Starting Blood Angels

[khurdur]

Hello, I've just started blood angels, I've bought and started painting a box of Death company and I've ordered a box of sanguinary guard.

Tell me everything that is great about Blood Angels...I'll probably invent my own chapter, Sanguine Knights or something like that, paint them in BA colour except for the head and one shoulder...

 

Now, I think I'll make a blood hammer list, which I think is jumpers backed up by 3 devastator squads bristling with missile launchers, I think they are more flexible than a pure jumpers list. How about blood rodeo or nipple wing? What are they?

 

Any general advice on BA units and army would be welcome to give me some guidance on the blood angels !

For Sanguinius !

[Volcatus]

Welcome, Brother.

 

You are correct, Blood Hammer is the term often used to describe Jumpers + Devastators. Nipplewing is basically an all Sanguinary Guard army (leveraging Dante's rule allowing them to be taken as Troops). Blood Rodeo is Jumpers + Bikes + Terminators. All of them also have adequate Priest support, meaning 2 or more Priests to ensure good FNP and FC coverage. Librarians are also the default HQ choice for BA, in addition to Dante, etc. Their Shield of Sanguinius, Psychic Hood, and host of other good, second powers make them highly flexible and effective.

 

I play a mix of the first two, utilizing Dante with RAS and SG plus Devs. I enjoy it a lot, and it wins a lot more than it loses. Your mileage may vary though, of course. Playing a hammer-style list will require a lot of careful planning on your part though, so expect a bit of a learning curve as you get familiar with the nuances of movement, deployment, and Deep Strike via Decent of Angels.

 

Sang Guard armies can play the Deep Strike game or deploy everything on the field. They really need to do one or the other, as they don't have a lot of bodies to soak up damage. Additionally, their melta weaponry can only be used at the kind of range that makes you want to ask someone permission to dance. In my opinion they look fantastic on the field, but their performance window is rather narrow. The lists suffers from the over-specialization problem.

 

Blood Rodeo is a neat concept that I haven't played or faced. Popularized by Kirby on 3++, the concept is to use jumpers and bikes to engage your opponent, giving Terminators time to slog across the field and into face-smash range. T5 bikes with FNP offer solid resilience to a lot of anti-infantry weaponry, and the army as a whole deilvers a considerable amount of melta.

 

My main bit of advice on BA though, is this: almost every BA list type works best as a scalpel instead of a hammer. Play smart, and don't forget your Red Thirst rolls. :)

[Brother_Byhlli]

... and don't forget your Red Thirst rolls. :)

 

I have remembered my Red Thirst in precisely two games.

 

:/

[AbusePuppy]

If you're just getting into the army, 3++ has a number of articles and armies listed there, as Kirby has written a lot of stuff about them and I'm working on adding some more. If you're looking a little deeper and for alternate builds, YTTH has posted quite a lot of detailed stuff in the past, though less so now. (Also you will have to put up with Stelek's personality, which is... less than sparkling.)

 

As general rules, BA are fast and tough, even compared to other Marine armies; use these to your advantage and you'll always be in good hands. Sanguinary Priests are practically an auto-include in lists, though it is possible to build without them. BA tend to be a lot more aggressive than most armies, so if you don't want to be in the enemy's face a lot, they might not be the army for you.

 

Blood Hammer is basically an upgraded hybrid of Jumpers, using Devs to cover some of the weaknesses of the latter. It has much better matchups against GK, Tyranids, and mech lists in general but loses out a bit of the sheer shock value of a "pure" list; it also can have some deployment issues compared to straight Jumpers, since the Devs can have problems both when on the table and when held in reserve. However, all in all it tends to play a lot better and doesn't suffer from as many weaknesses in its strategies.

 

Nipplewing is all-Sang Guard led by Dante and often supported by Devs as well. It's something of a variant on Jumpers/Blood Hammer, but generally doesn't want to Deep Strike nearly as much and has a bit weaker shooting (but much stronger melee.) It is a sort of "elitest of the elite" army and thus can have some problems with GK, but is otherwise fairly strong and cheaper than most armies to build. It doesn't really work below 1750 or so due to the cost of Dante and its basic squads, and 1850 is preferable.

 

Blood Rodeo is a hybrid of bikes and jump troops that seeks to maximize its speed with the two types of units and use ASM to cover bikes' weak melee while the bikes cover the ASM's mediocre shooting. Dreadnoughts or Terminators are also sometimes added (often called "Fast 'N Slow") or Sanguinary Guard; it tends to be the most differentiated of the three lists you mentioned.

 

It sounds like you want to play a vehicle-less army, which BA are entirely capable of; Terminators + ASM and Astorath "DC only" lists are also possible, depending on your point total. When buying BA, it's very hard to go wrong with Assault Marines, who are the core of virtually every army; you can mix in some bitz from Death Company or other boxes to personalize them- the Death Co box also has several special melee weapons and all of the special pistols, which can otherwise be difficult to find. You will have to look elsewhere for regular special weapons (Flamer, Melta, Plasmagun), however, as neither of those boxes come with any. (The Command Squad box and Ebay bitz sellers are your best bets there.) A Librarian is pretty much the go-to HQ for almost every list, although Reclusiarchs and the special characters have merits of their own.

 

And yes, get used to forgetting Red Thirst, because it's part of playing BA. Everyone does it almost every game.

[Volcatus]

... and don't forget your Red Thirst rolls. :D

 

I have remembered my Red Thirst in precisely two games.

 

:/

 

A few months ago I started adding check boxes with bold, capitalized RED THIRST, to my printed lists next to each unit that needs the roll. It's helped a lot.

 

Even so, I still miss them occasionally. >_<

[I am Legion]

It's so easy to forget to roll for Red Thrist. Back when we had to roll for DC in third (or was it 4th?...), I don't think anyone forgot since it gave us such a powerful unit. But with Sanguinary priests being so dominent in many of our lists and in our standard mindset (even when not using them), we do tend to forget to roll for it.

 

As to starting your army, there are so many powerful and sturdy builds, and they all work really well. It all depends on what models you like, and how aggressive or defensive you plan to play.

[Jolemai]

... and don't forget your Red Thirst rolls. ;)

 

I have remembered my Red Thirst in precisely two games.

 

:/

 

A few months ago I started adding check boxes with bold, capitalized RED THIRST, to my printed lists next to each unit that needs the roll. It's helped a lot.

 

Even so, I still miss them occasionally. >_<

 

Could be worse. Once, back in the 3rd edition, I forgot to roll for my Death Company...

[ulllyssies0110]

yea I have remembered my red thirst roll's once. ;)