I've been wondering what would be of the most use for a champ in a TG unit? Curently I use a Life Frog BSB with the Banner of Discipline in a unit of 24 (6 wide). I was thinking perhapse the Iron Curse Icon or maybe additional armor/ward save? As an aside, what magical banners does everyone like for this same unit? Sun standard? Razor? Eternal Flame?... Any imput would be great, thanks!
Items on the champ can fall into two categories: Items that help the unit and items that kill enemies. The Iron Curse Icon is not a bad helping item in a large unit such as the one you have but the items I prefer are the killy items with the Blood Statuette of Spite being a favorite. That 25 points spent on a potential turn one enemy mage death is brilliant, especially against elves (all types) that are so prevalent in my area. The other set up I like is to give him the Sword of the Hornet/Sword of Swift Slaying. Nothing like accepting/declaring a challenge from a CC monster lord/hero that charged in and go first or simultaneously then proceed to get a wound or with luck two. I've pulled off some nice underdog victories with my TG champ in this manner. As for the standard, well the TG unit is quite likely going to be the target of lots of shooting so the -2 to hit at all times (-1 for long range and -1 for the standard or -2 from the standard at close range) is nice, especially if the unit had to move earlier. On the other hand a large unit such as yours requires it to be actually up close and killing things in CC otherwise it is a HUGE points sink so a banner that helps in CC is nice, the War Banner is a good choice, if you face lots of heavily armoured units then the razor standard isn't bad either for a -3 armor save modifier.
actualy all of those are good, no reall clear favorite at the moment. Also consider the ASF sword, and things like the blood statue off spitee on the temple guard champ...
Me, i go for the banner of swiftness and blood statuette, altho other combos work just as well depending on playstile.
I have been considdering putting the other trickster shard on the champion in order to remove some of the saves that our opponents get. I am thinking of the DE unkillable lord, the screaming bell with grey seer on top, the hydra the HPA and other heroes. Of course it would also work in a lesser extent against all troops with handweapon and shield. On a sidenote, am I right when i say that the other trickster shard works against regen saves as well. My logic was that regen is a certain type of ward save.
I usually just go Ironcurse Icon on my champion, and either razor standard or sun standard on the unit. As for the Other Tricksters Shard, no it does not work against regeneration, because regen is NOT a ward save, it is its own thing.
Thanks for the input! First I was thinking addional armor (en. shld.) or ward for a challenge tarpit, but I see the logic in the ASF swords. Right now though I still feel the TG champ is there to protect the unit. I'll give both the Iron Curse icon and Blood Statuette a try in the next few battles. As far as banners go, does any one like the Banner of Eternal Flame? I know that Dragon Princes and a couple magic items provide 2+ ward vs. the unit holding this flag but I'm a little concerened with Hydras and HPAs. I am going to a tournament in a couple of months and I do need to bring some thing "all comers".
I use to have the warbanner on Slann and Eternal flame on TG. But after finding afew things which are immune to the fire i swapped it around. So now if i need the unit to be non flaming i just let my slann leave the unit until the flame resistant unit it routed/destroyed then pop him back in. My TG champ has ASF sword as its a nice little bonus. Andy
ummmm, the slann can not leave the temple guard unit, look on page 47 of the lizardmen army book. The ruling is called Sacred Duty.
I like the idea of giving him a Potion of Strength so he is S8 for one turn and can wound any monster in the game on a 2+
Does anyone use the Terrifying Mask of EEE! on the champ? It strikes me as a good way to get the benefits of fear/terror for the unit for half the price of the Harrowing Scrutiny (not to mention he's already wearing a mask, so flavour-wise, it works too).
While it would be nice to have an opponent down to WS 1 for a round fear/terror are just so unrelieable. The important units we want to get into usually have a good LD, and a BSB close by. While being immune to f/t isn't all that important for a coldblooded LD 9/10 stubborn unit with BSB. If the mask was 5/10 pts. and only made the unit a fear causer then I might consider it.
The champ could be tricksy and take the burning sword of Chotek, that way you aren't stuck with an all flaming unit and can still (eventually) deal with regenerators.