Warhammer: The End Times - Archaon

Warhammer: The End Times #Background & Rules Vol.V

by Games Workshop

The Old World lies in ruins, crushed beneath the numberless legions of Archaon the Everchosen and his ratmen allies. Though all seems lost, the embattled survivors cling on to a glimmer of hope that, should their courage hold, there may still be a chance to thwart the machinations of the Chaos Gods and avert the End Times.

Warhammer: Archaon is the fifth instalment of the epic saga of The End Times and is described over two hardback books which are presented together in a sturdy slipcase.

Warhammer: Archaon Book 1 is a 256-page narrative book. Bear witness to the might of Archaon Everchosen and his hordes as they enter the battle that will decide the fate of the world.

Warhammer: Archaon Book 2 is an 80-page rules book that contains Armies of the End Times: new army selection rules to represent the desperate battles fought at the time that Archaon moves to crush the Warhammer world. There are also the Lords of Battle campaign rules and Halting the Apocalypse narrative campaign, 12 scenarios inspired by the narrative, and 9 Battlescrolls detailing armies and formations depicted in the story.

Also included are background and rules for the full range of new Warriors of Chaos miniatures, including the Khorne Wrathmongers, Khorne Skullreapers, and the three ranks of Bloodthirsters – The Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury, The Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, and The Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster. It also includes rules for the following new Incarnates: Balthasar Gelt, Incarnate of Metal, Tyrion, Incarnate of Light, Grimgor, Incarnate of Beasts and Caradryan, Incarnate of Fire. As well as this there are rules and background for Isabella the Accursed and Archaon Everchosen.

Genres: Fantasy

Hardcover

First published March 14, 2015

About the author

Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated as GW) is a British miniature wargaming manufacturing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer and publisher of the tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn rating things like Archaon, simply because I'm fanboy-biased to the world it is set in. I will admit though that, however action packed and brutal the End Times books are, they are shockingly written. There are only so many battle scenes you can describe without repeating your own blood-soaked sentences. I lost count of how many times major characters "smiled/sneered under their helmet" or were faced with certain death to only say a corny line and then blast their enemy apart with magic.

Eh, it was fun while it lasted. Just interested to see where Games Workshop take their legendary 30 year old IP in the future.

Prose-wise? Awful if you pay too much attention, but bearable if you just want to read about Orcs kicking ass during the apocalypse.
Action-wise? There's definitely some fun, memorable battles.
Aesthetically? Archaon is definitely packed with all the viscera and stunning artwork you'd expect of a Warhammer story, but reeks of the soullessly digital and profit-hungry.
As a finale to the Warhammer world? Well, that depends on how deeply you're engrossed with it. Don't expect all your favourite miniature heroes to be represented or given a glorious death (what happened to Skarsnik? My beloved Skarsnik?)

Let' s just hope (against hope) that GW uses this chance to refresh Warhammer in a positive light. I'm just concerned that this Hollywood blockbuster version of Warhammer fantasy will probably set the IP on a slippery slope to becoming even shallower than it has become in the past decade.

[Ben Stoddard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little late on this one, but it was okay due to the lackluster ending. I still have no idea what Alarielle's daughter did to Arkhan, guess we'll never know now. As for the rest, it was really a disappointing end. They came so close and then lost it all, not really sure what the point of drawing this out into 5 books for, you could have completely cut out Glottkin and Thanquol and been just fine as far as the series went. I'm a bit grumpy as this story just felt like the good guys were screwed from the beginning and they literally were, they never got ahead and in the end the bad guys win without even being more than slightly inconvenienced. All for the set up for the drivel that is Age of Sigmar... but I digress...

In all honesty, I felt that this was a disappointing end to a wonderful setting and now I feel as though Warhammer is dead, the new setting is more akin to Diablo than Warhammer and I rather dislike it, and this book marks the end of the setting that I knew and loved. Adieu to this world, I think I'll skip the next.

[Michael Dodd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five books in, and the End Times are well and truly here for the Warhammer world. The latest in the series of background books, Archaon sees the forces of Chaos poised to finally triumph over all else. Nations and races are crushed and scattered, with only a handful of heroes remaining to stand against Archaon and his armies – Karl Franz has rallied what remains of the Empire at Averheim, supported by a handful of remaining Bretonnians and dwarfs, while the elves battle to keep Athel Loren free of taint from within and without. Even Nagash is assailed on multiple fronts. Things look bleak for the world.

Read the rest of the review at https://trackofwords.wordpress.com/20...

[Maetco · Rating 2 out of 5]

A severe disappointment after Khaine and Thanquol. The book doesn't mention anything about some important and/or interesting events/characters/plots that started in the previous books and in overall seems to throw story and especially plot in to a garbage bin and replace it with fights, fighting, battles, etc. which would be fine if they were well written and weren't so inconsistent/unrealistic and abstract.

The new rules didn't really bring in anything interesting except finally a way to make a badass Bloodthirster without having luck in the gift rolls.