Special Characters in Warhammer 40,000; Arena of Death

On the final day of Special Characters week, we approach the Warhammer 40,000 universe, where there are heroes and villains aplenty for us to talk about. But we didn't want to just chat about them, no; we wanted a grand finale with plenty of violence and gore, so we decided to battle it out in an Arena of Death.

We wanted to see how our chosen character would fare against those of the other races - would they take them down in an epic struggle, or would they die a horrible, grisly death? For most of us here, it was also the perfect opportunity to paint up a character from a different army, which we could paint to a high standard to display in a cabinet. (Or, more likely, the perfect excuse to start a new army, much to the despair of our significant others.)

So, without further ado, let the trials begin.

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  Ghazghkull Thraka versus Prince Yriel of Iyanden: In a tragic twist of fate, Lars and myself, the two representatives from the Web team, were drawn against each other. Everyone expected the Beast of Armageddon to tear the Eldar Prince in half. Well, he did. But only after Yriel dealt a surprising amount of damage with The Spear of Twilight and a flurry of close combat attacks. Ghazghkull left his fight on a single wound, bloodied but undeterred.

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  Forgefather Vulkan He'stan versus The Swarmlord: White Dwarf writers Andrew Kenrick and Tom Hutchings took to the field of battle with two equally epic characters. Vulkan He'stan stood defiantly before the Xenos monstrosity, but was struck down by the psychic power Paroxysm, which left him at a pitiful WS 1 in the ensuing combat. It didn't take long for The Swarmlord to get his Bone Sabres into play, which left He'stan broken and ruined in a single round. (Note: there's currently no model for The Swarmlord, so Tom converted the Hive Tyrant kit to make his.)

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  Commander Shadowsun versus Captain Darnath Lysander: Andy Hall and Matt Hutson, the last White Dwarf representatives, were pitched against each other for the last guaranteed place in the next round. For the first couple of turns, Shadowsun's fusion blasters proved painful to the mighty Captain, wounding him several times. When Lysander finally caught her, he found himself swatting Shield Drones out of the way for several turns before he finally pulverised the Tau commander with The Fist of Dorn.

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  The Losers' Melee: So Andrew (on the right), Lars (centre) and Andy (conspicuous by his absence) now had to fight it out in a three-way losers' melee, in which the winner would go through to the next round. Shadowsun tried to Instant Kill He'stan with her fusion blasters, but Andrew, with a casual flick of the wrist, passed both invulnerable saves and piled He'stan into combat with the Tau Commander. Prince Yriel, determined not to be left out, used the Eye of Wrath when he joined the combat, killing all of Shadowsun's Drones, which allowed He'stan to kill her easily with the Spear of Vulkan. Sadly for the Salamander, Yriel's high initiative allowed him to beat He'stan in two successive rounds of combat to go through to the next round.

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  Ghazghkull Thraka versus The Swarmlord: With two of the most brutal xenos characters at our disposal, me and Tom clashed in epic combat. Undaunted by the Paroxysm, Ghazghkull was hit by the full force of The Swarmlord and had to use his Prophet of the Waaagh! ability to make his 2+ save invulnerable for a turn. In return, his power klaw started to mince through the Tyranid commander. A second round of combat ensued, whereby Ghazghkull was wounded again, as the Swarmlord's Bone Sabres forced him to re-roll successful invulnerable saves. In the end though, the sheer strength of Ghazghkull's attacks took down The Swarmlord in a close-fought and very messy fight.

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  Prince Yriel of Iyanden versus Captain Darnath Lysander: Lars knew that this battle would be tough from the outset. With such a high invulnerable save from his storm shield, Lysander merely swatted away Yriel's Spear of Twilight and rounded on him with the Fist of Dorn, his master-crafted thunder hammer. While Yriel survived the first round of combat (Matt was having trouble rolling above a 1), he did not make it through the second round and was crushed flat by the veteran Space Marine.

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  The Final fight, Ghazghkull Thraka versus Captain Darnath Lysander: The final battle in the Arena of Death was very fittingly a White Dwarf versus Web team battle, with me and Matt battling it out for the title. Both characters are very evenly matched: they both have four wounds, invulnerable saves, Eternal Warrior and they will wound each other on a 2+. To say the fight was titanic would be an understatement. As the fist of Ghazghkull clashed with the Fist of Dorn, the spectators around the table watched on intently to see which of the characters would win...

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  ... and it was Ghazghkull Thraka! Despite his high invulnerable save, Matt was still plagued by unlucky dice rolls and Darnath Lysander was torn apart by the Ork Warlord. Ghazghkull didn't escape completely unscathed either, but then no-one expected him to, as a fight of this magnitude will almost certainly be close to the wire. Thanks Matt, and all the other guys who took part, it was awesome fun and I expect to fight many more Arenas of Death with you all in the future. (We're not quite sure what Andy is doing behind us in the picture. Perhaps we never will.)

So, what did we learn from the Arena of Death? Well, Special Characters really are immense fun. They are devastating, able to destroy several hundred points of enemy in a single round of combat. They are also, to steal Jervis' words from earlier in the week, the epitome of their army. We were all terrified of fighting Tom's Swarmlord, which is how it should be - no-one in the galaxy should want to fight that beast, nor in fact, his race as a whole. Lysander did what a Space Marine does best - an implacable advance followed by the swift annihilation of his foes. And Ghazghkull, well, he just kept hitting things until they stopped twitching, the same as any greenskin would.

So why not try out your own Arena of Death challenge. Not only is it excellent raucous fun (best not to do it in the middle of a busy office though), but it's a great excuse to get one of those characters that you've always wanted to paint.