New to Blood Angels: Running them in 6th Edition.

[Rommel44]

Hey mates, with my Inquisitorial Henchman army being built for the most part and having a bunch of bits needed in the mail (both from Forgeworld and Ebay), I have decided to look at building my other army and I have settled on running the BA's, as I have always been a huge fan of Assault Marines, and BA's can take them as troops, which is awesome. However, ever since 6th edition came out, I have noticed a Dramatic drop in the number of people playing them, so it begs the question: Are they still a good army in this edition? I understand a big part of it is related to the fact that
Assaulting took a major hit in this edition, as GW decided to be idiots and make the game more boring by just shooting all of the time, however I am an assaulting guy at heart and I would still like to try make theses guys work in 6th. Currently, I am looking for tactical advice on how effective these guys are, what units work best for them, and are there any characters that I should take when I run them. Pretty much a bunch of noob questions, however I am a noob when it comes to these guys so any help would be much appreciated. At the moment, thanks to placing 2nd at the tournament and winning a good chunk of change, I currently have:

*1x Squad of Vanguard Vets (unbuilt)

*2x (5x) Man Assault Squads

*1x Space Marine Commander Model, w/Power Sword, Storm Shield, Jump Pack (From a friend)

Not much at the moment, but they where safe purchases, as if the BA idea doesn't work out I could always convert them into a Raven Guard
themed list with Shrike, as it seems like next best Assault List with that guy in charge. Besides that, I have yet to make much headway in
deciding on what to do with these guys so if anyone has any advice they can give to a new BA player, I would really appreciate the help.

[Morticon]

Grab a storm raven when you can afford to, they're really one of the best birds in the 40k skies.  
The rest of what you get will very strongly depend on how you want to play your BA.  Theyre quite a tricky army to get right, so careful consideration will be needed before launching into them, i feel!

[B.Robins]

I find that Vanguard Vets are a real solid hit to the side of any opponent, back them up with podded Sternguard and before long your opponent has lost a serious chunk on their flank. Then whilst they are concentrating on (attempting) to finish of that rather annoying flanking attack (from the veterans) you can pummel infantry and armor from afar with devastator squads, and dominate the mid field with a mix of assault squads and death company.

 

Its a punishing tactic that rarely fails for me, in fact in the last 12 months the only time I have lost when using this strategy is last week when I was fighting my mates new Tau army... that supporting fire overwatch was killer and I was relatively unlucky in that I couldn't deep strike my vanguard vets at the same time (one on turn 2 and one on turn 5 :/) ... even so it was a close thing it was only one VP that I lost by and I would have taken that next turn, but hey ho :)

 

Thats how I like to work

[Jakbal]

My win percentage went way up when I started fielding a devastator squad in my backfield.  This forced my opponents far enough into cover that I was able to march my assault squads right up their noses without getting completely shot to pieces.  Also, I second the advice regarding our Storm Raven Gunship.  It is worth it.

[nevaenuffbass]

Characters - the good: Mephiston (apparently, I've never actually used him, but ppl rave about him), brother corbulo - he is the bomb 2+ fnp and a re-roll, tycho, some people like dante. The bad - Seth is a bit crappy, although might be better against non MEC.

 

Previously, BA have had 2 main builds - mechanised with lots of fast rhino chassis, adn jump pack heavy - sometimes DoA, sometimes not. 6th has given both of them a hit, with light vehicles dying much faster and reserve rules making Doa harder to pull off, furios charge no longer giving +1I and fnp dropping to 5+. 

 

Hence they are kind of lost - their tactical squads are more expensive than their counterparts, and most of the distinctive things that make them blood angels are hard to use -  death company are awesome but getting them into combat is difficult as jump packs cost a fortune, drop pods leave them vulnerable and land raiders are a massive investment - and don't have the assault range that they did in 5th. Their bikes are still strong, but not troops, and most things that make marines good work equally well with our blood angels -d rop pod sternguard, TH/SS terminators etc. 

 

So BA players are looking for a new niche, or a new army. There is conversation about a few new builds - multiple ravens, multiple land raiders, lots of drop pods, but as the meta changes with so many new codices, and of course new armies to try out, I guess no-one is really sure how to make them work. I fear that they are heading in the same direction as black templars currently - where a few good and loyal players still compete really well with them. To do so I guess you need to find what they do well - subsidised drop pods, descent of angels (reliable reserves) vanguard vets, fnp bubbles, unique psychic powers (shield / blood lance are my favourite) death company and make that work. Fast vehicles (effective range on a vindicator is 36" - nothing to be sneezed at), furioso dreads, dreadnaught spam (3 different FOC have dreadnoughts in them)

 

Remember with vanguard vets that one or two may drop to overwatch fire, and they are most reliable when guided by a drop pod - and yeah while d6" scatter doesn't seem much, you'll often find yourself trying to get them into tight spaces. They cost only a little less than TH/SS termis when equipped well, and prob work best in units of 7-8. 

 

Some love the raven, some don't. I am somewhere in between. It is a great gunship, but it is expensive. And in it;s cost is a capability to carry troops and a dread - but this ability is difficult to use well, as you don't really want to hover as then it becomes vulnerable, and correct me if I am wrong, you need to zoom on the table, so it's occupants can assault, at best, on turn 3, when it can only move 6" before they all disembark - so it is predictable in what it is going to do. I run mine empty or with a minimum unit of scouts for late game objective grabbing. 

 

So what to take from all this - given the chance I'd have painted mine in a lesser known successor chapter colours so I could use them as vanilla marines. Also, playtest, playtest, playetest. You pay a premium on many generic units (tac squads for example) but as a result have access to some very unique toys - finding the right mix takes some work. I also think they are probably best not considered an assault army - they have great assault units - vv's and dc, but their shooting is unique - baals and vindis, storm ravens, attack bikes, and as mentioned by others the devastator squads are all pretty vital.