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Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 10:32 am
by Venomblades
Hey guys!

i had an amazing 2400 game against Skaven (Skaven + Chaos legions list if this is correct?) Half of his army was chaos.

Amongst pegs and bolt throwers, my main units were 30 witches, 28 executioners and 20 Black Guard.

Every unit did their job well, but i'm still utterly impressed with Black Guard and how they just STICK around. Although yes, they are stupidle expensive points wise, i somewhat feel they get neglected. I mean, c'mon man, they held up 30 slaves and 30 bloodletters with the Skulltaker in it for the whole game!!!

After my witches and executioners made short work of the rest, all my army swept in and destroyed everything else.

Funny moment, my CoT pegmaster took the Skulltaker out in one turn of combat. I Charged him and POP!! Hahahahaha.

Point of this topic is what does everyone think about the BG? Do you like to field them? Even if you dont like to field them still contribute.

Me, personaly, i think they are our best unit, ofcourse i love infantry lists and i know everyone is different.

Cheers fellow Druchii!

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:16 pm
by direweasel
That's exactly what they're for - they hold up a unit that outclasses them, lose combat but don't run, and that big unit in turn gets flank charged the next round by half your army. I use them to great effect every game.

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:29 pm
by Venomblades
Direweasel, i'm glad your a BG fan like i am. They get overlooked a lot.

I'm interested as to how many you use and what do you use in support of them?

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:44 pm
by Mikael.k
I use them quite a lot myself, and they havent let me down yet. Things that generally supports them are good - RBT´s, shooting in general, pegcharacters, chariots, hydras, warlocks. Anything that will force the opponent to engage :)

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 12:51 pm
by direweasel
I usually use them in a unit of 15...big enough to ensure they can take some shooting, and still don't get wiped out in a single round of melee, 2 if something goes wrong, full command typically.

I use them in concert with cauldron witches and chariots mostly, along with the obligatory peg master. I set up the black guard against the biggest most evil melee unit my opponent has, and I expect them to lose but not run away. Then the other stuff comes in the next round. I can't count the number of times I've used that trick. :)

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:20 pm
by Venomblades
I usually run them around 20, maybe more depending on what spare points i have.

I have never fielded witches with CoB yet, i know the amazing bonuses of adding one in, but i find 190 points ontop of a death hag leaves me with little room for other units i like to field.

I am thinking about trying out a poor man's anvil. 30 + corsairs with BSB master with Crown of command. Stubborn with a re-roll. What do you guys think? That way i can include some very NASTY hitter's from special.

Any of you tried this before?

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:44 pm
by Cihan
Venomblades wrote:I usually run them around 20, maybe more depending on what spare points i have.

I have never fielded witches with CoB yet, i know the amazing bonuses of adding one in, but i find 190 points ontop of a death hag leaves me with little room for other units i like to field.

I am thinking about trying out a poor man's anvil. 30 + corsairs with BSB master with Crown of command. Stubborn with a re-roll. What do you guys think? That way i can include some very NASTY hitter's from special.

Any of you tried this before?


I think the master will die quite early.

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:50 pm
by Venomblades
Well, my build for him i was looking at Enchanted Shield + CoC + Shrieking blade. But then again, the unit is not meant to be anything spectacular.

I might just stick to the dawnstone, Sword of Might and Enchanted Shield BSB. How else could i make them more of an anvil?

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:17 pm
by Lord hajjij
I've been toying around with some new list concepts, and BG have been tempting to me. Thinking about trying a list that is very shooting heavy centered by a horde of 30 BG with a lore or life SS installed, and backed up by a lore of beasts caster and 3 cold one chariots.

BG are super expensive, but honestly are perfect candidates for many augments due to their special rules.

Fury of Khaine frenzy
Cauldron re-rolls to wound
Earthblood
Regrowth
Wildform
Razor Standard
Glittering Robe
Soulblight
Shadow hexes
Power of Darkness

The list goes on.

I've also been considering a unit of 10 naked and pushing a Bloodwrack Shrine. Stubborn Ld 10 immune to psych and doesn't need any babysitting so can hang out on a flank and cause trouble.

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:39 pm
by Sangfroid
20-26 bg (depending on points) with a lvl 4 on metal or dark magic (include razor standard) and a death hag on cob with rune of Khaine and obsidian or ogre blade,

It's 1200 points but with the bg in ranks of three (so sorc is in second row) you can have up to 7 ranks and also when charged from flank or rear you are still putting out at least 2 attacks each (if not 3 with frenzy off) the hag can take on almost anything up to a daemon prince or 3+ tzeentch character and have them dead before they strike back, and if some Monsterous cav are stupid enough to charge you well let them they won't last a round. I do lean towards dark magic but metal (and final trans especially) is also useful.

Also with the right opponent you can soul steal with the lvl4 and then reform wide if required (skaven screaming bells come to mind here) the power of darkness becomes a must stop spell as well and so you can draw out dispel dice from the opponent (or just leave it till last and one dice it with a 66% of getting it off)

Had some great fun with it, you do need at least 2400 armies though and the right comp :-)

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 3:45 pm
by direweasel
Venomblades wrote:I usually run them around 20, maybe more depending on what spare points i have.

I have never fielded witches with CoB yet, i know the amazing bonuses of adding one in, but i find 190 points ontop of a death hag leaves me with little room for other units i like to field.

I am thinking about trying out a poor man's anvil. 30 + corsairs with BSB master with Crown of command. Stubborn with a re-roll. What do you guys think? That way i can include some very NASTY hitter's from special.

Any of you tried this before?


Mine is kind of all eggs in one basket kind of deal. I actually put two hags in my horde of witches. One BSB on the cauldron, and another just for more combat output. It steamrolls over EVERYTHING. Then it's just a matter of making sure they're deployed in such a way that they maximize their effectiveness, and the rest of the army is basically support for that unit and chaff clearance.

It doesn't always work, but then nothing does. It does work a lot more often than not. :)

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 3:58 pm
by Mikael.k
Venomblades wrote:Well, my build for him i was looking at Enchanted Shield + CoC + Shrieking blade. But then again, the unit is not meant to be anything spectacular.

I might just stick to the dawnstone, Sword of Might and Enchanted Shield BSB. How else could i make them more of an anvil?


Deploy them 3 wide, with command in front. Master in the second rank. Should be around for quite some time :P

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:53 pm
by Venomblades
Good discussion guys.

I've written up a list. I find it quite funny and in a mad way i have mad the Black guard a bit more lethal.

28 BG with Razor banner and Tullaris in with them hahaha. Anyone tried this before? They are supported by 28 Witches with CoB + Cry of War

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 9:31 pm
by marcopollo
I have used BG to "push" a bloodwrack shrine from behind having no models in the very front (except the shrine). It took a charge from a big inner circle knight brick to front. This way no BG were attacked at the start, and then, on my magic phase, reformed to put the max frontage onto those knights. There are alot of tricks to use with stubborn.

The BWS avert your gaze helped deal some damage to those expensive knights. An excellent combo if you ask me.

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:14 pm
by Eldarwonderland
I was under the impression that a BSB can't have magic items, how do the lists above manage to do that?

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:18 pm
by Amboadine
Eldarwonderland wrote:I was under the impression that a BSB can't have magic items, how do the lists above manage to do that?


BSB's can have magic items if they have a non magical standard.
There is nothing to stop you having a normal unit standard bearer with magic standard and the BSB in the same unit.

Re: Black Guard always perform!

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 7:17 pm
by Tactical Dark ELf
BG are overally awesome, it's just a shame there models look so static and tall helmets/hair looks ridiculous when compared to Phoenix Guard and the executioner model is beautiful and cheaper points. Although there role is a little more specific.