New Army Inbound

[L30n1d4s]

I just purchased a BA (actually, Angels Sanguine) army for the first time and am looking for some advice from experienced players on list building/in-game application.

 

Between what I just purchased and the models I already had, I have a "bucket" of the followig units:

 

HQ

-Astorath

-Reclusiarch

-Librarian

 

EL

-Furioso Dread (dual Blood Talons)

-Furioso Dread (with Frag Cannon)

-5 Sternguard

-5 LC Terminators

-5 TH/SS Terminators

-3 Sanguinary Priests

 

TR

-10 Sniper Scouts (ML included)

-10 CCW Scouts (PF Sgt)

-7 Death Company (2 Power Swords, Power Axe, PF, 3 CCWs)

-DC Dread (two Blood talons)

-10 ASM (2 MGs, Sgt wit PF/SS)

 

FA

-6 SMB/1 Attack Bike

-Land Speeder (HB and TML)

-2 Baal Preds (magnetized weapons to choose)

 

HS

-3 Storm Ravens (magnetized weapons)

 

 

Any experienced Sons of Sanguinus willing to share your hard-earned knowledge here?

 

Thanks.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Greetings brother! As a fellow Angels Sanguine player I feel I should chime in ;). We're the best flavour of BA, after all (don't listen to any of the others). What you've got looks fairly solid so far, quite weighted towards the mech side of things - personally more of an infantry player, but I'll do what I can!

 

First question - how much of that stuff has jump packs? (Specifically looking at the DC and characters, I'm assuming that the ASM have packs) - that'll help with list building and so on. Also curious as to what gun the attack bike has (MM or HB), and weaponry on the sternguard (if they don't have anything special, then they're perfectly playable as a really fancy tactical squad).

 

Secondly, list building (if you're looking to try something with what you have) - don't use Astorath; you don't have the models to get the best from his approach. Librarian is probably your best choice, especially at smaller points games. Baal predators are really solid; use the dakka variant, flamers have to get too close to be effective, and almost always die first/immediately after flaming a target. I'd definitely start off with the 10 man ASM squad as it stands, maybe cut the storm shield or change up the sergeants wargear slightly as he's very expensive. Blender dread is nice, but keep him away from termies (also interferes with his ability to punch out tanks). Sniper scouts would be an excellent inclusion as otherwise you're very thin on scoring units.

 

Sample 1k list:

Librarian with Jump Pack (assuming he has one), Shield of Sanguinius and your choice of other power - Unleash Rage, Fear of the Darkness or Blood Lance are best - 125

10 ASM, 2x Meltagun, Powerfist (find a relaxed opponent who'll happily pretend the SS isn't there) - 235

5 Sniper Scouts - 75

5 Sniper Scouts, ML - 85

Storm Raven with twin-linked assault cannon, twin-linked multi-melta - 200 (Keep it cheap and straightforward at this low points)

Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon, heavy bolter sponsons - 145 (all around solid loadout)

Baal Predator with twin-linked assault cannon, heavy bolter sponsons - 145 (so good you can take it twice)

 

This comes in at 1k exactly. If your librarian doesn't have a Jump Pack, then whack him with the scouts and give one unit camo cloaks, and the ASM sergeant meltabombs and a combat shield to use up your last few points. Give you 3 scoring units (4 if you combat squad), and 3 fairly tough vehicles, along with your mandatory support HQ. Game style is to leave scouts on objectives, preferably in cover, whilst everything else moves forward to dish out damage. You don't have much on the table at all, so try and shield your models from view where possible. Use the front armour of the Baals in combination with a 5+ cover save from Shield of Sanguinius to try and keep everything rolling up the table. The weaponry loadout I've picked for the vehicles has the best all-around game (in my opinion), you might want to switch it up based on your gaming group. Don't be scared to keep going to ground on objectives - scouts aren't there to do damage, they're there to take and hold.

 

That's the 'sledgehammer' approach to playing the list - there's also sneakier ways to do it such as combat squadding the ASM, leaving some in reserve for DoA strikes with melta, potentially using the transport capacity of the Thunderbrick (can get the librarian and 5 dudes inside if you want), maybe outflanking one of the Baals (nothing funnier than sneaking behind an ADL). Just don't do it all at once - a big tactical no no is leaving too much of your expensive stuff in reserves.

 

At higher points limits you can get a DC dread and some DC inside a storm raven, and that'd be my advice for advancing up to 1500 (same list, but with the DC dread, another scoring unit, and as many DC as will fit in your remaining points). Maybe replace something with a fragioso in a drop pod.

 

For what to get next, I'd suggest some more scoring units (ASM are probably the best option), and a drop pod (frag cannon dreads in drop pods are distinctly unfriendly). Since you have another unit to put on the table in the form of scouts (not much experience using CC scouts this edition), I'd put the pod at the top of the 'to buy' list.

[L30n1d4s]

@Chaplain Admetus

 

Thank you for the detailed reply. It is neat to see another Angels Sanguine player here and to get advise from your experience.

 

Regarding your questions:

 

1- Only the ASM, one Sanguinary Priest, and Astorath (obviously) have Jump Packs... everything else is foot-mobile.

 

2 - Attack Bike has a MM and the SMBs can have any of the SW options (i.e. flamer, melta, plasma, etc.).

 

3 - Sternguard have 2 combi-Meltas, 2 Boltguns, 1 Heavy Flamer, and a PF on the Vet Sgt.

 

Thanks for your advice on list-building. I especially appreciate your input on the Librarian. Do you think using codex powers (i.e. Blood Lance, Fear of the Darkness, etc.) is superior to using Rulebook powers (i.e. Divination, Biomancy, etc)?

 

I hear what you are saying about more Troops, particularly more ASM with Jump packs. Despite the nerfs from 6th edition, I still think scoring ASM as Troops with 2 Melta Guns and a choppy Sgt (plus FNP/FC from Sang Priest bubble) is one of the better values in the game right now.

 

Appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and would love to hear any other tips you have.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Sorry its taken ages to reply - been busy! Re the librarian powers - never biomancy; he's just not tough enough to make it stick (2 wounds with a 3+ save just isn't reliable), and only getting 2 rolls on the table/being only able to use one per turn unless you pay a ridiculous number of points. As far as I know, the correct way to play it (i.e. the way I've been playing it and nobody has ever had a problem with) is to pick powers on your list, and then decide whether or not to swap for BRB powers before the game; so it's situational. I used to prefer shield//unleash as my power split but shield//fear has advantages (Last major tourney I played with BA I went shield//lance because I was so sick of my army getting boned by mech that I -may- have gone a teensy bit overboard on my anti-armour). So how I would advise doing it is to note down on your list the powers that are better for you from the 'dex, then decide if divination would be better once you know what you're up against. For example, against a splinter-heavy Dark Eldar force you won't need bonus cover saves, but rolling on Divination to take a shot for perfect timing to ignore their jink saves is ideal.

 

If you're hunting for other tips, I'll make a shameless plug - I've got a batrep thread rolling around that's not been updated in too long, but take a look for that (search should find it); has plenty of games to take ideas from.