I've got a complete boner over Abaddon lately; this guy is the ultimate beat stick unit in 40k and I think is perhaps the best single close combat model in the entire game. To show why Abaddon is the Warmaster I think going to do some 1v1 challenges and test Abaddon's mettle.
Behold the Warmaster!
Before Abaddon starts getting into scrapes lets see what Abaddon can do.
Abaddon is a super charged S.M Captain and is basically +1 to everything, so WS7, T5 W4, I6 and A4. Comes with terminator armour and a 4+ invulnerable save.
Abaddon has the black crusader warlord trait which gives 12" bubble of preferred enemy: Space Marines and has veterans of the long war which gives hatred (Space Marines) - I get the impression Abaddon doesn't like Space Marines!
In addition Abaddon has eternal warrior, so no instagib for him or any force weapon trickery.
The Warmaster is armed with two specialist weapons (so gets +1 attack for having two of these), one is the talon of horus which is S8 AP3 shred. The funky sword is a daemon weapon (D6 extra attacks roll a 1 weapon skill 1 take a wound no armour saves), this is S5 AP2.
In the examples below neither model will be charging so no model will get the bonus attack or any bonuses for charging i.e furious charge.
Blood Angels
Seems Blood Angels lost their primarch to Abaddon's dead Primarch and Blood Angels have hatred (Abaddon), I thought this would be a good place to start. Challengers are The Sanguinor & Mephiston. Commander Dante and Astorath did spring to mind but seems both have axes they will be initiative 1 and will be smashed before they even strike.
Sanguinor
Sanguinor has an ability to mark an enemy HQ unit and can re-roll to hit and to wound, Abaddon will be marked. Sangunior has a master crafted glaive encarmine, which is only AP3, though to weather Abaddon's attacks does have 2+ armour save, 3+ invulnerable and eternal warrior.
Sanguinor and Abaddon are both I6 so strike at the same time. Sanguinor has 5 attacks and is WS8 vs Abaddon's WS7, so hitting on 3+, so will hit 3.76 including re-rolls. Will wound Abaddon 2.07 times including re-rolls, which Abaddon will fail 0.33.
Abaddon will use the talon and thanks to hatred will be re-rolling to hit. Abaddon gets 5 attacks and will hit with 3.75 and wound with 3. Sanguinor will fail a single wound and will drop down to 2 wounds remaining.
Due to Sanguinor's lack of AP Abaddon will need to be unlucky to fail any saves and will eventually mash Sanguinor up over the course of three rounds of combat providing the dice stay at average.
Mephiston
Mephiston is pretty much equal to Abaddon though is S6 T6 and I7. Only has a 2+ armour save, but the T6 and W5 should whether Abaddon's attacks.
Mephiston knows three psychic powers and is a mastery level 3 psyker, though in this case only two powers are useful; sanguine sword (makes S10) and unleash rage (preferred enemy).
A nice ability that Mephiston has is transfixing gaze, which Abaddon must take a leadership test with -4. If this test is failed then Mephiston will re-roll to hit and to wound. Abaddon is leadership 10, so needs 6 or under to pass, this is a 60% chance to pass.
Unfortunately Mephiston's sword is only AP3 so lacks power to punch through Abaddon's armour.
Mephiston swings first and casts both sword and rage. Lets say Abaddon passes the test for transfixing gaze as stands more chance for passing than failing. Mephiston hits 2 and wounds 2, which Abaddon has 0.32 chance to fail.
Abaddon swings after Mephiston and uses the talon of horus. Abaddon hits with 3.75 thanks to hatred and Mephiston will fail 3 saves.
Combat will repeat which Abaddon may fail the transfixing gaze for a second time, which Mephiston will probably still fail to make Abaddon fail an armour save. In return Abaddon will skull crush Mephiston.
Blood Angels defeated - 2-0 to Abaddon.
Dark Angels
So Abaddon has just waded through the Blood Angels. How about against a more modern codex like Dark Angels? Sammael will come forward as all other characters have AP3 weapons which will just bounce off Abaddon's terminator armour.
Sammael has preferred enemy: Chaos Space marines and a AP2 master crafted sword which will help put damage down on Abaddon.
To withstand Abaddon's pain Sammy is T5 and has eternal warrior.
Abaddon strikes first as is I6 and uses the daemon weapon, which will give an extra 4 attacks - that's 9 attacks altogether. Abaddon will hit with 7.96 and wound with 4.4, Sammy will fail 2.2 wounds.
Sammy strikes with 4 attacks, hits 2 (0.32 chance of being a 1) and will wound with 0.66, which Abaddon has 50% chance to save. Lets say Abaddon doesn't save.
Following turn Abaddon will batter Sammy based upon dice averages. So far Sammy is the only one able to put a dent on Abaddon.
Dark Angels defeated - 3-0 Abaddon
Fall of the Imperium
The only remaining characters I can think of who can take on Abaddon is Logan Grimnar and Marneus Calgar. Logan only has the power fist form of attacks from the axe of morkai to punch through Abaddon's armour, so will die before strikes. Calgar has the dual power fists of ultramar, though will strike last, if my maths is correct Abaddon will score 2.13 unsaved wounds on Calgar before he even strikes. Calgar will score an unsaved wound on Abaddon and then will die the following turn. .
I haven't forgot Grey Knights by the way. I don't think they are up to the job as all their weapons except nemesis daemon hammers are AP3 and the hammer is I1, which means Abaddon will smash anything before it even swings. Only character who comes to mind is a Brotherhood Champion and Castellan Crowe who would use that power to take Abaddon with them, though they of course would ultimately die in the process.
What about Lysander? The dude has a S10 master crafted thunder hammer, eternal warrior and storm shield.
Abaddon strikes first and uses the talon, will get 5 attacks - will hit with 3.75 thanks to hatred and wound with them all, Lysander will fail 1.28 saves.
Lysander strikes and will hit with 1.5 and wound the same, lets round it up and say causes 2 wounds and Abaddon passes one of them.
Abaddon will strike again and based up averages will take another wound from Lysander. Depending if Lysander causes 1 or 2 wounds depends if Abaddon will snuff it or not. Utimately Abaddon will probably beat Lysander as takes a wound off Lysander each turn and Abaddon has more wounds than Lysander.
Abaddon wins with probably a single two wounds left.
Space Marines defeated - 4-0 Abaddon
Rise of the Xenos
So the Imperium has had a crack at Abaddon and all of it's heroes have fallen. Only Lysander come close to putting the hurt on Abaddon with Sammy rolling in second. All others would pitter patter of his armour or be smashed before they even strike.
Dark Eldar can offer Lelith Hespax, who will get 7 attacks with no armour saves, these will hit 3.5 times and Abaddon will fail 1.75 - a good start for Lelith. Abaddon would only get 4 attacks as Lelith has a shardnet which takes an attack from a model in base contact. Abaddon would hit twice with the talon and wound twice. Lelith has a 3+ invulnerable save, but stands 0.68 chance of failure and those odds are two high as Lelith only needs to fail one and it is instagib.
Drazhar, Master of Blades is a great contender. Has two special rules; onslaught which if a 6+ is rolled to hit will generate another attack and murderous assault which gives preferred enemy. In addition the demiklaives Drazhar has are AP2, one setup allows +2 attacks the other gives +2 strength.
To withstand Abaddon's power Drazhar has eternal warrior and a 2+ armour save. Unfortunately no invulnerable save.
Drazhar strikes first and and will use the blades to get +2 strength, will hit with 2 attacks (0.32 chance of a failure being a 1) and will wound with 1.32 - Abaddon will save 0.66, so little over half.
Abaddon will strike and use the talon. Gets 5 attacks and hits with 2.5 and wounds with 2.1 - Drazhar only has 3 wounds, so next turn will succumb to Abaddon's might.
Dark Eldar defeated - 6-0 Abaddon
Eldar next then and I am thinking of Jain Zar who is going to have an impressive 5 attacks at AP2 thanks to two melee weapons and is also eternal warrior with a 2+ armour save and 4+ invulnerable.
So Jain will strike first as I7 and has 5 attacks, will hit with 2.5 and wound with 1.38 (shred included for blade of destruction), which Abaddon will fail 0.69.
Abaddon will strike with 5 attacks and will hit with 2.5 and wound with 2.1, which Zain will fail 1.
If the dice carry on at averages Zain will eventually lose as only has 3 wounds where Abaddon has 4. Based upon averages Abaddon will live with a single wound remaining - close but no cigar!
Other contents are Karandras and Fuegan who both have access to AP2/AP1 weapons. Unfortunately they only have 3 wounds each and will suffer the same fate as Jain Zar.
Next xeno scum to have a pop is the mighty Swarmlord. If I remember correctly Swarmy can generate biomancy, however iron arm is so random I am not going to even factor that in.
Swarmlord maybe the bug for the job as has a mighty T6, A4 and W5 along with a 4+ invulnerable save.
Swarmy has cool bone sabres which inflict instant death (Abaddon has eternal warrior) and forces re-rolls of successful invulnerable saves.
Both Abaddon and the Swarmlord are I6 so will strike at the same time. Abaddon goes for the daemon sword to generate more AP3 attacks, will get a total of 9 attacks and hit with 4.5 and wound 1.49 which Swarmy will fail 0.75.
Swarmlord strikes with 4 attacks and hits with 2.64, wounds with 1.74 - Abaddon will fail 0.87, though will have to re-roll the save, which has 0.44 chance of saving again.
When the dust has settled I think Swarmlord has Abaddon's number even if Abaddon uses the talon - which will generate the same unsaved wounds. It's Swarmlord's ability to force successful re-rolls of invulnerable saves which brings Abaddon down. You are looking at about two rounds of combat when Abaddon will die and Swarmlord will probably have lost two wounds.
Abaddon defeated!
The last of the xenos comes to have a pop at Abaddon (I haven't forgot Orks or Tau by the the way, though both of these will be mush) and that's a Necron Overlord. The Overlord is armed with warscythe, mindshackle scarabs, weave and phase shifter. In this fight it comes down to the tests for mindshackle scarabs and how many attacks the shackles would generate if Abaddon did fail. If Abaddon did fail mindshackles and a good roll was made, then chances are the Overlord could polish off Abaddon in a several rounds of combat. If mindshackles failed, then the Overlord would go down in time. Would be a slug fest this one!
Traitors within traitors
It seems the Imperium has falled flat on it's face against Abaddon and the xenos haven't been much better, though at least the Swarmlord has bagged a kill for team xeno and the Necron Overlord stands reasonable chances. Team xeno have made a lot better effort than the Imperium.
Now what about Abaddon's own forces of chaos against him?
Lets take a Daemon Prince with daemon of tzeentch and the black mace. The Prince will get an extra 4 attacks from the black mace giving a total of 9 attacks. The Prince will strike first as I8 and will need 3+ to hit as WS8; will hit 5.94 and wound with 4.98 as the black mace has fleshbane. Abaddon would fail 2.49. The black mace rule states if a model takes an unsaved wound then must take a toughness test (Abaddon has 16% chance failure) and if failed model is removed as a casualty.
Abaddon would strike back and use the daemon weapon to get those AP3 attacks in - will get 9 attacks and hit with 4.5 - will wound with 3.38, Prince will fail 2.26 (0.36 chance to be a 1).
Next turn of combat the Daemon Prince will flatten Abaddon.
A Bloodthirster is another big monster who would take a good stab at Abaddon and probably come out on top. In the first round of combat the Bloodthirster would cause 1.52 wounds on Abaddon, while Abaddon would use the daemon sword and get 9 attacks, hit with 4.5, wound with 3.38 - 'Thirster will fail 2.26 and still has 4 wound remaining. Eventually Abaddon will lose the combat through wound attrition, though greatly comes down to how many wounds will fail as chance of failing wounds each turn is 1.52 - is it a single wound each turn or two wounds each turn?
In total Abaddon was won 7 fights while several challengers have run off with their tails between their legs. Swarmlord carries the flag for team xeno with support from the Necron Overlord, but ultimately Abaddon's own allies will be his downfall in the form of a Mace Prince and Bloodthirster, though other Greater Daemons stand same chances more or less.
You think you can challenge the Warmaster? Post your character below and see if they can stand before the might of Abaddon the Despoiler.