Sanguinary Guard Army... viable?

[Vash113]

Alright well I'm planning on starting a new army project for the fall and it is either going to be White Scars or Blood Angels. Either way I'll be building a 2000 point list, the White Scars one is likely going to be more balanced, but despite largely using Battleforces will still come out to around $430. On the other hand I got the idea to build an army comprising mostly Sanguinary Guard after reading some of the fluff in the new Codex, and that would only come out to about $320. Clearly the cheaper and more efficient option, but is it balanced or even viable? The list I'm thinking of is as follows:

 

HQ:

 

Commander Dante

Total: 225

 

Troops:

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Sepharan (5)

-Chapter Banner, Death Masks, Power Fist, Inferno Pistol x2

Total: 285

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Machidiel (5)

-Power Fist, Plasma Pistol x2

Total: 230

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Nathaniel (5)

-Power Fist, Inferno Pistol x2

Total: 230

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Ramiel (5)

-Power Fist, Plasma Pistol x2

Total: 230

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Taharial (5)

-Power Fist, Inferno Pistol x2

Total: 230

 

Sanguinary Guard Squad Israfil (5)

-Power Fist, Plasma Pistol x2

Total: 230

 

Fast Attack:

 

Land Speeder Divine Judgment

-Multi-Melta

Total: 60

 

Heavy Support:

 

Predator Annihilator Emperor's Light

-Twin-Linked Lascannons, Lascannon Sponsons

Total: 180

 

Predator Destructor Eternal Wrath

-Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Total: 100

 

Infantry: 31

Vehicles: 3

Army Total: 2000

 

The Predators and Land Speeder are thrown in to fill the last 300 odd points and provide some anti-tank and long ranged support to the Sanguinary Guard who, I'm thinking, would be best to deploy via Deep Strike, to try to get them as close as possible as quickly as possible and rely on their melta/plasma weaponry and Artificer Armor to keep them intact till they can charge. Very few infantry for a 2000 point army but all 31 have Artificer Armor, Jump Packs and Power Weapons but without invulnerable saves or Feel No Pain they might not last too long.

 

What do you guys think? Would it work? Or should I stick with the White Scars?

[toaae]

I know one of the local, preliminary 'Ard Boyz was won by a Sanguinary Guard army. But that's all I've got to say about it.

[Loki73]

That was my army. I won the prelimenary round with it went on to get 12 outta 20 in the finals. My first opponent kicked the ds outta me but I won my other two games. Thing is I run all sanguinary guard and vanguard havent tried with vehicles. I reckon it'll be better. Now that being said its hard to use. But rewarding. I say go for it. I did it as a fun army neveryt expected to get far with it.

[angel of justice]

If your rolling a sanguinary guard army i think you need to have 2 or 3 sanguinary priests to make it viable. If you drop the 2 predators you will have enough points for 3 priests, with power weapons and jump packs if you feel like dropping the power weapons and death masks of the first squad you can pick up another land speeder and equip both so they have 2 multi melta's the army can be competitive but its punishing if you make mistakes like any other small troop elite army.

[wookielips]

drop the death masks, whatever squad dante is with will give you that. plus there is no modifer to the LD test, so it isnt worth the points.

 

you need at least 2x SP, for FnP and FC. i'd recommend giving them a PW so everything is swinging one.

 

i would also recommend a DS'ing VV squad, to tie up things in combat when you come in.

 

dump the tanks, if you need even more anti-tank, get a 4xmelta HG with JP

 

personally, i'd remove the tanks. they are too few targets and are going to take a ton of fire.

[Hellios]

I was considering a list like this last night (slightly different), but due to how few troops youhave and the fact you can't do much about melta/plas/las except avoid/kill I feel you need to avoid as many wounds as possible from small arms fire and at 10pts a model (or less with attached characters) I think an SP is certainly worth taking.

[JamesI]

If I were to run a Sanguinary Guard heavy army, I would include a few priests and a Vanguard to try to tie up something I don't want shooting me when my Sanguinary Guards drop.

 

If you go all Land Speeders rather than tanks, you can deep strike the whole thing (or dreads in drop pods)

[vahouth]

Instead of Vangs, I would add a JP Librarian with unleash rage for more rerolls and Shield of Sanguinious for the obvious reason.

[dlfleetw]

I am building an Sanguinary Guard heavy army right now. 3 units of guard, 1 unit of assault marines (10, more than likely combat squads), with a Jump Librarian, and 2 Flanking Baals. Really want nothing on the board early, but either way it was fun in play testing at 1500 with one Baal and a Libby Dreadnought (much more survivable with TLoS and Cover saves than I would have thought.)

 

It is Small, but utterly devastating once it hits combat. Dante's squad (Sanguinary Guard, Chapter Banner, Priest) can deal with a large amount of troops and for larger games I think the addition of an Elites Chappy to re-roll all my hits (instead of the 1 per guy for master-crafted) will make that unit just stupid.

 

Its a shock army, not good for holding onto things, but when used in a purely offensive role, you can just move through armies fast.

 

 

Anybody played against a Mech Guard army with it yet and if so how did you fair against all the transports?

[Loki73]

A few priest will incsrease your survivability big time. @ 1750 I run one. @ 2500 I run two.

 

Dante

 

Libby (jet pack, unleash rage, shield)

 

 

Troops

 

1. Sanguinary Guard (pwrfist, chapter banner, x3 Inf pistols)

2. Sanguinary guard ( pwr fist, x3 inf pistols)

3. Sanguinary Guard ( pwr fist x5 plasma pistols)

4. Sanguinary guard ( pwr fist)

5. Sanguinary Guard (pwr fist)

6. Sanguinary guard (pwr fist)

 

Elite

 

1. Sanguinary Priest x2 (jetpack x2, pwr sword x2, hand flamer and inf pistol)

 

Fast

 

x10 vanguard (jetpacks, x6 pwr weapons x3 hand flamers x3 inf pistols, sgt Thunder hammer and ss, x1 thunder hammer)

 

 

 

Dante goes in the 1st squad with the libby and one priest, usually the inf pistol priest. If your coming form DS res pick a point in you opponents army that is far from his lines. Drop there with Date as a anchor. when a squad gets down two a man or two jump them to saftey if you can to hold remote objectives. If pistols on High vale targets such as LR and the like.

 

Be wary of whats in reserve though if your opponet gets a mulit charge off its bad news for you.

 

 

I run the list with sanguinor as well. sometimes an honour guard squad. The list is viable. Just gotta get used to hit and run tactics and the like. Its prolly not gonna win you tournies on a consistent basis though. I made the army for fun to be honest.

[lorider2]

Instead of Vangs, I would add a JP Librarian with unleash rage for more rerolls and Shield of Sanguinious for the obvious reason.

 

I feel the shield is critical for a Sang army. So that should be in there somehow. I would recommend dropping a few things (like others mentioned) for a few pods with beacons. A suicide sternguard unit for example can eliminate that pesky vindicator and Medusa. If the pod somehow survives its a safe place to land a expensive squad. A furiso with talons, DP, and EA can also survive a lot fire when smoked and still provide a landing zone. Should be a fun, but unforgiving list.

[coteaz40001]

I run an all Sang. Guard Army at 2000pts

 

Dante

Librarian- JP Shield/ Unleash Rage

 

4x Sang. Priest - PW JP

Chaplain - JP meltabombs

 

Sang Guard - 5xInfernus Pistol Chapter Banner

Sang Guard - 5xPlasma Pistol

Sang Guard - 3xPlasma Pistol

2xSang Guard

 

exactly 2000pts

 

I am currently 4/2/0.

The Priests are a MUST. The FNP bonus completely negates small arms.

Just focus on shooting the scary stuff when you land.

[Vash113]

Thanks for the input guys, I haven't decided which army to go with but at least I know now more about making the list viable, and I suppose an extra squad of Sanguinary Guard to convert up Sanguinary Priests and a new Dante couldn't hurt.

 

That said are Death Masks worth it at all? Are they useful and if so how many units should have them?

 

I was mostly adding them onto the one squad to fill in a handful of final points and make them look a little more special compared to the others but I wonder if they are viable or useful on the tabletop.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Why take any plasma pistols over infernus pistols. Why isn't anyone using Stormravens? They would work very well with these types of lists. Is because there is no official model out as yet? Every SG squad should have a power fist.

 

I like the big squads for VV. I am currently running a 5 man squad with all stormshields, lightning claws & a power fist for the sergeant.

 

0b :lol:

[Vash113]

Why take any plasma pistols over infernus pistols.

 

If I recall correctly from looking at the sprues each box only comes with 1 plasma and 1 inferno pistol, so that's why. Otherwise all would be inferno pistols.

 

Why isn't anyone using Stormravens? They would work very well with these types of lists. Is because there is no official model out as yet?

 

Yes it is because there is no official model out yet and I don't like scratch building vehicles... at least for any army other than Orks.

 

Every SG squad should have a power fist.

 

Every squad does have a Power Fist.

 

I like the big squads for VV. I am currently running a 5 man squad with all stormshields, lightning claws & a power fist for the sergeant.

 

That is a lot of points for a single unit, I've never found Vanguard that cost-effective, sure when up-armed they can wipe out nearly anything in one round of combat but then that leaves them sitting in the open to get nuked the following Turn and few units are costly enough targets to justify such an expensive executioner. But maybe that's just me. Either way I'd rather stick with the Sanguinary Guard and leave support to vehicles and guns.

[DevianID]

In the past when I had run dante+honor guard spam with the old book, what I found was that 5 man squads, even with the weapons, priests, jump packs and meltaguns, simply didnt have the volume of attacks for horde and the range for anti-vehicle operations.

 

While the decent of angels is a nice rule, Dante doesnt really add anything to the army other than scoring sang guard. His squad doesnt scatter, which is nice, but all they can do is shoot when they land. Thus, tactically, this army will play like a drop pod army sans the drop pods. This will make it use less kill points, but worse at contesting objectives.

 

Also, the enemy will have very clear target priority in your games. You can basicly label what units to shoot at to ruin your play.

 

For my advice, I would add a libby every time for the psychic defense, s10 attacks or blood lance. Then add either 3 combi-preds or 3 storm ravens. I dont love storm ravens, but they transport your sang guard and shoot, thus work well in this kind of list. Also, as others have said, you really want some priests in the army for s5 i5 on the charge and feel no pain. Speeders or multimelta attack bikes to stab vehicles also are a must. I also would not go crazy with shooting weapons on the sang guard... they dont get regular meltaguns and IP and Plasma are inefficient at killing infantry when you already have 3 s5i5 attacks on the charge.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I bought like at least five boxes of SG & DC so I'd have enough infernus pistols. They are so much better than plasma.

 

I am having my SRs built on commission and use proxies fo now. They really add a lot to these types of lists.

 

My VV is there for when I need a hammer unit. Put them with a Priest & they can take some punishment. I also have an HG unit I can switch out with if I need a mote versatile unit. All meltabombs on these guys for sure!

 

0b :lol:

[coteaz40001]

Why take any plasma pistols over infernus pistols.

 

0b :D

Eldar Avatars are immune to melta, and Dark Eldar Night Shields shorten your range by six inches. Meaning you cant even shoot at the raider.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

True but you should have other weapons to deal with those units. Melta is big in 5ed & the option to take melta pistols is more beneficial in a broader sense when compared to plasma.

 

0b ^_^

[wookielips]

theres no good reason to take plasma pistols. IP work better, you have a very small chance of scattering out of its range, its going to one-shot kill whatever you shoot at, and it won't get hot on you.

 

another consideration for this list is a libbie with fear of darkness, or libbie and libbie dread.... drop them in, and make 2 units run. that would significantly reduce fire back at your expensive SG.

[Droofus]

Why take any plasma pistols over infernus pistols.

 

0b :)

Eldar Avatars are immune to melta, and Dark Eldar Night Shields shorten your range by six inches. Meaning you cant even shoot at the raider.

 

 

Oh... good call on the Night Shields. I wouldn't have figured this out until my squad was nicely bunched up 3" away from a ravager.

[Hellios]

So a guy I've been talking with has so far not lost with his SG heavy list (I think, and I know that means little) and just beat a Plague Marine heavy chaos list 9-0 in KPs... so it sounds like it must be viable in some way (I guess it depends if you plan to win tournies or not...), however like any small elite army (Ask Deathwing players for tips as the armies have a lot in common) they have issues and I think you will find some armies really difficult... for example really large ones with lots of cheap small units but with the abillity to do a lot of damage in the shooting phase (think guard with demolishers, plasma spam and the abillity to throw away 10 man squads) and also from very mobile armies... say Mechdar... I wiz around while you are off the board keep my rear on the board edge so the best you can get is AV12... I have a 4+ cover save and maybe the the shield thing... I can probably survive your shooting if you land near enough to shoot me... I can then fly over to the otherside of the board and shoot you for a few turns while you catch me up... rinse and repeat... In normal games against a normal army you should do ok although you will (if you don't already) need to learn to place your units carefully and work out in advance what your plan is.

[Andrew_Beck]

My SG army compose of:

 

dante

sanquinor

 

4*5 SG with PF+2*IP and one Bannher

3*1 SP with JP+PW

 

thats 1750

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I am planning to take a SG type list to BoLScon if I can get it done in time. At this point I am strongly considering dropping the Stormravens for more boots on the ground. I was planning to test my list today in a local tourney but was unable to attend.

 

0b ;)

[dlfleetw]

Stormravens would seem to be a good fit and they can pick up a unit of SG if need be to rapid redeploy a unit. They will also soak fire a good bit. This would at least leave your SG units to soak small arms fire and less ap 2/1 stuff.

 

I think 'ard boyz would be a challenge but would mitigate a lot of alpha strikes from a few armies (all DS/Reserve stuff.)

 

I am going to pick up a Baal for this months purchase (one purchase a month limit... already have 3 units of SG, most Characters, just need 2 Baals, a RAS box/Death Company box to build 10 VV.)

 

Even if its not the most effective army BA's can field, it is fun to play, utterly devastating, but can be a big let down when you get a bad match up.