Elite choices?

[gamma016]

Hello all, I'm somewhat new to warhammer again (played a bit in 3rd edition, but I was like 12 haha) and was wondering what elites were worth spending the points on. I play a catachan army and so far am only using Marbo, by was wondering what other units were viable. Ratlings seem to weak to survive for any amount of time as they have very low toughness. Ogryn's seem viable in the way they have many attacks and wounds and good weapon skill, plus if I stick them in a squad with Yarrick they seem like they would be rather tough to kill. And storm troops just seem like more troop choices.

[vegna]

on average it seems you're better off investing the points in Veterans, they can do most of the roll of storm troopers + are a scoring unit, and then just infantry platoons to take the roll of Ogryns. It's the advantage with out troop choice really, we can easily get tons on models on the table and only use our basic requirement

[Trickstick]

Hi Gamma016. Our elites can be a mixed bag but I would say that they are all viable, just not all as great as each other. I'll have a go at writing a bit about each, although you will probably be able to tell which is my favourite by the end...

Ogryn - A pretty decent melee unit, at least by Guard standards. They basically act like a huge squad of Guardsmen, condensed down into fewer models. They get a good number of shots and can stomp some face. Just be aware that they are still Guard and die against any serious combat unit. They are better going for the enemies generic units instead of their powerful ones. Kind of expensive for what they do but can be a lot of fun.

Ratlings - Probably the best snipers in the codex, can be really annoying. Quite squishy and prone to running with their low leadership. They do get infiltrate though, so can cause problems for the enemy if used correctly.

Psyker Battle Squad - Their first power is an infantry based large blast, which can be nice. The variable AP can be annoying, but they will bypass marines' saves half of the time. Can be nice shooting out of a chimera. Weaken resolve can be really nice for getting certain units to flee and give you some breathing room, although they need to be on foot to use it as only shooting attacks can be used from a transport. Become less useful after a few casualties, as their powers are linked to squad size.

Stormtroopers - Quite expensive but you do get a lot for what you pay. These are as close to a scalpel as Guard get. They can deepstrike into some very tight spaces by using the reroll they can have, taking out that one thing that needs to die. With melta they can pop tanks, with flamers they can mow down infantry and with plasma they can kill heavy infantry or light vehicles. You really are paying for the special deployment options though.

Marbo - Jumps in, is either awesome or useless. He can cause the opponent to be scared, which is nice. Definitely a fun unit but just be aware that some games you will love him to bits, whilst in others he will do nothing much. Very good to place in cover so that he can survive return fire, although flamers will murder him.

Anyway, that is my biased unit review. Can you tell I love stormtroopers? In fact, I am thinking about trying 30 of them in a game tomorrow. Overall, the elite choices are a good bunch. Just be careful not to neglect the bread and butter foot soldiers just to get some fancy toys, normal Guardsmen are what win games. Elites just support the troops.

[gamma016]

Yeah, and I agree totally with you on Marbo, I had him come into a game on turn four, kill a zonethrope taking a biovore out of synapse, an take out half a squad of gaunts with a demolition charge, the next game I used him, he killed him self with a demolition charge on the first turn he arrived haha. But I will look into storm troops because they do sound as though they would be a good unit choice

[WestRider]

Elites is the weakest slot in the Guard Army. That said, that's in comparison to some of the strongest options in the Game in our other slots, so don't take it to mean that our Elites are useless. They just don't match up to Vendettas, Manticores, Blobs, and such.

My rundown:
- Ogryn: Awkward, and hard to use well. They're a decent enough Assault Unit, especially with a PowerFist/Axe Lord Commissar along to provide a bit of extra punch against 2+Svs, but they're slow, don't have access to any kind of delivery system, and tend to get shot to bits before they make it into Combat.
- Storm Troopers: Overpriced but useful. Plasma is my favorite option with them, even tho it's the most expensive, because it works well against anything their Hellguns do. The ability to bring a Chimera along with them when Infiltrating or Outflanking seems like it should be fairly useful, but I haven't actually experimented with it yet. Dropping them out of a Vendetta with Airborne Assault is a solid option, too.
- Ratlings: Good as Snipers go, but unfortunately, Snipers are still a pretty mediocre option. A Squad of 9 averages two normal Saves and a Rend each Turn, and they can't Claim Objectives or stand up to anything that manages to get to them. Try to get them into some Ruins for the better Cover Save.
- PBS: Trickstick covered this one just fine.
- Marbo: Been fooling around with him lately. Hit and miss. Best if he can pick on something on the edges of the Opponent's force and stay in good Cover. Sometimes also worth just dropping him in an out of the way part of your Opponent's Deployment Zone to pick up Linebreaker, especially if he comes in late.

[emptyhat]

I've never actually used an elite choice for guard. Our army has great stuff in troops, heavy support and fast attack but our Elites and heroic H.Qs are a little lacking.

From what I've heard Ratlings can be really useful as snipers and benefit from the new focus fire rules.

Stormtroopers seem to be a bit of a marmite unit either people think they work well as suicide squads to drop in on their foes and kill one unit, or they think they are a waste of points.

Ogryns also seem to get overlooked because of the high price tag, which just geets higher with Yarrick. I know some people still use them though since they love them and they almost work.

Anyhoot, my ill informed advice is only pick up the guard elites if you have a strong bias to that unit and are willing to put up with a weak link in your army (after all we still have plenty of great things in 6th to help carry the stuff we like) .

[Jackal-0311]

I really like STs, they won't win the game but can heavily influence the tide of the game. Again, you are paying for the deployment option more than anything. I tend to think of them as a hit team that will take care of what needs to be dealt with on scene. My 0.02.