Black Library reply to Court of the Archon

Hey all! This was posted on the Dark Eldar Facebook group so I figured I'd share since we all know this is a hot topic and all.

Thats what it says in the dex already.

But now there should be no naysaying to the matter.

The extensive discussion showed there was room for interpretation, but this seems to remove it! Hurrah!

And this kind of HQ won't lead your army anyway since they can't be your warlord (not a character). But the Archon could have send them as his representative ( Lhamaean ) or as a supporting gift (medusae, slyth, ur ghuls) to a promising sybarite or arena champion. So it's even fluffwise.

I still think its pretty stupid, but I don't complain.
Thats a lot of points safed for not having a "proper" HQ and the Abberation is a more durable Warlord anyways

Ugh. It seems super wrong not to have a Warlord.

I've seen several people now talk about "Adam" from Black Library. Are his rulings official in any way? Or is he just some wage slave providing random answers?

The only official rulings are the ones provided in the GW FAQ's, abundantly negligent as they may be. I'm not saying they're not the right answers, just that they aren't official....

You would still have a warlord. This doesn't change that. That said, his answer is perfectly within the RAW of the codex, which in and of itself is pretty clear.

It's the same with techpriests from the Grey Knight codex, you can take them as a HQ on their own, but if you take another HQ choice (that isn't a tech marine) they don't take up a slot. RAW it's clear. RAI well that depends on how you interpret the fluff, I don't see it being too unreasonable that an Archon sends one of his henchmen to oversee a raid in his place on Commorragh Poker Night.

Jimsolo wrote:

Ugh.  It seems super wrong not to have a Warlord.

All armies are obligated to have a Warlord.
Unless you mean 'HQ' to which I might suggest that something like an IG CCS is not really that different from a Court as an HQ selection.

Jimsolo wrote:

Ugh.  It seems super wrong not to have a Warlord.

I've seen several people now talk about "Adam" from Black Library.  Are his rulings official in any way?  Or is he just some wage slave providing random answers?

Your warlord can be any CHARACTER, if you have none it can be any model

Grimcrimm wrote:

Jimsolo wrote:

Ugh.  It seems super wrong not to have a Warlord.

I've seen several people now talk about "Adam" from Black Library.  Are his rulings official in any way?  Or is he just some wage slave providing random answers?

Your warlord can be any CHARACTER, if you have none it can be any model

Yes, I know, lol. But you know and I know that that isn't a real warlord. I want some kind of commander on the field, not just nominating schlub grotesque #3 as my warlord. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it, but it seems about as fluffy as running a buffmander in my SM devastator squads was last edition.

I honestly don't understand why people don't think having a "lower-rank" type model as warlord is un-fluffy. Of course it is an opinion so I'm not calling anyone on anything, just saying I don't get it.

In real earth wars, what happens when the general is killed in action? The guy next-in-line takes over, and so on.
What happens when the action is deemed "too hot" for the proper commander to step onto the front lines? He sends a soldier who isn't important enough in the big picture of the war.
What happens when an Archon is lazy, or worried about a particularly savage assassination attempt, or otherwise occupied flensing slaves? He sits back on his magnificent butt behind layers and layers of defences and troops while sending out his minions to do the dirty work!

Laughingcarp wrote:

What happens when an Archon is lazy,..

He gets killed ;-)

But I can understand you. A great way to let a Dracon be the"Bauss" again. Sadly he does not come all that prepared...

Thank you for posting this @laughingcarp. I forwarded this to Reece at Frontline gaming after we recorded an interview with them for the Splintermind podcast. You'll hear why if you listen to the episode

Thanks for the post a lot of people were arguing that they weren't HQ even though it said they were.

Jimsolo wrote:

Grimcrimm wrote:

Jimsolo wrote:

Ugh.  It seems super wrong not to have a Warlord.

I've seen several people now talk about "Adam" from Black Library.  Are his rulings official in any way?  Or is he just some wage slave providing random answers?

Your warlord can be any CHARACTER, if you have none it can be any model

Yes, I know, lol.     But you know and I know that that isn't a real warlord.  I want some kind of commander on the field, not just nominating schlub grotesque #3 as my warlord.  I'm not saying I wouldn't do it, but it seems about as fluffy as running a buffmander in my SM devastator squads was last edition.  

I see what your getting at but when i buy the leader upgrade for a reaver squad and say hes my warlord he is now an archon on a bike or an aspiring arena champion with everything to prove on this raid. in our army characters matter because they are not forced whereas almost every other army needs to take character in there squads.

So if the fluff hurts you remember This guy is important

Um, any MODEL may be the warlord if you don't have a character?
so can my TANTALUS be my warlord?

non-vehicle

Surprisingly, the rules don't specify that it has to be non-vehicle:

"Unless specified otherwise, this must be a character model. If you do not have any character models in your army, then select any other model in your army to be the Warlord."

Erebus wrote:

Surprisingly, the rules don't specify that it has to be non-vehicle:

"Unless specified otherwise, this must be a character model. If you do not have any character models in your army, then select any other model in your army to be the Warlord."

Lolz, that seems a little overlooked but I can't imagine that no-one hasn't abused this yet!

Don't think it is meant to be abused; Astra Militarum can not-uncommonly run into the situation of not actually having a character or infantry model on the board at all if they're running a parking lot, among other armies/lists.

@Evil Space Elves, my pleasure!
Do you mean the upcoming Splintermind episode 7?