Editing Storm Guardians (section)

== On the Tabletop ==

[[File:800px-StormGuardianSquad.jpg|thumb|A squad of Storm Guardians]]
In 8th edition, there's one word that can describe Storm Guardians: Pitiful. In prior editions, Storm Guardians had an ever-so slight edge against most other armies' equivalents due to their higher initiative, letting them strike first against most enemies. Even though initiative has been removed, Storm Guardians received not a single perk to compensate. With only a single attack at a measly S3, the only opponents Storm Guardians can reliably kill in melee would be fellow GEQ infantry, though without psychic support (which would be ''far'' better served on more premium melee units, like Howling Banshees), they're still only wounding those guardsmen on 4's. Being a heavily melee focused unit, this is a crippling flaw that hampers their effectiveness severely. Life isn't complete shit for S. Guardians though, for they do have a precious few things going for them; namely their cheap cost.

With the 9th edition Codex, Storm Guardians ''finally'' received some very much needed attention. First, a glorious, full plastic kit not only brings these bad boys up to snuff visually, but it finally brought the squad size to a much more normal 10-elf unit bare bones. Additionally, a Serpent Scale Platform offers Storm Guardians a ''much'' needed defensive buff against shooting attacks (a 5++ invuln and the ability with 1's and 2's to wound against them failing) so that they actually have an opportunity to get into combat at least once before death. If needed, they can even fire off their Serpent Scale shield (thus losing the previous bonuses) in order to shut down a target's ability to Overwatch or perform defensive actions just before the charge. Once in combat, they now even get to re-roll hit rolls of 1 when within range of an objective. Nifty. That's about all the good news though, because these guys still pale before the might of any of your "real deal" melee infantry and between their low strength, low attack output and their virtually complete lack of AP bite, the only units Storm Guardians will threaten regularly will be similarly tissue-thin infantry like the Imperial Guard Conscripts or Tau Firewarriors.

*''Assault Weapons:'' Storm Guardians are the only non-aspect infantry choices that can take Fusion Guns or Flamers, making them the cheapest way to field said guns. While you won't get as many fusion guns as a squad of Fire Dragons would, you do have more in-squad meat shield protection to keep those special weapons around. Plus, with their pitiful range and melee focus, Storm Guardians will especially benefit from Battle Focus!
*''Defense:'' Curiously, 9th Edition has introduced the Serpent's Scale Support Platform, which only Storm Guardians can take along. It provides the Guardians a miniature version of the [[Wave Serpent]]'s shield, which you can shoot in the same way and expend it in order to shut down overwatch on the charge.

...and that's really it.

Offensive Loadouts:
*'''Shuriken Pistol''': The only ranged option for most of your dudes, this fires a single S4 shot at 12", with a chance of AP-3 on a roll of 6. While Guardian Defenders can fire off twice the number of shots per dude, at least your S. Guardians can pop off their pistols in melee, so there's that going for them, I guess...
*'''Aeldari Close Combat Weapon''': No more choice between Chain Swords and Aeldari Blades (even though each kit now comes with 5 of each). These bring the number of attacks each elf gets up to 2. You don't really have a choice, so you're keeping these.
*'''Power Sword''': Only 2 per squad of 10. Sacrifice the extra attack an ACC would give in exchange for AP-3. One attack and one wound at S3 AP-3 isn't turning heads. It's a very rare day that that extra AP will be of more benefit to you over the additional attack. Save yourself the points and hard pass.

And 2 out of every 8 Guardians can take one of these Special Weapons:
*'''Flamer''': Likely the standard choice, Flamers actually work quite well on Storm Guardians given the ranges they'll often find themselves in. These may spike the cost of your Guardians by 9 points a pop, but they're arguably worth it.
*'''Fusion Gun''': While these will give your Storm Guardians a surprising amount of bite, giving these guns to them will all but guarantee that this squad won't last past turn 3. Mixing one into a maximum sized group can definitely help deal with the odd monster or vehicle, though there are much more attractive options to deal with those in your other FOC slots.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Eldar]]

[[Category: Craftworld Eldar]]

{{Eldar-Forces}}