Sanguinary Guard vs. Death Company
In a highly competitive Elite slot for Blood Angels, two of the more popular options in 7th edition armies are Sanguinary Guard or Death Company. |
| Into the thick of things |
There have been significant changes to each of these units. I would like to break down the Math Hammer for each of these units and tactical application to help players make a decision. Ultimately, play with what you enjoy. I often find a way to field both units. It's good to think about what each can do for you respectively in certain situations however and that is the intention of this post.
For clarity I have put two units together with points costs within 5 points of each other.
- 5 Sanguinary Guard with a Chapter Banner 2X Power Axe, 3X Power Sword lead by a Sanguinary Priest with a Bolt Pistol.
- 5 Death Company with Jump Packs 3X Chainsword, 5X Bolt Pistol, one Power Fist, one Power Sword lead by a Chaplain with a Bolt Pistol and Crozius Arcanum.
It is my opinion that each of these units needs the support to function as a hammer unit. Ideally, I would also try to use Dante with the Sanguinary Guard and Astorath with the Death Company and fill out their numbers some more. For my examples however, this gives us a glimpse at how they perform on their own.
VS. 10 Marines
Ahh...The benchmark of everyone's basement play testing. It's bad luck to roll your die when it doesn't count, you know. Marines offer a very good starting point because of their well known armor and typical abundance in the meta. Death Company and Sangunary Guard both perform well against MEQ targets.On the Charge
Sanguinary Guard: An average of 16 hits, and having all low AP weaponry an average of 10 unsaved wounds. This is with 4 attacks from the Chapter Banner and including the Priest.
Death Company: An average of 21 hits and 9 unsaved wounds. This is with 5 attacks with rage, excluding the Power Fist having 4 and including the Chaplain.
Winner: Draw. Sanguinary Guard wounds will get through. Death Company forces more rolls on your opponent and chance could be on your side.
VS. 20 Guardsmen
This is standard WS3 T3 5+ save and can be applied to a variety of models that contain those defensive stats.
Sanguinary Guard: An average of 17 hits and 11 unsaved wounds.
Death Compnay: An average of 20 hits and 16 unsaved wounds.
*In both cases a sweeping advance is very likely to happen.
Winner: Death Company
Defense
Sanguinary Guard: have the advantage in the armor department boasting a fantastic 2+. Having the Priest provides them with a 5+ FnP. This is a clear baseline advantage to the...
Death Company: being 3+ with a 5+ FnP. Take the HQ support away and you've got a whole new argument.
Winner: Sanguinary Guard
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| The wings are purely ornamental. |
VS. AV10 Vehicles
A high % of vehicles rear armor is AV10 and using pure attack stats and no grenades, these are the targets you should be selecting.
Sanguinary Guard:An average of 18 hits with the 2 Power Axe's providing a 30% chance to destroy the vehicle outright. You will on average put 6 Hull Points on the vehicle.
Death Company: An average of 23 hits with the Power Fist providing a 61% chance to destroy the vehicle outright. You will on average put 11 Hull Points on the vehicle.
Winner: While both are overkill, Death Company take it being as effective even in fewer numbers.
VS. T6 Monstrous Creatures with 6WS & 4+ Invulnerable Save
Sanguinary Guard: An average of 12 hits and 2 unsaved wounds.
Death Company: An average of 16 hits and 6 unsaved wounds.
Winner: Death Company
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| Run TOWARDS the bullets. |
What to take away
Obviously this isn't the end of the scenario list. There are tremendous amounts of situations. Ultimately what this experiment shows me is that Death Company are going to be more versatile at the expense of survivability. They are however, cheaper on the whole making them an easier choice for most players.
Knowing Death Company can handle nearly any situation I find it to be beneficial to send them at the biggest threat my opponent has and not blink twice about it. In the very least it can make them balk on how to react.
Sanguinary Guard really start to open up potential when combined with additional rules. I find a Librarian or Dante add unparalleled variety and punch. Taking them in larger units is tremendous fun as well and adding in Hit and Run from Dante and you've got a unit that can double dip on its furious charge in the nastier assaults. Fear is a factor but not a large one as it has a low success rate.
Ultimately when faced with the question of Sanguinary Guard or Death Company you can really start to see why the answer so often is...it depends.
Credit to http://www.mathhammer40k.com/ for calculation tools. All fractions numbers were rounded up to the largest whole number.
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