Asterion Moloc
Asterion Moloc is the Chapter Master of the Minotaurs and one hardass motherfucker.
Lord Asterion Moloc (how he wishes to be called) takes an almost perverse glee in stabbing dudes in the face with the Black Spear, a weapon that may or may not be based on an Adeptus Custodes halberd. And instead of having a bolter strapped to the underside it has a built-in laser to vaporize dudes. Lord Moloc himself is a huge dude riddled with cybernetic augmentation that allows him to ignore even more wounds than he already could with his simmering rage. Despite him often being on the battlefield alongside his Terminators stabbing dudes in the face, he has a ruthless mind for warfare, siegecraft, logistics and strategy. Lord Moloc's preferred enemy is fellow Space Marines, and he has become frighteningly efficient at fighting them. The large amount of high-end equipment used by the Minotaurs combined with them almost always deploying at full Chapter strength means that the Minotaurs have a good shot at kicking heretic ass, as the Lamenters and Inceptors can attest. Because of the full deployment Lord Moloc is always in charge of the Chapter in entirety, meaning that in battle his captains are little more than his seconds.
There seems to be something strange going on with Lord Moloc. During the Orphean War he fought against Kutlakh the World-Killer in a Necron vessel. Moloc was spaced during the battle when the Imperial Navy blew open the ship he was on. His body was recovered and he was nursed back to health, which is not abnormal for a Space Marine who is merely spaced, but marks at least the seventh time that Lord Moloc was critically injured in battle yet lived to fight another day in five centuries.
Some of the possible explanations for this (barring "Forge World gave him lots of plot armor", obviously) are as follows:
- His name and equipment are inherited by the next Chapter Master, alongside his personality through way of engrammatically-enforced memories and personality. Brought up by the IA books (specifically on Moloc's character page) and supported by Eadwin Brown, who helped developed Moloc's character.
- He kept himself from dying through sheer force of will, because he's just that much of a spiteful cunt. This is the explanation favored by IA itself.
- He is embedded with a nonsensically large amount of cybernetics to the point where there isn't enough fleshy bits left for him to "die."
- His gene-seed was somehow modified to grant him greater regenerative capabilities.
- He is secretly another Perpetual, in that he literally will come back from the dead if killed.
- He's a Custodes in disguise (see talk page for the full original theory)
He possibly parallels Khorne himself, symbolically or otherwise, as his description says his name is a byword for slaughter, he rules over a chapter of raging berserkers that seek out worthy opponents, he comes back after allegedly dying which makes him more an undying concept than an individual (just as Khorne is the undying concept of hate, slaughter, and rage itself), and he's described as spending his off-battle time sitting on his "brazen throne" measuring the drops of blood that his chapter spilt. He is named after the eponymous Minotaur (a being which Khorne himself appears similar to in some depictions as well).
Likewise, he has many parallels with a certain Entitled Man-Child such as an extreme penchant for siege-warfare, logistics, obsessive data-analysis, being a brooding cunt, and a preference for starting shit just so he can show up his opponent. His 6th Edition Rules also made him play like a mini-Perturabo, to go along with the 5th/6th Edition Minotaurs rules playing like loyalist (Horus Heresy-era) Iron Warriors.
Fun fact: Asterion is the true name of the original Minotaur from Mythology.
On the Tabletop
| Pts | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asterion Moloc: | 200 | 5" | 2+ | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 2+/3++ |
Lord Moloc is still a beast in 8th Edition. A beefy statline paired with the altered Black Spear (S+2 AP-3 D3, +1 Attack against characters) means that while he's less likely to cause individual wounds, once he hits something it STAYS hit. The Black Spear's shooting attack is now a 12" S8 AP-2 Dd3 trick that he can use as a regular attack, so make sure to get some zaps in. He also has some new auras: he gets the standard Chapter Master aura where all units (not just infantry) within 6" of him get to re-roll failed to hit rolls (this includes himself) and Minotaurs Infantry units get to re-roll failed Charge rolls (so the guy is fast as well), Moloc himself still gets to make his attacks if he's slain in combat before attacking and on top of all that he can teleport in like a a regular Terminator as well. All in all Moloc is less the death machine on legs that he used to be, but he still has a good shot at murdering dead anyone who gets in his way.
If you want some extra FUN give him The Imperium Sword warlord trait, so that when charging he can mulch through T7 targets. Then proclaim thyself as a White Scars successor (because Great White Bull ftw!)
And then slap another warlord trait ontop of it! Extra D3 attacks the turn he charges (Chogorian Storm) will surely make the enemy cower in fear.
Or you can go for Monster slayer, beacuse +1 to rolls against Monsters and Vehicles will let him RIP&TEAR through tanks.