Guard pushed away and guard attacked by autonomous

[bigfatchef]

both questiones are kind of similar since the both ask for correct attack steps:

1) A guard is melee attacked with a possible push effect and so pushed out of its attackers zone. The counterstrike does not happen since the counterstrike step happens after the apply effect step.
But is the guard triggered / does he lose his guard marker?

2) I saw this question at a ADMW game coming up and I am interested in the right answer: A guard is attacked by autonomous dancing scimitar. A counterstrike is not possible.
Does the guard lose its guard token?

Thanks for clarification!

[zot]

i believe the answer is

1.  yes guard is removed  and no counterstrike

2.  guard is not removed by autonomous attack

[Silverhaze]

And what if the water elemental follows the guarding creature. Does he get a counterstrike then?

[Schwenkgott]

To the initial questions ->
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=8586.0

The Water Elemental pushes the target eventually. The effect and the ability to follow will be handled in the Damage and Effects Step. For the Counterstrike Step, both creatures, Defender and Water Elemental are in the same zone again, so the Counterstrike is possible.