jump pack army

[undeadfilth]

Is a full jump pack themed BA army viable? I used to run something like that back in the .pdf heresy and am looking forward to doing it again. I'm going through all of my armies and trying to make them all adhere to a theme to help me get motivated to actually paint them all:P

[tomjoad]

How do you mean 'viable'? In a more casual setting, it can be fun and challenging to play. Against tournament caliber lists or players, I think you'll find all-jumpers lacking.

 

Those assault marines die quickly, just like any marine, but are more expensive. Priests make them live a bit longer, but are massively expensive. An all-jumper army will usually be outnumbered and will be lacking the killing power found in a Grey Knight or Space Wolf (and Wolves are cheaper to boot!).

 

To win with C:BA you need to maximize mobility while minimizing your troops propensity to die without doing anything. I've been trying razorbacks. Some people will tell you I'm wrong about jumpers. I'm not sure what the best answer is, though I suspect it's a hybrid mech/razorback combo, and I fear that our best option is "use SW until we get a new book."

[ianj253]

A full jump pack marine army would definitely give some players.  However, some other armies would smile upon seeing your list (Heldrake Spam). I think you can find a nice medium  that is centered on the packs and is fast. Here's a list I came up with.

 

Mephiston 

Jump Libby 

2x SP-2 PW

3x 10 man assault squads-2x melta 

1x 10 man assault squad- 2x melta PW

2x 3 speeder squadrons with 2x Heavy Bolters per speeder 

1x Storm Raven- AC,MM, hurricane bolters

 

Your 40 assault marines should be getting a nice buff from those SP and your Libby can either roll Divination or biomancy (enfeeble would be awesome with this list).  The 6 land speeders offer ranged fire support in the form of 36 heavy bolters shots. Finally the SR can help deal with any pesky flyers. 

 

If you didn't want to use Mephiston you could always replace him with another Libby than ally with DA to get a cheap third jump libby. 

[Ushtarador]

A good core of 20 jumpers with priest and libby-support can go a long way, but you definitely need to surround them with things like stormravens, predators or attack bikes to be competitive. There are just too many things you can't handle with pure ASM.

On the other hand, imperial guard players will :cuss themselves when they see 40 marines charging in on turn 2, so that's something

[undeadfilth]

Well, normally I do add in some immediate target priorities like a furioso with frag cannon and heavy flamer in a pod and sternguard in a pod. Those definately help take some pressure off the packers. Another good one is the flamestorm baal ttwins that scout up and toast some squads. Most people don't like those:P other than that I forsee a few sanguinary priests for the fnp and a librarian or two for buffs. I'd bring jump pack death company, but they get expensive FAST!

[daveclark890]

I run all jump list and have had to drop some melta to get some flames to deal with hordes and some plasma for armour on flyers. I deploy 3 RAS with 3 priests a Libby and a Reclusiarch which tank forward on turn 1 using cover, plain scout squad sit near my home objective in cover. Turn 2 my Honour Guard squad descend and shoot plasma at a scary combat unit or nasty vehicle, then the Vanguard Vets heroically intervene and give the content of the dead vehicle a kicking or hit a decent target.

 

It has worked pretty well so far and people don't expect 45 assault marines with FNP to be charging towards them ever. Fliers are a bit of a problem until you learn to outmanuver them because unless the hover they can't turn to shoot you and if they hover then you can shoot them down.

 

That's just my take though and I am not mega competative.

[Captain Death Crunch]

Simple answer: Yes. But as you and others stated, it's always better to have some other things (i.e. landspeeders, attack bikes, baals, etc.) to support them.

[Drunken Angel]

Jumpers are still very usefull, a fluid approach is required.  20-30 jumpers and one priest with a libby.  Mix and match Speeders, Attack Bikes, Baals, Vindicators, Stormravens and preds with a few Rhinos to for taste.  I like 3 Attack Bikes, 2 Ravens a Vindicator and use the jumpers to follow the armour up around the board.  The jumpers are fast enough to stay out of trouble and you can postion them to your advantage.  The priest makes them reasonably tough.  Sure a helldrake will get near them but move them so that you can line up a Raven to come in to give the Drake some love from Baal.  The key to the jumpers is dont fight unless it favours you and if someone is shooting the jumpers they are not shooting the armour.  You can move away from objectives, let the armour support them and move in again.  Noboby likes deepstriking melta that only scatters 6 inches.  I am enjoying a jumper armour flyer mix its pretty good fun and have won against Cronair/wraith, Space wolf/TWC, Chaos (Helldrake heavy) lists. You wont win em all but thats where you push for the draw.

[Giaus M. Strongblade]

A little trick that can be useful if you are determined on a jump pack list and worried about hell drakes is to add a tech marine an swap the harness for a JP for free. This gives you a model with a 2+ save an normally FNP that if positioned correctly can absorb the wounds a helddrake may cause. Also Dante, memphiston, and a captain with Storm Shield work but the techie is very cheap.

 

Also vanguard vets with melta bombs and a power weapon can deep strike into your oppositions fire support base and limit the incoming fire. Also good for taking out land raiders or leman russes. Might even want to take two squads of 5 to make this tactic a bit more reliable.

 

I think a mix of weapons on different squads is good. One with melta and another with a flamer. Honor guard are well suited to this list too, as you won't need a priest then.

 

Sanguinary guard are useful with their 2+ save in jp lists , as they can operate a bit more independently and can be deep strikes into in convenient positions.