Primarch Deathmatch - Obituary - Lorgar Aurelian

Well fight fans that was a fairly one-sided match and proof, if it was ever needed, that when two Primarch's team up, they can take down one of their brothers without too much trouble.

Lorgar and the Heresy Era

This Primarch woke up as a babe on Colchis, a planet of fervent religion and this clearly shaped his outlook on life. Interestingly, he is one of the few (only?) Primarch's to retain his childhood-world step-father in the form of Kor Pheron who is partially elevated to the status of Astartes but for whom not all of the physical gains would work. Maybe this was the start of his Daddy issues.

I think one of the reasons this guy didn't get too many votes is because he started the damn heresy (although shouldn't we therefore love him?)! Lorgar was the first of the Primarchs to be swayed by the ruinous powers and he aligned himself and the Word Bearers to chaos undivided. His conversion included a conversation with Fateweaver whose heads, although I am not sure it should be believed, were apparently both speaking the truth when they told him that he could either a) take down Roboute Guilliman or b) make sure the heresy went off according to plan. I am guessing he didn't chose too well there.

Of course his loathing for the boys in blue dated back to Guilliman's sanctioning of the Word Bearers at the word of the Big E. Both of whom turned up and humiliated Lorgar by making his entire Legion bow down before Roboute and the Big E as the Ultramarines destroyed a planet of religion that Lorgar was building. Roboute was apparently against this but the Big E wasn't about to take parenting advice from anyone!

Lorgar planned the beginning of the Heresy and set up all the major events through one other hated heresy character - Erebus. And between the two they all but corrupted Horus themselves.

He is one of those Primarchs that escaped the Heresy intact, fleeing to the Eye Of Terror after the siege of Terra (try saying that 10 times fast!) where he ascended to Daemonhood and apparently left a note out side his door saying he was going to meditate for a while - no one has heard from him since.

There is


just one sweet irony to enjoy in Lorgar - I think he may have written the Lectito Divinatus. Yes, one of the bad guys wrote the book that kinda saved mankind through faith...its a crazy world the Grim Dark future!

Lorgar in the game

Its 375	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Lorgar Aurelian:	6	6	6	6	5	6	4	10	2+

So what is great about this guy is that if you take him in his 'ascendant' form he gains Mastery Level 3 and can of course select the powers he wishes to chose from Divination and Telekenis. There are loads of great combos to play with this.

He gets a S6 AP2 power maul in close combat and once per game can force his opponent to re-roll all 5s and 6s to hit and to wound. Not bad eh? He's got decent armour save at 2+, slight let down by a 4+ invul though.

The verdict:
I expect that he's kinda disliked on account of his sneaky turning of Horus and the fact he is not quite as killy as his brothers although he has plenty to recommend him to traitors and loyalists alike so I am not sure why he has done so badly. I mean this guy invented the Imperial Faith and started the Heresy!

Happy hobbying...

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 5 Result - Alpharius/Omegon v Lorgar

"...Omegon climbs to the top rope, Alpharius sat like royalty on his shoulders. Balancing on the corner post the duo raise their fists in the air facing the baying, delirious crowd."

"Legion! Legion!" the crowd chant in adoration.

"This is it...here it comes, the Alphadown! The duo slowly tip backwards from the post, elbows are out. No-one has survived this most famous of finishing moves before. Lorgar is immobile , its going to be messy.......oooooooh that has to hurt. The twins pick themselves up from the wrecked corpse of the Word Bearers Primarch and slowly, holding arms aloft, exit the arena."

"Well Deathmatch fans the Alpha Legion leaders are through to the quarter finals and its hard to see how any Primarch can beat a tag team."

"While the studio calms down here, we are going for a break only to be back soon for the next Deathmatch draw - Stay tuned"

Twitter Primarch Deathmatch Week 5 - Alpharius/Omegon v Lorgar

Introducing our week 5 draw tonight in the studio our special guest.......Eldrad Ulthran!

 

As 'little Yoda' wanders onto the stage tonight it is worth remembering that we have seen pretty much half of the Primarch's now and we should be able to begin to predict just who could emerge in the draw...

Eldrad is now in position, the bowls of drawing balls in front of him and doesn't he look great for someone who is older than life itself. The question is: will this be a random draw or will it be 2 opponents who satisfy the needs of old jawaballs? Is it going to be Armageddon all over again -allegedly of course....(stern looks from lawyers).

And here we go, one of the balls rises mysteriously up from the bowl and glides to a rest on the table in front of Eldrad. A second ball follows suit.....no further actions......a high pitched voice emits itself from Eldrad's direction: "Alpharius/Omegon versus Lorgar".

A possible tag team on Lorgar from the twins it seems but before we announce the draw proper, in the interest of fairness and to make sure that the old crone's foresight still works we'll just get a servitor to open up those balls.......yes it's confirmed Week 5 is indeed the Ugly Sisters versus J.K Rowling.

Alpharius and Omegon (maybe, who knows who it might be really) v Lorgar master of the word, inventor of swearing. Alpha Legion v Word Bearers.

Get voting now on the Twitter poll on @4dadsapocalypse

Primarch Deathmatch - Obituary - Roboute Guilliman

Final moments of the extended time fight...

The two Primarchs had been fighting non stop for a week without either succumbing. For the thousandth time their whirling blows ceased momentarily as they leapt to either side of the fighting pit. 

Steam cooled from their bare heads and they eyed each other warily. 

"You know it's 200 years to the day since we first met?" Mortarion uttered. 

"Yes I do think you are correct" said Guilliman. 

"All this time I've been meaning to tell you something, something I've never told anyone about you" offered Mortarion.

"Do go on Morty, if nothing else it's a nice change from trying to cut your head off."

"Well you see I've always felt, stronger, about you than all my other brothers and if I am being honest with you. And I am. I would be at your side as quick as a wink if you would take me back" The Death Lord's eyes could not meet his brothers as he spoke. 

"Do you mean that brother? Would it surprise you to know I have felt the same way all these years? All this time all I ever really wanted to do was hop in a rhino and go watch the waves crashing onto a beach with you. What say we give up on all this, and take a cruise around the 500 worlds, well at least the ones that haven't been destroyed, Dad will never even know" the Lord of Maccrage offered. 

Mortarion threw down his scythe, smiling as he strolled over to his brother and reached into his robes. 

With a wink he said "Rob that sounds devine, have I got time to grab a couple of spare sets of astartes undergarments and my sketch pad? Oh and let's have a little drink to get us in the mood before we go" he said uncorking the bottle he produced from his robes and pouring two glasses from a bottle marked 'Morty's Homebrew - a kick like a Scythe!!'

"Thank you brother" said the Ultramarine Lord as he took a large gulp "wow this stuff is strong, I can feel my eyes starting to water Morty, where have you been hiding this stuff?"

"Oh it's just one of my brews I've been saving for a special occasion, drink up and we can go". 

"Hang on Morty, I can't see out of my right eye. This isn't the same stuff you put in the punch at Dad's 'Crusaders Ball' is it? In fact, I can't feel my legs either." 

The Avenging Son, collapsed, his fingers jerking around the small glass, his last sight a smiling Mortarion sweeping down with his scythe.

Roboute Guilliman - brief bio:

So the Avenging Son is out before the quarter finals, bit of a surprise as I would have thought he was better liked than his opponent but there you go. Another bright star in the galaxy put out. As you can see from above, it wasn't exactly a 'Queensbury rules' end to the bout but anything goes in a heresy era deathmatch!

So this Primarch landed up in the Ultima Segmentum after the Big E let him get snatched by the warp. In no time at all the Big Blue guy had created a vast kingdom stretching into nearby planetary systems. Social order was an egalitarian meritocracy, a land of milk and honey. When the Big E arrived he must have been tempted to kill off the other Primarch's and just have Guilliman sort the galaxy out based on what he had done so far. 

But, that wasn't to be, and a good thing too or we wouldn't have this great fight to play out! Row-boat (his fave nickname) was great at crusading and no other Legion conquered and held as much ground. Mr Maccragge was best buddies with Dorn, Sanguinius, Russ and Ferrus Manus who he called the Dauntless Few and boasted he could win any fight with one of them at his side. 

He also took part in the shaming of the Word Bearers under his fathers instruction, much to his own dismay, and Lorgar, its fair to say, developed a teensy grudge over this. And we all know how that worked out for them both...

Unlike the Deathmatch, Roboute survives the heresy although misses out on the big fight at Terra - car trouble apparently. But later on in a scrap with Fulgrim he picks up a nasty scratch that sees him put into stasis on Maccragge and there he sits still in the 41st millennia. There are rumours that his wound has been healing...

Roboute Guilliman in the game

Pts 400	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Roboute Guilliman:	7	6	6	6	6	6	4+1	10	2+/4++

He is a pretty good general, bringing force multipliers and being pretty handy in a scrap (although works best when sat amidst his sons).

- He gives +1 to leadership for all his units

- One unit can be granted implacable advance, tank hunter or interceptor

- he can force siege the initiative to be re-rolled

- In combat (unless challenged mid-way by a second combatant) his WS increases by 1 each round (max 10)!

- 2+/4+ armour/invul saves

- can get S10 AP1 strikes in close combat

I like him, he is a more balanced Primarch, not the best fighter, but makes up for that by buffing other units.

The model

Well, many don't like the model due to the statuesque pose and whilst some say he is one of the more dull Primarchs I guess this pose would fit with that! 

I like it though and would love to paint it sometime. The detail is stunning and he looks like he is at the start of the Heresy, the master of the 500 worlds, comfortable king of all he sees. I wonder if there will be a model later in the schedule where we can see him popping heads off Word Bearers?

Thanks for reading and happy hobby time!

Horus Heresy Book Review - Scars by Chris Wraight (No spoilers)

I am slowly getting through the Black Library Horus Heresy series and thoroughly enjoying my trip through Warhammer history. I find it incredibly interesting to read each author's interpretation of the legions and the events that have taken place in the Warhammer universe. In truth some of the books have been brilliant - Horus Rising, Flight of the Eisenstein, Outcast Dead, Deliverance Lost & Fear to Tread to name just a couple - and some have been pretty boring - Descent of Angels, Battle for the Abyss, Nemesis, Mechanicum, Legion. I would say that on average though you can't go too wrong with this series of books as there is always something in these novels that is enjoyable and worth finding out about.

When it came to reading Scars I have to say that I was definitely NOT looking forward to this book. I generally have no interest in the White Scars and before the book had no idea about the chapter, their Primarch or their history in the Horus Heresy. Also I hadn't read a lot of Chris Wraight's novels previously although the one I had read (Battle for the fang) I thoroughly enjoyed. So with this slightly negative view off I went to join the Khan...

In the novel we are treated to many different legionsof Space Marines - From the White Scars & Space Wolves to the Alpha Legion, Word Bearers and Death Guard. We also get to meet 4 Primarchs - Khan & Mortarian in the main and Russ and Magnus chipping in with bit parts. With the meeting of these primarchs and legions we are treated to some interesting reveals and backstory of the Horus Heresy that has not been covered before and the characters in the book are extremely compelling which made me want to keep reading to find out more.

The story has a number of sub-plots and distinctly follows two storylines which can be a little disjointed but are both important to the story and the Horus Heresy as a whole with a great reveal about the workings of the Word Bearers and how they are controlling things.

The most enjoyable parts of the story for me were the interactions between the primarchs which just make me want to know what would happen if.....(once you've read it you'll understand!) and the decision that the Khan must make whether to be loyal to the Emperor or Horus. Chris Wraight did a magnificent job of getting the feeling of confusion across to the reader as bits of information, messages and rumours about the wider galaxy reached the White Scars creating division and corruption amongst the legion.

The poorer parts of the book in my opinion were the pace - I thought that at times it slowed down when things had just started to get going - which is probably due to this book being originally released as a series ebook in parts. Also I thought that some of the fighting and battle scenes weren't as engaging as they should have been. I'm not sure why but it just didn't feel like I was in the battle with shells and swords clattering around me.

As a whole I really enjoyed the book and I think it is well worth a read. It compliments and extends the Horus Heresy background, tells the story of the White Scars chapter of which little has been written before and is an interesting standalone story with some great characters.

I give this book an 8/10

Let me know what you think

James