The Avatar of the Bloody Handed God are Eldar leaders in the 4th Edition Eldar Codex for Warhammer 40,000

Background and Description

Avatar

Farseers choose an Aspect Warrior to become the Young King. Through a ceremony the Young King is sacrificed, in a way, in order to summon an incarnation of Khaine, who is the bloody-handed god of war in the Eldar pantheon. All but two of the Eldar gods were destroyed with the birth of Slaanesh, and Khaine was fragmented into many small pieces, which came to rest in the center of each Craftworld. The other survivor was the Laughing God, who hides in the Webways and is the deity of the Harlequin.

Note: These rules and descriptions are necessarily truncated. Please refer to your 4th Edition Eldar Codex for specific model statistics, rules and points costs

Special Rules and Wargear

1. Daemon: An Avatar is affected Daemon specific weaponry and has a save and invulnerable save similar to Daemons.
2. Fearless
3. Inspiring: Models within range of the Avatar become Fearless
4. Molten Body: Melta weapons, flamers and heavy flamers cannot wound the Avatar (and all flame based equivalents)
5. Monstrous Creature
6. The Wailing Doom: Sword or axe that can project a ranged melta psychic attack.
7. Individual: There can only be one Avatar of Khaine in your army.

Upgrades

The Avatar has no available upgrades, excepting a Forge World model.

Strengths

1. Used as a firebase to give Fearless to nearby shooting units such as Guardians and Dire Avengers.
2. Can deny points in itself as well as by keeping units on the table.
3. With multiple Wraithlords on the table, the enemy has to deal with multiple Monstrous Creatures. See Nidzilla tactica.
4. With Eldrad Ulthran casting Fortune on the Avatar and Guide on units such as the Guardians and Dire Avengers, you have a powerful firebase.
5. If something approaches your gunline, you have an effective counter-charge element that can take out most fast moving assaulting models.

Weaknesses

1. In close combat with some of the Independent Characters out there, the Avatar has a hard time winning.
2. Cannot Fleet of Foot, but can now use Running in Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition.
3. Using him as a firebase makes him a high priority target. As a large model, he's easily picked out.
4. Does not mesh well with a highly mobile force (speed is typical of Eldar)

Tacticas that mention the Avatar