AoS: Hero Focus – Deathmaster
Deathmaster Sniktch is a legendary lord in the world-that-was, but how does ratniss everdeen fare in the Mortal Realms? Find out inside…
For those of you who enjoy the Total War: Warhammer franchise, you probably know that the Festag DLC just confirmed the two new legendary lords, and they are quite exciting. The first is Malus Darkblade, a famous figure in Warhammer lore and one of the most iconic Druchii alive, or at least he was until all that End Times business (Press F to pay respects to Spite, the goodest scaly boye). The other, slinking in through the shadows with his three poisoned swords, is none other than Master Splinter himself, Deathmaster Snikch, the rat-ssassin who beheaded High King Thorgrim.
He may also have vanished from Age of Sigmar (for now at least, so keep your toes under the covers) but his model got the generic hero treatment, so in honor of that, I will be reviewing the Skaven Deathmaster, and thinking about how he might be used on the tabletop.
The Deathmaster, much like the old hero he takes his name from, is a master of stealth and assassinations. He’s very fast, even by Skaven standards, with a Move of 7”, and decently good defenses for a hero with a 4+ save and 5 wounds, especially when combined with the ability to use Look Out, Sir against melee attacks as well. His attacks are pretty snazzy too, with a choice to be equipped with either Weeping Blades or Fighting Claws. The Weeping Blades, the old signature weapons of Snikch, give him 3 attacks that hit and wound on a 3+, have a Rend of -1, and deal d3 damage each, which is the slightly better option against low model, high wound units or single targets.
The Claws, on the other hand, pack a little more weight with a little less punch, giving the Deathmaster 7 attacks that hit and wound on 3+, but don’t have any Rend and only do 1 damage each, making this the choice to go against big units of single wound models. The Deathmaster also brings some poisoned Throwing Stars to the field, giving him 4 missile attacks with a 12” Range that hit on a 4+, wound on a 5+, and cause one damage each. This might seem a little weak, and to be fair it is, but such is the skill the Deathmaster has with his darts that each to hit roll of an unmodified 6 scores 2 hits rather than just 1, so you have the chance to deal a ton of damage before you even get to combat.
What’s more, the Deathmaster can throw these stars even if he ran earlier in the turn, so you can blitz him downfield and still do some damage. If he’s also your general and has the Shadowmaster command trait, you can run him to a terrain feature and then make him invisible to all but the closest enemies and still throw some stars, though you’d honestly be better served with a different general. Even when running a pure Eshin army, the Verminlord Deceiver makes a better leader, and you can leave the Deathmaster to do what he’s best at, killing enemy heroes.
The Deathmaster doesn’t have many special rules of his own, but benefits well from the general abilities of both his clan and his Skaventide allegiance. His one real special rule, other than the ability to run and shoot, is that he can start the game hidden in one of your units. If he does that, he can pop out within 1” of any of your units at the beginning of the combat phase, so long as that unit has at least 5 models and they all have only 1 wound. Nothing will wipe the smile off an opponent’s face like a Deathmaster popping out of a unit of Clanrats or Night Runners that looked harmless to shut down a hero.
To that end, the Deathmaster also benefits from the Eshin Masters of Murder rule, which allows you to pick an enemy hero for each Eshin hero you bring, and then all Clan Eshin units get to reroll wound rolls against the chosen heroes. If you want to pick out a single hero with just a little risk, bring The Three Fangs, which allow you once per battle to pick a hero within 6” roll 3d6. If they all roll higher than 3 and the total combined is higher than the Wounds characteristic of the target, the target is slain outright.
Given that it is once per battle, this is a little risky, but it can eliminate all but the very toughest enemies in a single shot should you roll well enough (to my knowledge only Gotrek and Katakros can survive a perfect roll with this weapon). For something a little more reliable you can give him the Warpweeper Stars, which allow his Throwing stars to deal d3 mortal wounds on an unmodified 6 to wound. Combined with doubling hits on 6s to hit, this could dish out some crazy damage with the right rolls.
Will you be including a Deathmaster in your Skaven armies?
