AoS Saurus Warriors vs Guard

How do Saurus Warriors and Guard compare when utilized as the main bulk of an army?

I'm much more interested in the aesthetics of the Guard and would prefer to run them in my 1000 point list but want to make sure there snall numbers don't hinder them too much.

I'm completely new to AoS and seraphon so still trying to work out all the units and play styles.

Main reason I ask is because the army box seems worth the cost simply because of the Carny but I would likely end up selling off the knights and warriors in favor of guard and skinks.

Leaving aside the look, let's examine the 2 units.
Warriors are cheaper, GUards are elite that can have really solid save with minimal investment, but rely on the warden.
However, at only 1000 pts, what can you field?

big block of 40 warriors: 360 pts.
10 guards with warden: 340 pts.

few mortal wounds and your guards will be out of combat.
More guards and you will have few points for the rest of the army...

You could do 15 guards + warden and 1 unit of 10 skink for the 2nd battleline: 500 pts.

Then you'll have other 500 pts to cover magic, shooting, and similar. Still possible.

Killer Angel said:

Leaving aside the look, let's examine the 2 units.
Warriors are cheaper, GUards are elite that can have really solid save with minimal investment, but rely on the warden.
However, at only 1000 pts, what can you field?

big block of 40 warriors: 360 pts.
10 guards with warden: 340 pts.

few mortal wounds and your guards will be out of combat.
More guards and you will have few points for the rest of the army...

You could do 15 guards + warden and 1 unit of 10 skink for the 2nd battleline: 500 pts.

Then you'll have other 500 pts to cover magic, shooting, and similar. Still possible.

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I agree with what you said. Personally, I play a lot with Saurus Guard and the Eternity Warden (mandatory if you play Saurus Guard). And, my only fear is mortal wounds. That's why I tried to block and to snipe the source of the mortal wounds with skinks and magic.

While I like Guards for me it is this way:
Mortal wounds spam makes Guards almost completely useless. Warriors win by a huge margin.
When facing armies without mortal wounds: Guards win.

So in games where larger blocks of guard can be taken they are less of a risk because of mortal wounds. If it helps my main opponents will be Chaos and Sylvaneth. Guess I'll be buying start collecting boxes and using warriors for the time being.

Are Slann the only real magic option? And Chameleon skinks for some ranged sniping ability? Something better for that?

At a 1000p battle I would definitely prefer the warrior way - Sunclaw with 1 x40 + 2 x10 and 2 starpriests. 1 for spamming summon starlight and 1 for mystic shield or even arcane bolt if needed for a good save opponent that has no protection agaist MW !

Are scar vets worth investing in the box set? We are likely going to play the Path to Glory campaign yo start AoS.

Christopher Wheeler said:

So in games where larger blocks of guard can be taken they are less of a risk because of mortal wounds. If it helps my main opponents will be Chaos and Sylvaneth. Guess I'll be buying start collecting boxes and using warriors for the time being.

Are Slann the only real magic option? And Chameleon skinks for some ranged sniping ability? Something better for that?

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Slann is our strongest magic option, but it's far from the only one, Skink starpriest is excellent, and Sterseer is still truly good (even if its cost was raised), especially if you play with no Slann.

Chaos is vague. Certain khorne builds inflicts mortal wounds, and Tzeetch armies got a mass production of MW.
Beware of Sylvaneth: they have a high mobility, and your guards are slow. You can use teleport, but unless you use a Slann with double teleport, you cannot move around a block of guards+warden

Christopher Wheeler said:

Are scar vets worth investing in the box set? We are likely going to play the Path to Glory campaign yo start AoS.

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ScarVet is solid. I'm using it as general in my current PtG campaign.

Yea I'll probably go the warrior route for now for simplicity sake until I get a better grasp of positioning etc in the game. I play GK in 40k so small batches of elite units are fine but since the system is a little different I should probably ease into it.

As far as chaos it's mostly Khorne Bloodbound with some Tzeentch mixed in. Or will be at some point.

I'll put together a list and post it up and see how it looks. Start Collecting boxes are obviously good values for the money that's why I asked about the scar vets specifically in the Carny.

guards are only weak against mortal wounds and you have to be near your warden as a compact Formation.

i Play them with 1x10 and 2x5 +EW in a eternal starhost. with a priest/starpirest you are at 750 Points and can add ranged Units like razordons/Salamanders.
i played them in the Estarhost all the time, what about you guys? even though the d3 dmg are rather rare, the 2+ save is rly good. it is a huge Investment though and mortal wounds hurt like a ****.

Yeah against Khorne you have some ways to take some of their mortal wounds away (those requiring a 6+ can be taken away with Starlight) but I'd probably say Warriors are still the better allround choice.

In small battles like that the guard will either completly dominate or be completly annihlated. An eternal starhost is virtually immortal at this size if your opponent has few reliable mortal wounds, whereas the moment their mortal wounds become plentifull, and more importantly reliable, they'l steamroll you. The small pointsize means that both you and your opponent can't bring particularly versatile armies hence the rather extreme difference between the two situations.

In general though as the others have said; guards are stronger but far more expensive and considerably more suspectible to mortal wounds because of it. So basicly use the following rules of thumb:

1) You will rarely want to field guards outside of an eternal starhost. They are expensive & other options will (usually) be more cost effective.
2) If your opponent has reliable and plentifull mortal wounds you will need supporting troops to take care of these. Guards should avoid mortal wounds like the plague.
3) If your opponent as no (reliable) mortal wounds the guards will be godlike in a eternal starhost. Add in a skink priest and starpriest for a summon starlights and celestial rites for even more hillarity.