Unit Spotlight: Citadel Guard Part I

Concept:

After a slight hiatus, we're back with another Unit Spotlight. This time it's the quintessential soldiery of the Black Order - the Citadel Guard. This unit is meant to represent the core of the Order's professional fighting force. Whilst they're not full knights, the Guard serve as the Order's backbone in every battle and from their ranks the very best are chosen to become knight-initiates.

I wanted the Guard to mirror the real-life professional soldiery of many Military Orders in the Baltics and the Levant; the Teutonic Order called these warriors halbbruder, and to be honest, they were actually a bit more than common soldiers; they weren't quite rich enough to be full-fledged knights but they were definitely a cut above the "average" soldier. I figured that the depredations of the Dark would probably mean that the Order relies on client/subjugated peoples for the majority of their manpower, and therefore the Guard would already be something of an elite.

With this in mind, in a future entry I'll cover the other roles the Guard play on the battlefield. Today I'm looking at the front-rankers in the Guard whose duty it is to be the living shield that holds the line against the endless tides of the undead - or die trying.

Oh yes - I'd be remiss without mentioning one (obvious) source of inspiration for the Guard: the humble Warriors of Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter. Just one look at these guys should be enough to tell you where I got the idea for the shields from...

Models:

These guys are very simple - they're Victrix Norman Infantry with sculpted furs and shields from the Fireforge Templars and Teutonics sets. I wanted a bit more room on the shields for the chevrons, and Victrix shields have a boss in the very centre, so the Fireforge shields seemed a better fit.

I've also used Fireforge's Spanish Infantry as a basis for the Citadel Guard, as you'll see below; these are a bit more involved, as the resin Fireforge uses is not great quality and needs a lot of work to be usable. I've swapped out a lot of the heads (which were unusable, covered in mold lines or soft on detail) for Fireforge Russian Infantry helms, and again, sculpted on furs and used Fireforge shields.

The bannerman is a Fireforge Spanish Infantry body with a Templar Infantry helm, and a sword from Fireforge's Living Dead Warriors. I also nicked the banner from that kit, flipped it 90 degrees and attached it to a spear! Works pretty well.

On the tabletop:

The Guard sees an awful lot of action in basically every game type. In SAGA they're most commonly Warriors in whichever faction I'm playing. A blob of 12 is usually a great investment; you can't ignore a 12-strong blob of warriors, no matter which faction they're part of, as it's just too many attacks and scoring bodies to disregard. In Frostgrave and Rangers of Shadow Deep they're similarly the core of my warband; steadfast, reliable Men-at-Arms who can take a punch, dish one out, and still be standing when it's time to claim objectives.

Elsewhere, they've been used as Northern Alliance and Varangur Clansmen in Kings of War, and as Huamn Warriors in Oathmark. I'm tempted to try them as Asklanders in The Ninth Age, and, I'm pretty sure theywill see further use in some form or another when Warhammer: The Old World releases.

Next time I'll look at the Guard's ranged reserves, as well as the champions among the Guard who wield massive two-handed weapons, fighting in tandem with their shield-bearing brethren.