Why the guard...

When I was new to the hobby,I chose the best looking army.With huge tanks,loads of infantry,and those infantry being equipped with nowt more than a rifle,flak armour and the biggest balls this side of a boulder and made of cast iron,I had to choose the guard.But I may have been a bit too hasty.They look good,But the standard guardsman is crap.They always die,and never kill anything.Not backed up by tanks they don't...