Experience with Dantewing in 6th

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Brothers,

 

Sifting through our forum, I can't find anything more recent than 22 November discussing Dantewing. Now that we have about 2.5 more months of 6th Edition under our belts, I was wondering if anyone has some experiences to share. I frankly could use some encouragement, since I'm now almost finished my first Sanguinary Guard squad and ready to start my second, but I'm getting a bit discouraged about some of the things I'm reading about B.A. in general (although none of these threads have said much about Sanguinary Guard). Thanks!

[John Rainbow]

I'm not really one to comment on Sang. Guard and Dantewing as I've never tried it but as for being discouraged, I think there are reasons to be optimistic. BA can be successful, just maybe not grand tournament winning successful, and fun to play with. There are actually a surprising number of builds to choose from. I think you need to look at the advantages of the BA when compared to other lists as a starting point. Ask yourself the question 'what advantage do BA have over other lists?'. For me there are a couple of obvious answers: maneuvrability and durability. A lesser advantage is that most BA have the capability to be better in assault than most other armies core units if the need arises.

 

In the first case, BA can rapidly deploy and redeploy during a game. Movement has become a huge part of the game in 6th and BA have that covered. a lot of the tournament winning lists we've seen recently have been very anti-infantry and the focus of the game has seemed to shift towards lots of boys on the table equipped with stuff to kill other boys. As such, I can see a list with multiple Baals and dakka preds cleaning up house as a lot of '6th' lists have no way to deal with fast, killy AV13. People have said that armour is dead but wasn't one of the recent tournies in the US (around the same time as Duelcon but not Duelcon) won by a GK razorspam list? Noone had taken enough reliable long range anti-tank to beat it. All that plasma you hear about only glances on a 6!

 

As for durability, priests and the afore mentinoed AV13 have got this covered. Storm Ravens are also one of the most durable flyers (maybe only bettered by Helldrakes with the innate 5++). Sang.Guard are also pretty tough and have an advantage in the CC department. They will kill other MEQ pretty quickly but you have to beware pure torrent firepower or the amount of AP2 that seems to be very much in vogue right now.

 

I guess I'm starting to ramble on so I guess I can switch to some advice on Nipplewing: you need priests to back up the Sang.Guard and increase their survivability. Even though they are troops for you, you need something else (cheaper) to hold objectives with so the Sang.Guard can get on with the job of killing stuff. I wouldn't be looking to Dante to lead the Guard here. I think Dante should go with a squad of RAS with 4xmelta to hit something on the precision drop (2x meltagun, 2xinfernus) and kill it real dead.

 

So just some thoughts and the general brain dribble that comes of Friday afternoons. Hopefully it can help/inspire you!

 

JR

[Chaplain Admetus]

I chucked this thread up last week about the best way to run the glaive encarmine with a focus on it being used in Sanguinary Guard:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/270590-glaive-encarmine-how-to-run/

 

There's a bit more general discussion about SG in there, notably what weaponry mix people are running and how they find it. Hope its useful! I've also used SG in the two most recent games I've played (one's already up in my batrep thread, the other I played on Wednesday and will put up over the weekend) and they were less than stellar, though I'm blaming the dice this time....

[JamesI]

There have been some lists in the Army list section as well recently.

 

I play my version of Dante Wing, which is basically 2 SG, 2 RAS, and then mix in other units as desired from the list of Storm Ravens, Attack Bikes, Vanguard, Honor Guard, Devs, or even Scouts with an Aegis.

 

John Rainbow's advice is pretty good based on my Dante experience.

[Xenith]

Sanguard have been pretty decent for me so far. I have only used one unit, but they pack a punch.

 

If going pure SG, make the most use of the ability to upgrade to plasma/infernus for cheap. 

 

You need assistance with 2+ save killing, so jamming a plasma cannon or two in the army works. Maybe on the raven. Anti tank is also lacking, so 2x2 MM attack bikes may work a charm.

[Sokhar]

I'll freely admit that its been quite some time since I used Dante (year or so before the end of 5th, maybe?), or Sanguinary Guard extensively. I think I've done a trial game or two with them in 6th, but that's about it. As others have said, SG need support so a pure-BlingWing is probably not the way to go for any sort of competitive play.

 

I think an allied contingent of Dark Angels could actually be pretty worthwhile. A jump pack Librarian with Divination and a Power Field not only gives an SG unit (or two, if you can bunch up a bit without having to deal with AP 2 templates) boosts both survivability as well as hitting power significantly, at a reasonable price point. Their Tactical Marines are a bit cheaper than ours, and can provide backfield scoring and supporting  fire (particularly of the AP 2 variety). And if you opt for transports for them, you're not paying the Fast tax. Also with a BlingWing list being even more combat-focused than most Blood Angels lists, a small Black Knights unit with its debuff grenade launchers would also be extremely useful. The stasis shell essentially gets us back to last edition's Furious Charge, by giving the enemy -1 initiative, and also decreasing their weapon skill.

[Remmy]

I will preface this by saying that I love the idea of sanguinary guard. And that they are fine and dandy in friendly games. I personally own 20 customized sang guard and love their looks and lore. But....

 

Sanguinary guard are not a good unit due to the fact that they are only 5 man squads which die easily to the massed shooting meta. Also plasma attacks are 100% effective against them. Our mobile tank hunter role is filled by our RAS and attack bikes, and mephiston. Our mobile troop murdering role is better filled by snippy dreads and mephiston. You simply have better tools to hit the targets that sanguinary guard would be good at hitting.

 

To bring them to a viable point in a semi competitive list you must give them invuln saves.

 

-To bring an invuln save to the 5 man squad you must bring dante which is a very high tax to pay for the luxury of a single model with a 4+ invuln save that doesnt have EW.

-The alternative is allying in dark angels and getting 2 characters with invuln field bubbles for them. But in that case you are likely giving most of your troops feel no pain and a 4+ invuln in some way or another. And unfortunately a 10 man ras with 2 mg and an axe on the sarge outperforms sang guard in almost every situation if they had similar buffs.

 

 

Overall nipplewing is a neat and fun themed army to play. Visually striking. But not efficient in a competitive environment simply because they declined to give sanguinary guard even a slight invulnerable save, and severely limited their number of attacks.