"These elite Chaos Warriors choose to prey upon other Northmen because the soft southern tribes present no challenge to them in battle."
- —Description of the hulking Skullreapers in Total War: Warhammer III.[2]
Skullreapers as rendered for Total War: Warhammer III.
Skullreapers are huge, elite Chaos Warriors dedicated solely to the service of Khorne, the Chaos God of war and murder, who are found within the savage tribes of the Skaramor, those Northmen in service to the Blood God who refuse to prey upon the unworthy mortals of the south and only upon their fellow servants of the Dark Gods in the north.
Each Skullreaper is clad in heavy, half-plate Chaos Armour and gifted with horrific mutations that enhance their already terrifying martial prowess. Such is their might that each Skullreaper is considered as individually powerful as any Champion of Chaos. Only the Wrathmongers are above even these mighty berserkers in power and prestige.
Role[]
A Skullreaper, the most elite Chaos Warriors of Khorne
The Skullreapers are murderous devotees of the Blood God, every last warrior devoted body and soul to Khorne's everlasting war. Where they march, the skies flicker an arterial crimson, rivers turn to gushing blood and the ground cracks open, venting furnace-hot steam and molten brass. Their war cries are closer to howls and screams, shot through with the maddened thunder of foe-skin drums and the harsh braying of horns.[1a]
They know little of discipline and strategy, and care even less: the charge of the Skullreapers is a disordered stampede, an avalanche of brazen blades, bunched muscle, and screaming rage. Every warrior fights as an individual, seeking to win Khorne's regard through the frenzied slaughter that he wreaks. Amongst lesser warriors, such anarchic division would prove disastrous. Not so for the Skullreapers. So utterly overwhelming is their onset, so blood-mad is each individual warrior, that even the staunchest foe will soon be swept away before the red tide.[1a]
The Skullreapers have dwelt so long amid the lethal horrors of the Chaos Wastes that they no longer seem entirely Human. Their bodies are so thick with muscle they can easily tear a man limb from limb with their bare hands. They tower head and shoulders above even the Chaos Marauder tribesmen who fight at their side, and can shrug off the most grievous wounds without breaking their stride.[1a]
Each Skullreaper is an engine of destruction, bludgeoning, hacking, whirling and stamping with a speed that belies his massive bulk. Once amongst the press of the foe, a single such warrior can wreak terrible havoc, each axe-swing hurling broken bodies to the ground as sprays of blood fill the air. En masse, the Skullreapers transform a battlefield into a hellish abattoir.[1a]
As if the physical might and frenzied devotion of the Skaramor tribes were not enough, many tribesmen wield Khornate blades. Neither truly mortal nor wholly Daemonic in manufacture, these axes are forged by the twisted smiths that reside atop the Tower of Screams. It is a right of proving for Skullreapers to fight their way to the top of this looming fortress, hacking their way through the damned shades of those who have been slain within its deadly corridors.[1a][1b]
Those who reach the forgeworks at the tower's apex are rewarded with the awful weapons they seek: axes forged in Daemonfire and quenched in murderers' blood. Armed with such blades, the Skullreapers become more deadly still, their foes struck with incredible force, tearing even magical and incorporeal beings apart with their savage and frenzied blows.[1a][1b]
It is not difficult to see why the Skullreapers have long been amongst the most feared denizens of the Chaos Wastes. Until the End Times, however, they were content to serve Khorne's will in the far north. Now, following the commands of their wrathful god, they have pledged themselves to the cause of Archaon, the thirteenth Everchosen, the Lord of the End Times.[1b]
Marching south in a bloody tide, the Skullreapers have hacked down everything that dared stand in their path. They seek to offer their god his greatest tribute ever in blood and skulls: the Skullreapers will kill, and kill, and kill, until all their foes are slain, or they themselves are no more.[1b]
Notable Regiments[]
- Gorechained - This regiment of Skullreapers had an uniquely strong brotherhood who sought to claim skulls for Khorne as a team rather than through the more common fierce competition seen between servants of the Blood God.[1d]
- Goremongers - The Goremongers were Skullreaper veterans of Valkia the Bloody's conquest of Naggaroth and fought in the siege of Averheim during the End Times.[1c]
- Sons of Karamox - These vicious Skullreapers of Khorne suffered horrendous casualties at the siege of Averheim during the End Times.[1d]
Miniatures[]
Sources[]
- 1: The End Times Vol V: Archaon - Book 2 (8th Edition)
- 2: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
Gallery[]
