Alternatives to DoA?

[Rinion]

So, DoA is fun, and i'm enjoying the play style. Though in the future i'm looking to branch out. I originally thought about starting a second army, but then I considered sticking with the Angels. Which is where this comes in.

 

I have my DoA army, which as i said, i enjoy, but, what else can you do with Blood Angels that plays to the strengths in the Codex? As far as i know, the main two seem to be DoA and Razorspam. (My assault marines have magnetized jump packs, for just such an occurrence.)

 

Anything goes, as purchases can be made accordingly, though i could list what i have to spare, this isn't an army list topic as such, just looking for other competitive play styles!

 

FYI, all lists would be based around 1750, so anyone with experience at this value that could give numbers would be appreciated (How many Razorbacks, Baals if any, etc?)

 

Much appreciated!

[1Drop]

2 baals with twinlinked lascannons and heavy bolter sponsoons, 3 attack bikes with multimeltas and 3 vindies then 3 or 4 5 man RAS in razorbacks with twin liked plasma cannons and lascannons, thats a killer start to something less DoA shaped.

[Judaz]

I guess you mean 2 baals with twinlinked assault cannons? And razors with lascannon and twinlinked plasma gun? :P

 

 

Another thing BA can do quite well is a Dreadnought army. Not very competitive, but so much fun!

My list at 1750 (when I have all my models) will look something like this:

HQ

Reclusiarch

Elites

Furioso Librarian

Furioso Librarian

Troops

10 man RAS

10 DC

DC Dreadnought w Drop pod and magna grapple

DC Dreadnought

Heavy support

Dreadnought w Autocannon+ML

Dreadnought w assaultcannon

Stormraven

 

A lot of fun in that list :D

 

Edit: If you are playing battles with those boring objectives, just table your opponent!

[1Drop]

I guess you mean 2 baals with twinlinked assault cannons? And razors with lascannon and twinlinked plasma gun? ;)

 

 

Another thing BA can do quite well is a Dreadnought army. Not very competitive, but so much fun!

My list at 1750 (when I have all my models) will look something like this:

HQ

Reclusiarch

Elites

Furioso Librarian

Furioso Librarian

Troops

10 man RAS

10 DC

DC Dreadnought w Drop pod and magna grapple

DC Dreadnought

Heavy support

Dreadnought w Autocannon+ML

Dreadnought w assaultcannon

Stormraven

 

A lot of fun in that list :D

 

Edit: If you are playing battles with those boring objectives, just table your opponent!

 

Yeah that's what I ment (whoops, but I get my BA codex tomorrow so no more silly mistakes)

 

Yeah bro I run double dreadnought too, 1 DC dread with 10 DC and astorath in a stormraven then a librarian dread with 5 cc terminators and sang priest and chaplain in a second stormraven.. Gotta love it :P

[mercury]

Blood Angels can more than adequately construct competitive Drop Pod armies: 4 Troops (with 1 HQ) in Pods and 5 Dreadnoughts in Pods is hellishly expensive to buy, but works really rather well - proxy the Pods using Pot Noodles and you'll see what I mean. Nobody likes 5 Dreads in their face on Turn 1!

 

You could add some Bikes to your Jump Pack collection and play Rodeo style - the T5, Turbo-boosted bikes absorb enemy firepower and assaults. Once the Bikes are engaged, the assault troops leap over them in a devastating counter-attack.

 

Blood Angels armies with Mephiston, Lemartes and DC Dreads are absolutely filthy and pretty much play themselves.

 

You could even abuse the Independent Characters in Elites slots (Priests and Chaplains) to play Herohammer-style, though Blood Angels will never be able to do this as well as the Space Pups.

 

There is AV13-spam: 3 Furiosos, 3 Baal Preds and 3 Preds/Vindicators = a solid wall of armour which is tough to destroy.

 

The Blood Angels Codex is very versatile - there are lots of different competitive builds in there.

[exetus]

I like the "kill everything" list which does little for games where you score, but is great for games where you can just kill stuff. It has to be played well, but a 1500 point list was:

 

Astorath

w/5 Man Death Company

Death Company Dreadnought

& Stormraven

 

6 Man Death Company

Furioso Librarian Dreadnought (could replace with simple DC dread and add a Sang Priest)

& Stormraven

 

2x 6 Man Assault Squads with Razorbacks

 

It's small, but it expands easily (going to 850 gets you another Stormraven and DC unit (or supporting units) and it's fun to play. Be aggressive and dive in, assault out of the Stormravens and then let them play tank killer while your dual DC and Astorath and dreads go tearing around the board killing stuff on objectives. The other assault squads (esp if you Sang Priest them) roll in for mop-up duties or to help end an assault.

 

I also saw a guy running a successful armor list that takes advantage of cheap-o transports for non-jump pack assault squads.

[Corby]

Blood Angels Dreadnought armies if very finely built can be quite competitive. Space Marines generally do a dreadnought army better though.

 

Blood angels can do a stormraven + mech build , with the stormravens carrying decent combat units , you need to pack some longranged fire support however ,as you want to suppress alot of your opponents vehicles so less is shooting at your ravens.

For example my list is as follows:

 

Librarian BL+SS

5 Assault termies 4TH/1LC

5 Assault termies 4TH/1LC

5 Assault Marines /w meltagun + Las/plas razor

5 Assault Marines /w meltagun + Las/plas razor

5 Assault Marines /w meltagun + Rhino

Landspeeder Typhoon

Landspeeder Typhoon

Stormraven /w Assaultcannon + Multimelta , Ea

Stormraven /w Assaultcannon + Multimelta , Ea

Predator /w Autocannon turret + lascannon Sponsons

[Sanguinarian]

Blood Angels can more than adequately construct competitive Drop Pod armies: 4 Troops (with 1 HQ) in Pods and 5 Dreadnoughts in Pods is hellishly expensive to buy, but works really rather well - proxy the Pods using Pot Noodles and you'll see what I mean. Nobody likes 5 Dreads in their face on Turn 1!

 

IIRC, Drop Pod Assault only allows half (round up) of your pods to hit on Turn 1, so in this case it would only be 3. Still, 3 can mop up a lot befor the other 2 come down. I would suggest dropping Frag Cannons and Magna Grapples on the 1st wave to pop the vehicles, and then bring down the Blood Talons to chew through the fleshy parts after that. ;) 1x10 Scout Bikes with AGLs (or 3 MMABs) and 2 Baal Preds would decimate the flanks, while your Dreads shred the middle, leaving your 2-3 Razor squads to bunker down on the objectives.

[Redfinger]

I have been playing around with a Drop Pod/Mech hybrid and I have been having a ton of fun with it. In short a 1750 list looks like this;

 

HQ

Librarian

 

Elite

Furioso

Drop Pod

 

Furioso

Drop Pod

 

Troops

RAS x 5

Assback

 

RAS x 5

Assback

 

RAS x 5

Assback

 

RAS x 5

Assback

 

Tac x 10

Drop Pod

 

Fast

Land Speeder

Land Speeder

 

Heavy

Dakka Pred

Dakka Pred

 

By having 3 pods you drop 2 first turn, dreads in your opponents back lines is no fun for them. There is also flexibility to run a decent sized DC in a drop pod and a DC Dread. This list has proven to be quite fun and competitive.

 

Ashton

[1Drop]

This thread is awesome, so many awesome ideas and playing styles here.. Blood Angels are so, so, so, so good I feel I must stress, haha, sorry... I just love the BA so damn much it brings a tear to my eye.

[Judaz]

Blood Angels can more than adequately construct competitive Drop Pod armies: 4 Troops (with 1 HQ) in Pods and 5 Dreadnoughts in Pods is hellishly expensive to buy, but works really rather well - proxy the Pods using Pot Noodles and you'll see what I mean. Nobody likes 5 Dreads in their face on Turn 1!

 

IIRC, Drop Pod Assault only allows half (round up) of your pods to hit on Turn 1, so in this case it would only be 3. Still, 3 can mop up a lot befor the other 2 come down. I would suggest dropping Frag Cannons and Magna Grapples on the 1st wave to pop the vehicles, and then bring down the Blood Talons to chew through the fleshy parts after that. :huh: 1x10 Scout Bikes with AGLs (or 3 MMABs) and 2 Baal Preds would decimate the flanks, while your Dreads shred the middle, leaving your 2-3 Razor squads to bunker down on the objectives.

But...he has 9 pods there. 1st turn, 5 pods WHAM!

[Sanguinarian]

Blood Angels can more than adequately construct competitive Drop Pod armies: 4 Troops (with 1 HQ) in Pods and 5 Dreadnoughts in Pods is hellishly expensive to buy, but works really rather well - proxy the Pods using Pot Noodles and you'll see what I mean. Nobody likes 5 Dreads in their face on Turn 1!

 

IIRC, Drop Pod Assault only allows half (round up) of your pods to hit on Turn 1, so in this case it would only be 3. Still, 3 can mop up a lot befor the other 2 come down. I would suggest dropping Frag Cannons and Magna Grapples on the 1st wave to pop the vehicles, and then bring down the Blood Talons to chew through the fleshy parts after that. :) 1x10 Scout Bikes with AGLs (or 3 MMABs) and 2 Baal Preds would decimate the flanks, while your Dreads shred the middle, leaving your 2-3 Razor squads to bunker down on the objectives.

But...he has 9 pods there. 1st turn, 5 pods WHAM!

 

DOH!!! Forgot my "reading comprehension brain" at home!!! :huh: Disregard what I said. And in that case...what he said!!! ;)

[undeadfilth]

I've become quite fond recently of the triple storm raven list. It's quick, destructive and fun as all hell to run. Other than the ravens and whatever you want inside(normally dc, methiston, and an assault squad+2 dc dreds and a furioso frag cannon heavy flamer fun dred) you just run things to support them like 2 baals with flamestorms or asscannons and i love typhoon speeders. keep it quick to keep it fun^.^

[mercury]

Blood Angels Dreadnought armies if very finely built can be quite competitive. Space Marines generally do a dreadnought army better though.

 

I dispute this.

 

In my opinion there are 2 primary reasons why Blood Angels make better Dreadnought armies:

1) they do not require the selection of a specific HQ choice (Space Marines require a Master Of The Forge). Blood Angels can select a Libby as their primary HQ choice, thereby getting psychic defence and the all-round utility he provides without having to purchase a MotF first.

2) Space Marines do not have access to a Dreadnought which is a terrifying assault unit on it's own. It even takes an Ironclad several turns to munch through 10 Tactical Marines. Blood Angels can choose Dreads with blood talons or Furioso Librarians with Might Of Heroes, which can wipe out such units in one turn.

 

Would you care to explain why Space Marines do this type of list better, despite having inferior Dreadnoughts and restricted HQ choices?

[Corby]

Blood Angels Dreadnought armies if very finely built can be quite competitive. Space Marines generally do a dreadnought army better though.

 

I dispute this.

 

In my opinion there are 2 primary reasons why Blood Angels make better Dreadnought armies:

1) they do not require the selection of a specific HQ choice (Space Marines require a Master Of The Forge). Blood Angels can select a Libby as their primary HQ choice, thereby getting psychic defence and the all-round utility he provides without having to purchase a MotF first.

2) Space Marines do not have access to a Dreadnought which is a terrifying assault unit on it's own. It even takes an Ironclad several turns to munch through 10 Tactical Marines. Blood Angels can choose Dreads with blood talons or Furioso Librarians with Might Of Heroes, which can wipe out such units in one turn.

 

Would you care to explain why Space Marines do this type of list better, despite having inferior Dreadnoughts and restricted HQ choices?

 

Because Space marines have alot more flexibility in their selection of dreadnoughts. We've 4 different types. Of which 2 are confined to our elites slot and are combat orientated ( and lets be honest the librarian dread offers very little in a tournament list) . one in the troops slot which is also combat orientated and requires us to use another troops slot to unlock it. And 1 in the heavy support which is our only means of long ranged support from dreadnoughts. Marines can take 6 long-ranged dreadnoughts. And have a greater degree of flexibility in how they do it. Shooty dreadnoughts means Marines can sit back and act as a gunline and pop mech. Combat orientated dreads means we've to pay for ways to get them to the front-lines and we suffer against popping mech. And in a meta-game where the majority of armies are Guard and Spacewolves , we can't afford to wipe an enemy out and be exposed to return anti-tank fire.

[shan vener]

well we could pull a raiderspam list :huh:

[mercury]

Because Space marines have alot more flexibility in their selection of dreadnoughts. We've 4 different types. Of which 2 are confined to our elites slot and are combat orientated ( and lets be honest the librarian dread offers very little in a tournament list) . one in the troops slot which is also combat orientated and requires us to use another troops slot to unlock it. And 1 in the heavy support which is our only means of long ranged support from dreadnoughts. Marines can take 6 long-ranged dreadnoughts. And have a greater degree of flexibility in how they do it. Shooty dreadnoughts means Marines can sit back and act as a gunline and pop mech. Combat orientated dreads means we've to pay for ways to get them to the front-lines and we suffer against popping mech. And in a meta-game where the majority of armies are Guard and Spacewolves , we can't afford to wipe an enemy out and be exposed to return anti-tank fire.

 

I see your point, but I still think that the Blood Angels Dreadnought options are better because of their close combat choices. I'd personally much rather play against a Space Marine Dreadnought gunline than a Blood Angels player who drops AV13 Dreads in my face in Turn 1, disrupting my battle plans. I think the principle issue here is a difference in playstyle. I WANT to be the guy that's in my opponent's face early on because I can usually gain a psychological advantage from it. The Space Marine Codex does not allow me to do this as well as I would like as their Dreads are not THAT much of a threat up close. That, and I want the psychic defence and general utility of a Librarian, something which I can only do in a Space Marine army if I select a Master Of The Forge first (and I'm not sure that I'd want to be sinking points into 2 HQ choices).

[eetdestroyer]

There is AV13-spam: 3 Furiosos, 3 Baal Preds and 3 Preds/Vindicators = a solid wall of armour which is tough to destroy.

 

Yum... ;)

 

It might even work, the minimal troops selection brought on by the huge amount of armour support (if properly hidden behind said armour) will be sufficiently ignored by the opponents army that they'll survive to claim objectives. Personally I'd take 2-3 Drop Pod squads so you can run your Furiosos in pods and drop them in Turn 1. That way you can use your tactical-pods to land on objectives as the game goes on (clearing said objectives should be no problem at all either)