Why you like your HQ

Here I would like to discuss (briefly) the Pro's and Con's of your favorite HQ's

Personally with guard I rarely bring a special character HQ. However my favorite so far is Ambrose (Straken). He's an upgrade to his unit and therefore can't be targeted, T4 and has a 3+ save. He also is S6 and has a power weapon/ attacks like an MC. He also gives all models within 6" (maybe 12" I can't remember) Furious charge and counter attack.
His weakness is that he only has a 5+ Inv save and his squads avg. T is 3 so to wound rolls are easy against him.
He is best used in a Chimera with his 4 vets having melta guns (or close range assault guns, flamers would be good against swarm armies) so that they can all 5 shoot out the top, once a unit is within range they can disembark, shoot and assualt.

I haven't used him yet, but Astorath.

Red Thirst on 1-3 for any BAs on the table
Armour Save of 2+
Inv Save of 4+
The usual Chaplain rules
Descent of Angels
Str 6 Power Weapon that forces re-rolls on successful Invulnerable Saves
WS 6

On the down side, he only has Toughness 4 and doesn't have Eternal Warrior. He does have Initiative 5, but only 3 attacks. He is also an Independent Character, so you can join him to a squad for protection from shooting. Basically, if you have a reason you don't want to take Mephiston, Astorath is probably the one you want to take instead. His points cost is 220, compared to 250 for Mephiston, and it's difficult to compare them after that.

Although not an HQ, I have to mention Corbulo. I don't know of any other models or characters in the game that give your army a free re-roll.

Two more options I have to mention: Lysander for Space Marines (even if you don't play Imperial Fists, you should consider fluff to include him with other chapters) and Yriel for Eldar.

Lady Gaga of course!

Pros:
-Worth 3 faith points the way I play her.
-Her survival rate is nearly 100% it takes a lot to kill her.
-2+ save that can be made invulerable with a simple leadership test.
-Can reroll all to wound with a 5 point piece of gear.
-4 initative doesn't seem high but can change that to 6.
-Blessed weapon increases her strength to 5 and can re roll 1 to hit or 1 to wound.
-Not an IC when accompanied by a squad of Celestians so she can't be singled out
-Only 150 points (Is it bad that I feel like that is a fortune?)

Cons:
-Easy to wound. 3 toughness. Really the only reason she lives so much is because I can make lucky rolls. (Ask Scott)
-Crap Weapon skill
-Uses a 2 handed weapon so her base 3 attacks stay at 3 unless she charges
-Will never save a single save.
-Not eternal warrior. That's right pretty much any hero can instant kill her!
-Resists psychic powers on a 5+. If they are so protected by their faith why isn't it higher?
-Hated by all enemies. Everyone will target her whenever possible just to get rid of her. I wonder why...

Basically I think that she is a good HQ since I have gotten plenty of use out of her. She has a lot of pros and a lot of cons. Sometimes I may whine about how she isn't as strong as Santiago or someone (no one is) but I love her and hope that she isn't nerfed too badly with a new codex.

Farseer Alyith:
Pros-
Anchors my bloody army
Guide/Doom/Fortune are needs not wants.
Doesn't die. It just doesn't happen. It could... but is rare.

Cons:
Not really that killy...
Expensive as fuck decked out
Is an IC even with the Council(not a retinue)
Isn't Eldrad, but is only fifteen points less.

Archon:
Pros-
Doesn't die
IS very killy
Is not an IC
Does not OD

Cons-
Can't touch vehicles easily
Can be expensive(cheaper then farseer)
1 failed 2+=dead model.

Ulrik the Slayer.. I just like him! Only earned my love twice but he is just cool all around imo.

• Pros:
  Fearless and makes squad fearless
  Power Weapon
  Space Wolf (counter attack, acute senses)
  Plasma Pistol
  Re roll's all hits AND wounds against any model with toughness 5 or more.. Oh and his squad does too!
  Helm of Russ makes all squads with line of sight re roll moral tests and any IC in combat with him must pass a LD test or not get to attack at all.
  Mentor ability can make any model have +1 ws up to 6, can't be a unique character. That Power fist Grey Hunter? Yeah he hits on 3's now.
  6WS
  

• Cons:
  180 pts for a Wolf Priest (chaplain)
  S4 T4 W2 I5 A3 (decent but not amazing)
  Not eternal warrior
  Fearless
  3+/4+ save (again decent but for 180?!)
  Re roll ability makes him great with blood claws (or anyone really) but only really vs daemons/nurgle/nids/some ic's. In a shop full of marines. It sucks!
  

Hambone wrote:Ulrik the Slayer.. I just like him! Only earned my love twice but he is just cool all around imo.

• Pros:
  Fearless and makes squad fearless
  Power Weapon
  Space Wolf (counter attack, acute senses)
  Plasma Pistol
  Re roll's all hits AND wounds against any model with toughness 5 or more.. Oh and his squad does too!
  Helm of Russ makes all squads with line of sight re roll moral tests and any IC in combat with him must pass a LD test or not get to attack at all.
  Mentor ability can make any model have +1 ws up to 6, can't be a unique character. That Power fist Grey Hunter? Yeah he hits on 3's now.
  6WS
  

• Cons:
  180 pts for a Wolf Priest (chaplain)
  S4 T4 W2 I5 A3 (decent but not amazing)
  Not eternal warrior
  Fearless
  3+/4+ save (again decent but for 180?!)
  Re roll ability makes him great with blood claws (or anyone really) but only really vs daemons/nurgle/nids/some ic's. In a shop full of marines. It sucks!
  

I like how fearless is both a pro and con!

Santiago (what?)

Pros

-Gets s#it done! Something my other characters stuggle to do (except dante- BANG!) nuff said

Cons

-EXPENSIVE!
-No invulnerable
-Can't join units
-Needs to get in combat
-Huge target

i also like dante and astorath, though with their high points cost, they are kinda specialized.

Cause it is!! It never happens to me really because i only have like 2 units that are (for wolves) but one of my favorite things to do is out kill a fearless unit and force more saves.

Big Mek
-shokk attack gun
-cybork body
-3 ammo runts

114 points

Love the randomness of the shokk attack gun, can make for some really fun games, but at the same time can be completely devastating with its ap 2 large blast shots. And if your lucky enough you can roll the double 6s and void some shit from existence

Warboss
-huge choppa
-eavy armour
-cybork body
-boss pole

85 points

toughness 5 with 3 wounds, str 8 on the charge with 5 attacks. I think its definitely worth 85 points. I would like to try running him with mega armour, don't know why i haven't already.

my favorite so far has to be old zogwort. he can be a beast in played right

zogwort
pros:
135 points
warphead
nest of vipers- additional d6 attacks wonds always on 2 plus goes at initive 4
furious charge
waaaagh
psyker
zogworts curse - easy enough to say- squig
3 wounds
toughness 5


cons:
psyker
big target everyone wants to kill
HAS to be in a squad of 10 or more for leader ship
no BS skill
and i have to provide the squig model

If you run your warboss in Mega-Armour, DON'T FORGET!!! "All Independent Characters have the 'move through cover' and 'skilled rider' special rules."

This means your "Slow and Purposeful" can be rolled on three dice instead of two. I mention it because Alex and I completely missed that rule on Nazdreg for a couple of months before catching it. Of course, I expect you will run him in a Battlewagon, but it may be important on the assault. ^.^

tlc247 wrote:If you run your warboss in Mega-Armour, DON'T FORGET!!! "All Independent Characters have the 'move through cover' and 'skilled rider' special rules."

This means your "Slow and Purposeful" can be rolled on three dice instead of two. I mention it because Alex and I completely missed that rule on Nazdreg for a couple of months before catching it. Of course, I expect you will run him in a Battlewagon, but it may be important on the assault. ^.^

yeah that pissed me off to find that out.

So many awesome choices...I guess ill go with the good old Dark Emperor (abbadon)

So this guy really acts like a one man army 5+D6 attacks without charge..SHIZZ. all stength 8! At initiative 6.

Pros
#1 pro for me. EPIC FLUFF MAKES FOR EPIC BATTLES!!!
-thoughness 6 in termi armour (almost untouchabe to reg squads it seems)
-sheer # of S8 attacks at I6
-4+ invun (yeah not a big deal for you, but for chaos that is GREAT!)
-4 wounds
-eternal warrior
-rerolled failed wounds (drops the obligitory 1 most the time)
-he's a badass

Cons
-not a psyker (can you say CHEESECOVERED CHEESBALLS if he was?)
-big target (people like to shoot him you probably won't see him alone again, even though his personality totally dictates that he would be)
-expensive 275 (but worth it so who cares?)

I honestly can't see any reason why he couldn't competitavely dual almost any HQ one on one (even the dreaded santiago!). People always mess with med and scott's duals tho

/love all chaos HQ's

Pros:
-he's a badass?!?
Seriously!!
That's a pro for everyone's!!

Well are you disagreeing that he is, in fact a badass?

tlc247 wrote:If you run your warboss in Mega-Armour, DON'T FORGET!!! "All Independent Characters have the 'move through cover' and 'skilled rider' special rules."

This means your "Slow and Purposeful" can be rolled on three dice instead of two. I mention it because Alex and I completely missed that rule on Nazdreg for a couple of months before catching it. Of course, I expect you will run him in a Battlewagon, but it may be important on the assault. ^.^

thats very good to know thanks!

No i am merely stating that so is almost every other IC!

My favorite that I run with my Iron Warriors is a Demon Prince with Wings and warptime which comes out to 155 pts.

Pros:
3+ to hit and 2+ wound on average with rerolls.
Denies armor saves
Can pop vehicles
Eternal Warrior
18" threat range.
Fearless

Cons:
BIG target
155 pts for a 3+/5+ save?! REALLY?!
Can be tied up easy
4 attacks (I know its nothing to sneeze at, but I wish it had at least one more)
Fearless

So the best thing with this is I can run two of them!

with the daemon princes i ALWAYS have to do tzeentch just for the point of making his invun less suck. usually dont even take the 2nd psychic power. Daemon princes are the shizz! really cheap for what your getting imo, this is the only guy ive had ever beat mephiston in close combat, granted with some crappy rolling on scott's part. DP is literally a close combat monster. i once had mine rip apart 4 IG tanks in one game

and that i burn myself with plas, then periled, then forgot to get rid of warptime wiht the psyhic hood. I was noob for sure. and what did we learn form this? that YOU CAN KILL HIM! and that using him can be a big waste of points.

Memphiston is nothing more than a trygon packed into a smaller model (which is worth a H@#$ of a lot). Sure stats are different but each, if allowed to roam freely through your army, will cause a lot of problems.

Santiago however is different. He likes to hid behind boulders, transports and other obsticles, flying between each so he's rarely seen, then when the time is right, BANG he's into your army and can tailor himself to whatever situation is needed.

If Santiago stood at the front of his army and ran straight at you (with or without cover saves) I can guarantee he'd be dead before he ever saw combat.


Personally My favorite character would have to be Ambrose (aka Straken). He's T4 S6 3+/5+ saves and attacks like an MC. He also has a retinue so you can't target him separately. I deck his retinue out with melta guns so they can shoot and assault, they also mesh well with his plasma pistol. Once completely decked out the squad is only 185 points plus the Chimera it's still only 240 points. This squad isn't as hard to kill as some other HQ's once the transport is popped, but it can pack a punishment that few squads I've seen can.

Lil Red wrote:
He also has a retinue so you can't target him separately.

Yeah he's not an IC, which i think is stupid when you think about it, why would there be the body guard upgrade if they can't be targeted anyway?

yeah I agree, it is nice for wound allocation though, you can put (in theory) two more wounds on a guy that will probably die anyways and keep the squad alive