Cien Zaufania wrote:I wish there was a way to raise it, but that's not gonna happen with Elves, I suppose.
Lore of Metal's +2 Armour Save Augment - coupled with the 5+ ward from the CoB...
Cratz wrote:2 skull throwers (not sure about the name)
Screaming Skull Catapults...
For me, I've always gone with the Black Guard - however in units of 15+ I am now finding that executioners can seriously hold their own where normally the black guard fail - Venkh; you mention saurus and dwarves - I find that against these troops, the S6 of the Executioners really deals the damage whilst the black guard just don't quite cut it - granted you lose a truck load of exes on the way to achieving this - but then so too do the black guard: I'm not gonna bother mathhammering it (never seems to work out for me in practise ) but I think, if you optimised both units (CoB nearby and the ability to cast the +2 armour save cloak) I think that executioners would come out on top in a comparison between the 2.
The difference in the 2 units is the unit size - which I think then swings more into the black guards side of things: a smaller unit can be very effective whilst large units of executioners have to be taken if theyre to prove as equally useful. I think that another augment spell from metal also benefits the executioners more than the black guard: the +1 to hit, AP spell - hitting and wounding on 2s with the exes just seems like overkill! It doesnt affect the black guard 'quite' as well as the BG have Warrior elite - thus the +1 to hit isn't really needed in prolonged fights. On the other hand however - the AP benefits the BG more than the Exes.
In summary (sorry for the slightly jumbled post!), executioners DO prove more effective if given a direct comparison with maximum boosts (eg the 2 metal spells and CoB blessing) but for the price of unit, the black guard come out slightly ahead IMHO; if only because they require a lot less baby sitting than the Exes - which really need the boosts to become effective - at which point, they really overtake the BG (assuming the BG had the same boosts).
Hope that makes some sense...
- Beanz