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HQ
Ahriman the Ascended Cost: 400 Points

Having at last achieved the power sought for countless centuries, Ahriman has ascended by way of forbidden ancient rituals into a towering pyre of crackling warp energies, a true manifestation of the dark arts so expertly wielded by the unrivaled sorcerer. His mastery of magic proves now virtually limitless, and even Greater Daemons are but rank amateurs before his fathomless arcane might.

WS 6/BS 6/S 6/T 6/W 4/I 6/A 4/Ld 10/Inv 2+

Monstrous Creature, Fearless, Eternal Warrior

All Power Demands Sacrifice: At the beginning of your turn, if Ahriman the Ascended is in reserve, you may command a Daemon Prince or Chaos Sorcerer to summon him, the perilous nature of this dire invocation ultimately culminating in their willful sacrifice. For the duration of this turn, the summoning unit skips its Movement, Shooting and Assault phases, and cannot use Psychic Powers. At the end of this turn, remove the summoning model as a casualty immediately, which detonates as per a Vehicle Explodes result in a violent eruption of psychic energy. Ahriman then appears at the position of the sacrificed model, or in base contact with its unit in a location of your choice. If the sacrificed model is inside a vehicle, that vehicle immediately explodes.


Peril of the Warp: Ahriman the Ascended always starts in reserve, and does not arrive from reserves as normal. Whenever a model incurs a Perils of the Warp, if Ahriman is in reserve and hasn't possessed any units, instead of suffering a Wound that model is possessed by Ahriman, counting as a casualty for its controller. You gain control of the possessed model, and it gains the Leadership, WS, BS and I of Ahriman, and the Fearless, We Are Legion and Sorcery Manifest special rules. If the possessed model is inside an enemy vehicle it immediately disembarks. If the possessed model is part of a unit, it breaks off within 1" of the unit, becoming an Independent Character. If a collectively casting unit suffers a Perils of the Warp attack, choose one model in that unit to be possessed; all other models in that unit are then transmuted into Chaos Spawn under your control. At the beginning of every turn, the possessed model must succeed on a Leadership test at a -1d6 penalty or rupture, removed from the battlefield as a casualty. If the rupturing model is within a vehicle, that vehicle explodes. Should the possessed model ever be removed as a casualty, its body detonates as a Vehicle Explode result prior to unleashing the true avatar of Ahriman upon the battlefield, whom appears at the possessed model's former location.

While Ahriman is on the field, 3d6 are rolled for all Psychic Tests, with any result of 12 or more counting as a Perils of the Warp. Any Perils of the Warp incurred immediately removes the triggering model as a casualty instead of its usual effects. You may replace that model with a Chaos Spawn under your control as per the Gift of Chaos power.


Sorcery Incarnate: Ahriman the Ascended knows Doombolt, Gift of Chaos, Warptime, Wind of Chaos, Bolt of Change, Lash of Submission and Nurgle's Rot, and any Psychic Power used (successfully or not) during the game. He does not make Psychic Tests to manifest Psychic Powers. Ahriman may cast up to four powers per turn, including shooting powers, and may cast the same power more than once per turn. All successful Tests and Saves made to resist a direct effect of Ahriman's Psychic Powers are rerolled at your option, and the Strength of any Psychic Power with a Strength value is increased by 1d3 when cast.


Touch of the Warp: As he is a being comprised of pure sorcerous energy, all melee attacks made by Ahriman the Ascended count as if made by a Force Weapon. These attacks do not count as Psychic Power uses, nor does Ahriman need to make Psychic Tests for them.


Warp Maelstrom: Ahriman is all but a sentient warp storm, a tear in the very fabric of reality, and a vortex of psychic energy, rendering even so much as approaching the arch-sorcerer a terminal prospect. Any psychic powers cast by an opponent on a target within 6" of Ahriman the Ascended, including Ahriman himself, regenerates a Wound on Ahriman, instead of incurring their usual effect. Whenever Ahriman would be targeted or affected by the immediate effects of a Psychic Power an opponent controls, that power regenerates a Wound on Ahriman instead of incurring its usual effects. Further, all terrain within a 6" radius about Ahriman counts as difficult and dangerous. Ahriman ignores the effects of difficult and dangerous terrain, and counts as having defensive grenades.


We Are Legion: A swirling, amorphous being of pure psychic energy and immaterium, Ahriman is able to effortlessly discharge his powers against multiple opponents. Ahriman the Ascended does not have to target all of his Psychic Powers (including shooting powers) against the same target. Instead he may fire any of his weapons and Psychic Powers at any combination of targets (declare all targets before rolling to hit). He can then choose to assault any of the enemies he has fired upon.

Dude I would make a Tzeench army just for this model.

I love it but Damn would he be expensive.

Awesome ...I might even convert one if I have the time

I have to say this concept is so awesome.

Why would a scion of Tzeentch have Nurgle's Rot and Lash of Submission??

Well he has master socerory he's BOUND to have come across Slannesh and Nurgle's tomes.

Awesome idea, however I'd cut his invun down to 3+. 2+/2+ with 4 psychic powers a turn, eternal warrior, and MC for 400 points seems a bit... I dunno, broken?

Also I agree above, why would he have slanesh and nurgle powers? Doesn't stand up to the fluff. I'd say he can use all psychic powers requiring MoT or undivided. He might be the master of magic, but he ain't no abaddon!

I like the idea... but it's a little overpowered for 400 pts.

Crazy powerful shooting
Instadeath attacks in melee
Basic invulnerability with the saves

Things really really need to get toned down on him.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!

Zid wrote:Also I agree above, why would he have slanesh and nurgle powers? Doesn't stand up to the fluff. I'd say he can use all psychic powers requiring MoT or undivided. He might be the master of magic, but he ain't no abaddon!

Remember that Ahriman is effectively a secret, unwitting pawn of Tzeentch, he's not directly/ostensibly connected with him, and is basically self-interested. Only Magnus truly knows otherwise, and his loyalty is absolute.

kuro_khan wrote:I like the idea... but it's a little overpowered for 400 pts.

Crazy powerful shooting
Instadeath attacks in melee
Basic invulnerability with the saves

Things really really need to get toned down on him.

Keep in mind that he requires the sacrifice of at least a Chaos Sorcerer to field consistently, which adds another 100 points to his cost at minimum. In addition he effectively occupies both HQ slots. I've just clarified that Ahriman does not, and cannot be deployed from reserves as normal.

It takes roughly 11 str 8+ shots to cause him a single wound. Or 54 bolters shots. Couple that with his 4 wounds, and ability to regain wounds (albeit conditional)...

He can shoot 4 str 10 (on average) shots a turn, hitting on 2+ with a 6+ reroll. Also other psychic powers that I don't know what they do... Along with forcing a successful save to reroll.

The only things that could possibly threaten him are Psycannons (assuming he doesn't also have an armor save) and a C'tan in melee.

Can you think of a situation where you wouldn't take him? At any point level? He's a veritable army in himself.

kuro_khan wrote:It takes roughly 11 str 8+ shots to cause him a single wound. Or 54 bolters shots. Couple that with his 4 wounds, and ability to regain wounds (albeit conditional)...

He can shoot 4 str 10 (on average) shots a turn, hitting on 2+ with a 6+ reroll. Also other psychic powers that I don't know what they do... Along with forcing a successful save to reroll.

The only things that could possibly threaten him are Psycannons (assuming he doesn't also have an armor save) and a C'tan in melee.

Can you think of a situation where you wouldn't take him? At any point level? He's a veritable army in himself.

This.

And the whole he has all your enemies psychic powers and he can posess guys who suffer perils is just ott. What if multiple people suffer perils? What if it's a PBS?

It's an interesting concept, but if someone like Njal the Stormcaller who can use 2 psychic powers a turn, has only 2 wounds, isn't an eternal warriors costs 240 point, how is this justified?

Even with sacrificing a sorcerer, that's 500 point... Angron in 500 points and he's (barrin weapon skill *10*) a little better than your guy with only 2 special rules (all his attacks cause ID and everyone within 12" suffers -1 leadership) AND he's only got a 4+ save.

Really if you dumb down him just a bit and get rid of all the wacky special rules it would be fine.

It takes roughly 11 str 8+ shots to cause him a single wound. Or 54 bolters shots. Couple that with his 4 wounds, and ability to regain wounds (albeit conditional)...

Actually on approximately the 38th bolter shot, you are likely to cause a wound: (1-(.6667 * .1667 * .1667))^38 = 49.13% chance of not wounding, or a 50.87% chance of wounding.

With respect to STR 8 shots, assuming BS 4, 8 are needed before a wound becomes statistically likely: (1-(.6667 * .8333 * .1667))^38 = 45.95% chance of not wounding, or a 54.04% chance of wounding.

The ability to regain wounds never really applies, given that if your opponent was playing intelligently, the only way Ahriman would ever benefit from it is if an opposing psychic power managed to scatter into the area of effect of Warp Maelstrom. Effectively it grants him and everything within 6" of him immunity to psychic powers (of course being inside the maelstrom is dangerous even for your troops).

Can you think of a situation where you wouldn't take him? At any point level? He's a veritable army in himself.

Taking him at 500 would require you field an illegal army

EzeKK wrote:And the whole he has all your enemies psychic powers and he can posess guys who suffer perils is just ott. What if multiple people suffer perils? What if it's a PBS?

He can only possess one model while in reserve, and cannot possess while deployed, transforming peril sufferers into Chaos Spawn instead. With respect to PBS, the Ultimate Sanction applies as usual, as only the effect of the perils attack changes, and instead of resolving the perils attack, 1d3 casualties are incurred instead. Assuming no Overseer though, that's a fair point; I'll write an addendum stating that a model of your choice is selected for possession, while others suffer perils as normal in the event of collectively casting units.

Even with sacrificing a sorcerer, that's 500 point... Angron in 500 points and he's (barrin weapon skill *10*) a little better than your guy with only 2 special rules (all his attacks cause ID and everyone within 12" suffers -1 leadership) AND he's only got a 4+ save.

That's a fair point. What do you think would constitute an appropriate cost? 450? 500? 600?

Make him 300pts and give him so unique powers not the gakky ones from C;CSM 4.0!

Lord-Loss wrote:Make him 300pts and give him so unique powers not the gakky ones from C;CSM 4.0!

Wait, wait. You want to reduce his points cost?

Unfortunately with the new Space Wolf codex, he can still be instantly removed from one wound.

Skinnattittar wrote:Unfortunately with the new Space Wolf codex, he can still be instantly removed from one wound.

?

i kinda like him. codex Space Marines has 2 great counters against him... sternguard and TH/SS terminators. the terminators could tie him up for a LONG time, and have a decent chance of causing enough wounds for him to fail... and the sternguard could pump enough wounds on a 2+ rounds into him to knock him out.

I'd say cut him back to 3 wounds, drop his strength to 5 (he's a psyker master, so i'd put his strength on par with a daemon prince)

some races though, like tau, would be monumentally fethed by this guy.

Surrealistik wrote:

Skinnattittar wrote:Unfortunately with the new Space Wolf codex, he can still be instantly removed from one wound.

?

Jaws of Submission.


He does have "Perils of the Warp" and I6 against it though.

::EDIT:: Or did he mean the Loki guy? I forgot he kills whoever kills him.

ahriman is healed by psychic powers that would effect him.

Oh, right.

I think Loki can still explode all over him though.

Eww.. you got your Loki all over my Ahriman.

You got your Ahriman in my Loki!

(Zoroastrianism and Norse Paganism together at last!)

I find it funny that if you face an eldar farseer with that one rune (the ione where you roll 12+ and take a wound) or a lib with psychic hood this guy would get punked

Ahriman doesn't roll for psychic tests. Hood might work though.

They laughed at us Thousand sons players.....and then we took Badass to a whole new level .

Anyway, I like him. Maybe limit him to apoc. only though? I don't imagine now special-kid Ahriman turning up for many smaller engagements.

Space Wolves AND 1k sons player? How does that work?

Well, two things. One, that is the concept art for the Twilight Archons of Starcraft 2.

Secondly... what? 400 points is too few for a T6 2+ invul monster. I'm going to say 1000 is better. It is going to be a swirling thing of doom wandering through the enemy's lines. It can't be brought down and it'll kill everything it comes across. There is nothing an opponent can do against this but get away. It has to have some sort of weakness, because that invul is way too high on a T6 character. Maybe make it T3 Eternal Warrior? Then it'd be fine for 500 points (still a murdering monstrocity).

I like it greatly. I think 400 isnt enough but i'd say about 530pts would be more fit. It's the ability to regain wuonds that tipped it for me. (considering 700 is a warhound titan)

Also, iwht that in mind, play test it constantly with a dwarf model or somthing and see what yoru opponents honestly think about the points.

kuro_khan wrote:Space Wolves AND 1k sons player? How does that work?

We are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes, I feel like defending the Emperors realm. Other times, I just want to deny small children their 3+armour save. Yes, I'm a bad man.

DarkHound wrote:Well, two things. One, that is the concept art for the Twilight Archons of Starcraft 2.

Secondly... what? 400 points is too few for a T6 2+ invul monster. I'm going to say 1000 is better. It is going to be a swirling thing of doom wandering through the enemy's lines. It can't be brought down and it'll kill everything it comes across. There is nothing an opponent can do against this but get away. It has to have some sort of weakness, because that invul is way too high on a T6 character. Maybe make it T3 Eternal Warrior? Then it'd be fine for 500 points (still a murdering monstrocity).

Heavy weapon spam can take it out with some consistency. Takes about 8 shots on average before you're likely to score a wound; I don't think that's enough to warrant a 1000 point cost, 2 HQ slots, plus the sacrifice which is at least 100.

As for the art, it's the closest thing I could find visually to what I imagine he'd look like.

Bascilica wrote:I like it greatly. I think 400 isnt enough but i'd say about 530pts would be more fit. It's the ability to regain wuonds that tipped it for me. (considering 700 is a warhound titan)

Keep in mind that while Ahriman *can* regain wounds, he's not going to unless your opponent is slowed and deliberately fires psychic powers at him. It's basically a cooler way of saying that Ahriman and everything in a 6 inch radius about him is totally immune to hostile psychic powers.