Aspiring Icon Bearers

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

This came up in another forum string of posts but didn't get addresses, so I am bumping it to it's own topic.

 

In another post, someone implied that the Icon bearer cannot be the Champion. I look at the Codex and I see that it almost always says that any model in the unit can carry an Icon. The Aspiring Champion is a model in the unit isn't he? He can be the one carrying the Icon, can't he?

 

Assuming he can carry it, would you want him to do so? It would give your Icon bearer a "Look out, Sir!" protection which might keep the Icon in play a bit longer. However, that also means your Icon bearer would be required to challenge and accept challenges. What do you folks think? Good idea or bad?

[tvih]

Personally I wouldn't give it to the Champion (which to me appears perfectly "legal" to do), precisely because of challenges.

[Lepaca]

I think you are indeed right. The AC can carry the icon.

This also means that he indeed profits from LOS but also has to issue challenges.

 

Whether this is a good thing or not is difficult to tell. I think it depends on two things:

 

Are we talking about a shooty or a CC squad? As LOS will grant the icon a measure of protection from being sniped it might be a good thing for a unit that is not meant to get into CC anyway. It seems like a really bad idea on a CC squad though.

 

What kind of enemy army are you playing? In general our ACs are not afraid to fight a challenge against things like Imperial Guard or SoBs even without equipment. Against MEQs and such however it increases the rist of the icon ending up in a challenge it won't survive.

[Kol Saresk]

I wonder if the AC could use the Icon as a weapon. Like Whack-A-Marine or something...............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kidding.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

Are we talking about a shooty or a CC squad? As LOS will grant the icon a measure of protection from being sniped it might be a good thing for a unit that is not meant to get into CC anyway. It seems like a really bad idea on a CC squad though.

 

I tend to want to do the IoV on the champion in a Havoc unit that I keep in my backfield. I don't want it to move or run off the table. Otherwise, I'm most likely to deploy an IoV on a small squad up front (Raptors or Bikes for example) on a mission like armor busting. I would like them to not run to force the enemy to deal with them. Of course, that mean I'm expecting them to get shot at so the chance of getting sniped increases but so does the likelihood that I would end up in a challenge if the Icon were on a Champion.

 

I also tend to want to put Icons in assault units, but there it gets much more dicey about who gets to carry it because I absolutely expect the challenges to occur. I'd probably put it on a normal guy and try not to get sniped. Here the benefit is as much the +1 resolution as the effect of the Icon.