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Hey mates. Currently in the process of making a Drop Pod list with the BA Codex, and supporting it will be Dante and a Priest with a Jump Pack. That being said, I am currently debating between either fielding a Deathstar of sorts with either 15x DC or 10x Sanguinary Guard to go with Dante for a hard hitting unit. 

Both have qualities that I like, however I am interested in what fellow BA players have to say about either of them, or opponents who have faced either of them. Appreciate the help.

As a guard player im saying go for saguinary guard as ive eatan up while squads of dc with basilsks and lr. Don't know if the sanguine guard come with 2+ or invuln but I tend to throw a fair bit of ordinance at dc when I see it as I know it can reliability squish them.

Neither. Put Dante wish ASM schmucks for LOS duty and to be meltagun toters.

If taking Dante then he can tank ap2 for your sanguinary guard, otherwise i'd say DC. 1 fist per 5 rounded (so 2 in an 8 man).

I'm still trying to understand what SG are actually good at for their price. Most units don't require power weapons to mop up, and having Dante tank for them seems backwards when I can have ASM LOS for Dante.

Death Company are more durable for the points thanks to FNP, and can take the occasional hidden Power Weapon/Fist. Guard can take the banner, but that's more points wasted on them.

With a Sanguinary Priest attached, Sanguiniary Guard would make a pretty decent unit of 2+ with a 5+ feel no pain.

In this instance, I'd go with the Sanguinary Guard, 50/50 axes and swords, and MAYBE spring for one of them to have a power fist if you want instead of an axe and want to spend the points on it.

Death Company are awesome, but I'd rather run the Sanguinary Guard if you're going to attach a Sanguinary Priest to the squad along with Dante.

Just my opinion.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

 Red__Thirst wrote:
With a Sanguinary Priest attached, Sanguiniary Guard would make a pretty decent unit of 2+ with a 5+ feel no pain.

That's taking up way more points than just fielding Death Company though. That's a minimum of 60 points, and you could get about three Death Company dudes for that.

If you're running SG, definitely take the banner for an extra attack each. At base 2A and two handed weapons, the like 25pts for an extra power weapon attack per guy is huge, especially in larger squad sizes. Add in the FNP and +1WS from the priest, with Dante tanking some wounds, his warlord trait and high I AP2 attacks, it can wreck face against most anything short of CC terminators; which you shouldn't charge anyways.

Vanguard Veterans should be up there. There's some use out of Power Weapons that aren't two handed, and the option for a 3++ shield.

They each have factors I like, which is why it is hard to decide on what to run. Way I look at it:

Sanguinary Guard:

* 2+ Armor Save
* MC 2x Handed Power Weapons (Sword or Axe)
* Access to Chapter Banner
* 2x Shot S4 AP4 Bolters

Death Company:

* Can take a Squad up to 15x
* FNP Base, as well as Rage and other Special Rules
* Access to Wide Variety of Weaponry
* More Attacks on the Charge

Big thing that has me leaning a bit more towards the Sanguinary Guard is the fact that they do come with a 2+ save base, which is great against a lot of things, especially in this current edition with a ton of AP3 Weaponry running around. However, I do get more Death Company, but question I have is if I take a Sanguinary Priest and put them with the DC, doesn't that mean they would get a 4+ FNP or is that only with the Special Character Priest in the Unit. Remember, Dante is a LOW choice so I would be taking an HQ no matter what if I run either the Death Company or the Sanguinary Guard.

The Sanguinary Guard are the best choice to run with Dante and a Sanguinary Priest honestly.

The master crafted off-sets the loss of an attack vs. the Death Company on the charge (If you run Bolters and CCW's versus Bolt Pistols and CCW's, anyway) and they come with both power weapons, and jump packs included already. If you want to spring for the banner for the attack buff, then by all means, go for it. Their Angelus Boltguns are also assault weapons, versus being Rapid Fire (Though this point is moot, since the DC are relentless).

The Sanguniary Guard come with power weapons by default, the only thing you don't have is Power Maul (Since Glaive Encarmine are only axe or sword) and Thunder Hammers versus the DC. Sanguinary Guard can take a power fist at the same cost as the Death Company. My personal formula is use 5 Swords and 5 Axes, or 4 Axes and one Power Fist if you want to spend the extra on the squad. Were it me, I'd run the banner over a Power Fist and stick with 4 Axes and 5 Swords, but that's just my Personal Preference.

Attach a Sanguinary Priest, and then stick Dante with them, and smile at the ensuing hijinks. Yea, this squad will die to massed fire, but if you put it on a flank and push with it, the opposing force will have a very hard time stopping it unless they have a MASSIVE amount of AP:2 or lower weaponry to throw at them.

Just my opinion on that. Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

A grav biker squad not firing from Dante's direction will gut it. We won't discuss grav cannons.

Switch the priest for a Libby and take death company.
SG have the unfortunate squad design of having no expendable members. Every loss hurts to the tune of 33 points.
DC can have a couple hidden fists and still be a very large threat, while having decently durable bullet catchers that are only 23 points, and hit like trucks even without special weapons.

With a div Libby, you could get lucky and snag 4+ invuln for the squad. If not, you can just prescience the squad to beat out the sg's master craft by a country mile, while also giving the squad a little psychic defense.

niv-mizzet wrote:
Switch the priest for a Libby and take death company.
SG have the unfortunate squad design of having no expendable members. Every loss hurts to the tune of 33 points.
DC can have a couple hidden fists and still be a very large threat, while having decently durable bullet catchers that are only 23 points, and hit like trucks even without special weapons.

With a div Libby, you could get lucky and snag 4+ invuln for the squad. If not, you can just prescience the squad to beat out the sg's master craft by a country mile, while also giving the squad a little psychic defense.

I have found sanguinius to be good with DC as well. Divination good? I don't know.

Sorry if someone stated this already, I didn't read the whole thread.

But of those two units, the Death Company benefits more from getting the charge.
So with Dante's Hit & Run you can charge, drop a load of attacks, then tie the unit for a turn.
After that (assuming that the unit's still alive) retreat. If there's only a couple of models left, shoot them and find a new target for Dante 'n' the Gang. And if the unit is still a threat, charge again and get another load of attakcs.

A Chaplain works superbly in this setup, but that obviously makes the squad more expensive.

It has been my experience at least that after getting the charge, the DC can't do any real damage.

I'm not sure I approve with your suggestion Martel...
Are the ASM nothing but bodyguards to him? They're pretty expensive for what they actually do.

In my experience sangguard are useless by themselves. There just a bully unit like Terminators, which are awful. They get exponentially better with a sangpriest. They get even better with Dante, in fairness who doesn't.

DthCo are solid by themselves, but not awesome. With a chaplain and a Pfist they get much better and cost a lot less.

*What I meant to say is, Sangguard get better than DthCo when they've got a sangpriest. Just get the priest the relic jump pack & a powerweapon. If your feeling like a baller give the sangpriest a regular Jpack & throw Dante in. Oh, and FYI even blinged out still not bad ass enough to stomp a canoptek formation. I know that from experience.

2+ save on a 33 pt model just isn't enough defense anymore.

Martel732 wrote:
2+ save on a 33 pt model just isn't enough defense anymore.

I can kinda understand that reason, as the new Terminators are 35 points and they come with a 5+Invulnerable save as well as a 2+ armor save. But the Sanguinary Guard do have the option of Jump Packs, and that goes well with Dante and a Priest in the unit.

That being said, I tested out a few games recently with the Dante and the Sanguinary Guard, as well as sometimes with DC and both did very well against Orcs, SM's, Necrons, and Imperial Guard. While the DC get way more attacks on the charge, Sanguinary Guard usually kill whatever they hit where they don't get an Armor Save barring Grey Knight Terminators, no at this point it's still a close tie. Has anyone tested out Dante with either or do most people use him for small insertion units other then maxing out.