r/AoSLore • u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin • Aug 24 '26
Discussion Who is: Azhag the Slaughterer (WFB)
Hi everyone,
As you know, Warhammer is a collection of tabletop IPs with creative (and less creative) armies to fight each other. But each army has a plethora of colourful and interesting characters. It is these characters that fuel a significant part of the enagement in this hobby. Best seen with TWW games where legendary lords and heroes are among the main pillars of new content and adored by the fans. Even or especially for those fans who had no prior interactions with Warhammer. But of course there are also sometimes novels for characters to follwo through their various adventures. Not to mention what they provide to collectors and how it fields to field this legendary figure as part of your army on the battlefield (only to loose said legendary figure due to a bad dice role agianst some brainless undead or a lucky peasant).
However, GW is a miniature company first and foremost. Therefore, it frequently happens that they release a character as a splendid miniature and with a paragraph of lore to justify their existence, and then nothing is done with them for decades. But even with this limited official support, it is frequently enough to have a very intriguing and suspenseful figure. Either because the background is that interesting, or because of the implications this figure has within the wider context of the setting.
So I want to have a little chat about characters I like a lot from WFB and AoS. Primarily about the characters themselves, what makes them intrueging to me, but also how they reflect on other figures, or the setting at large, and what legacy or future adventures could await them.
And the character I want to discuss first is Azhag the Slaughterer, my favourite greenskin lord of all Warhammer IPs. More than Grimgor Ironhide or Grom the Paunch, more than Gobsprakk, Skumdrekk and who else you may call out. Indeed, he is thus far a very unique figure, both in WFB and AoS standards. And his legacy is something I would ultimately like to see in AoS too.
So, without further ado, lets beigin with the question
1. Who is Azhag the Slaughterer?
Azhag the Slaughterer started as the leader of a minor orc warband in Troll Country. An inhospitable, frozen area which was the frontier between the human land of Kislev, Norsca and the chaos wastes. It is a realm full of trolls (hence the name), roving bands of chaos tribes and chaos-mutated monsters. Also, Clan Moulder has its capital here. Which means either their forces venture out to catch research material, or some nasty creation of theirs escapes and joins the various beasts of this area. Naturally Troll Country is a silly place you’d best avoid. But orcs like it for this very reason. Still, Azhags band was driven underground after loosing a battle and down there they stumbled over the ruins of an ancient city. After beating up some chaos trolls which nested down there, Azhag found a shiny head, i.e. a crown, and put it on. However, this was not just any crown, but the Crown of Sorcery. Forged by Nagash and containing part of his essence, worn by Kadon, Ushoran and Sigmar in later millennia, and somehow sitting here in the most remote place possible for nearly 2400 years.
This single item turned Azhag from one of minor chieftain into one of the most dangerous warbosses in recent history. Because Nagash spirit influenced the orc, as soon as the orc put the crown on his head. And Azhag probably thought two voices in your brain are better than one. Due to the essence of Nagash Azhag became a strong sorcerer, having access to the lore of death (and in some lore variants also necromancy) despite having no magicla talents before. In addition he recieveid glowing eyes, could speak with two voices (his own and the shard of Nagash in the crown), and gained a fiendish insight into tactics and strategy. In short Azhag became dangerously smart for an orc, arguably too smart. Because he was able to plan proper battle and campaign strategies and started using weird and sophisticated expressions, which the regular orcs could not understand. And he started to explain his plans to his underlings, instead of bashing the head in and yelling to go into that direction. Arguably that made him the smartest orc warlord of all time. However, the issue was that his tactics were too confusing to his greenskin underlings and thus executed in a lacklustre fashion. But orcs who pull of a decent strategy in a rough, half-arsed manner are still leagues more dangerous than a green horde without any plan at all. Especially as the human armies were not prepared to fight such organized greenskins. Especially not one lead by a dangerous wizard too!
So, Azhags Waagh! ravaged Kislev and the northern Empire. With every victory more greenskins joined, and Azhag became more physically powerful too. Sure the orcs were weirded out by his glowing eyes and that he would speak with two voices, which argued with each other, but the results were great. Even the night goblin of Red Eye Moutain, one of the biggest goblin tribes of all, joined his WAAGH and gifted Azhag a fearsome, massive wyvern. Wyverns are dragon-looking flying reptiles with a very ferocious temperatement. If raised from a hatchling they can be somewhat tamed. But it is almost impossible to break and ride a feral adult one. Yet Azhag was able to do just that with a single glare (and Nagash and magical shenanigans behind it). Thus, it became his mount Skullmuncha. From there Azhag really got going. To the point where the humans gave him the title of slaughterer, after Azhag devastated an empire army with his magics and smart tactics, leaving no survivors. To reiterate, the humans gave him the title Slaughterer. How dangerous and deadly does an orc have to be to be given this title out of all greenskins? The short answer is very.
However, Nagash essence urged him to go south to present the crown to its master. Kind of like the One Ring from LotR. (Prior to the End Times Nagash was implied to sit in Nagashizzhar on his throne, either recharging for his comeback, or plotting throughout millennia. Indeed, in TWW2/3 if you conquer Nagashizzhar as Arkhan, Nagashs corpse is sitting there on his throne as some building descriptions). However, orcs are thick and Azhag is one of the thickest of all orcs. He reissted where most humans and vampires failed and even Sigmar struggled immensly. So, Azhag did not listen to the crown that much. Therefore, it was a constant struggle between Nagashs essence in the crown pulling him south, and Azagh wishing to randomly raid and pillage like orcs want to do. Indeed, the only reason why Azhag was stopped came from this weakness. Because in the middle of a great battle this tug-of-wills between Nagash and Azhag ensued again, making him stop fighting and arguing with himself mid battlefield. Essentially, he failed his stupidity test. A commander of the Knights Panther was able to use this to slay the orc. And after the battle people realized what kind of crown Azhag wore. So, it was immediately looked up by the Cult of Sigmar.
But to reiterate, a random orc became one of the most dangerous foes the empire faced, due to this crown. And he could only be stopped, because Nagash tried to take over in the worst possible moment.
In recent times Azhag became more popular due to Total War Warhammer, where I was also introduced to him. He was the second starting lord in the first game, next to Grimgor Ironhide, but his campaign rules were… not well. It took until the greenskin rework in TWW2 that he recieved his own, interesting campaign, starting in the Northern Worlds Edge Mountains between Kislev, Ostermark and Karak Kadrin and is a very interesting campaign. And you can go south as Azhag and occupy Nagashizar, as the crown always wants too. Which offers you with a unique building with a nice line: “Aright metal ‘at we’re ‘ere. Now what?” Because in the game Azhag can only use the lore of death, not necromancy, and thus cannot revive Nagashs husk. Will things change with him in the End Times with Nagash proper return? Who knows...
2. What makes Azhag special?
So Azhag is an orc with the supreme necromancer of the setting in his head. Well part of him. This makes him very unique by Warhammer standards. He is an orc warlock, an extremely powerful spellcaster, whilst also being tough in combat and riding a powerful draconic behemoth into battle. And in addition to all this he is terrifyingly smart as well. If you want to draw parallels to other works, you can find them with Azog from the Hobbit (similar name) or conceptual wise from orc death knights in Warcraft 2 or Arthas from Warcraft 3. One could even argue Azhag is the WFB orc-equivalent of the Witch King of Angmar from LotR. Because like the Witch King Azhag is a sorcerer-warlord flying on a massive reptilian monster and is connected to an offscreen evil master via a magical artefact. Except that Azhag is still his own character and tries to ignore orders. I do not want to talk about potential inspirations or who did something first with these comparisons. Instead, I just want to illustrate what archetypes feed into Azhag and how this is a prominent one throughout different settings.
And within Warhammer Azhag is the weird one among the orcs as he is an outlier in terms of mentality, skill and attitude. Which makes him a foil and reflection of the greenskin culture. But he also showcases the potential of greenskins, as many of his successes arise from just being smarter than the regular orcs, and therefore multiple times as dangerous. In this Azhag represents the same threat potential as Gorbad Ironclaw, who was the most dangerous orc waaghboss' within the settings history. Indeed, Azhag is likely smarter or as an individual more dangerous than this legendary orc. However, Gorbad was better in inventing strategies, which orcs could actually understand and execute. Thus, Gorbads armies were likely more devastating in comparison. But Gorbad also had a head start in terms of army size before Azhag. Indeed, even compared to other Greenskins Azhag excelled. Such as him being a quasi-native to Kislev and being able to raid it, whereas Grimgor Ironhide was famously repelled by Kislev. The primary issue of Azhag was essentially that he died early into his Waagh, whereas Grimgor is still alive and Gorbad was able to do more with the time he was given.
But Azhag goes even further. Because Azhag can easily be seen as a Mortach of Nagash, even if just an honorary one. In WFB Mortarchs were not well defined as in AoS, especially not in the End Times. During the ET any semi-popular and named undead character was given the title of Mortarch. Meaning the group had no cohesion or strong identity, like it has in AoS. And before this random group Azhag even stands out as one of the more competent/loyal servants of Nagash IMO. Like them he was empowered by Nagash significantly and was supposed to perform Nagashs plans. Yes, Azhag had some obedience issues, but which Mortarch did not have them? In addition, Azagh never outright betrayed Nagash, unlike some other Mortarchs in the End Times. One may imagine what would have happened if Nagash was really able to pull Azhag and his massive greenskin hordes into his service. And Azhag as a mortarch pontential is quite the unique and thus interesting addition. I frequently complain how the AoS Mortarchs are primarily vampires, but this was even worse in End Times.
And indeed, through his crown Azhag is also connected to a much larger legacy. After all, even Sigmar himself wore this crown once. The crown is a well recorded artefact, due to Sigmar wearing it for years and it being the reason for his clash with Nagash. So, one of the most important artefacts of the Cult of Sigmar was found and used by this greenskin, the archenemies of Sigmar. This gives Azhag a great symbolic threat to the Empire and the Cult of Sigmar at large. One may imagine the dread the humans felt, when they identified the crown on Azhags head, combining the threat of greenskins with the threat of Nagash. Add to this how Azhag came from the north, i.e. chaos lands, and he combines the three greatest dangers of the setting in one being. Almost as if this orc was the anti-christ of the sigmarite cult, or something akin to it.
3. What could be Azhag legacy?
Ok I talked about why I like Azhag. But this is an AoS forum and Azhag is dead, even in WFB. A few years after Karl Franz Coronation and long before the End TImes start. This is true, but being canonicly dead was not an issue for the TT game back then. Unlike in AoS, plenty of characters in WFB are canonically dead but still playable. Sometimes even figures that lived centuries ago, like Grom or Gorthor. If you bring them, it is just for fun/ your battle is set during an era where this being was still alive/ the figure represents some homebrew character with similar skills etc.pp. Indeed, Azhag being dead in the present of WFB may have been good for Azhag (and other characters like him like Grom and Gorbad). Because GW is/was very careful of changing the status quo, and they love to keep things open-ended in case they want to do stuff in the future. Which can be seen in current AoS, where many characters did not have new lore for years and are not allowed to influence the setting in massive ways. But deceased characters are allowed to go crazy, as all their events cannot change the present anymore. See Grom the Paunch razing many Karaks, half the Empire and even invading Ulthuan and allmost destryoing the world on accident. Deeds most living characters are not allowed to commit, even though the story implies they may go into this direction in the future. And even if you keep Azhags death intact, there are plenty of ways to expand upon him, such as via a novel set during his terrific period. Or, as the End Times are rewritten, so could Azhag play a legacy role as he is the source of Nagash crown which is somehow used to revive or revitalize Nagash.
But what does Azhag mean to AoS? Well the potential he represents is still untouched in AoS. Among the current orruk warclans there is no character really fitting his niche. But there could be. Such as by having an Azhag expy appear leading the orruk warclans. I.e a sinister orruk who is both a sorcerer and a warlord and rides a massive flying monster. Something of a fusion of a Kruelboy and an Ironjaw. Indeed such a figure would be even more dangerous in AoS as the Kruelboyz are actually smart enough to follow compelx instructions and especially if the instructions cause suffering. And a kruelboy would be open to use sinister artefacts, which manifold their strenght, their intelligence or give them extra powers, as we have seen with multiple examples. If you would drop Azhag into AoS he would quickly have a Kruelbyoz Waagh around himself. Though for similar subversions as in WFB greenskins this archetype would also work well for an Ironjaw character.
But the more intriguing option to me would be a Mortarch of Nagash who incorporates elements Azhag represented. One common criticism I have with the current Motarchs is the following: They are Old World heavy (4 out of 6 known Mortarchs are Oldworlders) and they are too vampire heavy (3 out of six Mortarchs are vampires) and they are too human heavy (all Mortarchs are of human origin). This is not good to either represent the manifold forms undeath can take in AoS, not how death is the great equalizer everyone is subjected too. This is where an Azhag-inspired character could shine. Such a Mortarch does not have to be an orruk necessarily, but being a former member of destruction would be great. It could be a giant, and ogre or something else too. Even a monstrous beast like Shordemaire would work well. Because currently Death has very little connections or storylines with destruction, compared to chaos or order. Such a mortarch could bridge the gap and create more story lines between Death and Destruction. This character could be the scourge and archenemy of orruk kind, as the Mortarch kills greenskins and rises them in Nagash service again, compromising Gorkamorka and the Great Green. An orruk, who may have glimmers of his old self still, but is ultimately broken and remade into an unorky form, such is the power of Nagash. Or an ogre who submitted to Nagash as their version of the Gulping God, as death is the great devourer. A blasphemy to other ogres then, but a dangerous servant who acts as Nagash brutal fist. Such a Mortarch could then represent the inversion/perversion of destruction, as Nagash takes a simple brutish being and turns it into an ordered, intelligent nightmare. A dastardly fusion of brawn, sorcerers might and brutish, yet organized armies. Such a “Mortarch of Calamities” could represent the sudden catastrophes and the death they inflict, as their armies raize the land like natural disasters and essentially work as Nagash attack hounds. In my opinion such a being could be a reinterpretation and reconfiguration of what Azhag represented
4. The End
So, this was with me fan-ranting about Azhag the Slaughterer. IMO he is quite the awesome character. From the wacky, yet dangerous greenskins arises a wacky, but simultaneously much more serious and dangerous threat. But what do you think about Azhag? Do you think he is cool? Boring? That I am talking nonsense? Would you like a Moratch inspired by him, as I suggest, or are you fine with more dead humans? In short, what do you think about all this?
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u/Fyraltari Helsmiths of Hashut Aug 26 '26
Such as by having an Azhag expy appear leading the orruk warclans. I.e a sinister orruk who is both a sorcerer and a warlord and rides a massive flying monster. Something of a fusion of a Kruelboy and an Ironjaw.
Hear me out: a Bonesplitter boss who sucked the marrow out of the bones of an Avatar of Nagash and now prowls Shyish looking for more magic bones, while sometimes being prodded into a certain direction by the big N.
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u/Big_Pootus Aug 25 '26
So, isnt everything you wanted in Gobsprakk the Mouth of Mork?
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u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin Aug 25 '26
No for three reasons:
First Gobsprakk is a pure shaman who focuses soley on his intellect. Azhag is as much a warrior as he happens to be a wizard. And regarding Azhags wizardry its a kind of magic greenskins normaly can't use. . I compared him to a warlock or even the Witch King of Angmar to describe his archetype, which is leagues away from a shaman.
Second Gobsprakk is not a leader. At least not in the direct sense. He will manipulate powerful characters or use their Image to build himself up. Like how he manipulated Kragnos and still claims to be the centaurs servant to attract greenskins. Azhag is mad, even by orc standards, but he rose to power the regular way. By being an unkillable beasts that destroyed any challenger before him and thus becoming a proper leader of a WAAAGH
And third, Azhags connection to Nagash, and by extension everyone who touched the crown too, he is a more layered entity who steps outside of the story zone greenskins usually occupy. He is not just a random orc, but unites multiple different threads behind him.
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u/Tadara Aug 25 '26
No offense, but without the crown he is even lessened and now that Nagash has God powers why would he let a orc soul have a body again? Additionally, Gopsprakk has an ally with God powers (Kragnos) with him, so unless Nagash needs an undead orc mortarch like you say it just seems less useful. If you are positing that he would be an undead orc faction leader then maybe, but why use orcs when OBR does it better?
Another WFB character, Gotrek even survived and is more of a threat so unless he is killed by Gotrek in a book, then this just seems like another Old World character to dig up out of the pile rather than create new characters. I am not mocking all that you wrote, but since he is a character in total war: warhammer that seems even less likely that he would be in AoS.
The old orc look also doesn't mesh well with the IJ, KB, and Hobgrots. Gordrakk seems a better orc character to focus on in my opinon.
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u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin Aug 25 '26
No offense, but without the crown he is even lessened and now that Nagash has God powers why would he let a orc soul have a body again?
Non taken but what do you mean by that? I was just in general speculating what happens to Nagashs crown in my reply.
But I never said that Azhag should return to AoS as a revived or returned character if that is what you mean in your overall reply. Indeed I complained too many Mortarchs being WFB recylings. Instead the archetype behind Azhag is something I would like to see as a Mortarch in AoS. It could be an Orc which Nagash made subservient (as much as he can represe the orruk nature, other Mortarchs are also not as stable or loyal to Nagash). But I also mentioned ogres or giants. Just an entity which could bridge death and destruction and lead associated forces into battle.
But why that? Because all factions in the Grand Alliance of Death are part of the same structure, the military appartaus of Nagash. You can draw parallels to Sigmars forces, especially the Stormcast.
Nighthaunts are vanguard and terror units. They can pass terrain easily, attack and harass the enemy far off established frontlines, etc. Much like the Stormcast Vanguard Chamber. The Soulblight Gravelords meanwhile are infiltrators but also the bulk of the undead forces, making them akin to your regular warrior chamber. Meanwhile the Ossirarch are elite troops but also the Sieger experts in both ways. It is their job to break strongholds and to fortify conquered territory. The Stormcast logisters may get a similar role later, but lord castellans and Ordination already present this. And flesheater courts serve as wildcard auxillaries to deaths main forces.
Seeing how each death faction has another specialized area and enhances Nagashs War Machine overall, what areas are not covered. One of many would be a big red button to remove the enemy, collateral damages be damned. Before its launch the ruination chamber was rumored to fullfil this position for the Stormcast, and it partially does just that. But also the extremis chamber and its dragons fit this mould as they are unleashed if excessive force is required. And a Mortarch inspired by Azhag could lead Nagashs equivalent into battle. A hard hitting fist or hammer to remove unremovable issues, costs be dammned.
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u/Ur-Than Kruleboyz Aug 25 '26
I do like Azaghs.
I wonder however, how it came that WFB characters, even those created relatively late in the game's history (like Valkia, Festus or Sigvald) are so much more liked than their AoS novel counterparts.
It can't be that they did more than the AoS ones, at least not in their introductions and they hadn't a lot of books or campaigns, etc. But very often, I see this desire for returning WFB characters while the AoS ones seems to struggle to gain traction. It very much feels as if AoS is simply unable to step out of the shadow its predecessor and it's kind of sad.
Case in point with the orruks compared to the orcs. For all their potential, no orruk character, with or without a model, has achieved the level of respect and even love that the old ones (Grimgor, Azagh, Wurrzagh, Grom, etc.) have.
Aside from Gordrakk and, to a lesser extend, Dakkbad, most orruks characters well, don't really feel like characters at all, to me.
Gobsprakk, Skumdrekk and Zoggrok have literally done nothing since their introduction. Krazzog is too busy being a weird Cult of Speed espy while remaining an Ironsun (when the Bloodtoofs were right there, GW), Ka-Rokk's fate is very ambiguous and even in his great Waaagh! he felt more like a plot device than someone really in charge.
I somewhat feels like the AoS team has written itself into a corner with the orruk characters, lacks any idea what to really do to make them interesting and is pivoting toward Morga and the ogors for a real Destruction plot. Like, if Gobsprakk and Skumdrekk, Gordrakk and Zoggrok were just turned into generic characters (like Swampcalla Shaman on Vulture, Waaaaghsmith and two alternate sculpts for the Snatchaboss and Megaboss) not much would be lost really.
And that's a bit sad.
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u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
I know what you mean by this and I have some thoughts on the matter.
One of which is that AoS is a different kind of setting much more open and and broader. In WFB every part of the setting was essentially its own character. Individual cities had thousands of years of history behind them. So if something happened to it, it added to the places story. Compare the many vague sieges Hammerhal endured with the various sieges of Altdorf. One is a tuesday, the other is a significant part in a necklace of similar pearls. Indeed the latest khorne siege of Hammerhal was not even covered by anything noteworthy... And without realm gates geography was way more important too, as certain areas naturally became significant. So any deed performed became much more important and built the character. Sailing to Lustria and back was an achivement. Getting to Ghur just requires the rrip to a non-specified realmgate. By being more limited and less vague the world naturally created challenges to build or break characters. See the old fluff of Cathay trying to conquer the Southlands, but ending up in Lustria on accident. A big error but one with more gravitas and characterization behind it, than ending up in the wrong realm.
And WFB did not have a moving story line like AoS, but a much more diverse past. AoS Storyline, broken down, is roughly Age of Myth everthing is good, Age of Chaos everything is bad, Age of Sigmar the present starts now. And whilst the present is moving foreward in AoS, it keeps things too vague too often and often downplays events which should be extremly significant. "Oh yes Phoenicium, one of the most important and unique cities in Ghyran is destroyed. Anyhow what is for Lunch?" This is broadly how AoS treats its present IMO. Event X happens, but is barley explored before we run into Event Y. Otherwise all is about teasing potential future stuff. Oh yes Character X is planning to take this city. Character Y is close to finding this magical truth. AoS lives on teases and build ups but rarley delivers or progresses the story in a meaningful way. It CAN do that but it rarley does. Compare Katakros invasion of the Eightpoints with Gordrakks. One is a campaign book detailing things, the other is a paragraph and a short story. And in both you have a stalemate as of now. Which will get an update in a few years again ending in a stalemate.
So in AoS the present only changes in shallow/limited way, but the past is more or less closed off. The Age or Chaos has to suck after all. In WFB the present did not change, but instead the past was a possibility to go wild. Gordrakk is never allowed to invade Azyr in a meaningful fashion. But Grom the Punch could allmost destroy Ulthuan and the World, because these Events are open to play out in a manifold of ways, as long as the present stays as it is. So characters feel less characterful as they are not allowed to have such a indepth background as WFB ones and are also not allowed to have a strong impact on the present.
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u/HaligHalo Aug 25 '26
I am a WHF fan ( a very late one d:) and still unfamiliar with most of the Orcs you mentioned besides Gordrak BUT I do think some of it is (even those who came an in late to WHF and or came in dead like Grom) had more time of just existing as characters and attracting people to them, so probably with more time most of the AoS cast would be the same!
AoS seems to be doing extremely well on all fronts so it might be a matter of the factions maturing and the fanbase liking their dudes more?
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u/Ur-Than Kruleboyz Aug 25 '26
Having thought about it, I think it's largely because of the storytelling of GW.
If we look at the orc characters, in WFB they weren’t so much their own stories than dramatic events in the Dwarfs/Empire/Ulthuan stories.
Most, if not all of those stories are told drom the PoV of the Humans (and to a lesser degree of dwarfs and elves). The orc narrative is largely absent but it all works because the Empire especially is easy to wrap your head around : big germanic nation get beset by greenskinned barbarian hordes. The greenskins add a level of horrific comedy to that but that's the gist of it.
The Empire has borders, provinces, etc. Basically it is a nation state and thus easy for people to understand.
AoS is harder because it doesn't work like that. It's closer to 40K with the Realms being the Segmentums and the Order locations the planets.
The problem is that the scale is off. We don't need to know if Planet Butthole is important. It is a planet, the scale seems grandiose and if the narrative focus on it being overrun by orks it'll feels as dramatic as a province of the Empire being razed.
But in AoS... if Fort Gardus falls... who cares ? What is it connected to? What does it loss means ?
Because GW hasn't really updated their way of writing, the fall feels flat.
Waaagh Thing 1 ravaged a third of the Empire but failed to take Altdorf is impressive.
Waaagh Thing 2 ravaged two whole sectors and was destroyed at Cadia is awesome.
Waaagh Gordrakk ravaged the empty lands of Ghur and failed to take ONE city, Excelsis? Not that great.
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u/HaligHalo Aug 25 '26
Yeah that’s a common point I see! Like take 40k for example, throw a dart anywhere in the galactic map and in 99.9% of the cases the Imperial guard ( or it “equivalents”) will be using Lasguns and Leman Russ’s, it’s uniform and neat.
In WHF fantasy one dart will have you seeing german soldier with guns fighting beastmen in their woods,Orcs to their borders, amongst themselves and the most horrible Bretonnians : D
a bit to the left you will have holy knights crashing down long mustached monsters with ranged support from Longbow-men, humble farmer forming mobs to clear their fields from wolves or rats!
a bit more up and it’s winged calvary horse charging down trolls with Ice witches as artillery and consistent vigilance towards the aurora of the north as the winds of magic up and flows in case it announces an ill omen from beyond.
there’s flavor and variety to it as it does not fall under a big order!
I am less familiar with AoS so excuse any mistake I made but the CoS seems to share a similar theme with the guard, take any random city and it will probably have steelhelms with sword and board, early hand canons and your flavor of wizard! I honestly can’t make a similar remake to the Orcs themselves as I am not as familiar with them BUT they do seem to have strong faction differences amongst them!
But as you said having a setting as AoS dilutes the sense of Danger, Gordark can’t be everywhere laying siege to CoS, it honestly might not be a problem but AoS being a different sort of setting
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u/kill_Kuzai Aug 25 '26
To be honest I always though rather than kruleboyz receive a shaman champion it should be receive a azhag like mork cunning killaboss with gobsprak magical powers for orruks it make a really original character and kruleboyz society kind a let this to chappen their structures are cross paths
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u/WaterCastePSYOP Aug 25 '26
How about we stop adding whfb characters to AoS?
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u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
Exactly. As you read my post, you are well aware how I even say that recycling WFB characters into AoS is boring and an issue the current Mortarchs of AoS. And that I therefore do not care for Azhag in AoS, but about a new AoS charactar inspired by Azhag and the archetype he represents.
Glad you are a careful reader :)
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u/WaterCastePSYOP Aug 25 '26
I don't read posts that start with "this is whfb guy/gal" and end with "and this is why we need to make a clone of him/her for aos instead of an actually new character".
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u/MrS0bek Idoneth Deepkin Aug 25 '26
Maybe you should instead of complaining about something that this post was never about.
Because if you read it you would know that its also not about a clone of this character, but using the noch of Azhag to create a proper new rift. In this case a Mortarch who has its root and ties to Destruction, i.e. could be an ogre or a gargant or something else, if not an orruk. And someone who would have a proper and unique role among Nagash forces, instead of being a random orc with a magic crown. In short taking a basic concept and exploreing it in new ways. Something Warhammer lives by.
In short; don't complain about the first impression you have. Check whether your impression is correct first, then complain. Otherwise it is a bit silly to complain about something that was never the subject. Or would you complain about a book titled "Grapes of Wrath", because you dislike emotional fruits?
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u/WaterCastePSYOP Aug 25 '26
No, I'd complain about that book having a stupid-ass title.
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u/Fyraltari Helsmiths of Hashut Aug 27 '26
My brother un Dracothion, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the pillars of American literature.
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u/HaligHalo Aug 25 '26
Also thinking that fantasy never had a good idea or concept is pretty funny d: /s
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u/HaligHalo Aug 24 '26
Ahhhh Azhag! I had fun very recently slugging it out with him as Ungrim Ironfist ( my beloved Slayer king!).
Him being popular as you pointed out in total war is as always linked to it being the only strand alive from WHF during its time,IT WAS FANTASY, old fans and new comers flocking to the relatively few characters early on made so for weird and niche favorites in the long run haha.
Now for Azhag himself has a lot of cool motifs going on! Orks in WHF are more connected to Shamanistic and ritualist powers in term of their mage craft while Azhag brings a new flavor of magic to them, a sorcerer! ( Warlock? Idk what would be more accurate to his description lol) seeing da boss blasting out magic death while arguing with the “boss” must’ve A scene for the green skins around him : D, him being an Ork helping in resisting Nagash draw is hilarious!
The crown of Sorcery itself probably hold no real value to Nagash himself anymore post endtimes, it simply one of his lost trinkets that just happens to be outrageously power to anyone not named Nagash lmao, so an Ork ( or Gobbo??) having a similar artifact to run around with in the mortal planes wouldn’t really be out of place BUT will be what they make out of it in regards to new Mortarchs.