Malal!!
"There is a name whispered quietly and with fear even by the most depraved, the most evil, and the least sane of the worshipers of Chaos. That name is Malal, the Renegade God of Chaos. Any man who dares look within the unholy black pages of The Great Book of Despair, that foul tome held sacred by worshipers of Chaos, would find the following words: "...and he that went before now came last, and that which was white and black and all direction was thrown against itself. Grown mightily indignant at the words of the Gods, Malal did turn his heart against them and flee into the chambers of space . . . And no man looked to Malal then, save those that serve that which they hate, who smile upon their misfortune, and who bear no love save for the damned. At such times as a warrior's heart turns to Malal, all Gods of Chaos grow fearful, and the laughter of the Outcast God fills the tomb of space . . ."
In eons past Malal was cast out from the bosom of Chaos by the other Gods, or else abandoned them of his own volition, no one is sure which. In any case, Malal's relationship to the other Gods of Chaos is a strange one. All Gods of Chaos pursue purposes that are wholly their own, yet only Malal occupies a position so resolutely parasitic upon his own unfathomable creed.To be a follower of Malal is to be a Chaotic warrior bent upon shedding the blood of other Chaotic creatures. As such, Malal is both feared and hated by the other Chaos Gods. Malal's worshipers, too, are loathed by other Chaotics; they are outcasts beloved by neither the friends nor enemies of Chaos, dependent upon the least whim of their patron deity. Few men worship such a God; fewer still live long in his service. The bonds that tie master and servant ever drain upon the soul of the warrior, and it is a rare man that can loosen the bonds of Malal once forged."
Sounds pretty cool... but where does Malal come from? Well, since you asked!
"The concept of the Chaos God "Malal" was created by comics writers John Wagner and Alan Grant along with Malal's champion, Kaleb Daark, for the Warhammer Fantasy world in the Citadel Miniatures Compendium and Journals. In the comic strip adventure Kaleb Daark's mission allied him temporarily with the forces of good. He fights at the siege of Praag and confronts the followers of the Chaos God Khorne, and also finds himself at odds with the Skaven. Less mutated than other followers of Chaos, he is equipped with his soul-drinking daemon axe "Dreadaxe" with its pterodactyl-like head on a shaft of bone. His shield was shaped in the form of Malal's skull symbol, his armor was all-black with white details and his steed was a black mutant horse. Kaleb himself appeared pale, as the contact with Malal supposedly drained him of energy. His battle cry was "Dreadaxe thirsts for you!"
I've been crafting a themed Malal Warriors of Chaos list since the new WoC book was first released. The basic elements of my Malal force will be a small band of Malal followers being led by a "Kaleb Daark" style hero (a Chaos Lord). Since Malal's followers rarely get together, preferring to work alone, I wanted to force to be representative of a small "elite" force. As such the idea of the Chaos Chosen fit perfectly.
While my first attempt was a Chosen "deathstar" (months before it became all the rage at tournament events/etc), my version of the list isn't as "cheesy" as others I have seen but still features some pretty hard elements.
In addition to the hard Chosen center the force is backed up by two hard hitting Chaos Knight units and three sacrificial bands of Chaos Marauders (modeled as Beastmen to represent the "Claws of Malal").
So what does my list look like? Glad you asked!
LORDS: (400)
Chaos Lord - Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Shield, Soporific Musk, Axe of Khorne, Crimson Armor of Dargan, Necrotic Phylactery (400)
My first Chaos Lord build featured the Chaos Daemonsword as a way of representing Kaleb's "Dreadaxe". Instead I decided to go with a build that is focused on destroying other followers of Chaos. With both the Crimson Armor and Phylactery the Lord will be immune to Poison, Killing Blow, and the magic lores of Nurgle and Death.
In close combat he has 6 strength 6 Killing Blow attacks with a 0+ armor save to keep him alive. The model will be a version of Kaleb on his mutant steed and will not feature any Khorne related imagery - I am just using the rules to represent Kaleb's desire to destroy the forces of Chaos.
HEROES: (680)
Exalted Hero - Mark of Tzeentch, Flail, Shield, Disc of Tzeentch, Bloodcurdling Roar, Book of Secrets, Golden Eye of Tzeentch (219)
Exalted Hero - Chaos Steed, Mark of Nurgle, Shield, BSB, Banner of the Gods (301)
Chaos Sorerer - Mark of Tzeentch, Level 2 Fury of the Blood God (160)
The other characters in this list all serve a very specific purpose. The BSB and Sorcerer will be deployed in the Chosen unit to give them the benefits of magic resistance 2, Terror, and Stubborn. Meanwhile, the flying Exalted will be harassing the enemy flanks and flyers or rushing off to kill enemy war machines. Not sure how I will model the flying aspect of this (perhaps he will be riding a Malal daemon or Malal inspired flying mount?) but I really like this character build and I want to include it in the list.
CORE: (174)
Chaos Marauders x 11 - Mark of Slaanesh, Musician (58)
Chaos Marauders x 11 - Mark of Slaanesh, Musician (58)
Chaos Marauders x 11 - Mark of Slaanesh, Musician (58)
Three units of minimum Core units, these guys are just bait. They will deploy near the Chosen to take advantage of the Stubborn rule and pull enemy units into position for a counter charge. As mentioned above, these units will be modeled as Beastmen to represent the "Claws of Malal". The number 11 is the number of Malal.
SPECIAL: (854)
Chosen x 16 - Mark of Tzeentch, Shields, Champion, Favor of the Gods, Standard, Banner of Rage, Musician (414)
Chaos Knights x 5 - Mark of Slaanesh, Musician (220)
Chaos Knights x 5 - Mark of Slaanesh, Musician (220)
The "meat" of the list - two hard hitting units of Chaos Knights and a solid block of Chosen. The "always Frenzy" banner of the Chosen allows them to ignore the units of Marauders that may be fleeing through them, and increases the chance of getting the "good" rolls on the Eye of the Gods table (in addition to their Stubborn and Terror abilities). The Mark of Tzeentch is for increasing their probable 4+ Ward Save to a 3+ Ward Save when they get a roll of 12 on the EoTG chart.
RARE: (140)
Chaos Warshrine - Mark of Slaanesh (140)
The Warshrine is basically just in the list to supercharge the unit of Chosen or the units of Chaos Knights as needed. Mark of Slaanesh keeps it from running off the table due to a bad failed panic test (or two), or from fleeing units of Marauders that may come too close. Not sure what the model will look like, but I am tossing around ideas such as a defaced Chaos statue or a sort of shrine to Malal.
Total Points: 2,248 (of 2,250)
Malal approves! What do you think?
3 comments:
It's an interesting list, in that it has some fairly odd choices going on (11 strong marauder core units!) ... Which is generally cool be me!
I'm of the opinion that the banner of rage is a mistake on a chosen block, particularly chosen bunkers full of highty things. And isn't your BSB going in there? Which means he'll frenzy too and be baitable @ 14", at which point he'll charge out and lose his frenzy. So I'd say drop the BoR and put the points into 5 hounds, as the army is woefully under-supplied in the fast chaff department.
I'm curious, where are you running the jugger? With some slaanesh knights, right? When I see frenzied characters with non-frenzied units I tend to suggest frenzy-ing the unit too - they're already suffering the downside unless you let the character solo out, may as well garner some benefits I figure.
- Salvage
Hmm.. yeah the Banner of Rage is a bit odd. I might go with the roll any 1 or double banner instead. Originally I had the shooting ward banner on the unit but I think it can be a big waste of points once I get 11 or 12.
No dogs, because I don't want to build or own the models. I could use my Dire Wolves I guess..
Lord in with the Knights yes. May make the whole unit Khorne marked as you suggest.
What are the demons of Malal? 5 weird half-n-half thingies on cav bases will work in a pinch for warhounds ;)
I was going to suggest the rapturous standard, but it seemed excessive with a rerolled stubborn 8 already happening. I'd actually be happy with a warbanner myself, to give an extra oomph (CR3 base isn't super overpowering but certainly helps).
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