Lothern Sea Guard (Shields)

are a missile infantry unit introduced in Total War: Warhammer II.
== Recruitment ==
* Unlocked with: War Hall
== Description ==
The Lothern Sea Guard can fight as effectively on land as at sea, and are equally resolute when defending the walls and fields of Lothern as they are as when battling on the deck of a ship. These dangerous duties require the Sea Guard to maintain a flexible armoury. The vast majority are well-trained in the use of spear, shield and bow - the better to combine the finest aspects of the spear and archer regiments of other cities and realms. Indeed, it is a point of pride in Lothern that the discipline of their warriors far surpasses that of any found elsewhere in Ulthuan. When the armies of Ulthuan go to war, the Sea Guard play a crucial part, crewing the many warships and acting as the vanguard for the oncoming host.
== Attributes ==
== Unit Abilities ==
=== Passive Abilities ===
* Martial Prowess
== Strategy ==
The Lothern Sea Guard are a hybrid infantry unit equipped with a bow and spear. This makes Sea Guard extremely versatile, able to fill the role of both ranged damage and defensive melee. The greatest weakness of most ranged units is flanking maneuvers by enemy cavalry and monsters, a weakness almost entirely overcome by Sea Guard with their full lineup of typical spearmen skills, including very strong defensive stats, a bonus vs large, and charge defense/reflection when braced. Sea Guard can be used as either a front-line unit with the added bonus of range, or a ranged unit with the added bonus of being able to handle large enemies relatively well.
Their greatest strength is also a potential drawback, however. The Sea Guard are good at multiple roles, but master of none. Archers are more effective missile units due to their longer range and additional ammunition, and Spearmen are more effective spear infantry due to their better melee stats and higher unit count. All of this is accentuated by the fact that Sea Guard are noticeably more expensive than Archers or Spearmen in terms of both recruitment and upkeep cost. Typically speaking, in most situations two units of Lothern Sea Guard will probably be technically stronger than a contingent of one Spearmen and one Archers, but one Spearmen and one Archers will likely outperform two units of Lothern Sea Guard in terms of value for cost.
All these factors considered, choosing how to compose an army will largely depend on the financial and strategic situation of the campaign. For example, replacing Spearmen with Sea Guard can be highly effective against factions whose infantry suffer from low missile resistance, like the Vampire Coast. The shielded Sea Guard can also be very effective when facing other archer-heavy factions because their shields give them a major advantage in ranged duels. But against factions with strong and well-armored melee infantry, like Warriors of Chaos, the enemy will make it through the hail of arrows and charge into the expensive Sea Guard, whose ranged abilities and bonus vs large will now be rendered useless, and whose lower total health and model count compared to Spearmen means they will be killed off very quickly. A "best of both worlds" approach may be to recruit only a small handful of Sea Guard in order to bolster the backline Archers. This keeps the backline more secure from flankers or flying units, and also allows the Sea Guard to act as reserves for the front lines in melee if they need help.
It is worth noting that Eltharion, especially when confederated into a non-Yvresse High Elf faction, can be very effective with Shielded Lothern Sea Guard in particular. His character trait provides leadership and melee defense bonuses for spear infantry, and his Break Upon the Walls skill upgrade provides limitless ammunition for missile units and bonus armor for shielded units. Because shielded Lothern Sea Guard meet all three of these categories (spear infantry, missile unit, and shielded), these skills all benefit this single unit. When playing as Yvresse, however, it is almost always preferable to prioritize Mistwalkers units.
Sea Guard units generally replace Spearmen in garrisons as cities and settlements are leveled up, eventually completely replacing even Archers as well. Later game, High Elf garrisons will be mainly composed of shielded Sea Guard and some sort of elite infantry like White Lions of Chrace or Swordmasters of Hoeth, with no Archers or Spearmen.