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So as I understand their rule for every point of damage a character takes they can save to take it instead. Is it worth bringing them to guard characters? Most of the time you can't shoot at a character so the unit would just get shot at instead.

And if you have put equipment on them you are sacrificing a relatively expensive model. And a single failed save against a Thunder Hammer could result in half your Vets getting killed.

So how valuable is keeping a character alive?

It worths when your Apothecary with his last one or two wounds is being sniped by a 6s to wound result from Sniper Rifle. So it is better to sacrifice one of the Veteran to stop that mortal wound taking out the Apothecary, then come to your turn, your "dead" Veteran can be brought back by the Apothecary, unless your opponent somehow managed to destroy.that whole unit of Veteran.in one go.

So basically take the Ancient as well so they can potentially shoot/fight while going down and then get brought back by an Apothecary next turn?

I am currently toying with the idea of using squads of these guys to screen for guilliman. You could put him in front and any wounds that manage to sneak through get absorbed by the vets.

If you do plan to make use of the rule, it seems a bit pointless to give them a bunch of expensive gear. Let them take the role of the boltgunners and let the other men take the special toys.

I maybe remembering wrong (book not here) but I think the body guard ability only effects <chapter> infantry, characters or <Chapter> bike characters. This is annoying as I had dreams of a biker bodyguard and apoth for guilliman. You can't even use the bike vets to guard an infantry character if I remember right :-/

Veterans are great, especially when accompanying a tanky character. Characters cannot be shot normally but they are vulnerable in close combat. A character with a 2+/4++ save is quite hard to force wounds through onto but if your opponent does, you can hand them off onto a Vet on a 2+. This means that your Veteran squad can effectively benefit from the better save of the character they are guarding.

If your opponent decides to waste the Vets first, that gives your character free reign to smack them down some more. Keep a couple of Veterans cheap with no/minimal wargear and use them as ablative wounds.

One thing that is awesome about this is that it is POST saves. So you can keep cheap veterans around have the 2+/3+ guy taking a hit and throw it off to the body guard.

Problem is that with multi wound things in the game one lascannon will wipe the entire squad....

I dont think the Bodyguard Ability is optional. The Rules says Roll a Dice when a Character Model loses a Wound, within 3" of this Unit. It doesnt say you may roll a Dice.

p5freak wrote:
I dont think the Bodyguard Ability is optional. The Rules says Roll a Dice when a Character Model loses a Wound, within 3" of this Unit. It doesnt say you may roll a Dice.

If you don't want the Bodyguard ability, just run Sternguard or Vanguard Veterans (as appropriate for the role). Between them they cover most of the wargear options you would want to run on Company Veterans and can be fielded in larger squads if you wish.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Leth wrote:
Problem is that with multi wound things in the game one lascannon will wipe the entire squad....

That shouldn't happen unless you have your character at the front of the squad. Characters can only be targetted if they are the nearest model. If the Lascannon shoots at the Veterans normally, they will only lose 1 guy as normal since the wounds do not carry over.

 Karhedron wrote:


If you don't want the Bodyguard ability, just run Sternguard or Vanguard Veterans (as appropriate for the role). Between them they cover most of the wargear options you would want to run on Company Veterans and can be fielded in larger squads if you wish.

The subject sounds like the bodyguard rule is optional, but its not. Anyway, i dont think 5 CVs are worth 80 points, just as bodyguards.

 Karhedron wrote:

That shouldn't happen unless you have your character at the front of the squad. Characters can only be targetted if they are the nearest model. If the Lascannon shoots at the Veterans normally, they will only lose 1 guy as normal since the wounds do not carry over.

There are ways around that problem. Deepstriking from behind, flying over them, sniping the character, just to name a few. Im pretty sure there are more ways to do it.

The minimum unit size is kinda interesting. Imagine lots of 2-man units running around with crazy weapon options...

 Commissar Molotov wrote:
The minimum unit size is kinda interesting. Imagine lots of 2-man units running around with crazy weapon options...

Running ? Put em on bikes, or as BA, they can get JP.

They really earn their place taking wounds for melee badasses in fights, where the character rule provides no protection, benefitting from the character's typically awesome save. The real challenge is making sure both the character and the bodyguard make it to melee. The strategy is only one bad 2d6 roll from stopping before it starts.

I would only run the guys naked if the intent is to be extra wounds for a character. If a transport ends up with 2-4 spaces open, they can also be used to fill that up, in which case I'd give at least one guy a decent weapon, or load them out with specials if the transport guarantees shooting range.

I run my Company Veterans fairly bare with the exception of the Sergeant in my Blood Angels army.
I put Storm Shields on them in addition to Chainswords to help them weather the incoming fire a bit from big stuff, and coupled with Jump Packs they're pretty stellar. I put a powerfist on my Squad leader/sergeant model back in 7th edition along with the Storm Shield and am still rolling with it now as a nice High strength attack that, hopefully, will benefit from the Captain rerolling 1's ability (they typically run with/protect the captain).

I've gotta get a couple of more put together, as these are the former Blood Angels command squad, and as such I only have three of them (Plus the Sanguinary Novitiate and Company Champion) so I'll be building another couple eventually to flesh the squad out to 5 models strong. I may also opt to throw a meltagun on one of them instead of a Storm Shield as an extra anti-tank/character hunter shot instead of a Storm Shield. We shall see.

I love them personally, they work very well and are a cool characterful unit to run with you Commander/Warlord.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

looked out my old squad of veterans who were Dante's bodyguard. The way I have them loaded up Company Vets were the only option. When I read the bodyguard rule I was amused.

KaoxVeed wrote:
So how valuable is keeping a character alive?

do you have a character your opponent wants to target because he's critical for your army?
Can the veterans keep up with him?
Divide the character's total points by his total Wounds. Is the result 16 or greater? 8 or greater?

If you answered Yes to all of these, consider Company Veterans just for the extra Wounds.

I'm planning to build a bunch with two Chainswords for 4 Attacks each for only 16 points. Stick em within that parking lot Razorback near an HQ that helps them. Consider giving the Sergeant a thunder hammer to leverage his extra attack, maybe even a storm shield.