BA Heavy Mech in 6th

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Hello BA Forum

I recently picked up a BA dex because I thought they would be great allies for my space wolves. Eventually I'd like to build up my BA collection to the point of fielding a stand alone blood angel list. I'm a new Warhammer gamer and I really tanks are awesome! Since most of the game in 6th edition is moving to footslogging army lists I was wondering if tanking advantage of all the different ways blood angels can take tanks would put the BA's in a good situation. Taking only 2 LR's with my space wolves (don't have any other armor) have almost always worked out well and I'm thinking taking quite a few armor'd units for BAs could do even better.

Thoughts?

[walpurgisnacht]

Remember, red ones go faster!

Baal preds, asscan razorbacks,vindicators. So,yes mech ba is the awesome.

Don't forget the Storm Raven!

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Hah, this is good news for me! I guess I'll just have to indulge then ^.^

[I am Legion]

As far as marine chapters, Blood Angels field armour the best. Ive recently turned to armour myself. 2 storm raven, vindicator and 3 Baal preds. Supported by Death company and another assualt squad, plus terminators and furiosos and you have a hammer in the face army. May not seem like much but these days everyone's taking elite armies that get killed just as fast as they used to. Horde will beat this list but it does make for a fun game still.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Maybe Orks (haven't played em yet) and IG would probably give that list a rough time... but I can see it doing well against Tyranids. I play against nids a lot and I only wish the Space Wolves had something like the Baal Preds against bugs.. would be perfect.

[Mr.darkness]

Mech BA can definitely work. As far as I can see a more hybrid approach has become the norm for competitive gaming, but thats not to say that heavy mech has died. With the BA having fast tanks and the baal pred, I think they do the mech build better than any other marine army out there. 

[Crippleru]

Ive recently moved to a list with 2* Baals, an Auto/Las pred, a Vindi, Furioso Libby and a rhino carrying tac sqaud all supported by a libby with divination (works wonders on the auto/las pred and vindi) 2 assault sqauds with 1 priest to grab objectives late in the game. Ive got 3 attack bikes for anti tank and it has worked really well as its got massive fire power, an av13 wall and its all FAST.

 

Brilliant!!

[skyst]

I was skeptical of mech lists in 6th at first but honestly it allows vehicles to perform more predictably and reliably. I have had less circumstances where a Predator or Razorback gets luckily popped on first turn by a first turn Lascannon.

Results may vary mid game.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I really hold a grudge against lascannons. For me they are the most unreliable weapon in the game. I have no problem hitting but getting a glance let alone a pen on any vehicle with AV13-14 has been like pulling teeth.

[Ghostwolfalpha]

My local group calls lascannons "The gun that shall not be named" if your counting on it working or your next turn depends on it, the Lascannon will let you down 9 times out of 10. I dont know why, it has such a nice profile, but it always seems to fall short. Ignore the gun, say and expect it not to work, and it seems to do, better.

 

I have found that running mech catches people off guard now a days. Show up with a bunch of preds and some baals and vindicators and watch the look on your opponents face when they realize all that plasma can only glance your front armour.

 

I completely agree with skyst about vehicles being more reliable, while taking a hit in the effectiveness department, they tend to be more balanced, and you have to know how to use them properly instead of just driving up the board like a lot of mech in 5th. (Except flyers, they are the big stinky cheese)

[Captain Death Crunch]

If you have a single lascannon shot from a razorback, yeah it's probably going to miss (that's what you get for putting a lascannon on a razorback in the first place! ) A devastator squad with 4 lascannon shots however, should hit and blow up something (especially with a signum and if you have a Librarian with Prescience). If you're counting on one or only a few shots to hit and destroy something, it's probably going to fail.

Mech BA is great in 6th edition. 3 vindicators might be overkill but man does it scare the crap out of your opponent (and not recommended against lists with fliers, obviously). Add drop pod Frag Furioso Dreads supported by fast moving stuff (Baals, attack bikes, land speeders, jump packs, etc.) and your opponent will be pushed hard real fast.

[IK Viper]

As in modern warfare, a strong tank company needs air support to truly thrive though,  without air support even Necron Flyers can kill your armour since the sides are only AV 11 and flyers are great at getting the angle on stuff, its almost impossible to prevent in alot of cases :-( ,  however with Stormravens providing air cover the mech can ususally live long enough to get the several rounds worth of shooting they need to be effective.  I am currently using 2 Stormravens, a Predator, a Baal Predator, and a Dev. Squad in a bastion for this,  unless they have DS melta or Rail guns it is going to be hard to kill all that at range.  If I had more Baals I would run them but I don't.  The point I am trying to make though is that in a flyer heavy world, Mech without air cover can quickly get dismantled, but with good cover it has a much better chance. 

 

General Observation => Dev. Squads put out more fire for the points but are much easier to kill (Hell Drakage and small arms fire threaten them easily) and cannot shift position if the enemy can use terrain alot.  Tanks bring less fire power for the points but add mobility and survivability,  so to make tanks effective they need to live longer to really start putting the hurt on the enemy, with the obvious exception being the Vindi, who with one good (hopefully prescienced) blast can change the tide of battle... maybe

 

When using mech, because you are not pinned down in a firing position, things like deathwing are not as scarry to mech as they are to other more traditional fire base units because you can basically leave the board half (24 inch max move per turn) if you have to and they will have a really hard time catching you as you move 6 and shoot as they move 6 toward you.  Abuse the Fast Vehicle rule to create firing lanes than limit return fire where possible.