Ghazghkull – Can He Krump It?

A bit of fun from the Warhammer-community team!

Ghazghkull Thraka has returned to terrorise the galaxy with an awesome new model and some sweet new rules. Can anybody stop him? There’s only one way to find out – we’re going to pit him against some of the most deadly threats that the 41st Millennium can offer. 

But first, let’s remind ourselves of Ghazghkull’s new datasheet.

Wow, that’s an impressive profile! But to really see how good it is, we need to have him fight some of the greatest champions the far future has ever seen. So, we grabbed some models and some dice and got ready to test the Beast. To give Ghazghkull’s opponents a chance we’re going to let them have the charge – let’s see what happened.

Space Marines – the Imperium’s elite warriors, the chosen of the Emperor, but to Ghazghkull they’re little more than a warm-up. Levelling their holy bolt carbines, they watched helplessly as their shots bounced ineffectively off Ghazghkull. The Warboss was so angry that someone had dared to shoot at him that his Overwatch fire went wide as the Space Marines charged in. A whirl of paired combat blades managed to cause a single wound. In reply, Ghazghkull cut four of the Incursors in half. In the next round of combat, Ghazghkull easily dispatched the surviving Sergeant. 

Wait, what’s this? Before he died heroically in battle with the Beast, the Sergeant voxed for support in the form of a mighty Redemptor Dreadnought! Super-charging its macro plasma incinerator, the Redemptor managed to cause four wounds on the Prophet of Gork and Mork. Ghazghkull managed to hit in Overwatch this time, but not even Gork’s Roar could penetrate the metal hide of the Dreadnought. In combat, the Redemptor managed to score three hits, all of which successfully wounded. However, Ghazghkull made his three invulnerable saves to shrug off the hits. In reply, he hit with all five attacks and all five wounded, causing 20 damage, leaving the Dreadnought nothing but a smouldering wreck. 

It’s the other star of the Prophecy of the Wolf boxed set. We imagine that if Ghazghkull thought about such things, he’d be upset that the word “wolf” is in the title but the word “ork” isn’t. We hope he doesn’t take out that frustration on Ragnar!

Squeezing off a pistol shot, Ragnar charged into the fray, Overwatch fire ricocheting from his armour. Out of nine hits made with Frostfang, three wounded but one was saved by Ghazghkull’s invulnerable save, leaving the Ork with four damage.

In reply, Ghazghkull hit four times, but then disaster struck – only two of those attacks wounded and both bounced off Ragnar’s Belt of Russ! That was where Ragnar’s luck ran out though, and Ghazghkull easily beat him in the next round of combat. Raising his voice to the heavens, he then demanded that the battlebox be renamed Prophecy of the Waaagh! Come on Ghazghkull, isn’t it enough that we’re called Games WORKshop?

Next up is Ghazghkull’s oldest nemesis. You name it, the Commissar tried it – storm bolter, power klaw, the Bale Eye, nothing could even scratch the Beast. In reply, Yarrick’s Power Field deflected a couple of hits, but not even his Iron Will could keep him in this fight. Who’s going to give Ghazghkull a decent scrap on Armageddon now?

The Primarch of the Ultramarines, the Avenging Son, Lord Commander of the Imperium – if only Ghazghkull was impressed by titles!

The Hand of Dominion roared fire, causing two wounds to Ghazghkull – the Warboss managed to do a wound in return in Overwatch. Sticking with the Hand of Dominion, Guilliman punched the Ork Warboss in the face six times, but thanks to his invulnerable save and ability to only take four wounds in a phase, he survived.

Since he gets angrier as he gets more badly wounded, Ghazghkull struck back with six attacks, all of which hit and wounded. Fortunately, Roboute passed five invulnerable saves, keeping him alive on four wounds. Ghazghkull repeated the trick in the next round of combat, but it seemed luck had deserted Guilliman this time until his Armour of Fate returned him to battle with two wounds remaining.

After some ineffectual shooting, Guilliman again punched Ghazghkull. Usually, he would have done 16 wounds, but that Prophet of Gork and Mork rule kept the Ork alive, and both heroes were down to their last two wounds. But Ghazghkull still had to strike, this time with seven(!) attacks. When the dice had settled, Guilliman needed to make seven invulnerable saves, and only managed six! Ghazghkull had put down a Primarch.

Right, Ghazghkull, let’s see how you handle one of these. A couple of hits from a thermal cannon soon wiped the smile off Ghazghkull’s face. Three hits from a reaper chainsword would have killed most other characters in the game, but the Prophet of Gork and Mork rule ensured that Ghaghkull would only take four wounds. In reply, the Ork caused 12 wounds back to the massive war engine. In the next round of combat, Ghazghkull delivered another 12 wounds. He had destroyed the Knight, but had taken eight wounds in return.

Well, the cream of the Imperium couldn’t stop Ghazghkull, maybe the chosen of Tzeentch can – will book smarts beat pure brute force?

Thanks to the Gaze of Magnus, the Daemon Primarch would have caused six wounds, but again Ghazghkull’s special rule reduced it to just four. Overwatch fire couldn’t slow down Magnus, and his blade scored seven hits and six successful wound rolls. Four successful invulnerable saves saw the Beast take just three wounds.

Tzeentch was just as kind to Magnus as he also passed four invulnerable saves, taking four wounds in return. Another successful casting of Smite took Ghazghkull down to just one remaining wound.

Swinging the Gork’s Klaw, Ghazghkull managed seven hits, five of which wounded, but Magnus made a pair of successful invulnerable saves. The sire of the Thousand Sons was down to just two Wounds. In return, Magnus managed four wounding hits, and not even two invulnerable saves could keep Ghazghull in the fight. It had taken the foul magicks of the warp empowering one of the Emperor’s own sons, but finally somebody had stopped Waaagh! Ghazghkull.

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What did we learn from all of those dice rolls? Well, when we call Ghazghkull “the Beast”, it’s because he is an absolute beast. His Prophet of Gork and Mork rule makes him incredibly tough to bring down and he hits incredibly hard.

In light of recent events, sadly you won’t be able to pick up a physical copy of Psychic Awakening: Saga of the Beast yet, but you can still pre-order the digital ePub version, which will be available this weekend. In any case, join us over on the Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page and let us know how you’re going to try and deal with Ghazghkull. Warning – he’ll probably krump you!

And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!