First game: Guardian Battlehost

[MadEdric]

I was able to get in my first game yesterday. Being a big Guardian fan, I decided to first try the Guardian Battlehost.

My list  included:

Eldrad w/

    2 man Warlock Conclave

    10 Guardians w/ Missile Launcher

    Shadow Weaver

Farseer w/

    4 man Warlock Conclave

    10 Guardians w/ Star Cannon

    D-cannon

Warlock w/ 

    10 Guardians w/ Missile Launcher

Atarch w/

    10 Storm Guardians

          2 fusion, 2 flamers, 2 power swords

1 unit of 5 Dire Avengers

2 Wave Serpents

Falcon

1 unit of 2 War Walkers

1 solo War Walker

2 Vypers

 

I played against my friend Andes' Orc Horde which had a lot of Boys in Trukks, Nobs (regular and armored) in 2 Battle Wagons, and Ghaz with a brick of Armored Nobs. 

 

Things I learned:

Adding a Support weapon to Guardians is Aces. Of course you are basically doubling the unit price of the unit, even more so when adding Farseer/Eldrad/conclaves to it, but it really did increase their ability. The D-cannon especially is nice, allowing the unit to threaten even vehicles.

Dire Avengers in this detachment are really good, they are  good I think in any detachment. With 4 shots each, DA finally feel like Aspect Warriors now, and not just "better Guardians".

Warlock Conclaves can be wicked scary, the 4 man getting 4d6+8 S7 torrent shots are brutal.

Battle Focus is pretty good. I think it was what allowed me to score the large number of points I needed on the last turn (going second). One War Walker sprinted 17" to get to a board edge for full Containment, and the extra 2" move allowed the Dire Avengers to claim and terraform an objective. The extra movement worked well all game.

The War Walkers ability to mark a target was very helpful, the extra AP allowing units to threaten heavy armored Battle Wagons and Armored Nobs.

 

The Detachment ability worked well, letting most of my army hit on 2+.

Of the Strats I used:

Shield Nodes is great, the -1 to hit AND -1 to wound was crucial to keeping some units on the board.

Warding Salvos worked great, rerolling wounds helps greatly against T5 Orks

Cost of Victory was most likely what cinched the game for me, allowing me to pick up the Farseer/D-cannon unit and move it to my opponent's backfield and let me take his home objective.

 

In all, it was fun to play. Fate Dice were barely missed. Instead of me getting assured bad feel results with FD, I was more able to move my units more accurately and get them places quickly. 

I think The Guardian Battleforce is a fun detachment. 

Next will be Seer Council.

 

 

 

 

 

[Karhedron]

Thanks for the write-up. No matter how much we theory-craft there is not substitute for rolling dice on the tabletop.

 

How did you find the Vypers? Plinking a target to slap a -1 to Hit penalty on it seems like a very handy ability although I guess it depends on whether the opponent has any really valuable units that are worth suppressing.

  

1 hour ago, MadEdric said:

Warlock Conclaves can be wicked scary, the 4 man getting 4d6+8 S7 torrent shots are brutal.

 

I was wondering about that too. I was considering running a Conclave without Guardians and put them in a Falcon. Deep Strike somewhere, leap out and BBQ a target with rerolls to wound if the Falcon tags the target unit first.

[Emperor Ming]

Putting the weapons platforms in guardians does make them t3 thou, if theres alot of excess would in an attack then......

 

I had this with an ogryn bodyguard once, and killing ten guardians and have excess damage isn't tough

[Karhedron]

Once you kill the Guardians, the Platform reverts to T6. The "Support Weapon" rule is a per-attack basis, not per unit. So if it looks like an attacking unit will wipe out the Guardians, just ask your opponent not to quick-roll them.

[Emperor Ming]

Ah but it can happen thou, even if its a couple of wounds that spillover. 

 

Im not sure i like it being attached, its less eggs in one basket, it can be someone else

[Karhedron]

There is the risk of spillover if it is embedded. But if it is embedded, it gains 10 ablative wounds from the Guardians and benefits from any buffs that are applied to them.

 

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

[MadEdric]

The Vypers worked fine, but not a lot of shooting in an Orc army, and couldn't target the infantry as they were making charges from their rides, but they did plink at Battle wagons until the Nobs got tired of that and wiped them out. I can see Vypers being very nice against other armies though.

I don't see adding the Support Weapon to the Guardians as a risk. Now in other Detachments that may be true that it'd be better to have them separate, but in the Battlehost they both gain benefits by joining together. The Guardian unit gains a powerful weapon, coupled with the heavy support platform, their damage output beyond 18" increases greatly. The support weapon gains access to all the strats now, psyker buffs, and a larger range to move off an objective while still having Guardians on it, this allowed the support weapon to keep the +1 to hit bonus. Lastly, using The Cost of Victory allowed me to place the D-cannon unit into reserves and jump to my opponent's backfield. 

I will agree that they are fragile, but playing mainly Guardians, I expect that and try to plan for it.

[Emperor Ming]

Interesting if guardians are good in that detachment, ive always dismissed them as overcosted

[Xenith]

In the guardian detachment, you can always tank wounds on the support weapon to keep guardians alive in order to return the whole unit. 

 

Nice write up thanks - For some reason I like a farseer with a bright lance in a unit to give it an auto 6 to hit, wound or damage.

 

Could the warlock conclave go with the storm guardians maybe? 

 

I think DA's are great in this detachment, especially with the 4+ overwatch strat/enhancement you can get on them. 

[Karhedron]

On 2/17/2025 at 6:47 PM, Emperor Ming said:

Interesting if guardians are good in that detachment, ive always dismissed them as overcosted

 

They are overcosted. Look at the infantry AdMech or Guard can get for around the same price. However in this detachment they get enough support to be worthwhile IMHO. Also Guardian units are one of the few places to stash Eldrad. His CP battery ability is great but taking 100 points of paperweight bodyguards to protect him is not so good. But if you are taking Guardians anyway....

[MadEdric]

5 hours ago, Xenith said:

In the guardian detachment, you can always tank wounds on the support weapon to keep guardians alive in order to return the whole unit. 

 

Nice write up thanks - For some reason I like a farseer with a bright lance in a unit to give it an auto 6 to hit, wound or damage.

 

Could the warlock conclave go with the storm guardians maybe? 

 

I think DA's are great in this detachment, especially with the 4+ overwatch strat/enhancement you can get on them. 

My setup was with what I had. My Eldar were first started in 3rd and I didn't play them much in the last few years as I was focusing on my Chaos army. 

I wanted a conclave with the storm guardians, but with the Autarch added to them, could only add one more model. 

I do want more Dire Avengers, but this is the first time I felt that they have their own place in an army that Guardians  couldn't already cover. I think 2 10 man will be the goal for this list when I can get a hold of some (stupid scalpers, I still haven't received my full order yet).

Guardians are kind of expensive when compared to other troops of the same type, but that is what I have to play with, I really do like my nearly all Guardian army.