In a world of good 4 stone models...

[Jonas Albrecht]

...is anyone still using le Guild Guard? If so, what do you think is his niche?

[nix]

I can see tossing one or two in with Lucius, but not often and then mostly for variety. The on their pistols is not horrible and they have a decent pistol, but I think more often than not they would be replaced by Wardens.

[Kadeton]

I like to use them, but it's mainly for fluff and because I like the models. I don't think there's much question that they're the weakest of the 4-stone Guild options.

[Adran]

They have their place, unfortunatly they are probably more versitile at the cost of not excelling.

The Witchling is better at melee, the death marshal is better at shooting. The Wastral is faster. In terms of durability Armour Vs Hard to wound is comparable. They have a built in alpha strike, but the Ortegas do it better. The best ability on a guard is the Cordon, and when that works right it can be brutal. But it is a bit to situational on the board having the right choke points, you getting there first, and having the initiative.

I personally put them on a par with the Death Marshall, but its even more of a model that works in large numbers.

The Niche is probably denile stratergies, but since that relies on what your opponent does it is much less consistant that having your own stratergy.

[mythicFOX]

If Guild are kicking them out I'm sure the Arcanists would love to hire some :-P

[LupusFerreus]

I know they're not out yet but I'd like to see how well Riflemen do at replacing them.

[mythicFOX]

Riflemen are out. Got mine from Firestorm before Xmas.

[LupusFerreus]

Ahh, we'll now I'm even more interested to find out!

[96p]

With Lucius they are great versatile low cost minions. They are fast enough to get the objective done, make for a decent shot and very good melee model combined with Lucius or even Lady J's inspiring swordplay and when the fighting is thickest just sacrifice them for that extra activation of your favorite Secretary !

[Soundwave]

We discussed this briefly on IRC the other night, and I've never used them so far, but since I'm looking into getting me some Lucius sometime this year, I figured I'd take a look at them. They're not bad, but, like people say, there's a lot of other stuff in the 4 stone bracket. Not sure if they'd ever find their way into a non-Lucius led crew, even if Lucius himself was in it.

We'll see once I get the actual models. Always love people who have opinions about stuff they've never played with, eh?

[Forar]

Nothing wrong with having an opinion.

It's when that opinion is presented as irrefutable fact that garners my ire, personally. I have opinions on all kinds of figures I've never used or faced personally, but remain open to the idea that they might surprise me and outperform my expectations under the right conditions.

Personally, I haven't used my Guild Guard yet, but might end up with one in a future Lucius list. Only own one Warden, so after I get my must haves, I could see a slot for a guard as well.

[Turbodog]

I think a guild guard or two is an excellent addition to a mass-guardsman list, the kind you would take in a large game involving Lucius or McCabe. They are a nice +1 armor option (really hurts some arcanist models that rely on you not having armor). And the more guardsmen you have, the better their (all) ability is.

[Rathnard]

In isolation, the Guild Guard are an excellent 4SS model. They've got some solid melee stats, a good ranged attack and a few tricks that allow them to synergise with the rest of their crew as well as deny the opponents mobility. And Armour 1 gives them great resiliance for a 4SS model.

But the best and worst thing about Guild Guard are that they're middle of the road. Witchling Stalkers are better in melee, Death Marshalls/Riflemen are better in shooting and Wastrels are better in mobility. What this means is that unless they're using a Lucius crew, people will often ignore the Guild Guard for one of the more specialised 4SS minions.

But it's their lack of specialisation that makes the Guild Guard such a solid choice. While your opponent can counter a Witchling Stalker by shooting it or neutralise a Death Marshall or Rifleman by getting into melee, the Guild Guard has no such easy counter. It's this flexibility in their in-game role that really makes them a solid choice compared to the other 4SS minions.

I also suspect a big part of why people ignore them is that they're at their best when taken with other Guardsmen, whereas the Witchling, Death Marshall and Wastrel all do fine when you throw just one or two into an existing crew. So taking Guild Guard often also means you're taking a full Guardsman crew, which makes them a little more difficult to use from game to game.

[i_was_like_you]

Can't vouch for the Guards themselves, but the Riflemen held their own for me last weekend. Would have liked to see just how much better they could do. Did seem a bit light on wounds, but, considering that a half dozen piggies charged at one and didn't even scratch it, I'd say that fate just happened to smile on new models, even if they were unpainted.

[Ulfarr]

I like Guardsmen. I generally run 1-2 in a Lucius list and depending on the situation either have them guard the Riflemen or work together with a Warden. Getting Paralyze off with the Warden and then following up with the Guardsmen shooting/stabbing the crap out of it generally kills just about anything.

[Bacms]

This is an interesting topic and sorry if I am asking a slight off topic question. But I have the Lucius box on my shopping list to add to my LJ crew. Are the guild guards still worth taking with Lucius? For the discussion it seems that even with Lucius there are now better options. Is that right?

[Adran]

This is an interesting topic and sorry if I am asking a slight off topic question. But I have the Lucius box on my shopping list to add to my LJ crew. Are the guild guards still worth taking with Lucius? For the discussion it seems that even with Lucius there are now better options. Is that right?

Firstly are you speaking of with Lucius leader the crew, or Justice leading the crew and Lucius as a minion?

To be honest I would say yes to both anyway. They are still a good alround model. If you don't know quite what you want need to achieve then they are capable of supporting mid game changes. Thier pistol is good, their sword is good and their armour is good. I also really like the potential of Cordon. Its not an every turn spell, but used well it can put a stop to many crews.

Patrol is expensive, but can be worth it if you have enough guards.

If you know you want speed, then a wastrel is better, if you know you want melee then a stalker is better and if you want a static firing line, then riflemen are better.

[Bacms]

Firstly are you speaking of with Lucius leader the crew, or Justice leading the crew and Lucius as a minion?

To be honest I would say yes to both anyway.

Glad that was the answer. As my answer would be as both. The plan is to buy it mainly as an henchman for Justice but since he can lead his on crew why not get a few extra models so he can be fielded on it's own. Hence the question. I want to be able to field him as the leader so just considering what I should get