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After toying with the idea of implementing a squad of Sanguinary Guard into my ever-changing BA army, I stumbled across 10 pre-assembled models on eBay for £20 and payed up without thinking. Out of the ten, there's one with a power fist and one with an Enarcamine axe, the rest with Enarcamine swords. I'll be checking out Bitz Box for any other available parts as an extra axe wouldn't go amiss in a squad of ten.

I've had some moderate success with a ML2 Librarian amongst a 10 man DC squad and a Chaplain in a 10 man ASM squad. I'm wondering if they'll be effective enough without needing a Sanguinary Priest thrown in to the mix, or even Dante, the latter I'm planning on getting eventually. I'm usually up against Orks that are seeming to go through my DC with ease as of late.

Is a squad of 10 with 1x Fist and 1x Axe strong enough to pose a decent threat in CC? Running the full squad is 350pts without a chapter banner.

I like to run 1-2 fists in a group that size, and a couple axes (2-3) for higher strength/low AP against MCs, vehicles, etc. Sanguinary Priest is a must due to their lack of an invuln and the +1WS is quite nice with master crafted weapons. Having a character to soak up some wounds is money, though Dante is quite pricey he is nasty in CC. I like to ally BA with SoB and run Celestine with the SG, she's a great 135 point little monster that can suck up bolter shots, gets back up once (mostly) and give them hit and run.

The rule with sanguinary guard is swords or axes to taste one or two powerfists if you want it's your choice and a sanguinary priest is MANDATORY, they'll benefit from having a combat booster like a chaplain or Libby but the real deal is ten with Sanguinary and Dante, he's an absolute beast and just runs through units

These are what wreck my orks here. The sanguinary gaurd are normally there and they hurt. He normally has one or two squads of death company. I think it is normally just one large squad. Then there are some assault Marines as well. I know he loads some of the units in land raiders or just uses the flamer raiders to block LOS until he can get the charge off. There is always a sanguinary priest or something in one of the squads and Gabriel Seth is normally there just because. This guy wrecks orks like no other. Str 8 ap4 so anything but meganobz just dies. Then he makes sure he gets the charge off with his faster troops and having between I think four attacks for the assault Marines and 7 for the death company just mulches orks.

I usually don't run more than 5 with a banner, fist, inferno pistol, and attached lriest and Dante. Even that setup is expensive, but undeniably effective. For 10, 2 fists and maybe an axe (for extra ap2 for free), a banner and 2 to 3 inferno pistols. Attach a priest and Dante at the LEAST, as feel no pain gives you a save vs plasma and the like, and ws5 is a pretty big deal. Its a big target, so durability is key. Dante gives you a 4w eternal warrior dude with good saves to tank wounds on, and gives the whole thing hit and run wich is KEY for a unit that wants to stay mobile and be charging. Lastly, if you wanna push it firmly into death star territory, adding in a captain, libby, or (my personal favorite) an iron hands shield eternal master on bike won't hurt.

+1 for the banner, totally forgot on that. The bonus attack per guy for the squad is well worth its point

Thanks for the advice all! It's been a pretty crazy few days for hunting down things on eBay, but I now have (shipping):

10x Sanguinary Guard (1x Fist, 1x Axe)
Dante
Sanguinary Priest worth Jump Pack
1x Enarcamine Axe
1x Chapter Banner

I also picked up an extra squad of Scouts as this Deathstar unit is taking up a rather hefty slice of points. Fun times ahead.

I don't think a priest is mandatory at all. Statistically, a jump pack priest is not going to save his own cost in SG unless there are a ton of SG in the squad. If I were going to use them, I'd just use five of them naked. The cheaper the better. Because they are going to die. But maybe they can kill a lot of elite dudes before they die. Avoid MCs at all costs.

Martel732 wrote:
I don't think a priest is mandatory at all. Statistically, a jump pack priest is not going to save his own cost in SG unless there are a ton of SG in the squad. If I were going to use them, I'd just use five of them naked. The cheaper the better. Because they are going to die. But maybe they can kill a lot of elite dudes before they die. Avoid MCs at all costs.

Well… The option is there if I need it. I can take 5 standard SG or I can go all out with a squad of 10, Dante and a Priest if needed.

If you're having problems with Orks SG are probably one of the worst you its to look to at remedying those problems. Death Company would be better at dealing with orks, as SG are an elite killing unit best for bullying meq, frankly they're wasted on dudes rocking a 6+.

Add Dante to a DC squad (thumbs up to whoever mentions Celestine, I often run her a my 'budget Dante' with the DC), and give them a couple of fists and a maul and a chapppy. More than enough to deal with anything in the Ork Book.

If you must run SG, you probably want 1 fist , 1 axe and 3 sword in a 5 man, keep the same ratios when going to 10 man. Add banner and point them at something with 3+. Add a priest if you want , for the FnP, but I prefer Chaplains and Librarians with this book.

D

 evildrcheese wrote:
If you're having problems with Orks SG are probably one of the worst you its to look to at remedying those problems. Death Company would be better at dealing with orks, as SG are an elite killing unit best for bullying meq, frankly they're wasted on dudes rocking a 6+.

Add Dante to a DC squad (thumbs up to whoever mentions Celestine, I often run her a my 'budget Dante' with the DC), and give them a couple of fists and a maul and a chapppy. More than enough to deal with anything in the Ork Book.

If you must run SG, you probably want 1 fist , 1 axe and 3 sword in a 5 man, keep the same ratios when going to 10 man. Add banner and point them at something with 3+. Add a priest if you want , for the FnP, but I prefer Chaplains and Librarians with this book.

D

I already field a 10 man DC squad with either a ML2 Librarian with Gallian's Staff or a Jump Chaplain with Veritas Vitae, depending on what I'm up against. When there's a lot of Nobz with 4+ saves and FNP, they're far more resilient to DC than I anticipated (including 2x Power Sword and 1x Power Fist. The AP3 would be helpful in this situation.

I ready have Fast Attack and Heavy Supported covered effectively, so it would be nice to have an alternative hard-hitting CC unit. I have thought about running a small Adepta Sororitas alongside my BA. That would be interesting.

 slowclinic wrote:

 evildrcheese wrote:
If you're having problems with Orks SG are probably one of the worst you its to look to at remedying those problems. Death Company would be better at dealing with orks, as SG are an elite killing unit best for bullying meq, frankly they're wasted on dudes rocking a 6+.

Add Dante to a DC squad (thumbs up to whoever mentions Celestine, I often run her a my 'budget Dante' with the DC), and give them a couple of fists and a maul and a chapppy. More than enough to deal with anything in the Ork Book.

If you must run SG, you probably want 1 fist , 1 axe and 3 sword in a 5 man, keep the same ratios when going to 10 man. Add banner and point them at something with 3+. Add a priest if you want , for the FnP, but I prefer Chaplains and Librarians with this book.

D

I already field a 10 man DC squad with either a ML2 Librarian with Gallian's Staff or a Jump Chaplain with Veritas Vitae, depending on what I'm up against. When there's a lot of Nobz with 4+ saves and FNP, they're far more resilient to DC than I anticipated (including 2x Power Sword and 1x Power Fist. The AP3 would be helpful in this situation.

I ready have Fast Attack and Heavy Supported covered effectively, so it would be nice to have an alternative hard-hitting CC unit. I have thought about running a small Adepta Sororitas alongside my BA. That would be interesting.

SoB bring some nice elements to bolster BA. I'm tailoring for vs Orks here but...in an allied detachment you could bring

St Celestine - decent cheap beat stick, gives Hit and Run and can tank on a 2+, comes witha built in H Flamers strikes at I7 and S5 all the time.
Battle Sister Squad - 5 Battle Sisters, Flamer, Heavy Flamer - HB immolator.
Retributor Squad - 4 Heavy Bolters (access to rending once per game on ld check)
Dominions - 4 Meltas (access to ignores cover once psr game on ld check) put them in a MM immolotor. They also have Scout.

Obviously you wouldn't need all of those min is Celestine and 1 Troop. HB are obviously goof vs orks rocking a 4+, same for heavy flamer and orks don't like template weapons anyway. Melta iss good for dealing with Battle Wagons and can double out Nobz.

D

SoB bring some nice elements to bolster BA. I'm tailoring for vs Orks here but...in an allied detachment you could bring

St Celestine - decent cheap beat stick, gives Hit and Run and can tank on a 2+, comes witha built in H Flamers strikes at I7 and S5 all the time.
Battle Sister Squad - 5 Battle Sisters, Flamer, Heavy Flamer - HB immolator.
Retributor Squad - 4 Heavy Bolters (access to rending once per game on ld check)
Dominions - 4 Meltas (access to ignores cover once psr game on ld check) put them in a MM immolotor. They also have Scout.

Obviously you wouldn't need all of those min is Celestine and 1 Troop. HB are obviously goof vs orks rocking a 4+, same for heavy flamer and orks don't like template weapons anyway. Melta iss good for dealing with Battle Wagons and can double out Nobz.

D

This could be fun to work with, and definitely effective against Orks which is what I need right now. I think it's dealing with the numbers rather than the tougher units as such. 4+ saves with FNP in addition nullifies the standard tactics against Orks, which is where the SG come in favour over the DC.

As of next week, I'll be up against MEQ of various kinds and Daemons a lot. Time to purchase the Codex, I think!

This is how I run my Sanguinary Guard:

Squad of 5.

- One with Enacarmine Sword and infernus pistol
- One with Enacarmine Sword and Angelus bolgun
- One with Enacarmine Axe and plasma pistol
- One with Enacarmine Axe and Angelus boltgun
- One with Power Fist, Angelus boltgun and banner

That squad has firepower to deal with most armour saves and the weapon loadout helps with the sword guys doing the initial attacks to take down enemy models before the unwieldy axes and fist strike. Has worked really well with Dante attached to them, but unfortunately, they are my unluckiest Blood Angel unit as I lose them to non scattering Obliterator plasma cannon blasts (my regular opponent is a lucky git!) or that damn axe of blind fury that he also uses with his daemon prince or juggerlord. Besides that they do pretty well against most other things besides beefed up HQ units.

 Slaphead wrote:
This is how I run my Sanguinary Guard:

Squad of 5.

- One with Enacarmine Sword and infernus pistol
- One with Enacarmine Sword and Angelus bolgun
- One with Enacarmine Axe and plasma pistol
- One with Enacarmine Axe and Angelus boltgun
- One with Power Fist, Angelus boltgun and banner

That squad has firepower to deal with most armour saves and the weapon loadout helps with the sword guys doing the initial attacks to take down enemy models before the unwieldy axes and fist strike. Has worked really well with Dante attached to them, but unfortunately, they are my unluckiest Blood Angel unit as I lose them to non scattering Obliterator plasma cannon blasts (my regular opponent is a lucky git!) or that damn axe of blind fury that he also uses with his daemon prince or juggerlord. Besides that they do pretty well against most other things besides beefed up HQ units.

If experience against Orks is going to tell me anything, it's that I need to get the first strike in or face being simply over powered. There's been a number of instances where my DC, following taking heavy fire for the first turn or two, turn 3/4 of a squad to mush before getting outnumbered and the power weapons and fist go to waste. It's not a definite, but it has happened before. One fist and 1 or 2 axes in a squad of ten should do fine, otherwise a single axe in a 5 man should work for what I need it to. When it comes to 2+ saves, I've always got some trusty Terminators to fall back on...

Hmmm, maybe attach a Sanguinary Priest with jump pack to your unit of Sanguinary Guard. Might help against the tide of Orks if they can FNP those rolled 1 armour saves and with the +1 to WS the priest will give them, it will mean the Orks will be needing to roll higher to hit them back in the first place.

Plus a Sanguinary priest with jump pack will give you some fun conversion opportunities.

Well, it's a good job there's an older priest model with a jump pack on the way now! Unfortunately, there's no chalice on the model, so I'll have to figure out an effective way of converting that.

I'm as of yet undecided how I'm going to run them first, as I've been really enjoying the combination of a ML2 Librarian and a Chaplain. Not together in the same unit, but in support of DC and ASM respectively.

Conveniently enough, ths Blood Angels upgrade sprue actually comes with a blood chalice. For the longest time I was a little salty that it didn't come with a power weapon like all the others, and then I realized that we could use it to make our own priests!

 th3maninblak wrote:
Conveniently enough, ths Blood Angels upgrade sprue actually comes with a blood chalice. For the longest time I was a little salty that it didn't come with a power weapon like all the others, and then I realized that we could use it to make our own priests!

I'd forgotten about that, although I'll probably turn to bitz box as I already have a load of shoulder pads, heads and other accessories from various boxed kits over the years. What's going to be tough is the modelling; the 'priest' I got on eBay has one hand that's only sporting a narthecium, and the other is a chain sword. I've got work to do...

 slowclinic wrote:

 th3maninblak wrote:
Conveniently enough, ths Blood Angels upgrade sprue actually comes with a blood chalice. For the longest time I was a little salty that it didn't come with a power weapon like all the others, and then I realized that we could use it to make our own priests!

I'd forgotten about that, although I'll probably turn to bitz box as I already have a load of shoulder pads, heads and other accessories from various boxed kits over the years. What's going to be tough is the modelling; the 'priest' I got on eBay has one hand that's only sporting a narthecium, and the other is a chain sword. I've got work to do...

Post pics of your converted priest once he's done. He should look pretty cool

I don't think the need a Chalice, if memory serves correctly the 5th ed Code made mention of a piece of Chalice in their Shoulder Pad or some such...

Anyway, yes show conversions when they're done.

D

I doubt it's going to be interesting, and I might go the boring route and give the model a shoulder pad with a prominent chalice on instead.

Anyway, we're getting off topic here. It looks like I'll be dropping the Chaplain in favour of the Priest for the first game I play fielding SG. The +1 to WS won't make much of a difference against Orks, but will be pretty useful for my next meeting with CSM.

Thanks for the input guys!

Dante/ SG/ SP star is always fun in my opinion. With a squad of 5 SG and the priest and Dante, I have never had them not at least have a few bodies left at the end of a game. I personally wouldn't use the axes, though I know they could be useful. I would just opt for another power fist instead of the axe.

So here is an example of how I would run a squad:

SG x9:
7x Swords
2x PF
Chapter Banner
2x Plasma Pistols

S. Priest:
Valor's Edge (for the AP 2)
Jump Pack
Inferno Pistol (Again, if you need to spend some extra points somewhere and to give him +1 attack for two melee weapons)

Dante

for a total of approx. 700 points. Its pricey but it could work well depending on what goes on.

I would never pay 700 pts for a unit that gets gutted by a single demolisher cannon shot.

JeffytheUndead wrote:Dante/ SG/ SP star is always fun in my opinion. With a squad of 5 SG and the priest and Dante, I have never had them not at least have a few bodies left at the end of a game. I personally wouldn't use the axes, though I know they could be useful. I would just opt for another power fist instead of the axe.

So here is an example of how I would run a squad:

SG x9:
7x Swords
2x PF
Chapter Banner
2x Plasma Pistols

S. Priest:
Valor's Edge (for the AP 2)
Jump Pack
Inferno Pistol (Again, if you need to spend some extra points somewhere and to give him +1 attack for two melee weapons)

Dante

for a total of approx. 700 points. Its pricey but it could work well depending on what goes on.

That's a fair set up, but pricy. I could effectively get by with just the SG alone for 350pts, which still seems expensive in a 1,850pt army. I suppose when I'm up against Orks, the Priest isn't needed and they're likely to be hitting on 3+ anyways. Against MEQ, the Priest will be helpful.

Martel732 wrote:I would never pay 700 pts for a unit that gets gutted by a single demolisher cannon shot.

Martel is right in saying this. The way I'm looking at it is that 700/1,850 is a big chunk of points. I played a 1000pt game against Orks recently and I was completely shredded through being outnumbered. Taking a 700pt deathstar unit doesn't leave me with much more room than what was already being fielded and losing incredibly.

Run them as two squads-

5 man sang guard, chapter banner (dante+preist go here)
2 swords, 2 axes, 1 fist. If spare points throw on some plasma pistols

5 man sang guard put a lib here.
4 swords 1 fist. Make this an 'anti meq' one. Keep close enough to buff dante with quickening.

Fill out list with elements that support this unit.

Martel732 wrote:
I would never pay 700 pts for a unit that gets gutted by a single demolisher cannon shot.

Loathe as I am to agree with Martel, this is a very good point. 5 SG is almost always enough to tackle most units you need them to, particularly with a character or 2 in tow.

Oddly enough this is why I have been leaning more towards assault marines with a priest, recently. 10 dudes armed to the teeth with a bare bones priest is under 300 points for 12 MEQ wounds with feel no pain, and a bucket of str5 ws5 attacks on the charge. With the new bases you can spread them out enough to prevent them from getting beat up by blast templates too bad, which when combined with cover makes them surprisingly durable. Lastly, they can take actual special weapons, which gives them a leg up over death co and SG.

Sanguinary guard are really good once you get into HTH, but they have a real tendency to be cut up badly on the way. Every plasma gun or grav gun is going to be pointed their way because no one wants to try to beat through 2+ armor in CC.

The best protection you can give them is a jump pack (or biker) priest. This is a minimum of an HQ slot and 75 points (I think). Now your squad is up to 240 pts minimum and they have a whole 5+++ save vs plasma and still no save at all vs overcharged ion accelerators, demo cannons, or melta.

Compare to DC with a sanguinius libby. DC already have FNP, and cost 10 pts less per model already. Sure, no power weapons standard, but the weapon I really covet is the power fist, which base SG don't have either. The libby is much more potent in most challenges with quickening, and has the possibility of fear the darkness (hilarious) a 5++ save for the squad ($$$) or unleash rage. I'm not so excited about the 2 warp charge powers, but moving around say a sternguard squad can be nice too. Or a tac melta squad or something.

Yeah I've won more games than I can count off the back of 10 dc with 2 fists and a Gallien's Staff libby. There is literally only one power I don't want to roll on that list, and that's Blood Boil. Even that isn't terrible.

Another thing about sang guard, they are one of those units that work better, the more of them you have. IE, one unit will do meh, but 3 will provide fairly good results.