffice to say, they still havent found all of them... 1.93 million S-mines were made and it was widely copied after the war, these things are still killing people to this day as old mines forgot about are stepped on and the explosive proves itself still good. While the S-mine is hardly unique in that regard (Unexploded US aircraft bombs and shells make up the bulk of what they still find in Germany, around 2,000 pounds year according to the Smithsonian) land mines, like the S-mine, are still dug up by the truck load in North Africa.

*'''Pervitin:''' Not a traditional weapon as such, but a key element in how the Nazis blitzkrieg tactics were so effective, Pervitin was a methamphetamine drug that provided the base recipe for today's crystal meth and which was distributed to all members of the Nazi military. Its powerful stimulatory effect enabled them to fight harder for longer, and was essential in the breakneck races from the border to the battlefield. With all of the Nazi troopers hopped up on this drug, which later incorporated cocaine for increased effectiveness, Nazi forces could keep fighting effectively well after their enemies were worn out. At least until their supply lines were cut and addiction/withdrawal symptoms crippled them all, that is. The use of pervitin was cut drastically after the France campaign for that reason (and for fear of long-term side effects, especially when discipline issues started mounting), though many pilots and tank crew members still used it readily, especially during Stalingrad (with the hilarious side effect of turning into an on-the-spot popsicle when the crash came). It could also be issued for important operations. The idea that all Wehrmacht soldiers were drooling junkies is however wrong, funny, but wrong. It has a fascinating legacy that lasted much longer than the Third Reich did: The Bundeswehr and NVA (Armed forces of Communist East Germany) kept stockpiles of it well into the 70s for emergency use and for paratroopers, as did the US Army in Vietnam. The first climb of Mount Everest in 1953 also saw extensive use of Pervitin and President John F. Kennedy used it to treat his chronic back pain.

*'''''Hs 293 & Fritz-X'':''' Another German WWII oddity, the Hs 293 and Fritz-X were basically remote-controlled bombs and the grand-parents of modern precision-guided ammo. In an effort to improve bombing accuracy without having to dive at the target, they came up with this idea: take a huge bomb, add small wings with control surfaces, actuators, a radio receiver and a big flare up the bomb's arse so the bombardier can see where it's going (and a rocket booster in the case of the Hs 293); and then add a radio transmitter with a joystick in the airplane so the bombardier can correct its descent. There you go, highly precise steerable bomb. It actually worked really well, but not without drawbacks: drop altitude was limited, since the bombardier needed to keep a line of sight on the flare, like all radio transmission it could be jammed and lastly the bomber had to remain in level flight during the bomb's entire descent to allow the bombardier to steer it. Ultimately the bombs only saw limited anti-ship use, the combination of limited drop altitude and level flight made the bomber a way too easy prey for any fighter defending its target. Still, they were pretty efficient weapons in the right circumstances as the ''Roma'', the ''Littorio'' and the ''Warspite'' can attest to.

*'''Kettenkrad (Sd. Kfz 2)''': Those stylish tracked motor cycles, build as a light general-purpose platform that could do basically anything, from reconnaissance to lying down telephone and radio cables and towing light AT-guns and artillery pieces. A very solid design in general, it was very manuverable for its weight, had great off-road capabilities and was very easy to drive; if you knew how to drive a motor cycle you could drive a Kettenkrad. This was achieved by a rather complex steering gear that used the front wheel to steer it when making turns of about 8°, when making sharper turns a mechanism slowed down one of the tracks. It remained in production and use throughout the entire war.

*'''''Zimmerit''''': Ever wondered why so many German Tanks had such a patchy look? and why German WW2 tanks are such a bitch to model? This stuff is the reason. ''Zimmerit'' was a thick paste consisting of Barium Sulfate, Polyvinyl acetate, Zinc Sulfide and some filling material that was applied at the end of tank production in thick layers with spatulas, giving it its distict look. ''Zimmerit'' served as a reliable protection against magnetic anti-tank grenades like the German ''Hafthohlladung'' or . . . nothing. No other nation other then Germany deployed a magnetic anti-tank mine during the war, though concerns that the Hafthohlladung could be easily copied made the idea of Zimmerit a decent idea at the start of the war. However rumours about it igniting after sustaining hits lead to an order to cease production and application of the stuff on tanks. The rumours were never proven, but applying the stuff took days at best and by 1944 the German High Command didn't really want to bother with it anymore, especially since rocket propelled AT-weaponry like the Bazooka made magnetic mines obsolete anyway.

*'''Jerrycans''': Yes, the instantly recognizable jerrycan is in fact a German invention, which given that the Germans in WW1 and 2 were derogatory known as 'jerrys' does make a lot of sense in hindsight. Designed by Wehrmacht Engineers in the late 30s as an improvement over predecessors, which required special tools and funnels to fill, a task that was tedious and took up a lot of time, not to mention how bulky they were. The perfection of the jerrycan design cannot be understated; it's easy to stack, fill, takes up fairly little space and you can carry around a lot of them. The Germans were aware they had struck logistical-design gold and troops were under orders to destroy theirs cans rather than risk their capture, but unfortunately for them the design was brought to the Allies' attention when the American Paul Weiss traveled with a German friend through the entirety of India and realized that his modified car had no storage for reserve water, said German friend who had access to the German reserve stockpile of jerrycans brought them with him on the tour (though also fortunately for the Germans, it wouldn't be until 1943 that any of their enemies would mass-produce the can). After the tour, Weiss shared the design with the American military, who reverse engineered the thing and issued it to every motorized company in the US Army.

== C3i Waffen ==

Not exactly their strongest area...

*'''Enigma:''' Enigma was a communications scheme based on a sophisticated but easy to use electromechanical encryption/decryption device resembling a cross between a typewriter and an odometer. When used with proper procedures it was the one of the most secure means of communication available in the world for its time, offering effectively 76 bit encryption with 1920's technology in a device that was superior to anything the allies had. SIGABA was comparably secure but far heavier and fragile, and the M-209 was far inferior in both ease of use and encryption strength (although it was still adequate). However the combination of lax discipline, reuse of settings, and notes from a polish customs inspection of an enigma device resulted in the technology being reverse engineered and cryptographic attacks being discovered. Only Kriegsmarine communications remained difficult to decrypt by the end of the war, due to their practice of using secret codebooks to further compress their messages prior to encryption.

*'''Bombing Beams:''' Wouldn't you know it, the Instrument Landing System used today at pretty much every major airport was originally invented to 'land' bombs on London in the middle of the night when the lights are out. By using narrow radio beams the Nazis could steer bombers to a precalculated drop point. All the pilots had to do was maintain a certain speed and altitude, and then drop their bombs when the signal detector said they should... except when the British were fucking with them. Towards the end they were fucking with them so hard German bomber pilots were landing at RAF bases believing they were in France. When it actually worked, such as at Coventry, it was more accurate than daytime saturation bombing, with most bombs falling within 90 meters of the beam centerline. This system is why Nazi bombing raids tended to less of a brief swarm like the allies used and more of a continuous bomb conveyor belt lasting most of the night; they would line up single file along the approach beam, and then after they hit the drop beam they'd change altitude, turn around, follow the beam back across the channel; no visibility needed. The British figured this out and started using their television antennas (which had far greater power output) to mess with the system. If the Nazis had continued to improve this technology with ECCM and built a lot more bombers instead of squandering money on Wunderwaffen, they probably would have won the Battle of Britain (even then, Göring would have found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory).

*'''Tank Radios:''' While today we take it for granted that any trooper anywhere in the galaxy could get a call from the emperor himself to execute order 66, this wasn't always the case. Throughout the 1930's, all German armored vehicles had radios, while their opponents would typically only have a radio for the unit commander. This was an enormous advantage for Nazi tank units that remained the case basically until America showed up. The Nazis also had the Torn.Fu.d2, a backpack portable infantry radio comparable to the American SCR-300, although they didn't distribute them as widely as the Americans did (this was an organizational thing; Germany dealt with communications by assigning a signals battalion to each division and delegating resources as needed, while the Americans always had radios at company level and sometimes had SCR-536 handy-talkies for individual platoons). The main problem the Germans had with radios was that lots of American soldiers were fluent in German(plus certain words that hint at communication are not too separated from English...).

*'''Zuse Z3''': Lo and behold, for you look at the very first freely programmable digital computer in the world. Completed by Mathematician and Electronics Engineer Conrad Zuse in 1941, it was kept in extreme secrecy, so much so that it was rarely put into use. The rare times it was used, its purpose was to calculate trajectories for V2 rockets. Zuse advocated for its use in the war effort, but the original (and at the time only) device was destroyed in an allied bombing raid in 1943. Zuse built an improved successor, the Z4, just before the war came to a close. Although conditionally Turing complete, physically the Z3 was less advanced in implementation than its peers. Zuse was not able to procure thermionic components (vacuum tubes were in critically short supply for radios and radars in Germany) and so had to rely on electromechanical relays from phone switching gear; in practical terms this meant that the Z3 ran much slower than even purpose built non-Turing complete calculators such as the Atanasoff-Berry or the Colossus. The Z3 itself received little immediate recognition outside of Germany partly because of the American ENIAC computer; the strict secrecy Zuse worked under lead to the Z3 falling into relative obscurity, until the invalidation of the Sperry Rand patents in the 1970's, which hinged partly on Zuse's own patents which had been licensed to IBM as early as 1946 (FYI: you're reading this page on a computer today partly because those Sperry patents died; a year later the Altair 8800 began the long road of upstart Davids bringing down industry Goliaths). Today, a replica of the Z3 can be found in the German Museum in Munich. The only surviving (and probably only completed) Z4 computer was used as the main computer of the Mathematical Devision of the University of Zürich, Switzerland, until 1958, when it was sold to the German Museum in Munich where it remains to this day. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXnhVrT4CI An example of the Z3 working can be viewed here. (Video in German, good automatic translated English subtitles are available)]

[[Category:History]]

Radium Weaponry

2021-06-10T20:51:06Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Rad Cannon */

{{topquote|Vulkan: "There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."<br>[[Ferrus Manus|Ferrus]]: "Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"<br>Vulkan: "I don't understand the question.|A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs}}

Radium Weapons sometimes called '''Rad Weapons''' are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used exclusively by the forces of the [[Skitarii]] Legions of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. [[Awesome|Think of them as nuclear rifles.]] [[Grimdark|Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders.]] Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture more into [[Derp|Grimderp territory more than anything else.]] Made worse that the Imperium does have extremely potent small arms scale radiation protection in both material and energy field form. Most likely the Skitarii don’t use the protection because Skitarii are blatantly disposable. Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.

Despite Rad weapons seemingly being [[Derp|Grimdark for the sake of being Grimdark]], there is a precedence for these weapons actualizing existing. Energy weapons of all types would throw out huge amounts of Bremsstrahlung radiation each time they are fired (which is German for "to brake"). This mean that even [[Lasgun|las weaponary]], [[Plasma|Plasma guns]], [[Melta]], [[Volkite]]s and just every type of energy weapons would be spewing between trace to large amounts. Even high velocity weapons such as [[Gauss]] [[Railgun]]s and certain [[Autogun]]s would do this for each bullet, sabot, etc, when fired. As modern firearms have housing to prevent them from overheating, most weapons by the [[Great Crusade]] would have systems in place so they don't cause damage to the user or their armor. Having to clean up even small amounts of radiation would require extensive decontamination of both their gear and the weapon itself.
Though the Admech, being made up of cyborgs, just don't care; they can just get themselves a fancy new limb, or an organ (or two, if they survive the battle of course).

On tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage, although stats do differ depending on what type you're using. In 30k 6s to wound do two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Normally Ork troops would have that much. While having shootouts with the Tau and can even win. But that's how the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] rolls.

Radium Rifles and Pistols both existed before Warhammer in John Carter of Mars, though in both cases they were far less lethal to the user unless their ammunition was exposed to sunlight. Which makes even less sense but given a pass because the internet didn't exist back then.
==Imperial Variants==

===Radium Pistol===
[[File:RadiumPistol.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Pistol]]
A small pistol (Small!? It’s bigger than an arm!) that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear armed hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.

On 8th Edition, this little nuclear powerhouse is a single shot pistol with the abovementioned base stats. If you choose this pistol, you are essentially replacing a Skitarii Alpha's main weapon. Their base weapon does in a turn what this pistol does in two or three. If you choose to drop your main gun for a pistol, there are better alternatives...although this one is free.

<gallery>
image:RadiumPistolBit.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:RadiumPistol1.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Carbine===
[[File:RadiumCarbine.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Carbine]]

The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard. The Radium Carbine rapid firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire, it is the main armament of Skitarii Vanguard. The Carbine is noted for its amazing fire rate, sometimes, bordering on the absurd, such as destroying vehicles by sheer [[Dakka]].

If you want to roleplay as [[Fallout]] in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3 [[Awesome|allowing Vanguard to cover lots of ground and still hit on 4+]], the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.

<gallery>
image:SkitariiRadiumCarbine.png|<center>Side View</center>
RadiuMCarbineAim.jpg|<center>Bottom View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Jezzail===
[[File:RadiumJezzail.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Jezzail]]

[[Awesome|A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle.]] The Radium Jezzail is a long sniper-like weapon that is sometimes used by [[Sydonian Dragoon|Sydonian Dragoons]] instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper version as a weapon choice for the Dragoon, in place of its Taser Lance, for free.

Seriously, it has more power than other armies' sniper rifles, beginning at [[Cheese|S5 Heavy 2]], it would be more accurate to call it an anti-materiel rifle than a sniper rifle. It is offset for its relatively short range (For a sniper rifle) of 30". It could also Wound at 6's, which causes an extra mortal wound, just to make sure that poor sod is right and proper dead.

Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.

<gallery>
RadiumJezzailSide.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:SydonianRadiumJezzail.png|<center>Top View</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Irradiation Projector===
[[File:Irrad.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Irradiation Projector]]
Dating back to the [[Great Crusade]] and working much like an oversized [[Flamer]] rather than a light machine gun firing pure Uranium. An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, are specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapons. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.

Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level. Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die a short time later from late-term effects of acute radiation sickness (compare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation-induced_cognitive_decline#War_fighting "Walking-Ghost-phase"]).

The biggest users are [[Thallax|Thallaxes]] whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.

<gallery>
MagosRadCleanser.jpg|<center>Magos Dominus</center>
image:MechanicumRadiumEngine.png|<center>Myrmidon Destructor</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Rad Missile Launcher===
[[File:Rad_Missile_Launcher.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Missile Launcher]]

The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons.
Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]. These Terran-derived missiles are a horror of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges lined with radioactive isotopes.

The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim no matter their resilience. Because of its contaminating and hideous nature, it was deployed sparingly, most commonly by [[Destroyer_Squad|Destroyer Space Marines]]. The effects of these weapons were so horrific that they were only used against Xenos. Even the worst among the Legion Astartes had very little trust for those would dare use them. Exceptions being the [[Death Guard]] and the Dreadwing of the [[Dark Angels]]. The effects of Rad Missiles would force Destroyer Marines to replace their limbs with cybernetics. As the ammunition fired by the launcher itself caused aggressive forms of cancer that can deter Space Marines. The outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]] turned Rad Missiles Launchers and Destroyers into a necessary evil for both sides. This is the first pre-Grey Knight answer against [[Daemon|Chaos Daemons]] or [[Dark Eldar|anyone dumb enough to not wear]] or [[Cultist|too broke ass to afford]] [[Power Armor]].

[[Tl;dr]], it's a missile launching dirty bomb.

<gallery>
image:RadMissileFront.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
image:RadMissileBack.jpg|<center>Back View</center>
</gallery>

===Rad Cannon===
[[File:Rad_Cannon.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Cannon]]
Rad Cannons are a type of Rad Weapon and the big daddy of the lot. They are known to be used by House Van Saar gangers on [[Necromunda]]. These are extremely bulky weapons that essentially shits out Chernobyl-levels of radiation at the particular vicinity.

They are extremely powerful, albeit, unwieldy and dangerous weapons. It should not surprise us that users of Rad Cannons often could count their lifespan in months from constant usage, due to the radiation backwash. For some unknown reasons, the AdMech never seems to use these, despite the fact that they would probably in all likelihood, ''should''. Though their version would be much less shitty and look like a larger Irradiation Projector.

On the Necromunda tabletop, this is a 5” and 32” range blast weapons. For House Van Saar which sorely lacks blasts, this weapon could be a god send. However, [[Wat|the weak-ass Strength of 2]] means that you are not hitting above your weight. As such, [[Skub|it is a pretty mix-bag weapon, quite situational honestly.]]
<gallery>
Rad_Cannon_model.JPG
</gallery>
{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

== Tau Variants ==

The [[Tau Empire]] only utilize one type of rad weapon in which only the Vespids are known to use.

=== Neutron Blaster ===

[[File:NeutronBlaster.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neutron Blaster]]

The primary weapon of the [[Vespid|giant cockroaches]]. Neutron Blasters are some type of rad weapon that fires irradiated neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. [[What|This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals.]] Whilst some may claim that this allows ''only'' the Vespids to utilize these weapons which is a great enemy denial tool. It also presents the problems of the usefulness of this weapon in closed, cramp spaces, or the hard vacuum of outer space which may render the weapon quite useless....whoops....

The Neutron Blaster in a sense, is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of Tau manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

For ''some'' reason, the Neutron it fires is a [[Derp|sickly green]] despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.

<gallery>
image:NeutronBlasterSmall.jpg|<center>Standard Variant</center>
image:VespidNeutron.png|<center>Sergeant Variant</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Imperial]]

[[Category: Adeptus Mechanicus]]

[[Category: Space Marines]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tau]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Warhammer Weapons]]

{{Template:40k-Tau-Weapons}}

Slime

2021-06-10T19:31:09Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:2C:336:4EB7:2C6F: /* Pre-3rd Edition */

[[File:The gelatinous green cube by shockbolt.jpg|500px|thumbnail|right|[[Halfling]] [[Rogue]] rolled a 1 to Intelligence...or should it be Wisdom? Or maybe both?]]

{{topquote|A slime draws near!|Every Dragon Quest game ever}}

The '''Slime''', also known as the '''Ooze''', the '''Gel''', the '''Jelly''', or the '''Goo''', is a humble form of monster that pops up in absolutely ''every'' frigging fantasy setting you can imagine, and even a few science-fiction settings. It is most famous in tabletop games for its many diffuse forms in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and in videogames for [[/v/|Dragon Quest]] (in which it serves as the mascot and also has a fucking huge array of possible slime-forms), but, like we said, you can find a slime just about everywhere if you look.

Slimes are usually low to middle tier threat levels; they are mindless masses of animate sludge, and some higher-level variants may be made of elemental matter, such as water, "liquid ice", magma, molten steel, etc. They have no culture or higher purposes, they just ooze around eating anything organic they touch and growing bigger until they have to divide. Hardly likely to outwit most adventurers, but many games make them fairly resistant to certain kinds of attack, especially physical ones, so just assuming they're harmless is a good way to get dissolved. One prominent commenter described fighting a slime as "playing a terrifying game of 'guess the immunity'," referencing to the fact that unless you have your appropriate Monster Manuals memorised, you can rarely predict what will kill a slime variety outright. And guessing wrong can sometimes be worse than not trying, because using the ''wrong'' damage type can cause the slime in question to get stronger or divide into more slimes. And what they are or are not vulnerable to isn't always consistent between editions. A lot of them are also [[Gotcha Monster]]s because of their use of camouflage or near invisibility. This is often enforced by their slow speed that ensure an unsupported ooze can simply be fled from. Their lack of biological needs aside from hunger (solved by dropping scraps to them) means they are often used as part of mundane traps, like an ooze at the bottom of a pit trap.

==Slimes in Dungeons and Dragons==
===Pre-3rd Edition===
* '''Gelatinous Cube''': Perhaps the most notorious slime to come out of the tabletop game field is the gelatinous cube, a D&D monstrosity that takes the form of a huge cube-shaped mass of near-translucent gray or green jelly, perfectly sized for oozing through the typical dungeon corridor as a living, insurmountable barrier. It was originally created by Gary Gygax as a joke, being the exact size of one grid square. Like the [[Rust Monster]] and [[Owlbear]], it's one of those absurdities that everyone pokes fun at, but which has too much nostalgic fondness from the fanbase for anyone to seriously consider getting rid of it. Later, fortunately, it ''did'' come with a half-assed explanation: wizards breed them as living janitorial services to clean the garbage out of the perfectly-square corridors of their evil dungeons. As it's also mostly-transparent, save for the dissolving bits of armor floating in it like fruit in a jello dessert, walking straight into it only to be engulfed is an occupational hazard for dungeon-delvers. It has a paralyzing touch. Its weaknesses vary depending on the edition.
<gallery>
Gelatinous cube Monster card.jpg
Gelatinous cube MCV1.jpg
Gelatinous cube MM 2e.png
Gelatinous Cube 3e.jpg
Ooze 4e.jpg
Gelatinous Cube 5e.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Black Pudding''' / '''Deadly Puddings''': Has nothing to do with the food called black pudding - this one has come to take Sam Tarly. Comes in other colors besides black, depending on what environment they are found in. All of the different colors are called Deadly Puddings. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning. Black puddings can dissolve organic material and metal. White puddings look identical to ice and snow and can instantly dissolve organic matter. Dun puddings live in deserts and can instantly dissolve leather, and can also eat metal. Brown puddings live in marshes and can instantly dissolve leather and wood. Stone puddings, grey puddings, and dense puddings all live underground. Stone puddings are slow moving and attack by dropping on prey from the ceiling, but can only dissolve flesh. Grey puddings can dissolve leather, wood, and metal, including magical armor, but they also are vulnerable to certain spells. Dense puddings are smarter than other puddings and infect people they attack with a debilitating disease, but are slower, not well camouflaged because of their blue color, and can only dissolve living flesh.
<gallery>
Black pudding Greyhawk.jpg
Black Pudding 1e.png
Black pudding MCV1.jpg
Black Pudding 2e.gif
Black Pudding 5e.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Grey Ooze''': Can rapidly corrode non magical metal similarly to a Rust Monster, but cannot dissolve stone. Is immune to cold and fire. Can camouflage itself as a puddle of water. In 5th edition they can sometimes develop the ability to use psychic attacks. Grey oozes are completely different in 4th edition. They have a foul smell that give an attack penalty and their acid attack can melt your bones.
<gallery>
Gray Ooze 1e.jpg
Gray Ooze 5e.png
</gallery>

* '''Green Slime''': Green slimes are mostly immobile and are more similar to plants. Their only attack that they have is dropping on people who walk under them. Anybody who touches one will turn into one if they are not cured quickly. They are vulnerable only to fire, cold, and cure disease spells. They can eat through both metal and wood. The Green Slime returned in 4th edition but heavily changed. It is no longer immobile or able to infect people with a touch, but still prefers to surprise enemies by dropping on them. It is weak against fire and light. Green Slime returns again in 5th edition, but is now classified as a dungeon hazard instead of a monster and so doesn't have stats, though its traits are similar to how it behaved in early editions. It destroys metal and organic material on contact and can be destroyed by sunlight, anything that cures disease, or anything that does fire, cold, or radiant damage.
<gallery>
Green Slime 1e.png
</gallery>

* '''Ochre Jelly''': Similar to a black pudding but somewhat weaker. Only dissolves flesh. Can split if hit by weapons or lightning.
<gallery>
Ochre Jelly 1e.jpg
Ooze 4e.jpg
Ochre Jelly 5e.png
</gallery>

* '''Crystal Ooze''': Native to the caverns of the Plane of Earth, these crystalline slimes usually subsist on the minerals found in rocks with the oldest being fuck hueg. While they're content to just leech what they need from their surroundings, Crystal Oozes will attack any living creature for the minerals in them and they're no push-overs either. Their slam attacks deal piercing and slashing damage and can crit on rolls of 18-20. They also give off a Subsonic Hum that can stun an opponent while the Ooze slithers over and engulfs them at their leisure. If the victim fails their Fortitude save, they become petrified and a new Crystal Ooze pops out in 1d4 hours. They're immune to the cold and electricity and resist fire; however, their bodies can shatter and split from bludgeoning and sonic attacks. Crystal oozes are completely different in second edition D&D. Instead, they are a variant of grey ooze that lives underwater and corrodes organic material, but not metal. Weapons can only deal 1 point of damage to a crystal oozes.
<gallery>
Crystal ooze S4.png
</gallery>

* '''Slithering Tracker''': An intelligent slime that is nearly transparent. It paralyzes victims and slowly drains them of plasma. They are said to be created from humanoids who willingly gave up their forms to get revenge on somebody they hated.
<gallery>
Slithering tracker MCV2.jpg
Slithering Tracker 2e.jpg
Slithering Tracker 5e.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Mustard Jelly''': What happens when an idiot wizard tries to polymorph into an Ochre Jelly. It produces poisonous fumes that smell like mustard and slow down those who breathe them in. It is intelligent and can split in two at will, instead of splitting when hit with weapons. It cannot climb up walls or squeeze through tight spaces like ochre jellies can. It is immune to normal weapons, takes half damage from cold and the magic missile spell heals it, and it can eat through wood.
<gallery>
Mustard Jelly.png
</gallery>

* '''Olive Slime''': A plant like slime similar to the green slime, but even more dangerous. Like the green slime it is immobile and attacks by dropping on people that walk under it, and it produces a venom that causes numbness so the victim may not even notice the attack. It possesses the victims it infects and slowly eats them from the inside out, turning them into plant like zombies that melt into olive slime when they die, and can spread the infection. It is immune to everything except acid, fire, cold, and cure disease spells, and spells that affect plants. The zombies are the same except they are weak to magic missile instead of cure disease. If a olive slime meets a green slime then one of them will destroy the other.
<gallery>
Olive Slime.png
</gallery>

* '''Stunjelly''': Similar to a gelatinous cube. It disguises itself as a stone wall, although remains semi transparent. It has most of the same weaknesses as a gelatinous cube, except that cold affects it normally.
<gallery>
Stun Jelly 1e.webp
Stun Jelly 2e.png
</gallery>

* '''Aballin''': Also known as "living water", aballins are a type of slime that resembles a pool of stagnant water, strangely devoid of life and full of metals like coins and armor. Despite looking like water, Aballins are composed of a weak acid, which it uses to digest their victims after wrapping around their heads and drowning them (which means water breathing is pointless). Due to their semi-liquid bodies, they prefer to live in water but slither like slugs (up to a 30 degree slope). Unlike most other slimes, its roughly as smart as a wild animal and can learn to hunt its prey. Legend has it that the first was a druid polymorphed by an archwizard's curse. They are immune to fire, cold, and electricity, but are vulnerable to spells that affect water, and when they are pretending to be a pool of water they cannot be harmed by anything that wouldn't affect a pool of water. They also cannot be damaged by piercing and slashing weapons, and if you try there is a chance you will hit the person the aballin is trying to drown instead.
<gallery>
Aballin 2e.png
Aballin 3e.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Lava Ooze''': An ooze made of lava. They are immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. In third edition, it consumes metal and stone, but cannot digest gems, which become stuck its body until it is killed.

* '''Ghaunadan''': An shapechanger that serves the god [[Ghaunadaur]] whose true form resembles an ooze but also can transform into either a male human or a female [[Drow]] (So yes, this means that [[#Monstergirls|slimegirls]] are totally canon in D&D). In humanoid form they have a charming gaze and in ooze form their attacks cause paralysis. They are resistant to blunt weapons and while in ooze form can disarm enemies by trapping their weapons in its body.
<gallery>
Ghaunadan 2e.png
Ghaunadan 3e.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Flareater''': A slime that likes to drop on prey from the ceiling. They are mobile unlike green slimes. While they can eat flesh, their favorite foods are light sources. They can increase their hitpoints by consuming both magical and non-magical light sources, and split when they reach enough hitpoints. They are immune to damage from light, heat, and fire, although long term sun exposure will kill them, and they are paralyzed by cold damage.
<gallery>
Flareater.png
</gallery>

* '''Symbiotic Jelly''': An intelligent slime that lives in a cave where it charms a carnivorous monster and uses illusions to make the monster appear as something less dangerous and add fake treasure to the cave to act as bait. When the monster it has charmed feeds on meat it somehow remotely feeds the slime as well.

* '''Acid Blob''': A smaller slime that moves by bouncing around and likes to hunt in packs. They can corrode metal.

* '''Alkilith''': A [[Tanar'ri]] with the form of an ooze. They exist to spread corruption and pollution, and by infesting a door or a window they can transform it into a portal to the [[Abyss]].
<gallery>
Alkilith 2e.png
Alkilith 3e.jpg
Alkilith 5e.png
</gallery>

===3rd/3.5 Edition===

* '''Bone Ooze''': A massive ooze that feeds by sucking people's bones out. Its insides are filled with sharp bone shards and they're stupidly deadly. They came back in 4th edition, renamed to bone collector, and classified as an undead ooze.
<gallery>
Bone Ooze.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Flesh Jelly''': A blob of flesh covered in a layer of skin. It grows by absorbing living creatures. Touching one can infect you with a disease called filth fever. [[Luke|It also has an overwhelmingly foul smell]].
<gallery>
Flesh Jelly.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Reason Stealer''': An unintelligent ooze with a craving for intelligence. When it delivers a killing blow it steal the victim's mind, gaining their stats, feats, skills, and prepared arcane spells for 24 hours, after which it becomes mindless again.
<gallery>
Reason Stealer.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Teratomorph''': A reality warping slime. Although it is neutral aligned like most slimes it has a lot of chaotic abilities. Its touch can, at random, weaken your stats, polymorph you, make it stick to you, or, if you are really unlucky, instantly absorb you. It randomly opens portals to other planes in the area around it. It also warps the environment around it, making attacks and dexterity checks more difficult, and has a chance of hitting everything around it with two random spells. It has the ability to detect law. It is immune to chaotic spells, lightning, and acid. Weapons have a chance of completely missing due to the section of its body you are attacking suddenly shifting to another dimension before you hit it unless it is affect by a dimensional anchor.
<gallery>
Teratomorph.jpg
</gallery>

* '''Arcane Ooze''': Is immune to spells and can steal spells from arcane spellcasters to give themselves temporary hitpoints. Magical acid attacks heal them, and magical lightning attacks speed them up.
<gallery>
Arcane Ooze.webp
</gallery>

* '''[[Living Spells|Living Spell]]''' (Template): One of the newer additions to the family. Originating in [[Eberron]]'s Mournlands, one of many results of the Day of Mourning, but since adapted to "generic" D&D. Living spell is a template that is applied to one or more spells instead of a creature to make a creature based on that spell or spells. It is always typed as an ooze. Enemies that are slammed or engulfed by the living spell are affected as though they were hit by the spell or spells it is based on. Living spells are also very resistant to magic. In 5th edition they are classified as constructs instead of oozes.

* '''Snowflake Ooze''': A snow like ooze that live in cold climates and inflicts cold damage. It is immune to cold and vulnerable to fire, piercing attack have a chance of harmlessly passing through it, and bludgeoning attacks cause it to split.
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* '''Summoning Ooze''': A inteligent living summoning circle created by a summoning ritual gone wrong. It has the ability to cast summon monster spells. Immune to acid and fire.
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* '''Bloodfire Ooze''': An evil ooze made out of burning hot blood. It is created through ritually mixing the blood of 100 good or neutral humanoids with a demon's ichor. Is immune to fire and resistant to acid and electricity, and vulnerable to cold. It attacks with fire, and can empower fire spells cast within 60 feet of it.
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* '''Corrupture''': An amphibious ooze made of acidic liquid flesh that appears in areas where nature has been defiled by magic or pollution and attacks by spraying acid.
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* '''Conflagration Ooze''': An intelligent ooze that attacks with a poison that causes your insides to burst into flame. Is immune to fire and vulnerable to cold. Some of them also explode when they die.
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* '''Graveyard Sludge''': A slime made of necrotic energies and powered by the souls of the dead.When powerful necromancy is used around the dead, usually at graveyards during rituals or a [[Lich]] accending (though a really strong spell will do), the slime is formed and begins to hunt down any corpses to feed on the spiritual energy. The energy is used to defend itself but Liches like to use them as a means to bolster themselves. Graveyard Sludges can also cast 5th level or lower spells if they've fed on enough spellcasters. Their abilities are somewhat different in third edition. Creatures that die within 20 feet of graveyard sludge come back as zombies with an acid attack. They can cause fear, and strengthen undead creatures. They are immune to acid, and they are both alive and dead, so they are healed both by heal and inflict spells.
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* '''Bloodbloater''': A tiny aquatic ooze that drinks blood and attacks in swarms. Looks like an oversized cell. Because they are a swarm, they are immune to weapons and single target spells.
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* '''Flotsam Ooze''': An aquatic ooze with a very sticky body which collects debris.

* '''Reekmurk''': A huge black aquatic ooze that lives in the depths of the ocean or in underground lakes. They can dissolve wood and have a powerful stench. They are immune to cold, but have a vulnerability to sunlight and spells that act like sunlight.

* '''Ethereal Ooze''': An incorporeal ooze from the ethereal plane. It naturally forms into crystalline cuboid shapes instead of being just a blob.
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* '''Bloodrot''': Not actually a true slime, but is really a form of undead made from the remains of somebody who died by being completely dissolved in acid. Infects people with a magical disease called blood fever that causes the victim to melt into a puddle when they die which the blood rot eats. They can hide inside of the bloodstream of anyone who is infected with blood fever. They can also sense the location of anybody who is infected with blood fever within several miles, so if you escape from a battle with one but are infected then more will be attracted to you. Like many true oozes, it can split apart if hit by slashing or piercing damage. It came back again in 4th edition, now classified as an undead ooze, but lost its unique mechanics.
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* '''Brine Ooze''': An ooze that lives in deserts. It either hides in salt lakes or pretends to be a pool of water. It has the ability to rapidly desiccate whatever it slams into and is immune to desiccation itself. Slashing and piercing damage causes it to split.

* '''Cesspit Ooze''': An ooze found in impoverished urban areas that feeds on fear and misery. They form spontaneously from the corpses of people who decayed in sewage or refuse in places near strong sources of magic. Its acid can dissolve organic and metallic materials but not stone. Those who are damaged by its acid may be driven into an uncontrollable rage. They have an overwhelming stink that sickens those that get too close to it. When they die, they explode and splatter acid around them. Slashing and piercing damage makes it split. They are immune to acid and resistant to electricity and fire, but have a weakness against positive energy similar to undead creatures. It is also more intelligent that other kinds of oozes, and are considered to be chaotic evil instead of neutral unlike other oozes.

* '''Sentry Ooze''' (Template): An ooze that has been modified with magic to make it stronger and more intelligent so it can act a guardian for a dungeon.

* '''Welp of Zargon''': Those infected by [[Zargon]]'s slime may transform into humanoid slime creatures. They deal acid damage and can also infect people with Zargon's slime. Creatures that get too close to one may be stunned by its horrific resemblance to its former self.

* '''Venom Ooze''': A more dangerous glowing variant of the Ochre Jelly that was engineered by the [[drow]]. They are immune to cold, acid, and electricity, and have the ability to poison large bodies of water.
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* '''Blood Amniote''': ''Another'' monster made of blood. It is classified as an undead but has all the traits of an ooze. It is a huge mass of blood with the faces of people it has killed that makes people it touches expel their blood through their skin and it splits in two when it drains enough blood. They also came back in 4th edition as an undead ooze.
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===4th Edition===
* '''Slime Devil''': A devil specializing in interrogation that is also an ooze. It engulfs people and asks them questions, inflicting psychic damage if they lie.
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* '''Abolethic [[Skum]]''': Sometimes when an [[Aboleth]] enslaves someone, the process goes wrong and turns them into an ooze. Abolethic Skums are invisible while in water and have an aura that makes enemies vulnerable to psychic attacks. It is a minion type enemy so it dies in one hit.

* '''Spirit Ooze''': An ooze formed from bits of insubstantial undead. They can hover and after hitting an enemy with their main attack become harder to damage and can shift by one square for one turn.

===5th Edition===
* '''[[Oblex]]''': Has the ability to create exact copies of anyone it has eaten except for the cord of slime attaching the copies to the oblex.

===Pathfinder===
* '''Deathtrap Ooze''': Reversing the ooze used as part of a trap gimmick, a deathtrap ooze ''is'' the trap. Able to transform into any trap with one or fewer moving part, a deathtrap ooze can pretend to be disabled and attack adventurers from the rear or attack the poor sap attempting to disable it outright, and that's assuming it's even found.
<gallery>Deathtrap ooze B3.png</gallery>

* '''Gunpowder Ooze''': An ooze, made of gunpowder. Continuing the "guess the weakness" game above, it has vulnerability to fire but explodes and splits upon taking fire damage. It also coats people it attacks in gunpowder, making ''them'' liable to blowing up. The split and auto-combustion mean that this CR14 monster can be killed by nothing but two vials of alchemist fire creating a chain reaction of the split oozes blowing each other up. This means they're more living traps than anything.
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* '''Hungry Flesh''': An artifical ooze made of a huge pile of flesh. Thankfully they have very high nutritional needs (their own 3000 pound weight in food daily) so they'll quickly starve without support.

* '''Sapphire Ooze''': A sapient, extraplanar, good aligned ooze that can talk?! This ooze can transform into living armor for a creature and buff things with saves against fear. Being the rare sapient ooze, they actually have a personality: [[Leeroy Jenkins|Overeager adventure seekers that often get into trouble themselves.]]
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* '''Carnivorous Blob''': Have you ever wanted to run a campaign based on the 80s version of “The Blob”? Use this, and accept no substitutes!
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* '''Sewer Blight''': A low level ooze made of sewage that lives in the sewers under large cities.
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* '''Slime Demon (Omox)''': A demon made of sewage that delights in desecrating bodies of water.
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* '''Fell Flotsam''': Undead ooze created when the spirits of dead creatures combine with the muck at the bottom of a swamp or river.
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===Slime Deities===

* [[Juiblex]]: The demon lord of slimes and oozes.

* [[Ghaunadaur]]: The god of slimes and oozes, who may or may not be the same being as Juiblex.

* [[Zargon]]: An [[Elder Evils|Elder Evil]] associated with slimes.

* [[Bwimb]]: The [[Archomental]] of ooze. Got killed by [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] and replaced by his daughter Bwimb II.

==Slimes in Dragon Quest==
The slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest video game series. Basic slimes are blue raindrop shaped creatures with cute faces. They come in a wide number of variants. One such variant are metal slimes, which give huge rewards for defeating them but are ridiculously difficult to beat due to their defensive abilities and tendency to run away before you can do any significant damage. Due to how iconic they are, [[TVTropes]] uses Metal Slime as the trope name for rare enemies in games that are tough to beat but give huge rewards. Not all slimes in the Dragon Quest are enemies. Good slimes usually introduce themselves by saying "I'm not a bad slime!"

==That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime==
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an [[Isekai]] light novel and [[anime]], about a normal Japanese man who dies and ends up in the body of a slime in a world resembling the Dragon Quest games. Slimes in this world are normaly unintelligent and weak monsters, but this slime happens to have the most broken ability in the world: the ability to copy the skills and form of whatever they eat. They befriend a powerful dragon and become the chief of a [[Goblin]] village, which they expand into a new nation. It is actually surprisingly good by isekai standards.

==[[Monstergirl]]s==
{{Monstergirls}}
Surprisingly, slimes have long been given the [[monstergirls]] treatment: Slime Girls (also known as Goo Girls) are typically not very smart, but very affectionate and horny, and their malleable gelatinous bodies have a ''lot'' of kinky shit they can do in the bedroom. In the more restrained versions a slime will engulf a guy while milking him dry, giving him a full body hug. This frequently results in cum floating around in the slime's body, often going towards a the slime's "heart", a core of a color that contrasts the body that is said to hold the slime's soul. It is often an erogenous zone [[/d/|because of course it is]]. In more extreme cases the slime will also penetrate the guy, engaging in stuff like sounding, or fucking him in the ass while he fucks her in the... well, [[Dark Eldar|everywhere is a hole for a Slime]]. There are also a few cases where [[vore]] starts to be involved, which would be a bit more true to nature for the slimes of D&D fame.

===MGE Slimes===
The Slime is one of the most profuse species in the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]] so far, second only to the [[Succubus]] family in terms of diverse members. The slimes of the MGE were heavily influenced by the slimes of the popular fantasy gaming series "Dragon Quest", with the Slime Queen and Slime Carrier in particular being derived from members of that series' vast array of slimes.

Your standard Slime in the MGE world is a dim-witted, happy-go-lucky aimless drifter that just squiggles around looking for a guy to sex. These stand out mostly via their blue coloration.

The Red Slime, in comparison, is smarter and more aggressive.

The green Bubble Slime has a unique chemical composition that causes her to constantly secrete bubbles of noxious-smelling gas. As a side-effect, she's no longer as sticky and cohesive as other slimes, making her grapples easier to escape. However, her substance is a powerful and addictive aphrodisiac, which eventually leaves her victim dependent upon regular ingestions of her drug-like mass. She was one of the first of the [[grimdark]] mamono.

The purple Dark Slime is an extremely powerful succubus/slime hybrid native to Demon Realms. The only slime-girl in the MGE with a core (thus far), they're also smart and predatory; they have the unique ability to corrupt human women, transforming them into new Dark Slimes, via a process that basically involves enveloping the women in their body, orgasmically digesting her alive, and then reforming her as a new slime.

Slime Queens are sometimes mistaken for normal slimes due to their being the same blue color. These slimes suffer a mutation that renders them incapable of physically dividing to reproduce like a normal slime; instead, they swell to massive proportions, and can manifest multiple slimegirl "bodies" from their central mass as they see fit, all of which are, of course, extensions of the slime's singular mind. The bigger she grows, the smarter she becomes. Kenkou Cross has asserted that there are actually Slime Queen variants for all of the standard slimes.

Sea Slimes are jellyfish-girls who live in the ocean, and so lack the shapeshifting prowess of their standard cousins.

Nureonagos are a Zipangu breed of slime whose name comes from a yokai that manifested as a soaking wet girl who comes wandering around on rainy nights. The Nureonago mamono is a slime with especially advanced mimicry abilities, allowing her to take the form of a solid human girl in clothes - but she can't deny her nature, and so always looks soaking wet.

Likewise, the Shoggoth is a slime-girl maid who specializes in shapeshifting, specifically in extruding pseudopods and shaping them into tools to help her do her various chores.

The Parasite Slime is a slime that can't take on a slime-girl form of its own, instead attacking human women and raping them until their mind breaks before using them as lures to attract human men to be their partners, turning them into the mindless fuck-puppets called "Slime Carriers". This is one of the two slimes that compete for the title of "most fucked-up mamono in the MGE".

The Humpty Egg is the ''other'' slime contender. See, in the region of the MGE world known as "Wonderland", there's a super-horny, busty and fluffy [[harpy]] species caled the Jubjub Bird. These harpies lay eggs, and if a man gets too close to an unhatched egg, there is a good chance that the unborn chick inside will become aware of his spiritual energies and react by ''bursting out of her shell as a horny [[loli]] slime-girl made of egg-guts'', essentially aborting herself to have sex faster. Consisting of a [[loli]] made up of goopy, semi-solid egg-yolk and surrounded by a malleable mass of egg-white they use to form the traditional slime pseudopods. These slimes actually lay eggs when they get pregnant, which usually hatch into new Jubjubs, but are more likely than "normal" Jubjub eggs to turn into Humpty Eggs. This species was met with considerable outcry when it was released, with even many [[loli]] fans going "seriously, dude, this is going too far!" (Was this supposed to be Rule 34 of Sanrio's Gudetama? If it is then it may be even more sick. Poor Gudetama! He doesn't deserve this.)

===Gallery===
<center>
<gallery>
File:MGE Slime.jpg|A normal slime.
File:MGE Red Slime.jpg|A red slime.
File:MGE Bubble Slime.jpg|A bubble slime.
File:MGE Dark Slime.jpg|A dark slime.
File:MGE Slime Queen.jpg|A Slime Queen.
File:MGE Shoggoth.jpg|A [[Shoggoth]].
File:MGE Nureonago.jpg|A Nurenago.
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[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category: Monsters]]