Out of the three HQ choices, the Chaos Sorcerer can probably get up to be the most expensive. The Sorcerer can be a powerful character though. I think the best use for the Sorcerer is best fit to the support role and unlike the Daemon Prince and Lord, be kept out of close combat if possible. I will cover Marks of Chaos, Psychic Powers and a tactic or two for your Sorcerer to use.

Although the Sorcerer can get to be the most expensive HQ, it doesn’t mean it has to. A Sorcerer with the Mark of Slaanesh, wings and Lash of Submission is a very good bargain coming in at only 145 points, which is less expensive than the Lords that I field and is very capable of being a pain in your opponents side if used right. If you want to have a Sorcerer with a Mark of Chaos your choices are obviously Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch. There is no option for the Mark of Khorne because Khorne hates the use of psychic powers, although it is fun to think of what the Khorne psychic power would be if he had one.

The Mark of Nurgle isn’t that good for the Sorcerer. It gives you the option to take Nurgle’s Rot which is poor unless you face lots of horde armies, but since using this power means that you are either in close combat or soon will be, it is a poor choice because the Sorcerer isn’t that great in close combat. The toughness boost is so-so, if you really just want the boost you would probably be better of with a bike than with the Mark of Nurgle.

The Mark of Slaanesh is a popular one as it gives access to Lash of Submission. In fact the only real reason to take the Mark of Slaanesh is to take this power unless you are fielding a fluffy Slaanesh army.

The Mark of Tzeentch is a great choice for several reasons. One, it allows you to take two psychic tests in one turn. Two, it increases your invulnerable save to 4+. Three, it allows you to take two psychic powers (or even three if you take a familiar too!). Now you have to be really careful not to go crazy with this mark because it gets expensive fast. This mark also gives you the option for Bolt of Change.

Or you could take no mark. In fact, unless you want to use one of the three god-specific powers or are fielding a fluff army, this is probably the best choice. It keeps the points down and you still have access to some pretty cool powers.

Now for the powers themselves. They are Doombolt, Wartime, Wind of Chaos, Gift of Chaos, Nurgle’s Rot, Bolt of Change and Lash of Submission. Below I will list the ways that I think are best to use each power.

Doombolt, the cheapest power. This is so-so for the antagonist role. With wings or a bike you can move quickly and poor some nice AP3 shots into a unit and with an 18 inch range it doesn’t require you to get too close. Good for keeping a Sorcerer cheap and fair for being a pain for your opponent.

Warptime, the spell for close combat. The problem is, a Sorcerer isn’t that great in close combat. This is only good if you really want to use your force weapon. The only problem is, if you use this spell, you can’t use your force weapon. The only exception is if you have the Mark of Tzeentch you could do both. All in all, this is a fairly poor way to use a Sorcerer.

Wind of Chaos, the template of doom. The power in itself is great, auto wounding anything on a 4+ (except invulnerable saves are allowed). The main problem is that to use it is you have to be within assault range of another unit and that if you are in close combat, you aren’t using this spell, so unless your Sorcerer can beat down a squad, you will probably only really have one shot with this spell.

Gift of Chaos, the spawn maker! This power is an overall extremely poor choice for the sorcerer. It puts you in charge range of another unit and although you can use it in close combat, the chances are poor it will do any good. One very risky and fun use would be as a suicide sorcerer to be shot straight at your enemies most valuable character and attempt to change it into a spawn.

Nurgle’s rot, the anti horde. A spell used to good affect against swarms. You can use it in close combat so if you can make your sorcerer survive close combat this spell could potentially work. You probably wouldn’t live long though with the abundance of attacks a swarm will get on you.

Bolt of Change, the anti tank that isn’t that great. This spell is basically for taking out vehicles and ICs. This vehicle doesn’t do to great though. If this power had the melta rule, it would be great, but as it is, not so good. Character sniping is also weakened, a character will most likely have an invulnerable save or cover save.

Lash of Submission has some great possibilities. These include moving the enemy closer to you to be charged, farther away to prevent being charged, arranging them to all fit under a blast marker and numerous other insane use that will have your opponent calling it cheese. I recommend checking out the Lash guide on Bell of Lost Souls for more info.

Gearing the Sorcerer is much like gearing up the other HQs. You need a way to move fast and be useful but not too expensive. Unlike the others, a supporting unit isn’t required. It could be useful just for soaking up shooting wounds, the only problem is that unless they can also move fast, the Sorcerer will be greatly slowed. There aren’t altogether many options other than marks and powers. A familiar gives you some versatility with being able to take another power but beware the price boot this will give you and probably not worth the added versatility it gives. Melta Bombs, plasma pistols and personal icons should be avoided as you should keep him a cheap as you can. For the Sorcerer I personally do prefer wings over the bike, again to keep it cheap. Terminator armour is a personal choice although I dislike it because unless you deep strike and waste several turns of possible power using, you are left very sluggish.

The tactic that I use most often is Lash with Wings. Jump ahead into cover and move a unit closer to my assault troops. Don’t be afraid of being hurt by failing dangerous terrain checks because an IC can re roll those. You can also use this with Bolt of Change and Doombolt, sniping at other ICs or vehicles with BoC or weakening down a unit with Doombolt.

Something else to consider is to use your sorcerer attached to a unit of Thousand Sons. You can put the both Sorcerers with doombolt to create an AP3 firestorm. This is great in a rhino, pull up, get out and rapid fire that loyalist marine squad to dust! This is really expensive, probably well over 300 points but with the wealth of invulnerable saves is a tough unit to crack.

I hope you learned something from this, I honestly don’t use Sorcerers that often. Remember to be creative and create new tactics. Also remember that all of this is just my opinion on the best way to use a Sorcerer and that you should do whatever you like with it and remember to have fun.