There have been some changes to his abilities and magic items though (reflected in his new much lower points cost of 400)
Tyrion no longer has the riposte or feint special characteristics. Also his sword Sunfang now uses the flame template rather than 24 inches 2D6 strength 4 hits.
There have been changes to the Heart of Avelorn aswell (details below)
From a practical gaming viewpoint the loss of feint and riposte is not a major setback..
Feint allowed him to reroll missed hits in the first round (he won't miss that much though because his Ws is so high in any case).
Riposte allowed Tyrion an additional attack if the enemy made a successful hit (the 1st of which Tyrion used to ignore anyway)
The above 2 changes reduce Tyrion's effectiveness against more powerful opponents but less so his effectiveness against standard rank and file troops.
The Sunfang change is a blow to generals who like to fight from afar but seeing as Tyrion should really be used in close combat this shouldn't really impact the better army commanders out there.
The Heart of Avelorn
...no longer restores Tyrion to life with one wound but gives him the regeneration ability which is arguably better if Tyrion is fighting a longer battle and is used carefully.All in all Tyrion is now better as a Lord choice in a smaller army of 2000 pts for a wary commander who doesn't like to put all his eggs in one basket.
His points cost has come down from 585 to 400 to reflect the above changes. I think this is about right for larger battles but will give you an edge in any battle less than 3000 pts. Especially as the High Elf units such as Sword Masters, Phoenix Guard and White Lions are that much harder and somewhat cheaper. You will not have to rely on special characters, Lords or Heroes as much as in the past.
More on the other special characters soon.
Errata (update 02-May-2008):
A few weeks ago I used Tyrion to great success against a Wood Elf army. He single handedly killed a Treeman and dispatched a unit of Treekin. I whole heartedly recommend his use against Wood Elves.
One word of caution, Tyrion was almost finished off by a Wood Elf Wardancer, he required a 4+ dice roll to save his life from a killing blow. This occurred before the engagement with the Treeman and Treekin, so beware - he is not totally invulnerable. Note: it's the flaming attacks which make him so powerful against Treemen and Treekin, you are unlikely to be greeted with the same success using him against other powerful creatures.
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