AoS: Hero Focus – Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch
The Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch is an eight-eyed flying wizard, and that’s just the beginning. Here’s what you should know about these visionary heroes.
With Disciples of Tzeentch returning to the battlefield with a brand new coat of paint next weekend, Chaos mages of all stripes are dusting off their eldritch staves and preparing their best cloaks for war. Among the spookiest and strongest of this group are the magical bros of Archaon himself, the Gaunt Summoners of Tzeentch. Here’s my thoughts on the eight-eyed flying magician and a few tactics for using them in game.
Being a rail-thin wizard, the Summoner isn’t the most durable of models, with only 6 wounds and a 6+ armor save, so you’ll want to pick his combats carefully. His save does get boosted to a 4+ in the combat save unless the target is a monster or can fly, and with a fly move of 16” he’s fairly quick, so you can and should be able to put him on into the fights he can handle, but you’re probably better served to dart him in and out of cover to pepper your enemies with spells and shooting without subjecting him to much shooting yourself.
His combat profile is mediocre, with a single Warptongue Blade attack that hits on a 3+, wounds on a 4+, and deals 1 damage with no Rend (unless you roll a natural 6 to wound, in which case it deals d6 immediate mortal wounds) coupled with the Blades and Stingers of his Disc, which have d3 attacks that hit and wound on a 4+ and deal the same rendless 1 damage. While the d6 mortal chance is nice, and could finish off a foot hero, it isn’t reliable enough to risk. His single shooting attack isn’t much better, with 18” range, the same hit, wound, and Rend value as his sword, and d3 damage. Again, not terrible, but nothing to write to the Eightpoints about. But then again, if you’re bringing this fellow to the table, he isn’t there for his combat skills, but rather his mastery of the mystical arts.
When it comes to magic and abilities, this model is an absolute powerhouse, and can easily snag a tricky objective with his Book of Profane Secrets. Once per game, the Summoner can read from his dirty little book, shout Klaatu Barada Nikto, and summon a unit of daemons wholly within 9” of himself and more than 9” from any enemies.
Your choices are 10 of any of the generic daemons (Bloodletters, Horrors, etc.) or 6 Undivided Furies. If he uses this ability, he has to give up one of his spells for the turn, but that’s a small price to pay for a brand new unit.
Speaking of spells, this guy has plenty of those, casting and unbinding 2 a turn and packing a snazzy little signature called Infernal Flames. It has a kinda hefty casting cost of 7, but should it go off, you can pick one enemy unit within 12” and roll a d6 for each model, dishing out a mortal wound on a 5+.
Should you select a Monster or War Machine unit, you roll 3 dice per model instead of 1. This can be really devastating to large blocks of single wound models, like Clanrats or Stabbas, or Monster units like Beastclaws, and it’s slightly stronger than most similarly damaging area spells like Plague. To augment his power even more, I would suggest bringing the Whispers of Chaos spell as his additional cast.
It also casts on a 7, has the same range, and deals a mortal wound for every 6 you roll for the unit. However, should it kill any models, it has the added benefit of preventing that unit from moving until your next movement phase, which can entirely shut down a key flanking unit, especially if you took the first turn that round.
What are your thoughts on the Gaunt Summoner?
