Unit Overviews: HQ – Azrael

With the advent of 6th edition, I realize that several of the units listed in Codex:Dark angels have been made much better, while others have been made much worse.  I will begin doing overviews of the various units and talking about how they may benefit or hinder an army and hopefully help in the creation of Army lists.  Today I will begin with Azrael.

First and foremost, Codex: Dark angels was written in 4th Edition, and as such, some of their characters and units still suffer from nerfed stat lines.  This is especially evident when it comes to Azrael, the Grand Master of the Dark Angels.  All of the other Space Marine Codices have given the top tier characters Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill 6, where as Azrael still suffers from scores of 5.  Unfortunately, as this was not addressed in the FAQ/Errata, this is not going to change until we see another codex.  Despite this weakness in relation to other Marine top tier characters, Azrael remains a solid character that can add a nice benefit to any army.  Of course, I am talking about the Lion Helm which provides a 4+ invulnerable save not just to Azrael, but also to any unit he joins.  While I personally think that adding Azrael to a well equipped command squad would be quite beneficial, this becomes quite expensive.  And even with the inclusion of a Strength 6, AP3 weapon that attacks at initiative, he is still a tough character to justify including in your army.

Azrael is overpriced, plain and simple.  When you compare his point cost to other characters, he simply doesn't have the same power level in relation to the point cost and paying virtually the same point cost as a land raider or a very well tooled Devastator squad makes him an easy choice to skip when it comes to building an army.  As he currently stands, I can only see me fielding him in Apocalypse games (or simply fielding this beautiful model to represent a normal Company Master).  So, as much as I'd love for my army to be led by the ultimate Dark Angel, I am afraid that this is simply not going to happen for now unless I decide to play pure "fluff games".

Any thoughts?