So, Warlocks in particular were a huge let down for me in regards to the new codex. Your access to them was limited by the fact that you now bought a council and then assigned them to units which limits the actual size of the council you could field. Even worse, there was no trade off because you could not roll for powers and then assign to units, it was vice-versa. Not so good if you wanted to support troops, wraithguard and artillery and have a Council. At the same time you now roll to manifest your power making them the riskiest psycher in the business and the Warlocks really still do not add anything else to a unit. So what is the point?
Well I started putting them on bikes and suddenly realised I had a killer anti tank unit, capable of now throwing a spanner in the works with maladictions on targets your other units were about to hit. So think about your basic artillery unit pasting a unit that has just had Horrify cursed on it. The odds of even a SM unit running goes up at 25% shooting casualties with -3 leadership modifier. The same could apply with that Banshee mask for War Cry. Yes I know, I shelved my Banshees too. But my Autarch now has a Banshee mask and a RoG weapon.
The way I see it, rolling for psych in a group of Warlocks gives you a better than even chance of getting usefull powers. I did a couple of play tests with 3 Warlocks on bikes. I rolled over the two games, Destructor, Embolden, Enhance & Empower. They did alright and scared the fre-holies out of IG armour.
I am now listing a 750 point force for a tournament and have two options. The 3dar bike sqd to escort a Serpent loaded with Wraithguard. Or in an alternate list a 4dar foot team to support a Wraithlord, Storm & Defender Guardians. If I get Destructor for that unit, it can be used to keep the Wraithlord alive by adding wounds from the Renewer blessing.
So instead of one Warlock per squad, there can be a roaming coven. I could also add the Warlord to the coven which in this case will be a Spiritseer. I am not used to psychics and now I am determined to get up to speed.
What say Ye ?