AoS: Top 3 Heroes – Chaos
Chaos has a ton of great characters–not as many as Order, of course, because all the cool kids get to be in order, but here are my favorite Chaos “heroes.”
A couple articles back, I wrote up three of my favorite Order named heroes, based on their story and rules, and said I would give the other Grand Alliances a fair shake. Then, I promptly forgot to do that, so Chaos, Death, and Destruction were left to stew. Well today I am rectifying that slight, starting with Grand Alliance Chaos, so here’s my three favorite named Chaos characters.
Grey Seer Thanquol
Thanquol has been scheming and backseat driving the Skaven since before the Age of Sigmar, accompanied by his trusty companion Boneripper (albeit a different one almost every time). The self-proclaimed nemesis of Gotrek and Felix, the horned rat sorcerer has caused havoc and mayhem on several battlefields throughout the Realms. In game terms, he can unleash a volley of spells, boosted by his enchanted Staff, and has pretty solid defensive capabilities with both his 5+ shrug and regeneration every turn. Offensively, he can equip has massive companion with either smoking braziers to slam into his opponents or warpfire throwers to rain fiery death from afar. In fact, he can do both if he’s feeling particularly devious, plus he can add in the damage from Boneripper stomping around and swings from his staff. To add to his magical potency, he can stuff a handful of warpstone into his mouth, possibly guaranteeing his casting at the cost of mortal wounds. He makes a good centerpiece for any Skaven collection, and a solid general to lead your forces into battle.
Archaon
There’s absolutely no way to write a Chaos favorites article without including the biggest of big boyes, the Everchosen himself. Archaon has been a player on the battlefield for as long as I’ve been playing the game, to my knowledge as long as the Fantasy lore has existed, and even when he is unsuccessful he remains a powerful force against the forces of Order. And then during the End Times…he won. He broke the world and ushered in the Reign of Chaos, but it wasn’t enough. He transitioned to the new Realms and started meticulously conquering them for the Forces of Chaos, starting with the All-points, giving him access to almost all the other Realms through the Realmgates on the outskirts of the fortress city. On the battlefield, Archaon is every bit a god-chosen monster, and one of the most powerful melee heroes in the entire game, let alone his faction. There aren’t many that can go toe to toe with him and survive, especially with the addition of his daemonic mount Dorghar. It’s hard to get cooler than the OG bad guy of the Old World, and lest we forget, this is the guy that got Sigmar and Nagash to shake hands for a minute.
Skarbrand
A great champion fallen from grace, Skarbrand is the pinnacle of Khornate rage. Once the greatest of Khorne’s generals, it’s possible that Skarbrand could have led the forces of the Blood God to victory in the Great Game if not for the intervention of Tzeentch. The Changer of Ways whispered to the Slaughterer that, if he was truly so great and powerful, he deserved the throne of Khorne, and so consumed by his rage was Skarbrand that he made an attempt. It ended about as well for him as you can imagine, and as punishment Khorne stripped him of all reason and intellect and flung him across the Warp, shredding his wings and causing him unimaginable pain. Of course, that only made Skarbrand worse, and now he’s a force of destruction and bloodshed in all the Realms. On the tabletop, he can ruin whole armies singlehandedly, and only gets more powerful the more hurt he gets. Avoiding him doesn’t help either, as it only makes him angrier and, again, more powerful. If you want to run a Khorne army and hate having friends, bring this guy in a Baleful Lords army with more of his Bloodthirster brothers.
Who is your favorite Chaos hero?
