Heroes of the elven hosts. The final part of "End Times: Khaine" review is here!

We've finally came to it. Here's the end of my review of "End Times: Khaine", arguably the weakest part of the series that ended the current Warhammer world. Without further ado let's dive right into it.

Thus far the rules in "Khaine" have been bad, to say the least. In my opinion both magic and new army lists are incredibly broken and badly written, but maybe there's still hope. Maybe the special characters will be able to redeem this book, at least partially.

Nah, they also suck. It was worth a shot tough. At least no one will accuse me of giving this review an half-assed attempt.

Now the funny thing with "End Times: Khaine" is the ammount of special characters that it has to offer. On the first look it seems that are not that many unique heroes for Elves to choose from. Malekith, Tyrion, Alarielle and Imirk: only four right? Nope, there are more. Well, more of the same that is. Few characters in "Khaine" come in two versions, the subsequent one more powerful than the latter. Now let's take a closer look at them, shall we?

Oh and of course I won't be talking about special characters from elven armybooks, only those about the unique "End Times".

1. Malekith, the Phoenix King and Malekith, the Eternity King

Sometimes the bad guy takes it all

Here he is, the Good Guy Malekith, the saviour of elven race. It's a good thing that the Asur have the shortest memory in the hisotry of everything. Otherwise they wouldn't probably chosent the blood thirsty tyrant, responsible for millenia of attrocities against their race, as their king, right? I mean what sane person would do that? Well, no matter. Let's look at this bad boy. For 825 points you get a true powerhouse of a badass, both incredibly good with a blade and magic. Having 10 Attacks at Weapon Skill 8, 9 Wounds and S/T of 6 this dude hits very hard and can soak up punishment like there's no tommorow. He gets a combined profile with his dragon, Seraphon which means that he has a Movement of 6 and a 3+ save. Not bad, not bad. However it's his skills that make him truly deadly. Not only is he a Level 4 caster with access to Lore of Fire and Lore of Dark Magic (making him Loremaster in both of these lores), but he can also Fly (obviously) is Immune to Psychology, generates Terror and has ASF, Martial Prowess and Eternal Hatred. Yikes! Oh and he's a Large Target, but who cares about that, right?

With "Absolute Power" comes... a 24'' range of Inspiring Presence. That's quite a lot and really works wel with already high LD of Elves. With such range it's almost guaranteed that most of your army will be under his presence.
Seraphon can emit a cloud of noxious smoke that hits at Strength 4 and drops the afflicted enemy's WS and BS by -1 until the end of their following turn. Very good and can nicely synergize with spells/abilities that further drop the opposing force's statistics.
Malekith's "Phoenix King" ability grants any friendly models with Martial Prowess one extra rank when making suport attacks. Spearmen cry out with joy at that one. Oh and it's cumulative with any other unique abilities granting more rank attacks so...

Malekith's uniqe wargear is practically unchanged from his entries in the Dark Elves Army Book. Asuryath has Multiple Wounds (D3) and Flaming Attacks special rules. Good for those pesky Tomb Kings and regenerating enemies. Armour of Midnight grants the new Phoenix King a 2+ ward save against all, non-magical attacks. Very good, but there's more! With this suit of armour every Heroic Killing Blow and Multipl;e Wounds attack that goes through, will only take away a single wound from Malekith. Yeah, you can't insta gib Malekith, no matter how hard you try.
Finally we have the good, old Circlet of Iron which grants Malekith a single dice both for his casting and dispel attempts. It does work towards Irresistibl force if you're wondering. Like this dude needed to be any more powerful in a magic phase...

Now let's look at Malekith the Eternity King. Talk about nicknames, right? This version of the King of all Elves (TM) costs a whooping 1000 points and, as stats go, only has one more wound than his Phoenix King persona. Now he's a Level 5 caster with access to Lore of Shadow only, which means that he just became more focused on hexes and supporting his troops, rather than dishing out arcane damage. He retains all special rules of his former self and gets Murderous Prowess as well so that's nice. His "Eternity King" rule grants the afformentioned extra rank bonus to all models with Martial Prowess within 12'' AND gives every model within that range, possessing Murderous Prowess (including Malekith) a re-roll to Wound. Now that's just nasty. Remember that every, single model in the Host of Eternity King has Murderous Prowess, so... ouch. Fighting Elves now just became even worse than before.
"Shadow Sorcerer" basically makes him immune to miscats. Yeah, you have to accept the second result of casting a spell, but let's be honest - how often will you actually manage to roll two miscasts in a row?
Finally here's the best skill that Malekith has at his disposal, the "Incarnate of Shadow". At the start of his controling player's remaining Moves sub-phase, said player can nominate one of his units that's within 12'' of the Eternity King. This unit gets both Ethereal special rule and can move up to 20'', instead of moving normally. Eh... I don't honestly know what to say about that... Who the fuck wrote that? Seriously. A unit of Ethereal Dragon Princes moving 20'' in any direction sounds like fun, right? It wouldn't be so bad if that was a spell, but this is just bullshit. There's no way of stopping this and suddendly one of the only, effective tactic against Elves (shooting at them with war machines) has been effectively done with. What's that? You want to shoot my guys on that hill? Tough shit, because here are some ethereal Spearmen, or better Phoenix Guard if you have your cannons enchanted, blocking your LOS to target. Have fun. Yeah, no. I won't and fuck you. That single skill is the reason why IMO 100o points is way too cheap a price for Malekith as the Eternity King. He should cost 1500 points at least, for what he can bring to table.
Finally there are magical items, but the only change to them is that his sword now deals D3+1 Multiple Wounds and is now longer on fire, so no Flaming Attacks for you Malekith. Like that matters at all, right?

2. Tyrion, Avatar of Khaine

Tall, dark, brooding and handsome. Oh and he kicks ass too

The biggest, most awesome fighter of all Elves and the undisputed king of angst. Tyrion has already been a pretty burly dude, but "Khaine" buffed him to unimaginable heights of awesome (quite literally since he got possessed by the God of Murder). Tyrion costs 700 points, which is a joke when you consider his power level and abilities. Interestingly he dosen't have a combined prfile with Malhandir, his mount. The wonder horse himself is incredibly capable, having Movement 10, Initiative 5 and a decent WS of 4 and LD of 7. Of course he pails when compared to his master. Tyrion's stats are truly incredible. With a WS of 10 and delivering 5 Attacks at Strength 5 he's a close combat monster. His only weakness is his Toughness of 4. Still better than that of the usual Elf, but high strength weapons and war machines are the bane of Dragon of Cothique. Of course he'll Always Strike First, but if your opponent manages to cast sucessfully that Briona's Time Warp, there is still Tyrion's Inititative of 10 to deal with. He's also Immune to Psychology which is always welcome. "Shadow of Khaine" grants both him and all friendly models with Murderous Prowess, that are within 12'' of him a re-roll To Wound rolls in CC. Apparently Tyrion can cast magic now. He has a single bound spell at his disposal called "Summon the Glorious Dead". At power level of 10 it allows the caster to summon 2D6 + 3 worth of Skeletons, anywhere within 18'' of him. There are two buffed up levels of this spell, one which summons 3D6 + 3 at PL 15 and the last, which let's you do the exact same thing, but it summons 4D6 + 3 Skellies instead at PL 20. This indeed can be very handy and provide some cheap bodies for the rest of the elven host to hide behind, or just to tie up the enemy for a round or two of combat. Power level's quite steep, but it's the End Times, so magic is generally easier to use than it used to be.

Tyrion's magic items are generally the same as they used to be. His Dragon Armour of Aenarion grants him a 1+ armour save, which cannot be improved in any way, and a 4+ ward save, plus the Fireborn special rule, making him incredbily handy against anything with flaming attacks. Then we have the Heart of Avelorn, a unique talisman which confers the Magic resistance of 2 to its user and ressurects Tyrion on a roll of 2+ with a single wound, but only once. Again, very nice, especially for those lengthy duels. Finally there's the Widowmaker, Tyrion's new sword which essentially is just a buffed up Ghal-Maraz. Wounding automatically and dealing Multiple D6 Wounds with no armour save, this thing is just awesome. Oh and it cannot be destroyed. Like at all. Makes sense really, as it is a weapon of a God, but then how come the ESSENCE of Ghal-Maraz can get wrecked? A physical sword is indestructible, but a pure energy of a God's hammer is not? I smell shoddy writing...

3. Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor

"I'm on a Dragon!"

For all you dragon lovers, here is something real special. Imrik, the last of Caledor's line, has returned and he's better than ever. Costing a reasonable 810 points and sporting a combined profile with his mount, Minaithnir, Imrik is no slouch in combat, altough unlike Malekith, he dosen't do any magic. That's ok tough, since his stats are geared up towards killing, maiming and burning the enemies of Ulthuan. For starters he has 10 Attacks, WS of 8 and both his Strength and Toughness of 7, are really good in CC. He also has 10 Wounds and a Inititative of 8, guaranteeing that he WILL strike first, even if opponent somehow mitigates his ASF rule. Add to that the Fireborn rule, making him immune to flaming attacks, Valour of Ages, Martial Prowess and Terror and you have one, nastu dude who WILL kill almost anything thrown at him. Thanks to his loyal steed, he also has a Strength 4 Flaming attack and can Fly. His "Lord of Dragons" rule makes every enemy monster, including Drakes, strike at him with a -1 To Hit penalty.

Imrik's gear is basically unchanged from his older self. He is armed with a hand weapon (lame) and a Star Lance, which grants him a +3 bonus to Strength when charging and negates armour save of enemy characters struck by it, but after that he's stuck with his hand weapon so... nothing really special here. Cunning opponents will either charge him first, or make sure that he will not make the charge against them at all. Or, you know, send some chaff towards his way. Armour of the Dragontamer gives Imrik a 5+ ward save which is nice, but again, nothing spectacular. Finally there's the Dragonhorn, which can be used once per game only. When it is sounded, both Imrik and any friendly monsters within 12'' of him get the Stubborn special rule. This item clearly shows that when taking the Crown Prince of Caledor, it is worth to have at least two more monsters in your army.

Imrik is in fact my favorite character in this book, simply because he is not insanely overpowered. While very strong and very dangerous, he is obviously only as good as his stats, since the magic items and stats that he has are medicore, to say the least. His point cost is also high, and rightfully so. Why couldn't the rest of elven characters be built like him? Strong but not overpowered and having a few, exploitable weaknesses?

4. Alarielle, Avatar of Isha and Alarielle, Incarnate of Life

Killing things dosen't mean that you can't look sexy!

The final entry in the characters section of 'End Times: Khaine" is the suped up Everqueen of the Elves. Like her new hubby, Malekith (sigh...), she has two profiles. In her first she's a reasonably priced (375 points) level 4 caster with access to Lores of Life, Light and High Magic. While her stats are a joke (only her LD of 10 and WS of 6 are decent) it's not them that make her truly scary on the battlefield. Nor are her "standard" special abilities like ASF, Lileath's Blessing (this one's useful tough, as long as you cast spells from the Lore of High Magic), Martial Prowess and Valour of Ages. Instead she works as a support, best kept slightly behind your lines, but always within as much of your friendly units as possible, for them to benefit from her buffs. Her "Anathema to Chaos" means that any Daemon foolish enough to come within 12'' of her, will suffer D6 S4 hits every turn. Ouch! "Blessings of Isha" confers a 5+ ward save and immunity to Fear and Terror, both to her and any friendly unit within a bubble of 12''. Now this is awesome. Not like Elves needed any more anti-terror buffs, but  5+ ward is always handy. Finally there's the "Touch of purity", which makes all her CC attacks magical and seh wounds ANY models from Forces of Destruction on a 2+ with Multiple Wounds (D6). This is nuts. I can see Daemon and Undead players crying in pain, when facing her in a sturdy block of White Lions or Black Guard, surrounded by some tough supporting units. Scary.

Alarielle's magic items are perfect for supporting others in her army. The Star of Avelorn brings back a single wound to any friendly character within 12'' of Alarielle at the beginning of Movement phase. She can heal herself, but only if there are no friendly special characters in range. Finally there's the Stave of Avelorn, which unlike the previous one is one use only. When doing magic hijinks, Alarielle can attempt to cast ANY spell in her Magic phase, even one that was already cast or suffered a miscast. Yes, this means that she can effectively cast ANY spell twice. With her high level as a Mage, this is guaranteed to work almost every time and with High Magic at her disposal means some very, very bad news to everyone who is the target of her ire.

Now her Incarnate of Life version is even more scary. Costing "only" 540 points, which is a steal really, she comes with some buffs to her Strength, Toughness, Wounds and Attacks, but that's not all! First of all she's now a level 5 Life Wizard. She also retains all her previous skills (excluding Lileath's Blessing), while gaining Loremaster (Life) and Murderous Prowess. Want more? No problem. She re-rolls the results on the Miscast table, thanks to her "Locus of Renewal", altough she has to accept the second roll. Finally her "Incarnate of Life" rule grants both her and any friendly units within 12"" of her a 6+ ward save and the Regeneration special rule. The juiciest part however is her ability to bring back a single Wound both to her and every friendly model within 12'', at the start of EACH friendly magic phase. That's right. If you're teaming up your Elves with any allies, then it is possible to regain a minimum of two Wounds each turn. Put her near Malekith or Teclis and just kick back and relax. Nothing bad will happen to any of your special/multi wound guys. which also includes any friendly models. Her magic items remain unchaneged, so there's nothing really new for me to say here.

For only 540 points, Alarielle is incredibly powerful character, and her potentail uses are many. While she's terrible in combat against anything that's not coming from the Dark Side, it is her buffs that make her truly dangerous and deadly to opponents. Combined with another strong spellcaster like Teclis or Malekith, Alarielle basically guarantess complete domination in Magic phase and... a victory. I mean, it's almost impossible to kill her and the unit that she's in, and any sane player will stick as many special characters within 12'' of her as possible, making them very, very hard to kill. In my opinion 540 points are well below the price that she actually should be worth. Maybe 800 or even 1000 points, but 540? Please.

So here it is. The final part of my review of "End Times: Khaine". While I already read the entirety of the "End Times" material, it is "Khaine" that really pissed me off to no end. It is simply badly written, both in terms of fluff and rules. I don't really like to use accusations of favoring certain factions in any game, as usually the game designers try to retain some semblance of balance, but in case of "Khaine", whose armies and special characters are a league above other armies, except maybe Chaos, it is painfully obvious that the design team behind this book really loves them some pointy ears. Elves effectively received 6 new special characters, each of whom is worth it's weight in gold, and each of whom is incredibly, incredibly strong and dangerous in game. Now I know that no tabletop game evert made is fair and balanced (maybe except Chess), but for me "End Times: Khaine" present the most plain and shameless way of favoring one faction (right now I'm treating all three elven races as one) over other, less liked and supported. The Empire got two special characters and only one of them can be considered really strong, getting barely close to the level of some of the weakes Elf heroes of the End Times. The Undead got Nagash, but even he pales, compared to Malekith. Glottkin? Good luck taking on Tyrion or Alarielle with strong magic support. Do remember that the Elves have all of their special characters from their Army Books, including already way, way too strong Teclis and Hellebron, who can effectively shut down enemy's dispell phase. Now think about the End Times High Magic spell "Deadlock" and how easy it is for Elves to cast it. Yeah... Let's not even mention the new and broken magic phase and how certain armies benefit it way more than others, while also making the already too magical focused 8th edition, even more magic heavy!
I'm not some conspiracy nut, who spies elven lobby behind every corner, but after reading "End Times: Khaine" I  can't shake this feeling, that the end of WFB was supposed to be glorious and beneficial for some races and factions only. Elves are one of them. Too bad that most of the rest are on the receiving end, bending over and asking Malekith and company to be gentle.

It's one big mess, just like pic related

 
For shame GW, for shame.

Now the "End Times: Thanquol" review is coming, but first I need to cool off after "Khaine". I think some nice Kill Team game will help me with that...

Until next time

Xathrodox86