SW or BA?

[sube]

Hi there,

 

after a break of several years i'm seriously considering coming back to WAH40k. Back in my time i played vanilla SM, but now i'd like something a bit more aggressive (but still SM themed), so i'll probably pick either blood angels or space wolves. Any word of advice? Is it correct to say SW = better at shooting and BA = better at assaulting? Are the two codexes comparably competitive, or is any of them gimped/overpowered?

 

thx

[Grey Mage]

There is no gimped/overpowered, but it would not be fair to say that SW are better at shooting while BA are better at assaulting.

 

Bloodangels units either pay points, and precious elite slots, to get sanguinairy priests so they can have furious charge OR they have a 1 in 6 chance to get furious charge and fearless... with potentially negates the points they spent on priests. Bloodangels have alot of regular codex units, such as standard scouts, tacticals squads, devastators, etc. Thus they are quite capable of doing alot of shooting.

 

Space Wolves on the other hand will always be excellant at CC. No matter what youll know what a Grey Hunter unit can do, and how long it can do it. Our units, overall, are more balanced than BAs- the aforementioned GH squad is much, much better at shooting than an assault squad, and in most cases will hit just as hard on the assault- quite outclassing a tactical squad. And either way, GHs will be the same or slightly cheaper.

 

Our units that DO strictly focus on one way of war, such as thunderwolf cavalry and bloodclaws, or Long Fangs, are very good at what they do- Only the Death Company can match a bloodclaw for number of attacks on the charge, and they pay 5pts more and suffer from "Rage" to gain their advantages over a BC unit- higher base attacks and WS 5.

 

SWs have better infantry in general. Bloodangels have access to fast vehicles, and more types and numbers of dreadnaughts. Fast vehicles is a huge advantag, but they pay alot more for them too. They also have no transports in their entire army that are not dedicated transports.

 

Our terminators are more flexable than theirs, and in almost alll ways more powerful to boot... but we do pay more for the same configurations. On the other hand, we can take other optiosn a codex-style TDA unit could never dream off.

 

Our HQs are generally speaking better 1 on 1 than theres are, and in many ways will have a greater effect on our army as a whole than BA. Of course, your mileage may vary.

 

And we are flat-out better at Drop Podding. Counter attack, dirt cheap marines, and a slew of special weapons, combined with relatively cheap dreads rock hard characters in an army as a whole that excellts at knife-fighting distances means we never need worry on this angle. Footslogging seems about even- we have cheaper, more flexable squads while they have the option to take scoring jump-infantry for additional speed. Mechanized forces give an advantage to the BA, in that even their rhinos are fast wich allows them to redeploy with greater allacrity, but again they pay a heft 50% more for their rhinos than we do.

 

All in all Id say its fairly even. Go with the fluff that you enjoy most- gods only know when the next codex is coming out for either of these fine chapters.

[Valerian]

Hi there,

 

after a break of several years i'm seriously considering coming back to WAH40k. Back in my time i played vanilla SM, but now i'd like something a bit more aggressive (but still SM themed), so i'll probably pick either blood angels or space wolves. Any word of advice? Is it correct to say SW = better at shooting and BA = better at assaulting? Are the two codexes comparably competitive, or is any of them gimped/overpowered?

 

thx

 

Both are competitive and comparable, with good units, good special rules, and some good characters. Go with the one that you can relate to more. Whichever you think represents you better, and that you identify with, is going to be the army that you'll be happier playing, regardless of which is supposedly more powerful.

 

V

[Decoy]

Everything GM said.

 

Also, ale.

 

As Brother Rameses (spelling?) said, "If you have to ask if you should play Space Wolves, you shouldn't play Space Wolves." Ya know if you're a Wolf at heart, mate.

[Uncooked]

Grey Mage has written everything Im just agreeing with him :)

 

I would also add that I have never lost to the new blood angels in 4 games (each army was different) between two different players, 1 of them was a draw and the other 3 were solid victories.

 

I have actually bought the blood angels codex and found that it's impossible to make a balanced list, everything goes forward and nothing especially good besides from tactical marines are good at holding ground. IMHO Space Wolves have the best possible army selection for space marines if you do it right.

 

I have a serious amount of work on at the moment but in a couple of weeks time I should be able to post up a couple of 1500pts battle reports vs some orks.

[Wispy]

I don't think BA is actually better at assaulting. Rather, they are better at getting into assault, due to their speed. Sanguinary Priests and Red Thirst helps - and makes them durable - but as Greymage says, these upgrades must be paid fore and are not straight up available. Personally, I don't think BA can muster the same level of attacks that Space Wolves can do with regularity, and I'm actually inclined to give SW the assault edge - everything they have is good at assault , and their elite assault options are AMAZING in assault (Thunderwolf Cavalry, Wolf Lords).

 

I think Space Wolves have better troops, hands down. Nothing is as flexible as Grey Hunters, who are great at shooting and great assaulting - even when you're assaulting them! Our HQs are better - even the best BA special characters can be matched (yes, even Mephiston - he does not like runic weapons or storm shields) with a kitted out Wolf Lord for cheaper, and the Rune Priest is now one of the best support psykers in-game.

 

BA are fast! Undeniably so! One of their best features, though one I'm not too worried about seeing across from me on the table. Space Wolves just don't care, as they love it when you get close to them - their shooting and assault power is saturated at 24 inches.

 

I personally wouldn't want to make a BA army based around assault. BA's coolest things are their dreadnought and predator options - those are their strengths, and that's where my lists would be based around.