Better would be magical flaming attacks for the unit he accompanies.
Empire definately needs some flame weapons, no doubt, to help combat all the regeneration cheese.
But I don't think having the WP give magical flaming attacks to the unit it is the answer. I'd say this would better be reserved for a banner (god knows our current banners SUCK!).
We also need at least one magical flaming weapon. Sword of power would be a good one to upgrade.
Flaming arrows would be a nice option for archers as well.
I do think that allowing the whole unit to have magical weapons would be a nice touch. I think this should be at a modest points cost (10-15) and should not count against the priests magic item allotment.
Or it could be something like the Brettonians praying to the lady (maybe the unit must do nothing for one round whilst the priest says prayers for the whole unit).
Really?! I think that 'the entire high elf army has the ASF rule by virtue of its martial skill alone' is a 'stupid' explanation!! OMG! They're elves!! What's better explanation from that!! They're elves! What GW is thinking?
They weren't thinking. They were watching LOTR, and thought: "Hey we should make warhammer elves strike first, because it looked cool in that one scene from Lord of the Rings!"
And thus, yet another retarded GW descision came to pass.