Guardians of the sacred flame of Asuryan, branded by their vow of silence, and granted the powers of foresight. Fearless, stoic, and shielded from harm by divine might, these are the Phoenix Guard, or PG for short.

All elves might be considered frail, and even among the heavily armoured elven cavalry, there are few who can withstand a hail of bullets from a ratling gun, or the merciless path of destruction caused by a well-aimed cannonball. However, the PG are the exception to the rule. While their heavy armour offers very little protection for their frail elven bodies, the PG silently enjoys the protection from their patron god, this is shown in game by a powerful 4+ ward save.

Two lives for the price of one.
For those who might not know exactly what this means, I shall explain it:
A ward save is a magical or supernatural form of protection in the world of warhammer; this protection can not be bypassed or negated by common weapons. And the lower the number, the more efficient it becomes. This is because of the dice, which has six sides, and each side has a one in six chance of appearing on every throw. And with a ward save of 4+, I.E. saving on a 4,5 or a 6, a Phoenix Guard model has a 50% chance of completely ignoring any damage dealt to him or her. Against normal arrow fire or common melee combat, this might not seem much when you compare it to the 2+ armour saves of a heavy cavalry unit. But against a cannon ball, which ignores any and all armour saves, the Phoenix Guard still has a 50% chance of avoiding damage from a direct hit, while the cavalry model has, oh, about 0%.

Don't speak, don't die, and carry a big halberd.
While being the arguably most durable elven unit, the Phoenix Guard are not the most destructive weapon in the High Elven arsenal, indeed, they are paled in comparison to the Swordmasters with their two strength 5 attacks, or the heavy strength 6 blows from the White Lions. However, they offer the finest possible protection for any character, which can greatly improve the damage output of the PG. However, no High Elf should forget that the PG have not only the Speed of Asuryan, but the highest Initiative stat of any High Elf infantry unit, a 6. This means that they will strike before the majority of enemy units, and with some luck and often superior weapon skill, prevent most enemy units from striking back, this will further decrease the risk of casualties in the PG unit.

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, which means I get to re-roll?
Apart from their 4+ ward save, the PG also benefit from the special rule 'fear', this is to say that they both cause fear, and that they, due to this, are immune to the effects of fear. Thanks to this, they can be fielded against any foe without the risk of running away before even entering combat, barring lucky missile barrages and spells. Examples include the completely fear-causing undead armies, various daemons and a multitude of special units. Each army generally has at least one unit that causes, or is capable of causing fear. Armies with access to the lores of Shadow and Death also have the ability to make any unit in their army a fear-causing unit. The Phoenix Guard literally have nothing to fear from this.

While this immunity to fear might be a nice thing, some people might tell you that the ability to cause fear is wasted on the PG; they have a point, since the fear special rule grows in power as the unit grows in numbers. And since we are elves, fielding any unit in large numbers is a great strain on our budget. However, there is a sliver of hope, since the PG are one of the few units in the High Elven army that can be fielded in sizable blocks with a good measure of success.

Rank & File
Most High Elf player are weary of fielding his or her more expensive units in vast numbers, mainly because of the risk of finding that 25 strong unit of white lions caught up in a tiresome fight against some weak, but slow-killed enemy unit, such as a horde of zombies backed up by raise read from a sorcerous necromancer or vampire. And also the ever-present knowledge that any large unit of High Elven elite units have a proverbial bull’s-eye painted onto them. No empire general would ignore 20 swordmasters advancing on his front line, especially not when he has two or more cannons aimed and at the ready. In short, fielding a large unit of High Elves is to put many of your eggs in the same basket, and mind you, it is a frail basket.

Thanks to the ward save, the PG are quite the reliable basket, and as previously mentioned, is offers good protection for any character which has joined the unit. And when you add the durability of the Phoenix Guard, and their ability to both cause fear and their immunity to fear, you have a unit which can provide good static combat resolution, much like our spears can, but at a high price, and with a slightly lower damage ratio.

Sizes and Appropriate Tactics
There have been many debates on what unit size fits best for the PG, and many good arguments have been made for each possible size. However, the general agreement seems to have been that any unit of phoenix guard should always have at least two complete ranks, and preferably more.
The argument has been mainly the need to balance out the low damage output of the Phoenix Guard with the static combat resolution provided from rank bonuses. Since they are likely to reach your opponents units without any substantial losses, investing in ranks for the PG seems to have been a generally appreciated idea. However, it really depends on how you intend to use them, because they are more than just durable elves.

Using a smaller unit of PG has its uses as well, mainly to provide a reliable body guard for a mage or bowman character. With their ward save, each PG is roughly two extra wounds for the character in the unit, until the point where their numbers thin out to the point where they offer no more protection.

I have personally never heard of any armies fielding multiple blocks of PG, since they are after all quite expensive in large numbers, and require either a character or a "detachment" of sorts to win combats. However, many lists include the Phoenix Guard as an anvil, that hits the target enemy, holds them in place and awaits the hammer to strike the enemies flank. Favoured hammers are Swordmasters, White Lions or Dragon Princes, although any units with a unit strength of 5 or more, to negate enemy rank bonuses, or enough damage output to cause the enemy to break is generally sufficient.

Reinforce the flame.
In order to get the most out of a unit of Phoenix guards in a large unit, either give them a standard bearer, optionally carrying the war banner to provide more static combat resolution, or a character to provide more damage output, or a "detachment" to provide a flank charge, or even all of the above. There have been reports in this community of great blocks of PG, with numbers of 20 or more, hosting the Battle Standard Bearer alongside their own unit's standard bearer waving the war banner. Should the Battle Standard Bearer wield the Battle Banner, such a unit would hold at least 7 combat resolution points even before any wounds have been dealt. Should you roll high on the Battle Banner you're looking at a staggering 12 points even before any wounds have been dealt. And since few enemy units can deal 12 successful wounds, they are likely to win any combat they are involved with.

However, this is where the problem lies, our enemies know about the PG, how hard they are to kill. And unluckily, they might also know that they are not the deadliest troops in our army. PG are not at all useful against heavily armoured units. With a common elven strength of 3, boosted to 4 by their halberds, they are unlikely to kill a heavily armoured cavalry unit. No, the strength of the PG is to stop enemies from exerting their killing powers, and provide openings for allied units for implementing their killing power. Your enemy will not willingly run with his units into your anvil to await your hammer units. The PG aren't a gravitational well that attracts enemy units like a circus attracts kids, you need to get them where they need to be, with the appropriate support units trailing closely behind, otherwise you might find the PG engaged with some Peasant Yeomen while that fearsome lance of Grail Knights charge merrily into your other elves.

Final Résumé for the Phoenix Guard:
- Most resilient and durable among high Elves.
- Good Bodyguard unit for characters.
- Good Anvil for your battle line.
- Low damage output due to str 4, one attack each and no "attack in ranks" bonus.
- High cost.
- Needs support, either from items, characters, numbers or other units in order to function at maximum potential.
- Can be used to "screen" weaker units like Swordmasters from missile fire.