forgeworld to the rescue

Picture From Forgeworld

Forgeworlds newsletter presented a induction to the Phoenix court.....kind of. as it turns out he has already disappeared faster than a wayward primarch.

but we did get some rules to represent him. sporting a heavy three strength seven AP two weapon is nothing to point and laugh about. he has a standard Phoenix Lord stat line and price tag, but instead of being like asurmen who has a invuln and is setup to jump into your opponents face, Irilliyth gains some durability outside of twelve inches with a four up invuln (being a five up inside the bubble).

I don't have much time and my phone doesn't want to edit properly but prepare for a new post about what the Eldar still have to offer that none of the other kids have poached yet

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 7: The Avatar of Khaine

He is the fury of the Eldar psyche unleashed. He is the embodiment of war and death. He is the Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine the bloody handed god of the Eldar. The Avatar is a bestial engine of destruction. He inspires all Eldar around him with thoughts of bloodshed and compels them to new heights of heroism and resolve.

The Avatar is my second favorite HQ. Actually for one reason, he makes units fearless. This may seem like a small thing compared to his relatively low points cost, Ability to lay waste to units and vehicles alike either shooting or in close combat and his nigh unto indestructibility, thanks to Fortune and an invulnerably save. Making units fearless is no small thing though, especially when you run lots of guardians, as I often do.

The Avatar can be a literal lynch pin in holding objectives and holding back the tide of the enemy. Large units of Guardians can be very hard to wipe out when they are fearless and preferably in cover, although a conceal will do in a pinch. I like to put the Avatar between two units of Guardians and form a wall that protects the rest of my foot advancing units. The mobile units can then do hit and run attacks on priority targets. You can't ignore 30 to 40 Guardians advancing with the Avatar between them. In scenario set ups that allow you to get close quick, massed shuriken catapult fire can be very devastating, especially if the units have been guided and or the target units have been doomed. Guardian storm units can be very devastating too when the Warlock with them has Enhance. They are then quicker and on even footing with most units. Throw the Avatar into the mix and you have a close combat that is not enjoyable for your opponent.

Kari Christensen © 2006 Games Workshop http://karichristensen.com

As we all know the Avatar is immune to flame and melta weapons, including inferno cannons. This works to your advantage in a couple of different ways. First it makes placement of units with these weapons predictable. Why have your vet or chosen unit loaded with melta go after the big guy immune to the weapons? This allows you to plan your deployment to cover tanks and such with troops that will have no issue taking these units out. This also lets you lure these melta units in with a tempting target so you can wipe them out. Eldar strategy, to me anyways, is always a one two punch with a little bit of a psych out. Its a set up and knock down with a feint worked in just to keep your opponent guessing. The second advantage, kind of, is that the Avatar will take fire from the other big guns, such as battle cannons, manticores demolishers, lascannons and of course the Plasma guns that those Imperials love so much. So it is important to make sure you have a seer close at hand to fortune the big guy. This keeps these weapons from hitting the rest of your army. Smart players will see thru the ruse, although they will still try and take the Avatar and Guardian units out as he really can't ignore them.

The ultimate power of the Avatar is unleashed when you use him in an Apocalypse game. Although expensive the Phoenix Court of Khaine formation is awesome. All 6 Phoenix Lords with the Avatar. His aura and melta blast shooting attack double in range, he becomes immune to that nasty plasma and he gets an additional attack for every Phoenix Lord within 6 inches. Its is a very brightly colored Death star.

I field the Avatar quite a bit. He is a nice alternative to a Phoenix lord or second seer as he contributes to the army. He can kill his points in enemy troops without issue. He also enhances your units without any rolling required.

In my battle report coming later in the week I will detail the Avatar and his performance against the Green tide army I fought. He killed his points in ork boyz and them some. Also I will detail my Adepticon List development. I am bound and determined to use Swooping hawks although Baharoth may be left out in favor of the Avatar. It is a toss up.

So until next time.......

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 6: Baharroth The Cry of The Wind

Swooping Hawks are quite reviled for some reason. I blame the beardy gits on the forums for this. Baharroth is the Phoenix Lord of this much lamented aspect. I personally like Swooping Hawks quite a bit. When used properly they can wreck a lot of havoc with vehicles and light infantry. Baharroth actually fixes one big issue I have had when using swooping hawks. They are prone to assaults when they deep strike. Baharoth helps them with this issue in several ways. Firstly he makes the unit fearless so they will not run away even when massed fire is poured into them. Second besides the usual Exarch powers he also has Hit and Run. This is very Important. This allows you to disengage from an assault so you can hit your primary targets, Artillery and vehicles. Third he is armed with a power weapon and actually has a decent strength, initiative and weapon skill to use it. This helps discourage assaults by the common rabble of your opponents army. Throw a fortune on the unit and you will be able to escape from an assault while inflicting some kills and possibly routing a unit.

Baharroth is also not quite as expensive as the other Phoenix Lords. He clocks in at 200 points. A nice round number. This does take up and HQ slot so the great HQ debate continues. Most Eldar players will opt for double Seer. If you are going the no Seer route though you can have quite a power unit taking an Autarch and Baharroth in a unit of swooping hawks. An Aspect heavy force has rather specialized Fast Attack choices. You can only make one of them fearless though. Only two of them can deep strike as well. Although warp spiders are nice I prefer to go with swooping hawks as they are more flexible and reliable in their movement.

So I view Baharroth as a decent choice for an aspect heavy force or just in general as long as you are running Swooping Hawks. Again I will reiterate that I think the Phoenix lords are a tad overpriced and must have a specific purpose in a list. Otherwise you are wasting points and a valuable HQ spot.

So my two cents about the Phoenix Lords. For the last Part of our series I will cover the man himself. The center of the Phoenix Court. Khaine Himself. SO the last Installment will cover one of the only other HQ choices I ever use if not running double seer. The Avatar of Khaine. Also I am going to introduce you to one of my favorite Dark Eldar Characters. Duke Sliscus the Serpent. Hopefully I should have a Battle report with Vogrin later in the week as well.

SO until then.......

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court Of Khaine pt 5: Karandras

Of all the Phoenix Lords there is one that will live in infamy. Arhra was the father of scorpions. He betrayed the Asurya and destroyed the original temple shrine where Asurman First tempered the Eldar's passions into the path of the warrior. Arhras' most gifted student took his place as the Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions. He tempered the murderous nature of Arhra with the patience and cunning of a hunter. He now fights his mentor when he shows himself, although he goes by the name Drazhar now.

Karandras is a hunter. With Mandiblaster and chain sword he cuts down his prey with precision. He also carries the deadly Scorpions Claw which cuts though vehicles and power armor with ease.

Besides the stat line and normal Phoenix Lord rules why is Karandras my favorite? He is a strait up marine killer. He is strength 8 when he uses the Scorpions Claw. He also has 7 attacks on the charge thanks to his Mandiblaster providing +2 attacks instead of the normal 1. He also does not suffer from the one thing I don't like about Striking Scorpions. He is Fleet. Granted if he is in a squad, which he should be, he losses this ability. He does however boost up the kill power of the squad by a lot. As I often do I run an Exarch in the squad despite having the Phoenix lord. In this case the Exarch will not have any powers as Karandras already has them all. So you can infiltrate or outflank and have move through cover. In addition you get stealth. This comes in handy especially when you infiltrate and are faced with high strength weapons hitting the squad. You should always start your scorpions in cover when they infiltrate anyways. The Exarch gives you a second power claw. Granted he only hits at strength 6 but you still wound toughness 4 stuff on 2's. This means you have 9 Scorpions that deal 36 attacks to thin out the ranks of the enemy squad. Basically the only things going before them would be character, Dark Eldar wychs and Genestealers. So you get 11 powered attacks to concentrate on a smaller number of models. All of these will usually be hitting on 3's. Not to shabby.

I almost always infiltrate my Striking Scorpions these days. Outflanking has not been kind and unless you are setup in table corners you get no real advantage. Karandras gives you options and a lot of punch in a unit of scorpions. He gives you the stealth and all the Exarch powers so there is no real reason to not infiltrate

Is he a deal at 215 points? Not really, but that has always been my main complaint about the Phoenix Lords. It is also y complaint on my second favorite Dark Eldar character.

So how does he stack up to Drazhar? Well Drazhar is 230 points to already more expensive. He has the same stat line and he is also an eternal warrior. Drazhar can possibly have more attacks it depends on if he is going 2 handed or double power weapons. He does strike first though and he gains the preferred enemy against IC's as well as gaining more attacks on rolls of 6.

Vogrin and I actually did the math and it comes out almost dead even and it is completely up to the dice as to how it turns out. If Drazhar fails to kill Karandras in the first go Karandras could kill Drazhar. Second round Karandras would die though unless the dice are completely against you.

Well we have one more Phoenix Lord to go and in my opinion one of the better ones. Baharoth will be our last installment of the Phoenix Court of Khaine series.

Also I have some opinions on White Dwarf I want to share. This is mostly because of the Battle report in the latest issue. Dark Eldar versus a non mechanized Imperial Guard army. Think about it for a second. The only question is.....really?

So that and some battle reports later in the week. One will be versus Vogrin on Wednesday. We will be trying out our Adepticon lists on each other and see if the Dark Eldar are as good against a Guard army with some armor. So far not so much.

Until then........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 4: Fuegan The Burning Lance

Fuegan shall gather together all the Phoenix Lords for the Final battle. He shall be the last to fall. The Phoenix Lord of the Fire Dragons is a very lethal and efficient tank Hunter. Wielding a Fire Pike he can kill tanks at range. The Fire Axe lets him hit things as a monstrous creature and gives him +1 strength. He has both Crack Shot and the Tank hunters ability. He also has the added bonus of the Feel No Pain special rule as well.

As with many of the Phoenix Lords I don't use them that often. Fuegan is one of the big three, as I call them, that I use. Maugan Ra, Karandras and Fuegan. Fuegan added to a squad of fire dragons makes them very deadly and less prone to death by assault. Opponents are less committed to assaults when you have a strength 5 eternal warrior with FNP and a 2+ save in the squad. Especially when he strikes first most of the time.

When I run Fuegan I usually run a small squad of Fire Dragons with an Exarch. I give the Exarch Crack Shot and a Dragons Breath Flamer. Fuegan has a Fire Pike already so having the flamer in the group helps you thin out any infantry that is close. If I am planning on flaming a squad though I break off Fuegan in the movement phase so he can pop the transport and the flamer armed Exarch can make short work of the juicy center of the transport. I then fire the fusion guns just to add insult to injury. The next turn Fuegan rejoins the unit. Granted this can leave him open to fire, especially if things do not go as planned.

I use a Wave Serpent as opposed to the Falcon because the Wave Serpent point for point is a better choice. I never buy holo fields anymore as I have grown use to not having them due to the fact Wave Serpents cannot use them. I do not add anti tank weapons though if I am transporting Fuegan and a squad of Fire Dragons. I usually give them shuriken cannons or scatter lasers. Anti infantry is important once the Fire Dragons have done their job of popping a transport.

Fuegan is a decent HQ choice. Clocking in at 205 points he is on the expensive side but you get a decent amount of bang for your points. He increases the survivability and lethality of a unit of Fire Dragons by quite a bit. He also can take out those pesky dreadnoughts and walkers you fail to slag with your fusion guns. My main issues with Fuegan are the same I have with all the Phoenix lords. They have a high points cost and they all lack an invulnerable save. This is compounded by the Dark Eldar now having weapons that can bypass even eternal warrior. This does not bode well for most armies as the Daemon Hunters codex is the next codex rumored to be out next. Granted the FNP is nice to have. It has been proving very valuable in my games with the new DE codex.

Fuegan is a good choice though. He will cause some panic in the backfield of any army that is sitting stationary firing the big guns enmasse. The fire Dragons he is attached to will prove a major thorn as your opponent pours volley after volley into them trying to save his tanks and transports. All the while the rest of your army is creeping in for the kill. Maugan Ra may be the herald of death, but Fuegan is Khaine's instrument of destruction.

Next time I will have a nice battle report. Lord Solar Steve from Dark Future Games and I squared off in a 1850 point Dawn of War battle. The list needs tweaking, but I was happy with the results. Also we will be discussing my favorite Phoenix Lord later in the week, Karandras.

Until then.....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 3: Jain Zar

Howling Banshees are some of the most lethal close combat troops in the game. Their mistress even more so. Jain Zar is the matron of the Howling Banshee Aspect. The Storm of Silence as she is known is one of the most feared close combat specialists in the game and one of the best Phoenix Lords to take. Armed with an Executioner and a Triskle that is strength 5 Jain Zar can deal with most opponents in one round. One feature she has, which most people wish she gave to any squads she led, is Furious charge. This makes her strength 7 on the charge with 5 attacks hitting at initiative 10. Hitting on 3's with most opponents means she is going to kill at least 3 or 4 models in the first charge.

I like to use Jain Zar with a full squad of 10 howling banshees with an Exarch. Why add an Exarch you ask? Well given the high weapon skill of the Phoenix Lord and the decently high weapon skill of the Exarch you will hit on 3's most of the time. The Exarch adds a second executioner. This gives you 3 strength 5 attacks on the charge. So with a total of 8 attacks of strength 5 or higher combined with a doom will yield a squad severely reduced in number. This allows the nine regular Banshees to concentrate their attacks on a smaller number of models. Being only strength 3 you really need to concentrate the number of attacks on the smallest possible amount of enemy troops. This is so when you need 5's or 6's to wound you get the best results. Doom helps a lot and no banshee unit should assault a unit that is not doomed unless forced to do so. Basically Jain Zar and the Exarch do most of the work and the remaining Banshees do clean up. You really do not want your opponents to strike back. A small number of wounds can really takes it toll. Since the unit is fearless with Jain Zar in it you can't afford to loose a combat. Banshees are deceptively fragile and taking no retreat saves is no fun on a 4+. This also mires you in combat and Banshees are a unit that needs to hit hard on the first turn and destroy the unit. They are just to fragile for a prolonged engagement.

My typical tactic when going after a unit is first get into charge range. I really do like to send a volley of fire into a unit before I charge it but sometimes you have to run the unit to get into range. Jain Zars' triskele “The Silent Death” is strength 5 as previously stated. Triskeles are usually strength 3 AP2 Assault 3. So when The Silent Death is thrown you could potentially kill a couple models before an assault rather easily. Of course the whole trick to getting the perfect assault is position.

Clocking in at 190 points Jain Zar is the least expensive Phoenix Lord. Again this is to expensive in my opinion especially with the points cost of Lelith in the new Dark Eldar Codex being 175 pts. All in all though She is an excellent HQ choice and is rightly feared by most players. She turns a unit of Banshees into a very lethal close combat unit.

So my two cents on the first of the Asurya. Next time We will be talking about every Imperial tank commanders worst nightmare. The Burning Lance himself Fuegan. Also I may have a battle report this weekend. A very special game with The Judge using the new Dark Eldar.

Until then.................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt2: Maugan Ra

According to most fluff Craftworld Ulthwe although light on Aspect Warriors does have a very healthy number of them. The most prevalent of the Aspect temples on Ulthwe is not the Dire Avengers. It is Actually the Dark Reaper temples. This is reflected by fluff and the fact in the Apocalyptic formation “The Ulthwe Strike Force” you must take Maugan Ra and two units of Dark Reapers. Ulthwe and Maugan Ra are staunch enemies of chaos and fight to preserve the Eldar race as a whole.

Maugan Ra is one of my two favorite Phoenix Lords. He is the harvester of souls and the founder of the Dark Reapers. Maugan Ra of course has the standard Phoenix Lord stat line. This makes him an excellent shot hitting on a 2+ and being able to re-roll any misses on a 5+ thanks to an exceptional BS. He has the standard rules, Fearless, Eternal warrior, crack shot, fast shot and he makes any Dark Reaper unit he joins Fearless. This later fact is important. He also has the Acute Senses rule.

His weapon is the Maugetar which is a Shuriken cannon with Assault 4 that also causes pinning is rending and has an affixed executioner raising his strength by 2+ in close combat.

This is where the fearless thing comes in. When I use Dark reapers they tend to be prone to assaults by deep striking or very mobile close combat troops. Even if you have them rooted in a very hardened position the amount of casualties they inflict is pretty high when you have a Farseer handy to guide them and doom the units they are shooting at. Even on their own they tend to kill marines units quick. This makes them targets. What better way to deter assaults than having Maugan Ra in the unit dishing out 4 powered attacks at strength 6 and going first, usually. Its a nice deterrent. Most players do not want to get in close combat with a Phoenix Lord

The real payoff in using Maugan Ra though is he increases the long range killing power of a unit. Since he has the crack shot power you can send some possibly rending shurikens into a unit and they will get no cover save. He also has fast shot so assault 4 becomes 5. 5 rending shots that also pin This adds at least 50% more fire coming from the unit Add in an Exarch with a Eldar missile launcher and you could be killing a squad a turn. Maugan Ra is also the second cheapest Phoenix Lord. Clocking in at 195 points, he is still over priced in my opinion, he makes a good HQ choice and a great squad upgrade for a single squad of Dark Reapers.

Although the Maugetar does not have the range of a reaper launcher it helps with mid range fire. If you leave Maugan Ra apart from your Dark Reaper Units you can be a little more effective. You can create cross fires and pin units that the reapers cannot totally kill. You can use Maugan Ra as a clean up tool. You hit a unit hard with the Dark Reapers. If there are only a few left say 5 or less then you can take out the remaining troops with Maugan Ra using fast shot, unless they are in cover then use crack shot. You get one less shot but no cover save is allowed and this means more kills for lightly armored troops.

So there is my two cents about the Harvester of souls. Next to Karandras, Maugan Ra is my favorite Phoenix Lord. He really is a good HQ choice to go with. Next in the series we will cover the Storm of Silence. Jain Zar the Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees. I really can't wait for the Dark Eldar Codex to come out I want to do a Gladiator fight between Lelith and Jain Zar to see who wins. I smell a video Idea.

So next time more tactics and I may be getting my hot little hands on a Dark Eldar Codex this coming week to browse.

Until then.....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!

The Phoenix Court of Khaine pt 1: Asurman

He is the right hand of Asuryan. He is the the oldest and first amongst the Phoenix Lords. He is Asurman the Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers.

As you know Dire Avengers are probably my second favorite Aspect warrior temple. Asurman is a good all around HQ choice. Phoenix lords have a nice stat line, usually have all the associated Exarch powers plus an additional power. They are eternal warriors and have a 2+ save. Asurman has a 4+ invulnerably save which is a big thing as none of the other Phoenix Lords have an invulnerably save. I find this rather annoying but you learn to deal with it. Since Phoenix lords are fearless and make any squad they join of their aspect fearless, Asurman can really bolster a squad of Dire Avengers. A fearless troop unit is pretty nice when holding an objective.

Wargear wise Asurman has nothing to fancy. It seems fourth edition really killed weapons reflecting the fluff. There is a lot of counts as that is a bit lackluster for the points you pay in some cases. Asurmans' vambraces count as an Avenger shuriken catapult that is assault 4. His Dire Sword is still just a Dire Sword, albeit one that allows you to re-roll misses. The Phoenix Lord stat line is nice so you do get to have a very exceptional character. His BS of 7 gives Asurman a re-roll of 5+ for shooting. Clocking in at 230 points though is a little excessive in my opinion. There are a couple of different Phoenix Lords that are much better that are much cheaper. With HQ slots at a premium Asurman is not one I would take unless I was running a rather hefty force of Dire Avengers. 5 attacks on the charge in close combat with a 2 handed power weapon is nice with the ability to re-roll misses but, I hardly ever voluntarily charge my Dire Avengers into combat. They usually get charged. Dire Swords are also lackluster as is pretty easy to pass leadership tests anymore especially if you are a space marine.

All in all I would not use Asurman unless I was doing a theme list. He is to expensive and really just not worth blowing an HQ slot and 230 points. He will make a single squad of Dire Avengers very deadly as they hold the line. I generally still include an Exarch in squads with Phoenix Lords. I would definitely do this with Asurman as I would want a second power weapon and a Shimmer Shield in the squad for the 5+ invulnerably in close combat. You don't have to give the Exarch powers of course. It would be nice if you could take Phoenix lords as a squad upgrade that did not take up an HQ slot. Like Lemartes or one of the other dozen Imperial players get.

Kind of an unenthusiastic start I know. Honestly Asurman is not the best Phoenix lord. He is a mediocre choice for lots of points.

SO next time we will talk about a Phoenix Lord that is worth the points. The Bringer of Death. The harbinger of doom. Maugan Ra the Phoenix Lord of the Dark Reapers. I also have a battle report for the latest round of the store campaign. The Judge and I went head to head again. I lost, but managed to get some payback. So that battle report is in the pipe for later.

Until then...........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!

Oh Captain My Captain: Eldar HQ's

I have always liked doing themes in my armies. I almost always build according to fluff even if its not tactically sound. Every army has a theme and a background. Personally I think that the choice of HQ sets the tone and theme of the army list. It really dictates what kind of units you are going to pick. The Eldar army has several HQ choices that are quite different. You have Farseers, Autarchs, Phoenix Lords and of course the Avatar. My first HQ choice is always a Farseer.

My Eldar are all painted and themed. They hail from Craftworld Ulthwe. As such I always use a Farseer, possibly two, and a large council of warlocks as well as lots of Guardians. Ulthwe is noted for its Seer Council and of course everybody's favorite special character Eldrad Ulthran.

The Farseer is really the capstone of an Eldar army themed or not. They are very formidable opponents especially with a retinue of warlocks. They bring to bear psychic powers that help your units and hinder the enemy. This is very different from the powers that most armies have. Most armies have all attack powers with a couple that may enhance or protect. Eldar powers, especially warlock powers, enhance and protect your units. The actual attack powers are very good. Mind War has fallen many troopers and enemy commanders. Eldritch storm is a nice one for lightly armored targets with the bonus of flipping vehicles around. Destructor, for the warlocks in the retinue, is a nice one for thinning out light infantry. Combine the psychic powers with the ability to cast multiple powers and make your opponents roll psychic tests on 3d6, thanks to Runes of Warding, and you have psychic dominance of the table. I prefer the blanket effect Runes of Warding has to psychic hoods, not to mention they cover the whole table. An entire unit with an invulnerable save and weapons that wound on a 2+ is also very nice against, well everybody. Most people do not expect your HQ to be a lethal tank killer either. Since Singing Spears and Witch Blades count as strength 9 versus vehicles it makes for a nice surprise when you pop them out near the tanks and let them tear them open.

I use Farseers in just about every list and I have a sizable retinue of warlocks no matter the points cost. This is mainly due to the fact they are the conductor of the symphony that is the Eldar army. They have lots of combat ability and buffing ability. If I don't use Eldrad I use a regular Farseer with Runes of witnessing and spirit stones. I always give him 3 powers. Fortune, Doom and Guide. If I know I am facing psykers then I also give him Runes of Warding. If I do use Eldrad a regular Farseer is secondary. I give him fortune and doom. I also like to put the second seer on a bike. This gets him closer and allows him to doom the units in the back field for your long range support units.

Sometimes I don't run two seers, but my first choice is always a Farseer as my primary HQ. If you have a lot of units being held in reserve an Autarch is a good choice if you want to get them in quick. You can stick him with different Aspect warrior squads with a nice mix of war gear from several of the Aspects. In most cases the Exarch powers with affect him. I use an Autarch with Swooping hawk wings and deep strike him with a unit of Hawks. This still allows use of his Master Strategist rule and its always nice to deep strike into the rear of a tank or artillery unit with a fusion gun.

I take the Avatar as a second choice when I need some heavy hitting. Since I like to use lots of Guardians, it is great to put him in between my two squads. Since he makes all units within 12 inches fearless I have a huge mass of troops that will not run and will continue to march forward until they are within catapult range. A squad of 15 or more Guardians laying into a squad or an individual is not pretty. My Guardians have fallen Trygons, Daemon Princes and even greater daemons from sheer weight of fire. It also Helps to have the Avatar there for any cleanup work.

I do not use Phoenix Lords a lot. I do have a themed infiltrator / deep striker list that uses Karandras with an Autarch as a secondary HQ and 30 striking scorpions, but other than that I do not run them that often. Although expensive they are worth every point. They make an Aspect Squad of the appropriate shrine very deadly. It would be nice if they did not take up and HQ slot and were an uber upgrade for the Aspect squad. With only 2 HQ slots its hard to pick one of them. This is why I tend to use them when I have a themed list. Karandras in the list above is one example. I use Maugan Ra with my Ulthwe army as a point of fluff. Since the Dark Reaper Aspect is the most populace on Ulthwe I like to use Dark Reapers a lot. Maugan Ra is always present in Apocalypse games.

So there you have it. The HQ choices and my two cents about them. I like themes. I have always believed the HQ slot to really set the theme of an army. Be it an Avatar and Phoenix lord lead army from Biel-Tan, to a Seer heavy army of Ulthwe. So next time we will have some battle reports from the campaign I am playing in at Evolution games that starts today and the army lists and possibly the results from the third round of the GW store tournament series that is this Saturday.

Until then....................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!