Ask no more, the answer is a big YES.
For 3000+ pt armies the Fay Enchantress is a must, the only time I would exclude her is if I was playing an opponent who was expecting me to use her and had already successfully beaten an army including her.
For a 2000pt army the decision is not quite so clear cut. The problem being that the Enchantress will take up over a quarter of your points allowance (545pts) and uses up your only Lord choice plus a hero choice. You might want these Lord and Hero slots to use for customised "solid" hand to hand fighters (if you are fighting a predominantly hand-to-hand army with high quality warriors like Dwarfs).
Here are some good reasons for including the Fay in your Bretonnian Army (even a 2000 points army):-
- She gets +2 to Cast Lore of Life spells
- She is virtually immune to magic with resistance 3
- The Blessing of the Lady give a 5+ ward save (!!!) *
- You can include an additional unit of up to 8 grail knights **
- She has a no armour or ward save attack that always strikes first (ie before combat begins)
- Her Mount Silvaron has 2 str 6 attacks on the charge and causes fear
- She has a Lore of Heavens Bound item (useful for ruining a dispel jockey's day !)
- 4+ ward save
Notes
* the addional army wide ward save is enough alone to encourage me to use her. 5+ (instead of the usual 6) for all your army against ALL attacks (not just strength 5+). Also you will not automatically miss your 1st turn because the army does not need to kneel to pray.
I think this alone is worth quite a few points. It's the equivalent of say an extra layer of armour that cannot be lost through an attackers strength (which I would probably pay 3 or 4 pts for per knight if the ward could be paid for). So for a 2000pt army I reckon this alone is probably worth at least 120-160 pts.
A normal Prophetess (lvl 4) would cost 225
The Fay Enchantress (excluding Silvaron the Unicorn) costs 480
So if we assume the ward save bonus is worth (say) 140pts, then you are paying 115pts for:-
the ability to have another unit of grail knights
the always strikes first spiteful glance (no saves)
a bound item for Lore of Heavens
+1 to both power and dispel dice
Favour of the Fay ( a mnior bonus +1 to hit for one model in the army)
If you think this is still a 50/50 choice then if you're fighting Beasts of Chaos, Skaven or Orcs & Goblins then you should definitely include the Enchantress because she causes fear.
** the extra grail knights are quite simply invaluable !
