For some time now I've been planning on creating a Death Company themed Sanguinary Guard list. The list in my head combines Honour Guard and Sanguinary Guard with Missile Launcher Devastators. And it turns out my idea isn't a looney thought...
Well, emails just keeping coming in.
How do I do a Sang Guard list?
Waaaah help me.
I'm the internet and dumb.
Is John's list the best? By the way, thanks to 3+ Save for letting me totally steal that pic of Sanguinary Guard. [editor's note - if yer gonna steal pics from me, at least attribute them right. stj]
How about SandWyrms? I couldn't find a pic to steal. =/
Help us, the 7th layer of Hell is hot this time of year and we want NippleWing!
Yeah yeah. I'll help you.
Really? Yes, really. Yay!
So let's explore.
First, you need Dante.
Hey, 225 points gone.
Now let's bring 4 Sanguinary Guard units.
Why 4? Because they cost so damn much, that's why. They are like super minions.
Plus you need the bodies.
Now something I keep seeing in the Sanguinary Guard lists, is the same thing over and over again.
Drop down, and use the Sanguinary Guard to blow open vehicles then assault the guys inside. With 4-6 squads of only five guys with no invulnerable save that is a bad tactic. You kill a couple of cheap Rhinos or Chimera and then get torrented to death by all the autocannons and heavy bolters.
Well, you can't assault the turn you drop--and you are going to drop on turn 2 at the earliest.
Normally, for a small elite force, that's good news.
Limits the shooting at you, you see.
Well, in 40k--I'm not impressed with the alpha strike capability of such a list.
Ooooh I lost some Rhinos. Color me scarified.
What color is that anyway? Yellow? lol
Normally you buy one power fist and a couple inferno pistols for each squad.
Then you buy some Land Speeders with multimeltas.
Well, that's great.
Don't the Sanguinary Guard reliably arrive on turn 2, and the Speeders not?
Are you trying to make it so on turn 3--if you haven't received your reserves, you can't pop tanks reliably without exposing your troops to death? This is why I thought of Missile Launcher Devastators... i r so smrt! Plus they will be in the backfield. Forcing my opponent to decide whether to use weapons like Autocannons, Missile Launchers and Lascannons on the immediate threat of S8 shots or the next turn threat of 25 Sanguinary Guard in their battle line.
Do they not have invulnerable saves? Oh snapple, they don't. Just a 2+, which is nice--but won't save them from concentrated fire of any real magnitude.
2 or 3 Speeders just isn't enough 'extra' stuff to add to your reserves pool to make it likely they will arrive.
What if you don't NEED to rely on unreliable reserve rolls, and can instead provide precision strikes where you need them?
Impossible!
No, it's not.
In fact, I don't think you need anything other than the IMMINENT threat to make people think twice before deploying like you aren't a threat. What's that mean? Simple--a couple of RELIABLE and devastating anti-tank units is better than a handful of unreliable units.
Also, do you *really* need huge amounts of FNP/FC bubbleage? I certainly don't think so.
Missiles bounce--but on a 1, you die anyway.
Las, plasma, melta...all of it goes right through, and you die.
Against heavy bolters, shuriken cannons, multilasers, and autocannons--you have a 2+.
In short, you want to play an army where basic infantry fire can torrent you, but with a 2+ save--it's not going to be terribly effective. Look it's one thing to use 5-6 units to drop 5 Terminators. It's another thing entirely to drop 20+ Sanguinary Guard. Seriously.
Wouldn't it also be nice to dump all the extraneous, and pickup some decent fire support?
Then instead of hiding in reserve, you can start on the table--and scare the shit out of people as you have a valid assault force coming their way, and have threats in reserve.
Really? Oh yes, really.
Let's explore a list then:
I'll take Dante.
Now if I bring along a squad that has jump packs--not only am I bringing a unit in from reserves reliably, but I can put it anywhere I want to?
So let's take an honor guard. Give it 3 meltaguns + 1 Flamer. Why? Yeah why? Well, why not? Because they don't look as hard core as Honour Guard running around with power weapons. Just look at the Honour Guard miniatures from Forge World.
What else would I give it? BOLTERS. Why Bolters? Well, firing Meltaguns into Gants isn't terribly effective, but if you are landing and don't have a better target because you play someone who knows how to defend against the deep strike you threaten I'd link to a tutorial on how to bubble-wrap, but I can't think of any on the interwebz at the moment, you might as well bolter them. Yes, I'll take 8 bolter shots +1 flamer on Gants and IG over 3 melta + 1 flamer + 1 pistol shot. Why? If they are out in the open, you have the POTENTIAL to kill more of them.
Why a bolter on the flamer guy? Simple--sometimes, you deep strike out of range and having a flamer-tard 9" away from the enemy sucks. So, bring a bolter "just in case".
Oh and give one of the meltagun guys a meltabomb. Split the squad up a bit more. You can, if you want, give only ONE of the other meltagun guys a bolter, creating 5 differently equipped guys. Personally I wouldn't bother. Anyway, Dante is going to go with this squad. But...they won't scatter! Right, and sometimes you'll be landing behind a Russ, and the bolter has MORE potential damage than a flamer does.
This is the first threat to heavy armored vehicles.
Anyway, let's go get 5 Sanguinary Guard squads, but rather than giving them ANY upgrades--we will give them NO upgrades.
Really? Yes, really. Would power fists be nice? Of course. Why are you charging into MC's and Dreads with guys without an invulnerable save? Right, so it's not necessary. If you are charging into CC with a transport vehicle and think 3 power fist attacks will be amazing, well it isn't. lol
Why 5? Well, 20 guys kinda scares me. 25, definitely does. I've seen so-called 'competitive' jump lists with less. Like St John's with his three Sanguinary Guard squads...
So, we have one threat--now we need another.
But it needs to be reliable--and it needs to force the other guy to make decisions at deployment, ESPECIALLY if he's going first OR SECOND. It's bad news either way--I'll explain later.
So let's pick up a Sternguard Squad. Give it 2 meltaguns, a combi-melta, and a combi-flamer. See where we're going yet? Well, buy a Drop Pod for it. This is the other reliable unit. It has triple melta, bolters, and a flamer. Hmmm. It's a theme. Note that single Drop Pods ALWAYS show up on your turn 1. No stopping it. Something else--these guys bolters are nasty. Deployed a screen to prevent units getting to you? Some cover busting bolter fire will shred it nicely. Other than my Devastators I plan on going all Angelic Jump Packs. So the Sternguard are out unless I use them for Missile Launcher or Lascannon support... alternatively I go with two Land Speeders with MM and HF.
What else do we want? Well, going with the 'outside the box' thinking, since we are not going to be in reserve but are instead going to charge across the battlefield...we want some fire support. The cheapest and most potentially useful for this list (meaning it can bust vehicles, MC's, and strip hordes of their numbers) would be missile devastators.
3 units of them, minimum size, with 4 missile launchers.
Now let's take a gander at my 'Best Of' Sanguinary Guard list.
2000 Pts - The Sanguinary Guard
Notes: So, you start everything on the board except the HG and Sternguard squad. Unless you are facing a spammy anti-infantry army (like Eldar with tons of S6 but few S8), then start the HG on the board and put them in the middle of a Sanguinary Star. Sternguard + HG w/Dante give opponents bad choices to make.
If they reserve to avoid the Sternguard, your jump troops start on the board and go 12" + Run D6. Meaning, you win when his army shows up piecemeal.
If they go second, they can't hide.
If they screen, the Sternguard can poke a hole in the screen.
All the while, it takes heavy weapons to down your army.
It's all Marines, but there aren't any Speeders to drop in (maybe) and zap something (maybe).
The Sternguard and Honor Guard are reliable at cracking ANYTHING.
With re-rolls to arrive, Dante WILL show up with that HG--and being able to place it anywhere without scattering makes screening it very difficult.
While the missiles are relatively safe from small arms fire deep in your deployment zone, and your Sanguinary Guard have their 2+ to protect them--the Sternguard are easy to put into cover, and the HG have FNP, meaning EVERYTHING needs heavy or special weapons to kill it.
That's the key to making a Sanguinary Guard army.
Don't try to increase a 90% super-tough to a 93% super-tough unit. Just add more 90% super-tough units instead.
It's very flexible, and it's very deadly.
Are the Sanguinary Guard totally reliant on the 2 melta and 3 missile units to pop open transports?
Yep.
With unique lists, come unique problems. Trying to make Sanguinary Guard kill tanks rather than project 18" death bubbles around them on the board, is imho a mistake. They CAN do it, but they do it so poorly, it's best if you just don't try.
Enjoy.
Although I plan on building three squads of Devastators with Missile Launchers. I will also be making sure to magnetise enough arms so that I can play around with different army lists... possibly even using Sanguinary Guard models to represent 10 man Assault Squads in a similar fashion to St John's list.
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