End Times: Archaon

[Undying Scourge]

Right that's it I have to vent my frustrations.

All I can say about this is that I am very, very, very disappointed. I am greatly saddened that the only character in Warhammer I truly cared about and loved as a fictional character, Nagash, presumably died in such a pathetic manner, betrayed by his minions, his Black Pyramid, the greatest structure ever built by human hands, destroyed behind his back by SKAVEN vermin, mocked by the badly-written childish gods he sought to vanquish, panicking and despairing as he turned to dust, all his dreams of power crushed. What a kick in the teeth; though at first I thought this to be a really great ending when I read about it online (since I can't afford the book), that it was like Elric of Melnibone, and Ragnarok; the more I've found out, the more disappointed I've become.

Why did they bother setting Nagash up as the true hero of Warhammer, building all this excitement, a man that would become a god, only to then make him a pathetic weakling forced to ally with the living and then die betrayed and helpless, completely outshone by everyone else. He doesn't even get to battle Archaon, he's not even good enough for that apparently, as he is beaten to it by none other than Sigmar, who apparently wasn't dead and is actually a god. It's a depressing ending. Everything they ever did is completely and utterly pointless. All the battles, the wars, their ambitions, all futile. All that history and backstory they wrote, the different lands, the places, the people, the characters, all for nothing, invalidated, destroyed. I feel like they've distracted me with false hopes and honeyed words, then punched me in the stomach and stolen all my money, leaving me feeling like a fool.

Games Workshop is the perfect example of corporate greed, of a company that is too big for its boots, that thinks it can behave with impunity and rip people off. All they care about it making money, and this whole end times thing was just one of many short-term schemes where they built excitement, sold a crapload of books and models, then turned around and said "thanks for your money, now go **** a duck".

They have this obsession with the Chaos Gods, since they represent THEM, or rather, their ideal of themselves as a company, in the warhammer universe, a group of untouchable beings that do what they want, playing with the beings, or customers, who swarm beneath them like ants. They're just a cheap plot device that basically make everything pointless in the end, and serve only to stroke the ego of Games Workshop. Since they have now confirmed that everything is the will of Chaos and that everything that ever happens is because the Chaos Gods want it and that Chaos is the most powerful and Chaos is unstoppable and Chaos is great and Chaos is Chaos is Chaos is Chaos is Chaos is - ahem, I will have nothing more to do with this hobby.

For me, Nagash was the epicentre of Warhammer, the rotten, desiccated heart of the whole setting, and the first book of the end times really made me think that, for once, the Chaos Gods would not be omnipotent, omniscient beings untouchable by anyone, and that Nagash would actually be able to challenge them and defeat them and take them down a few notches in arrogance. Sadly that was not the case, and now I feel like a complete idiot for investing so much effort, spending so much money and wasting so much time on the End Times, the models, and the books. I regret it all now. Thanks Games Workshop, for the first time ever, I am actually considering ridding myself of all my Warhammer and 40k models.

It seems that all my favourite fantasy settings go exactly the way I don't want them to - Nagash dies a pathetic death in Warhammer, the Lich King dies a pathetic death in Warcraft etc. etc. Why is it that the undead never get to win in these settings? For me it would have been a far more preferable ending if Nagash actually won, turned the world into a barren wasteland devoid of all life, and showed the Chaos Gods that they are not the masters they think they are. They could still have rebooted the setting since the chaos gods would move onto another world. But noooo, we just needed another reminder of how pointless Warhammer is and that really, we're all powerless and idiotic - or at least that's what Games Workshop believes.

Well, for me, this is just motivating me even more to finish writing my own book so that I can actually have things go the way I want them to.

On another note, is it ever revealed who the Nameless is? Is he really Constant Drachenfels? Also, is Abhorash mentioned at all? Why did Isabella turn to Chaos? Why did the Nameless join Nurgle?

 

[Sception]

Venting is fine, but three things:

1) getting jayed by skaven is practically Nagash's thing. I personally think the undead in general, and Nagash in particular, had a great showing in Archaon all round.

2) Yes, the End Times were messy here and there, but overall they were a very effortful, high production value send off for a game that had become unprofitable. It's one thing to complain about greed driving things, but you cannot expect a company to continue producing a product that isn't profitable, and you usually can't expect a company to put nearly as much effort or money into saying goodbye as GW has. Yes, there are places the end times could have been better, but they were anything but a lazy display of corporate greed.

3) Nagash, Dark Knight jokes aside, was never the hero of the warhammer world. He was just an alternative apocalypse. And maybe if the undead were the chief antagonists of the setting, the world would have ended with Nagash snuffing out all life. But we're not. The chief antagonists have always been the forces of chaos, and 'chaos eats the world' is the end that's been most heavily hinted at not just throughout the end times, but through Warhammer's entire history.

Again, we got some of the best treatment of all of the warhammer races in the book. Not sidelined like orcs & ogres, not wiped out like brets and dwarves, not given the idiot ball like elves and humans, not having most of our classic heroes take a back seat to characters that came out of nowhere like chaos warriors.

We had the awesome of Nagash's return, the campaign to crush Nehekhara, Vlad the Elector Count, Vlad and Isabella, Mannfred scheming left and right, Arkhan and Krell both being badasses. All great stuff. Yeah, I would have wanted Nagash to have a big duel at the end - not against Archaon, that honor was always going to go to Sigmar, but against Verminking, to take his revenge for all the Skaven had cost him, both in the present and the distant past.

But absolutely write your own end, where things go the way you want! Archaon presents rules for a big linked narrative campaign representing the final battles, where things can go completely differently, with different Incarnates perhaps making it to the final battle, and perhaps Nagash getting the duel with Archaon you wanted to see. I hope to play in such a campaign myself, perhaps this summer.


As for your questions:
* No, it is never explicitly revealed who the Nameless is
* Yes, it is really Constant Drachenfels
- - But his identity is more of an Easter Egg
- - For old timers to pick up on based on his behavior
* Abhorash is mentioned in the Novel (not the campaign book)
- - He travels to Brettonia to repay his debt to them
- - and stand with what remains of their knights in the final hour
- - but he's never 'on screen'
* Isabella is possessed by a daemon which twists and poisons her memory
- - I do not recall the book stating how Nurgle got her spirit in the first place
- - maybe that's in the novel, idk
* The Nameless joined Nurgle because Nagash never told it its name
- - Nurgle doesn't either, but he finds chaos to be a more entertaining master
- - He dies early, before the destruction of the pyramid
- - but is pretty awesome while he's around anyway
- - "Submit" is right up there with "Settra Rules" for memorable quotes

 

[heldantes]

I've no idea what's going on, but it's been fascinating reading all these discussions and made me even more interested to see what comes out next!

 

[Undying Scourge]

What I meant by "writing my own book" was that I am writing something completely unrelated to Warhammer, is not a fan-fiction, and will be published, but ok.

The thing is, for me the undead should have won, and they should always win in fantasy stories where they feature. They presented Nagash as the greatest being on earth in the first book, only to then make him a weakling! It's stupid. I've lost all my respect for GW now.

I don't think I will ever be satisfied by others' works of fiction, I'll just have to finish my own. Also a world without life is a better world than one consumed by Chaos. The only reason Nagash stood out was because he was the worst of the worst, the farthest extent of villainy in the Warhammer universe, moreso than any other, simply because he only cared about himself and had no justification for what he did and needed none, since it was always about megalomania. Also, the fact that he was a man who chose to defy his fate, to defy death, to defy Chaos, is a very romantic ideal in my opinion since he was the only mortal who became a god, except perhaps Sigmar. His end was not fitting at all.

Anyway I doubt he's actually dead now that I think about it, since he was already a god at the end of Nagash, he probably just went back to the underworld to lick his wounds and curse his luck.

But I am not standing for this anymore. I'm done with buying models for good.

 

[Sception]

Nagash was no weakling in these books. I'm confused how you got that impression. Also, again, this is Warhammer world, there are many contenders for worst of the worst, but when it comes right down to it, Chaos is and always has been the principle antagonist, not the undead.

Like you, I doubt this is the last we hear of Nagash, provided newhammer is successful as a game. If it isn't, then Fantasy will die completely, and there will be no time for another grand return of the Great Necromancer. But if the game goes on for another several years? Then I'm sure we'll see a cabal of newhammer necromancers reviving a 'terrible, godlike spirit of undeath, from a world before the dawn of time', even if, like the Nameless, it's identity is left to the grognards to recognize.

And either way, we'll just keep making rules for him anyway, as we did over the course of his previous 10 year absence.

But seriously, Nagash had a great showing in this Campaign, considering that, despite beginning with his return, the premise is and always was 'the world vs chaos, and losing'. We got way more than our fair share of the attention, and unlike the elves our stuff was all pretty awesome.

Again, I don't get this 'weakling' thing. Even after the loss of his pyramid, Nagash was still the strongest of the incarnates, who were all gods and demigods in their , crushing a daemon legion in a single spell, manipulating his servants and new allies, putting Be'lakor to heel, etc. Yes, I wish he had a proper big stakes duel with somebody (I would have chosen Verminking rather than Archaon, myself), but his final end, falling to dust as all magic is drained from the world, strikes me as a very fitting death scene for a Lich.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

When I heard Nagash dissipated like a fart in a tornado, I was naturally crushed.

But learning the Winds stop blowing and that the Black Pyramid is destroyed, thanks to Skaven no less, my feelings on the matter changed. I am pleased with the arc Nagash followed, and agree that the Undead had the best showing in the whole campaign.

So yes, overall I'm happy with ET. Well done, GW.

 

[Undying Scourge]

I don't think you're really reading what I write, you don't seem to see what I'm getting at. Let's just agree to disagree. Nagash should not have lost, he should not have been the victim of invincible gods, he should have won, he should have beaten them and shown them who the real boss is, because I was invested in that character and I hate the idea of gods in stories, but GW decided to just screw him over. He WAS presented as powerful, clever, and destined for victory in the first book, able to outsmart all his opponents, but in Archaon the writers MADE him the victim of treachery, and deceit and the pathetic move by the Skaven. They told us that he had "absolute control over all undead" thanks to his Crown, and yet his Mortarchs betray him left right and centre! They should have made him the absolute master of them all, that none of them were able to escape his grasp, including the Nameless, SINCE HE FRICKING CREATED THEM ALL.

It's pitiful that the writers made the GREAT NECROMANCER... completely impotent and weak. He went from being the big bad, from being the greatest villain in the setting, to just another footnote, a weakling in comparison to invincible gods, and I REALLY DON'T LIKE THAT. It just cheapens it all and leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. It's not a satisfying end at all because there is no final status quo, no resolution, just the gods walking away to play somewhere else. What a load of expensive shit.

 

[Sception]

We've got different definitions of 'should have', then. Because to me, 'should have' in this case is defined by the nature of the setting, within which invincible gods do and always have played a huge part.

His crown never gave him total mastery of all undead, not even in the first book, the authors never said so either. If it had, there would have been no seige of Khemri, there would have been no 'Settra does not serve' moment.

Nagash has always been the victim of treachery by his lieutenants. Choosing servants based on power instead of loyalty and overestimating his control over them has been one of his principle character flaws right from the start. Having his plans foiled by the efforts of the Skaven is also a very Nagash thing. And Mannfred's eventual betrayal was foreshadowed heavily right from book one.

Seriously, I think you read a lot into that book that wasn't there, while missing a ton of what actually was, especially concerning Nagash's weaknesses. From his first moments he is crippled by a weakness that prevents him from claiming the power of the gods - the Curse of Aenarion gifted to him by Teclis's manipulations - which outright prevents him from being the kind of invincible, overwhelming power you describe. Nagash is on the back foot from moment one, forced to desperate acts of trickery to even reclaim his pyramid from Settra's armies, after which he almost rights himself before the Skaven sabotage that, forcing him into an alliance against what is and always was the principle antagonist and doom of the setting and game and this campaign.

As an undead fan I would have liked Nagash to be the final doom of all things as well, but again that's just not the Warhammer World.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

I made out like a bandit with ET releases. Both of my armies, Undead and Skaven, had killer stories, great new models and rules, and satisfying ends.

Now if I were a Lizard or Dwarf player my final opinion might not be so glowing.

 

[Sception]

Absolutely. Lizards, Dwarves, Brets, Orcs, Ogres, & Tomb Kings have a lot to gripe about. Even the elves, that got so much attention, still have a lot of super valid complaints about out of character behavior, nonsense motivations, arbitrary stupidity, and a lack of model releases. Empire, Skaven, and Chaos all had pretty good showings, though. Still, we looked best throughout, imo, and Vlad definitely won man of the match all round.

 

[Undying Scourge]

Ugh. How can you even be happy with this mediocre ending? That's all it is: completely mediocre. I don't care for it at all now, I'm done with the whole thing.

 

[Sception]

Mostly because our characters were cool, our models were cool, and because the final result hinged entirely on the actions of our characters - first with Nagash's support being critical to the incarnate's near success and then with Mannfred's betrayal - not the power of the Gods, not the might of the everchosen, and not the machinations of the skaven - being the cause of their final defeat? Because, if you include the novel, we got cool moments of resolution for Nagash & Settra, Nagash & Arkhan, Arkhan & Neferata, Neferata & Khalida, Vlad & Mannfred, and Vlad & Isabella? Because we got a taste of Nagash's potential power, and had that power stolen not by some arbitrary deus ex machina but rather by workings of his own established character flaws? Again, yes, it could have been better, but "my guy didn't win" doesn't seem sufficient reason to me to dump on the entire proceedings.

No, ET:A wasn't the best book in the campaign line (that was still Nagash - yet again with our faction getting the best treatment all round). Yes, it was messy. Yes there were way too many loose ends to tie them all up even remotely satisfactorily (as was always going to be the case with closing the curtains on a setting as large as WHFB).

No, I'm not particularly happy to see the old setting ended, but if it had to be at all, I think what we got was a remarkably good end, all things considered, especially for the undead. I don't think much better could have been reasonably expected, and no I don't think your expectation of 'Nagash wins everything' was reasonable.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

@Undying Scourge Out of curiosity, did you read the ET books mate? Or just happen to catch synopses on the web? I read ET: Nagash and ET: Thanquol cover to cover, and I was happy with both books. The other three I can't vouch for--they didnae pertain to my armies so I was happy to hear the rundowns from forums.

 

[Undying Scourge]

And why, exactly, do you think that Nagash winning is "unreasonable"? Is Chaos winning really better? No it isn't. SOMEONE had to win, and they made the arbitrary, childish bores known as the Gods of Chaos win, and immediately get bored after. They could have had Nagash win and it would have been the same outcome, only far more satisfying. Coming up with excuses for GW's mediocrity and making it seem as though GW have done you a service, a favour, by selling you fancy models and writing rubbish books (excluding Nagash) is quite sad and the sign of someone who wants to cling to Warhammer like an old blanket.

The whole thing is a mediocre farce designed to make money and nothing else. And I'm done with it for good.

 

[Undying Scourge]

Yes I did read Nagash but I wasn't interested in the others since they didn't feature the undead much, and I'm not going to read Archaon just because it doesn't end how I would have liked. The series had a lot of promise but they let it all go to hell in Archaon (quite literally).

 

[Sception]

Dude, you read nagash, missed all of the parts that weren't about how awesome Nagash was, and ignored the rest of the campaign. I don't think you really have the perspective to really judge this ending. You missed practically everything that happened along the way. But you know, whatever, you can like or not like the campaign's end as you please, you weren't buying these books anyway.

But calling it a 'mediocre campaign designed to make money and nothing else' is completely unfair. How would you even know, you haven't bought or read any of it? You don't even seem to have read Nagash.

Fantasy was already dying. There was no 'making money' in this. If they were only out to make money, there would have been no end times campaign at all. Instead we got five books of considerable effort and love. Mixed narrative and game mechanics quality, sure, but seriously, your accusations here are ridiculous. If they were just trying to make money, then instead of five major campaign books worth of send off for a dying game, we would have seen five more books for 40k - a game that actually makes bank.

They gave us the ending the setting always promised, and that the campaign always promised, yes including in ET:Nagash, which literally starts with Mannfred gazing into his scrying pool and beholding a world that is everywhere falling to chaos.


But maybe you didn't know that the setting always promised that end? Is your reading of other warhammer material the same as your reading of the end times? Have you never picked up a novel or army book that was not about the undead? If that's the case, your perceptions of the warhammer world are colossally skewed. The undead are just one part of the warhammer world, an outlier faction, but one with the potential to tip the scales between the two principle sides - the forces of good and order, and the forces of evil and chaos. And tip those scales we did, in grand fashion, imo. Order would have never had a chance without us, and Disorder would not have seen its final victory without us, either. Nagash was the most powerful force on the side of the incarnates, Vlad the most noble hero, and Mannfred killstole an entire world out from the Everchosen and all the powers of chaos.

This story was never even about us, and we still got all the best moments, all the best characters, all the best models, and made all the difference. I just can't find an angle on that that doesn't look like a win to me.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

He mad, bro.

Can't win em all. Though, @Malisteen , that may be the first time you've been described as a GW apologist, right?

 

[Sception]

Man, I ain't even moved. And no, this isn't the first time. All the folks in both crowds see me standing in between and assume I must be on the other side.

 

[Undying Scourge]

Are you insane? I bought the Nagash book in hardback and read it cover to cover, even reading some parts twice or three times just because I enjoyed it so much, saw what all the other characters were doing, which was very little compared to Nagash, but the rest of the end times was completely mediocre. Clearly you are obsessed with GW and you love them to bits which is fine for you but I do not share your enthusiasm, which is why I originally said "let's agree to disagree" but no, you insisted on carrying on the argument because clearly you feel offended that someone could have a difference in opinion to you and that, maybe, just maybe, your beloved GW dropped the ball on this one and messed it all up. But you won't accept that because GW are great and mighty and godlike. It's not just my opinion. It's objectively bad writing and you know it.

I have read many of the army books and I dislike all the factions except the undead, which is coincidentally why I like the undead so much. Also calling the undead an "outlying faction" is an insult. Nagash was always presented as a contender for arch-villain status, and he was a far more interesting and engaging character than nihilistic gods bent on destruction for the simple sake of it. He had purpose, a goal that could be related to, but the Chaos Gods had nothing but... nothing.

To be perfectly honest most of GWs fiction is badly written anyway. This is no exception. It's what happens when corporate greed comes before artistic integrity.

 

[Alabaster427]

I didn't even read the books and I love the whole End Times. It had been years since any of the main armies got any sort of update and everyone could see the end coming already. Then BAM! Nagash is back and renewed the joy of the game in many people, including people who had given up on it for years. It gave the hope of a 9th edition (I am still holding out for this) and it gave us insanely sweet models and even some new units. I am not one to read the entire series, but I still love the highlights: Nagash is back! Malekith is the Phoenix King! Sigmar! Settra and Nagash team up! Lizardmen deuce out (this was foreshadowed in the intro to Nagash!). The End Times gave almost every army something to be excited about (not necessarily happy) both fluffwise and army wise. They could have just said "Fantasy's done" but they definitely sent it out with a bang and still left us with a glimmer of hope in the suddenly darkened world.

 

[Sception]

Clearly you are obsessed with GW and you love them to bits

I have read many of the army books and I dislike all the factions except the undead

There you go.

To be perfectly honest most of GWs fiction is badly written anyway.

You'll get few arguments from me there (although there are some exceptions, some of ADBs stuff comes to mind, and even badly written books can be entertaining if the stories and characters they describe are interesting, as with the rise of Nagash trilogy and, to me at least, a fair bit of the End Times stuff), but blaming everything you don't like on 'corporate greed' is rather childish. You don't like the direction they took, because your favorite faction didn't win. OK? I mean, that's fine? But while there are plenty of criticisms to level at the End Times, you're just throwing this accusation that doesn't fit at all.

GW do a lot of stupid things for reasons of blind corporate greed. Excessive litigation, predatory retail practices, raising model prices while pushing larger model counts, boasting to their share holders about how cheap finecast is as a material while simultaneously trying to sell it to their customers as some sort of premium product, like nobody would see, like the internet just doesn't exist.

But the End Times are not that. They're so blisteringly obviously not that that your accusation is just ridiculous. Fantasy was a dead games, sales in the toilet. You don't release five major campaign books and a bunch of fancy models for a game nobody buys if you're only acting out of corporate greed. Instead, you just shelve the game and maybe liscence out the IP, and then put those resources into five more books for 40k, the game that actually makes money. I mean, did you see how fast the first few end times books sold out? That wasn't manufactured scarcity, GW didn't see any of those ebay sales, and the paperback releases were clearly an after-the-fact rush job and not something they planned going in. No, that was GW actually believing that nobody was going to buy this, and they made it anyway, because there are still enough people in the company who care about the old world to insist it at least got a big send off.

A big, messy, sometimes very forced send off (not with the undead, mind, but certainly with some of the other factions), but a big send off none the less. One GW had every reason to think would lose money, and even if it made money certainly made less than those same resources put into 40k.

 

[Bullhax]

Are you insane? I bought the Nagash book in hardback and read it cover to cover, even reading some parts twice or three times just because I enjoyed it so much, saw what all the other characters were doing, which was very little compared to Nagash, but the rest of the end times was completely mediocre. Clearly you are obsessed with GW and you love them to bits which is fine for you but I do not share your enthusiasm, which is why I originally said "let's agree to disagree" but no, you insisted on carrying on the argument because clearly you feel offended that someone could have a difference in opinion to you and that, maybe, just maybe, your beloved GW dropped the ball on this one and messed it all up. But you won't accept that because GW are great and mighty and godlike. It's not just my opinion. It's objectively bad writing and you know it.

I have read many of the army books and I dislike all the factions except the undead, which is coincidentally why I like the undead so much. Also calling the undead an "outlying faction" is an insult. Nagash was always presented as a contender for arch-villain status, and he was a far more interesting and engaging character than nihilistic gods bent on destruction for the simple sake of it. He had purpose, a goal that could be related to, but the Chaos Gods had nothing but... nothing.

To be perfectly honest most of GWs fiction is badly written anyway. This is no exception. It's what happens when corporate greed comes before artistic integrity.

Two things, you haven't read a lot of what @Malisteen has posted during the course of ET, have you? Getting all worked up and calling people blind fanboys is the death of all proper disussions. Malisteen, has one of the more balanced views on GW imo. Still you missed the part where Nagash was cursed, thus never being able to fulfill the role you wanted of him.

Two, calling a campaign where you've read 1/5 of the books, mediocre is not the least bit sensible. I respect your oppinion, but mostly deem it baseless as you haven't read 80% of it. I loved the ET fluffwise, read all but the elf book, and haven't completed the archaeon one yet. You don't have to agree with my oppinion but at least I'm allowed to have it.

 

[Sception]

You don't have to agree with my oppinion but at least I'm allowed to have it.

That goes both ways, and I suppose it's well past time I let them be.

I like to argue, is all, and get carried away sometimes.
I also forget that not everybody is as old as I am. -_-

 

[Undying Scourge]

OH I'M SORRY for not spending my life on this forum and following someone's posts. I'm sorry also for not giving a damn about the End Times enough or, you know, having enough money to buy every single book. The details in the End Times campaign are meaningless, especially proven in this final chapter, and I know the general flow of it and the general movements, why do I have to have read every book to criticise the outcome of this futile story of bland nihilism prevailing over all?

 

[Jdredsox]

For me, personally, I think the undead characterisation was spot on. At first I had the "hole" you get when you finish a story with characters you love and you want more and you're annoyed it ended where it did. But, given some time and another read I an pretty happy with the ending in Archaon.

Let's be honest, the ET never hid what was going to happen, the world was going to end. The stall was set out right away and at times this resulted in writers painting themselves into a corner and meant we had some forced storylines. If Nagash had won it wouldn't be the ET, the world would still exist in some form. So chaos had to win and I give kudos to GW for sticking to their guns and not going with a "well thank Sigmar we were lucky and found this magic sword to save the world". They slipped a bit bring Tyrion back IMO but all in all it was good. Not good writing always but good.

For the ET to work chaos had to win because nothing else would End the world. Chaos, by its very nature, would see the destruction of everything, no rhyme or reason, and once it's done it would just keep going against itself. They just gave chaos personalities.

On personalities, the undead were just perfect. Maybe we need to thank Josh Reynolds for that. Settra was the arrogant ruler who refused to bend the knee, Khalida was pragmatic in seeking Her revenge, Neferata was the ultimate b*tch when facing those weaker than her but a coward when faced with someone who was her equal. Arkhan the loyal servant, Krell the unquestioning fist I could go on.

But instead I'll focus on the three main players.

Mannfred was your perfect Bond villain. Convinced of his own superiority and working towards his own ends right up until the end and his comeuppance. A sly backstabber, he was true to his character from beginning to end.

Nagash, also the Bond villain to be honest. Convinced of his infallibility, and brought down by those poor foundations he built everything upon. He was on the verge of victory but blinded by his own imagined brilliance he let it slip through his fingers.

Vlad. Wonderful, amazing Vlad. Someone earlier said you could misquote batman about Nagash but I have to disagree. Vlad is the Batman of this story. The tortured hero, a true leader, I can't help but think if it had been he, rather than the other incarnates, with all that power it would have ended so differently. He wasn't this perfect character that the writers painted elves or humans as, he was flawed. Honourable to the end, and when the end was coming he sacrificed himself for the one thing that meant the most for him, what he had come back for. Out of everything his storyline was my favourite part of the ET.

Now sorry for rambling on so long. I just wanted to add my bit into the discussion. I'm happy for you not to agree with me and you've raised some valid points as to why this campaign left you unfulfilled. I hope that the next edition goes some way to righting those wrongs for you. I'm just grateful that, from all this, there will be a next edition.

Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far ;-)