While Chaos, whatever its form, has gotten a lot of attention and expansions over the years, with more assuredly to come in the form of Monogod flavour and various Undivided monsters, there is one thing among the base roster, as per 8th edition, that is curiously missing from its ranks as of right now in WH3. I am talking about a weapon option, primarily for Marauders but also for higher characters, that of Flails. 

Here you see a depiction of a (Khornate) Chaos Marauder wielding a Flail, found in the 8th edition Warriors of Chaos armybook. It is a weapon option for, among others, regular Marauders:

I find it a bit curious that we would have basically every version of Marauders that there could be, except for the Flails option. Could it be that it is hard to animate flail combat? Or is a Flail redundant next to Greatweapons, who are likewise armour-piercing? Well for standard Marauders that may be, but it is a different story for the Horsemen.

Again looking at 8th edition, we see here above 2 different Marauder Horsemen (of Slaaneshi and Nurglite flavour) showcased. Might not be a lot to look at, but the interesting part here is that Horsemen do not have a Greatweapon option. Now ignoring the fact that Throwing Axes do decent ranged AP damage, this still leaves Chaos and more specifically Norsca without a basic AP melee cavalry variant. Again, is this intentional as flails might be hard to animate or is there some other reason?

What do you all think? Why has CA omitted the flail weapon option from Chaos?

I imagine it’s because, at least for the above examples, it is indeed mostly a redundant option, and multiple weapon types that do roughly the same thing for negligible cost differences aren’t worth the effort. That being said, I can also imagine it’s partly a cost cutting thing as well.

They aren’t completely absent from the game though. We do have flail units in Censer-Bearers: 

I want Tomb King flail weapons as an option for Tomb Kings and Princes: 

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Passthechips#4366 wrote:

I imagine it’s because, at least for the above examples, it is indeed mostly a redundant option, and multiple weapon types that do roughly the same thing for negligible cost differences aren’t worth the effort. That being said, I can also imagine it’s partly a cost cutting thing as well.

Would it be redundant for the Horsemen though?

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TheWattman#7460 wrote:

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Passthechips#4366 wrote:

I imagine it’s because, at least for the above examples, it is indeed mostly a redundant option, and multiple weapon types that do roughly the same thing for negligible cost differences aren’t worth the effort. That being said, I can also imagine it’s partly a cost cutting thing as well.

Would it be redundant for the Horsemen though?

The Marauder Horsemen of Khorne already have decent armor-piercing melee values on top of their AP throwing weapons, so I’d say the niche is pretty filled where the WoC are concerned. You’re pretty much always going to take the Throwing Weapon variant over the regular cav for their utility anyways.

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Passthechips#4366 wrote:

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The Marauder Horsemen of Khorne already have decent armor-piercing melee values on top of their AP throwing weapons, so I’d say the niche is pretty filled where the WoC are concerned. You’re pretty much always going to take the Throwing Weapon variant over the regular cav for their utility anyways.

Tzeentch and Slaanesh don't have throwing axes on their horsemen. Would it be an option for them? Atleast it for Slaanesh it would fit into the hard-hitting light cavalry theme.

One thing to add to the discussion is, that flails don't simply add S and AP like great weapons, but do so on either the charge or first round of combat, not sure atm.

So they'd probably mainly add charge bonus. Particularly on the infantry that's kinda interesting...

Tretch didn't get his flail either.  Probably because it's too hard to animate.

Flails only really look good if they aren't set animated but done through physics effects.

Which CA for whatever reason seems to hate with a passion.

We have Cloth Physics, but literally only for a dozen or so characters, everyone else gets... well they get starched capes.

And if they hate Capes, they probably will not animate proper flails.

I think the only one in the game that doesn't have it look like crap is Vilitch.

Yes.

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TheWattman#7460 wrote:
Could it be that it is hard to animate flail combat?

Yes.

That's why characters like Tretch don't have theirs.

They finally started doing it with Doomseekers.  So hopefully we'll see more of them in the future.

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Maedrethnir#1968 wrote:

Yes.

Man ive seen that model like a million times but never noticed the detail on the breastplate before, damn that model goes hard, I love it.

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Oldblackeyes#2875 wrote:

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Maedrethnir#1968 wrote:

Yes.

Man ive seen that model like a million times but never noticed the detail on the breastplate before, damn that model goes hard, I love it.

Wow, it adds a lot of personality to the miniature.

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Oldblackeyes#2875 wrote:
Man ive seen that model like a million times but never noticed the detail on the breastplate before, damn that model goes hard, I love it.

"You like my WWE Bend-ems Steve Austin action figure?"

Does that mean the Empire can finally get flail Reiksguard and Flagellants?​

Empire already has Flagellants.

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DarthEnderX-#6513 wrote:

Empire already has Flagellants.

The current flagellants don't have flails. They have maces. 

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Maedrethnir#1968 wrote:

Yes.

Would be nice but pesonally i'd prefer this

Would be less offensive aswell.

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NickCageStoleMyFace#5594 wrote:

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Maedrethnir#1968 wrote:

Yes.

Would be nice but pesonally i'd prefer this

Would be less offensive aswell.

I also prefer this miniature, but it has no flail and this thread is about flails. The hooded man is my close second favourite, though.

Offensive? Ah, yes, those pimples are pretty nasty, but they fit. Vulgar little things.