BA Honour Guard... Worth it?

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Shovan**

I'm sitting here looking at my box of unbuilt Honour Guard (Aka Command Squad) and am starting to wonder why I even bought this kit.

The Blood Champion seems worthless as an upgrade, I'd rather pay the 15 points for a power weapon and ditch the Combat Shield and +1 WS that comes with the upgrade. I think Combat Shields are a waste.

The Priest that comes with cannot be upgraded in any way. Kinda sucks.

The rest isn't bad however. I just can't seem to justify using these guys in my lists. Maybe a large point list but that would be it.

What's everyone else's opinion on the Honour Guard?

**stu192**

Im not a fan. Essentially they are a very expensive tact squad...unless you want them to jump and then its another 50! You have to upgreade the hell out of them for them to be any good and that is just as expensive as a base set of sang guard. If they are gonna accompany an HQ with jump packs (dante) use the sanguinary guard. Better weapons, about the same cost and much cooler. If they are running with an infantry HQ Gabriel seth) replase them with terms. Again, much better and about the same cost. Dont take them as your main HQ choice.

**Shovan**

stu192 wrote:Im not a fan. Essentially they are a very expensive tact squad...unless you want them to jump and then its another 50! You have to upgreade the hell out of them for them to be any good and that is just as expensive as a base set of sang guard. If they are gonna accompany an HQ with jump packs (dante) use the sanguinary guard. Better weapons, about the same cost and much cooler. If they are running with an infantry HQ Gabriel seth) replase them with terms. Again, much better and about the same cost. Dont take them as your main HQ choice.

\

Can't take them as an HQ choice. You can take one Honour Guard Squad for each HQ you take and they themselves do not take up an HQ slot.

The best thing about them is that they have a priest who cannot be picked out in combat.

**stu192**

Right my bad. What are you trying to run them with?

**Shovan**

Not sure yet. I mostly run Dante and a Librarian but I really wanna try out the Sanguinor.

**stu192**

I had a good amount of luck running dante with 5 Sanguinary guards. the banner is a decent upgrade in that unit. Just dont rush them into a large battle when you drop. They cap small to medium infantry really well, but are really suseptable to heavy casulties until their second turn. I think they run 235 with the banner. It may be a little more than the H guard but there great.

**Shovan**

yeah, Dante always drops in with his Sanguinary Guard and I toss a priest in there for those pesky 1's I always roll. But the Librarian with Honour Guard seems like a good idea.

**AbaddonFidelis**

Shovan

I like the honor guard alot.

you get a sanguinary priest who isnt an independent character at a fraction of the cost. his radius is still 6" not just the squad hes in. and you get great weapon options. the game is so much about special weapons right now that to me every chance i get to take one i do.

AF

**xxBlazinGhostxx**

Like vanilla command squads, the honor guard is a great place to spam special weapons such as plasma guns

The priest makes the chance of losing a model due to gets hot from 5.6% to 2.8%

**Shovan**

xxBlazinGhostxx wrote:Like vanilla command squads, the honor guard is a great place to spam special weapons such as plasma guns

The priest makes the chance of losing a model due to gets hot from 5.6% to 2.8%

That's a very good point. Never did think of that.

**AbaddonFidelis**

yeah.

put dante and 4 flamers in a command squad. use precision strike to put em down just where you need them and they will absolutely bake any infantry squad they catch out of its transport. or 4 meltaguns to ace any tank no questions asked.

AF

**xxBlazinGhostxx**

I like using 4x PG as a strong firebase.

Mathhammer time!

Assuming rapid fire range and MEQ

8 shots and needing 3+ to hit means 5.333 hits.

And needing 2+ to wound means 4.44 dead MEQ.

Also the plasma gun (IMO) the better choice because you can get melta everywhere and is also highly efficient @ killing MC.

So against say a Carnifex, those 5.333 hits means that the carnifex will suffer 3.555 wounds. With the 4x PG you have a good chance of killing the carnifex right there or ,at the very least, reducing to a wound.

**Phryxis**

Honor Guard are a fantastic unit. It's 115 points for 5 veterans. That's 2A each, plus tons of upgrade options.

But, that's not really what it's all about. What it's all about is the Sanguinary Novitiate. He gives the whole unit FNP and Furious charge, as well as anybody within 6".

So what does that mean? It means this squad can turn any basic Assault Squad near it into a low cost Death Company, but without any of the stupidity or inability to hold objectives. Oh, and they get Jump Packs for 10 points per model, unlike the overcosted DC packs.

Put it another way... A Sanguinary Priest is 50 points, and while he's better than a Sanguinary Novitiate, it's not really in any way that matters. So let's just say the Novitiate is worth 40 points. That means the rest of the unit is 4 guys for about 19 points each. A 2A Marine with FNP and Furious Charge for 19 points? You take as many of those as you can get.

This unit is fantastic. Put them in a Razorback, win. Buy them Jump Packs, win. Whatever you do, they're out there giving FNP and Furious Charge to everything. Throw in the reasonably priced Chapter Banner, and now everyone also has +1A, and now basic Assault Marines are pretty much SUPERIOR to Jump Pack Death Company.

The BA are all about getting there fast, getting stuck in and winning in CC. A unit that multiplies CC force as dramatically as the Honor Guard does is a must have unit. I'd go so far as finding a way to get a second HQ in the list just to get two Honor Guard units on the table.

**pdawg517**

I would go 4X Plasma Guns. Good at MEQ, TEQ, MC, and light armor hunting. If you need to assault something, they can probably handle it too.

**Phryxis**

I would go 4X Plasma Guns. Good at MEQ, TEQ, MC, and light armor hunting.

It may be that your list needs this sort of unit, in which case they're still a good choice because they buff everyone around them, but in general, they're not a shooty unit, they're an assaulty unit.

Certainly Plasma combines nicely with FNP, but if you're Rapid-Firing you're not assaulting and thus not using Furious Charge.

**Borris the Blade**

While a costly unit, its still one of my favorites and is a work horse in my JP army at that. My personal prefrence is x4 Melta Guns with x4 Flamers as well which is a steal at 15 points per model for the upgrade then add jump packs. They can then melta out pretty much any vehicle or drop some serious napalm where needed then charge with 2 attacks per model an additional +1 for the charge. The hidden medic in the squad and for the cost is whats truely clutch.

**blood angel**

Just say no to plasma guns. You want those guys to have the ability to assault.

Using them with Dante is pretty good too since you can put the meltas/flamers exactly where you want them.

They can also be kitted out with enough power fists or power weapons to make a very significant impact in close combat.

I've been running them in test games recently with a Lib, a Chap, the banner and 4 storm shields.

That is a lot of hurt coming in rerolling misses on the charge and it gives them a good amount of resilience against other hard units out there. Yeah yeah, it gets pricy.. but it eats a nob biker unit, thunder wolves and a lot of other things. The lib, of course, takes the str 10 power.

**Vizion**

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that contributed to this discussion. I am a new BA player and trying to figure out which way to go with my army. Some of the points made in this thread are great and, honestly, this is probably the one unit I never really thought about taking.