Fulgrim
>
"I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it."
- – Rita Mae Brown
"(Bu Shang) Zixia asked, saying, "What is the meaning of the passage - 'The pretty dimples of her artful smile! The well-defined black and white of her eye! The plain ground for the colors?'" The Master said, "The business of laying on the colors follows (the preparation of) the plain ground." "Civilization then is what ensues?" The Master said, "Shang can truly bring out the meaning! Now I may begin to talk about the Classic of Poetry with you."
- — Analects of Confucius.
Fulgrim, "The Palatine Phoenix", is the Primarch of the Emperor's Children traitor legion, a daemon prince, and an enormous hedonistic bitch.
Pre-heresy he was the HAWTEST goddamn asshole in the galaxy; he was so hot, that his residual HAWTNESS made the rest of humanity the HAWTEST race in the galaxy. (Quite ironic that he's supposed to be so beautiful (at least, he has been); because 'ful' means ugly in Swedish and 'grim' means ugly in Danish). Therefore, all the ugly xenos had to fucking die for the crime of not being human and therefore HAWT. Fulgrim was also moody as all fuck, fucking crazy for drama and whimsy and was just the WORST guy to have show up at your party. One time he came to meet Perturabo to tell him he'd heard of some cool Eldar weapons they could use to kill daddy. They met on a planet, and half way through the first fucking sentence, Fulgrim decided that this wouldn't do. No, he HAD to tell Perturabo in a magnificent amphitheater built into a meteor crater. Nothing else would do. No such amphitheater exists in the galaxy? No probs. Make the Iron Warriors build one. No crater on this planet AND no meteors available? Whelp, better break out the explosives! Fulgrim broke out the deck chairs and refused to move until his brother's legion raised said theater. When he finally took the stage and began prancing around, he'd dicked around for long enough that a covert ops Raven Guard dude had enough time to set up shop in the rafters and promptly shot the bitch through the head, just as he got to the good part of the story. If Perturabo was anything other than a humourless emo fuckwad, then he'd have felt some glee at seeing his time-wasting but still conscious brother describing the experience of getting a nine-inch spike of titanium stuck in his brain after spending ten minutes cackling hysterically at the wasted effort.
Despite all this, we should remember Fulgrim was a pretty cool guy before he fell to Chaos. He wasn't always prideful to a fault, and in fact many Primarchs were his friends. Ferrus Manus and Horus were both very very close to Fulgrim, and Fulgrim was the only Primarch Konrad Curze really trusted.
Also, we keep using the past tense because Fulgrim's present circumstances seem to change way faster than GW has ever moved any plot ever. He'd been a painting, a snake, a dude, possessed by a greater daemon and all kinds of shit. And fuck knows which if any of these actually were him, or just dickish Slaanesh demons taking the piss. No one knows fucking anything anymore.
No, really! For a while his soul was literally stuck in a painting a la Dorian Gray, and a greater daemon possessed his body and made him do some pretty fucked up things even by the standards of an Astartes following Slaanesh, which is saying a lot. Fulgrim now has full control of his body again, or at least that's what he says. (Because Chaos has always been honest and trustworthy, amirite?)
Angron thinks that he's a prissy little faggot and regularly pays his daemonworld visits where he pummels Fulgrim's four armed snake ass into a bloody pulp and generally makes a mockery of Slaanesh in general... Or so Khorne fanboys would have you believe, as they constantly rant on about how Angron "GETS SHIT DONE!" and conveniently ignore that, whilst Fulgrim has slain not one, but TWO FUCKING PRIMARCHS (well, one and a half), Angron's Primarch body count currently stands at ZERO. In fact he FAILED to kill the one Fulgrim killed put down for a 10,000 year nap, Roboute Guilliman, despite being a Daemon Primarch at the time and Roboute being tired from beating the shit out of Lorgar; also it's implied Guilliman killed him too.
Anyway, Fulgrim is trapped crying in a painting while Angron's mind is his own. So, yes, Slaaneshi do indeed suck. Nevermind he got out! Also, he got fucked in the ass by a medieval torture instrument in the latest Black Library book. This is CANON! Not like he hadn't enjoyed it.
He is the second Primarch to receive his own miniature as part of Forge World's Character Series.
Youth
Like his brother Primarchs, the infant Fulgrim was abducted by the four Gods of Chaos, who weren't really into the whole Primarch thing. Also like his brother Primarchs, he was eventually thrown onto a planet of his own since the four Gods found out that raising infant Primarchs really wasn't worth the trouble, especially when you can get some other suckers to do it for you.
Fulgrim landed on the planet Chemos, whose people had been dependent on interstellar trade to make everything work. With the warpstorms caused by the birth of Slaanesh making said travel impossible, the planet didn't have the resources to sustain such a large population. Art, culture, and recreation were sacrificed to the need to survive. By the time baby Fulgrim landed, the planets resources had been so stretched that any orphan found was normally killed so as not to put further strain on the planets dwindling resources. Indeed, the scouts that found him during a storm debated the very thing as to whether or not they should kill the infant.
Unfortunately for the scout arguing for the death penalty, the infant Primarch was equipped with a little failsafe called adorable cuteness that made most people want to protect him. Those who found him named the infant Fulgrim in honor of one of the ancient gods of Chemos. He was raised in the family of one of them, and would go on to completely turn Chemos' fortunes around.
As all Primarchs, Fulgrim grew up at an unnatural rate. He started off not as most Primarchs as a warrior, or a freedom fighter, or the object of worship of an entire clan, but as a simple laborer in one of Chemos' many factories. Once working he immediately showed talent in all things, improving machines to make them more efficient, working hours that would kill a normal human, and re-discovering new technologies that had been lost since the Dark Age of Technology. He improved Chemos' infrastructure so much that people actually began to have time for other things, like art and recreation again. But most importantly, with Fulgrim came a will, a drive to rise up above their level of merely existing and become something greater than drab factory workers struggling for survival. Perhaps the people of Chemos would never become great, but now they could reach for the stars once more.
It was then that the Emperor arrived. As soon as Fulgrim saw the Emperor he went on one knee and swore fealty. The Emperor then showed Fulgrim his Legion, now only 200 strong. It is said that upon seeing his sons arrayed before him, entire companies reduced to only one Astartes still proudly bearing their banner, Fulgrim knelt. He then rose and addressed his sons saying "You are the Emperor's chosen, his heralds, his warriors, his children, for this is only the beginning." And so even as the people of Chemos were born again from the ashes, so would the Third Legion Astartes forge for itself a new future under a new master.
Terra
Despite the Great Crusade being well underway, Fulgrim and the Emperor went back to Terra to reunite Fulgrim with his legion, why he didn't bring them along so they could get going is anybody’s guess. When they finally reached Terra, Fulgrim was introduced to his legion and discovered that some accident had reduced the gene-seeds of the III Legion to the point that only 200 remained. Without the Primarch, it had been a slow and laborious process of repairing the damage.
But never let it be said that Fulgrim didn't know how to bounce back from any hit, as he met his legion he made the customary speech to his legion and named them The Emperor's Children. The Emperor's already ginormous ego was pleased by this speech, so he allowed Fulgrim and his legion to use the Aquila as their symbol. Never let it be said that the Emperor doesn't reward those who strokes his ego pleasingly. As all other Primarchs, his legion quickly gave him a nickname. Since Fulgrim in their eyes had risen their legion from the ashes, Fulgrim got the name The Phoenician. As all other Primarchs, his brothers had a nickname for him too; since Fulgrim liked to dress in one outlandish costume after another (to the point that Lady Gaga would ask him to tone it down some), they named him Peacock (this name would also be used to describe the nature of his legion when not in battle).
Just how long it took Fulgrim to get his legion back on track has been forgotten but Fulgrim's Flagship was completed 160 years before the Horus Heresy, so he probably took some time as no Primarch wants to be seen dead without his flagship. Unfortunately for Fulgrim, the Emperor couldn't sit around and wait for Fulgrim to finish his work in bringing the Emperor's Children back to full strength, so Fulgrim's legion were merged with Horus's Luna Wolves until they were ready to go out on their own.
Among Fulgrim's closest friends were Horus and Ferrus Manus, whom he nicknamed The Gorgon, and whom he shared a closer friendship with than the rest of his brothers.
Their first meeting was on Terra beneath Mount Narodnya, the greatest forge of the Urals, where Ferrus Manus was busy toiling with the forge-masters who had once served the Terrawatt Clan during the Unification Wars soon after his arrival from Medusa. The Primarch of the Iron Hands had been demonstrating his phenomenal skill and the miraculous powers of his liquid metal hands when Fulgrim, the Primarch of the III Legion, the Emperor's Children, and his elite Phoenix Guard, had descended upon the sprawling forge complex.
Neither Primarchs had met each other before, but when they meet each other they immediately felt a kinship, either that or the fact that each of them were 2.5 meters tall, one a regal-looking albino and the other a muscular strongman with living metal all over his hands and that all artisans in the room immediately prostrated themselves in front of them, might have been a pretty HUGE clue. That said, Ferrus' conversations with Lorgar tended to run to about half a minute at best, so maybe there is something in that story.
When Ferrus Manus later told of what had happened beneath Mount Narodnya, he said that Fulgrim had come claiming that he had come to forge the most perfect weapon ever created for The Great Crusade. Ferrus Manus, ever prideful, could not let such boast go unchallenged (if he had been less prideful, he might have been a head taller than he is today, not to mention alive). Laughing in Fulgrim's face, Ferrus Manus answered Fulgrim's boast by declaring that such palsy hands as Fulgrim's could never forge anything.
Fulgrim accepted the challenge with "regal grace" and both Primarchs stripped to the waist, making every female and male (who bent that way Primarch abs do not give a shit about your sexuality) artisan swoon in pleasure. For three months the Primarchs worked unceasingly at the forge until at last their weapons were complete. Fulgrim had forged an exquisite warhammer--Forgebreaker--that could level a mountain with a single blow, and Ferrus Manus a golden bladed sword--Fireblade--that forever burned with the fire of the forge.
Well never let it be said that both Primarchs didn't appreciate fine craftsmanship; Fulgrim declared that Fireblade equal of that borne by the legendary hero Nuada Silverhand and Ferrus swore that only the mighty thunder gods of Nordyc legend were fit to bear such a magnificent warhammer. Without a word the two exchanged weapons, unknown at the time was the fact that Fulgrim would later use Forgebreaker to beat Ferrus to a bloody pulp when Ferrus stubbornly refused to join Horus's rebellion.
It was after the whole affair beneath Mount Nerodnya that Fulgrim came up with Ferrus's nickname. Arriving at the Imperial Palace, Sanguinius of the Blood Angels had arrived bearing gifts from his home world of Baal. Exquisite statues from the glowing rock of Baal, priceless gem-stones and wondrous artifacts of aragonite, opal, and tourmaline. The lord of the Blood Angels had brought enough to fill a dozen wings of the Palace with the greatest wonders imaginable (apparently Sanguinius tried to imitate Fulgrim's trick of stroking the Emperor´s ego). Fulgrim was ecstatic of the wonders Sanguinius had brought, but Ferrus Manus had little time for such things and declared that such frivolities was a waste of time when there was still a galaxy out there to conquer. Fulgrim jokingly answered this by saying that Ferrus was a terrible old Gorgon, the nickname stuck and word had it that Ferrus became rather fond of the nickname (might have something to do with his own legion calling him the Medusan).
These anecdotes notwithstanding, Fulgrim couldn't hang around Terra all day and having already been merged with the Luna Wolves, they quickly set off on The Great Crusade along with Horus.
Great Crusade
Fulgrim's quest for perfection began as a need to live up to the honors bestowed upon his legion; the only legion to bear the Emperor's own heraldry as its symbol. In his eyes they were a legion apart, set above their brothers by the Emperor's own hand. Indeed it is true that while the Emperor's Children perhaps could not practice attrition warfare as well as the Iron Warriors, or drop assault as well as the Blood Angels, or fleet engagements as well as the Imperial Fists, they could do all, and most importantly had within them the will and drive to become paragons in all things. Fulgrim saw in his children what the Emperor meant for space marines to be, not only experts at war and carnage, but noble, strong, and excelling in all matters. Because of this the Emperor's Children were noted to place an emphasis on artistic matters and physical appearance, values that to other Astartes seemed vainglorous. As the Great Crusade went on, Fulgrim's focus on perfection became an obsession. It began to alienate their fellow Astartes as more egotistical legionaries like Eidolon ascended up the command chain. During one campaign, Horus came close to rebuking Fulgrim personally for the problems his officer caused.
Naturally, ugly-ass Mortarion hated Fulgrim and his vanity--seems he fantasised about Fulgrim's finery rotting away in the fumes of Barbarus. Jaghatai didn't have much time for Fulgrim's boasting about his swordsman either and told him "You have your prowess, but I would lead you choking on this." Later Fulgrim would've found this promise strangely arousing.
One incident of note was with the Primarch Konrad Curze of the Night Lords. Fulgrim tutored Curze and was the only primarch the Night Haunter really trusted or confided in. During one campaign alongside the Imperial Fists, Curze had one of the violent fits he was prone to, and Fulgrim rushed to his aid. Curze told him of visions he had of death at the hands of his father (the Emperor) and Primarchs fighting one another.
Fulgrim was (understandably) deeply troubled by this, and decided to confide in Rogal Dorn, well known for his cool head and fairness. In the end though, it turned out to be a mistake as Dorn reacted badly to Curze's visions. Angered by the very idea that someone would have visions of the Emperor killing one of his sons, he confronted Curze. We don't know what exactly he said to him, but we do know a) Dorn was brutally honestand b) that it caused Curze to freak out, attack him and then flee. This little incident helped bring about the fall of the Night Lords Legion, but how far it was Fulgrim's, Dorn's, or Curze's responsibility is up to interpretation largely due to Konrad's absence from Nostramo resulting in his whole Legion becoming staffed by murderers, criminals and other scum; the very people he so loathed. This being said, Fulgrim should either have kept his mouth shut or found someone less... inflexible than Rogal Dorn to try and help Konrad.
Horus Heresy
Old lore says that during the heresy, Fulgrim tried to persuade Horus to stop his heresy, but then Horus somehow managed to coerce Fulgrim into joining him with "decadent pastimes" (what some fa/tg/uys suspect was a promise of untold amounts of drugs and buttsex). Black Library retconned/modify this; the reason Fulgrim turned was because of a daemon sword he found and got corrupted by on the planet Laer, which the Emperor's Children had purged of a Slaanesh-worshipping xenos race (though they didn't know it at the time). Fulgrim then sacrificed his soul to the daemon inhabiting that sword, thinking that he would get eternal peace after realizing he had killed his most beloved brother, Ferrus Manus, his bestest friend.
Then the Daemon possessing his sword said sweet nothings into his ear promising he'd off Fulgrim and ease his pain... a sword, that talks to you in your head, is promising not to fuck you over, so obviously you're going to trust it. Fulgrim gets his soul squashed, paintings get haunted, corpses get implicitly buggered, et cetera...
On an interesting note, Horus promises to save his brother from his fate, which is insane, since he just spent all day fucking over everyone else.
He claims to have exorcised the daemon from himself, but was forced to admit that he was lying when Lorgar threatened to expose his possession to the other traitor Legions. Since then, he has broken free for real, and duped Perturabo into helping him become a Daemon Prince. After that, Fulgrim only showed when Horus bothered to summon him; in the meantime he was probably screwing with Slaanesh or his legion or whatever.
His first appearance after that was in the Battle of Dwell where he, Horus, and Mortarion fought against the forces of the Iron Hands (who were still pissed about Fulgrim beheading their primarch, some people just can´t let bygones be bygones), 58 Imperial legions (not those legions), the Salamanders, and the White Scars.
After having kicked the loyalist forces' asses and sending them skulking off, the Iron Hands commander Shadrak Meduson tried to assassinate Mortarion and Fulgrim by ambushing them in their ship with five Fire Raptors; they failed (seriously why does Black Library keep trying to build suspense by having people try to assassinate the traitor primarchs when we KNOW they don´t die... yet, so obviously we already know the outcome of the attempt) and ran off again, and just to show that even Black Library doesn't know the meaning of OP, Fulgrim used his psychic powers to destroy one of the loyalists' crafts before it could escape... yeah, next time, we´ll probably have Magnus the Red perform party tricks by juggling flagships with both hands tied behind his back.
Next time, Fulgrim disguised himself as some serpent god of the Knight House of Devine in order to corrupt them... sure, why not; makes as much sense as anything else. (Horus Heresy updates are sure to come later... as with everything else in this god damn article.)
After Molech, Fulgrim disappeared again, to the point that Eidolon was basically running the EC's operations (with only a third of the Legion and a sudden competence - seriously, read Path of Heaven. He's finally a believable commander, corrupt as he is), Horus didn't have a clue where Fulgrim was and what he was up to, and those Emperor's Children who hadn't gone totally crazy had to admit that the Warp-infused, megalomaniac Warmaster now cared about them more than their own dad.
TL;DR: Fulgrim's sword fucked him in the ass; this makes him asinine, especially considering the fact that he used it to kill his best friend, a man who could punch weapons into existence with his bare (metal) hands.
Despite everything about him that screams "Anime Character", he did get shit done in the heresy/post-heresy killing two other Primarchs which is pretty badass. In fact, we all should be grateful he put Granddaddy smurf in stasis. On that note...
Yeah, it's time to talk about the big battle. What we know is, the battle was in realspace and both primarchs had a retinue of their best marines. Fulgrim managed to out-maneuver everyone's favorite Spiritual Liege and separate Guilliman from his retinue with a giant black cloud; by the time the Ultramarines finally found Guilliman through the smog, the loyalist primarch was bleeding on the floor.
The 41st Millennium AKA PAPA SMURF IS WHAT AGAIN!?
As of the closing years in the 41st millennium, the combined force of AdMech and Eldar shenanigans has magically put Roboute Guilliman out of stasis, the blue giant is now stretching his limbs and restraining himself on not smashing his face against the wall over the state of the Imperium. Suffice to say, news spread fast and had reached the daemon Primarchs themselves. Fulgrim was shown to be——surprise!——quite alive and to say he was Butthurt over hearing the revelation that Big Bobby Blue is up and about possibly giving him the trollface is a colossal understatement. Not to mention he was the first who actually attacked the big blue (only mentally tho). In front of a crowd. Celebrating his return and most recent victory. And caused him to never being able to enjoy something again without having to fear it's the power of chaos trying to corrupt him. Dang that must suck.
According to The Facture of Biel-Tan, He was allegedly spotted outside the Eye of Terror for the first time in 10,000 years when the Emperor's Children assaulted the Imperial Mining World of Extremis Six, slaughtering everything. Expect more to follow, because now that Primarchs are fair game, it's hard to imagine GW passing up the chance to make a giant multi-armed serpent daemon prince.
On the Tabletop
WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fulgrim: | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 2+/5++/3++ in CC |
Fulgrim is very good at fighting both rank and file and HQ's due to his high initiative (8) granting extra attacks and his good save in close combat. Also he is really fast thanks to Crusader and Fleet, so he will have an easy time to reach combat. Fulgrim has some pretty good defense with 2+, 5++ (3++ in CC), Primarch rule, T6/W6 and whenever he passes an armor or invulnerable save in CC on a 6 the enemy takes a blind test. For weapons he has a shredding volkite charger, which is ok, and the Sword of Laer, an AP2 and rending close combat weapon, which is surprisingly weak for a Primarch weapon, striking at S 6 and with only 5 attack base. But never fear, 'cause you can always upgrade him to carry Fireblade(at least for battles set during the Great Crusade) at no additional cost! Fireblade is a Master Crafted Paragon Blade that instant kills on to wound rolls of 5+, and is so much better than the Blade of the Laer it actually hurts, so always use it. With it Fulgrim can really step up and fight other Primarch without fear, like he should. On the supporting side, he is actually one of the best Primarchs: Sire of the Emperor's Children force him to challenge any opponents who has at least WS 5 (not a real downside, as you would love to challenge almost anyone due to his Sublime Swordsman rule) and also grants him Crusader, but more importantly gives to every units with Adeptus Astartes (Emperor's Children) on the table plus Fulgrim himself +2 to Combat Resolution, meaning easy victories from your units, that will almost certainly overrun the other side thanks to Crusader and their mostly superior initiative. Also, units with Adeptus Astartes (Emperor's Children) can Reroll their reserves roll, whether successful or not. Lastly, Strategic Planning let him choose one warlord trait from either the Legion Warlord Traits or the Strategic Traits, making him able to adapt to his enemies and the situations he will face.
His cheap cost combined with his powerful force multiplier abilities conspire to make this sick fuck an excellent choice, but he'll need a transport to avoid getting shot to death before he reaches combat. Plasma in particular will just make anyone using Fulgrim cry, so keep this in mind.
He should have also had access to the MURDER SWORD (Anathame), but Forge World forgot he had it in the books. Now the books have progressed far enough to know that Erebus took the sword back and smashed into eight daggers.
Fulgrim VS other Primarchs:
Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying. With that in mind this section is how Fulgrim fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into account when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. In essence, the fights are supposed to be in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarchs use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?) so naturally Fulgrim will use Fireblade.
- Fulgrim VS Horus
- Horus hits 3 times (Talon), wounds 2.667 times, 0.889 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 4 times, wounds 2.667 times, 0.889 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555.
- Apparently, a fair fight...but taking into account the -1 to WS and S from the Talon of Horus at the first wounds that Fulgrim will receive, the scale will decisively tip in favor of Horus. Also he could use Worldbreaker to easily negate Fulgrim +2 attack for his initiative, but on the long term the Talon is more effective.
- Fulgrim VS Angron
- Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 1.48 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.148.
- Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 3.5 times, wounds 2.333 times (2.722 times if his warlord trait is Child of Terra), 1.166 (1.361) times after saves, 1.069 (1.248) after Feel No Pain (remember that half of the attacks that wound cause Instant Death) and IWND will take that down to 0.736 (0.915) wounds at the start of the next turn.
- A really close fight: Angron does marginally more damage (if Fulgrim doesn't choose Child of Terra as his Warlord Trait) but is frailer (the irony!) with a weaker save and 1 less wound (I guess that's the catch to have nails inserted directly into your brain...) so he will need 6 (6.1) rounds to kill Fulgrim, with the latter also needing 6 (5.5), but since Fulgrim has higher initiative he'll strike first and kill Angron just slightly before he's killed. Also with Child of Terra there, it's almost no contest...
- Fulgrim vs Mortarion
- Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
- Fulgrim hits 6 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- The first fight against a Primarch who isn't specialised in dueling and Fulgrim (most appropriately), wins.
- Fulgrim VS Ferrus
- Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 1: hits 5.629 (Master-crafted) times, wounds 3.284 times (Child of Terra), 1.094 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.761 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.611 times, wounds 2.107 times, 0.702 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.369 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- The infamous match! And also one of the closest, with the same outcome as the lore unless Fulgrim either has the Laer Blade or he doesn't have Child of Terra, in which case he doesn't really stand a chance. With the Hammer, Ferrus is like Fulgrim's worst nightmare, 'cause strikedown will go off even if the strike doesn't wound him, reducing his initiative to 4 and stripping him of all his advantages. In the end, Fulgrim will win on the 11th round, while Ferrus needs 12 rounds to come on top, so Fulgrim did really well to take the hammer away. Also, a really epic fight!
- 'Its worth noting that in the fluff during this duel Ferrus was fighting with Fireblade and Fulgrim with Forgebreaker. Here's how well that goes: against a primarch Fireblade is only a little better than just using his bare hands, though against most Primarchs Ferrus still wounds on a 2+ so it's all right for him. For Fulgrim though Forgebreaker is a HUGE upgrade. He goes from wounding of 4+ to 2+ thanks to strength 10. Most importantly Ferrus will no longer have Concussive to mitigate Fulgrim's sublime swordsman rules so he still get's more attacks. Even worse is that since Fulgrim can concuss Ferrus down to initiative 1, sublime swordsman will generate SEVEN additional attacks whenever concuss hits and hitting so much means it should be every turn. And even worse is that since Ferrus is down to initiative 1 a lot of the time, Blind is much much more likely to hit. It doesn't even matter if we make Forgebreaker unwieldy in Fulgrim's hands because unwieldy doesn't actually reduce initiative, it just makes you fight at that initiative step, and putting out so much more damage means striking at the same time simply doesn't matter. In the first turn Fulgrim should get that first unsaved wound to concuss and after that it gets disgusting. Once Fulgrim concusses Ferrus he gets 12(!) attacks (since sublime swordsman doesn't limit the bonus attacks it can give) hitting on 3+ (8 hits) wounding on 2+ (5.3 wounds) which is a frankly disgusting 3.5 wounds after saves. IWND will take that down to 3.177 but holy shit is Ferrus screwed. He dies after 3 rounds of combat and quite frankly he gets wrecked like a bitch. With Forgebreaker there's a reasonable chance that Fulgrim could take on Horus simply because the combination of sublime swordsman and concussive is just so powerful (it becomes a matter of where or not Horus fails his 3+ save against stat penalties before the claw cripples Fulgrim enough - and odds are against Lupercal in it). Turns out Fulgrim WAS the better smith, after all.
- Fulgrim VS Konrad Curze
- Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 3.5 times, wounds 2.333 times, 1.167 times after saves and FNF and IWND will take that down to 0.833 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Easy win for Fulgrim.
- Fulgrim VS Vulkan
- Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 1 (And every round he is not Concussed): hits 6 times, wounds 3 times, 1 wounds after saves and 0.444 wounds after IWND.
- Fulgrim Round 2 (And every round he IS Concussed): hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 wounds after saves and 0.111 wounds after IWND.
- Another really difficult fight for Fulgrim, but he should come out on top nevertheless, 'cause even counting in the 55% chance of a lower damage output he still does a little bit more damage on the whole. Still, really hard.
- Fulgrim VS Lorgar
- Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.0833 times, 0.694 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 1: hits 4.556 times, wounds 2.53 times, 1.265 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.932 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 5.333 times/4 times (Concussed), wounds 3.556 times/2.667 (Concussed), 1.778 times/1.333 (Concussed) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.444/1 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim easy victory: even if counting in concussive, Fulgrim will do a lot more damage to Lorgar, and he also has +1 wound.
- Note: as always, psychic powers not included.
- Fulgrim VS Perturabo
- Fulgrim Round 1: hits 4.5 times, wounds 3 times, 1 wounds after saves and 0.667 wounds after IWND.
- Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 wounds after saves and 0.333 wounds after IWND.
- Fulgrim Blinded: hits 1.667 times, wounds 1.111 times, 0.37 times after saves and 0.037 after IWND
- Perturabo hits 2 times, wounds 1.667, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Perturabo (with Fulgrim Blinded) hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim surprisingly loses as after the first round he will be brought to I 4 (by Strikedown) and then Blinded and or Concussed pretty much every round (actually 85% of the total rounds, if my calculations are correct, that is more than enough for Perturabo to destroy him).
- Fulgrim VS Alpharius
- Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.701 times, 0.567 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.234 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.556, 1.778 wounds after saves and 1.444 wounds after IWND.
- Fulgrim easily wins.
- Fulgrim VS Rogal Dorn
- Dorn hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.5 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 4.5 times, wounds 3, 1.5 wounds after saves and 1.167 wounds after IWND.
- Another easy win.
- Fulgrim VS Corvus Corax
- Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1 wounds (Scourge)/0.75 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim hits 4.667/3.5 times, wounds 3.111/2.333 times, 2.07/1.555 wounds after saves and 1.737/1.222 wounds after IWND.
- Fulgrim easily win in a challenge.
- Note: even with Hit & Run and Sire of Raven Guard Corax cannot win this fight, unless he gets lucky with Blind.
- Fulgrim VS Roboute Guilliman
- Fulgrim Round 1: hits 5.333 times (Fireblade is MC), wounds 3.555 times, 1.528 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.195 at the start of the next turn.
- Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 2.667 times, 1.083 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.75 at the start of the next turn.
- Concussed Fulgrim (cannot happen earlier than round 3): Hits 3 times, wounds 2 times, 0.75 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds.
- Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
- An unsurprising loss for Guilliman. If Guilliman chooses to use the Gladius Incandor, Fulgrim will out-damage him in the long run, and if he chooses to concuss Fulgrim, Fulgrim temporarily loses his extra attacks, but Guilliman cannot put out enough damage to keep Fulgrim concussed, meaning Fulgrim gets back up to his normal initiative, gains his extra attacks back, and beats down Guilliman.
- Fulgrim vs. Leman Russ
- Fulgrim Round 1: Hits 1.66 times, wounds 1.1 times, down to 0.55 after saves and 0.363 after saves
- Fulgrim Round 2 and on: Hits 0.833 times, wounds 0.55 times, 0.275 wounds after saves and 0.1815 after saves
- Leman Russ: Hits 4.66 times, wounds 3.5, 1.155 wounds after saves and 0.7623 wounds after saves
- Fulgrim puts up a better fight than most with his 3++ save, but ultimately his damage output is totally crippled by having to hit on 6s, just like all the other Primarchs, and he is slowly ground out. As always, this doesn't count Sever Life, which would turn this fight into a slaughterhouse.
- TL;DR version: Fulgrim is a really good challenger, having better chances against almost any other Primarch except for Horus, Perturabo (Only with Forgebreaker) and Leman Russ. He struggles a little with something that can impair his Initiative (Concussive, Strikedown), but is still a really tough Primarch and difficult to put down in a fight, like he should be.
Gallery
-
The face that launched a 1,000 slashfics. The sad part is that dialogue is lifted directly from a Horus Heresy book.
-
One sexy and psychopathic bastard.
-
Here he's an ugly bald old man covered in scars. NOT HAWT. Also he has black wings for some reason. ORIGINAL WINGS DO NOT STEAL
-
Ferrus is such a troll. From a Horus Heresy book too.
-
In the end Ferrus did give it a try after all.
-
His perfection will drive you to the point of orgasm.
-
The vidya geam
-
In a way, he's kinda like the galactic bicycle of Primarchs.
-
Fulgrim after his ascension.
The Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions |
---|
Loyalist Corvus Corax - Ferrus Manus - Jaghatai Khan Leman Russ - Lion El'Jonson - Roboute Guilliman Rogal Dorn - Sanguinius - Vulkan |
Traitor Alpharius/Omegon - Angron - Fulgrim Horus - Konrad Curze/Night Haunter - Lorgar Magnus the Red - Mortarion - Perturabo |