AoS Hero Focus: Big Bad Archaon
When it comes to Chaos in the Mortal Realms, nobody is a bigger threat than Archaon the Everchosen. And on the tabletop, he can be especially mean.
Archaon has been the big bad of the Mortal Realms since before Age of Sigmar was a twinkle in GW’s eyes, but he took a backseat to Nagash in AoS until very recently. Now he’s back and nastier than ever in the new Slaves to Darkness book, like a schoolyard bruiser coming back from suspension to tell his replacement, “Heard you were talkin’ crap.” Though there are certainly more, here are three things that I think make Archaon especially nasty.
Slayer of Kings
Archaon’s signature sword has been loving described in lore as being a massive flaming blade, and is so iconic a replica of the weapon is presented to the winner of the Golden Demon painting competition. However, its profile was a tad underwhelming when AoS premiered, certainly not representative of the mythic weapon described in the lore. The new update, however, brought it back to it’s former glory by increasing the Rend to -2, which makes more sense for a weapon that felled champions the world over for the Chaos Gods. In addition, should you roll two unmodified 6s to wound against a hero in the same phase, that hero is immediately slain. That means Nagash, the Celestant-Prime, even big daddy Katakros vanish with a satisfying pop. Only Gotrek is immune to this mighty sword, and it’s likely that if you’re facing him, the rest of Archaon’s attacks will do the job.
Magic
Archaon’s martial prowess is unmatched by almost any other being in the Mortal Realms, and he is rightly the most powerful champion of Chaos. However, he is also an accomplished sorcerer, able to cast and unbind 2 spells a turn. For a warrior of his Cliburn, even one spell and unbind per turn would be a boon, but two puts him on the same level as some of the more powerful spell casters in the game, like Grey Seer Thanquol and Kaisers Fateweaver. He doesn’t have any signature spells, but since he has every Mark of Chaos, he can easily lead an army of any Chaos God allegiance and gain access to their spells. And honestly, the Slaves to Darkness spells are nothing to shakes a dryad at, so his options are fairly open to unleash his Tzeentch-given gifts (I assume that’s where he got it at least).
Dorghar
Scary as the Everchosen is on his own, the evolution of his daemonic horsey Dorghar is a definite buffer on his fear factor. This three-headed monstrosity (sorry Slaanesh, you were sleeping) can get up to 20 attacks at full health, has a 14” fly move, and has the option to unleash one of three nasty abilities every hero phase. The Khorne head munches on previously slain enemies to heal Archaon, the Nurgle head pukes on a unit within 12” and deals d3 mortal wounds on a 3+, and the Tzeentch head gobbles up 1 Endless Spell within 18”. It is fast, tough, and deadly, and greatly compliments to immortal champion riding to battle on its back.
What are you favorite things about Archaon?
