Now that the new wave of Carnevale releases is out we thought we’d take a closer look at one of the new boxes coming to a sestiere near you. The City Guard box contains 5 of Venice’s finest city guardsmen, paid for by the Patricians they no longer serve the common interest, but the Patricians own shady motives.
With one Commander of the Guard, a Captain of the Guard, two Soldiers of the Guard, a Marksman of the Guard, and a Bottled Courage this gang comes out to a grand total of 75 Ducats. Equipped wits no less than three swords, one musket, and one bardiche this gang excels in close combat. Though this gang may struggle against more magic oriented or agile gangs, it’s high Protection and re-rolls from Expert Protection makes it incredibly durable.
You can find all of the stats for these characters as well as our gang builder on carnevalegame.com
Starting with the leader of the gang, the Guard Commander is a tough, disciplined front line fighter with a ton of command points. He wants to be in close combat with his Captain of the Guard to provide support with his Bodyguard rule. With a pair of powerful swords between them, close combat is going to hurt anything short of a Brachyura. The commander has a choice of two command abilities providing sustained ranged damage or extra attack for those close, great for getting the drop on an unsuspecting opponent.
The Captain of the Guard is an excellent bodyguard, with an officer’s sabre and high Protection, he’s perfectly able to keep your leader safe. His command ability is no joke either, giving Expert Marksman and Expert Offence to nearby Soldiers you’ll be enjoying more reliability on your attacks, as your henchmen choices in this list only have 3 attack, so re-rolls really help in getting damage through. As your Soldiers and Marksmen have a Mind of only 2, it’s important to note that all soldiers have Companion (Captain of the Guard) letting them use his Mind value of 5 as long as he remains alive and in play, so make sure to keep him safe!
Your two Soldiers of the Guard have one of each weapon available to them, an Infantry Sabre and a Bardiche. While the Bardiche gets extra range, great for poking those unfortunate enough to be in a canal while you remain on solid ground, it does have the downside of being Two-handed, making enemies harder to hit on attacks of opportunity. The Sabre equipped Soldier is able to make attacks of opportunity with no penalty, but needs to be in base contact with the target. Both of the soldiers are great objective holders with Expert Protection (1) and 5 Protection they have a lot of survivability, even while alone. While these guys are tough and can deal good damage they suffer from their low Mind and Will, anything that has Fear will likely enjoy their re-rolls against a commander-less soldier and getting the most out of their single Will is something that will need some serious thought.
Lastly, the Marksman of the guard brings long range firepower. With a massive 10″ range on his Musket he’s able to stay far back on an objective and snipe opponents, or better yet, get him onto a rooftop and shoot at your opponents down below. With a Dexterity of 4 you may need to bring some climbing tools or some bottled courage to get him onto some taller buildings, as his single will is better used on a crucial shot with his musket. Make sure to keep him in line of sight of his commander if you need to use his Aim Fire command ability, as shooting once, reloading with a command ability and then using a command ability to make an out of sequence shooting attack is a sure fire way to get some hurt on crucial targets.
The City Guard are a great way of playing Patricians, a very defensive gang compared to the Faction box with a lot of synergy that needs a more tactical approach. If you keep your leader covered, use command points when you need to, and stay away from water you’ll do well with this gang, sometimes the best offence is a good defence.
You can pick up a box of City Guard here!
