# Sanguinary Guard... Good or Bad?



## AngelofDeath (Jul 1, 2010)

I have been looking all over the place to see what people thought of the elites in the BA army. They seem to be pretty decent when put next to things like terminators for the same price. My questions to you guys is... are they a good elites choice? Do you ever use them? what are their pros and cons? 

Thanks 
AoD


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

AngelofDeath said:


> I have been looking all over the place to see what people thought of the elites in the BA army. They seem to be pretty decent when put next to things like terminators for the same price. My questions to you guys is... are they a good elites choice? Do you ever use them? what are their pros and cons?
> 
> Thanks
> AoD


Pros:

- Mobile.
- Pretty good in assault.
- Glaives Encarmine are master-crafted, so their attacks will often hit.
- Rather resistant to small arms fire.
- Descent of Angels allows them to arrive on time and on target.
- Ranged attacks are pretty decent for an assault unit, if a bit short-ranged.

Cons:
- Fairly steep cost in points.
- Small squad size that cannot be improved.
- Quite vulnerable to shots/attacks that ignore armor saves.
- Have a difficult time dealing with large units of cheap troops, as they lack the number of Attacks to make much of an impression.

Sanguinary Guard are at their best when used alongside Dante. This is because Dante makes them a Troops choice, which is quite nice if you're going for an all Sanguinary Guard army, or if you're just trying to save Elite slots for other picks. Without Dante in the army though, I don't have much use for Sanguinary Guard as I feel that other Elite choices are far more worth the time. Terminators, Assault Terminators, Sanguinary Priests and sometimes Furioso Dreadnoughts are all more my style. Your mileage may vary, however.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

They great as anti-meq, and they do alright against just about everything without a high Toughness.
They're hard to kill with their 2+ Armour save, they have Jump Packs, they are a mobile and moderately powerful unit.
Their main downside is the 5 man squad size, it makes them vulnerable to any AP2 weapons (which are usually few in number), meaning they can stand up great to normal weapons, but a hidden Plasma gun will ruin their day.


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## jaws900 (May 26, 2010)

they do well agaisnt any unti which isn't a Horde or useses alot of power weapons such as banshees or tertmaintors. They will slice thoguh everythign else thouigh and need to given atleast 1 infernus pistol and 1 powerfist to deal with armour as a dreadnoguht can hold them up the rest of the game and probbly kill them too.
I love them and will eventually convert my self a captain using spares from the box along with bits websites.


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## louisshli (Aug 19, 2010)

I'm actually painting up my Sanguinary Guards unit & thought long and hard about including them or not. A fully decked out squad using just one box will run up to around 285pts (power fist, infernus pistol, plasma pistol, chapter banner & death masks). Pricey? Sure! Will it attract a lot of fire power? You bet! But remember these are Sanguinius' personal bodyguards, so they're no push-overs either. Have a Librarian equipped w/ jump pack & Shield of Sanguinius and your SG will suddenly be Terminators (but faster). Alternatively, what I'm planning on is having an Assault Squad (joined by a Librarian) & Sanguinary Guards (joined by Sanguinary Priest w/ jump pack) all roll together. Sanguinary Priest will be able to give both units Feel No Pain & Furious Charge while Librarian will give both units a 5+ cover save plus preferred enemy for the assault squad (thanks to Unleash Rage). Sanguinary Guards won't need it as much thanks to their Glaive Encarmines but will materially improve the regular assault marines.

Sanguinary Guards are versatile, w/ their power fists & infernus pistols being able to take out tanks while Glaive Encarmines will tear chunks out of most units. On the charge, they out-class Terminators w/ a higher initiative. 

To sum it up, I would definitely include one unit of these golden heroes simply b/c of their versatility on the battlefield. However, use them sparingly and don't throw them against large units unsupported (*cough* Orks *cough* Hormagaunts). 

For Sanguinius..... !!


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Not one of you has mentioned the nipples, they have nipple armour and therefore should always be included in your list.


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## louisshli (Aug 19, 2010)

I forgot, but did the Codex mention their nips counted as an extra CC weapon?


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

I think they're great when thrown against the lesser unit in a list. One squad of 5 can often easily run through 2 squads of 10 tactical or assault marines. Against other big units such as terminators I wouldn't recommend going against them as the terminators can take the power weapons with relative ease(especially hammernators) and then ignore the sanguinary guard's armour completely. They can fill the role of terminators but They are not a reliable counter to them. keep them for the weaker stuff then.


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## DonFer (Apr 23, 2010)

bitsandkits said:


> Not one of you has mentioned the nipples, they have nipple armour and therefore should always be included in your list.


Hey they're sanguinary nipples so don't mock them. :wink:

Sanguinus himself designed them (with a little help of Joel Schumacher of course :laugh


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## AngelofDeath (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks Guys! This is just what I needed! and I think I will play with at least a squad of these guys against my friends (except my orky friend haha)... How good do you think they would do against Chaos?


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

AngelofDeath said:


> Thanks Guys! This is just what I needed! and I think I will play with at least a squad of these guys against my friends (except my orky friend haha)... How good do you think they would do against Chaos?


Well, since almost everything in a CSM army has a good Armour save, I would say well.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

AngelofDeath said:


> Thanks Guys! This is just what I needed! and I think I will play with at least a squad of these guys against my friends (except my orky friend haha)... How good do you think they would do against Chaos?


They'll do well against most Chaos infantry units. Normal Chaos Space Marines, Noise Marines, and Plague Marines will all really dislike Sanguinary Guard, though Khorne Berserkers and Thousand Sons probably won't be overly bothered by them (the former because 'Zerks often have a power fist who can annihilate Sanguinary Guard very easily and the latter because they all have 4+ Invulnerable saves).

Sanguinary Guard can still do okay against Orks as long as the unit you assault isn't too large (anything over 10-12 models is too many) and you shoot them with the bloodshard bolters first to soften them up. Just watch out for power klaws.


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## louisshli (Aug 19, 2010)

What I failed to mention before is that if you have the points to spare, include a Baal Predator to tag along w/ the Sanguinary Guards, Priest, Assault Marines & Librarian (as per my previous post above). Equip your tank w/ twin-linked assault cannon & heavy bolter side-sponsons. This will provide your close-combat troops w/ some much needed cover fire as they storm through the battlefield. As you know, Baal Preds are fast, so they can keep up w/ the rest by moving 12" and still laying down a salvo of shells from their twin-linked assault cannon. Cast Shield of Sanguinius during opponent's shooting phase and even your tank will benefit from the 5+......


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## mynameisgrax (Sep 25, 2009)

I think louisshil has it right. For all purposes, they're basically assault terminators with lightning claws, only a bit more expensive, and without the invulnerable save (unless a librarian is along), but they're much faster, and can deep strike very effectively.

Are they worth it? It really depends on your list, and what you want them to do. Personally, they're not my style, but I can see them doing well in the right list, which I'd say is a balanced one, with plenty of targets, anti-armor shooting, and units to deal with hordes.

All in all, they're an elite choice whose specialty is killing other elites.


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## AngelofDeath (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks for all the comments guys... I'm sorry I haven't gotten on in a while to write back because my computer crashed on me... Thanks again for everything!


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

bitsandkits said:


> Not one of you has mentioned the nipples, they have nipple armour and therefore should always be included in your list.


Truer words have never been spoken.

I've only played one game with my SG, and found them to be not quite worth the points I sunk into them. Granted, I also recognize the fact that one game is not nearly enough to judge the worth of a unit (bad dice, etc) I am leaning more towards either Vanguard Vets or throwing a unit of Death Company in my current BA list.


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## Kuolema (Nov 4, 2010)

louisshli said:


> What I failed to mention before is that if you have the points to spare, include a Baal Predator to tag along w/ the Sanguinary Guards, Priest, Assault Marines & Librarian (as per my previous post above). Equip your tank w/ twin-linked assault cannon & heavy bolter side-sponsons. This will provide your close-combat troops w/ some much needed cover fire as they storm through the battlefield. As you know, Baal Preds are fast, so they can keep up w/ the rest by moving 12" and still laying down a salvo of shells from their twin-linked assault cannon. Cast Shield of Sanguinius during opponent's shooting phase and even your tank will benefit from the 5+......


W. . .T . . F
seriously wtf is a baal doing in the same army as sang guard?

If your running sang guard you want to run them in an army where they are actually useful. So if you want them to be useful your looking at running them in a pure jumper list and using them as a hammer unit to keep your assaults from stalling. 
Or you run them with dante so you can get 2+/FnP scoring units. 

They are expensive coming in at 200 points for 5 guys, 210 if you give one a fist, just throwing them in your army with no plan for them will not end well.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Kuolema said:


> Or you run them with dante so you can get 2+/FnP scoring units.


And... I assume there's a Priest in there somewhere to give them FNP.


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## KingOfCheese (Jan 4, 2010)

louisshli said:


> Cast Shield of Sanguinius during opponent's shooting phase and even your tank will benefit from the 5+......


As far as i know, Shield does NOT work for vehicles.

Vehicles do not benefit from cover saves. They only benefit from being obscured. Nowhere does it say that Shield causes vehicles to count as being obscured.

A KFF on the other hand DOES work for vehicles, as it specifically states that the vehicle counts as being obscured.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

KingOfCheese said:


> As far as i know, Shield does NOT work for vehicles.
> 
> Vehicles do not benefit from cover saves. They only benefit from being obscured. Nowhere does it say that Shield causes vehicles to count as being obscured.
> 
> A KFF on the other hand DOES work for vehicles, as it specifically states that the vehicle counts as being obscured.


"any units within 6" recieve a 5+ Cover save"

Page 62 BRB, the three bullet points.

1. States you can't 'claim to be in cover' unless you're 50% obscured.
2. States you don't get an auto-save for being in Area Terrain.
3. States that Vehicle can't Go to Ground.

Then refer to Smoke Launchers, they say "it counts as obscured".

Page 71 BRB, under SHOOTING AT SKIMMERS.
"A Skimmer that is not immobile and has moved Flat Out in its last Movement phase counts as obscured (Cover save of 4+) when fired at."

So basically, EVERYTHING that gives a Vehicle a cover save specifically says obscured.


TL,DR: Cheese is right.


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## Kuolema (Nov 4, 2010)

Winterous said:


> And... I assume there's a Priest in there somewhere to give them FNP.


No, their nipples grant them FnP.

Of course you have priests in a jumper army.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Kuolema said:


> No, their nipples grant them FnP.
> 
> Of course you have priests in a jumper army.


lul
But really, you have Priests in ANY BA army, except for Death Company ones (since they all carry their own little bottle of crazy).


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## KingOfCheese (Jan 4, 2010)

Winterous said:


> Actually, it does.
> "any units within 6" recieve a 5+ Cover save"
> 
> Page 62 BRB, the three bullet points.
> ...


I am always right. :grin:


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## Kuolema (Nov 4, 2010)

Winterous said:


> lul
> But really, you have Priests in ANY BA army, except for Death Company ones (since they all carry their own little bottle of crazy).


Priests are wasted in a pure mech BA army.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

KingOfCheese said:


> I am always right. :grin:


>_>
I uh, thought I deleted that first line <_<
>_>

<_<


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## KingOfCheese (Jan 4, 2010)

Kuolema said:


> Priests are wasted in a pure mech BA army.


Agree.

If you are spamming 6 units of RAS in TL-AC Razors, then a Priest is rarely worth it.

For SangGuard and non-mech RAS's though they are obviously worth their weight in gold.


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