Is Witch Lord considered undead versus the spirit blade?

[mitchiemasha]

And then we got Advanced HeroQuest where the artist was clearly briefed... "Make it look like HeroQuest!" and then GW went and designed a game where the contents had nothing at all to do with the cover.

[lestodante]

I really like the last 2 answers!!
Totally agree with both of you, Goblin-King and Mitchiemasha

[wallydubbs]

I've read the posts about him not being an Undead because of intelligence and possessing a spirit and such ... but Undead are vile creatures that depend on necromantic powers to be able to shamble around and do whatever their master demands. I think it's undeniable that the Witch Lord has used necromancy to survive long past his normal expiration timer - and as such, would be vulnerable to the Blade's effect just as any "regular" Undead.

Note that the Necromancer in The Wizards or Morcar is still alive, even though he uses necromancy himself - he doesn't use it to sustain himself (yet).

In my head canon he is definitely a lich sort of creature.
In warhammer Fantasy, liches are undead necromancers that by their own power has managed to stave off real death.
A lich indeed has intelligence and free will, unlike the undead monsters he raises from the grave to do his bidding.

Also from a creative point of view, why would a game developer create a sword, whose only effect is being strong against undead - and then make it that the sword is the only thing that can hurt a specific character - and then make that character NOT an undead?
That will never make sense to me.

Also, just look at the damn box cover
I know there are a couple of odd things throughout the covers that may seem a little "off", but I dare say Les Edwards has painted some paintings that seems like he very much understood the game he was painting for.

Hey, I totally understand where you're coming from with this, but I'd like a chance to debate your rebuttal on this. I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong, but this is up to interpretation. I'd like to justify my views a little better:
1.)Liches have not been introduced to HeroQuest cannon, although it is undeniably that HeroQuest background stems from Warhammer; I'd like to cite the argument in the cartography discussion that the two are not the same. Many areas on the HeroQuest maps cannot be found on Warhammer maps; not just from the Frozen Horror, but even Kalos itself, which is where Return of the Witch Lord takes place. The Warhammer map was used as backdrop for the HeroQuest map, but things are not entirely the same. Even the Ogre Lair would be too far away for then to perform raids against the Empire in Against the Ogre Horde if we're to use a Warhammer map. So if names and places can be changed during the crossover, so can the history and, I'm sorry to say, even the existence of a species or class.
Plus it's never really stated that the Witch Lord is a Lich. Although it's fine if that's what you choose to play that way. Some homemade quests depict Zargon as a Dwarf. No contradiction is stated in HeroQuest cannon, so that's fair game too.

2.) The Spirit Blade is a Magical weapon. It's a physical weapon that extends its effects on the ethereal plain. Quest 13 gives a background on its forging and it sounds pretty cool, but we don't even know if cooling in the pools of Leben mean anything.
The undead, in HeroQuest, are reanimated through magic, not by some Zombie virus (which, admittedly, would be pretty cool). It can be assumed that somewhere within the forging story that the elves imbued some magical properties onto it. So it gives an extra "umph" against undead because it disables the Magical bond that keep them undead. In essence, this is what Holy Water (or Sacred Water) does. It disables the magic.
The Witch Lord, perhaps never died. There is some necromancic powers sustaining him, no doubt, he was only imprisoned in Barrok Tor, not necessarily dead. No normal weapon can harm him, but the Spirit Blade can bypass the magic... the question here is: is the Necromancy magic keeping the Witch Lord alive, or is it preventing him from dying (the syntax changes)?
In the case of the standard Skeleton, Mummy and Zombie the magic is preserving their undead status. Though a standard weapon will work (assuming the heroes cut the head off, I guess). In the case of the Witch Lord it appears to be making him immortal, preventing any other weapon from killing him. Thus you can sprinkle him with Holy Water, which will temporarily disrupt the magic, but Water, in itself, is not lethal. What's going on here is the magical properties of the spirit blade break the magical barrier for standard weaponry, allowing the blade itself to puncture a wound. In Return of the Witch Lord a Magical Throwing Dagger and certain Fire Spells have the same effect. You need magic to break his magic. Not so much in regards to regular undead.
I'd also like to just bring up Kalvenos, from Frozen Horror, just for a sec. It's a suckerpunch to the Zargon player if you use Holy Water on him. It's smart for the hero to do, but it can really piss off Zargon by killing a boss without even attacking.

3.) The picture of the box of Return of the Witch Lord clearly depicts the Witch Lord as a skeleton. Oddly enough there are no zombies or mummies among his court.
Well, I hate to cite Borin's Armor or Arrows of the Night once again, but a picture can be misleading as to the effects of an artifact, a spell or a character. Borin's Armor depicts a Helmet, yet by American standards you may wear a helmet with it. Arrows of the Night depict 3 bolts, but it only attacks with 2. The character card and the figurine of the Dwarf clearly depict him weilding a Battle Axe, but his starting weapon is a Short Sword...
For all we know his actual appearance could be closer to the Choas Warlock on the "Create your own quest" pack.

[The Admiral]

The picture of the box of Return of the Witch Lord clearly depicts the Witch Lord as a skeleton. Oddly enough there are no zombies or mummies among his court.
Well, I hate to cite Borin's Armor or Arrows of the Night once again, but a picture can be misleading as to the effects of an artifact, a spell or a character. Borin's Armor depicts a Helmet, yet by American standards you may wear a helmet with it. Arrows of the Night depict 3 bolts, but it only attacks with 2. The character card and the figurine of the Dwarf clearly depict him weilding a Battle Axe, but his starting weapon is a Short Sword...
For all we know his actual appearance could be closer to the Choas Warlock on the "Create your own quest" pack.

He's a skeleton, being surrounded by skeletons is not odd at all. Borin"s armour is clearly armour, whether it includes a helmet or not. The arrows of the night are clearly bolts regardless of how many are depicted. The dwarf is clearly a dwarf despite his weapon configuration. The WL is clearly a skeleton. I don't think this is a good argument for him possibly not being a skeleton.

If Borin's armour had depicted a battle axe you might be onto something.

[Stig]

I think we need to get Stephen Baker onto this.

[wallydubbs]

It probably wouldn't help if I also added the Ogres and Wolves on the cover of Mage of the Mirror are only half the size of their figurines represent...
To each his own.

But yes, I'm with Stig, I'd like to know what Baker had in mind when he put this together. Any idea how to get in touch with him?

[The Admiral]

It probably wouldn't help if I also added the Ogres and Wolves on the cover of Mage of the Mirror are only half the size of their figurines represent...
To each his own.

No it wouldn't, as they are still clearly ogres and wolves. Their mini depiction does not make them orcs and goblins.

[The Admiral]

I think we need to get Stephen Baker onto this.

Do we seriously expect him to answer whether he remembers if 30 years ago it was the intention for the WL to be considered undead for the purposes of being affected by the special rule on the spirit blade card!

And if he is, he should be prepared to be answering similarly obscure questions and worse for the next 30 years, because we've all seen them on this site.

I for myself am content to come to my own conclusions on these matters. Obviously following spirited and lively debate

[Stig]

Absolutely, my comment was somewhat in jest. Half the fun is thinking things through. Though I bet he'd laugh if 30 years after he wrote it he gets a list of questions to answer from us mega- fans.

[Jalapenotrellis]

Absolutely, my comment was somewhat in jest. Half the fun is thinking things through. Though I bet he'd laugh if 30 years after he wrote it he gets a list of questions to answer from us mega- fans.

And those of us who didn't play it as a kid and finally have a gaming group willing to go through them all for the first time as adults. Like, my game is in excellent condition since we never played it (I'm the only one into gaming and RPGs in my family). Now I have all the expansions and need to get through them.