I'm Interested in BA...

[captain sox]

Hello everyone!

 

I'll give you a little background on my 40K life before I proceed with my questions.

 

I'm still very new to 40K, being around since late 2008. I didn't start playing until 2009. Most games are usually 750-1500 points. Over the last 2 years I accumulated 10000 pts of 'Vanilla' Space Marines. I had a full battle company (6 Tacs, 2 Assault, 2 Dev) and a host of Vehicles, Veterans and Terminators. Origionally I was a huge fan of footslogging. Partially because of my inexperience as a player and lack of rules knowledge. After all, it's easier to play without vehicles in a game when you are just learning about moving, shooting, etc... I've learned to use vehicles now, but I prefer to use long ranged artillery, like Whilrwinds.

 

Over the last few months, I've been changing my army entirely. All of my Predators, Vindicators, and Dev Squads are gone. Half of my Tactical Squads are gone too. I've sold everything off and developed a HUGE Scout Army. So far I have 50 Close Combat Scouts, 30 Snipers and 20 Bolter Scouts. I enjoy the Stealthy, fast striking play of this army. The one thing I've been lacking is Heavy Support, until I read somewhere that the Blood Angels have a vehicle called the Baal Predator. I was interested in this vehicle because it had the Scouts USR. But then I discovered that Scouts are an Elite Choice in the BA 'Dex.

 

I don't have the Blood Angels Codex yet. All of the LGS's in my city are closed until Wednesday, and I worked on the weekend, so I wasn't able to get one. So here are the questions: (And I hope they are allowed/appropriate for this site)

 

1. Are Scouts really an Elite entry?

2. Are Baal Predators Fast Attack or Heavy Support?

3. Are Assault Squads Troops or Fast Attack? Can they use Rhino's in lieu of Jump Packs?

4. Is the Storm Raven Fast Attack or Heavy Support? Can they transport Scouts?

 

I know these are simple, basic questions. However, researching Blood Angels has been interesting and enlightening. Most of the information I recieved was from this site, as well as the GW site.

 

I always thought I'd be a Vanilla player forever, however there are several aspects of the Blood Angels that appeal to me, and my style of play. Plus the special characters and fluff are incredibly cool.

 

Thanks for reading and for your responses.

 

Sox

[grazer]

1.) Scouts are Troop choices

2.) Baal Predators are Fast Attack

3.) Assault Squads a troops and if they drop their jump packs, they save 35 points on the cost of any dedicated transport

4.) Storm Raven is Heavy Support and not a dedicated transport. Scouts don't have any transport options, so they should be able to hitch a ride in a Storm Raven.

[Drachnon]

Grazer got it all right, too bad the baal pred is fast attack otherwise you could field it in addition to scout bikers ;).

 

I like the idea of a scout army and I was thinking about creating one myself but I had trouble deciding on a good HQ to go with them. What do you field as HQ?

[Brother Nathan]

chaplin with a bunch of cc scouts in a raven with a priest?

[captain sox]

Grazer got it all right, too bad the baal pred is fast attack otherwise you could field it in addition to scout bikers :D.

 

I like the idea of a scout army and I was thinking about creating one myself but I had trouble deciding on a good HQ to go with them. What do you field as HQ?

 

Scouts are super fun to play with. Not many players take them seriously...

 

In my current list I use Shrike. He gives all units Fleet. As for Blood Angels, I'm not sure yet. When I get my Codex, I'll look through and try to see what I can get. Land Speeder Storms are great, but I'm not sure if BA has them.

 

Just from what I've learned on B&C and GW, my new list would look something like this:

 

10 Snipers

30 Close Comabt Scouts (10 in Storm Raven)

10 Bolter Scouts

A couple of Land Speeder Storms (unless they aren't a part of the Army)

 

and a combo of:

 

A Baal Predator (or 2)

Storm Raven.

Whilrwinds

other Land Speeders

 

For HQ I'd use a fast character. Someone with a jump pack, and who excels at CC.

 

The great thing about a Scout army is that you can easily explain (in Fluff) why certain units are with your Scouts. For example, I've used 3 Whilrwinds in a list, explaining that both the Scouts and Speeders relay co-ordinates to the Whirlwind Crews. I've also used 10 Terminators in a list, explaining that Scouts excel in recon, and they sneak into an enemy stronghold and then bring inthe big guys to clean up.

 

If I were to use a Storm Raven, I'd say survival of the Chapter is paramount. The HQ choice would be ordered by the Chapter Master (Dante I believe in the BA's case) to ensure the survival and continuation of the Chapter. The HQ choice would be given the authority to use whatever vehicles he needed to ensure victory, and survival of his recruits.

 

I'll present some lists possibly by the weekend to see what other BA players think.

 

I'm sitting at around 100 Scouts, with more to come!

[Brother Nathan]

no land speeder storms im afraid. we cut all ours up to make more storm ravens.... more scouts? but you can only have 60 troops and then scout bikers... though fluff wise we did use to have vetran scouts. sadly no more... if you want hard thats fast and can help your list, try astrorath. increaded chances of furious charge anf fearless is no small thing. with an anti tank hounour squad to crack the veichles that scouts strugglewith and a few power weapons. and a couple of priests to increase the survivability of the scouts too...

Also just a thought, libarian with sheild of sanguinius and a bunch of scouts with cammeocloaks... 4 +cover save in the open?

[Drachnon]

Sadly we don't get the landspeeder storms :D

 

Most BA atm field either a Librarian or a Reclusiarch as their HQ, often with Jump pack. Though since you don't really have a squad to field them with you might as well use Mephiston or the Sanguinor since they can't join squads anyway.