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Blood Angels are back with a Vengence!


I am Legion

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Today I realized that Blood Angels are a powerful force once again!

So there we 3 were. My 2 friends with 1000 points each against my 2000 point Blood Angels. They used Dark Eldar, and Imperial Guard.

 

They had:

 

Guard

 

Command squad...I dunno like 25-30 guardsman

4 leman russes:

2 demolishers, and 2 with those mega vulcan cannons or something.

 

Dark Eldar

 

commander

30 kabalite warriors with 6 raiders

2 ravagers (skyfire weapons)

 

I had:

 

captain

2 priests

5 thss termies in raven

5 thss termies in raven

 

10xDC in raven

10xRAS, 2xFLM, PW

DC Dread

DC Dread

 

3xStorm Raven, one had hurricane bolters

 

 

So they started, I had the 10xRAS on the table only. he managed to kill one assault marine. My turn one I moved the RAS back a bit so I'd be out of range. Their next turn they mobilized into position.

so my 2nd turn, I rolled and 2 of the ravens with Dreads, and termies came in. I used our missles to blast the 2 Ravagers, and POMS to kill 2 more ravagers. Leaving them with 4. Next round they shot and missed all 4 dark lances. Nothing else could damage me :) The following turn my 3rd Storm Raven came in and I popped the rest of the raiders. At that point I simply set out to clean up and they both forfited!

 

So the lesson here is, is that the Storm Ravens are actually really powerful units now. Able to bring in 2 Units per Raven, and a hail of fire! The fact that we watched 3 Rambo Movies after the game made it exceptionally great since the had the beautiful Russian Hind Gunship which I used to remind them of my lost 21 points worth of models out of 2000, to their tabling :ermm:

I don't want to rain on your parade, mate....but I'm quite sure that no more than 50% of your units are allowed to be held in reserves - pods and ravens don't count against that because they have to come in from reserves. Sorry brother. :lol:

 

 

Snorri

Snorri, I'm coming to Legion's rescue with a parade sized umbrella!

 

Per the most recent FAQ, he's actually good to go.

 

Q: Do units that are transported in a vehicle that MUST start in

reserve count towards the number of units that can be placed in

Reserves? For example, must I count the units in a Drop Pod or

Valkyrie towards the 50% of units I can place in Reserves? (p124)

A: No.

 

So, carry on!

Snorri, I'm coming to Legion's rescue with a parade sized umbrella!

 

Per the most recent FAQ, he's actually good to go.

 

Q: Do units that are transported in a vehicle that MUST start in

reserve count towards the number of units that can be placed in

Reserves? For example, must I count the units in a Drop Pod or

Valkyrie towards the 50% of units I can place in Reserves? (p124)

A: No.

 

So, carry on!

 

Good find, Bradley! I should really pay more attention to GW's FAQs...instead of my paint station. :D

Yes, carry on indeed, Legion! :)

 

 

Snorri

Good find, Bradley! I should really pay more attention to GW's FAQs...instead of my paint station. :)

Yes, carry on indeed, Legion! :)

 

 

Snorri

 

Why thank you Snorri! Also, based on your painted stuff that I've seen, you shouldn't leave the painting table, we need more of that awesomeness!

Indeed Bradley!

 

FAQs have become very important in this new edition due to all the changes. And I'm trying to find little loopholes that my opponents won't catch as to get the upper hand (its what my buddies and I do :eek).

 

So there you go folks, a nice new strategy for the best army out there!

I used to play something similar with 2 loaded ravens. My deployment was a MM attack bike and a Baal pred. I've only had one game where I was one lucky cover savel away from loosing my last hull point even with trying to hide them. It's great when it works but the first turn (or emperor forbid a bad reserve roll) is a real nail biter.
Hurricane Bolters and a twin-linked Assault Cannon ain't too shabby for dealing with infantry, either. As long as your opponent has models on the table, a (properly equipped) Storm Raven always has targets. And the combination of AV 12 (highest among all flyers), ceramite armor (so getting close to melta weapons is largely irrelevant), and hover mode (all but eliminating movement blocking) means that a Raven is rather difficult to neutralize.

And especially since we can load them with DC Dreads and terminators! You get both tank popping capability and the mass infantry popping units on board. I agree though, coming in piecemeal was a massive threat for me (2 minimum need to come out to do enough damage to worry your opponent), but due to it being able to stand overtop terrain which would normally be a no no, makes them disgusting gunships, as you can bring them right where they're needed, and destroy the threatening targets. In my case he had a bunch of infantry left which would have stood no chance against AV 2+ on the terminators, and mad dreadnoughts (which were equipped with heavy flamers incase of swarms).

The idea now is to start using them effectively and through a variety of missions to see where the list fails. I also think that Terminators might be a bit much, perhaps another Unit equal to the DC is in order, along with fast ground support such as land speeders or attack bikes? but it feels like the list is missing mass infantry support. Can anyone suggest something?

 

So far minimum is 3 Storm Ravens, 2 DC Dreads, and 10xDC

So far minimum is 3 Storm Ravens, 2 DC Dreads, and 10xDC
You just need to be careful here Legion...

 

Imperial Guard with 3 Vendetta and a Defense Line with an Officer of the Fleet to reduce your Reserve rolls is going to show you a bad time.

 

With any fully reserved Army, you need an Aegis Defense Line with Comms Relay. You need it. Non-negotiable. If you have 95% of your points off the table, you need something your Tactical Squad can go to ground behind, and operate that Relay to make sure your get your army on.

 

A drop-pod army may still table you Turn 1. You need to take 10 Tacticals, combat squad them, and build a bunker with 360 degree protection with the Defence Line. Go to Ground, and simply survive in order to operate that all-important Comms Relay for Turn 2.

If you're facing non-template Turn1 Deep Strikers (or even Turn 2 Deep Strikers, if you're going 2nd), then use this formation. All 10 models are 3" from the Relay, so every single one will have to be killed or fall-back to deny you use of the Relay. The internal-walls prevent Ordinance Barrage (like a Basilisk) from wiping out the whole unit with a central strike, since nearly everyone will still retain 2+ cover save.

gallery_27375_7506_1078947.jpg

You're still in danger of Drop Pod armies if you go 2nd. They drop in Turn 1, then assault you on Top of turn 2 before your Ravens even get a chance.

That was an awesome set up for it. In fact after I looked up the comm relay in the Aegis line, I recalculated the army to fit into a 1500 point army.

 

It can work, Sans 1 storm raven :/

 

Also to be completeyl honest, I never see deep striking or even drop pod armies anymore. But yes, that would be one of this lists weak points. Not bad, again, considering very few people would use that. Especially in a tournament setting where you wouldn't want your army to come in piecemeal!

Ravens are very strong, no doubt, but I still prefer to have a strong, reliable main force supported by 1-2 ravens with a dread and a small scoring unit inside. The dread can shred whole units by himself with ease, the ravens support with a lot of firepower and the scoring unit is just godly for turn 5 objective-grabs or -denials.

But I find that they work best if the opponent has to divide his attention between your main bulk and this highly mobile disruptive force, it makes the situation a lot more complicated for your opponent and he will make more mistakes.

I usually put in a 5man ASM squad with a meltagun and deploy their discounted razorback empty. They can pop a vehicle when they come out and even kill small remnants easily, and they are far better off than in their fragile RB sitting somewhere in your deployment zone. I like having 2 of those razorbacks as long-range support with low threat potential (compared to ravens, podded DC or just 20 ASM with priest in my opponents face), so this is an obvious loadout for the raven.

Picking up used squads can work at times, but it usually leaves you in the awkward situation of having to hover in non-optimal spots, e.g. out of rapid-fire range of your huricane bolters. I tried to play them like this, but very often I had to choose between picking up or dealing crucial damage, I never quite found the space to do those detours.

If you're facing non-template Turn1 Deep Strikers (or even Turn 2 Deep Strikers, if you're going 2nd), then use this formation. All 10 models are 3" from the Relay, so every single one will have to be killed or fall-back to deny you use of the Relay. The internal-walls prevent Ordinance Barrage (like a Basilisk) from wiping out the whole unit with a central strike, since nearly everyone will still retain 2+ cover save.

 

Couldn't the enemy just shoot the comms relay and ignore your troops? I believe the comms relay is tall enough that "true line of sight" would allow them to still draw LOS on it. I am just wondering about this because I've seen others on the forum point this out as a good way to get rid of an enemy's quad gun -- just shoot the gun and ignore the troops manning it.

I like the concept of multiple ravens starting in a safe haven to come in with Firepower to hit targets at range and also defend against enemy flyers. So I have one list with two ravens (gun ships) and a Comms Relay. My goal is to bring the 2 ravens in on turn two as a pair and destroy whatever is the most critical unit for my enemy's success. One of the two has blood strike missiles, assault cannons, krak missile and hurricane bolters in the sponsons.

 

While I don't use them as transports it may make sense to do so in the future. So your load out for the first raven made me go to the FAQs to see if I had missed an update. I think your concept has merit but I believe you are limited to 1 unit and 12 spaces inside the cabin. That comes from the BA Codex p 38. Did I miss a FAQ? Thanks.

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