Honor Vs Sanguinary Vs Vanguard?

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

The Honor Guard, Vanguard and Sanguinary Guard; the elite jump-back units of the Blood Angel’s codex, all of them very effective and at roughly the same points cost of around 210 pts.

Problem is my jumper based army list only has enough points to take 1 or 2 of these elite units and it's a tough choice considering each of the unit's unique attributes.

 

Vanguard: Have the fantastic combo of Descent of Angels & Heroic Intervention and can have a variety of load-outs.

 

Sanguinary Guard: 2+ Armour (but no inv save), Sgt 4, Assault 2 pistol, master-crafted power swords, hard hitting unit (plus great looking models).

 

Honor Guard: Great Wargear selection & come with Priest in the squad.

 

So I’d like to hear what other players thoughts are on these units and the experiences you've had playing with or against them? Plus which is your favourite and what load-outs you give your Honour and Vanguard units?

[Gv0zD]

If you run 1.5k list I'd suggest you take both HG and VV. Considering the loadout, I'd recommend taking 4 MGs into HG and teaming them up with Libby w/Shield of Sanguinius. Thus they would be very useful against armor (with the aid of novitate and priest). As for VV, I'd equip the Sarge with Glaive, while the others would carry PWs and maybe 1-2 PF. If you find spare points equip some of the VV with Strom shields to prolong their life in combat. Thus you'll be able to cut the enemy's elite or HG and at the same time pop up his tanks. And the buffed HG would last long under the heavy fire of the scared enemy (4MGs + Libby are pretty scary ;) )

This is the tactics that I employ, it was suggested here on B&C in the topic by syypher (thanks again, buddy :D )

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I would almost go as far to say every DoA army should include Honor Guard and Vanguard.

 

G

[Quixus]

Sanguinary Guard: 2+ Armour (but no inv save), Sgt 4, Assault 2 pistol boltgun, master-crafted two-handed power swords, hard hitting unit (plus great looking models).

I fixed that for you.

While the idea of the SG is very cool the execution is pretty much sub par. The SG can never get another attack for a second weapon and the Glaives are mechanically inferior to standard lightning claws not to mention master-crafted ones.

 

The 2+ save is nice though.

[TheMouth]

Personally....i say go with another RAS. But thats just me.

[Demoulius]

@OP, we might be able to give some better advice if wed know what was the rest of your list :huh:

[WarpWalker]

Sanguinary Guard- Don't let their lack of an invulnerable save fool you. They're still highly effective, though work better as a cleanup crew IMHO. By adding a librarian and/or priest you'll get more mileage out of them.

 

Honor Guard- Are the Jack of all trades. A great unit that can for a price make the ultimate CC squad or make great mid ranged anti-tank/MC squad. Plus you can have them at no cost to your force organization chart.

 

Vanguard- well...are the VV! Every DOA army should have one. I'm currently painting up 5 more vets so I can have a total of 10 to combat squad.

 

I currently run my list with an honorguard w/4x meltas and a squad of vanguards.

[BigBaals]

I use all 3.

 

10 man Vanguard: LC, LC, PW, Glaive, PF, PF (combat squad)

Sanguinary Guard: IP x2, PF

Honor Guard: MGx4

 

 

The Vanguard are perfect for sniping those Devastators/Long Fangs, Full Tactical Squads, or whatever needs to be taken down/tied up for a turn or two. The Sanguinary Guard are my turn 3-5 shock troops. They really start shining when the slam into something elite/troop and eat it alive. That's generally when my opponent starts going "uh oh" after seeing my Vanguard eat two squads then watching something else vanish after eating my power weapons. It keeps my opponent worried about his deployment zone's objective(s) and mine safely uncontested. My Honor Guard are usually the first targets. My opponents see four melta's headed there way and tend to gun them down in a turn or two of shooting. By then the priest has already given furious charge to the Vanguard squads (most likely) and they have already popped a few serious armored threats/MCs.

 

Every squad has there uses! With these squads jumping around or falling from the skies, my regular assault squads with priests, chaplains, and Astorath are left to there own designs and come in to clean up. It's worked very well so far.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Sanguinary Guard can be very powerful. I really enjoyed them when I was running Dante. They are a scapel.

 

G :P

[JamesI]

I would almost go as far to say every DoA army should include Honor Guard and Vanguard.

 

G :P

For a pure DOA list, I pretty much agree. I currently only use Vanguard, but mostly due to not having built my HG yet.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Lots of cool modeling and conversion opportunities with Honor Guard. :)

 

G :huh:

[SamaNagol]

Honour offer an invaluable role as dedicated anti tank units that can stick around and do damage after

 

VGV are your 'tank' class units which can absorb damage with a Priest and Storm Shield whilst presenting enough of a threat to draw fire away from your regular assault marines coming in. If you can take 10 and combat squad them then they work even better with one unit taking the ranged fire and the other squad using divine intervention.

 

Sanguinary Guard are actually really really good. They can potentially kill anything they charge. I would definitely always take Dante and SG at anything over 1750pts. 1500pt DoA lists I feel cannot really afford them though.

[bulley]

I think all have a spot. I dont DoA my jumpers really, find it much more effective to run them and get a T2 or T3 charge depending on the game w/ Devs giving supporting fire.

 

I've got lists that just go for 40+ FNP bodies at 1500, but I do like the added punch. HG give great screens w/ FNP/SS and can hit quite hard even without power weaps just due to built in FC. Sang Guard I hide in amongst my marines and just use them to execute a couple of squads if I can (which generally they can) I find at 200 points - they dont really need much upgrading beyond that, opposed to the HG that can come in at 270 in one of the load outs I want. VV i generally dont use, as while DoA is good, its a tool, and I dont feel I need to really jump and assault all that much, but I definatly see the value in it - and they can get some great kit as well.

 

I'd say if your dead set on DoA - VV's for HI and a melta squad of HG are good options.

[WarpWalker]

I've even seen some angel players equip their honorguard with SS & meltaguns. So honor do make for some good extreme customization.

 

I would definitely take one of the honorguard.

[daveclark890]

I am hoping to put together a DoA list with all these units in it but I have 1 question... do VV get DoA?? I could not see it in the entry in the codex and am a little confused about it

[SamaNagol]

Any model with a jump pack in the BA dex gets DoA. It's in the Wargear entry.

 

Only models who come with a Jump Pack as standard have DoA listed in their unit entry. If you can upgrade them to have a Jump Pack it isnt in the unit entry, but it is in the Wargear section for jump packs

[daveclark890]

that was a fast reply, thanks.... I had just read the FAQ/RAW/RAP thats stickied at the top of the BA page.

 

I now have a huge smile on my face!! d6" scatter and assault on the turn they DoA!! Amazing and "I want that in spades!!"

[Gv0zD]

that was a fast reply, thanks.... I had just read the FAQ/RAW/RAP thats stickied at the top of the BA page.

 

I now have a huge smile on my face!! d6" scatter and assault on the turn they DoA!! Amazing and "I want that in spades!!"

That's why I love them so much  :)

 

I'd say if your dead set on DoA - VV's for HI and a melta squad of HG are good options.

 

 

Quoted for truth :D

[Lord Janos]

In my standard 1500 I run Dante with a squad of sanguinary guard with chapter banner infernus pistol and a sang priest. Yes i am aware its a heavy investment, however the bonus of having that unit being able to count as scoring because of Dante ive found to be invaluable. I first took it on a bit of a whim wanting to use shiny looking models however as it worked so well for me ive kept it. Excellent for grabbing those pesky enemy held objectives and mulching pretty much anything sitting on them.

[Kolonel Grotsnik]

Sorry to kick this thread back into live again but I've been thinking which to take for my 2nd squad honor or Sanguinary guard.

 

I just can't see what Honor guard bring to the table apart from having a priest in the squad as I've got meltaguns in the assault squads and melta bombs in the veterans. On the other hand I could have a Sanguinary Guard with a banner and Lib with unleash rage for so the squad throws 30 no save attacks (5 re-rollable) on the charge with the sheild for protection when caught out of cover.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

If you check my blog I have several articles on all three units. They all very specific roles.

 

G ;)

[The Yncarne]

Personally, I never seem to have enough melta guns actually doing what they need to when they need to. That's why I have an HG squad with meltas on the assembly table. Maybe it is just bad luck, but I usually have only 1/3 of my meltas actually do something during the game.

 

If you face a lot less mech or monstrous creatures, then perhaps the vanguard would be better. That's not my meta though.

[Quixus]

If you check my blog I have several articles on all three units. They all very specific roles.

In your blog, you mentioned a JP Honour Guard squad with 2x(Lightning Claw+Storm Shield), 1x2LC attached, 1x(Thunder Hammer+Storm Shield) to a Librarian. Is there any reason why you didn't go 4x(LC+SS)? For wound allocation?

[Wysten]

Honour Guard: Great all round unit, with a Sanpriest hidden there, these guys are all purpose and can quite litrally fight anything. Main concern is they are expensive and are small in number, so should be talored for a role. These guys do supportive melta with a bit of combat assist really well though, a general good all round unit.

 

Sanguard: Melee specialists and essencally very fast melee termies, love chopping through infantry provided it's not rock hard, Hammernators. While they can shoot, it's really a secondary function to do more damage before they charge. Expensive hence need general sypmth with the list to prevent it becoming an obivous target. Assualt squads and cover are these guys friends.

 

Vanguard: Either to drop in and be a hard combat unit, or a tarpit to keep something locked down while something else engages it/stops it from charging. Very expensive, but unique in function, just don't get carried away tooling these guys out otherwise you will be lacking elsewhere.

 

Pretty much a summery.

[Plague Angel]

Where would one get all those lightning claws anyways? Assault Terminator kit? But then the arms don't look quite right, so it always feels less than ideal to me.