Using Tyrion

[Allonairre]

This is for the Tactica so please feel free to disagree, and let me know what you think of it, and make suggestions. I don't use Tyrion that much and you will know some things that I don't.

I think that Tyrion can have 2 seperate roles in an army and they are both very different.

Smaller games (2000 to 2999 (only one lord))

In these games I see Tyrion as a bit of a soloist, his amazing defence means that any shooting or magic directed at him is a bonus, and a bit of a waste for your opponent, the exception being Woodelf waywatchers (or anything with killing blow ranged weapons).

I would use him to tear through a backline, killing warmachines and small unranked (without command) infantry and cavalry units. You will have to be careful against anything with a banner as you will be outnumbered + banner and suddenly it's very difficult to win the combat, you cannot afford to lose and then break with a bad leadership test. The same thing applies to charging a unit on a hill, Outnumbered + Higher Ground..., a Champion can efficiently tie him up for a turn with a challenge but this isn't such a problem long term. I don't think that Tyrion should be challenging as he doesn't do multiple wounds, so he will only ever get 4 wounds combat resolution, and if he can kill the unit with that then that is preferable to overkilling a champion. Attacks back aren't a big deal either with the exception of Killing Blow, which can be potentially devasting (eliminating both Armour save, regeneration and killing in one hit) .

Once he has dealt with the back line then you can join in with the rest of your army to eliminate the other threats, either alone or joining a unit, personally I would leave him by himself as he can pursue while the other units restrain, or vice versa.

Larger Games

Again you can run Tyrion by himself but as the game gets bigger the more there is to threaten him, Concentrated magic or warmachines can hurt and kill him if there is enough, unlikely in smaller games but possible at higher points levels. There is also more points for you to throw into a death star type units.

I would run him in a unit of either Dragon Princes or Silver Helms (for static combat resolution, (Banner, Rank(s), Outnumbering)).

I don't think that he adds a great deal when placed within a unit however as although he is survivable, he will only add 2 or 3 wounds to a combat which isn't a great deal better than a regular Lord, and in a unit being hard as nails isn't as big an advantage as they can kill the troops around you to break you. His magic resistance would help here though and a unit of 14 Silver Helms with Tyrion leading them would give pause to most enemy generals without massed warmachines.

Tyrion + 14 Silver Helms (Full Command), BSB (Battle Banner) + 6 Dragon Princes (Full Command + War banner) are 2 cavalry units that I think would work well to attack and break enemy units from the front, they are very hard to out-maneuvre and fast enough that they shouldn't be shot to pieces on the way across.

All in all I think that Tyrion is great at points denial, he shouldn't die and will kill some stuff. I don't think that he is a gamebreaker, he does what he does well enough but Star Dragon's are more devastating in combat (and remove ranks) and Teclis will have a greater affect on the game in general. Both of these however are more expensive and more vulnerable than Tyrion.

Be very careful when
-playing Dark Elves, reverse ward will stymie Tyrion and Assassins with killing blow will be an issue.
-facing Fear Causers, he will still auto break when outnumbered by 3 skeletons or pink horrors.
-anything with killing blow is to be avoided if possible.

Thanks for reading, any input would be greatly appreciated, if you have any extra uses or anything to add then please post it, if you think that this is a load of rubbish then add that as well.

[kithre]

I'd tend to agree - Tyrion is our closest equivalent to a Tank. Be carefulf of sending him off to Challenge enemy characters (though if faced with a Lord on Monster, there is generally a really low likelihood of getting hurt - aven ignoring armour, each successful wound will only wound 25% of teh time).

His high WS S7 attacks should be enough to cause wounds on either a poorly protected general model or a monster hismelf, and this will normally ensure that he wins the combat.

He is definitely one to prance around teh front of the ebnemy army screaming shoot me, whilst the rest of the force gets down to the business of killing spiky things. He is great when facing down against missile units (say the thunderer/quarreller/EMpire handgunner line) as his high armour save, multiple wards etc will cause no end of grief vs opponents.

As Al said, there is a significant risk when facing down opposing fear causers if they are adequately proofed. A Bloodthirster with flaming Ruin would be a great target for Tyrion, but not if he has Obsidian armour, as there is little chance of Tyrions now non-magical attacks breaking through with S4. Backed up by Dragon Princes, he could get ranks + standard (but many demons players don't take flaming weapons as they would then not be of benefit vs most High Elf character builds)

[Rising Leviathan]

There was a thread on this some weeks ago if I recall correctly, you might find additions, other ideas there.

Regards,

[Allonairre]

That's where I got most of my information from, just thought people might have something else to add.