Skrag the Slaughterer
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Skrag the Slaughterer, also known as the Gore-Harvester and the Maw-that-Walks, is an Ogre Kingdoms special character who debuted in the 6th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. He is Ogres' main magic user in crunch and the embodiment/prophet of their god in fluff.
History
Many, many years ago Skrag was just a regular Slaughtermaster of some minor Tyrant Bron Rockgrinder. His life was nice and all until the moment he accidentally cooked Bron's favourite Gnoblar (it's also implied that he did this on purpose, as that goblin regularly pissed him off). His Tyrant, who was already known as That guy, punished him by hacking his hands off and eating them, and then banished Skrag to under-caves while also attaching a giant cauldron to his back. What a dick.
Having nowhere to go, the former Slaughtermaster ventured deeper and deeper until he encountered a pack of feral and degenerate offshoot of Ogres named Gorgers. Thankfully, Skrag already attached his implements to his wrist-stumps, so the fight for him went pretty easy. After killing at least a dozen Gorgers, he managed to rip the throat of their leader, and was recognized by the surviving Gorgers as one of them. Driven by revenge, Skrag managed to escape from the underground labyrinth with his brand new army of Gorgers, and after that he returned home and killed everyone there, sacrifing the Tyrant to the Great Maw.
This sacrifice gave him the power of the Maw itself and raised him above all other Ogres. Skrag is now revered by even the nastiest of Ogre rulers, and constantly spends time travelling from battle to battle, consuming and sacrificing everything for his beloved God.
Tabletop
Skrag is a pretty interesting character as he's a wizard you want to get into combat (although you want almost all Ogres to get into combat so pretty standard for the army), as he is also a bit like a Warrior Priest for Gorgers. A souped up Slaughter Master, he's a level 4 Wizard that uses the Lore of the Great Maw. Skrag has a plethora of extra rules as he has Frenzy, Killing blow, is Immune to poison (like other Butchers/Slaughter masters) and causes Terror, since seeing some fucked up cross between a Cenobite, Edward Scissorhands, and a fat, greasy fast food chef would scare most people. He also allows Gorgers to be taken in units of two and ignore normal duplicate units rules. Armed with two hand weapons (*Ba-Dum Tss*) he can throw out quiet a lot of hurt since he'll be getting (at least) 6 attacks at S5 with killing blow, which on top of that he can get the impact hit(s) from ogre charge if he gets the charge. All of this will give even kitted out Chaos Lords a pause before they get into combat with him.
His main gimmick however is the Cauldron of the Great Maw, his giant stew pot that gives Skrag and all Gorgers in the army a bonus when Skrag kills someone in close combat (and only close combat), with the bonuses increasing with the more models killed by Skrag.
- 1+ models gives Skrag regeneration, and all Gorgers that are not on the table are brought onto the table.
- 5+ models gives Skrag and all Gorgers +1 attack
- 10+ models gives Skrag and all Gorgers Hatred
- 15+ models gives Skrag unbreakable and all Gorgers regeneration.
Obviously this makes Skrag even deadlier as the game progresses and it makes taking Gorgers almost worth it. Almost. The big problem with Skrag is, like so many other WHFB characters, is his price. He's 425 smackaroos (A full 140 points more expensive than a level 4 wizard slaughter master) and he buffs one of the most meh/over costed units in the Ogre kingdoms army (90 points for one Gorger that starts off the board, with 4 attacks, 4 wounds at Stregnth 5 vs 90 points for 3 bulls that start on the board with a total of 9 wounds, 9 attacks at Strength 4). He can be a good edition to an Ogre army and if you want to run a Gorger heavy army (because your mad as hell and you don't care Gorgers are failcast) he's pretty much essential, but if you just want a strong magic user with lore of The Great Maw, a Slaughter Master is usually the better call.
Total War: WARHAMMER
Skrag is one of the two starting lords of the Ogre Kingdoms faction, but, quite surprisingly, he starts very far from home, in the Grey Mountains. Skrag buffs Gorgers, who probably aren't useless in this game, in his army with reduced upkeep and extra replenishment. His faction has extra movement range coupled with increased recruitment rank and capacity for Butchers.