PoD being spammable...I completely missed that. That is truly sick. Black Guard also pack I6 and Eternal Hatred, which ensures that they hit first against quite a lot of elite infantry aswell. If HE characters could join the unit, it could get a BSB with the Banner of the World Dragon, making them almost immune against magic missiles.
Now, a L4 Dark SS would be quite convenient in this unit, pushing the unit slightly above 1k pts if my calculations are right, even without a Cauldron. In fact, I really think Hellebron is better than a cauldron, for the fact that the avaliability of a 4+ regeneration save makes her much more durable than before, and by giving only +1 attack (Frenzy) to the BG, they wouldn't get -3 to LD to resist the urge to charge. Furthermore she is a combat monster with Fear and a nasty -3 to enemy Fear checks. With a frontage of 7, that'd mean an optimum of 21+14[supporting ranks]S5(or higher)+7(+d3)S10 attacks, not considering magical buffs. What do you think?
This would mean that, theoretically, Alarielle would push the Exec/BG unit to 5+/4++ essentially, with a 6+ ward vs flaming attacks? Also, is this ET exclusively or has it been FAQ'd? I'm not really familiar with either.