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I've seen conflicting information on which way to run guardian squads.

Some people say due to the nature of the army and how 9th edition is very objective based, smaller squads are the way to go.

I personally prefer larger squads to get more use out of stratagems, but I don't know if that's me leaning on a few years of playing guard.

What do you think?

In general MSU is just better. You get to spread out more, you're less vulnerable to morale, you can touch more objectives, you force your opponent to make more shooting decisions before rolling and get to make more shooting decisions after rolling yourself, and get more chances to make charge rolls. And you don't really suffer that much in terms of large squads getting to go first in melee just because "chargers strike first" means you're rarely actually alternating in the melee phase. Large squads let you apply buffs more efficiently, yes, but if you don't have a specific buff stack plan that requires a deathstar you're almost always better off with MSU.

Go big with at least the first Venetari squad to maximize the effect of Fire Patterns. I think the downsides are too large for Troops for it to be worth it there, look at tournament lists and copy them, or don't if you just like big squads then keep your big squads.