Heinrich Kemmler

"A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man."

– Miguel de Unamuno

"Where is Krell?"

– Heinrich Kemmler

Heinrich Kemmler is a Necromancer character from Warhammer Fantasy, first introduced in the Terror Of The Lichemaster campaign for second edition, all the way back in 1986, of which he was the star.

A little known fact is that this guy is one of the OG Special Characters of Warhammer Fantasy. Heinrich Kemmler is Warhammer Fantasy's first Special Character.

The Legend[edit]

Old Canon[edit]

Back in the days of yore, when Warhammer Fantasy was a combination of tabletop game and role-playing game, the campaign "Terror Of The Lichemaster" (for the tabletop) introduced Heinrich Kemmler as the first playable 'special character' (along with the Skaven as a race). "Terror Of The Lichemaster" dealt with Kemmler's rise to power and eventual downfall (at least in canon, it was possible for Kemmler to actually 'win' the campaign in play).

Kemmler however wasn't destroyed, he returns in "Vengeance Of The Lichemaster". (Written as a RPG-supplement, where he is the Big Bad Evil Guy.) It turned out that after his first defeat, he managed to flee retribution and attempted to find a moment of respite at the Abbey A la Maisontaal in the Grey Mountains, pretending to be a pilgrim. The residing abbot (a powerful cleric of Taal) saw through his magical disguise and hammered Kemmler with a spell that severed him from his magical power source permanently. (What would today be known as Shyish, but back then was left nebulous).

Still, Kemmler managed to escape once again and spent many years as an insane hermit in the mountains, his old foes believing him dead and the abbot never realising who he'd driven off and secure in the knowledge the black mage would not regain his powers. But he was wrong: in his errance, Kemmler chanced upon a daemon which offered to restore his powers if he would kill in Chaos' name, each soul he claimed for the daemon's patron(s) granting him a measure of power. (It is left unclear who exactly Kemmler bargained with; the demon he encounters is said to be 'serving Nurgle' but 'showing an unusual interest in the necromantic arts'). Kemmler, eager for revenge, and at that point utterly batshit insane after years of barely surviving, agreed to the bargain.

"Vengeance Of The Lichemaster" then deals with Kemmler's slow restoring of his power with terror attacks meant simply to kill and secure magical power (striking at prospectors, lone hovels and farms, an isolated human village and a small dwarven mine outpost, with the PC's getting the chance to limit the damage in most places), until he felt secure enough to raise 'a famous chieftain having terrorised the region in ages past' as his champion (Back then called Hans Zwemmer, but who would later become Krell). With enough raw magical power from his wanton killing and undead under his command, he then launches an all-out attack against the Abbey A la Maisontaal, where he is eventually defeated for good. (The player characters having to either bargain with Skaven or chance risking using an artefact made of pure warpstone to counter his magicks.)

Modern Canon[edit]

Origin[edit]

Heinrich Kemmler burnt with the need for power. Having recognised the limits that mortality placed upon him in his early years, Kemmler made it his life's work to escape them. He plunged into the world of necromancy as a young man, and by the time he had reached his fortieth year he was able to raise entire graveyards of corpses to do his bidding.

Kemmler became a great and much-feared Necromancer, plundering every Wizard's tower and ancient temple he could find in his search for dark truths. In the hills beyond Quenelles in Bretonnia his army had smashed the zombie legions of the Council of Nine, an alliance of nine powerful necromancers. In the dark woods beyond the town of Bögenhafen in the western Empire, he had overcome the three Vampire Wizards of Blutwald and all their armies of walking dead. In the crypts beneath castle Vermisace he had overcome the ancient Liche wizard and all his acolytes and was since known as The Lichemaster. His star was in the ascendant for many decades until ambitious rivals began to usurp his power. United, those who Kemmler had defeated proved stronger than even the self-styled Lichemaster. At the Battle of Ten Thousand Skulls, Kemmler's foes succeeded in driving him to his knees. Although he finally managed to scatter his attackers with a great spell of confusion, his body was broken and his mind blasted in the battle.

Tomb of Krell[edit]

For many years Heinrich wandered the Grey Mountains and the Border Princes as little better than a half-sane beggar. It was in the Vaults where by some quirk of fate, he uncovered the tomb of Krell, a long-dead Chaos Champion whose burial mound was so magnificent it towered high above him. Here Kemmler struck a terrible pact with the gods: they restored him to his former power and in return, Heinrich swore to slay and destroy in their name. The name of the Lichemaster once again struck terror into the hearts of ordinary folk.

Later activities[edit]

The tales of these two monsters were many. In 2491 IC they attacked Brettonian abbey at la Maisontaal which contained a powerful artifact stolen from the Skaven. It was only thanks to the skill and heroism of Duke Tancred of Quenelles that the abbey wasn't destroyed utterly in a three-way battle. Kemmler escaped and fled back in the Grey Mountains while the Skaven returned to Skavenblight with their prize. Tancred returned with much honour and spent the rest of his life chasing the Lichemaster. The Duke was eventually killed at the Battle of Montfort Bridge, smashing Kemmler's forces. The Wood Elves remember Kemmler for the Battle of the Cairns, when he raised a huge army from the many cairns in the forest, ancient human burial mounds long forgotten that were site of great mystical energy closely linked with the health of the Elves woodland home. By attacking in winter the Elves were at their weakest and it was thanks to the great and venerable treeman Durthu who roused the native wood spirits, and the sacrifice of a warrior-elder Sceolan (who grievously wounded Kemmler before Krell cut Sceolan's head off) that the necromancer fled and his army was defeated, though not before he caused great swathes of devastation to the forest, managing to strike further into the realm than any previous attacker. Funnily enough Kemmler showed up in the woods many times before this point, seemingly being one of the few outsiders who can enter and leave the woods of Athel Loren without issue (sometimes he'd even show up with Krell). If he was ever spotted he'd either turn the sentries to dust or have Krell hack them apart, and if the Elves ever gathered in number to catch him he'd just vanish on the spot, like mist in a breeze. Presumably thanks to this he learned where the cairns were and also how to navigate the woods without fail, allowing him and his army to set their path straight to the Oak of Ages before his defeat. After his loss the Elves celebrated because he wouldn't show back up in their forest again... for a few years anyway.

Though perhaps he never knew it, Kemmler's wanderings in the mountains were subtly guided by the spirit of Nagash - part of an evil plan that would free Krell and unite him with the forces of the Undead. Nagash's plans suffered a minor setback following the heavy casualties that the Lichemaster's armies suffered at the Battle of Maisontaal Abbey, but in time they bore rich and terrible fruit.

End Times[edit]

Despite his honored place in the history of the game, Kemmler is hit by a third set of retcons that are hard on him. GW mixed up the business relationship, with Krell becoming so independent that it appears that Krell is the master and Kemmler is the servant. He gets enlisted by Arkhan the Black to help him retrieve Nagash's staff, Alakanash. But Kemmler is so independent, he chafes at the idea of servitude to the point of mania. The two of them summon an army and attack the abbey where it is being held, getting caught in a protracted battle against a Bretonnian army. At this point Kemmler gets called a servant of Nagash one too many times by Arkhan, so he goes goes "fuck it!" and turns his back on Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. He abandons the battle to sneak into the abbey's vaults to try and take the staff for himself.

Just as Kemmler grabs the staff, Arkhan confronts him and Kemmler triumphantly proclaims his new allegiance. He tries to get Arkhan to join him, but the liche is actually loyal to Nagash and genre savvy. Arkhan rebuffs Kemmler, telling him that the Chaos Gods will fuck him over on a whim and calling Kemmler a loser. This enrages the necromancer and the two engage in a destructive magical duel, Lichemaster vs Liche (which Arkhan, being the smartass that he is, comments on). Despite being evenly matched in magic power following Kemmler's power boost from the Chaos Gods, Arkhan's thousands of years more experience with magic proved decisive. A beam-of-war between the two results in Kemmler being ripped to pieces. The magical backlash causes the abbey to explode and the blast floors most of both armies. To add insult to injury for Kemmler, Arkhan survives and laughs it off with nothing more than charred robes.

Thus, Warhammer Fantasy's first Special Character was the first Special Character killed off in the End Times (the jury’s still out on whether this was intended or not). In hindsight, this seemed to be foreshadowing for what GW would end up doing to the Warhammer Fantasy setting.

On The Tabletop[edit]

Being the oldest Fantasy character, Kemmler naturally has had a number of rules variations on the tabletop and has appeared in most of the editions of the game (thanks to White Dwarf more than the individual army books). This is so long as we include his original appearance(s), which means he's had a total of 7 variations of his own rules (6th edition gave him rules twice as well for some odd reason), with the only thing remaining the same across all editions being that he had the Undead rule. His appearance record is quite impressive, if for no other reason than GW remembered he existed and felt like giving him rules in a game where named characters were abruptly dropped from books for no reason (until AoS anyway, where he was first given very poor rules before being removed entirely).

4th Edition[edit]

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Heinrich Kemmler:	350-512	4	7	7	5	4	4	6	5	10	-

As anyone familiar with HeroHammer would be able to tell you, Kemmler's stats and weapons back in these editions were fucking bullshit. Having a statline that would allow him to annihilate most combat lords of 6th, 7th and 8th edition Kemmler also could get his own magic items and a skeleton steed (for +2 points) that made him harder to lock down and kill (optional, since this was back when named characters could buy their own magic items and with his cloak there was little reason to get the horse). Speaking of which, he was also a level 4 wizard who could equip the following:

Chaos Tomb Blade: Kemmler's trusty sword that he's almost never without. In this edition it cost a whopping 75 points, but it was worth it as the Chaos Tomb Blade granted Kemmler a free spell every time he killed something (and if you take a look at his statline, you'd realize there's never a time he isn't going to be killing something).
Skull Staff: Kemmler's gibbering staff, which oddly enough received very few changes throughout the editions. In this edition it cost 35 points, it made enemies reveal all magic items when they came within 12" of Kemmler and it gave him +1 to dispel enemy spells (which given his level and how spells used to work, meant he dispelled nearly everything on a 2+ or very rarely, a 3+). In future editions the Skull Staff would usually keep one of these abilities (or both) and otherwise get something new in place of the one it lost.
Cloak of Mists and Shadows: Like the Skull Staff, the Cloak of Mists and Shadows rarely gets changed around and is tied for having the fewest variations. In this edition it cost 50 points and gave him a free cast of Dark Mist, which made Kemmler Ethereal and allowed him to instantly move 24" so long as it wasn't dispelled or Kemmler hadn't decided to end it. Yes, this meant a combat monster was free to roam around the field at 24" a turn until the game was over, it's hardly a wonder he was changed around later.

5th Edition[edit]

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Heinrich Kemmler:	450	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	3	10	-

5th Edition started to reign back the crazy profiles that appeared all over 4th, but that didn't mean it didn't have its own fair share of bullshit with its heroes. As such Kemmler's stats were dropped down a bit and his points increased... sort of (going up by 100 points base, but automatically given all his toys, so he's 60 points cheaper than a maxed-out 4th edition Lichemaster). He also lost 3 Weapon/Ballistic Skill, 1 Strength and 2 Attacks, but everything else with his profile remained the same. He also lost the ability to get a horse, something that would stay with him for the rest of Warhammer Fantasy since there was never a need for anyone to use him on one. Kemmler was still a level 4 wizard and armed with the following:

Chaos Tomb Blade: Surprisingly this edition saw no changes to the Tomb Blade (unlike the latter editions). It was listed as the same price and still gave Kemmler free magic spells per kill, although thankfully he'd be doing a whole lot less killing in this edition.
Skull Staff: The Skull Staff is entirely unchanged in this edition. It still cost 35 points, made enemies reveal all magic items when they came within 12" of Kemmler and it gave him +1 to dispel enemy spells (which given his level and how spells used to work, meant he dispelled nearly everything on a 2+ or very rarely, a 3+).
Cloak of Mists and Shadows: Dropped 20 points in cost (down to 30), but otherwise remained the same. In this edition it cost 50 points and gave him a free cast of Dark Mist, which made Kemmler Ethereal and allowed him to instantly move 24" so long as it wasn't dispelled or Kemmler hadn't decided to end it.

6th Edition v1.0[edit]

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Heinrich Kemmler:	450	4	3	3	3	4	4	3	1	9	-

6th Edition once again kicked Kemmler right in the stats, dropping him down another 1 WS/BS, 1 Strength, 3 Initiative, 2 Attacks and 1 Leadership. It did help him out a little as far as his rules went though, even if he still cost a metric fuckton. He was still a Level 4 Necromancer, but this time with a whole host of new gear under his cloak and a shiny new rule:

Sword: Kemmler dropped the Chaos Tomb Blade off somewhere, or was scared the Skaven might find it shiny and decide to steal it (since he was working alongside them at the time of getting these rules) so he only uses a normal sword in this version.
Cloak of Mists and Shadows: In this edition it still makes Kemmler Ethereal, though for some reason loses its massive movement. It also makes it so that he can only attack other Ethereal creatures in close combat, although you were hardly going to have him in close combat to begin with unless it was to troll a combat lord who hadn't bought a magic weapon (they're more common than you think).
Skull Staff: The Skull Staff had a minor change. While it still makes enemies reveal all magic items when they came within 12", it no longer gives +1 to dispel, instead it allows Kemmler to re-roll the result on the Miscast table. Very handy for making sure he doesn't instantly die. Technically too the next four items are a part of his staff somehow:
- Power Stone: Once per game Kemmler could immediately give himself 2 free Power dice. Handy, if a little odd to see such a common item with him.
- Black Periapt: Kemmler apparently became fond of jewelry in this edition, as this is his second (and more useful) piece. It allows him to store one unused power/dispel dice, and then use it in the next magic phase (turning a power dice into a dispel dice and vice versa).
- Spell Familiar: Aside from picking up jewelry Kemmler also started keeping pets (aside from Krell). This one allows him to know an extra spell atop the usual 4 he already knows.
- Power Familiar: The second pet Kemmler keeps tied to his staff. This one gives him a free power dice and dispel dice every single magic phase.

Most of Kemmler's magic items work really well with the special rule he gained in this edition, you could potentially use the Power Stone, the Power Familiar and the Black Periapt to gain +4 power dice in one phase, just in case you felt like lubing up to use the rule to its full potential:

Master of Necromancy: Kemmler can cast any spell he wants as many times as he wants so long as he still has power dice. It's essentially Khaine magic before Khaine came out and it's equally as broken. Presumably this is the reason Kemmler costs so much as he could heal up his entire army before scooting everyone across the battlefield, or just spamming Gaze of Nagash to annihilate annoying skirmisher units.

6th Edition v2.0[edit]

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Heinrich Kemmler:	550	4	3	3	4	4	3	3	1	9	5++

Yes he got rules twice for this edition, and you know what? His first showing was just a warmup to what he can really do. While he lost a few toys here and there (deciding two pets were too hard to care for, losing interest in his Power Stone and trading 1 Wound for 1 Strength) Kemmler's second version, despite being 100 points more expensive is easily one of the most powerful spellcasting Lords Warhammer Fantasy has seen, primarily due to still being Level 4, keeping the Master of Necromancy rule and gaining his own unique magic lore, as well as his own entire ARMY LIST. Before getting to that though, here's what he's armed with:

Chaos Tomb Blade: In this edition it allows Kemmler to re-roll failed to Wound rolls and would be a great weapon if it was on anyone else. Fortunately it did have a use, if you combined it with Desiccating Grasp it gave a very welcome buff to the spell.
Skull Staff: No change here either. It still makes enemies reveal all magic items when they came within 12" and it allows Kemmler to re-roll the result on the Miscast table. Very handy for making sure he doesn't instantly die.
Cloak of Mists and Shadows: A slight change here, Kemmler's still Ethereal but he's no longer forced to only be able to attack other Ethereal creatures. Now he's free to walk up to anyone he wants and attempt to murder them with Desiccating Grasp while fearing no retaliation unless they have a magic weapon.
Black Periapt: Luckily Kemmler decided to keep this over his Power Stone. It allows him to store one unused power/dispel dice, and then use it in the next magic phase (turning a power dice into a dispel dice and vice versa). No longer tied to his staff so you're not fucked if that gets destroyed.
Power Familiar: The one pet Kemmler decided to keep under his coat. This one gives him a free power dice and dispel dice every single magic phase and like the Periapt it's no longer tied to his staff.

Aside from his gear Kemmler keeps the following rule, and gains a new one:

Master of Necromancy: Kemmler can cast any spell he wants as many times as he wants so long as he still has power dice. Like before it's really powerful, and now even more so since his own spell lore is even better than regular Necromancy.
Spells of Protection: Because only pussies gain their Ward saves from magic items. Kemmler finally decided he needed at least some save of some kind, so he cast a few spells on himself that give him a permanent 5+ Ward save that cannot be removed by any normal means (such as destroying a magic item, since this is a rule unique to him). Kemmler and his unit (should he be in one) also ignore one point of crumble, which can certainly help out if you lost because of something minor like musicians or outnumbering.

8th Edition[edit]

	Pts	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Heinrich Kemmler:	350	4	3	3	4	4	3	4	1(3)	8	-

Kemmler had a very sad showing in 8th edition. After becoming an absolute magical beast in 6th which led his own unique army with its own unique units, 8th neutered him pretty hard and took away nearly all of the previous reasons you'd bring him. In here he's stuck in a bizarre dual role of being a mediocre combat character thanks to trading -1 Ld for +1 Initiative (for some reason) and getting +2 attacks from his weapon, as well as being a good spellcaster (still level 4). However aside from the smaller games or a themed list where you wanted to avoid using vampires he'd see little use. He had the following equipment:

Chaos Tomb Blade: Kemmler's sword underwent a weird change in 8th, here it gave him +2 Attacks, and when he kills enemies they turn into extra models for the unit he's leading (so long as he was with Skeletons or Grave Guard). This could be very handy if he was in a souped-up unit of Grave Guard since it was essentially letting you get extra points, or helping you replenish your casualties from crumble, but most of the time you didn't want him in combat since any decent combat lord would kick his shit in and Kemmler has always cost a fuckload of points.
Skull Staff: Oddly enough the Skull Staff went back to the rules it had in 4th/5th edition, making enemies reveal magic items when they get within 12" and giving Kemmler +1 to dispel. Handy, but you could recreate this for less than his cost.
Cloak of Mists and Shadows: In this edition it gives Kemmler either the Fly or Ethereal rule. Most of the time this meant he was Ethereal as he was way too easy to kill otherwise.

That's all the stuff he gets, 8th dropped him down to his bare-basic gear and also removed his unique rules, which included removing his Ward save and anti-crumble. They did give him the following generic rules though:

Loremaster (Lore of Vampires): Kemmler knows all of the Lore of Vampires spells. This is to be expected since he already had a similar rule in the previous edition.
Master of the Dead: Kemmler can increase Skeleton units to be larger than their starting size. Whoopee.

Age of Sigmar[edit]

In the "warhammer legends, hero of the old world" compendium, Kemmler returns with rules, but without points cost (those rules are for nostalgic and narrative play, after all). Here, Kemmler doesn't have a command ability, neither such a good unique spell (CV 5, every "vampire counts" model within 12" heals one wound. Only good with multi wounds models like varghaists or bats). For the rest, he can put some really nice tricks, like teleporting around the table at the start of the HERO PHASE (yes, he can move after), adding one to casting and unbinding rolls, and can pass wounds and mortals wounds to another "vampire count" unit at 2+ (no limitations about which unit can get the wounds, so this can have hilarious outcome: "hey Mannfred, can you step in front of me and take those incoming arrows in my place?" "why the hell i shou... Wait, what am I doing?! PLEASE NO! AAAAAH, RIGHT IN THE EYE!" "thanks Mannfred, you are the best bro ever" "FUCK YOU!")

Lore of the Lichemaster[edit]

Yep, at one point, back in 6th Edition Kemmler had his own spell lore. Only he could use it and he knew all of the spells in it (naturally). This was also back when Kemmler was built up to being close to Nagash in power and both his rules and his lore reflected this.

As for how the spells themselves worked, the Lore of the Lichemaster was essentially a far more powerful version of Necromancy. Every spell has been upgraded in some way, shape or form and Kemmler has renamed some of them after himself, presumably to show up the original creator(s) (which are Nagash and Vanhel respectively).

Invocation of the Lichemaster: This spell has two uses and three casting levels. The use must be declared before the spell is rolled and they are to raise new skeletons and heal Wounds on a unit respectively. How many skeletons are created and how many Wounds are healed depend on the respective casting level. The first is 3+, and this created D6 Skeletons, or it heals D3 Wounds on any existing unit. The second value is 7+, which creates 2D6 Skeletons or heals 2D3 Wounds. The final one creates 3D6 Skeletons or heals 3D3 Wounds and its value is 11+. All Skeletons are armed with Hand Weapons and Shields, however if you create less than 5 Skeletons the spell fails to work.
- The way this spell is superior to the Invocation of Nehek is simple, it heals far more Wounds. In 6th the spell would only heal 1/2/3 Wounds respectively, as opposed to 1D3/2D3/3D3 Wounds, and you could use this spell on anything, from Vampires to Zombie Dragons and if you were playing for fun, you could use it in 7th to heal stuff like 3D3 Wounds that were on Blood Knights, whereas normally they could only be healed one Wound from any other source. On its own this spell is a good reason to take Kemmler, let alone the other shit he can do.
Desiccating Grasp: A remains in play spell. If Kemmler casts this on himself (and he can only cast it on himself) then his attacks ignore armour saves, and if he causes even a single unsaved while this spell is active then he instantly kills whoever he hurt, no matter who/what they are and how many Wounds they had left.
- You know what's sweet about Hand of Dust? It's how it can instantly kill your opponent. You know what would make it even better? If it had a lower casting value (6+ instead of 7+), didn't take your attacks away and turned whoever it killed into a skeleton instead of turning them into dust. If you can find some sort of creative way to give Kemmler his attacks back (as well as some way to up his Strength) then you can emulate his 4th/5th edition versions where he can kill a ridiculous amount of things. Even with only one attack Kemmler has a 30% chance to Wound even T6 creatures (and better than 50% on T5) thanks to his sword, so using him to kill monsters even while he isn't buffed isn't out of the question. Think of it like Heroic Killing Blow but it always works so long as you Wound successfully.
Eternal Vigour: The upgrade to Hellish Vigour. The targeted unit gains the Always Strikes First rule (Zombies also lose Always Strikes Last) and they re-roll all failed To Hit rolls, as well as all failed To Wound rolls. Cast this on pretty much anything and they become combat blenders.
- In this edition Hellish Vigour only granted re-rolls on To Hit rolls as well as Always Strikes First. They both had a 7+ casting value but the re-rolls on To Wound rolls are quite nice, and make stuff like Sword and Board Grave Guard hit harder (normally you'd have to choose whether you wanted them to be the hammer, or the anvil and this way they could be both).
Withering Gaze: Kemmler shoots beams of light from his eyes, Aku style and kills whatever he's looking at. It's a magic missile with 8+ to cast, and causes 2D6 Strength 4 hits, with a 36"(!) range.
- This is straight up Gaze of Nagash with an extra 12", presumably because Kemmler wanted to show Nagash up in this magic dick-measuring contest.
Kemmler's Danse Macabre: Pick an undead unit within 24" and isn't in close combat. That unit now gets to make a free 8" move as if it was the movement phase. This means this move can even be a charge, following the usual charge restrictions with the exception being that this move allows the unit to ignore the effects of both terrain and obstacles, and a failed charge (in the event that the charged unit flees since they get normal charge reactions and they have to take the appropriate Psychology tests) will still have the unit move 8".
- This is Vanhel's Danse Macabre but better because not only does the move ignore terrain and obstacles (it's like that forest or that house wasn't even there) but it works up to 24", as opposed to Vanhel's meager 18", because Kemmler can't get away with only showing up Nagash. The only downside is that it has a casting value of 10+ instead of the 9+ of Vanhel's spell.
Curse of Eternities: Arguably Kemmler's greatest spell. Pick an enemy unit within 24", even one engaged in close combat, then roll a dice for each model in the unit. On a 5+ that model takes a Wound with no Armour saves allowed. To make matters better, this spell is a Remains in Play spell that only grows stronger over time, at the start of the next magic phase every model takes a Wound on a 4+, then in the next phase it's a 3+, then it's a 2+, where it finally caps. This spell even affects characters in the unit, although if they leave they become free of its effects.
- This spell is Curse of Years on steroids. Curse of Years only has a 10+ to cast as opposed to Curse of Eternities 13+, however Curse of Years cannot be cast into combat, and its first roll is only on a 6+ before it gets better (making it lag behind by a significant amount and limiting its use).

Overall the Lore of the Lichemaster is an incredibly powerful lore that is even preferable to the 7th and 8th edition Lore of Vampires due to its many uses and having many advantages to its spells that the regular lore lacks. It's a shame Kemmler didn't feel like teaching it to anyone, as having such a powerful lore without having to pay his 550 points cost to get it would've been awesome. Thankfully his Master of Necromancy rule softens the blow somewhat when you realize you have no limitations to the amount of times each of the spells can be used in a single magic phase.

Trivia[edit]

It is possible, especially considering GW's love of basing things in both 40k and Fantasy on actual history, that Heinrich Kemmler takes the basis of his name from the German priest Heinrich Kramer, the guy who wrote the Malleus Malificarum, the book that started the European witch craze and was basically "Witch Hunting for Dummies", complete with claims that witches went around stealing dicks and hiding them in birds-nests for the lulz.

Alternately, Heinrich Kemmler is named after Heinrich Himmler, the man most responsible for how the Holocaust was carried out.

Unrelated trivia: A necromancer of the same name existed in the Dresden Files series' book Dead Beat; he was the biggest BAMF to ever raise a corpse, and now that he's dead, his apprentices are the runners-up. The author outright said Warhammer fans would have recognized some of the names within the book.

Total War: WARHAMMER[edit]

Heinrich was one of the starting legendary lords for the vampire counts in Total War: Warhammer. Unfortunately his rather lackluster stats, the absence of Krell and lack of differentiation from a generic master necromancer have led to him becoming something of a joke to the playerbase. Indeed it got to the point where Helman Ghorst, an extremely minor character that a significant portion of the fanbase were unaware even existed, was generally considered more useful than Heinrich. Granted, Heinrich is more or less the same as his tabletop version, a cheap necromancer lord with Krell on his side, at least until you start grabbing his magic items in the campaign, whereupon he becomes a great necromancer who casts well and isn't fucked if he gets in melee combat.

As of 20/07/2017, Krell has been added in the free DLC An Old Friend. Sadly, he is not a unique lord like The Red Duke, but a special summon usable only by the Lichemaster himself. He also comes with the downside of constantly deteriorating due to his summon status, but he can be kept around longer with Invocation of Nehek and has his own skill tree to make him even more powerful in Kemmler's skills list (one of which removes his deterioration). Still, Krell is a solid lord slayer who is capable of challenging and killing powerful heroes with nary a problem.

With the free Bloodlines DLC, Heinrich splits off from Manfred in a new subfaction called the Barrow Legion and has a new location in the Grey Mountains, along with some new tricks. He gets his own mount, bonus relations with Chaos factions (so Beastmen don't instantly try to wipe your towns off the map) and attrition immunity for his army (which is huge). Caveat that this faction only appears in the Mortal Empires campaign, which requires both TW1 and TW2; in the Old World campaign of Total War 1 Kemmler is still Manfred's underling. Still, this gives him a much-needed boost in usefulness as he actually plays differently from the rest of the Counts, and his new location makes confederating with Mousillon actually viable for once. His attrition immunity also means his army can traverse in climates usually hostile to undead leading his AI to wander the old world like actual Warhammer Gandalf.

Now with the Silence and the Fury patch Heinrich Kemmler has been updated for the last time (at least until Total War Wahammer 3 releases). In it, Kemmler has returned to his 6th edition bad ass-ery. Since making an updated lore of Vampires just for Kemmler would be too much effort, they instead updated his trait to reduce the cost of his spells by 20% (this, coupled with other traits he has access to, reduces the cost of overcasting Wind of Death from 23 to 15! Take that Helman Ghorst!). Additionally, most of his skill tree for buffing Krell has combined into 1 talent and with this newfound space in his skill tree they have given him his own unique talent tree which includes fun options such as making your wraith units regen health and models throughout the game. To top it all off, they also gave him greater arcane conduit, which finally makes the question of "Who is the best Vampire Counts spellcaster" a tough pick between yours truly and Mannfred Von Carstein (as it should be).

A mod is currently in progress to grant the Barrow Legion the old Army of the Lichemaster units.

THE MOD IS HERE! thanks to cataph, the lichemaster now own a horde-kind army. Even if probably not everyone love this or the fact that his faction can only have four armies, ruled by legendary lords, this greatly reflect his errand life, going around all over the old world, looking for knowledge and artifacts. Plenty of units from his army are now at your disposal, with a unique perk. When you explore a destroyed settlement, you can open the barrow, having all your barrow units back at full capacity. Nasty!

Gallery[edit]

Kemmler's original model.
His "new" model.
A better paintjob of his newer model.
Kemmler in Total War:Warhammer