Chaos Dragon

[Bean]

The difference between the dragon and the disk is that the dragon can fight and the disk can't.

Both give the Wizard the mobility he needs to be effective. The Dragon also tosses in a pair of breath weapons. The Dragon also makes the Wizard effective in combat. The difference between breaking ranks and not breaking ranks is the difference between being a combat threat and not being a combat threat for a lone flying model.

The added versatility of the Dragon is well worth the extra cost. You're not going to get any flying rank-breakers in the WoC army, and, frankly, the rest of their army is mobility-limited, relying pretty exclusively on marauders for flank and rear charges. The Dragon does that job better, and does other stuff as well.

[Waltz]

I agree, if your going to have a dragon throw it straight in there, should be charging from the second turn, that’s why I wouldn't want a wizard lord on it though. If I have a level 4 wizard I want his magic potential maxed out, if I have a guy on a dragon I want him to be flighty you can have both so if I was going with a dragon I would put a lord on it and tool him upto the max. Not point in trying for the best of both worlds you will just end up mediocre at both.

[Bean]

On the contrary, I think that stacking up on magic is about the most important thing for a Chaos Army. The whole army--by which I basically mean Warriors and Knights--is extremely fighty. They're not very maneuverable, though, and they have no range at all.

Magic is, therefor, extremely important to their success as an army, and, luckily, they're pretty good at it. It means, though, that a Wizard Lord is pretty much required.

The other thing the Warriors lack is mobile fighty units. They've got Marauders, which are pretty good, but which crumble to just about anything that hits them first (like bows).

The Dragon is good in the Warriors army precisely because it does do multiple things. It carries your Wizard Lord around, supports him with its breath weapons and the protection on gets from riding a monster, and serves as the flank/rear charger that you occasionally need. No other unit does quite so much, and the Dragon does each of these things well.

It's expensive, but its versatility and power are well worth the cost. Sure, you won't get to use it for everything it can do every turn, but you'll almost always get enough out of to make it worth bringing, and no other comparable option is capable of doing so many different things.

[Randroid]

That’s a rubbish reason, it's your not going to use it to kill stuff better to put him on a disk and spend the points for the dragon on knights that will go and kill stuff.

Who said I wouldn't use it to kill things?

I was just stating a fact - you have a lot of points tied up in that dragon and lord. You can run it right out into combat (like most dragon newbs will) and get it killed or you can play it smart and keep it alive and force your opponent to focus on it while your crush them with the rest of your force (bringing it out when the time is right).

A level 4 on a Dragon with 2 breath weapons (3 if you give one to the lord) can put out some hurt.

[Waltz]

If your stacking up on magic your wizard lord will have a rubbish save he will be easy to pick off sitting atop a large target, if you beef him up with some saves then your are cutting back on your magic potential.

Was good as the flighty stats for a chaos sorcerer are he isn't that good.

A large terror causing creature wasted sitting on flanks that costs that much points just isn't worth it in my book it needs to be breaking units from turn two at the latest a good opponent, especially one with undead of daemons who won't bothered my the terror effects will be more than happy if you leave it sitting out there while they take apart the rest of your army.

Personally I think they are just too expensive for a WoC army and you use them for any less than maiming and destruction as soon as you can is a waste of a dragon.