I saw this posted in the Tactics forum, and wanted to discuss it here. Is this legit? Is my verdict accurate?
I might add that the Lord of Change comes with Soul Devourer standard.
Soul Devourer equips a Daemon with a "Power Weapon."
Lords of Change are modelled with staves, they get a Power Maul which is +2 S and AP 4.
Lords of Change count all their close combat attacks as AP 2 due to Smash.
So Lords of Change are strength 8.
Relevant rules
p74 Chaos Daemons
The daemon counts as armed with a power weapon
p61
BRB
If a model's wargear says it has a power weapon which has no further special rules, look at the model to tell which type of power weapon it has....if it's a blunt weapon like a mace or staff, it's a power maul.
p42
BRB
"All of the close combat attacks, except hammer of Wrath Attacks, of a model with this special rule are resolved at
AP 2 (unless it's attacking with an AP1 weapon)
My Verdict
The lord of change does not have a wargear entry of Soul Devourer, ergo it does benifit from the rule from p61 of the
BRB.
Even if the lord of change did, the Soul Devourer 'counts as' a power weapon -- the description is his pulling the soul straight from the target and is not a 'weapon' in the classic sense.