Special Characters in 8th Ed

To take them or not to take them.. that is the question.  The RTS player in my head screams an overwhelming YES!  In this post, I'll highlight the three SCs I take the most and why I take them.

Korhil
Ld. 9 Stubborn, Immune to Poison, Woodsman.
WS6, I7, 4 attacks with S6 Killing Blow and ASF.

Korhil is a challenge monster and his high WS, ASF and Killing Blow will leave most characters headless on the ground before they get the swing.  He has really crappy 4+ armor, so he's really a glass cannon that adds a nice Ld.9 Stubborn onto whatever unit that he's in.  Woodsman, sadly, is wasted when he joins a unit of Phoenix Guard, but that's just the price you pay for someone like him.  At 140 points, he's one of the biggest steals in the game and can really deter enemy characters from assaulting the unit that he's in.  Put him on a corner of a unit to minimize the amount of attacks he'll be taking back and challenge every chance you get.  Challenge puts him out of combat, can score you a +4 overkill (or kill the enemy hero/lord), while maintaining his awesome Stubborn in effect.  The strength of this character is that he's designed to be in a challenge.  If you're not doing that, you're doing it wrong.


Caradryan
Ld.9, MR(3), 4+ Ward, Fear, Kill me and I kill you.
WS6, I7, 3 attacks that are S5 Flaming and does D3 wounds with ASF.

For 175 points, you don't really get better than Caradryan.  The 4+ ward is extremely helpful at keeping him in the game and the 3 attacks at WS5 Flaming that does D3 wounds is godsend.  Caradryan, is also a challenge monster like Korhil because no hero, lord or special character wants to get locked in combat with him.  This is not because they fear that Caradryan will kill them.. but this is because when Caradryan dies, he does D6 wounds with no armor saves to whoever killed him!  To make things even more ridiculous, these wounds count towards combat res.  The MR(3) is just fantastic in almost any unit you want to throw him in.  Having MR(3) in 8th Ed. means that you give one of your units a 4+ ward against magic damage.  It's still kinda strange that Caradryan works best in White Lions and Korhil does it best in Phoenix Guard.  Oh, and before I forget, Caradryan has Fear.  He doesn't say much, but he'll make your opponent take fear tests in every round of combat you're in with him.

Teclis
Ld. 10, 1-man Magic phase, High Loremaster of Hoeth.
He doesn't really attack, but he's the best offensive caster in the game.

Oh Teclis, how I love and hate you at the same time.  One of the things that drew me to High Elves was magic (the other being Dragons).  Elves are a mystical race and one of the most appealing things about them is that they're masters of magic.  Teclis, is the strongest offensive caster in the game.  He IFs on any successful spell cast that consist of any doubles and gets to ignore his first miscast each turn (on double 6s).  He also generates +d3 extra power dice AND dispel dice in every turn because of his staff and carries a mindwar-ish forget scroll.  To top it off, he is the High Loremaster of Hoeth and he knows every spell of every lore and gets to choose which lore he wants to use before the game.  While other mages are stuck with a lore when the army is built, Teclis' rules specifically states he gets to choose before the start of the game.  Some habits sure die hard and 8th Ed is both Teclis' playground and deathbed.  Good because all the spells got a lot stronger and casting them with IF can be game changing, but BAD because the randomness of the game have increased A LOT.  Gone are the days that you can take Teclis balls up and place him outside a unit and think he'll be safer on foot (TLoS), and gone are the days you think you're safe from a charge (lol boxcars!).  At nearly a quarter of your army when playing 2k points, T2 and no saves of any kind, you better be prepared to eat some wtf random moments and like it.  Oh, and you can lose concentration when dispelling and casting.  C'est la vie!

I like SCs because they add flavor to my army and are more cost effective than other normal builds available to me in the book.  Sure, Caradryan might not look so fluffy in a unit of White Lions, but he gives them a undeniable advantage that should be taken advantage of.  What about you?  How do you feel about Special Characters?  Feel free to leave as many wtfuranoob comments as you want.