The Care And Feeding Of Your Azrael

 Azrael has always been a challenging character to use well. He's pretty good in combat, but he's never been a supremely killy combat monster. He's had better shooting than most Space Marine characters, but never anything to write home about (and his shooting has always paled next to Sammael's). He's reasonably durable, but not ridiculously hard to kill. He's given decent buffs in the past, but being foot infantry has limited his ability to lead the specialist wings of the Dark Angels. 10th edition has added a new dimension to the puzzle by specifying which units any given character can lead. I'd like to take a look at what Azrael brings to the table and talk about how best to use him.

Our man has a pretty reasonable stat line for a Supreme Grand Master. He's not amazingly killy, but he's respectable. If you're just looking for a character who is a beatstick, you could probably make a better one out of a generic captain. Don't get me wrong, he'll kill things. Just don't expect him to solo Angron or Mortarion. Bear in mind that the Sword of Secrets has Devastating Wounds. Sometimes it may behoove you to fish for 6's

His shooting is interesting, probably better than most Space Marine infantry characters.  Lion's Wrath is effectively supercharged plasma without Hazardous, plus Anti Infatnry 4+, Devastating Wounds, and Rapid Fire 1. You can potentially squeeze 6 unsavable wounds a turn out of that if you choose your targets right.

The real draw with Azrael is with his Abilities. I'll start with Masterful Tactician, because there's really no quandary with getting an extra CP a turn. Then there's Supreme Grand Master, granting the unit he joins Sustained Hits 1, and The Lion Helm, granting the unit he joins a 4++. It's important to note that, unlike prior editions, that 4++ is unconditional - it can be used against both shooting and assault. That's quite the buff to a unit that doesn't have an inherent invulnerable save.

The challenge with Azrael is how best to leverage those abilities. You can't just stick Azrael in any unit.  much as I might like to have him lead a Deathwing Terminator Squad, that's not an option. The list of units he can lead is very limited.

Not all of these units can benefit from Azrael's full range of abilities. For starters, Bladeguard Veterans have an inherent 4++, so the Lion Helm is redundant for them. It's still tempting to assign him to lead Bladeguard to confer Sustained Hits, but it comes at the opportunity cost of not leading the Bladeguard with something they can benefit more, and not using Azrael's abilities to the fullest. That said, a unit of 6 Bladeguard is 180 points and delivers 24 D2 attacks. There's worse ideas.

We can dismiss the Infernus Squad for a similar reason - they derive no benefit from Azrael's Supreme Grand Master ability. Can't get Sustained Hits if you don't roll to hit in the first place.

What that leaves are Sternguard Veterans, two flavors of Intercessor, and Hellblasters. Early in the edition, an argument could be made for Sternies, when Oath of Moment let us reroll wound rolls and fish for Devastating Wounds, but with Oath nerfed, I think that day has passed. Neither flavor of Intercessor strikes me as especially sexy. We might put Azrael in a unit of them just to put extra wounds around Azrael and keep him on the table from Turn 1 so we can mine CP from him, and Azrael being in the unit would prevent an opponent from picking up the unit with something trivial. However, if we really want to leverage all of Azrael's ability to the fullest extent we can, there's really only one choice, and that's Hellblasters.

The damage output of Hellblasters is not to be denied. Plasma Incinerators are 24" range, 2 attacks, S7 AP2 Damage 1 or S8 AP-3 Damage 2 when supercharged, with the For The Chapter! ability, granting them shooting on death on a 3+ roll. Less sexy but still of some importance are the unit's bolt pistols and close combat weapons, granting them some shooting when engaged in combat, and 3 attacks per model in a melee, which is not inconsiderable volume. Assault Intercessors only get 1 more attack per model. The plasma incinerator definitely has the best profile for Azrael to enhance - best Strength, AP, and Damage, and a much bigger threat range than the next best profile (Bladeguard master crafted power weapons). That said, don't forget Azrael confers Sustained Hits to himself and to the unit's melee weapons, so don't be afraid to charge them into a unit after they've done their shooting.

I found myself doing an in-depth analysis of the different ways of bringing Hellblasters to the table. Then it occurred to me I'd veered off topic some, so Hellblasters are getting their own entry in the near future.

In conclusion, Azrael isn't a missile you can just launch at your opponent and watch him lay waste. Instead, he's competent in both shooting and melee, and he confers a number of enhancements it is up to us, players of the First Legion, to figure out how best to use. I've got my opinion on the matter, but it may change when the next Codex is released.