Malal
NOTE: Some sources may suggest that Malal does in fact exist, although the facts are not certain, and any & all evidence is under dispute. This article presupposes that Malal exists, and all statements should be considered theoretical. and extra heretical!
Introduction
Followers of Malal are kind of like Chaos Agnostics. They doubt that anything exists, including the Emperor, God, Chaos itself, and you. Especially you. The Chaos Space Marines chapter known as the "Sons of Malice", with their alternating black/white colour scheme are as likely to kill Chaos Forces as anyone else on the field, except for each other.
- "...and he that went before now came last, and that which was white and black and all direction was thrown against itself. Grown mightily indignant at the words of the Gods, Malal did turn his heart against them and flee into the chambers of space . . . And no man looked to Malal then, save those that serve that which they hate, who smile upon their misfortune, and who bear no love save for the damned. At such times as a warrior's heart turns to Malal, all Gods of Chaos grow fearful, and the laughter of the Outcast God fills the tomb of space . . ."
- -- from The Great Book of Despair.
So anyway, Malal, when he was actually canon, was the Chaos God of batshit loony self-destructive urges; Chaos battling Chaos. This also made him the God of paradoxes, radical Inquisitors and the like trying to turn Chaos against itself, and the outcast god since he was trying to buttfuck every other Chaos God and their followers. The thing about Malal was that even though he was one of the biggest personifications of Chaos there could be he constantly tried to destroy Chaos and if he were ever successful in ending Chaos he would be destroyed as well. Not that this pants-on head crazy a-hole cared, as suicidal tendencies and teamkilling just because part of his portfolio instead.
Since Malal was supposed to be the antitheses of Chaos he had only a few champions, all of whom were supposed to be stupid powerful and would go around bitch-slapping other Chaos champions with their anti-daemon daemon-axes of doom while wearing warp-resistant warp armor. The servants of Malal fight in utter silence, but that makes them way badass than the rest of chaos. So yeah. Because of this followers of Malal have to already be balls to the wall nuts and have superhuman will. Malal's trademarks were black and white bisecting armor and a horned skull equally bisected black and white. His sacred number was 11. His signature weapon was the dreadaxe which was a daemon weapon made out of a daemon that hates daemons, and it looked like a pterodactyl head on a stick. You can still find examples of this weapon in the CSM 3.5 dex and in Your Spiritual Liege's wonderful fluff assassin of a Codex: Grey Knights.
Malal has a fortress in the Chaos wastes where he captures and trolls Greater Daemons by trapping them for all eternity unable to do whatever it is that they embody. This one Keeper of Secrets he has, for example, is caught in a field that nullifies all sensation so it can't indulge in cocaine fueled sex parties with Doomrider, thus eternally pissing of said daemon forever in the only way that works. He also put a Great Unclean One in a vat of Febreze; blinded and binded a Lord of Change and put him in a cage that never changes; and locked a Bloodthirster in a zen garden that cannot be destroyed.
As Malice, he still got his very own Chaos marine warband the Sons of Malice. Unlike his brother gods he is capable of entering the materium/Warhammer World through demonic possession if his followers had enough sacrifices, but since his followers rarely manage to not kill each other long enough to make headway towards any particular goal it mostly falls to his Champions to get shit done.
Zuvassin took on Malal's role in the canon, although since he's only been mentioned a few times he may as not exist either.
The Truth
Back in the early days of Warhammer, GW's horribly retarded legal team lost the right to use Malal when the writers that came up with him, John Wagner and Alan Grant, left. Being notable for their previous work on Judge Dredd, the two had enough clout to insist that they own the copyright. Initially, they were going to replace him with "Malice", who is essentially the same guy but with enough changed so they couldn't be sued. They gave up on the idea however, relegating the whole concept of "Chaos fighting Chaos" to just shit the Chaos Gods do themselves (putting all four into "full retard" levels). This happened in the middle of a comic series by Brett Ewins used to introduce Malal featuring the Warhammer Fantasy champion Kaleb Daark who was going to assassinate one of the Chaos Gods of Order as a trial. Kaleb had a model previewed which was going to be released alongside Malal's Daemons, but thanks to the legal fuckery it was never released.
Getting Malal on the Table
As Games Workshop have proven themselves to be a bunch of IP abusing faggots, it once again falls to /tg/ to get anything done.
Humans
To field rapevikings of Malal in Warhammer Fantasy, run Warriors of Chaos models on Skaven bases. Nothing like blowing yourself AND the enemy up to say "It doesn't matter". Ironically (or appropriately depending on how you look at it) one of the best ways to represent 40k Malal dedicated Chaos Marines would be to use the Grey Knights codex. Think about it; elite marine units with sick powers and a plethora of daemon killing hardware, small army sizes, and more. Take an Unbound Dreadknight spam list and use Chaos bitz for a nasty Chaos smashing elite warband of Malal followers and lolstomp your opponents into the ground. Alternatively you can use C:CSM if you aren't a cheesed-out 12 year old or Daemonhunters vet.
Daemons of Malal
Have you ever lamented how you always wanted to put together a Malal themed army, but you didn't, because it wouldn't be worth it without the proper daemons? Well, now you no longer have a fucking excuse. Grown mightily indignant at Malal's lack of presence on the tabletop, several anons conspired together to bring you this. We even found models for it; they're at the bottom, listed as Hook Horrors. Play-testing would be vary much apreciated.
Alternatively, modification to existing Daemon models using their original stats is fine too (a popular idea for example is a gleeful white and black Daemon Prince tearing itself in half along the color separation).
/tg/ canon
At one point in the 36th Millennium, the other four gods got really sick of Malal's constant interference in their plans. While Malal was at the time the strongest individual god, the other four knew that he couldn't deal with them all at once. So Tzeentch gathered the other gods and formulated a plan to deal with Malal once and for all. So one day Nurgle knocked on Malal's door and asked Malal to step outside, at this point Tzeentch signalled the others to attack and the other Chaos Gods jumped out from behind their cover and beat Malal to death. It required about a century of constant beating, but eventually Malal died. Upon his death the other Four Chaos gods celebrated for one thousand years now that the dick cheese was out of the way. Sadly Malal's bastard offspring Malice and Zuvassin managed to slip away. However, it might be possible that Malal/Malice may just be an Alias for the Emperor, working incognito, looking into ways he can ultimately end the four-fold scourge of the Warp. It might be possible he would use "Malal/Malice", using the powers of the Dark Gods against them. That includes using the Sons of Malice(Grey Knights?). Just as soon as Kaldor stops sniffin' Warp Dust. A final theory is that he's become a sneaky git and painted himself purple to wait out until the time is right to hit the big four just hard enough to finish them (considering the current state of Daemons on the tabletop, that might not be too far off), and in the meantime manipulates Orks into fighting each other by pretending to be Gork, then Mork (or Mork then Gork?) to draw them into arguments while causing the Imperium to weaken itself by BLAMMING everyone capable of uplifting the condition of man. He probably got the idea sometime after he left a giant sword for Farsight to eventually find, but before he altered Macha's biochemistry to amp up her hormone output. In fact, the truth is much more terrifying. Malal in fact managed to travel back through time to the present, where he is now trying to manifest. This is the source of the Zalgo legends across the internet.
In Warhammer Fantasy he still exists, and is secretly sponsoring Nagash's recent rise to power. He hasn't been seen or mentioned because he's been crashing on the Horned Rat's couch after burning his own house down.
- Daemon of Malal: Grants the Daemon, Hatred (Daemons), and Preferred Enemy (Everything!) special rules. In addition, they have access to the Daemonology (Sanctic) psychic discipline. Daemon Princes and Soul Grinders may take the Daemon of Malal special rule for 15 pts. Chaos Furries may take the Daemon of Malal special rule for 2 pts.
- Desperate Allies: Daemons of Malal and units with the Mark of Malal treat units with the mark of the other gods and Daemons of the other gods as Desperate Allies (which includes suffering from the One Eye Open rule) even if they are in the same detachment.
- Nemesis of the Dark Gods: Daemons of Malal roll on the same Warp Storm table as seen in Codex: Chaos Daemons. Rolls that results in a Dark God making an attack treat units with the Daemon of Malal special rule as their rival god.
Daemonic Gifts
Daemons of Malal rolls on the same tables as seen in Codex: Chaos Daemons. They also have their own gifts of Malal.
Lesser Rewards: 0. Parascythe: AP3 melee, enemy daemons struck with this weapons must take invulnerable saves at a -1 penalty. This accumulates with other penalties to their invulnerable saves.
Greater Rewards: 0. Sickle of Ruin : AP4 melee. In each Assault Phase, roll a d3 and select one of the following:
- Add the Strength and Attack value to the wielder (To a maximum of 10).
- Reduce enemies Weapon Skill and Initiative in base contact (To a minimum of 1).
Hellforged Artefacts: Coming Soon
Instruments of Chaos: If, when you roll on the Warp Storm table, you roll a result where a dark god makes an attack on the battlefield, you may re-roll a single dice to determine if a unit is hit or not for each friendly Daemon of Malal model with an Instrument of Chaos currently on the table. Otherwise, the rules are the same as in Codex: Chaos Daemons.
Icons of Chaos: The rules can be found in Codex: Chaos Daemons. A unit may upgrade their Icon into the following:
- Banner of Destruction: Once per game, the Icon bearer may activate the Icon's ability. In the Shooting Phase, the Icon bearer may make a shooting attack with the following profile: Range: 24' Assault 2d6 S:4 AP:4 Pinning, Ignores Cover.
- Parasite Tick: The model receives +1 Toughness, +1 Wounds, +1 attacks and its unit type becomes cavalry.
Daemonic Loci
- Lesser Locus of Decimation: Grants the Fleet special rule.
- Greater Locus of Obliteration: Adds +1 Leadership, and allows a reroll on Daemonic Instability tests once per turn. Keep the second roll even if worse.
- Exalted Locus of Oblivion: When charging an enemy unit within 6', that unit cannot Overwatch or use Counter Attack.
Types of Daemons of Malal
Lesser Daemon of Malal
Hook Horrors (Troops)
90 Points
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hook Horror | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | - |
| Reaver | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 | - |
UNIT TYPE: Infantry.
UNIT COMPOSITION: 10 Hook Horrors
SPECIAL RULES: Daemon of Malal, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike
OPTIONS:
- May include up to 10 additional Hook Horrors - 9 pts/model.
- May upgrade one Hook Horror to a Reaver - 5 pts
- A Reaver may take up to 20 points of Daemonic Rewards in any combination:
- Lesser Reward - 10 pts each
- Greater Reward - 20 pts each
- One Hook Horror may take an Instrument of Chaos - 10 pts
- A different Hook Horror may take an Icon of Chaos - 10 pts
- The Icon of Chaos may be upgraded to a Banner of Destruction - 10 pts
Beast of Malal
Pandemonic Paradox of Malal (Elites)
40 Points
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradoxes | 4 | - | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | - |
UNIT TYPE: Beast.
UNIT COMPOSITION: 1 Paradox
SPECIAL RULES: Daemon of Malal, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Very Bulky, Voice of Banishment.
Voice of Banishment: Enemy units with the Daemonic Instability special rule that are in combat with the Paradox suffer a -3 penalty to their Daemonic instability tests after an assault.
OPTIONS:
- May include up to 8 additional Paradoxes - 40 pts/model.
Steed of Malal
Parasite Riders of the Anti-God (Fast Attack)
105 Points
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parasite Riders | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | - |
| Parasite Hunter | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | - |
UNIT TYPE: Cavalry
UNIT COMPOSITION: 3 Parasite Riders
SPECIAL RULES: Daemon of Malal, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike
OPTIONS:
- May include up to 6 additional Parasite Riders - 35 pts/model.
- May upgrade one Parasite Rider to a Parasite Hunter - 5 pts
- A Parasite Hunter may take up to 20 points of Daemonic Rewards in any combination:
- Lesser Reward - 10 pts each
- Greater Reward - 20 pts each
- One Parasite Rider may take an Instrument of Chaos - 10 pts
- A different Parasite Rider may take an Icon of Chaos - 10 pts
- The Icon of Chaos may be upgraded to a Banner of Destruction - 10 pts
Greater Daemon of Malal
Guardian of Contradictions (HQ)
210 points.
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian of Contradictions | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 9 | - |
UNIT TYPE: Monstrous Creature (Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Daemon of Malal, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Psyker (Mastery Level 1), Aura of Parasitism
PSYKER: A Guardian of Contradictions generates his powers from the Telekinesis, Anarchy and Daemonology disciplines
AURA OF PARASITISM: If a friendly unit with the Daemon of Malal special rule within 6" causes a wound on their controlling player's turn roll a D6 at the end of the turn, on a 4+ the Guardian of Contradictions gains a wound, to a maximum of 10. Only one D6 may be rolled per a unit per a turn.
LORD OF ANARCHY: If your army includes a Guardian of Contradictions, Daemon Princes from this codex with the Daemon of Malal upgrade are Heavy Support choices rather than HQ choices.
OPTIONS:
- May take up to 50 points of Daemonic Rewards, in any combination:
- Lesser Rewards 10 points
- Greater Rewards 20 points
- Exalted Rewards 30 points
- May be upgraded to a:
- Psyker (Mastery Level 2) 25 points
- Psyker (Mastery Level 3) 50 points
Herald of Malal
45 points (Herald)
| Name | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herald of Malal | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 8 | - |
UNIT TYPE: Infantry (Character).
SPECIAL RULES: Daemon of Malal, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Independent Character
PSYKER: A Herald of Malal generates his powers from the Telekinesis, Anarchy and Daemonology disciplines
OPTIONS:
- May take up to 20 points of Daemonic Rewards, in any combination:
- Lesser Rewards 10 points
- Greater Rewards 20 points
- May be upgraded to a:
- Psyker (Mastery Level 1) 25 points
- Psyker (Mastery Level 2) 50 points
- May take one of the following:
- Lesser Locus of Decimation 10 points
- Greater Locus of Destruction 20 points
- Exalted Locus of Oblivion 25 points
- May take one of the following:
- Parasite Tick 45 points
Followers of Malal
The Alpha Legion and their two primarch No such legion nor primarchs exist!
Scottish Koreans
Jumbo shrimp
Tau assault units
You
Me
Anarchists
Atheist preachers
Tall midgets
Billy Mays
Honest politicians
Gabe Newell
Chris-chan's long-lost perfect, popular brother
Josef Fritzl
Blood Angels units that aren't utterly overpowered
Screaming Mimes
Pyrovores
Uncle Ruckus
Assurances that don't leave Lord Bale cold
Vladimir Putin's estranged twin brother that isn't a complete badass
Miley Cyrus
Irreligious Word Bearers
Ronald McDonald
Ultramarines that deserve to live
Vegemonster
Khornate Sorcerers
Tzeentch Berserkers
Tyranid allies
Ork mathematicians
Matt ward Fans
Chaos centurions and knights
Pacifist Marines
Black Templar Librarians
Celibate and Sober Slaanesh Daemon
Cheap GW models
Egalitarian Eldar
Asexual and Altruistic Dark Eldar
Germophobic Plaguebearers
Ahzek Ahriman DOUBLEHERESY!*BLAM*
Two-Face
Mikhail Bakunin
Justin Bieber's popular twin brother
Pacifist army ants
Abstinent Daemonettes
Commissars that don't *BLAM* their own troops.
Virgin Bards