Procrastination by Numbers

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Tuesday 10th December 2013



Who could be in today's door? The excitement is brewing.

Today's Forgotten Special Character conjures up image of Nurgle himself, yet their army book entry doesn't mention the father of the plague even once. They are also known as the Lord of the Black Harvest. Any guesses?

[spoiler]
10th December: Slugtongue



Name: Slugtongue

Original Points Cost: 190 points

Background: Slugtongue walks the land bringing plague and famine wherever he walks as good food is turned to bad, much like a visit to the Little Chef. His body looks like an I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here... trial, as his body is writhing in maggots and creepy crawlies. As he walks the land of the Empire causing starvation wherever he goes, armies form in desperation and Bono launches an aid concert.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Beastmen – 7th Edition, no model currently available.



Last Appearance: N/A – Currently Available

Special Rules: Slugtongue is a Level 2 Wizard with Regeneration and Poisoned Attacks, his most intriguing special rule is his ability to cause wounds on the enemy in the deployment phase with his Plague special rule.

My Memories of the Character: As a champion of all things Beastmen I think I find him one of the most intriguing special characters in the book. With special rules that mean he completely stands out from the rest of the characters in the book.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The rules are ready, we just need an appropriate model. Judging by the army book drawing, I've always thought the following Nurgle Sorcerer with his head replaced with an appropriately ram like skull would look pretty good.



[/spoiler]

More tomorrow, that's how Advent Calendars work. Yes it is.

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Wednesday 11th December 2013



It's time to cast our minds back for another Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar, cue wibbly wobbly effect and harp music.

Good luck remembering this character, he's classic 4th edition with no model, and not even a proper Warhammer Armies book. Any thoughts?

[spoiler]
11th December: Zhatan the Black, Commander of the Tower of Zharr



Name: Zhatan the Black

Original Points Cost: 172 points

Background: Zhatan the Black won the competition to be the special character listed last on the alphabetical list of special characters in the Warhammer World. Zhatan the Black works for the Sorcerer Ghorth the Cruel, ruler of Zharr Naggrund and leader of all Traffic Wardens. Ghorth keeps Zhatan relentless busy capturing fresh slaves for the mines, a job Zhatan loves more than any imaginable task. His laugh is said to echo the slave halls like Chris Akabusi.

Original Appearance: White Dwarf Presents: Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs – 4th Edition



Last Appearance: White Dwarf Presents: Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs – 4th Edition.

Special Rules: Zhatan the Black can ride either a Great Taurus or Lammasu (younger readers should ask your parents), and gain has four magic item slots rather than the usual three for a lord character. Additionally he hates all enemies.



My Memories of the Character: Mr Shakey Shakey was my regular opponent back in 4th edition times and I regularly suffered at the hands of his Chaos Dwarfs. We always presumed one day I would face the wrath of Zhatan the Black when he was released, but no. Never.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: There was never a model, or even a drawing of Zhatan, so you will have to go by your own imagination. Of course you could always journey to the far off realm of the Forgeworld website to visit their wears, but be wary for that land is ruled by the God of expensive postage & packaging.

With thanks to Mr Shakey Shakey for providing access to the White Dwarf Presents: Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs – 4th Edition book

[/spoiler]

There's more tomorrow, but if you've forgotten who you've forgotten, remember to catch up on the previous characters above!

[roland murat]

Nice work Matt - I had indeed forgotten about this chap, although I had (have?) a copy of the CD book from 4th ed.

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Thursday 12th December 2013



It's the highlight of your day, the Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar! Seriously you need to get out more. Yesterday we reminded at least one person about a character, thanks for the comment!!

This Forgotten character has only recently been forgotten, you might not have even realised he'd be forgotten. I'd approach him with a sponge and a gas mask.

[spoiler]
12th December: Throt the Unclean



Name: Throt the Unclean

Original Points Cost: 80 points – 4th Edition; 285 points – 6th Edition; 225 points – 7th Edition

Background: Throt the Unclean is a packmaster from Clan Moulder, the strongest in the Hell Pit. The Hell Pit being based primarily on the city of Swindon. Throt has gained a third arm, but lost an eye in a body organ balancing system. His eye has been replaced with a glowing Warpstone charm. All the fashion in the Hell Pit.



Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Skaven – 4th Edition, model released White Dwarf 269 (May 2002)





Last Appearance: N/A – Currently Available.

Special Rules:
In the 4th Edition Throt was simply a unit champion, one of his attacks is with the Man-Catcher, if he hits then Throt rolls a D6 if he exceeds his opponent's Toughness the target is killed. He carries a Warpstone Charm which allows him to reroll any single dice throw in the game and add or subtract 1 to the roll.



Surviving the 6th edition cull Throt became a Lord his Man-Catcher gained the Killing Blow rule against models up to monstrous infantry size. All Clan Moulder units within 6" may reroll failed Psychology tests, Throt never pursues his enemy, Throt can regenerate.





Throt's gained the Whip of Domination in the current 7th edition.



My Memories of the Character: I have never faced Throt to my memory, despite him having survived all the iterations of Warhammer Armies: Skaven. However he's failed to survive the current Games Workshop cull on models and is no longer on their website.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: His rules stand. Perhaps a new model is due, perhaps you'll have to hunt on eBay in the meantime.

[/spoiler]

More tomorrow! Contain yourselves people.

[underscore]

I'll have you know that you've not only faced but defeated Throt at the last Waagh. Some scummy Dragon Princes overran him after I lost combat with his unit of Giant Rats by 1.

I have not forgotten, even if you have.

[cunningmatt]

I'll have you know that you've not only faced but defeated Throt at the last Waagh. Some scummy Dragon Princes overran him after I lost combat with his unit of Giant Rats by 1.

I have not forgotten, even if you have.

Hahaha oops yes you are quite correct, my apologies! I wrote all 24 special characters in one day back in November and must have drifted into a coma during this one!

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Friday 13th December 2013



Today's Forgotten Special Character is a classic Medieval archetype, who never really made an impression on the Warhammer scene. They are featured in probably the best source of Forgotten Special Characters ever printed. Click to see if you got it right...

[spoiler]
13th December: Jasperre le Beau, Dragonslayer



Name: Jasperre le Beau

Original Points Cost: 234 points

Background: Jasperre le Beau, was the Rent-o-kill of modern Bretonnia slaying beasts and Dragon's far and wide in a seemingly never ending quest for the Grail. Despite slaying the Dragon Malgrimace the Lady of the Lake couldn't be bothered to get out of her relaxing bath and offer him a cup of anything. Lazy cow.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia – 5th Edition



Last Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia – 5th Edition

Special Rules: Jasperre is a Questing Knight riding a Pegasus. He has three magic items; The Virtuous Lance which gives +4 Strength on the charge against monsters, each wound causing D3 Wounds, at the end of the combat roll a D6 and add the wounds caused if the total is greater than 6 the model is slain! The Claw of Malgrimace reduces the attacks of any monster in base-to-base contact by D6. Helm of the Dragon Slayer protects Jasperre from the breath weapons of all Dragons.

My Memories of the Character: To be honest buried in the 5th edition Bretonnia books 400 characters, and with such a small description it's hard for Jasperre to stand out at all. Poor love!

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The rules have the potential to be filthy against monsters, particularly in modern Warhammer where facing a monster or two isn't that unlikely. But it all depends on the charge I guess! Probably you'd maybe tone down The Virtuous Lance and give him Heroic Killing Blow instead.

The recent cull in available models for Bretonnian players limits your choices for model, so you'd probably have to convert a Pegasus Knight (or maybe go hunting online!)



[/spoiler]

Go on give us a tweet, give us a mention, post me a letter. I'd love to hear from you!

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Saturday 14th December 2013



It's Saturday!!! So you've probably got better things to do and aren't reading this blog. So how about "It's Monday, and I've got all this weekend's Special Characters to look at before getting on with work?"

Today's inductee in the Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar has appeared in two editions of his respective army book. And has the honour of being the only choice in the current army book without an in production model. Any guesses...?

[spoiler]
14th December: Kholek Suneater



Name: Kholek Suneater

Original Points Cost: 605 points – 7th Edition, 545 points – 8th Edition

Background: Kholek Suneater is a titanic Dragon Ogre Shaggoth of Eric Pickles proportions. Said to be one of the children of the father of the Dragon Ogres, he is destined to return to the world, sparking a festival where we all spend lots of money at John Lewis in years to come. Unfortunately, despite his name, he's never eaten any of Rupert Murdoch's publications. Kholek has never once needed to buy sun cream as his body has never seen the rays of the sun, always blocked out by storm clouds where he moves.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos – 7th Edition, no model currently available.



Last Appearance: N/A – Currently Available.



Special Rules: Kholek is able to summon a lightning bolt to hit an enemy, or possibly himself. His Starcrusher does Multiple Wounds (D3). Kholek's Armour of the Storm drew any nearby lightning based spells to affect himself instead of the target. Kholek was not allowed to join units.



In 8th Edition Kholek lost the Armour of the Storm, but now isn't restricted to joining units.

My Memories of the Character: Kholek Suneater always looks intriguing on the pages of both Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos editions. And I imagine a titanic Dragon Ogre, but lack of model has pretty much meant he's always been glossed over.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: The rules exist as is, the model less so. Of course the obvious but boring choice is to just use the existing Shaggoth model.



The more exciting choice is to maybe get some green stuff, a Giant Kit and some Dragon Ogres!! Have fun!

[/spoiler]

More tomorrow, but only if you give us a mention on Twitter or the like. Otherwise nothing.

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Sunday 15th December 2013



It's the day of rest, but not for the Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar as there's another relic of the past today!

Ok today you need to cast your minds back to the 4th edition of Warhammer, it's quite a bland character with a horse. I think that's enough clues for now!!

[spoiler]
15th December: Valmir Von Raukov, Elector Count of Ostland



Name: Valmir Von Raukov, Elector Count of Ostland

Original Points Cost: 160 points

Background: Valmir is the Elector Count of Ostland who lives in the wide and untamed northern lands of the North. Here he fights off Chaos incursion, Norse bandits, Orc raids and Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters. He is a brave man armed with so many weapons he needs a special Batman utility belt, unless they are all joined together on an Ostland Swiss Army Knife.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Empire – 4th Edition, model released White Dwarf 184 (April 1995)





Last Appearance: Warhammer Armies: The Empire – 4th Edition

Special Rules: Like all the Elector Counts, Valmir carries a Runefang (no armour save, even magic armour, all wounds against Undead models count as two wounds). He also carries the Dragon Bow which is a magic bow, range 36" firing 3 shots at the same target.



My Memories of the Character: An identifiable Elector Count, weren't there 12 of these, it felt like there were about 400 Empire Special Characters. My Orcs & Goblins were very jealous!

Inclusion in 8th Edition: Giving an Empire a Hero a Runefang is easy enough, if you are prepared to overlook the rules on having more than one magic weapon, you could give him a bow using the High Elf rules for The Reaver Bow which is pretty similar. Yes it's bent, but the original character was too.

The Empire plastic hero kit is your best bet to start here, though you need to give him a bow, the one from Markus Wulfheart would be my choice.



[/spoiler]

More next week, and in fact tomorrow too!

[cunningmatt]

Procrastination by Numbers: Forgotten Special Characters Advent Calendar Monday 16th December 2013



It's Special Character time! But who could it be?

My only clue today is grumpy Kevin McCloud. If you don't get it from that, you won't ever get it!

[spoiler]
16th December: Ramhotep the Visionary



Name: Ramhotep the Visionary

Original Points Cost: 110 points

Background: Ramhotep the Visionary was a famous architect of Nehekhara who built the grandest buildings in under 48 hours for a cheap television makeover programme. He was so proud of his buildings that he escaped the ritual embalmment required of all architects upon completion of their grand projects. Sadly a fate Laurence Llewelyn Bowen also managed to escape. Upon resurrection he was disgusted to see his works had fallen into disrepair and started an angry campaign to punish the living races while getting those on Community Service to clean them up.

Original Appearance: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings – 8th Edition, no model currently available.



Last Appearance: N/A – Currently Available.

Special Rules:
Ramhotep is so angry that any unit he accompanies is subject to frenzy, he also brings a special hardened unit that he has sculpted himself.

My Memories of the Character: None, I just looked through this book now to get some ideas for this feature.

Inclusion in 8th Edition: There is no specific model for Ramhotep, though as he's a Necrotect you could just use a Necrotect model. I hope I haven't blinded you with silence there.



[/spoiler]

Go on give us a RT! Please.