Hjiryon wrote:HE can get a banner for their spearmen - and I think they should, considering what other core units they have and what banners are available to them.
Also, disrupting ranks does not remove steadfast - read the section in the BRB carefully on that count - there's a difference between Rank Bonus (a function under combat resolution) and having ranks.
The argument that EG are better because they have more attacks to the side is, at best, a weak one.
Sorry, I took a quick look at the entry for HE Spearmen before posting, but missed the Banner rule at the bottom of the page.
It's not that the additional attacks to the flank or rear are going to win them fights, it's that those attacks, combined with Ld9 and easy access to Stubborn, lets them do something that other Spearmen (and most Core units) are incapable of: putting up a fight once an enemy reaches their flank or rear.
Normally, if someone fields a large unit (or even a Horde) of Spearmen, they need two more units to protect its flanks. An exposed flank can easily lead to the large unit being wiped out by a small unit of flankers (say, beasts or light cavalry) without having a chance to bring all those attacks to bear. Even if they don't break, with only a handful of attacks to direct towards the flankers, they may well be stuck in combat for the rest of the game. Although they can now make a combat reform even if they lose, they won't want to expose their flank to the stronger units in front of them.
Eternal Guard, on the other hand, have the Leadership (often Stubborn) to avoid breaking when charged by flankers and the attacks to see them off without being caught. Instead of being forced to devote units to protecting their flanks, we can send them forward alone to tie something up or to set it up for a counter-charge. For a high-cost, low-unit-count army like Wood Elves, that's invaluable.
In that respect, an Eternal Guard Horde might actually be viable - not as a fighting unit, but as an exceedingly large and resilient tarpit. If you march that one Horde forward by itself, it could easily engage three or four enemy units (up to two to the front, followed by two more moving in on their flanks). The Eternal Guard certainly aren't going to win that fight, but they don't need to; tying half the enemy army up so the rest of our army can focus on their remaining units would be invaluable. With a modest investment in defensive support, starting with The Rhymer's Harp and Flesh to Stone, they may well hold up for the entire game, too. It's an expensive unit, but you don't give up a single VP unless they're wiped out.
Magic support, especially Flesh to Stone, would be critical for such a unit - that +2T is the only way a unit that size could survive the magical/artillery bombardment it's going to face before it reaches combat.
. Not enough capitalization 
