Questions about building a Jump-Pack Blood Angels list

[Venerable Brother Pelinore]

Well met Brothers,

 

A Space Wolves player that has decided to convert to the service of Sanguinius and the Blood Angels, I have a few questions about units, how to equip them, and what points costs you should be taking things at. I'm intending to build a Jump-Pack list with the potential to deep-strike, but not necessarily doing so (The only unit I can see an advantage to deep-striking is the Vanguard Veterans, but the lack of Descent of Angels could hurt that), at 1000pts and 1500pts, the 1500pts being my goal before the new year (My local gaming store plays 1000pts for the monthly tourney).

 

The basic thoughts I understand are Blood Angels Jump-Pack lists involve lots of bodies, heavily mobile units and the majority of the damage will be done by heavy hitting support squads, and I'm actually supposed to use the Assault Squads in support of them.

 

So, questions:

 

Assault Squads: Do they conform to the usual want of wanting to hide a power-fist in the squad? Or is a lightning claw w/ Melta Bombs a better option in a squad that is hitting at S5 I5?

 

Vanguard Veterans: I just read Thade's post of thoughts on how to equip them, which was quite informative. Do I want to deep-strike them? Is that provisional on whether or not there's a hard hitting unit chilling up the back of my opponents army that I want to threaten? (Long Fangs etc.) Especially at lower points, are these more valuable than Sanguinary Guard, or Honor Guard?

 

Honor Guard: This unit can take 4 Meltaguns if I'm reading the Codex right. Is it worth putting this many on them? Also, are they a useful unit at 1000pts?

 

Sanguinary Priests: I understand the '6inch bubble' of Feel No Pain and Furious Charge. How many are worth taking in 1000/1500pts? Should I have 2 at 1000/3 at 1500, or should I have 1/2?

 

Sanguinary Guard: How competitive are these? The amount of power-weapon attacks they can dish out looks very nasty, but they're 40pts a model with no invunerable save.

 

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I believe that is all the questions I have for now. Trying to build a 1000pt list for purchase, but I haven't found any definative lists based on what I want (I don't want to deepstrike the whole army, I don't want to arrive piecemeal and out of position like that, but I've had enough of playing Mech as Space Wolves for now), so any information is appreciated.

 

Thankyou to any who take the time to read this, and especially to any who take the time to reply.

 

- VBP.

[Zedrenael]

A jump pack gives descent of angels to those who equip them. I personally do not play DoA, but honor guard can have 4 Meltaguns. Dante is a good choice for DoA as he can pinpoint accuracy. Sanguinary Guard are also good in large games not so much in smaller skirmishes.

[Bartali]

I'm intending to build a Jump-Pack list with the potential to deep-strike, but not necessarily doing so

 

In which case don't discount adding fire support units such as Devs or Attack Bikes. Most of the time it's not worth mass deep striking the whole army.

You can still deep strike some units of course - an Honour Guard squad with 4xMeltaguns is probably better deep struck more often than not for example.

[Leonaides]

but 4 plasma guns might be better still!

[JamesI]

Assault squads in my opinion always want a fist.

 

Vanguard usually should deep strike in a jump infantry list. And they do have DoA, every model in the codex with a jump pack has it (its in the jump pack rules).

 

4 melta or 4 plasma HG are pretty good. Not sure about at 1000 points though

 

Priests, at 1000 points I would run 1. 1500-2000 I run 2.

 

Sanguinary Guard are great. My favorite new unit in the codex.

[Smendrik]

An HG with 4 metals cost's almost less than a standard squad and are cheaper as the choppy ones. I'd say there's always room for them ^^

[Brother_Byhlli]

Well met Brothers,

 

A Space Wolves player that has decided to convert to the service of Sanguinius and the Blood Angels, I have a few questions about units, how to equip them, and what points costs you should be taking things at. I'm intending to build a Jump-Pack list with the potential to deep-strike, but not necessarily doing so (The only unit I can see an advantage to deep-striking is the Vanguard Veterans, but the lack of Descent of Angels could hurt that), at 1000pts and 1500pts, the 1500pts being my goal before the new year (My local gaming store plays 1000pts for the monthly tourney).

 

Welcome, brother! I'm moving slowly in the opposite direction to you. Without dropping my Blood Angels, I'm beginning to do some work on the Sons of Russ. Well met.

 

The basic thoughts I understand are Blood Angels Jump-Pack lists involve lots of bodies, heavily mobile units and the majority of the damage will be done by heavy hitting support squads, and I'm actually supposed to use the Assault Squads in support of them.

 

Well, "lots of bodies" is subjective. At 1,000 points you can reasonably put out maybe 30 or so bodies. Decent number for Space Marines, I suppose. And no tanks to be subjected to your local melta-meta-hell. :)

 

The lists that I run are generally exceptionally mobile and all of the units support each other. I wouldn't describe one unit as a "support" unit over another unit (with the exceptional of the Honour Guard, who are a support unit extraordinaire!) - all my units work together.

 

Assault Squads: Do they conform to the usual want of wanting to hide a power-fist in the squad? Or is a lightning claw w/ Melta Bombs a better option in a squad that is hitting at S5 I5?

 

Power fists are golden in Assault Squads. The generally accepted set-up for Assault Squads is a unit of ten Space Marines with two meltaguns and one power fist. There are variations, but that unit will likely be your bread and butter in a jump infantry list.

 

Vanguard Veterans: I just read Thade's post of thoughts on how to equip them, which was quite informative. Do I want to deep-strike them? Is that provisional on whether or not there's a hard hitting unit chilling up the back of my opponents army that I want to threaten? (Long Fangs etc.) Especially at lower points, are these more valuable than Sanguinary Guard, or Honor Guard?

 

I often aim to deep strike a unit of Vanguard Veterans along with a squad including Commander Dante and a Sanguinary Priest. Careful placement allows Dante's unit to melta a vehicle in its weakest armour while keeping the Sanguinary Priest (or Sanguinary Novitiate, which is the Sanguinary Priest equivalent in the Honour Guard) within range of the Vanguard Veteran Squad. I wouldn't say they're more or less valuable than Sanguinary Guard or Honour Guard. They're just different.

 

Honor Guard: This unit can take 4 Meltaguns if I'm reading the Codex right. Is it worth putting this many on them? Also, are they a useful unit at 1000pts?

 

Absolutely. I use Honour Guard almost completely in place of Sanguinary Priests. And I almost invariably run them with four meltaguns. Absolutely golden. They go further, though, if you want. You can, for example, arm them with four meltaguns and four flamers. Gets a bit silly, though! For me, one of the biggest selling points is that while these guys are an exceptional support unit and an absolutely excellent mobile fire base, they come with a built-in Sanguinary Priest who cannot be targeted. That's almost worth the points cost on its own!

 

Sanguinary Priests: I understand the '6inch bubble' of Feel No Pain and Furious Charge. How many are worth taking in 1000/1500pts? Should I have 2 at 1000/3 at 1500, or should I have 1/2?

 

I agree with JamesI on this: I don't take my second until about 1,500 and I don't consider the third until 2,000. Of course, the way I build my lists I usually use Honour Guard in place of Sanguinary Priests, which require an additional HQ choice. So I'm looking at spending about 700 points to pick up my second Sanguinary Priest. That skews my perspective somewhat. ;)

 

Sanguinary Guard: How competitive are these? The amount of power-weapon attacks they can dish out looks very nasty, but they're 40pts a model with no invunerable save.

 

I love the Sanguinary Guard. They're generally the unit that I deep strike with Dante. Due to his precision in deep striking, their short-range melta weapons are still devastatingly effective against vehicles. They kill exceptionally well in combat, they're tough to kill in return and they count as scoring models. Great unit. I would go so far as to say that in a jump infantry army, they're probably your most effective close-combat unit. (The only exception I can think of is Death Company with jump packs, but I don't run them.)

 

----

 

I believe that is all the questions I have for now. Trying to build a 1000pt list for purchase, but I haven't found any definative lists based on what I want (I don't want to deepstrike the whole army, I don't want to arrive piecemeal and out of position like that, but I've had enough of playing Mech as Space Wolves for now), so any information is appreciated.

 

Just because you have jump packs doesn't mean you have to deep strike. To maybe give you some inspiration, I helped a friend with a 1,000 jump infantry list recently which came out like this:

 

Librarian

- Jump pack

 

Honour Guard

- 4 meltaguns

- Jump packs

 

Sanguinary Guard

 

Assault Squad

- 10 Space Marines

- 2 meltaguns

- Power fist

 

Assault Squad

- 10 Space Marines

- 2 meltaguns

- Power fist

That comes to 1,000 on the nose. You have thirty-one bodies, eight meltaguns, two power fists, six power weapons, a Sanguinary Novitiate, everything has jump packs and everything can work together with synergism. And no mech in sight!

 

Thankyou to any who take the time to read this, and especially to any who take the time to reply.

 

Here to help, brother! And I hope this does!

 

Edited to remove a double-post.