Dawnguard Sentinels

Dawnguard sentinels charge into the enemy as an overwhelming tide of cleaving blades. These heavily armored knights use their great swords to expertly carve through any adversary willing to stand against them. Sentinels embody sheer determination made tangible in flesh and steel and consider themselves guardians of the ideals of the Dawnguard.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Entire Unit
  • Template:Vengeance
  • Template:Wall of Steel

• Officer only
  • He has +1 MAT and 5 hitpoints
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Iron Zeal
  • Template:Tactics (Template:Relentless Charge-alt)

• Standard only
  • Template:Standard Bearer
  • Template:Take Up

Weapons

• Leader, Grunts, & Officer
  • Great Sword - 2" reach, P+S 12 melee weapon
    • Template:Weapon Master

• Standard Bearer
  • Template:Unarmed

Weapon Attachment

Sentinels may have up to 3 Soulless Escorts added to them. His info has been omitted from this article for brevity.

Theme Forces

• Template:Legions of Dawn

Thoughts on Dawnguard Sentinels

File:DawnguardSentinelUA.jpg

Command attachment

Dawnguard Sentinels in a nutshell

These guys are your expensive tank infantry, they can be taken out if hit right but when they get to where they are going they make sure you remember. All in all they are a basic armor unit who specialize in being their own delivery system with wall of steel and iron zeal, and when they get to where they are going weapon master coupled with high MAT mean a few models just got sliced in half.

Thoughts on adding the CA

Since the Officer amends two of the most important issues with assault troops (Pathfinder during charges and extra ARM in a crucial turn, while advancing toward the enemy), their attachment is kind of mandatory.

Combos & Synergies

Any caster that can increase their ability to get to where they're going is good, plus there are a few other good options that are non-caster that make great combinations.

• Helynna is a fantastic with her Deceleration spell to assure that the Dawnguard can safely make it across the board (taken to absurd levels with her feat). This is shared with Vyros2 who also brings his Veteran Leader ability to bring their MAT to truly elite levels.
• Issyria and Vyros1 both have have Inviolable Resolve which makes the Sentinels unmovable jerks who spit in your opponents face and proceed to paint their white armour red with their blood.
• Goreshade4 also buffs their ARM considerably with Dauntless Resolve, which also makes them Tough.
  • Lys Healers grant them knock down immunity, which is potent under Dauntless Resolve and also prevent their souls from being stolen, which is great for his feat.
• Discordia is yet another delivery vessel of armored goodness. Discordia's imprint gives armor against shooting so just keep him around and you will have some scary support with your troops.
• House Shyeel Artificer is good against shooting and blasts just like Discordia but he serves to increase defense with Force Wall which gives Force Barrier to all models nearby. Even though you might not get blasted you can still get caught on fire so be careful against Menoth.
• Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir is useful to have around for Tactician, which means they'll never get in their way for charges or making Vengeance moves. He, and his jack, also get their own Vengeance move and attack if one of the unit dies close by.
• Death Archon - They provide corpses to it and it makes them tougher.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Even at SPD 5 they can be slow to get to where they need to go. Spells like Issyria's Crusader's Call and Elara2's feat can help with this when it's time to make an alpha-strike.
• As all high-ARM single-wound targets, they are vulnerable to effects that cause fixed damage irrespective of ARM (Sniper, Corrosion, Puncture, Anatomic Precision, etc.)

Tricks & Tips

• Keeping them in the triples arrow head formation to better keep their armor bonus is great, but there is a better option. Keeping most units spread out to prevent AOE blasts and corrosion is key so remember your mini feat. So turn one move out, turn two mini feat and turn three slice and dice.
• If you have to, leave one or two guys a bit further up as a sacrifice with a purpose. This tactic has two purposes, one you have a weapon master with decent range up close so they can block charge lanes or make your opponent deal with them before they get closer. Two dying, let them die (or attack if left alone) and you will have triggered Vengeance giving the unit a free three inch move and attack before your turn really begins.
• This can be supplemented if you have a point left over at list build: adding a Soulless Escort provides another such body for much cheaper than the regular Sentinel grunt, still contributes to triggering Vengeance with his death and also helps out against spellcasters early game (mid/late game, not so useful since everything will be quite close in by then, so you don't mind the SE's passing so much!).
• Couple them with things that increase armor or prevents blast damage (Artificer or Discordia) POW 10 can take them out pretty easy unless buffed so just remember to keep them safe.
• The Standard Bearer will benefit from the Vengeance move, if not the free attack.
• Watch out for abilities and spells, that can be triggered by Vengeance moves - most commonly Admonition, Counterblast, Counter Charge, Watcher/Guardian Beast.

Other

Trivia

Released in Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah (Novermber 2009)