This article will detail the Archaon the Everchosen, available to most Chaos forces. We will start from his lore, going into detail of its rules and seeing its usefulness in the armies it belongs to.
Para un repaso completo de los diferentes ejércitos disponibles en Age of Sigmar, consulta nuestro Visión general del ejército de Age of Sigmar artículo.
En este artículo nos referiremos a menudo a Juego igualado y otros términos técnicos como habilidades de lealtad, puntos de mandofunciones del ejército en crear una lista, batallones principales, Hechizos/Invocaciones interminablesetc. Suponemos que el lector está familiarizado con estos términos; en caso contrario, consulte las guías correspondientes para obtener más información.
Age of Sigmar 4.0
Este artículo aún no ha sido actualizado con las nuevas reglas y descubrimientos de la cuarta edición de Age of Sigmar. Revisaremos todos los artículos y los actualizaremos muy pronto.
Overview and Lore of Archaon, the Everchosen
Archaon the Everchosen story predates the Mortal Realms and starts in the World-That-Was as a priest of the cult of Sigmar. Disillusioned, in his lust for power, directed his attention to the Chaos Gods and managed to become their favourite until he was crowned the Everchosen.
A title well deserved since he succeeded in something no other chaos champion ever did: the destruction of the World-That-Was. Unsatisfied, he continued his path of devastation in other realms and worlds until he finally turned his gaze to the Mortal Realms.
Here he encountered once again Sigmar, and at the Battle of the Burning Skies, he tricked him to throw his precious hammer, the Ghal Maraz to a copy of Archaon that in reality was a portal to the void where the hammer has been resting until recently.
Without his hammer, his troops unable to contain Archaon forces, Sigmar escaped to Azyr, leaving to the Everchosen full control of every other realm. He used the Eightpoints, a space between realms with connection to every other realm through giant portals called Realmgates, as his stronghold creating the Varanspire, an insanely huge citadel where he and his warriors rest in between campaigns.
While technically not a mere mortal, Archaon is not a daemon either and could be killed. His extended lifespan is another of the rewards obtained by the chaos gods while serving them. However, the Everchosen ultimate goal is to become the supreme power in the universe, defeating the Ruinous Powers and taking their place. For this reason, while satisfying their desires, he never accepted daemonhood or favoured one god over another.
Archaon model, one of the tallest in the Age of Sigmar range, dates from the End Times period of Warhammer Fantasy and is a majestic model of the Everchosen riding Dorghar, Steed of the Apocalypse whose 3 heads are vestiges of his meal composed of 3 greater daemons of Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle.
In game, he is the rightful general of any Slaves to Darkness army even when he is not taken as the main general, and can be used in any Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, Maggotkin of Nurgle or Hedonites of Slaanesh army without being an ally but also without benefitting from their allegiance abilities.
Rules for Archaon
Archaon is a warrior-wizard with a cost proportioned to a divinity. As a warrior, he has a good number of melee attacks with few slightly decreasing the more damage he takes. His sword in particular is able to utterly slain any hero as long as he rolls two 6 when rolling to wound.
He has 25 wounds, a 3+ save, 5+ ward and a 4+ ignore spell/endless spells effect that guarantee him enough survivability. In addition, he has a 12″ aura where enemies can’t receive the Rally o Inspiring Presence command abilities.
Aside from the Undivided mark, when in a Slaves army, he can take one other chaos god mark at the beginning of the battle, with Nurgle, and its -1 to wound when attacking him, probably the best one.
Su Eye of Sheerian determines the next battle round priority, a neat trick, especially in a round where you are second, to be able to plan knowing if you are getting the double turn or not.
But Archaon is not just a fighter, he is also a wizard, a double caster, although with no casting bonuses.
He is a behemoth and a monster too, and as a monster he has access to his own monstrous rampages:
- Nurgle’s head provides up to 7 mortal wounds (on a 3+).
- Khorne’s head can slain a model and heal as many wounds if it can beat the target’s wound characteristic on a single roll.
- Tzeentch head can dispel an endless spell on a 2+ and do D3 mortal wounds to its caster.
Archaon role in Chaos armies and verdict
Archaon has been often used in many Chaos armies as he could, one way or another, benefit from their allegiances. Now he has access only to Slaves to Darkness allegiance and even a couple of abilities, like the Eye, are locked in Slaves.
The only ability he can transport across is the command By My Will that allows the target Chaos unit to fight even if they are slain first.
So his utility in other chaos forces is greatly reduced, and in Slaves to Darkness is not an auto-include anymore. There are many other useful units and heroes that cover the same role and cost less.
Despite this, if you need a monster that can punch hard and has a bit of versatility thanks to being a wizard, he is your man. In a Slaves to Darkness Ravager army he can first give death frenzy to a cultist unit, and then bring them back with the sub-faction heroic action.
Otros recursos
Una excelente información que solemos utilizar en artículos como éste procede de canales de YouTube como Warhammer Weekly con Vince Venturella, Entrenador de AoS y por supuesto El Wargamer Honesto.
Si te interesa el punto de vista competitivo, cuando hablamos de estadísticas, se hace un tremendo esfuerzo por parte de Rob del Honest Wargamer, Ziggy y Tsports Network! en el Centro de estadísticas AoS con información valiosa, constantemente actualizada.
También se recopila muy buen material informativo en Dan de AoS Shorts.
