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I'm going to GW today armed with about £100 in vouchers, my question is do i invest in either 1 unit of 20 Black Guard, or 2 war hydras? Both will be made up of conversions.

You may notice that this doesn't add up to the full amount, but i am definitely buying the bits to make my harpies today, and if i can squeeze in a box of shades too, even better!

so what is better 1x20 BG

or

2 War Hydras?

I would say the black guard, due to the fact that they work better than hydras, for me at least.

Well, it's a very vague question to be honest. What's in the rest of your army? What tactics do you intend to employ? Which armies will you be facing most of the time? And in what level of competitiveness?

If you give us more detail, I can give you a better answer, but I would say, overall, Black Guard, since they have more uses and can't be obliterated easily with cannons.

If you're looking to squeeze in a box of shades, just get a unit of corsairs (which are only £15) and just smooth their cloaks with green stuff. This'll give you 10 shades for about 2/3rds of the price of a box of 5.

2 Hydras is IMO cheesy, unless you are playing large target saturation as your main strategy. For that you need a dragon and a manticore as well.

Black Guard are a top unit for DE, I never leave my Black Ark without them.

Hydra are only 175 points, TONS of attacks and a breath attack. They will kill most 20 man units for a lot less points. Hydra you always want 1 in your army, 2 is good. Black Guard are an amazing unit because of the stubborn and tend to do much better than executioners since they dont get wiped out before they swing. Furthermore most people shoot at something else.

Don't get shades. Get corsairs and greenstuff (preferably not GW; other companies make it cheaper). Assemble the corsairs with handbows, smooth greenstuff over the scales on the cloaks, and viola, shades for under half the price!

Or use the WE glade guard kit.

Glade Guard works too, but I think it looks awfully... woodsie for Dark Elves.

YMMV, of course.

DE are slated for 2013, so if you can proxy until summer you can buy what I assume will be some manner of plastic kit for them.