Rough Mathhammer Time: Sanguinary Guard vs Death Company

My numbers may not be exact but I did my best to find the average amount of "kills".

Now, I enjoy keeping units around the 200 point mark (before characters) if I can because I don't enjoy having so many points dumped into one unit, especially if it lacks in duality.

Why am I compared sanguinary guard versus death company? People everywhere are saying that sanguinary guard suck for their points cost.. same as jump pack DC. I for one see death company as being very good anti infantry (of any type) on the -charge- only. I also see sanguinary guard as being able to take a charge better than any other jump pack unit..


Rough mathhammer time. Here we go!


5 Jump Pack Death Company + power weapon
5 Sanguinary Guard (no furious charge)

vs hits on 3s, T3, 5+
vs ws4, T4, 3+
vs hits on 4s, T6, 3+

Where it says kills I mean unsaved wounds :)

On the charge.

vs hits on 3s, T3, 5+
Guard: 13.3 hits, 8.8 wounds = 8.8 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 10.5 hits, 8.5 wounds = 5.8 kills. Power weapon; 2.6 hits, 2.2 wounds = 2.2 kills. Total = 8 kills
Guard win.

vs ws4, T4, 3+
Guard: 10 hits, 5 wounds = 5 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 10.5 hits, 7 wounds = 2.3 kills. Power weapon; 2.6 hits, 1.7 wounds = 1.7 kills. Total = 4 kills
Guard win.

vs hits on 4s, T6, 3+
Guard: 10 hits, 1.6 wounds = 1.6 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 8 hits, 2.6 wounds = 0.8 kills. Power weapon; 2 hits, 0.6 wounds = 0.6 kills. Total = 1.5 kills
Guard win. (barely)

On the charge with buffs.

Sanguinary priest with jump pack and power weapon for the Sanguinary Guard.
Chaplain with jump pack for the Death Company.

The kills for these characters won't be included, only the buffs they give either unit.

vs hits on 3s, T3, 5+
Guard: 13.3 hits, 11.1 wounds = 11.1 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 14.2 hits. 13.8 wounds = 9.2 kills. Power weapon; 3.5 hits, 3.4 wounds = 3.4 kills. Total = 12.6 kills
DC win.

vs ws4, T4, 3+
Guard: 10 hits, 6.6 wounds = 6.6 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 14.2 hits, 12.6 wounds = 4.2 kills. Power weapon; 3.5 hits, 3.1 wounds = 3.1 kills. Total = 7.3 kills
DC win.

vs hits on 4s, T6, 3+
Guard: 10 hits, 3.3 wounds = 3.3 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 12 hits, 6.6 wounds = 2.2 kills. Power weapon; 3 hits, 1.6 wounds = 1.6 kills. Total = 3.8 kills
DC win.

Not charging.

vs hits on 3s, T3, 5+
Guard: 8 hits, 5.3 wounds = 5.3 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 8 hits, 5.3 wounds = 3.5 kills. Power weapon; 2 hits, 1.3 wounds = 1.3 kills. Total = 4.8 kills
Guard win.

vs ws4, T4, 3+
Guard: 7.5 hits, 5 wounds = 5 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 8 hits, 4 wounds = 1.3 kills. Power weapon; 2 hits, 1 wound = 1 kill. Total = 2.3 kills
Guard win

vs hits on 4s, T6, 3+
Guard: 7.5 hits, 1.25 wounds = 1.25 kills
DC: Normal attacks; 6 hits, 1 wound = 0.33 kills. Power weapon; 2 hits, 0.33 wounds = 0.33 kills. Total = 0.66 kills
Guard win


What have we learnt? Death company are better on the charge, sanguinary guard are way better when taking a charge. Also, for cost effectiveness I believe 5 jump DC + 2 power weapons + chaplain would be a very good unit. Extremely killy on the charge.

For survivability! 2+ save beats 3+ feel no pain so sanguinary guard win automatically. Toss in a sanguinary priest and they're miles ahead in survivability but the priest is alot easier to kill than the chaplain. If the priest in the guard is dead before you charge, your unit is probably dead anyway making his loss not hurt so much. You can catch a fnp/fc aura from another priest if you have to.

I like both units very much but imo sanguinary guard come ahead because of their better survivability, models (so sexy!) and ability to decently take a charge.. and yes, you will take a charge at some point!