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The question's a relatively simple one, but damned if I can decide. I'm trying to decide what my CC HQ option should be for 1500 point and up games, where I've already put a Shooting tyrant and guard onto the board as my primary HQ slot.

The advantages I've noticed for the broodlord in playtesting are his inflitration and the inhuman strength rule (5 power weapon equivalents, 2 of which rend!) but he's also slow and he cuts off some of the nicer potential advantages of his retinue by making them unable to fleet or scout.

On the other hand, a CC tyrant, especially if he's a Flyrant, moves fast, hits almost as hard, and can be made considerably harder to bite into with Warp Field, Toxic Misasma, and various adrenaline glands. He also seems to draw attention in ways the broodlord really doesn't around here, which isn't great, but I can use it to my advantage now and then, and if someone decides to throw enough at him, he's going to die, and won't have the retinue to soak wounds for him.

I can see reasons to take either if I know the scenarios or what army I'm playing beforehand, but I'm also going to need to play some fixed list /random draw games soon, and that's where I'm tripping up.
Anyone else gone through much debate on this? What did you come out with?

For me, the decisive factor is that the Flyrant is fast enough to get into CC, and the Broodlord isn't.

Take the Flyrant.

I've never found my Broodlord to be effective. Unless you're opponent deploys in such a way as to gift you with a nice empty spot in his mid-back-field, 12" away and out of LOS from all his units, then the Broodlord and retinue will spend most of the game picking through cover. Or getting riddled with AP4 nastiness once they poke their heads out in the open. Without Fleet, they're just too slow, and too easily shot to bits.

The only way that the Broodlord might be useful is as a 'fall-forward' synapse target in Escalation (ie your 120 spinegaunts get to "fall-back" 2d6 inches *forward*, towards the infiltrated Broodlord).

The Flyrant is faster, has higher toughness, and a 2+/6+ save. Once you factor in the cost of the Broodlord's retinue, they point out to about the same.

I would only use the Broodlord in smaller games, where there might be an empty spot in the enemy deployment zone for infiltraiton.

I'll admit this is the direction I had a feeling I ought to go in - I've mostly played 750-1000 point games, and there the Broodlord can be just devastating, but I have a feeling that he's much less so in larger point matches.

Tournament enviroments rarely see broodlords as you cannot afford to use him in missions that do not have infiltrate.

He becomes like a CC fex......only one that dies alot easier..

(5 power weapon equivalents, 2 of which rend!)

All of his attacks rend, not just 2 of them.

The Broodlord is totally done in by Alpha missions while the flying Tyrant, although hampered by coming on from Reserves in Escalation games can still have an impact providing he arrives early (turn 2-3); especially if your gaming group allows reserves to enter from the side board edges of the deployment zone.

The flying Tyrant is so good I'd take two if I could.

IMO, this is a case of theme/fun vs. effeciency. In theory, the broodlord is a monster in combat, but he is slow, and nearly useless in alpha missions.

The flyrant is faster, tougher, and has one more attack. He also has The Horror, which gives him some protection against being charged. He is overall, just a better choice if you want effectiveness.