Returning to Blood Angels...

[AP2]

Hi,

 

I post here occasionally for advice when starting up new projects.

 

The latest I have on the go is a Blood Angel army.

The last Blood Angel force I owned was back in 2nd edition :lol:

 

Now firstly, I don't really powergame as I only play amongst the same group of friends.

I say not really as they field a variety of forces (Eldar, Tyranid, Space Wolves and Squats lol being the current opponents) but some take it a bit more seriously than others.

Larger battles (3v3 etc) are common so I like to have a bit of everything at my disposal - often these turn into wars of attrition so anything with good staying power is a must.

 

So the questions I have for you seasoned players is:

 

1. Can the plastic kits be used across the army to heavily customise assault and tactical squads?

2. Is a balanced BA force competitive, or should I pick an aspect I like and go mad with it (ie loaded up with jump packs?)

3. I am used to playing several marine armies already, but how do BA compare to Wolves and Vanilla?

 

I was thinking of aiming for 1500 pts as a starting army then adding in 2 more 500 pt blocks.

 

Any help appreciated.

[SnorriSnorrison]

Hi,

 

I post here occasionally for advice when starting up new projects.

 

The latest I have on the go is a Blood Angel army.

The last Blood Angel force I owned was back in 2nd edition :eek

 

Welcome back, venerable brother! ;)

 

Now firstly, I don't really powergame as I only play amongst the same group of friends.

 

Excellent! Are your games competitive in some way, you know, getting excited about having your best lists fight against each other? Or some beer and pretzel games with fun lists? :o

 

 

1. Can the plastic kits be used across the army to heavily customise assault and tactical squads?

Yes, yes they can. They are excellent for spreading bits among your army - for my taste, a marine build from DC-parts only(just for example) has far too much bling, so I like to combine the different sets. Saves some time while painting. :blink:

 

2. Is a balanced BA force competitive, or should I pick an aspect I like and go mad with it (ie loaded up with jump packs?)

 

It depends. If by 'balanced' you mean a 'hybrid' force, which means that the army consists of both mech- and infantry-elements(2-3 tanks or a flyer, and the rest infantry mostly), then I think yes, balanced armies are competitve. They're not as easy to play as Razorback-and-predator spam armies, but have, most of the time, a weapon against every opponent.

In your case, I'd go for the hybrid list - you can't really play the so-called 'DoA' lists anymore due to the new reserve rolls, and your environment seems quite diversified. ;)

 

3. I am used to playing several marine armies already, but how do BA compare to Wolves and Vanilla?

 

Well, a short answer to this question doesn't really exist, I'm afraid. :jaw:

 

Generally speaking, we have the edge in assault. While 6th edition has nerfed the assault phase and buffed the shooting phase, our specialist units are better in assault than in shooting.

Descent of Angels, or DoA, makes our deepstriking jumpers very effective. The new rules for reserving deep-striking units however state that no more than 50% of your army may stay in reserve - so a complete jumpter army isn't possible in the way it was in 5th edition.

 

Sanguinary Priests provide FnP and FC to anyone in 6" of their base, they can be worth it if you take more marines in the field. FnP now works against anything but Instant death-ing weapons!

 

We are faster than Vanilla Marines and Wolves, that hasn't changed with the new edition.

 

Vanilla marines shoot better, and their characters have some interesting army-wide abilities.

 

Wolves are all-rounders with their Grey Hunters and Long Fangs, and Thunderwolves are, besides being a quite funny unit concept-wise, friggin' beasts. We have the Stormraven, probably the best flyer right now, and a load of other special rules. I'd say, on a friendly, non-tournament level, the armies are quite balanced against each other. BA and Wolves are more recent codizes, so they have some stuff that C:SM doesn't have, that will obviously change when the new C:SM drops. ;)

 

 

 

I hope that was helpful. :)

 

 

Snorri