# DE Black Guard/Death Star unit



## Tatsumaki (Oct 22, 2009)

Okay, this is something I wanted to try work into an army, as a super-hard-to-kill phalanx of troops/ bodyguard /death star unit. Tell me what you think. 235

Lord w/ Executioner's Axe + Blood Armor

in a unit of

17 Black Guard

Standard w/ ASF banner

Tower Master w/ Ring of Hotek

6 across, 3 back.

= 540 points (expensive, I am aware)

(Optional, put a cauldron of blood behind it. Because you can)

Here's how it works.

Your front rank (with maximum base contact) now has a grand total of 11 attacks, S4, ASF. Your lord, however, has 4 attacks with his super-ridiculous strength, also always strikes first.

On the charge, these guys are deadly. They can, and have, cut down a Stegadon in a single turn. They can take on anything up to the likes of Bloodthirsters, Dragons, Characters, anything really. 

I'm also aware that these guys are VERY vulnerable to shooting, but the ring of Hotek protects everyone within 12" from magic (enough to protect the whole army), thus choosing not to engage them also isn't an option.

Tell me what you think, and if there is anyway in which I can improve it.

Tatsu


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Pros- Its a strong unit at only moderate cost (real deathstars are ~1000pts)... means its strong without being your whole army.

Cons- you have your best character, best banner and magical defense (which will annoy any enemies with magic) in 1 unit that is really easy to kill with shooting or light spells (1in6 chance of miscast on 2D6 is fine... especially if Im HE and have taken anti-miscast defences)- ofc all my bound spells are going at this unit

Cauldron of blood giving this unit a 5+ ward (or whatever it does) is the very least of what you need. Ideally I would add in other equally nasty (or close) units on either side so that you greatly increase the numbers of units that need killing with shooting... but a much better idea is to split the nastiness up into multiple units: give the ring of hotek to a character and shove him in a warrior unit for example (keep your important units close and you have magical defense that is never going to disappear to shooting).
The lord has a nice bodyguard here but you might think about putting him in a weaker unit (one that really does need his support in combat), that way you minimise the number of units you have which enemies can easily kill
- good example of this is me playing my ogres (weak army) against a friends daemons (not a weak army)... he concentrates on making a couple of units hard to kill, so I concentrate on killing everything else. The endgame always sees his 1-2 nasty units being surrounded by 6+ of my units (you will never get all my units breaking out of combat even if I lose.. and no-one ever out does ogres for dynamic combat res- the kills always start piling up in my favour, even against plaguebearers with 5++/4+ saves.


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## Tatsumaki (Oct 22, 2009)

Hmmm that's a good idea, the death star itself has nothing wrong with it in offense.

To protect it from shooting, the plan is to put in a crossbow-heavy list, and put a chariot on either side. (Impact hits don't care who strikes when!)

And also lots of shooty magic. Just a suggestion i got ^^.


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## Fen-Dweller (Sep 25, 2009)

Not BG, but what about this?

630-Malekith: CO
275-Malus
214-BSB Master: Hydra Banner, CO, HA, Sh., SDC, Lance
154-Master: CO, Ring of Darkness, HA, Sh., SDC, Lance
???-??xCoK: FC, Standard of Hag Graef, Ring of Hotek

Already 1300+points, so probably not for your smaller games.
Unkillable? Probably. Watch out for cannons. 

Alternatively, you could always go for the Banner of Nagarythe at +50pts. I like the extra attacks, though.


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## Tatsumaki (Oct 22, 2009)

Woah! 1300+ for a single knights unit!? *THAT* is a deathstar!! 

But to be honest, I can't decide whether Malekith belongs in a unit... His magic skills won't be especially helpful in combat, but his armor make him extremely hard to kill. I certainly wouldn't put him in the same unit as a rink of hotek! He would be far more inclined to blow himself up than anyone else!

I think maybe the Standard of Slaughter would be better than Hag Graef, because it will make even tough enemies crumble, +D3 makes all the difference in the world.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Well Malekith does bring the magical defence to the unit (S6 hits for each PD used in a failed spell IS a defence... no-one will be casting spells at him).. but yes, lose the ring of hotek.
This unit does die from cannons, or bolt throwers (and would have problems with magic if no malekith but the funniest thing would be them falling to stupidity at the wrong time.

As for deathstar points that actually isnt THAT bad- my ogre deathstars come in at ~1800pts , but then they are only ever seen in legendary battles (and yes, they are seriously legendary- US60 fear causing, MR3, triple chance of miscast, +7SCR and 65 wounds with so many S7-8 impact/normal attacks that they are unlucky to not kill second and third rank models... if you even manage to not runaway from outnumbering chaos tests at -1Ld... if I happen to get buffs off then your looking at regen or T5-6 and stubborn)


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## Tatsumaki (Oct 22, 2009)

Ah that is true, Tim/Steve. But in fairness Ogres elites, super elites. I'm not surprised you could throw something like that into and army.


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