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I wanted to try and build a formation in line with the Eldar Guardian Host formations but for use with Ulthwe Blackguard. For those who don't know the fluff on this Ulthwe has a heavy focus on the Path of the Seer so it numbers a vast amount of Warlocks and Farseers but as a result has very few members following the Path of the Warrior (Aspect Warriors) as such they have a standing force of Guardians known as the Black Guard. To be representative of this force I have given the unit a sub-objective secured, and a boosted leadership, but they then have a few more taxes to pay when fielding the formation compared to the other Guardian Hosts. This formation is meant to be used as a core element of a Craftworld Warhost.

Black Guard Host

2 Farseers (one may be replaced with Eldrad Ulthran)
1 Warlock Conclave
1 unit of War Walkers
1 Vaul's Wrath Support Battery
1 unit of Vyper Jetbikes
3 units of Guardian Defenders or Storm Guardians (in any combination)


Restrictions: [/b]The Warlock Conclave must contain at least 5 models, if any Farseer or Warlock from the conclave is mounted on a Skyrunner, then all other Warlocks in the Conclave and all other Farseer must be mounted on one as well. Because Eldrad can not be mounted on a Skyrunner, if this formation includes him no Warlock or Farseer can be mounted on a Jetbike.

[b]Psychic Bond
All Farseers must join the Warlock Conclave at the beginning of the game before deployment and can not leave the unit.

Black Guard Armoury
A unit of Storm Guardians may include two special weapons and two power weapons at no cost instead of the cost listed on their profile. A unit of Guardian Defenders may have one heavy weapon platform at no cost instead of the one listed on its profile.

Professional Soldiers
Storm Guardian in this formation re-roll 1s to hit in combat, Guardian Defenders, Vypers, War Walkers and Vaul's Wrath Support Batteries in this formation re-roll 1s to hit in the shooting phase (this does not allow you to re-roll blast weapons scatter). This does not affect a warlock connected to the unit, they are Warlocks on the Path of the Seer assisting the soldiers of the Black Guard, not members of the Black Guard themselves. In addition all models in this formation add 1 to their leadership to a maximum of 10.

Black Guard Support
War Walker units, Vyper units, and Vaul's Wrath Support Batteries gain the Preferred Enemy Rule when firing at a unit that is within 12" of a Guardian Defender or Storm Guardian unit from this unit.

Thoughts on this formation? It's kind of a mash between a Storm Host, Guardian Host, and Seer Council, although the seer council loses some of its heft since it no longer channels on a 3+. I think it hits the fluff of the Craftworld well, is on par with the other formations, and won't over do it for the game.

My suggestion:

Instead of pseudo-ObSec. Storm Guardians re-roll To Hit rolls of 1 in melee. Guardian Defenders re-roll To Hit rolls of 1 when shooting. This does not apply to Warlocks nor any attached IC.

I think this fits the fluff a bit better as the Black Guardians were supposed to be better at melee/shooting than normal Guardians.

Sounds like a decent plan, I was thinking about making them better at their assigned job but I didn't want to boost WS or BS because that would be absolutely disgustingly good and not balanced in the role at all (not to say we field a balanced codex as it is). I'm thinking to keep with the boost to Ld though seeing as the units are professional soldiers, and therefore have a good resolve in the face of battle compared to a standard civilian.

Hmm. After staring at it for a minute, you have a pretty good trade-off here. You only have to get 2 farseers total rather than 3, you can mix & match guardian types (which is way more fun than spamming 3 of the same thing), and you get mini-obsec. On the other hand, losing out on the 3+ casting of a "real" seer council can hurt!

I think this would be a reasonable set of rules to try out.

That said, I second HappyJew's suggestion to let the guardians reroll to-hit rolls of 1 (in shooting and melee respectively). Back in the day, Ulthwe's Black Guardians were meant to be a cut above the rest, and this was represented with higher WS/BS. Boosting their WS/BS even higher than it is now for "free" would probably be a bit much, but letting them reroll 1s is a nice, toned-down little bonus that I wouldn't mind getting in exchange for the lack of seer council super-casting.

I give it a thumbs up!

Updating the original post with suggested refinements.