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A lot of lists I see people generally seem to include a full command squad with a lot of units. I am not that experienced (been playing almost a year with DE) and found that I didn't think the (usually 10 pts) to upgrade a model to the unit champion for generally 1 extra attack was worth it, to me it smacks of buying marginal upgrades in 40K just because you can. Granted the savings isn't great but it can add up by not upgrading to champions through several units.

I am just wondering other peoples thoughts on this.

It's completely situational.

10 points for an extra attack isn't always the best way to justify it either. In many cases the most useful role that a champion plays is absorbing a challenge from a more powerful opponent to allow the rest of the unit to stay intact a while longer. This might be to ensure you remain steadfast, keep rank bonus, or even to protect a proper character from a potentially unfavourable challenge.

Another thing to consider is how effective that extra attack is going to be. On a S3 unit it means nothing... but for a unit like Executioners for example, having an extra S6 attack, that also benefits from Killing Blow and Murderous Prowess, then maybe its justifiable. In many cases though 10pts can buy you an extra troop, which gives you more attacks and an extra wound.

Personally I take a champ on pretty much any of my fighting units or units that will bunker a character. I don't really use them for the stats they have but to die instead of stuff like my wizards.

But since I've mainly switched over to WoC, I enjoy my Champ doing challenges so my more tooled up lord can smash the enemy unit it glorious combat res.

Champions can take and issue challenges, as stated. That's a big thing. If a zillion attack uber hero walks up to your unit, you can basically take him out of the equation for one turn by sacrificing your champion. So instead of killing like 5+ guys, he only kills 1. That let's the rest of your army maneuver more, get spells off, do whatever.

And it also lessens the impact of his hero/points overall. You're trying to utilize your points as much as possible through every turn. If you got 23894 of heroes killing 1 model, that's a really poor use of those points. The more times you can do that, with other units, the more you lessen the value of those combat heroes.

So think of it as a 10pt infinite ward, one use, only vs. enemy champions and only once per turn across your army, and it kills the owner when done. Is it worth it? Sometimes.

Sometimes you can get lucky and kill an enemy hero in a challenge, if the champion is surprisingly beefy. That is both hilarious, and worth extra VPs.

There is also the option, on units with few models and large bases, of putting the champion on the outside edge of the unit and using him to soak an enemy charge. If an enemy unit has hit you in that flank, all they can kill is that champion (as wounds do not carry over). Furthermore, if he is in a challenge, then any models only contacting him do not get to attack. Happy times.

Champions, generally, are not worth it, except in two situations:

1) The unit champion and his profile boost are significantly better value than an extra model. This is quite rare, as usually, the 10pts you pay for an extra attack isn't worth it when you could buy another model for a similar price, something that will bring equal (or more) attacks and, more importantly, is another "wound" on your unit. Occasionally though, the 10pts you pay for an extra attack is actually quite a good value.

2) Secondly, and most commonly, champions are useful in units in which you will be bunkering a character which you want to keep relatively safe, but still want to attack, most commonly a BSB. Most BSBs have decent attack output, so you'd like them to strike, but are unable to stand up to most combat lords. Therefore, a unit champion is useful to absorb a challenge. Also, a champion is useful in a unit in which you have a combat lord who doesn't want to be wasting his attacks killing a single unit champion, as your own champion can accept any incoming challenges and, conversely, a unit champion is useful for sacrificing against combat lords.

What everyone above says. Champions are good for taking the hits from a blender lord (You'll be glad when a red fury vampire lord is only able to hack apart one man into meaty chunks.) They are also good for protecting a character that you do not want to be bogged down in single combat.

Alright guys thanks a lot for the assistance

As a rule of thumb, if the champion upgrade costs less than a rank and file model or is undead it is worth considering. Otherwise you're buying him to eat a challenge for a character.

Undead champs can be raised and perform challenge shenanigans, and the more expensive units likely justify the extra attack.

Monstrous Infantry champions in particular can earn you underdog points. Kroxigor champions and their s5 a4 great weapon can mow down most heroes in a fight.

Another useful place to take a champion is on MI units which typically have small frontages; especially when a character is in the mix.

A minotaur unit with a Bloodkine (unit champ) and Gorbull/Doombull in the front row forces your opponent to split his attacks against 3 different stat lines, which can lessen enemy CR (especially when unit champs like a Bloodkine can take magic items).

WoC champs are a good investment due to gifts of chaos. Combine it with a chaos warshrine and you'll end up having a 30 point model able to kill anyone. ! lucky roll and you get a daemon prince. Also Bretonnian champs come for free.
Anyway, obviously 1 attack for 10 points isn't relly worth it, but I like taking the risk of having a champ, and most of the times I'm lucky enough to boost my CR(I ALWAYS roll my champs' attacks seperately, just to see if I spent my points wisely ).

I never take unit champions. I play skaven so I could care less if all my guys die because I have 1 000 000 more to take their place

I really don't take them because my oponents normally just take a unit champion which is 1 extra attack so whatever. I usually have a low point hero to take challenges (engineers sometimes) because they are cheap and I can actually put a doomrocket on them.

I have never had a problem with someones hero destroying a huge portion of my unit or destroying my hero really. I just don't take them ever

You should ALWAYS take champions with Skavens, especially within Slaves where they are so cheap
of course they probably won't kill anything, but they buy you a turn versus things like a DragonLord or a Daemon Prince through a challenge
That's a boon for your battle line worth much more than their actual price (and an engineer would prevent you from shooting into your slaves)

TanKoL wrote:
You should ALWAYS take champions with Skavens, especially within Slaves where they are so cheap
of course they probably won't kill anything, but they buy you a turn versus things like a DragonLord or a Daemon Prince through a challenge
That's a boon for your battle line worth much more than their actual price (and an engineer would prevent you from shooting into your slaves)

Well I have done fine without bringing champions. Slaves are expendable same with my whole army I have never really encountered a time where I needed a unit champion tho. Personal opinion tho lol

Andy06r wrote:
Monstrous Infantry champions in particular can earn you underdog points. Kroxigor champions and their s5 a4 great weapon can mow down most heroes in a fight.

Ooh, good catch. Never though of it like that, it's a very good idea indeed. As you say, the champions of the likes of Minotaur, Ironguts and Chosen should be more than capable of taking out weaker Heroes, even BSBs.

Sadly the only WHFB army I play is DE, so not really much in the Monstrous Infantry realm, but I can see taking them in units I already don't have a better Melee character in or in one I don't want to refuse the challange to bump my sorceress to the back....