Troglodon
Revered_Guardian
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Temple Guard
The unit: The Easiest thing to compare a unit of temple guard to is a brick wall, the unit has a 2+ save in close combat, high ld, and cold blooded. The difference between these and saurus is this, they have light armour, 4WS and options for magical equipement, along with nifty halberds. Not only that, but Temple Guard become stubborn and immune to pshychology when housing the Slann. The unit can have many roles, but most can be broken down into two....
The first of these two and the most obvious choice is to have them house your Slann (which they must if the Slann is in the army). This makes them almost impossible to break. If you give the slaan the BSB, then they will be stubborn, with ld 8 and rerolling all failed break tests. Furthermore, all but 2 temple guard have to die before your Slann is able to be attacked (if you are fighting to the front), and since these hardy lizards have a 2+ save, 4 WS, and 4 Toughness, that is a truly tough feat for most armies.
The second choice, and a personal favourite of mine, is the berserker option. Temple guard can hold up to just about anything, and a few players think that sitting them back to protect your lord can be a waste. Without the expensive Slann in their ranks, you can march them up beside saurus warriors. With good options for magical banners. Saurus are elite infantry, but sometimes they just can't hold against troops like chaos warriors, where your temple guard will be able to fight almost toe to claw with!
Comparison
Saurus are the second most elite core infantry unit in the game, but they have several issues. Such as weaponskill 3. The following is a rundown of the 2 units.
18 Saurus Vs 30 clanrat- Clanrats will ussually go first, and, if we assume they have a 5 frontage, and you a 5, and that saurus are using spears (as they should), then the average number of hits the clanrats will get will be 2.5, with a 0.83333333333 chance of wounding with just one of those attacks, and a 0.41 chance of death to a saurus. Assuming the saurus lives, then you get 24! attacks back! 12 of these will hit and 7.92 will wound. Out of these, 5.28 will result in a kill. So the saurus have achieved 1 wound. But the large unit of clanrats (ussually taken in the 30's) has +3 for ranks, +1 outnumber, banner and musician, you on the other hand have 5 kills, and 2 ranks + banner, meaning the clanrats lost by 3.
16 Temple guard, when fighting 30 clanrats- Assuming clanrats and their higher I strike first again, you can expect 2.5 hits, and 0.83333333333 wounds again, only this time, chances of losing a Temple Guard are only 0.138 percent (because of LA, Scaly skin and shield)! The remaining temple guard will strike back with 10 attacks, because of higher ws, 6.6 of those attacks will hit. 4.356 will wound, and will kill 2.87496 clanrats-around 3 kills. You have 3 kills, 2 ranks and banner. They have 0 kills 3 ranks, outnumber and banner. You will win by 1.
As you can see, Temple guard are not as effective against light troops, but now we will visit the other end of the spectrum...
You are charged by 5 DE cold one riders. You have 18 saurus, but the elves strike first. Because of higher WS, they hit you on 3's, meaning 3.3 will hit...HOWEVER eternal hatred means they reroll the 1.7 misses, and 1.122 more will hit. Meaning a total of 4.4 will hit you. These attacks, at str 6, will wound on 2's (meaning 3.66666666 ) and the lances will mean you lose your armour save, and a few dead saurus. Then the cold ones attack. Hitting on 4's, 2.5 will hit, and with rerolls, 3.75 will hit. Since they need 4's to wound, 1.875 will get through, and a 5+ save will mean 1.2+3.66666=4.8...So almost 5 saurus dead. Now you have 10 attacks back. All hitting on 4's, 5 will get through. Then, the squishy elves will be wounded on 3's, 3.3 will wound...and with a 3+ save, only 1.06...or 1 cold one will die!
Now they have 5 kills, banner, and you have 1 Kill, 2 rank and banner...they win by 2, meaning you need under a 6 on cold blooded LD to not be broken!
Because of higher WS, the 16 temple guard are hit on 4,s meaning with hatred, only 3.75 will hit you.3.15 will wound...however, you will have a 5+ save! Leaving around 2 dead temple guard. The cold ones will then attack, 2.5 of them hitting, and only 1.25 wounds...with a 0.2 chance of death! Losing only 2 temple guards (Hooray shields), you get 6 attacks back, 3 of wich will hit, and 2 of which will wound, with 1.32 chance of death. Thanks to your 2+ save, you have only lost 2 guard. YOU outnumber, you have 1 rank, and you got 1 kill. with banners negating each other, you have won by 1 combat res! Even if the DE pass, next turn they will be crushed without the bonus from their lances!
So, as you can see, temple guard can be much more effective against heavy opponents then saurus can!
When to use what!
With the choice of halberds or shields, many people can become power hungry and want to use the +1 Str offered by the halberd. However, this isnt the best option.
Halberds should only EVER be used when either
a) you wont have an armour save better then 6+,
or B) Your charging a unit, such as ogres, that you wish to negate the amount of attacks back as much as possible, and that has low LD and less ranks, to guarantee that if they are beaten they will break.
The rest of the time, shields should be your option. They keep more TG alive to fight another day, and since they could be guarding a toad, you'll want as many as possible!
Things to watch out for!
You should always screen TG from enemy shooters! Bolt throwers and skaven ratling guns (and magic) can desimate the expensive unit if your not careful.
Chariots should be looked out for, because of all the temple guard they can kill on impact...
Swamps of troops. These should be avoided as TG are more effective elsewhere!
ANYTHING INVOLVING INITIATIVE TESTS! AS THEY ARE VERY VERY SLOW IN!!!!!
Comments are appreciated, aswell as better updates!
The unit: The Easiest thing to compare a unit of temple guard to is a brick wall, the unit has a 2+ save in close combat, high ld, and cold blooded. The difference between these and saurus is this, they have light armour, 4WS and options for magical equipement, along with nifty halberds. Not only that, but Temple Guard become stubborn and immune to pshychology when housing the Slann. The unit can have many roles, but most can be broken down into two....
The first of these two and the most obvious choice is to have them house your Slann (which they must if the Slann is in the army). This makes them almost impossible to break. If you give the slaan the BSB, then they will be stubborn, with ld 8 and rerolling all failed break tests. Furthermore, all but 2 temple guard have to die before your Slann is able to be attacked (if you are fighting to the front), and since these hardy lizards have a 2+ save, 4 WS, and 4 Toughness, that is a truly tough feat for most armies.
The second choice, and a personal favourite of mine, is the berserker option. Temple guard can hold up to just about anything, and a few players think that sitting them back to protect your lord can be a waste. Without the expensive Slann in their ranks, you can march them up beside saurus warriors. With good options for magical banners. Saurus are elite infantry, but sometimes they just can't hold against troops like chaos warriors, where your temple guard will be able to fight almost toe to claw with!
Comparison
Saurus are the second most elite core infantry unit in the game, but they have several issues. Such as weaponskill 3. The following is a rundown of the 2 units.
18 Saurus Vs 30 clanrat- Clanrats will ussually go first, and, if we assume they have a 5 frontage, and you a 5, and that saurus are using spears (as they should), then the average number of hits the clanrats will get will be 2.5, with a 0.83333333333 chance of wounding with just one of those attacks, and a 0.41 chance of death to a saurus. Assuming the saurus lives, then you get 24! attacks back! 12 of these will hit and 7.92 will wound. Out of these, 5.28 will result in a kill. So the saurus have achieved 1 wound. But the large unit of clanrats (ussually taken in the 30's) has +3 for ranks, +1 outnumber, banner and musician, you on the other hand have 5 kills, and 2 ranks + banner, meaning the clanrats lost by 3.
16 Temple guard, when fighting 30 clanrats- Assuming clanrats and their higher I strike first again, you can expect 2.5 hits, and 0.83333333333 wounds again, only this time, chances of losing a Temple Guard are only 0.138 percent (because of LA, Scaly skin and shield)! The remaining temple guard will strike back with 10 attacks, because of higher ws, 6.6 of those attacks will hit. 4.356 will wound, and will kill 2.87496 clanrats-around 3 kills. You have 3 kills, 2 ranks and banner. They have 0 kills 3 ranks, outnumber and banner. You will win by 1.
As you can see, Temple guard are not as effective against light troops, but now we will visit the other end of the spectrum...
You are charged by 5 DE cold one riders. You have 18 saurus, but the elves strike first. Because of higher WS, they hit you on 3's, meaning 3.3 will hit...HOWEVER eternal hatred means they reroll the 1.7 misses, and 1.122 more will hit. Meaning a total of 4.4 will hit you. These attacks, at str 6, will wound on 2's (meaning 3.66666666 ) and the lances will mean you lose your armour save, and a few dead saurus. Then the cold ones attack. Hitting on 4's, 2.5 will hit, and with rerolls, 3.75 will hit. Since they need 4's to wound, 1.875 will get through, and a 5+ save will mean 1.2+3.66666=4.8...So almost 5 saurus dead. Now you have 10 attacks back. All hitting on 4's, 5 will get through. Then, the squishy elves will be wounded on 3's, 3.3 will wound...and with a 3+ save, only 1.06...or 1 cold one will die!
Now they have 5 kills, banner, and you have 1 Kill, 2 rank and banner...they win by 2, meaning you need under a 6 on cold blooded LD to not be broken!
Because of higher WS, the 16 temple guard are hit on 4,s meaning with hatred, only 3.75 will hit you.3.15 will wound...however, you will have a 5+ save! Leaving around 2 dead temple guard. The cold ones will then attack, 2.5 of them hitting, and only 1.25 wounds...with a 0.2 chance of death! Losing only 2 temple guards (Hooray shields), you get 6 attacks back, 3 of wich will hit, and 2 of which will wound, with 1.32 chance of death. Thanks to your 2+ save, you have only lost 2 guard. YOU outnumber, you have 1 rank, and you got 1 kill. with banners negating each other, you have won by 1 combat res! Even if the DE pass, next turn they will be crushed without the bonus from their lances!
So, as you can see, temple guard can be much more effective against heavy opponents then saurus can!
When to use what!
With the choice of halberds or shields, many people can become power hungry and want to use the +1 Str offered by the halberd. However, this isnt the best option.
Halberds should only EVER be used when either
a) you wont have an armour save better then 6+,
or B) Your charging a unit, such as ogres, that you wish to negate the amount of attacks back as much as possible, and that has low LD and less ranks, to guarantee that if they are beaten they will break.
The rest of the time, shields should be your option. They keep more TG alive to fight another day, and since they could be guarding a toad, you'll want as many as possible!
Things to watch out for!
You should always screen TG from enemy shooters! Bolt throwers and skaven ratling guns (and magic) can desimate the expensive unit if your not careful.
Chariots should be looked out for, because of all the temple guard they can kill on impact...
Swamps of troops. These should be avoided as TG are more effective elsewhere!
ANYTHING INVOLVING INITIATIVE TESTS! AS THEY ARE VERY VERY SLOW IN!!!!!
Comments are appreciated, aswell as better updates!
