History MagnificentBastard / TabletopGames

** The true Magnificent Bastard of the Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy universe is Erebus. He corrupted not one but TWO Primarchs, both his own Lorgar and Horus; convinced Horus that the Emperor was his enemy by endearing himself to the Luna Wolves Legion and was able to get Horus to trust him over his brother Magnus the Red; he helped plan the Istvaan Massacre and taught Horus everything he knows of Chaos; During the battle of Calth he used his own forces as a distraction to cast a powerful ritual that made warp travel near impossible through the Imperium and prevented communication, so that Horus's treachery would remain secret for longer and the Loyalist forces could not strategize with each other long-range. If it weren't for Erebus the Horus Heresy would never have happened, he is responsible for the crapsack state of the 40k galaxy. And to make him even more magnificent he survives the Heresy and goes on to be one of the two most powerful figures in the Word Bearers legion, possibly one of the most powerful warriors alive, and is still a Magnificent Bastard, he and Kor Phaeron using the entire Legion in a civil war as part of a game between them that in Erebus's own words "means nothing," and possibly planning Abaddon the Despoiler's downfall as his next move. Truly a more Magnificent Bastard has never lived, once that ruined a galaxy just to gain power.

** The TRUE MagnificentBastard regiment of Warhammer40K is arguably the Alpha Legion. Contrary to the Thousand Sons' meticulous planning over the years (which gets screwed up anyway), Alpha Legionnaires are trained to think for themselves and to [[XanatosSpeedChess improvise in the heat of battle.]] Their combat doctrines include multiple strikes at various enemy weak points at the same time, using cultist regiments that are well-trained instead of mere cannon fodder, and [[CombatPragmatist fighting dirty when push comes to shove.]] In an event following HorusHeresy, the Ultramarines clashed with the Alpha Legion and [[DidntSeeThatComing managed to catch them off-guard]] by deploying their best strike force directly to the Alpha Legion's command center. Despite managing to destroy the Alpha Legion's central command which included their Primarch, the Alpha Legion managed to keep their cool and coordination under the circumstances. Using various tactics such as ambush, traps and FalseFlagOperation, they managed to almost completely obliterate the remaining Ultramarine force, forcing the Ultramarines to retreat hastily and their commander remarking that he "has no interest in a righteous war against such a dishonorable foe"

*** Tzeentch is probably enjoying it. He is literally the god of scheming. He cares not whether the schemes will work or not. He finds it very amusing to mislead his own followers to fulfill his own, incredibly far-reaching plans, and his own plans tend to be contradictory and ultimately nonsensical. Infact, despite what he might want you to believe, he doesn't have any ultimate goal other than scheming itself, and if he would, he would seace from existance upon reaching it, as his whole purpose is to scheme.
*** One of the problems of the 40k setting is that in all the canon fiction set in the 41st millenium era (in the universe's present) is that if the Imperium is involved then they will end up winning which means that all of the huge and vastly convoluted plans that we get to hear about are pretty much doomed to failure by narrative convention. This normally happens by the space marines (or whoever) headbutting their way out of the trap even against absurd odds that even by the universes own standards should be impossible. Thus, Tzeentch and his followers never get to show off just how good their schemes are. They are definitely supposed to be magnificent bastards, particularly with Magnus following his own weird agendas rather than the general chaos 'go and murder stuff' manifesto. Sadly, we only ever get to see them fail and that takes some of the punch away.

*** YourMilageMayVary on that one. He could have easily won the Trial of Refusal in open battle if he just put forth a Star. Hell, he could have adopted Phelan Kell and sent out a 2-Mech team of Morgan and Natasha against the 8 the Falcons could have sent and be pretty sure of winning. And that's not including the other 3 Mechs and pilots he could have sent. The Great Refusal was on;y a good plan in the minds of people who wanted to sell more books. Strategically, it was just plain dumb.
**** He didn't just want to overturn the ruling he wanted to completely cripple both the Jade Falcons ''and'' the Crusader Wolves. A duel at the Star or Cluster level wouldn't have achieved this. He knew the Inner Sphere needed time; time it wouldn't get unless the Falcons (and an increasingly Crusader leaning Clan Wolf) were distracted and weakened.

* Prince Lucanor Giovanni from [[{{ptitlehdnlrmou}} Anima: Beyond Fantasy]] certainly qualifies. He is effectively the second smartest person in the entire setting, second only to his brilliant but insane mentor. Despite being a normal human in a setting full of supernatural beings and super powered individuals he remains one of the most major political players in the setting due to his near [[{{The Omniscient}} omniscient]] ability to deduct what everyone else is up to. He actively manipulates almost every other side in the setting without them realizing it.

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* Cyric in Forgotten Realms. Pretends to hold the IdiotBall for almost ten years, but ends up getting exactly what he wanted and manipulates almost the entire pantheon of Greater Gods and ends the love of an Established Couple. He eventually KILLS one of the most powerful goddesses in the entire Realms through some XanatosGambit between he and another Greater Evil God. He also convinces an EldritchAbomination to work for him and seals his loyalty so much that the thing is still loyal to him to this day. This guy puts the "bastard" in MagnificentBastard.

** Asmodeus' first Starscream was Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies. Beelzebub was almost as magnificent as Asmodeus himself. He was a former angel who went to hell and did such a good job taking over that he completely removed all knowledge of his predecessor's name and identity from existence. He managed to control ''two'' levels of Hell, one himself and one through a viscount, Moloch. Add to that, he actually had Asmodeus' favor. Unfortunately for Beelzebub, during that civil war he led an insurrection that tried to take Asmodeus down. He was thwarted when Mephistopheles' troops turned on the insurrection, and then Asmodeus punished him by changing his form from that of an angel to that of a slug. Beelzebub's still the #3 guy in Hell (behind Asmodeus and Mephistopheles), but looking like a slug pretty much demotes him from MagnificentBastard to TheChessmaster.

* The ''WorldOfDarkness'' includes the Merit "[[InvokedTrope Magnificent Bastard]]", which means that a character suffers from no situational penalties for attempts to Sway others (i.e. no matter how guarded a person is due to warning, previous betrayal, or catching the character in a compromising position, the character will always find a way to get in with them).

*** YourMilageMayVary on that one. He could have easily won the Trial of Refusal in open battle if he just put forth a Star. Hell, he could have adopted Morgan Kell and sent out a 2-Mech team of Morgan and Natasha against the 8 the Falcons could have sent and be pretty sure of winning. And that's not including the other 3 Mechs and pilots he could have sent. The Great Refusal was on;y a good plan in the minds of people who wanted to sell more books. Strategically, it was just plain dumb.

* Nicol Bolas of ''MagicTheGathering'' is slowly becoming one. The oldest being in the multiverse, he successfully manipulated other planeswalkers into sacrificing themselves to fix universes, as well as having decieved [[CloserToEarth Sarkhan Vol]] into becoming his stooge and awaken the [[EldritchAbomination Eldrazi]] for a yet-to-be-revealed scheme He's such a MagnificentBastard he bullied, coaxed, or conned the designers to give him a card that, for raw power (though probably not game-breaking effectiveness like Jace), is probably stronger than any other Planeswalker yet printed.

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