Best use of a lot of Phoenix Guard?

[Neomaxim]

Hey folks.  So while picking up a bunch of lots of models for future Fantasy Fisticuffs articles, I found that one ended up including almost 90 beautifully painted Phoenix Guard.  Any suggestions on some fun and competitive uses for them?  I'm really unfamiliar with that corner of the CoS book, but it seems it takes very little to get them up to 2+/2+ hit-wound, re-rolling the later.  Is that enough to make me want to run really large blocks of them?

[Luke.w]

I always run 30 phoenix guard in my CoS army. You could even take two blocks of them if you wanted. They fight in three ranks because they are 2 inch (51mm) range with 25 mm bases. They become extremely killy against most targets and very efficient defensively at effectively 7 points per wound with their 4+ ignore. Never dissappointed taking them, just get them on the table before the next points update!

[readercolin]

Phoenix guard are excellent elite infantry.  Arguably one of the best.  As for how to use them?

A single block of 30 makes for an excellent anvil.  This is especially good when you are doing a deathstar with the soulscream bridge, as you can bridge forward, drop the guard as an extremely hard to remove defensive roadblock, and then have a ton of shooting hiding behind that.  Here you aren't really doing anything specific to enable the phoenix guard, you are just using their raw warscroll power to allow you to focus much of the rest of your list on obliterating your opponent.  That being said, you are probably running a hurricanum if you are doing this, and they still appreciate the +1 to hit.

For a larger number, where you are using the guard as your primary unit (ex. you want a "phoenix temple" force), then using multiple minimum sized units moving around is a reasonable option.  You can deploy 50-60 of them in 5-6 squads, and basically have extremely hard roadblocks for your opponent to deal with, while using something else to be the primary hammer for your force (ex. Phoenix's, or a bunch of mages + endless spells, or shooting units, etc.).  This allows you to spread the board well and still be hard to move.  This youtuber has a good intro to how he uses them in this way, as well as several battle reports that are focused around his phoenix temple force.

If you want to go super heavy into a phoenix temple force, and field 3 blocks of 30 guard though, you are definitely moving away from what Cities is good at and starting to look more like a Fyreslayers army (except you have phoenix guard instead of hearthguard berzerkers).  Here there are only 3 cities that I would consider running like this - Hammerhall, Tempest Eye, and Hallowheart (and probably in that order). 

Hammerhall gives you 4 things that are interesting.  First, it lets you get a command point on a 6 for every unit you have with a banner, so you have a few extra command points floating about.  Second, it lets you spend a command point to pile in and attack twice if it is wholly within enemy territory, which gets you some extra damage out of your large blocks of Guard.  Third, it gives you the Twin Stones, which basically lets you turn 1 of your hero's into a hurricanum that only affects melee attacks (and hitting on 2's is soooo nice).  Fourth, your general can take either aggressive general (do if you put your artifact on another hero) to let you get another +1 to hit bubble, or if you have your general carry the twin stones he can take blood of the twelve, and let your units re-roll wound rolls of 1, which means that around your general your guard are 2+/3+rr1 to hit/wound.  This lets you save your command points so either another unit can use the annointed's command trait, or so you can use them for the pile in and attack again ability.

Tempest Eye gives you 3 interesting things.  The first is the turn 1 extra movement, which will allow you to get into position more quickly and the extra 1" to run rolls is also nice.  The second is the Zephyrite Banner, so you can re-roll charges without needing a command point to do so.  And the third is Aura of Glory, giving all your guard around your wizard +1 attacks.

Lastly, Hallowheart gives you magical support.  This is for when you decide that you really want to run wizards after all, even though you just spent 1360 points on 3 blocks of 30 guard and 1 annointed.  But hey, wizards are cool, and potentially enough to carry the game by themselves, which takes some of the weight off of the Guard's shoulders.

Overall, the only other thing that you should really be aware of is just how good the Phoenix guard are with the Emerald Lifeswarm.  To the point where I would say bringing a wizard with that spell to support them should be mandatory.  With a 4++ save, the guard are effectively 2 wound models that can still bring d6 models back from the emerald lifeswarm.  It effectively brings back d6 * 2 models back.

[Neomaxim]

Thanks for the great tips.  Nice to know I have a few options, even with the huge number of Guard I ended up with!