Full Jump Pack Army

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

Hi Brothers,

 

Just wondering if anyone has successfully feilded a full jump pack BA army?

 

The reason I ask is because I wish to feild one myself. I am a novice player though. But as such I like the idea of playing the [rare] game that I follow the fluff I am using for my Successor chapter, that is, pretty much hit and run, they do the damage and then bail pronto! Is this idea in my head just because I'm a noob?

 

I'm wondering what weapons I should be considering for anti tank? So far I was thinking an Assualt squad with melta guns x2? And equipping some characters with melta pistols? Should I consider Powerfists? Are plasma weapons effective? Everytime I try to fire one I cheese it! Am I on the right track?

 

I don't want to feild a SG army, they have only proved to draw fire and not even make it into combat. Obviously I'm using them wrong but I'm going to steer clear of them for now.

 

Yours in Honour and Faith,

Chaplain Hiltraud

[gustmic]

Yes, it is definitely possible to run a competitive and fluff-rich all jump-pack Blood Angel army.

That is exactly what I am about to build myself for pretty much the same reasons.

 

I also think you are on the right track of choosing meltaguns x2 with a powerfist for your full assault squads with jump packs.

For a jump pack army descending via deep strike it is often important to bring units of Vanguard Veterans as well to lock up selected enemy units.

 

Further, Librarians are great as HQ thanks to being cheap and bringing a much needed psychic hood.

Bringing Honour Guards is a good way to bring in specialists that can be kitted out for various targets, e.g. 4x meltagun for anti-tank purposes.

 

Last but not least, we have been given options as Descent of Angels and multiple units that can bring jump packs so that we can deep strike in force.

But for this to work we have also been given the option to bring Sanguinary Priests to soak up that small-round fire that we inevitably will take after we have deep struck and are standing in the open.

 

Bringing these with jump packs together and Honour Guards that have their priests in the unit as Sanguinary Novitiates wil make all the diffenerence.

 

Good luck.

 

/gustmic

=> My WIP Jump pack Blood Angels Blog

[Redo]

An all jump pack army can be rather difficult to field effectively. The main problems being that there is not cover for the army from advancing vehicles, they cannot return ranged fire and that they are rather fragile. That being said, when enough jump packers hit with enough numbers they can deal out a ton of damage, especially as they most always get the charge.

 

Normally I would say that it would be better to have one or two units in Rhinos Razorbacks that can speed up to 18" and let the Jumpers spring 12" and run D6" behined whilst recieving cover saves but if you want to run an all jump pack army I would suggest that you get a couple of predators or vindicators for some ranged support and return fire options (anti-tank/infantry). These tanks can be used to grant cover saves to following Jump Pack units, yet still move 12".

 

Sanguinary Priests are going to be important to grant FNP, Furious Charge. You may want to get an Honour Guard for the Priest and some good assault weapon options.

 

Personally my jump pack units are always 10 strong and kitted out with a power fist. I have also been using a flammer, melta gun and a Infernus pistol on the Serg. I find that this gives the unit good dual role capabilities. I find that plasma weapons are not worth it. Too expensive and the 'gets hot' rule does not indear them to me.

 

An all Jump Pack Army requires an agressive general. Too much hesitation and manouvering will see your troops get whittled down rapidly. You will need to strike hard and fast...good luck.

[Andrew_Beck]

warning:

if you love your miniatures than beware that causalities may (and will) occur.

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

thanks gustmic ;)

 

I was thinking of feilding the Sanguinary Preists with the full Assualt squad, and am thinking of adding a chaplain also? That's all good right?

 

From now on, I plan to feild Lemartes (Well my counts as model anyway) in with DC (I love having DC in any sized army)

 

I've never made or feilded an honour guard. Is this a mistake? Also, does the Honour Guard have to stay with the character it is attached to? or can the character just bail and do his own thing? I know someone's asked that before, I just can't remember the answer.

 

And I've never ever used a Libarian. I always feild a Reclusiarch for 2 reasons 1 it fits in with my fluff (as many chappys as possible) and 2 I think they're just all around badass!!!

Is the Libby a better option?

 

I also overlooked Vanguard's..I might go do some reading....

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

@Redo: thanks for the heads up. I have proved to be an extremely aggressive player. My friends that I play always pat me on the back after shooting and say "Cover's for SOB right?" even though I do tend to create an annoyance for them. But at the moment that's all I am. A small thorn in their side and distrubtive to their plans because (just like a BA) I thirst for CC and am way to unpredictable. But I want to keep that aspect of gaming style yet still be a formidable opponent! - and I plan not to use Tanks at the moment. For sheer fluff reasons.

 

@Andrew_Beck: Sacrifices have to be made!!

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

{EDIT} Whoops. Darn computer ;)

[Redo]

@Redo: thanks for the heads up. I have proved to be an extremely aggressive player. My friends that I play always pat me on the back after shooting and say "Cover's for SOB right?" even though I do tend to create an annoyance for them. But at the moment that's all I am. A small thorn in their side and dirtrubtive to their plans because (just like a BA) I thirst for CC and am way to unpredictable. But I want to keep that aspect of gaming style but still be a formidable opponent! - and I plan not to use Tanks at the moment. For sheer fluff reasons.

 

I reckon you can still fit tanks in and keep fluffy. You can always imagine that your troops are being transported in a Thunderhawk Transporter (if you win the lottery you could even buy one for fluff purposes or Apocalypse battles).

 

Anyway the Thunderhawk Transporter can carry up to 2 Rhino chasis or 1 Landraider chasis and the rest of the army could be carried in normal Thunderhawks or Stormravens...

 

Secretly it is my dream to one day have enough flying transports to form a Marine "Air Cavarly" unit.

[gustmic]

Chaplain Hiltraud,

 

Redo is absolutely right in that it takes a lot of bodies for a pure JP BA to work.

Also, he's right on the money about the difficulties in positioning your units when deep striking.

You will need to get fairly close and you have to deep strike (when you do deep strike) close to the enemy.

 

It is a fairly challenging list to build as you will need to balance and maximize the usefulness of this extreme elite army.

But hey, that's where the fun begins!

 

The whole idea of how the pure JP BA will work is that you will try to get close so that your first round (round 2, deep striking) of shooting count and then swarm them in force.

The melta guns are for opening the vehicles/MCs up so that the soft and gooey stuff comes out, ready for you to charge with assault marines.

 

Thus, you'll need to focus on what is important and not spend points where they don't belong.

The meltagun/infernus pistol are superior as you have the mobility. Look to maximize these.

Great is if you can maximize duality here, that means ensuring that you give your units roles where they can do good in different roles that they take on.

For example, bringing a powerfist/infernus and 2x meltaguns to a 10 strong assault squad will make it possible for the unit to both be used when deep striking (shooting) and afterwards when you will charge (Furious Charge, and good number of attacks).

 

If you want to bring DC for fluff reasons, by all means do, but you will reduce control but perhaps gain fun.

 

Honour guards are great as you can kit them out for a lot of scenarios and they don't take up FOCs. Further, you get/buy a priest that is "hidden" in the unit. A good unit for reliably take out important vehicles such as Land Raiders.

 

Librarian is cheaper which lets you add much needed bodies elsewhere.

You have to ask yourself "why do I want a psyker"?

Is it for your fluff reasons, go head take the Reclusiarch.

The Libby is there mostly for the need of taking an HQ and that he brings a psychic hood. He casts a decent amount of power especially since BA can cast powers in both in the BA turn and the enemy's turn.

At 2000pts, I will bring two.

 

Vanguard are important to tie up units that will otherwise shoot or assault your units to pieces. With Divine Intervention you have a shoot at locking up some important enemy units long enough for you to swamp them in the next BA turn with the rest of your units in the assault phase. Remember, the vanguard vets are only there as a buffer to make sure important enemy units can not perform against yours.

 

/gustmic

 

=> My WIP Jump pack Blood Angels Blog

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

The fluff behind why I don't want to use tanks yet is because: (I am still learning the universe of 40K so pointers are always welcomed)

 

My Blood Wraiths chapter are considered renegade by the Inqusition due to rumours of mutation, the secretive "feeding" rituals and their fiery attitude on and off the battle feild.

 

The chapter is dying (cliche I know) much like other succesor chapters of BA. Even though they are considered renegade and regardless that they have been fired upon by many an Imperial force, the Blood Wraiths always answer distress calls and come to the aid of Imperial forces.

 

The current chapter master long ago invested the time in making a highly mobile force able to quikly descend into the thickest battles and able to disappear just as quickly when the job is done.

 

Hence the jump packs.

 

The chapter has a very limited amount of tanks that are only used in the most dire times.

 

I like the idea of a Thunderhawk cruising down and dropping off some tanks and then returning to pick them up, but I picture the whole process taking up valuable killing time?

[gustmic]

I would want to give you some head start into what to think about regarding a Blood Angels JP army.

Now, I will promote some traffic to Kirby's site but I believe he has a more comprehensive take on BA than Stelek, which makes it easier for you to follow and digest.

After you are done with Kirby's site, you move on to Stelek's and learn more...about what?

 

List building.

 

Now, a lot of people may criticize Stelek for Theoryhammer and what not.

But he is excellent at list building and rigorously playtest his lists to meet a very strong standard.

He knows what he is talking about most of the time.

 

List building is very important for BA as it is easy to get lost in all the goodies we have.

BA plays different from regular Space Marines and it is important to understand both why and how.

 

I've put together a comprehensive list of good links for you to look at to get a good grasp of BA.

I can not enough recommend Kirby's good articles on the subject.

 

BA analysis

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...els-part-1.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...art-2-army.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...part-3-red.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...rt-4-force.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...art-5-core.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/05/...els-part-6.html

 

Jump packs

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/03/...jump-packs.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/05/...per-armies.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/05/...jumpers-ii.html

 

List discussions

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/05/...eed-advice.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/06/...ct-ba-1850.html

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/04/...jumpers-2k.html

 

Finally, a lot of good discussions can be found in the comment section underneath each article.

 

 

Happy summer reading.

 

 

/gustmic

 

=> My WIP Jump pack Blood Angels Blog

[Devilmixer]

Hi I love the idear of a full JP army, but have never fielded one yet, tend to add a unit of devators, but other than that all JP most of the time, works fine

[Sun Drinker]

YES YES YES!!!!! An all jump pack army is where it is at, Chaplain Hiltraud. I field all JP army exclusively (frequently against Tau... to which I've never lost) and I will tell you now that it's never been too shooty for all JP to not be effective. As others have said Sanguinary Priests are important, as is a Librarian for the shield of Sanguinius power (5+ cover save!), and a death company with chaplain (I also use Lemartes). I field many powerfists, meltaguns, and infernus pistols. Don't forget meltabombs on any squads without powerfist or other close combat weapon for dealing with vehicles (shooting phase is sometimes not enough, make sure you have an assault phase back-up plan for cracking vehicles).

 

I take 5-man squads rather than 10 man squads so that i can have more special weapons when facing mechanized opponents. If you must take 10-man squads for points, consider combat squading them because it will minimize the amount of troops that a shooty enemy can wound with a single squad of theirs. Also, keep one un-upgraded or kitted out assault squad in front spread as wide as you can to give a cover bonus to the troops behind and essentially force the enemy to shoot at your least valuable squad for a turn.

 

You WILL make it down that gaming board. In the enemy's shooting phase on turn 2 you will FEEL like you're going to lose but don't lose your head or your daring. On turn 3 when you've multiple assaulted all of his exposed troops he'll be feeling worse than you were a turn ago. Also, dont' forget you can assault more than one unit. This is important for stopping the guns of shooty enemies, and allowing the rest of your army to approach.

 

Finally, vanguard veterans are worth deepstriking, but i think it's fine to run the rest of the army down the table.

[Andrew_Beck]

just quickly on vanguards. best use for them in all-JP army was for me this.

5man - JP,1*P.Claws,1*PF,1*PW (sergeant got this). they ds-assault-kill-die at the retaliation.

[Malus the Destroyer]

I run a JP heavy army, ie... 4 x 10man RaS. Casualties are rough and are going to happen period. On of the issues I face is that, because of the FNP/FC from priests, melta guns, and Powerfists, and they are still assault marines, enemies will pick up real quick that they threaten everything on the table, and will do everything they can to cook them. I know it would be more competitive to slap em in rhino's, but I love my JP's, and that's how I like to play.

At the end of the day, it's your models that you bought, assembled, and painted. Play them how you most enjoy.

[daboarder]

just a note bout this, typhoons are worth their weight in gold trust me.

[B1ad3st0rm]

Pretty much all the games I have played with BA have been full jump pack and I seem to win a lot more then I lose.

[LordofDeath11]

Just in case everyone else is like me and didn't notice; Vanguard can split into combat squads. Which is awesome. Also I noticed Kirby had 2x5 man VGV squads so this info might help him figure out his list.

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

 

Gustmic: Those articles are invaluable information. Thankyou very much, I'm starting to understand the units that I need to include in a full jump pack army. I love how they explain thouroughly why the units are included. Awesome.

 

I have a 1500pt Tourney coming up in 2 weeks, I was hesitant at first but I will definetely be feilding an all out jump pack army. I don't expect to win but it'll be fun! I'll post an army list at some stage...

 

Yours in Honour and Faith,

Chaplain Hiltraud

[matchbox]

I field a full JP army formy fleshtearers and it works brilliantly. I take sanguinary priests with Jp's and power Weps. Then give the sergeants power weps. Alright you may not be kiling on twos but remember with furious charge you get strength 5 so most enemies are killed on twos anyway. I then run a Libby with episolary and JP. Give him sanguine sword and unleash might of heroes. That's a possible 8 attacks at strength 10. Can't go wrong really.

[gustmic]

All of you who run JP BAs, what units do you usually deep strike - all? Some particular?

What are your experiences?

I am particularily interested in your experiences of a full deep strike, as I have only playtested it on VASSAL 40k a couple of times.

 

/gustmic

 

=> My WIP Jump pack Blood Angels Blog

[matchbox]

I tend not to. I prefer to Jump them across the field, If you deepstrike them you can't do anything on the turn they arrive, in which case the enemy shoot the crap out of you. If you jump them across the field however chances are you'll be in combat on the second turn whereas if you deepstrike you'll most likely have to wait until the third or fourth turn. Just hide them behind cover whilst moving them about.

[daboarder]

take a couple of squads of vets and tie up the nasty stuff right from the get go, if you sang priests are close as they should be then the vets should atleast get FC with their HI.

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

This is my first tourney, I don't intend to win. I just want to have some fun.

 

Firstly, I've never ever used a Lib. I've never used VV. I've never not included DC. I've never been in a tourney. I'll be playing against IG, BA, Smurfs, Orks and Necrons with a possibilty of Nids...

 

So here's the list. Thoughts/comments muchly appreciated. I've read most of the info and here's what I came up with. Be gentle though, this is one of my first 'thought out' lists. It's just shy of 1500pts.

 

 

HQ

Epistolary – power armour, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades, force weapon, psychic hood, jump pack. Shield of Sanguinius, Blood Lance.

 

Honour Guard(x5) – power armour, frag and krak grenades, jump packs, 2 meltaguns, 1 power weapon, 3 bolt pistols, Blood Champ has power weapon and combat shield. Sanguinary Noviate has Blood Chalice.

 

ELITES

Chaplain – power armour, frag and krak grenades, rosarius, crozius Arcanum, infernus pistol, jump pack.

 

Sanguinary Priest – power armour, bolt pistol, blood chalice, frag and krak grenades, power sword, jump pack.

 

Sanguinary Priest – power armour, bolt pistol, blood chalice, frag and krak grenades, power fist, jump pack.

 

TROOPS

Assualt Squad(x10) – power armour, frag and krak grenades, jump packs, 2 meltaguns, 7 bolt pistols, 7 chainswords, vet serg has power fist, combat shield, bolt pistol.

 

Assualt Squad(x10) – power armour, frag and krak grenades, jump packs, 2 meltaguns, 7 bolt pistols, 7 chainswords, vet serg has lightning claws.

 

FAST ATTACK

Vanguard Veteran Squad (x6) – power armour, frag and krak grenades, jump packs, infernus pistol, power fist, thunder hammer, 4 bolt pistols, serg has bolt pistol, glaive encarmine. 6 meltabombs.

 

Completely different to what I normally run with in friendly games. But, that's what I wanted as I always got annihilated every game.

 

Yours in Honour and Faith,

Chaplain Hiltraud

[Jt3n]

You can always post the list on the army list board and get some more comments, but I'll toss in my 2cents for what it's worth.

 

The epistolary upgrade is not all that useful, as you can use 1 power per player turn, you can cast your blood lance during your shooting and shield during your opponents shooting. The extra power per player turn will only allow you to force weapon in every assault... which I can see getting wasted in 90% of every game.

 

with the 50 points there think about upgrading the chaplain to reclusiarch, he has a much improved stat line for the 30 points. I especially enjoy the improved stat line due to the increased initiative, allowing his crozius to hit and wound before your normal models hits/wounds are allocated.

 

The power fist on your 2nd sanguinary priest may not be the best idea as the priests are independent characters and are able to be picked out in close combat, so your opponent would be inclined to target him before he got his power fist attacks at initiative 1. I would at least take him down to a power weapon and by doing so giving him a chance to get some wounds in. Saves 10 points.

 

I believe you still have 30 points freed up. Ideas for that would be to most likely bring your Veteran squad up to 7 man if your so inclined to use them. That way you get a little extra range when you deep strike them. Take 6 models and you make a pretty little circle, but the 7th model will stick out giving you that extra <1'' charge range.

 

Just a few minor changes in my opinion that helps out quite a bit without asking you to take one of these optimized net lists you see everywhere these days.

 

-Jt3n