Blood Angels: Tips to playing different armies

[liberate_tutame]

Hey guys, I've been thinking recently of how difficult tourneys can be for people who are unable to face a wide variety of different armies before the tournament. Many of us have to face our friends armies again and again, making us veterans fighting them but at a loss when facing other army lists (at least, I know that I am!).

 

I was hoping that this thread as a general guide in this thread for Blood Angels in 5th ed, or just a guide to facing off the mainstay army lists.I was envisioning a guide that would detail our options against each army for the two main BA builds that we are seeing, mechanised and jumppacks. I know that many if not most play a mixture of the two but I think dividing it into these two archetypes can provide us with useful insights as to how best use parts or all of our army against another our foes.

 

Good idea, bad idea?

[Jakobus]

The simplest advice I can think of is weild them as a focused force. With both the Jumppack and the Mech have back up units to cover each other and you should be atleast OK.

 

More general advice.

 

Consider what your assault range is, against every army you want to be the one that charges.

 

If you intend on Deepstriking, know what has a large Blast and get rid of it. Also the small blast is just as bad if it comes from a Plasma type weapon

 

Oh yeah, shoot anything that has something with the word Lash in its name.. alot..

[Kunanaki]

If it's mechanized infantry, make it fast, light, and hard hitting.

 

If it's jump infantry, make it fast, light, and hard hitting.

 

Yeah.....My advice is pretty simple, but the long and short of it is whatever you're hitting, you should be the one charging, and you should have enough fire power to handle anything.

 

In 5th, Melta weaponry and Power Fists are almost unstoppable, giving you a means to handle things such as mechanized spam, or high toughness high wound monsters.

 

Also, Assault Cannons for Blood Angels fits rather nicely, especially on Razorbacks, due to Fast Vehicles. I like to run a combination of Mech and Jump, just for the thoroughness it can provide.

[Brother-Captain Devlonir]

Also.. build an army depending on points size.. my personal filosophy is:

 

< 1000 : Go all out assault. Either focused mech or jumpy. A mix here can hurt you, unless you pull it off good (1 suicide rhino with DC for example can take a lot of the enemy fire below 1k)

 

1000 - 1500 : Add support units. Some of the best we have are our Rhino Chasis heavies (Baal, Auto/Las pred, Vindicator), but don't underestimate the power of Drop podded Furiosos as well (dont use them with an all DS army, as turn 1 alone on the field will mean it will die)

 

1500 - 2000 : Build up that bodycount! Add more troops and possibly some elite units as well like Vanguard Vets, Sang Guard or Sternguards in a pod.. whatever floats your boat. Everything above 1500 the difference in bodycount between BA and others will be noticeable if you don't build an army to have more.

 

2000 + : Combined arms.. At this point level, start playing with shinies! Add whatever you want to your basic force for specialized roles and see how they shine in it because they have enough support from your Army. Jumpy DCs, Terminators, Sang Guard, more Vang Vets.. all find their place in the BA army at a larger scale.

 

Just don't forget the rule of thumb: At least 1 scoring unit for every 500 points your army is worth.

[Brother Biskit]

As with just about everything else target priority is the key. Shoot the stuff that can beat you in assault and assault anything else. BA are simply horrific on assault but tend to be rather fragile at other times due to the smaller model count than other marine types. Sang Priests really help in this regard but you can’t rely on them as I tend to find they are priority targets for any skilled opponents. A lot of guys put forward the merits of the AC Razorbacks but I find they are a bit expensive and use Flame-backs instead. Horrific against infantry and if the squad inside has a few Melta’s truly wrong against mech. Just pull up, disembark, Pop the transport with the Melta’s then flame the bunched up guys after. :ermm:

[liberate_tutame]

Great advice so far guys, although what I intended by my topic was advice for the two lists playing against other armies specific lists.

 

So for example, advice playing against the different Tyranid, Ork, Imperial Guard etc. lists that we see around place. Advice so that a BA player that has never faced these lists before can go in with some sort of advance warning as to their tricks and tactics...

[Brother Nathan]

then i would say know your enemy, research them all briefly and find out what can hurt you most. if you use tanks, find out what they have that kills tanks and kill it. for example everyone overlooks witch hunter excersists but they drop armour like anything. if you find you are faceing a certain army research it in more detail. look through gws website, search army specific forums, ask questions.

whilst your at it, know your own army! its far too easy to overlook or forget one of your own rules that could make a difference. the red thist would be one for most of us... And some people seem to forget about the fact that they can face someone using ther own codex. so easiest thing to do is read your own. hav a flexible enough army that can deal with anything, even the worst it could face. how could an all jumpers force deal with all mech including 3 fast vindis?

And then always overlook your opponents and ask about stuff youu dont know. and show them yours and explain anythig they dont know. its always good to hae someone double check your list so feel free to ask someone to check it in a forum.

[Drachnon]

Well that really depends on what kind of list the opponent is playing with his army. And IG player with only tanks plays a lot different the an IG with only squads.

 

Though for some you can make a general rule:

first take Mephiston as your HQ

Against horde armies (like orks and tyranids often are) you want flamers and then some more flamers.

 

Against heavy mech armies I suggest attack bikes with multi melta's as well as some predator annihilators.

 

Against armies that field a small amount of elite units the vindicator can do miracles.

 

Anything else you need to know?