I think the Guardian is one of the most underused units in the Eldar codex. The Storm Guardian even more so. Most people prefer the use of Pathfinders and Dire Avengers. Being that I like to use underused units I generally field Guardians in just about every Eldar list I put on the table. Not only is is in theme for my Ulthwe army, but people generally ignore them or try to at least. With the acquisition of a whole heap of Guardians, and I am looking for more, that were intended for Eldar pirate use when Imperial Armour 11 comes out, I find myself drawn to the Storm Guardian.
The only real difference in the load out is that the Guardians exchange their Shuriken Catapults for Shuriken Pistols and close combat weapons. You can also outfit the squad with a pair of assault weapons in the form of fusion guns or flamers. You can also add a Warlock. The Warlock is a key component to this squad. Armed with a Witch blade and the Enhance power all the members of the squad get a bump to Weapon skill and Initiative. SO your Guardians will be weapon skill 4 and initiative 5 with 3 attacks on the charge. Add in the massive amount of short ranged fire and a doom on the unit you are attacking and you can deal some damage. The number of models in the unit is important. I always field at least 15. this of course leads to statements of “but SeerK you can't put them in a Wave Serpent!” This is true but remember I play and Eldar army in layers.
The main problem people have in running footdar is that they get pummeled as they walk across the field and the units get eliminated either by fire or they run away. The usual solution for guardians is to put a character in the unit or give the Warlock with the unit Embolden for the re roll on failed leadership tests. Since the Warlock in this case has the enhance power you have to stick an HQ in with a unit. This is all well and good for one unit. SO whats the solution?
The solution is an integral piece to any footdar list. The Avatar of Khaine. The Avatar not only is a beast in combat, but his 12 inch bubble that makes any unit fearless that’s in range keeps those units moving forward. The real key is bubble wrapping the Avatar so that most of your units have at least one model within 12 inches. You then move to make way for the Avatar when combat is to be had.
You must remember to run every turn until you are in range. The Storm Guardians should be supported by artillery and advanced units such as Swooping hawks and Warp Spiders. This ties up the enemies guns as more pressing threats are closer. Concentrate your long range fire on transports to pop them open, but only after you have dealt with any long range artillery especially if ti uses blast templates.
The best thing to do is to hold up in cover until your deep striking units come in and are able to light up the enemy and allow you to advance.
Many of you would be tempted to give the Storm Guardians fusion guns, but it is a waste. The ballistic skill is not reliable enough to pop transports. The flamers are a much better choice. You can saturate units and soften them up before the charge.
I have always loved using guardians mostly because many opponents underestimate their effectiveness. Granted when you run them in units numbering 15 plus they can draw attention. The real key is drawing your opponents attention elsewhere.
SO next time I will be discussing the 10th Foundation Of Vengeance.
Until next time.....
Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls....................Waaaaaaaaaaggghhhh!!!!!!!!
How did you make your guardians ? Did you buy the GW Storm guardian set made of gold, or did you have swords and pistols in bundels :) ?
ReplyDeleteWell I have one storm guardian kit and a crap ton of guardians and a friend that does resin casting
ReplyDeleteI also have an epic bits box of eldar close combat bits from several sources.
It helps when you have been doing this hobby for 15 years or more when things were cheap.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I face when I run setups similar where there are guardians marching maniacally/fearless along the avatar is the the things I put into diversion aren't durable enough to hold the attention of a gun line scenario.
ReplyDeleteI have problems with warp spiders personally, when I drop them in especially. The randomness of deep strike in combination with the range of their guns being the issue, either deep strike close enough to be able to utilize the fire power and hope for a scatter to my advantage or put them in cover since 3+ armour attracts ap3 guns like moths to a flame. The second issue for me is that strength 4 weapons puts an adequate amount of wounds to crack even the might of warp spider armor. These problems are both magnified and reduced in the swooping hawks whose firepower has fifty percent further range.
Is your tactic to sacrifice the mighty aspect warriors so that the war equipped civilians make where they need to be?
Do you also depend upon the fire support as diversion because of their relatively higher threat than the marchers?
The fire support is part of the diversion. I am also still running a full seer council and this in of itself is a major diversion and drawer of fire. People tend to ignore the aspect warriors and pour their low ap weapons into the seer council despite the fact it makes no difference if its a melta gun or a bolter when it comes to wounding a warlock. Given the mobility of the warp spiders and swooping hawks they should try and remain just out of reach to tempt your opponent to move after them. They won't be so tempted with Eldrad and his entourage bearing down on them though. this gives your Guardians a relatively unmolested march up the field to grab objectives and hit smaller units in close combat to mire them down.
ReplyDeleteThe poor guardians are still going to catch the occaisonal large blast template because people can't help but try to wipe out a huge swath of soft targets, but I agree, they won't be priority targets.
ReplyDeleteRunning multiple 11 packs with 2 flamers and a Warlock that knows Destructor all in a Wave Serpent can really rack up some kills, especially when you are tank shocking to force the enemy to bunch up. I like being able to get my flame templates to where it will hurt the most.
Thats a fun tactic, but I am anti mech right now and I am exploring my footdar roots. Since everybody expects mech lists they are not prepared for all foot or mostly foot lists. all of a sudden they lack the fire power to deal with the mass amount of troops.
ReplyDeleteThe spanking I took against CVintons outflanking imp guard army is a prime example. he has 2 vendettas in the list and some scout sentinals thats it. its all infantry on foot past that. The webway list was dealt its first defeat and it was a nasty one.
War Walkers are on foot.... Could bring nine of them and outflank... Just saying...
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