Chaos review #21..HQ-Sorcerer

The third nameless HQ is the sorcerer. This is the cheapest of the headquarter choices, but he holds the most potential.  Well he does if you like the psyker aspect of the game.

The stats for this guy are nothing real special. He has a WS 5, BS, toughness, strength and initiative 4, attacks and wounds of 2, a leadership of 10 and 3+ save. He comes armed with a pistol, both grenades and a force weapon (of your choosing/modeling). He is an independent character, a level 1 psyker and has the Champion of Chaos rules. He is bargain basement priced at double 30 points. Also as a psyker he has access to the schools of Biomancy, Pyromancy, Telepathy or the Chaos pantheon to gain his mind powers (see previous posting).

There are a few upgrades he can nab. First is he can take any Mark but Khorne. This allows access to spells from the various Chaos powers. Also if he takes a Tzeencth mark, then Thousand Sons are available as a troop choice. He can grab items from the melee, ranged, artefacts, rewards and special lists. He can swap armor for Terminator armor, combi-bolter for +25 points. He can take Vets o’ the War +5 points and can add up to two psyker levels at the cost of +25 points each.

This guy can be a simple one main rulebook power having guy, or he can grab 2+ armor, a mark, fancy items and two levels of psyker mastery and cost much more.  I am not impressed with psykers, and would not choose to use one. Even as a super cheap HQ I still would pass.

Let me go all devil’s advocate then.  I would probably grab a Nurgle mark and an extra level of psyker mastery. That is all I would spend on this HQ. This gives a +1 toughness and access to the Nurgle spells. Then I’d take the primary Nurgle power and then roll again on the Nurgle chart. I can live with a power that if it manifests auto hits all enemies within 6” with D6+1 poison (4+) attacks. The other three Nurgle powers are descent and have uses; with two enemy debuffs and an two warp charge large blast AP 2 poison (4+) attack.