As we chart a course for the Maelstrom and prepare to do battle with the villainous Huron Blackheart, it has come to our attention that he is not to be messed with, to put it lightly. We’re going to need some real might to contend with his brute strength and brilliant mind, and while we’d normally entreat luminary characters like Marneus Calgar and Eldrad Ulthran for help, they’re all terribly busy right now. We need new talent.
… So why not just make it ourselves?
The new Crucible of Champions book that comes as part of The Maelstrom: Lair of the Tyrant is all about crafting your own legendary champions to fight alongside – or even lead – your Warhammer 40,000 army. Each faction* has a spread of easy-to-use rules that makes it simple to whip up characterful heroes with a range of weapons and abilities, perfect for piratical Raid and Ruin campaigns** or narrative Crusades that can develop their legend further.
It all starts with an archetype, which gives our paragon their basic characteristics, keywords, abilities, and points value. It might set them up as a Space Marine officer leading units with the Tacticus keyword, or an Ork Warphead able to equip Psychic weapons and abilities. These form the foundation of your character, and are modified by everything that comes after.
You can then pick a Specialism, which typically modifies the champion’s core characteristics and keywords, and may change what units it can join. A Craftworld Warleader may throw on a Cameleoline Cloak, for example, gaining the Stealth and Infiltrator rules and letting them join Ranger units. You won’t always have a valid Specialism to choose, but you don’t always need one either – call it a sidegrade.
After that are abilities, and you do need to pick one of these – not that you wouldn’t want to. These cover an enormous variety of extra skills that really hone what your character is all about, whether it’s fixing vehicles, defending against psychic attacks, inspiring allies, or anything else. Want to represent a Cadre Fireblade with a particular knack for outmanoeuvring enemies? Take the Cunning Ambush ability and fake out their deployment decisions.
ABILITY:
CUNNING AMBUSH
After both players have deployed their armies, you can redeploy this model’s unit and one other friendly T’AU EMPIRE unit. When doing so, any of those units can be placed into Strategic Reserves, regardless of how many units are already in Strategic Reserves.
Finally, you’ll need to select a few weapons to carry into battle, with certain archetypes and Specialisms expanding or restricting your options. There are tons to pick from, and converting your miniatures to use some of the stranger options is a great test of your hobbying prowess. Let your creativity flow – your first two weapons are free, and any others only cost 5 points each!
To illustrate just how flexible these rules are, we’re going to make some datasheets for some of our favourite converted miniatures ever – the Lords of War from the Grand Narrative 2024, who took to the battlefield in a big Kill Team melee as players closed in.
Rogue Trader Kristovahl Dynost III
Imperial Agents can give the Martial Agent archetype the Rogue Trader Specialism, so they can join a bodyguard of Voidsmen or Navy Breachers. Having the ROGUE TRADER keyword also means they can take the Backroom Deals ability, which gives their squad the Infiltrators rule – a great approximation for the strange xenos artifact Kristovahl recovered that allowed her to teleport into forward positions.
A pristine power sword is the perfect close combat weapon for such a dignified character – even if the one on her model looks a little Aeldari for our pious Imperial eyes – and no Rogue Trader would be caught dead without a brace of ornate firearms, so we gave her two fearsome household pistols.
Glitcha da Psykamekk
Glitcha was a Big Mek with the stature of a Warboss, so we started with the Hordeboss archetype and the Top-tier Gubbinz Specialism to add the MEK keyword and make sure he can lead his flashiest lads. His ingenious Wurrzot Machine projected a force field around both him and his dreaded killsphere, so the Kustom Force Field ability made sense – and giving his whole unit a 4+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks is nothing to sniff at!
As far as weapons went, Glitcha was mighty proud of his enormous kustom job. We represented this with the kustom mega-blasta, while his more restrained (for an Ork) klaw seemed a good fit for the power snappa. We could also have made a version of his loyal grot underling, Zoggit, but… well, he didn’t make it.
Zar Tahyed, the Shepherd of Souls
The Dark Apostle known as Zar Tahyed presented a bit more of a challenge, as the Chaos Space Marines don’t have an archetype for a mortal cultist leader, but we eventually reasoned that his success in attaining the dreaded Nightblade of Kren’na’garh made him swell with enough Warp energy that he bulked out and became a Sorcerous Champion. Those robes are just power armour in disguise, trust us.
None of the archetypes really fit his story or abilities, so we elected not to take one, though his stirring oratory and fiery charisma made the powerful Dark Zealotry ability – letting his whole unit add 1 to their Wound rolls – a clear winner. While we could give him an exalted weapon and call it a day, we felt that sold the immense Nightblade a little short, so opted instead for the axe of dismemberment’s rules. He also gets a balefire tome to cast at his foes before he runs them through in close combat.
We’ve only scratched the surface of what you can make with the Crucible of Champions rules, and the best part is you can use them in any Warhammer 40,000 game where all players agree it’s OK, so try out some kooky combinations and build your hero’s story across multiple battles. Pre-order The Maelstrom: Lair of the Tyrant this Saturday and show us what you can create!
* Except Imperial and Chaos Knights – whose big guys are already Characters in their own right.
** Also part of The Maelstrom: Lair of the Tyrant.
