Well as most of you know, the final book of the End Times, titled Archaon, dropped into stores yesterday, bringing the series to a brutal conclusion. I'll tackle the rules side of Archaon first. The first and bluntest new rule was the introduction of what is essentially "unbound" army selection. No more caps on multiple units, no more mandatory core spending, limitless points allowed in Special and Rare, multiple BSB's and absolutely no requirement to have a general.
My natural reaction was one of disgust. There is a certain degree of complexity involved in constructing a well rounded army list within the rules of the game, and I felt that this change removed a lot of the art of constructing an army. You reall like Skull Crushers? Or Banshees? Have a whole army of them!
But "time heals all wounds", as they say, and I must say, I have a much more level headed view of it now. In reality, these new rules have not been Errata'd into the main rule book yet, and even if they are, which right before 9th seems unlikely, no one is forcing me or my opponents to use them. It certainly opens the door for some incredible themed armies, but it flings the flood gates open for abuse as well. In the twenty four hours since, my regular gaming group has certainly curbed my fury, reasoning that firstly, change isn't always bad, and secondly, we simply won't use the Archaon army construction rules. Deep breaths were key to me coming to this conclusion and I am certainly calmer for it.
As I turned past the first page (yes, one page in and things had already gotten pretty wild), I was met with a plethora of existing characters that had been supercharged by magic or just pure awesomeness. Grimgor Ironhide was back, bigger and badder than ever. Balthazar Gelt had become a magic wielding meteor of power. Caradryan was hurtling around on a Phoenix with a neat-o combined profile. And Archaon, having had a significant points bump (now weighing in at 865 points), has turned into an unstoppable (and unbreakable) force of demolition and death with 7 wounds, four wizard levels, and a profile that dragons would envy. Also, Isabella Von Carstein happens to be on very good terms with Nurgle. Yep, you heard me...
Existing characters weren't the only ones to feel some love. The three new Bloodthirsters are amongst the pages, as well as two new infantry units for Khorne. One unit contains powerful warriors dual wielding Ensorcelled Blades, the other rocking around with two chain-flails, showing Goblin Fanatics how to get business done! While being infantry with three wounds each, they are on 40mm square bases, becoming the Khorne equivalent of Nurgle's Blight Kings, just with less toughness and significantly more bloodshed. And to round out the Khorne pain train, there comes a new character to stand alongside his new comrades. His name escapes me (something about skulls and blood), but he is essentially a Berserker Lord, rocking around with two battle axes with built in flails, killing all before him in a Khorne-worthy trail of destruction. His standout special rule, is one that allows him to get back up after suffering the most heinous injuries and soldier on with his task, only being made stronger by killing characters and monsters along the way.
All in all, the new characters and units are incredibly powerful, but demand a significant points investment. I genuinely had to fight the urge to start a Khorne contingent in my Warriors army... Or did I.
Having grown accustomed to these super-characters being introduced to the game, I was not greatly phased, because as a famous actor once said, "If it bleeds, we can kill it.", and all of these characters bleed.
The storyline was at first impression an epic tome of mighty duels and titanic battles. While I have only read a snippet of the main book, one thing was clear to me. No one was safe. Characters of all races were colliding in impressive battles and, well, it may come as no surprise that a lot of characters end up dead. These battles were portrayed on the page with incredible imagery. Among many duels, Sigvald the Magnificent clashes with Krell in a brutal encounter, Ungrim the Slayer King meets Scylla in a rather violent course of action, and Schwartzhelm and Valkia, Handmaiden of Khorne, get to know each other. I won't spoil any results, or moments of heroism and victory, but if you can, read the book! It's amazing.
And finally, with the last installment of the end times, the events from the last four books build to a cataclysmic conclusion. Again, there was plenty of warning as the the final event, and I won't go into too many details, but the end of the book left me more than a little stunned and lost for words. I am still unsure how I feel about the ending. It is both very open ended and absolutely final at the same time, which leaves me torn on how to feel.
This, again was one of those things where the more I think about it, the more I am ok with what they did. The future of Fantasy seems to be going steadily forward, and with rumours of 9th edition in the coming months, time will tell on what changes I will, at first passionately resent, and finally come to really enjoy.
Get out and read Archaon though, it truly is a great book so far.
A reminder that next week marks the deadline for the 500 point stage of Border Wars. So if you can, send me a quick pic of your army in progress before next Sunday night. If you haven't fully finished all 500 points, that's totally cool, I'd still love to showcase what you have painted.
As well, I have been asked if the new army construction rules will apply to Border Wars. They will not. We will continue with the following...
Up to 50% Lords
Up to 50% Heroes
At least 25% Core
Up to 50% Special
Up to 25% Rare
Characters and units from the End Times books will be allowed as long as they fit within these points limits and, more importantly, the theme of your army. Legion Lists may also be used, but purely for theme, not for abuse.
Well, I have a significant number of High Elves to paint, so as always, thank you for reading! Until next week.
Gabriel
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