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New player, how to equip assault and DC squads?


Brother_Marius

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So, I've just gone and bought myself the Blood Angels battleforce today, it has been a long time since I ever touched warhammer, it feels good to be back in the game... ;)

 

So the Battleforce contains a Rhino, a set of 10 tactical marines, 5 assault marines, and a unit of 5 death company. I also bought a chaplain model. This will be my HQ for now being a reclusiarch.

 

Now I read that both the assault marines and the death company squad can either take the jump packs or leave them at home and take a dedicated transport instead. What would be the best thing? My goal right now is to get these models painted, play a couple of games, then keep on buying 1 unit of whatever I don't have yet, paint it, use it, expand this way... I want a versatile, all-round force. Is the extra cost of jump packs worth it in such a setting?

 

Also any input about which special weapons to glue on my guys would be appreciated. Again, all-round, versatile army is my preference :)

 

[edit]: Also, having noticed that death company are "Relentless", would it be a good idea to glue them with bolters instead of a pistol & chainsword? They could shoot all the time, and also double-shoot a unit before charging it! Doesn't that make them do more damage than just 1 extra attack in assault?

For assault squads, meltaguns are generally the best choice of gun upgrades. Powerfist or thunder hammer for a larger squad, power weapon or nothing for a smaller squad. I tend to prefer small squads in transports (razorbacks) larger squadss jumpy.

 

Death company, I ignore the gun upgrades. Just give 1 or 2 power weapons, 1 or 2 powerfists. A few with bolters a few with bolt pistols (any model with a power weapon should get a bolt pistol, any model with a fist or thunder hammer a bolter). Jump packs are too expensive for them (in my opinion) so give them a rhino.

I tend to run 10 man with jump packs 2 meltaguns (though I use infernus pistols models purely because it looks better when I have them displayed) and the sarge has a powerfist.

 

I also like dante with a squad like this put with a infernus pistol on the sarge too and a jumpy priest

I tend to run 10 man with jump packs 2 meltaguns (though I use infernus pistols models purely because it looks better when I have them displayed) and the sarge has a powerfist.

 

I also like dante with a squad like this put with a infernus pistol on the sarge too and a jumpy priest

That is how I run my Dante squad as well. 10 marines, 2 meltas, thunder hammer +Infernus on sergeant, jumpy priest.

Oh on DC I tend to go with bolters and a fist or two with a reclusiarch in a rhino bolters are there for if you are being kited around you can still reliably put out a decent amount of firepower also rapid firing into a unit before charging them is pretty scary with death company.

Thanks for all the input, guys! I do have a follow up question though. What's the use of a power fist exactely? It seems like an awefully big expense points wise. Browsing through the army list section I am getting the impression that equipping sergeants with power firsts is basically become a standard, but it strikes me that saving those points on multiple squads is actually a lot of points to spend on an extra unit or an extra tank or something. Especially since melta guns seem to do the same any way.

 

This brings me to another question, is there any reason to equip a tactical sergeant with a chainsword and bolt pistol instead of a boltgun? I've never ever seen a picture in the codex of a sergeant equipped with a boltgun. But if a tactical squad is going to sit back and hold an objective, why take a pistol instead? I would love to hear your battle experience regarging these sergeants because maybe there is a really good practical reason for having them (as the only one in the squad) with chainsword & pistol?

Well, I can only answer on the topic of Powerfists.

I have too little experience on using Tacticals.

 

The powerfist is supposed to be seen as an insurance.

You only use PFs on larger AssM squads, and so, if you would end up in a fight with either a Dreadnought, MC of any kind, or similar, you need to be able to finish it off.

It can also be seen as a deterrent. Something the enemy will think twice about before going into cc with your unit.

But, as you use Jump packs, you should be able to steer away from those enemy targets, but sometimes it's good to have.

 

A PF should NOT be seen as an anti-tank weapon, as the unit is pretty bad at inflicting damage using a PF (enemy vehicles should be moving all the time making it unreliable to hit in cc).

 

/gustmic

The most important aspect of the powerfist is to give multi wound opponents of toughness 4 or less pause wether to engage the squad or not. nobody likes it when their previously unhurt (special)character is pounded into the dust by a single lucky strike. anti-tank, dreads and mc hunting are all secondary to the awesome psyc warfare you're putting your opponent through.
I tend to use my DC in LRR with 1xTH2xPW 2xnormal sword/pistol. Comes at 160 points and pack a punch

 

How does that add up to 160 points? Way more than that, surely?

 

By the way, I just assembled my first ever Death Company model - and I magnetized it! I can now swap off his jump pack or backpack as I see fit. Awesome!!!

I tend to use my DC in LRR with 1xTH2xPW 2xnormal sword/pistol. Comes at 160 points and pack a punch

 

How does that add up to 160 points? Way more than that, surely?

 

By the way, I just assembled my first ever Death Company model - and I magnetized it! I can now swap off his jump pack or backpack as I see fit. Awesome!!!

 

He's not counting the cost of the Land Raider Redeemer into it. The 5 guys as he listed cost 160.

I run the standard 2MG 1PF assault squads. I agree with the above reasons for taking a power fist. I also have a third squad with 2 flamers and a power weapon. This squad is more for city fight or boards with lots of terrain. I will try to run a priest in the melta squads as often as possible.

 

I run Death Company with jump packs and a power fist. This is primarily a legacy unit from the previous edition. However, I haven't had the issues with kiting others do. With Descent of Angels I can drop them down right in front of a unit I want to threaten fairly easily. If I don't want to deep strike the jump packs give me more flexibility in reserves from the edge. The sheer amount of attacks and resiliency let me focus on the rest of my army. Your play style will probably differ.

Contrary to Gustmic I actually find powerfists really good for dealing with armour, especially tanks that have high front and side armour values but poor rear armour. Combined with a jump pack and Blood Angels' ability to deep strike quickly and accurately I've got rid of quite a few tanks this way.

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