Guild+Guard

//"Halt! Who goes there?"//
 * Guild Guard, Guild Minion**

toc = = =__Overview__= The Guild Guard occupies that same 4 Soulstone slot that's also taken up by those other amazing Guild minions - the Witchling Stalker, Death Marshall and more recently, the Wastrel and Guild Rifleman. Compared with these models the Guild Guard is an all-rounder, providing moderate ranged and melee offense, fair resilience and a decent degree of synergy with certain models. He works best when supported by other models, especially Guardsmen, and is therefore most suited to crews containing or led by Lucius and his Elite Division.

=__Mobility__= The Guild Guard has a typical movement rate for a Guild model. He can cast //Menace//, which allows him to move up to 4" as one of its effects. He also has an (all) action, //Raise the Alarm//, which allows all friendly Guardsmen on the board to move 3" towards him.

While the Guard is not particularly mobile himself, he specializes in restricting the mobility of the enemy. //Cordon// creates a line of impassable terrain between him and another Guardsman within 12", although this obviously does not affect //Flying// and //Floating// models. //Menace// prevents the target from taking Move actions, although the Guard's mediocre Ca 4 hinders his ability to make it stick. Finally, the Guard's Pistol carries a Cb Trigger, //"Halt!"//, that prevents the target from using Charge actions.

=__Offense__= The Guild Guard's offensive output puts him squarely in the middle of the road, between the ranged power of the Death Marshall and the melee output of the Witchling Stalker. On the whole, this makes the Guild Guard an all-rounder - good, but not outstanding in whatever combat situation he's faced with.

The Guild Guard's Sword has a reasonably high Cb of 6, a moderate damage spread and the //Critical Strike// Trigger (which requires a Ram). While not outstanding, he should be able to hold his own in melee against most similarly costed models.

The Guard Pistol has an identical damage spread to the Sword and replaces a possible critical strike trigger with an automatic //"Halt!"// trigger. As noted above, this prevents the damaged model from making Charge actions, which is either immensely helpful or merely an inconvenience, depending on how badly the model on question needs to charge next activation. In any case, it's an auto-trigger so there's rarely a reason not to announce it. The low Cb of 4 might seem like a problem, but this tends to be made up for by the Pistol's automatic :+fate to damage flips. Not only does this give you a better chance of flipping moderate or severe damage, but it will also generally give you the chance to cheat the damage flip against anything that's not Hard to Wound.

On the whole, the Guild Guard's available weapons make him a very flexible model on the offense. There will always be situations in which you're far better off either shooting or charging a given model, so the Guild Guard's ability to do both well means there will rarely be a situation in which he's useless.

=__Resilience__= The Guild Guard's //Armour 1// makes him relatively resilient compared to your average 4-SS model. He will still go down quickly to most melee specialists but he should still last a few hits. This is especially true against low-damage attacks, which the armour is particularly effective in negating.

Against Wp-based attacks the Guild Guard has nothing special, beyond the above //Armour 1// if the attack is damaged based. On the plus side, a lot of Wp-based attacks tend to be more disruptive than damaging (eg. Slow, Paralyse, Push), and such effects are often better used on higher value targets. //Terrifying// effects are a potential problem for the Guild Guard however, so try to avoid getting into a situation where your Guardsmen need to take such checks.

=__Tips and Tricks__= Guards can be used as the basis of a solid gunline thanks to their mobility-impeding abilities. //"Halt!"// makes it difficult for enemy models to Charge your line under the Guard's suppressing fire, while models with better damage or range (such as Ryle or Austringers) kill the enemy. The Guard Captain adds a strong melee deterrent and further movement-suppressing abilities with his enhanced //Menace//. Support from a Lawyer, using //Furious Casting// to cast //Defense// on your Guards, will greatly increase their resilience. Setting up a //Cordon// in front of your line can be helpful in keeping the enemy at bay, but bear in mind that if either of the models in the //Cordon// dies, the effect disappears.

=__Master-Specific Tips__= Lucius gains +2 Df while any Guardsmen are within 2" thanks to //Secret Service//. He can use //Issue Command// to make the Guard Walk or Strike, and can sacrifice a nearby Guardsman to gain //Reactivate// via //Ruthless Leadership//. Lucius can give Guardsmen within 8" +2 Cb, but only during his own activation - this is generally better used with //Issue Command// to an Austringer, but can be used on Guild Guards in a pinch, especially to prevent an enemy model from charging by triggering //"Halt!".//

=__Minion-Specific Tips__= Guild Guards can use //Patrol// to activate up to three other Guild Guards within 6". This requires 2 AP, essentially giving up the activation of the Guard taking the //Patrol// action, so it is of limited situational use. You basically need to be sure that activating 2-3 Guild Guard at once will be worth losing the first model's activation.

The Guild Guard Captain can take a (0) action to give models within 6" a positive twist in Morale duels, which can help to keep a Guard line together. The Captain's other (0) action, //Captain//, activates a friendly Guardsman within 6" immediately after his own activation. This can chain into the Guard's //Patrol// for a somewhat limited alpha strike.

The Drill Sergeant has a 4" aura that can give the Guild Guard a positive twist on Attack flips with his Pistol. He can //Link// to the Guard to also give him a positive twist on Attack flips with his Sword, but this ability is usually better used on a Guard Captain.

The Guild Hound is a Guardsman, and can therefore be used as a target for //Cordon//. This can be used to create very long lines of impassable terrain, since the Hounds (if activated in pairs) can move up to 18". With the initial 12" range of //Cordon//, this can create an impassable line up to 30" long, cutting off a large section of the board from the enemy for a turn.

=__Playing Against Guild Guards__= Do not underestimate the humble Guild Guard! He may not be as showy as the Witchling Stalkers or Death Marshalls, but he's still a very capable model with a decent array of tricks. He's able to put out some very decent damage in both shooting and melee, and watch out for his pistol's //Halt// Trigger in particular, which could really hamper your plans if he gets it off on your "about-to-charge melee specialist".

Bearing in mind his armour, the Guild Guard is not overly difficult to kill through simple damage, and he's has no additional defenses against Wp-based attacks beyond his very average Wp. If supported by a Lawyer using //Defense// he is a much tougher prospect due to the combination of //Armor +1// and //Hard to Wound 2//, in which case it is probably easier to //Focus// Strike or //Channel// Cast against the Lawyer first.

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