Deathrain wrote:I'd trust the more experienced people here, but I wonder if the guard is on a high strength player, like say a Troll, would it not increase the difficulty of breaking through the line a lot? He won't be blocked with assist (since it is early there won't be much much opposing guard, not enough to overpower the troll), so it is unlikely they can get rid of him easily. The guys on the outside then will have the trolls assist safe and won't get any more than one against them if you put some players in a chevron.
Yes, a troll is a different case: He's the player you want your opponent to focus his attention on, so by all means put him on the line, guard or not, and let him be blocked with his AV9 and regen. If he has guard this improves the odds of reversing the tide and gaining some counter-blocks, which is great.
(Also, guard on a troll means you don't have to take actions with him for him to be useful, which is very useful in itself.)