I take Bladeguard in my homebrew Salamanders successor because I swap out their swords for hammers and run them as Hammerguard with definitely-not-Adrax-Agatone. They single-handedly defended a midfield objective from 10 Khorne berserkers and Angron. Granted I was rolling hot and my opponent was not, but still
Auspex you missed a huge part of BGV in the BA Sons of Sanguinious! The lance strategem ALSO gives them lethal hits. Throw a captain with the unit and they can spam it every turn for massive damage.
@@ship6000I believe this person is saying that you’d add a captain so they can get one free stratagem per turn. In that case, I believe there’s only one captain you can add to them that accomplishes that, and he’s called “Primaris Captain”. I think he’s 80 points as of April 2024. Which, i haven’t done the math, but if that 80 point Captain makes 3 bladeguard do more damage than three more bladeguard, I could see that being a viable use of points, considering that Captain costs 80 points, while 3 more bladeguard cost 90 points. The stratagem this person is referencing is called “Red Rampage,” and can only be used in the “Sons of Sanguinius” detachment (blood angels detachment). A dollar store version, called “honor the chapter” can be implemented if you’re using Gladius as well, though it only gives you [LANCE] (add 1 to the wound roll; I.e.: instead of wounding on 4’s, you’re now wounding on 3’s).
@@ship6000 either the one with the power fist or the one that has the Finest Hour ability, which gives him 3 additional attacks and devastating wounds once per battle. So on a charge in sons of Sanguinius, that gives the captain 9 or 10 attacks at strength 7 or 10 with devastating wounds depending on the load out
I suspect that with Azrael, they MIGHT be almost viable in more casual games (obviously not for optimized competitive lists). Azrael gives them the 4+ invulnerable they lack and makes the strike profile sustained + lethal, which is nothing to sniff at.
I own 12 Bladeguard Veterans divided amongst my Black Templars, Ultramarines, and new Dark Angels armies - so I’m a fan of Bladeguards! Bladeguards were better in 9e, for many reasons. My standard practice for both BTs and UMs was to load 4-5 Bladeguards and a (Chief) Apothecary (and sometimes a Bladeguard Ancient) into an Impulsor, rush into the midfield, and deploy the squad on an objective in Turn 1, ideally in the centre of the board. The Bladeguard Block was a stubborn obstacle for my opponent to deal with while also being difficult to ignore. It was a great way to hold more Primaries than my opponent and give me an early points advantage. Unfortunately, Bladeguards aren’t nearly as resilient or effective in 10e, for MANY reasons. Firstly, the restrictive min/max squad sizes are incompatible with Impulsors, if you want to attach a leader; if you go with 3 Bladeguards and a character, 2 of the Impulsor’s transport slots are wasted. If you go with 6 Bladeguards, you can’t attach a character because they won’t fit in the Impulsor. Second, the SM Apothecary was nerfed in 10e because it cannot Heal anymore, only Revive dead models; and it can only use its abilities on the squad it’s attached to, instead of having an aura effect on any friendly infantry within range. That means I can’t transport 6 Bladeguards to a midfield objective and deploy them, and have a lone Apothecary or one in another squad move near the Bladeguards, because the Apothecary can’t help the Bladeguards. The Bladeguard Ancient is also worse in 10e, losing its Fight On Death ability and +1 to Hit in favour of +1 OC per model and a once per battle +1 Attacks for its unit. For 45 points? With those abilities and its irrelevant weapons, the Bladeguard Ancient should be 30 points, same as a single Bladeguard Veteran would cost. The most useful thing a Bladeguard Ancient can do is equip an Enhancement that buffs its squad. My Black Templars Bladeguards look amazing, but I rarely take them anymore in 10e. I might use Bladeguards in my new Dark Angels army instead, because Azrael could use bodyguards and the Inner Circle Champions are overpriced and somehow inferior to Bladeguards. It won’t make much difference if Bladeguards are reduced in points price because that won’t fix their problems. Even boosting the Bladeguards’ stats and Abilities won’t fix them because the worst problems are related to 10e’s restrictive squad sizes and the nerfs to the Bladeguard Ancient and Apothecary. Considering that Custodes and Death Guard have more squad size options in 10e, why can’t GW add a 5 models option for 150 points? Then 5 Bladeguards plus a squad leader can fit into an Impulsor. It would be an elegantly simple and effective improvement to Bladeguard Veterans in 10e, which I’m certain would be popular with Space Marine players.
Bladeguard and Honour Vehement Judicar. Never leave home for a game without them all comfy in the back of the Impulsor. And they're incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
@@SC1ENCEP1E I actually do Capt and Lt with shields with my bladeguard on foot 8 total units. So really nice for free battle strats. Pethal hits and fallback freedom with Lt. My judiciar goes with assault intercessors They want to be on a objective to get rerolls So they are likely to be charged, OOPS i got fight first AND judiciar has devastating wounds so loves that reroll wounds 😊
@Axemassacre92 while the Hellblasters defo bang, by that very nature mine are always blasted off the board the second an opponent can get sight on them 😅
I feel in love with the Bladeguard for how they looked and they have become one of my favorite units. I love to play my Space Wolves as a mostly melee focused force in COR. Don't care if there are probably stronger options, they are great. Probably the best combo is putting them with Ragnar and a LT. Turns the unit into a blender because how mean Ragnar is. And I feel they are a better shield for him than Blood Claw. That being said, I would love if they did get some kind of buff. I'm normally in favor of rules buffs over points. But I get which is much easier from a game design perspective.
the damage output is insane! I can't think of anytime since the codex drop that my adrax, 6 bladeguard, lieutenant brick has lost to anything they've fought in melee
Just let me run Mephiston with them and I will use them a lot. They are pretty scary in SoS though and a judiciar is a nice added trick to them, they can hit hard on the charge and are pretty tanky in defence as well. As you say though probably a unit that like many marine units, should basically be a bit cheaper. I'd put them along with termis really, in that they look cool, can be decent, but are a tad overcosted and that tends to push them out of the meta.
Funny thing is, I bought 12 bladeguard during 9th edition, but I never actually fielded the unit because I was using them for conversions. Every single one of my non-phobos primaris sergeants is kitbashed from a monopose bladeguard, because robed sergeants are a physical requirement for DA. I had no clue they did 2 damage each. When the Lion dropped, I picked up the box with him and the bladeguard, and I figured it was finally time to see what they could do. They all have hoods, old Deathwing Knight shields, and DA swords. I also painted a couple of them in black armor. If I knew power weapons would all get baked together, I'd have given my sergeant a Mace of Absolution...
Ive been running 6 with Adrax and Lieutenant since he was allowed to join them, and it is a killer hammer unit. Judiciar isnt bad either, but eight T4 4++ bodies with lethal hits, re-rolling those ones, and re-rolling wounds is a deadly combo.
I've got that combo with a lieutenant riding in a land raider with 3 Eradicators taking the extra space coming in from reserves with rapid ingress. Very very scary for my opponent and very very awesome for me 😈. PYRE GUARD!!
The firestorm relic to ignore modifieres on a lieutnant that gives them lethal hits turns them into blenders, mainly larger squads. If you want you can also add a captain for the free strat...
Bladeguard brick plus Adrax has been my bread and butter for this edition. I've found them pretty good at soaking up shots while trudging down the midboard with or without a transport. Having them contest any enemy infantry on points has been very effective for me. With Adrax they can make short work of most non-vehicles/monster and still can deal decent damage against them with maclious nocturn. My Adrax is definitely a luck son of a gun tho, i've had the entire squad but him wiped then Adrax alone clears multiple squads by himself
I just built a box of these and am impressed with the sprues. So many arms, swords and pistols. You can build your Bladeguard and then have enough bits to customise so many captains, lieutenants and sergeants. I gave my monopose Sternguard sergeant the pointing/resting hand on sword hilt arms. Looks so cool great kit for making your rank and file characters more unique. Still so expensive but sweetens the deal.
I love running Bladeguard with my Ultramarines in a Gladius Task Force. I always keep a Judiciar w/Honour Vehement attached to the unit so that they are rolling with fight first, which discourages anything from charging them. Try to snipe the character out of anything they charge with the Judiciar's precision then do however much damage I can with the actual Bladeguard afterwards. Usually leaves anything short of a tank crippled.
Running Righteous Crusaders with sustained hits vow and sticking a LT with them with Sigismund’s Seal giving them 5+ crits for sustained and lethal hits. They can punch so far up for the pts with this combo.
Ragnar with a lieutenant leading bladeguard is brutal. Ragnar on the charge has 10 attacks, hits on 2s, rerolls 1s, 6s both explode and are lethal, usually wounding on 2s especially with Honor the Chapter, always advance and charge and fall back shoot and charge, -3 AP and 2 damage, +4 invuln. And that's just Ragnar. OUCH!
I wish you got the choice of power axes, and a two handed relic sword for the sergeant. Even if you didn't use it for them it would be great for kitbashing, like with the old Sternguard and Vanguard kits.
If you do run some BGVs with Adrax and a Lt. in Firestorm then don't forget to give the Lt. the "Champion of Humanity" enhancement. Being able to ignore modifiers with that unit makes them so much more punchy! 🥊
My favorite unit thats been in and out of my Firestorm lists has been Adrax leading a 3man BGV's with a Lt. Punches up, punches down, stout with the 4++ and rerolling Sv's of 1, not CP intensive, all in an Impulsor sized package.
Here’s a spicy Bladeguard combo for Black Templars I like to run. 6-man squad + 1 Lt w Sigusmund’s Seal combo. Then I’ll take the Sustained Hits 1 vow. It’ll have crits on 5+, with Lethal AND Sustained Hits. Puts out a ton of damage and can reliably bring down a Lord of Skulls in one turn. This combo necessitates you play Templars as a trading army, since you’re locked into Sustained Hits over 6+ FNP.
GW: has a weird moment of generosity and gives us enough shields, swords and stuff to make two Bladeguard squads out of one box. Auspex: still complains about 'weird flexibility'.
Bladeguard, Pedro, and a LT mulched a Castigator. 36 power weapon attacks, plus the LT and Pedro, with lethal hits and full rerolls from Extremis were really nice.
went 6 Bladeguards + Lieutenant + Korsarro Khan on Farsight + 6 crisis dudes. Farsight got beheaded so quick and crisis dudes got wiped in a swift fight phase. The most beautiful and satisfy scene I've done lol
I very much enjoy 6 BGV with a tannhauser captain and a lieutenant for a fat brick of 2+, 4++, 5+++. Very fun, very cool looking, and pretty good at soaking up shots while sitting on a midfield objective
best use of blade guard probably is adrax leading them into a firestorm detachement. reroll wounds with access to both +1 to wound AND the "champion of humanity" enhancement that you can stick to an ancient or a lieutenant for ensuring that you would not suffer the debuffs (-1 to hit, wound or even damage). This is probably their maximum output and with a redeemer they just go anywhere they want and roll over anything
I run them with Calgar and Lt, they did a short work of Nightbringer recently and carried on. Two Agressor squads to their name and Ork Nobz or wven Flashgitz with Badruk. But issue is everybody fallbacks in 2nd turn and shoots from everything. Absolute nightmare is Votan Hearthguard with Kal landing close and shooting them to pieces.
The Judiciar is a really good choice in Deathwatch with the "Thief of Secrets" upgrade. The Judiciar has Precision that helps the relic making the Judiciar a very dangerous unit and character killer and don't have difficulty moving around due to Deathwatch strategems allowing multiple deepstrikes. The Bladeguard make a great bodyguard but at that point its not about the Bladeguard arnymore.
Bladeguard with Adrax are a very scary threat, and a staple in my lists coming out of a land raider. They wiped my opponents company heroes and Azrael on the midfield objective one game, then rampaged onto his home field objective the next round. Outperformed my expectations.
Personally, I use a squad of 3 Bladeguard Veterans, with the basic loadout, as an honour guard squad for my Indomitus/9th ed big starter sets Captain, along with the Indomitus/9th ed small starter set Lieutenant. But they really need a transport vehicle to get them into threat range. I usually have them in an Impulsor, Drop Pod (using the remaining 5 slots on Hellblasters or Intercessors), or a Repulsor (with a support squad taking hte rest of the seats in the tank). And I really don't care much for how good they are in a competitive army, as I play casual exclusively. Besides, a squad of Bladeguard is a visually pleasing unit as a bodyguard/honour guard in a fully Primaris army where most of, or all, the infantry is multiples of unadorned Mk X Tacticus power armour. They definitely stand out with the power swords and storm shields.
As a white scar player , sticking the khan with 6 of these guys is bonkers . Khan gives them Lance and assault heavy bolt pistols , while the blade guards give the khan re rolls on 1s to hit or re roll his 1 on invulnerables.
I’m not kidding they are actually surprisingly good in SoS they hit harder than they should for the points and are really survivable so they can hit and take a hit which most blood angel dedicated units can’t do as well
I run BA SoS. 6+ Judiciar in a Redeemer. 30A S7 AP2 2D with Lance an Lethal hits plus 6A S9 AP2 2D dev+precision from the judi and fights first with overwatch protection from the Redeemer.
Unless you're playing a dedicated assault army with good buffs, I'd use something else. That being said, many players use them as backfield units to hold objectives and do secondaries. 90 pts for a tough unit that can easily hide out of LOS and get you points all game is a pretty good choice.
They could get a bit scarier in the Deathwatch Black Spear Task Force if you give them a Lieutenant with Power Fist and the Thief of Secrets enhancement to boost the Power Fist. Also give them a Captain or the Ancient and they can all fit in the Corvus Blackstar which can also provide some terrifying fire support.
Running 6 BGVs with Adrax and a LT is my absolute favorite thing about playing 40K rn. I was hoping you'd show the damage output for BGVs with Adrax and an LT attached.
I'm going to try DA inner circle,6 with asmodai, 6 with ezekiel. One in a land raider, one staging behind, potentially then embarking later. The idea being to use the LR to sling shot them places.
If you combare other Damagedealers with the Bladeguards you have to mention the Brutalis Dread. For 175 points it is a medium investment and no other unit deals more meleedamage per point then this walker.
Standard run for me is Bladeguards + Lieutenant with power weapon+shield and Adrax. If second unit is included - Bladeguards + Lieutenant + Captain (everything shield+power weapon) Perfect for my Sallies.
for some reason I only ever roll twos when attacking/defending with my BGV. I seriously lost 6 of them to a unit of 20 Termagaunts once. I'm so glad I finally found good proxies for sword Brethren so I don't have to use them anymore
Its not the Stormshield that gives the Invulve. That gives the third wound. The Invulv is from the Iron halo on their backs. It is the same thing Captains have.
So, Land raider Reedeemer has room for 7, allowing you to take a full squad and a Captain or something. Its a solid play and the Suped-up damage 2 flamers are good for softening up alot of targets they want to go into. ..Its a bit of a shame to give up the anti-tank on the las, but its potentially worth it depending on what your fighting. ... I had bought one with the intention of running 5 Deathwing knights, a leader and a strikemaster, but GW is still mad at DA the last 2 months in 9th ed it seems, so were in the time out corner till 11th most likely.
My blade guard in sons of sang 1 shot an enemy landraider on a charge so I think you're undervaluing them quite a bit in blood angels. With a captain giving the free strat blade guard are wounding a T12 on a 4+ after red rampage with 5 attacks each at 2ap 2 damage.
I tried 6 of them with a regular Captain and a Lieutenant with power fist in Gladius. With enhancement on Lieutenant and in Assault doctrine with lance stratagem they hit hard, the lieutenant for one fight phase can jump to T10, and I managed to kill Mortarion and a Norn emissary. Next tournament I will try them with Calgar
If your playing vanguard spearhead try 6 bladeguard , with a lieutenant, and a Captainwith Blade driven deep. 8 4+ invuln 3 wound bodies infiltrating with lethal hits and free strat from the captain for AOC or Precision for the whole unit. Pretty fun
I'm currectly running them with Adrax and an Ancient with CoH. On paper they should perform superwell but sadly they underperform everytime. For instance i played 3 games vs Custodes yesterday and altough they should save 58% of their invu saves they just get shredded to bits everytime. The only good thing in there in Adrax. It's seldom that you actually get to unload the full complement of attacks. I of course need to test against other meta armies as well and in theory they should be great against C'tan and Avatars (with their ignores modifers rule) but if they cannot play well into Custodes i feel they aren't good enough right now.
1st company extremis level threat being changed to reroll wound rolls of 1 on your oath target every turn instead of reroll wounds once a game would do a lot to make elites a lot more interesting as an archetype
I love my Bladeguard Vets. Are they any good? No, I play Templars and I suck at the game, but dad gum them models look good when you paint and sub-assemble correctly.
They should just swap bladeguard and sword brethren ppm and they would both be pretty balanced although admittedly the sword brethren would still be better.
I love Bladeguard, best looking overall Space Marine models. But just not the overall best. Definetely bought them for looks. I wish the Inner Circle Companions would be as usable. Honestly think if GW gave the Companions like a FNP they would feel more worth it, like just a 5+ for tankiness for Characters.
I am OK with paying the points for 6 but still scrapping 1 of the blade guard team to fit them in an impulsor with a character like a judicer. They are really reasonably priced
In my templars I often find them to be a tad bit turd on the scale of things. If I'm playing friends who I know will bring something nasty that can kill my sword bro's easy, then il stick 6with a judi with the blade enhancement and just leave them in the middle of the board as bait, or a massive problem if there's limited LOS. For that price though I'd probably be better off with taking either 3 of bikes, random troops or jump packers...
I used the extra arms to make a total of 10 Bladeguard/ Captain/ Lieutenants and still have a few pieces left over. So, the REAL points per dollar is actually really good.
I've noticed recently that a lot of the slides are coming out with kind of fuzzy text in the body; but, weirdly enough, not *all* of the text on the slide is fuzzy. I'm not sure what could cause this, perhaps some weirdness when the video is being exported?
Bladeguard have never failed me. An Invulnerable save is far better than Toughness 6 of aggressors. I run them with Cato Sicarius, who has of course been demoted to leader of the honor guard and is no longer a captain. (Lieutenant conversion) A squad of 6, myself and Cato tears through enemy lines and ensures my own life remains protected as I take the fight to the enemy. The only downside is having to associate with Cato Sicarius.
So I'm here been using bladeguard all edition. Was Tom's I. Using ability wrong failed invul saves of 1 so ap1 4+ re roll ones. Of its ap nothing 3+ I have no re roll of 1s
That expected damage part is kinda funny... they won't do their points worth of damage other than with Land Raider if it's already wounded. Not often people have 14 strong marine units and do nids even care about Termagants dying? 20W to T9 vehicle certainly usually kills most T9 vehicles, but then again, they don't cost 245 points 😂 And terminators? That's great, 3-4 of them dying in a unit that usually costs less than 245points. So even if they could do at least that "expected damage", that's still not worth their points cost and that alone makes BG not very effective. They are cool models though and I too have 1 full squad of them. People just seem to expect they do their points cost back, when with all those buffs mentioned in "expected damage" they still don't do it. Very "meh" unit, despite being a cool one 🤷♂ Also, who would waste a Captain in a Firestorm for these, when that Cap could be Gravis and giving BBQ Aggressors free Dev wounds. So the short answer to the title on this video: Not very strong. Lotsa high toughness things out there and units that have built in -1 to wound. Many reasons why they're not seen in competitive lists, because there just are way better options. Nearly (and in some cases not even nearly) doing their points worth of damage with all kinds of buffs once per battle isn't going to cut it 😅
I take Bladeguard in my homebrew Salamanders successor because I swap out their swords for hammers and run them as Hammerguard with definitely-not-Adrax-Agatone.
They single-handedly defended a midfield objective from 10 Khorne berserkers and Angron. Granted I was rolling hot and my opponent was not, but still
(Smacks lips) *Nice*
I love them with Adrax and a Lieutnant. They charged angron and killed him in one go. It was pure Joy 😊
What’s the name and theme of your home brew chapter?
Keep your stats, the Bladeguard are hands down my favorite Space Marine unit in their massive codex.
Bladeguard, Terminators, Reivers
Rule of Cool over meta chasing
As a Carcharadons guy, I love Reivers and I don't care 😅
Reivers are thematic for the Carcaradons.
@@zlboyle90 totally on brand
Reivers in first company task force can do some dumb stuff
Meta units change constantly. Cool models are forever.
You can have an Ancient attached with a Liutenant, which is my preferred way of running a maxed out squad.
Nice but expensive
The Bladeguard Ancient can join a unit even if a Lieutenant model is already included as well.
Unfortunately, you can't do captain, lt, and ancient. :( because the bladeguard version of the Lt in a 6 man squad is super cool looking
@@BenHylepersonally I would prefer a Lieutenant over a Captain honestly.
Auspex you missed a huge part of BGV in the BA Sons of Sanguinious! The lance strategem ALSO gives them lethal hits. Throw a captain with the unit and they can spam it every turn for massive damage.
What captain would you recommend being in the unit?
@@ship6000I believe this person is saying that you’d add a captain so they can get one free stratagem per turn. In that case, I believe there’s only one captain you can add to them that accomplishes that, and he’s called “Primaris Captain”.
I think he’s 80 points as of April 2024.
Which, i haven’t done the math, but if that 80 point Captain makes 3 bladeguard do more damage than three more bladeguard, I could see that being a viable use of points, considering that Captain costs 80 points, while 3 more bladeguard cost 90 points.
The stratagem this person is referencing is called “Red Rampage,” and can only be used in the “Sons of Sanguinius” detachment (blood angels detachment). A dollar store version, called “honor the chapter” can be implemented if you’re using Gladius as well, though it only gives you [LANCE] (add 1 to the wound roll; I.e.: instead of wounding on 4’s, you’re now wounding on 3’s).
@@ship6000 either the one with the power fist or the one that has the Finest Hour ability, which gives him 3 additional attacks and devastating wounds once per battle. So on a charge in sons of Sanguinius, that gives the captain 9 or 10 attacks at strength 7 or 10 with devastating wounds depending on the load out
Oh look, the thing most DA players are gonna pretend their companions are
I'm gonna model my Companions to be a Hero's of the Chapter Squad. God their rules are garbage.
It's a flavor choice lol
@@evanfish4505 Its a dogshit choice. Inferior rules for a higher price
I suspect that with Azrael, they MIGHT be almost viable in more casual games (obviously not for optimized competitive lists). Azrael gives them the 4+ invulnerable they lack and makes the strike profile sustained + lethal, which is nothing to sniff at.
Greatswords: AP -1 :(
I own 12 Bladeguard Veterans divided amongst my Black Templars, Ultramarines, and new Dark Angels armies - so I’m a fan of Bladeguards!
Bladeguards were better in 9e, for many reasons. My standard practice for both BTs and UMs was to load 4-5 Bladeguards and a (Chief) Apothecary (and sometimes a Bladeguard Ancient) into an Impulsor, rush into the midfield, and deploy the squad on an objective in Turn 1, ideally in the centre of the board. The Bladeguard Block was a stubborn obstacle for my opponent to deal with while also being difficult to ignore. It was a great way to hold more Primaries than my opponent and give me an early points advantage.
Unfortunately, Bladeguards aren’t nearly as resilient or effective in 10e, for MANY reasons. Firstly, the restrictive min/max squad sizes are incompatible with Impulsors, if you want to attach a leader; if you go with 3 Bladeguards and a character, 2 of the Impulsor’s transport slots are wasted. If you go with 6 Bladeguards, you can’t attach a character because they won’t fit in the Impulsor. Second, the SM Apothecary was nerfed in 10e because it cannot Heal anymore, only Revive dead models; and it can only use its abilities on the squad it’s attached to, instead of having an aura effect on any friendly infantry within range. That means I can’t transport 6 Bladeguards to a midfield objective and deploy them, and have a lone Apothecary or one in another squad move near the Bladeguards, because the Apothecary can’t help the Bladeguards.
The Bladeguard Ancient is also worse in 10e, losing its Fight On Death ability and +1 to Hit in favour of +1 OC per model and a once per battle +1 Attacks for its unit. For 45 points? With those abilities and its irrelevant weapons, the Bladeguard Ancient should be 30 points, same as a single Bladeguard Veteran would cost. The most useful thing a Bladeguard Ancient can do is equip an Enhancement that buffs its squad.
My Black Templars Bladeguards look amazing, but I rarely take them anymore in 10e. I might use Bladeguards in my new Dark Angels army instead, because Azrael could use bodyguards and the Inner Circle Champions are overpriced and somehow inferior to Bladeguards.
It won’t make much difference if Bladeguards are reduced in points price because that won’t fix their problems. Even boosting the Bladeguards’ stats and Abilities won’t fix them because the worst problems are related to 10e’s restrictive squad sizes and the nerfs to the Bladeguard Ancient and Apothecary.
Considering that Custodes and Death Guard have more squad size options in 10e, why can’t GW add a 5 models option for 150 points? Then 5 Bladeguards plus a squad leader can fit into an Impulsor. It would be an elegantly simple and effective improvement to Bladeguard Veterans in 10e, which I’m certain would be popular with Space Marine players.
Bladeguard and Honour Vehement Judicar. Never leave home for a game without them all comfy in the back of the Impulsor. And they're incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
Impulsor fits 6
Full bladeguard and judiciar is 7
Sad face
Yeah it's usually just the three man unfortunately. I've got repulsor and land raider though if they come out big squad.
@@SC1ENCEP1E
I actually do Capt and Lt with shields with my bladeguard on foot
8 total units. So really nice for free battle strats. Pethal hits and fallback freedom with Lt.
My judiciar goes with assault intercessors
They want to be on a objective to get rerolls
So they are likely to be charged, OOPS i got fight first
AND judiciar has devastating wounds so loves that reroll wounds 😊
Judiciar with a unit of 6 in a land raider w/ 5 hell blasters in tow. sincerely a Black Templars player
@Axemassacre92 while the Hellblasters defo bang, by that very nature mine are always blasted off the board the second an opponent can get sight on them 😅
I feel in love with the Bladeguard for how they looked and they have become one of my favorite units. I love to play my Space Wolves as a mostly melee focused force in COR. Don't care if there are probably stronger options, they are great. Probably the best combo is putting them with Ragnar and a LT. Turns the unit into a blender because how mean Ragnar is. And I feel they are a better shield for him than Blood Claw.
That being said, I would love if they did get some kind of buff. I'm normally in favor of rules buffs over points. But I get which is much easier from a game design perspective.
I do the exact same thing with my space wolves.
With Adrax agatone they are a force to be reckoned with
the damage output is insane! I can't think of anytime since the codex drop that my adrax, 6 bladeguard, lieutenant brick has lost to anything they've fought in melee
@@toddp3061 add 5 assault termis and a termi chaplain
Just let me run Mephiston with them and I will use them a lot. They are pretty scary in SoS though and a judiciar is a nice added trick to them, they can hit hard on the charge and are pretty tanky in defence as well. As you say though probably a unit that like many marine units, should basically be a bit cheaper. I'd put them along with termis really, in that they look cool, can be decent, but are a tad overcosted and that tends to push them out of the meta.
Funny thing is, I bought 12 bladeguard during 9th edition, but I never actually fielded the unit because I was using them for conversions. Every single one of my non-phobos primaris sergeants is kitbashed from a monopose bladeguard, because robed sergeants are a physical requirement for DA. I had no clue they did 2 damage each. When the Lion dropped, I picked up the box with him and the bladeguard, and I figured it was finally time to see what they could do. They all have hoods, old Deathwing Knight shields, and DA swords. I also painted a couple of them in black armor. If I knew power weapons would all get baked together, I'd have given my sergeant a Mace of Absolution...
Ive been running 6 with Adrax and Lieutenant since he was allowed to join them, and it is a killer hammer unit. Judiciar isnt bad either, but eight T4 4++ bodies with lethal hits, re-rolling those ones, and re-rolling wounds is a deadly combo.
I play salamanders, so bladegaurd are simply incredible for me
I've got that combo with a lieutenant riding in a land raider with 3 Eradicators taking the extra space coming in from reserves with rapid ingress. Very very scary for my opponent and very very awesome for me 😈. PYRE GUARD!!
In Firestorm, adding Champion of Humanity to the Lieutenant for just 10p gets rid of any pesky Damage -1 on things like C'Tan.
Bladeguard with Calgar and a vehement lieutenant is something that I played from time to time and that is a big scary unit full of DMG 2 mele
"A touch overcosted" is the entire SM Army right now--at best :|
The Impulsor thing is really annoying, though.
Marines don't need to be cheaper, they need to be better.
The firestorm relic to ignore modifieres on a lieutnant that gives them lethal hits turns them into blenders, mainly larger squads. If you want you can also add a captain for the free strat...
Add Captain Agatone with the Champion of Humanity Lt. They eat C'tan.
@@DARmanbuttermilk1136You can't because Adraxe is an Epic Hero, so no enhancement for him
@@albro8853 read the last part of that sentence. You add a Lieutenant to the squad
Bladeguard with AOS vindicator spears for my celestial lions. Beasts with Adrax or a cpt + lt
Good to know I wasn't the only lions player doing this
@@Darkthunder400 lion shields from puppetswar or green stuff world 🙌🏽
Blade for Blade God!
6 x BGV with a Judiciar leading them goes pretty hard
I also run blade driven deep and place them out of sight in the middle of the board.
Super good
Armour vehement and war tempered artifice are stupid levels good on him
S10 hits will auto kill most character's out of squads
Good news from the latest Balance update: Impulsor can now carry 7 models.
Bladeguard brick plus Adrax has been my bread and butter for this edition. I've found them pretty good at soaking up shots while trudging down the midboard with or without a transport. Having them contest any enemy infantry on points has been very effective for me. With Adrax they can make short work of most non-vehicles/monster and still can deal decent damage against them with maclious nocturn. My Adrax is definitely a luck son of a gun tho, i've had the entire squad but him wiped then Adrax alone clears multiple squads by himself
You can pay for 6 and take 5 Bladeguard, if you REALLY want to fit a Character in there for transport, but yeah its not ideal :(
Just take a redeemer and run 2x 6 with a judiciar!
I just built a box of these and am impressed with the sprues. So many arms, swords and pistols. You can build your Bladeguard and then have enough bits to customise so many captains, lieutenants and sergeants. I gave my monopose Sternguard sergeant the pointing/resting hand on sword hilt arms. Looks so cool great kit for making your rank and file characters more unique. Still so expensive but sweetens the deal.
I love running Bladeguard with my Ultramarines in a Gladius Task Force. I always keep a Judiciar w/Honour Vehement attached to the unit so that they are rolling with fight first, which discourages anything from charging them. Try to snipe the character out of anything they charge with the Judiciar's precision then do however much damage I can with the actual Bladeguard afterwards. Usually leaves anything short of a tank crippled.
Running Righteous Crusaders with sustained hits vow and sticking a LT with them with Sigismund’s Seal giving them 5+ crits for sustained and lethal hits. They can punch so far up for the pts with this combo.
Ragnar with a lieutenant leading bladeguard is brutal. Ragnar on the charge has 10 attacks, hits on 2s, rerolls 1s, 6s both explode and are lethal, usually wounding on 2s especially with Honor the Chapter, always advance and charge and fall back shoot and charge, -3 AP and 2 damage, +4 invuln. And that's just Ragnar. OUCH!
I wish you got the choice of power axes, and a two handed relic sword for the sergeant. Even if you didn't use it for them it would be great for kitbashing, like with the old Sternguard and Vanguard kits.
If you do run some BGVs with Adrax and a Lt. in Firestorm then don't forget to give the Lt. the "Champion of Humanity" enhancement. Being able to ignore modifiers with that unit makes them so much more punchy! 🥊
My favorite unit thats been in and out of my Firestorm lists has been Adrax leading a 3man BGV's with a Lt. Punches up, punches down, stout with the 4++ and rerolling Sv's of 1, not CP intensive, all in an Impulsor sized package.
Here’s a spicy Bladeguard combo for Black Templars I like to run.
6-man squad + 1 Lt w Sigusmund’s Seal combo. Then I’ll take the Sustained Hits 1 vow.
It’ll have crits on 5+, with Lethal AND Sustained Hits. Puts out a ton of damage and can reliably bring down a Lord of Skulls in one turn.
This combo necessitates you play Templars as a trading army, since you’re locked into Sustained Hits over 6+ FNP.
GW: has a weird moment of generosity and gives us enough shields, swords and stuff to make two Bladeguard squads out of one box.
Auspex: still complains about 'weird flexibility'.
Was thinking that. Blade guard box plus something like sternguard or company heroes box and you've got 6 blade guard and a couple of characters
Bladeguard, Pedro, and a LT mulched a Castigator. 36 power weapon attacks, plus the LT and Pedro, with lethal hits and full rerolls from Extremis were really nice.
went 6 Bladeguards + Lieutenant + Korsarro Khan on Farsight + 6 crisis dudes. Farsight got beheaded so quick and crisis dudes got wiped in a swift fight phase. The most beautiful and satisfy scene I've done lol
NOW I WANT A SET! cool sword bros😂
I very much enjoy 6 BGV with a tannhauser captain and a lieutenant for a fat brick of 2+, 4++, 5+++. Very fun, very cool looking, and pretty good at soaking up shots while sitting on a midfield objective
I was thinking about grabbing some of these for my Adrax Agatone. Sounds like it would be a good idea in the long run based on your video.
best use of blade guard probably is adrax leading them into a firestorm detachement.
reroll wounds with access to both +1 to wound AND the "champion of humanity" enhancement that you can stick to an ancient or a lieutenant for ensuring that you would not suffer the debuffs (-1 to hit, wound or even damage).
This is probably their maximum output and with a redeemer they just go anywhere they want and roll over anything
I run them with Calgar and Lt, they did a short work of Nightbringer recently and carried on. Two Agressor squads to their name and Ork Nobz or wven Flashgitz with Badruk. But issue is everybody fallbacks in 2nd turn and shoots from everything. Absolute nightmare is Votan Hearthguard with Kal landing close and shooting them to pieces.
The Judiciar is a really good choice in Deathwatch with the "Thief of Secrets" upgrade. The Judiciar has Precision that helps the relic making the Judiciar a very dangerous unit and character killer and don't have difficulty moving around due to Deathwatch strategems allowing multiple deepstrikes.
The Bladeguard make a great bodyguard but at that point its not about the Bladeguard arnymore.
Their fun in a firestorm detachment with S5 pistols chuck in a captain and medic and let them tank damage on an important objective
Bladeguard with Adrax are a very scary threat, and a staple in my lists coming out of a land raider. They wiped my opponents company heroes and Azrael on the midfield objective one game, then rampaged onto his home field objective the next round. Outperformed my expectations.
Personally, I use a squad of 3 Bladeguard Veterans, with the basic loadout, as an honour guard squad for my Indomitus/9th ed big starter sets Captain, along with the Indomitus/9th ed small starter set Lieutenant.
But they really need a transport vehicle to get them into threat range.
I usually have them in an Impulsor, Drop Pod (using the remaining 5 slots on Hellblasters or Intercessors), or a Repulsor (with a support squad taking hte rest of the seats in the tank).
And I really don't care much for how good they are in a competitive army, as I play casual exclusively.
Besides, a squad of Bladeguard is a visually pleasing unit as a bodyguard/honour guard in a fully Primaris army where most of, or all, the infantry is multiples of unadorned Mk X Tacticus power armour.
They definitely stand out with the power swords and storm shields.
As a white scar player , sticking the khan with 6 of these guys is bonkers . Khan gives them Lance and assault heavy bolt pistols , while the blade guards give the khan re rolls on 1s to hit or re roll his 1 on invulnerables.
Im also a scars player if i can i throw them in a land raider as well
I’m not kidding they are actually surprisingly good in SoS they hit harder than they should for the points and are really survivable so they can hit and take a hit which most blood angel dedicated units can’t do as well
I run BA SoS. 6+ Judiciar in a Redeemer. 30A S7 AP2 2D with Lance an Lethal hits plus 6A S9 AP2 2D dev+precision from the judi and fights first with overwatch protection from the Redeemer.
Unless you're playing a dedicated assault army with good buffs, I'd use something else. That being said, many players use them as backfield units to hold objectives and do secondaries. 90 pts for a tough unit that can easily hide out of LOS and get you points all game is a pretty good choice.
They could get a bit scarier in the Deathwatch Black Spear Task Force if you give them a Lieutenant with Power Fist and the Thief of Secrets enhancement to boost the Power Fist. Also give them a Captain or the Ancient and they can all fit in the Corvus Blackstar which can also provide some terrifying fire support.
Running 6 BGVs with Adrax and a LT is my absolute favorite thing about playing 40K rn. I was hoping you'd show the damage output for BGVs with Adrax and an LT attached.
Stronger than Inner Circle thats for sure.
Still hoping whenever SW get a codex that Ulrik can join Bladeguard. He's essentially a super chaplain and can join other melee units
I'm going to try DA inner circle,6 with asmodai, 6 with ezekiel. One in a land raider, one staging behind, potentially then embarking later. The idea being to use the LR to sling shot them places.
xD Units summed up as Elite veteran of countless battles=OC 1
OC is not a measure of how good someone is at fighting.
Besides, "veteran of countless battles" is at least 1/3rd of all models in this game.
If you combare other Damagedealers with the Bladeguards you have to mention the Brutalis Dread. For 175 points it is a medium investment and no other unit deals more meleedamage per point then this walker.
Standard run for me is Bladeguards + Lieutenant with power weapon+shield and Adrax.
If second unit is included - Bladeguards + Lieutenant + Captain (everything shield+power weapon)
Perfect for my Sallies.
for some reason I only ever roll twos when attacking/defending with my BGV. I seriously lost 6 of them to a unit of 20 Termagaunts once. I'm so glad I finally found good proxies for sword Brethren so I don't have to use them anymore
Its not the Stormshield that gives the Invulve. That gives the third wound. The Invulv is from the Iron halo on their backs. It is the same thing Captains have.
Love your work.
So, Land raider Reedeemer has room for 7, allowing you to take a full squad and a Captain or something. Its a solid play and the Suped-up damage 2 flamers are good for softening up alot of targets they want to go into. ..Its a bit of a shame to give up the anti-tank on the las, but its potentially worth it depending on what your fighting.
... I had bought one with the intention of running 5 Deathwing knights, a leader and a strikemaster, but GW is still mad at DA the last 2 months in 9th ed it seems, so were in the time out corner till 11th most likely.
My blade guard in sons of sang 1 shot an enemy landraider on a charge so I think you're undervaluing them quite a bit in blood angels. With a captain giving the free strat blade guard are wounding a T12 on a 4+ after red rampage with 5 attacks each at 2ap 2 damage.
I tried 6 of them with a regular Captain and a Lieutenant with power fist in Gladius. With enhancement on Lieutenant and in Assault doctrine with lance stratagem they hit hard, the lieutenant for one fight phase can jump to T10, and I managed to kill Mortarion and a Norn emissary.
Next tournament I will try them with Calgar
If your playing vanguard spearhead try 6 bladeguard , with a lieutenant, and a Captainwith Blade driven deep. 8 4+ invuln 3 wound bodies infiltrating with lethal hits and free strat from the captain for AOC or Precision for the whole unit. Pretty fun
I'm currectly running them with Adrax and an Ancient with CoH. On paper they should perform superwell but sadly they underperform everytime. For instance i played 3 games vs Custodes yesterday and altough they should save 58% of their invu saves they just get shredded to bits everytime. The only good thing in there in Adrax. It's seldom that you actually get to unload the full complement of attacks. I of course need to test against other meta armies as well and in theory they should be great against C'tan and Avatars (with their ignores modifers rule) but if they cannot play well into Custodes i feel they aren't good enough right now.
I love them, I really like running 2 x6 man units of bladeguard in a land raider redeemer, they blend shit up.
There a reason we left off sons of sanguinius ? +1A +2 str on charge, added to chaplain means these fellows are wounding t12 on 4+!
1st company extremis level threat being changed to reroll wound rolls of 1 on your oath target every turn instead of reroll wounds once a game would do a lot to make elites a lot more interesting as an archetype
I love my Bladeguard Vets. Are they any good? No, I play Templars and I suck at the game, but dad gum them models look good when you paint and sub-assemble correctly.
They should just swap bladeguard and sword brethren ppm and they would both be pretty balanced although admittedly the sword brethren would still be better.
I love Bladeguard, best looking overall Space Marine models.
But just not the overall best.
Definetely bought them for looks.
I wish the Inner Circle Companions would be as usable. Honestly think if GW gave the Companions like a FNP they would feel more worth it, like just a 5+ for tankiness for Characters.
I am OK with paying the points for 6 but still scrapping 1 of the blade guard team to fit them in an impulsor with a character like a judicer. They are really reasonably priced
In my templars I often find them to be a tad bit turd on the scale of things. If I'm playing friends who I know will bring something nasty that can kill my sword bro's easy, then il stick 6with a judi with the blade enhancement and just leave them in the middle of the board as bait, or a massive problem if there's limited LOS. For that price though I'd probably be better off with taking either 3 of bikes, random troops or jump packers...
Just bought this kit a few weeks back!
I used the extra arms to make a total of 10 Bladeguard/ Captain/ Lieutenants and still have a few pieces left over. So, the REAL points per dollar is actually really good.
I've noticed recently that a lot of the slides are coming out with kind of fuzzy text in the body; but, weirdly enough, not *all* of the text on the slide is fuzzy. I'm not sure what could cause this, perhaps some weirdness when the video is being exported?
Man this post an hour after I buy a set for a boarding action team
I’m
Building
They do work in sons of sanguinius
6 BGV and Judiciar, sons of sang, red rampage= basically never missing. 30 attacks, lethal hits, str 7 -AP2 D2. Strikes first. Not including Judicar
Bladeguard have never failed me.
An Invulnerable save is far better than Toughness 6 of aggressors.
I run them with Cato Sicarius, who has of course been demoted to leader of the honor guard and is no longer a captain. (Lieutenant conversion)
A squad of 6, myself and Cato tears through enemy lines and ensures my own life remains protected as I take the fight to the enemy.
The only downside is having to associate with Cato Sicarius.
I’ve been using them with BG captain and Lieutenant and they always die way way to quick for them to be useful for me
How does bladeguard with ragnar stack up against wolf guard with ulrik?
Tanehauser bones with these guys is a problem.
I hope they're strong because they look fantastic and were a pain to paint.
**Yorkshire accent** "Bladeguard Ancient? Luxury."
Still makes me a little salty I can’t run Mephiston along side BladeGaurd
Can i have the Chapter Master, Apothecary, and Bladeguard Ancient?
In the same squad of Blade Guard?
If you are running them on their own at only 3 man, they are pretty naff. Worst nightmare for them is lots of ap -1 or even no ap at all
Had a game when my bladeguard killed a a swarmlord in one charge, then held on for 2 turns
They’re cool af for me
is it on my end or is the video really blurry?
It's sad that we have gotten to the point where models being customisable off the sprue is seen as weird...
So I'm here been using bladeguard all edition. Was Tom's I. Using ability wrong failed invul saves of 1 so ap1 4+ re roll ones. Of its ap nothing 3+ I have no re roll of 1s
Azrael + LT make them filthy with lance
Isn't there a limitation for captains and lieutenants that only sword + board versions can join bladeguards?
Only the captain has to have the shield
Granted for visuals i also make my Lt have the shield
Bloody strong
Units of 6 wiped 5 sword bros, emperors champ, then a unit of termies only losing 2
That expected damage part is kinda funny... they won't do their points worth of damage other than with Land Raider if it's already wounded. Not often people have 14 strong marine units and do nids even care about Termagants dying? 20W to T9 vehicle certainly usually kills most T9 vehicles, but then again, they don't cost 245 points 😂 And terminators? That's great, 3-4 of them dying in a unit that usually costs less than 245points.
So even if they could do at least that "expected damage", that's still not worth their points cost and that alone makes BG not very effective. They are cool models though and I too have 1 full squad of them. People just seem to expect they do their points cost back, when with all those buffs mentioned in "expected damage" they still don't do it. Very "meh" unit, despite being a cool one 🤷♂
Also, who would waste a Captain in a Firestorm for these, when that Cap could be Gravis and giving BBQ Aggressors free Dev wounds.
So the short answer to the title on this video: Not very strong. Lotsa high toughness things out there and units that have built in -1 to wound. Many reasons why they're not seen in competitive lists, because there just are way better options. Nearly (and in some cases not even nearly) doing their points worth of damage with all kinds of buffs once per battle isn't going to cut it 😅
Honestly lack of cheap transport options is their greastest weakness.
Drop pod its an option???
I approve this message
Please GW: let tacticus models in rhinos.