My thoughts of BAs in 6th Edition

[Pathstrider]

So I've now managed to play a fair number of games under 6th edition and I've come to a couple of conclusions. There are only two main ones, but they've totally changed the way I play:

 

Troops Choice - I just can't make assault squads work anymore. I always thought that they were marginal in close combat in 5th edition but they were useful for quickly getting rid of non-combat enemy units particularly troops (or weaker fearless units like gaunts). At the same time their meltaguns were perfect for taking out vehicles. 

 

In my games of 6th edition vehicles are, if not completely absent, a lot rarer. At the same time, the changes to fearless mean an assault squad is easy to bog down. Random charge length is also an issue, but the main thing I've found is that with the changes in rapid fire by the time an assault squad gets into combat a tactical squad will have had three turns of shooting - even at 24" range that's the same attacks as the assault squad will deal out. And it's much easier to concentrate the fire from multiple tactical squads compared to assault squads.

 

Despite all this I still think that Blood Angels have something to offer over Vanilla forces, which leads me onto my second conclusion:

 

Sanguinary Priest and Librarians are still useful - Given the changes to rapid fire, I'm dubious about the value of mobility as each turn in a Rhino is a turn a tactical squad isn't firing at the enemy and I've found most of my opponents have enough firepower to wreck enough Rhinos to defuse attempts at using the mobility to concentrate fire (This isn't new to 6th edition; I found the same in 5th). I do take the point that Rhinos offer shelter against shooting, but this is where sanguinary priests come in for me - they give back some of the protection via FNP without compromising shooting.

 

They also, along with librarians, reduce the main downsides of taking tactical squads which is being rolled in hand to hand combat. I've found that librarians and priests with power weapons (particularly Power Axes making use of WS5) back a decent punch to counter attack with or get a tactical squad out of trouble. The Tactical squads also supply sergeants for taking challenges.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything similar, or are your experiences in 6th leading you to different conclusions?

 

Mark

 

[CitadelArmyGuy]

One of my favorite threads right here, I'll just drop here for reference if it helps.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/263963-how-do-you-find-blood-angels-in-6th/