Restarting from Scratch: Battle Experienced Brothers Wanted

[Dark Legionnare]

Greetings all! My life had been very busy the last two years. Moving to another state, bigger and better job, house, etc, etc, etc...

I haven't had a lot of time to engage in 6th, and no time in 7th just yet but what I have found out is that I've finally hit a wall in terms of my army. 85% of its 2500 points is made of models I assembled and painted in 3rd, and VERY EARLY 4th Edition. Throughout 4th and 5th my army and models were still wrecking house, I was very highly-ranked among our locals groups of play with a near flawless record. I've held out fine, until now!

I was and am regularly getting stomped in 6th because I've always "stuck to my guns." That is to say, I've used the load-outs I modeled in 3rd edition because I play as WYSIWYG. Simpler load-outs for a simpler time I suppose. My old successor paint job is starting to wear on me too. I won't be getting rid of the models, may still use them, just have to finally bite the bullet and move on, sadly.

I'll be receiving a $2k bonus from work upon getting myself certified to make them look even fancier for hiring me. I'm going to dump a chunk of that into redoing my BA from the ground up, paint and all. I will wait for the new codex before I begin this big investment/purchase to make sure I buy/model the right units and equipment, but that doesn't mean I can't start gathering opinion and planning the setup as a result of the current state of affairs in 40k

So, now I come to you all. I used to be an expert in the days of 4th and 5th, but I've fallen by the wayside from lack of play the last two years. I want to know "what's what" for Blood Angels.

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I don't want army lists to carbon copy, I just want to hear what people have generally found to be true, since experience is the best teacher. I've wanted since the end of 4th to make a fun pseudo-mechanized force so that's what I will be aiming for as my army. (Strike fast and hard and all that rot.)

I want to hear people's stories of their 6th/7th Ed. careers so far so I can get a feel and better understanding of 40k as is. Not the metagame of competition/tourney's per se; just how people have experienced and what they love/hate/recommend since 6th and 7th arrived on the scene.

• What's the enemy looking like in terms of fighting us? (From experience)
• How fare general tactics including assault especially? (From experience)
• Etc, etc... Anything useful you can spare!

Cheers, and many thanks! Please share your tales of glory so that I may bask in them, and take from them what I will!

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

I can't speak all that well for the playing side. But for the hobby side: Make a plan, schedule it and stick to it.

 

I have personally been on a repainting of sorts for my own BA successor chapter for over 2 years now. I've completed 5 DC marines, a chaplain, a combat squad of tactical marines and hopefully before the end of the ETL I can add 25 assault marines to that...hopefully. So definitely plan it out, schedule it and stick to it or it may never get done.

[Shaezus]

Good on ye for starting this thread, Dark Legionnare. Like you I had a big BA break - about twenty years or so - and maybe I could have done with starting a thread like this! Then again the last 18 months have been a joy, getting re-acquainted and marvelling at how BA have come on, trying stuff and trying pretty much everything in the 'dex at 6th ed. and getting plenfy of games in at club and comp.

 

Anyway I suppose it all depends on your tastes. My list evolved to a drop pod list with mech support or IG allies sometimes. Just my taste, as it meant my assault elements couldn't be targeted until they were in place and had already fired once themselves. Drop pods are the most accurate DS method, barring non-scatter special rules. And frag-cannon Furiosos go hand-in-hand with them. A truly devastating asset when supported properly.

 

You mention mech. - having fast vindicators is a real, big thing over everyone else. Siege shields compulsory, so one minute they're hid behind a wall, the next they're across no mans land and blasting the enemy DZ to pieces, no dangerous terrain test needed. Don't just take one of these, they fill a gap in our 'dex.

Baal pred - awesome, reliable workhorse respected by friend and foe alike. Made to be, a natural battle-shaker who will be there when you need fire support like yesterday. TLAC and HB is best.

 

I found jumpy lists fun but less survivable. Also jump packs on death company are a no-no if you want to win besides having great fun. They are awesome to play with but when the jump pack costs the same as a space marine, well you can see the problem there. I found it better to have more bods on the ground than packs on backs.

 

Haven't played 7th yet, think I'm going to wait till the new codex and just use my normql list in the meantime as there is a local tourny coming up but I am broke. Looks like mech will be stronger this edition, also a heavy mech list may be more resistant to the summoning spam which people seem to expect. Having land raiders as super-scoring certainly influences things for me right now.

 

Oh, almost forgot. Corbulo. He is a legend. At 1500 points or above he is worth every penny. Never go without him these days, for example my last game he personally tanked 70 wounds and thus kept his squad on the objective and clinched the game. Seriously, if he fits in your style then take him.

 

Good luck, have fun!

[MephistonTheLordOfDeath]

Funny you mention Corbulo. I am playing my first 7th ed game tomorrow, and with the changes to ICs int the 7th, I am running Corbulo with Mephiston (He'll be using Biomancy of course) in a Land Raider. Will be interesting to see what they do together.

[Dark Legionnare]

You mention mech. - having fast vindicators is a real, big thing over everyone else. Siege shields compulsory, so one minute they're hid behind a wall, the next they're across no mans land and blasting the enemy DZ to pieces, no dangerous terrain test needed. Don't just take one of these, they fill a gap in our 'dex.

Baal pred - awesome, reliable workhorse respected by friend and foe alike. Made to be, a natural battle-shaker who will be there when you need fire support like yesterday. TLAC and HB is best.

Yeah. I'll keep my ear to the ground and wait for the new codex. My general idea was something with a mix of Vindi's, Baal's, SR with Death Company and Furioso in it, then assorted Razorbacks with 5-man teams of sterns or other focussed units like devs, then rhinos with full tac squads, etc, etc... Throw in a Librarian or such.  Mephiston and Corbulo are awesome but I usually avoid named characters because I shy-away from "This BA legend found this minor skirmish worthy of his time somehow."

 

I've liked the idea of Blood Angels doing such because it seems to fit their tactics/lore what with the Lucifer engines and the "get in to fight" mentality.

 

Of course jump-packs are the truest to our lore, but I've had nothing but terrible, terrible luck with my jump-pack guys failing their rolls to random-distance assault time and time again.

[Nova_chron]

I have found the best thing for jumpers is not to use on the charge but to use them for position. Depending on your local gamers they are more or less survivable, where I am I see lots of tank killing firepower, but not a lot that will clean out squads of tough infantry. I think I am the only one not playing forge world that reliably has str 8+ large blasts with ap 2/1, I run a minimum of 2 vindicators with 30 marines bodies at all times, then season to taste. I also love Baal predators but I feel you need to run tanks in pairs and have yet to get a second one. For youR HQ I recommend a librarian or reclusiarch to start.

[Dark Legionnare]

I have found the best thing for jumpers is not to use on the charge but to use them for position. Depending on your local gamers they are more or less survivable, where I am I see lots of tank killing firepower, but not a lot that will clean out squads of tough infantry. I think I am the only one not playing forge world that reliably has str 8+ large blasts with ap 2/1, I run a minimum of 2 vindicators with 30 marines bodies at all times, then season to taste. I also love Baal predators but I feel you need to run tanks in pairs and have yet to get a second one. For youR HQ I recommend a librarian or reclusiarch to start.

Yeah, I've got a Lemartes model that I've taken the jump-pack off of. Put a generic backpack on him to be my "Give dem crazies their re-rolls" Reclusiarch.

 

Never played a 40k game to date with my BA without the Death Company and an accompanying chaplain/reclusiarch, etc...  Still, we'll have to wait and see what the new dex brings, I hope it doesn't put DC by the wayside.  I love having a unit that I can suicide as a lore and tactical choice, keeps you from feeling like you wasted a unit.

[Shaezus]

Hehe yeah, you can never waste the death company. They're dead anyway.

 

Whether they get the charge or not a tooled up DC with chap or reclusiarch is one of the best point-for-point melee units in the game. When they get the charge, they are the best.

[Demoulius]

• What's the enemy looking like in terms of fighting us? (From experience)
• How fare general tactics including assault especially? (From experience)
• Etc, etc... Anything useful you can spare!

Well alot of armies are either better as shooting or assaulting then normal MEQ and that doesent exclude us blood angels. Because of this (and because I dont tailor lists against particular armies) I tend to favour all-comer lists that can deal with all threats equally. Having said that blood angels lack very good affordable anti-flyers options (not the "affordable part....) which but aside from that we have plenty of options for both assaulty units and shooting ones.

Some generic but usefull tips:

*Shoot the assault units and assault the ranged units. Dont fight your opponent on his terms unless you severly thinned his numbers down.

*Most of our vehicles are fast (think only land raiders dont have the fast rule...), use this. Alot of people are taken aback when they suddenly see your vindicator moving 12 inches and yet it can still fire. Likewise beeing able to move a vehicle to a flank for side shots and still beeing able to fire is something not alot of people are prepared or experienced with.

*DC are expendable, both in fluff and tabletop. They got a special rule that prevents them from counting as capturing (unsure if they cant deny objectives...but anyway) but at the same time they are hard as nails. People who know what DC are capable of WILL be wary of them reaching combat and/or will pour ungodly amounts of firepower at them to make sure that they dont reach combat. Using this to your advantage whilst keeping them in cover can ensure that the rest of your army will be mostly unscathed and the DC should have enough men left to still make an impact. If you attach a reclusiarch or elite slot chaplain expect them to be about 3 times as nasty on the charge. When these guys charge something the results arent pretty. Obviously only a usefull tip if you use DC, but a well handled DC unit can wreck havoc amongst enemy lines, so might be worthwhile all the same.

*Our HQ options are mostly suited as force multipliers. Reclusiarch and librarians are favoured. The special characters are as well if you can spare the points and captains are hardly ever taken. The reasons for this are sadly lack of good wargear options compared to vanilla marines and the fact that BA armies tend to be abit more assaulty then vanilla marines, so we dont need our captains to do that for us if your thinking of taking a somewhat sizeable DC id highly advice taking a Reclusiarch. You get 1 mandatory troop and HQ that way and they synergize like you wouldnt believe!

*assault marines are troops. Renember this fact and use it to your advantage!

*Sanguinary priests are worth their weight in gold (IMHO, others might think less of them...) but you got to really use them in the proper way to get some milage out of them. Keep them on the cheap side if you can. A powerweapon is possible if you want to use him very agressivly otherwise id leave even that at home. Its a 1 wound IC. He can be picked out or challenged and while he has WS5 the rest of his stats are pretty basic. They are only really worth it in 2 ways.

1: If they end up saving alot of basic troops, a few veteran troops (for example save 2 terminators and he will have earned his points back )

or

2: If they save a few men AND grant you furious charge a few times per game. In that case you dont even need them to save that many men as the added boost in combat often also made a huge difference.

Dont forget the priests grant their power in a 6 inch bubble. It is therefor possible to grant several units the FNP/FC bubble at the same time. I wouldnt advice more then 2 priests in 1500 and even then they should be kept quite basic. Because of the bubble you dont need one in each squad as with carefull placement you can cover multiple units

and the last tip:

Dont forget the blood angel special rules. Keep reminding yourself that after deploying you have to roll for red thirst and if you deep strike a jump pack unit you only scatter 1d6. I have forgetten red thirst so many times its not even funny. Likewise deepstriking and only scattering 1d6 can be very helpfull if it suits your tactic!

[Dark Legionnare]

I do forget Red Thirst pretty much EVERY game. Just one of "those things" ya'know?

General advice appreciated. Already mostly in my repertoire, but still appreciated.  If you can spare mentioning any particularly nasty units that are common in these editions that'd be much appreciated. Don't have each army's dex, I like money too much to do so!

[Shaezus]

Particularly nasty units abound! I suppose it varies everywhere but if your locals are comp-minded expect to see them field at least two of the biggest nastiest things available to them. The most common in my neck of the woods are very heavy in MCs or flyers:

 

Eldar with at least two wraithknights

Tau with two riptides including fire support cadre

Chaos with at least 3 flying MC plus another MC as HQ. Not sure if this will last into 7th ed but the flying circus is still something to be aware of

Chaos marines with two heldrakes

Necrons with at least a dozen wraiths and 3 flyers

 

It does vary but it is still worth taking a list that can deal with all kinds of units.

[Dark Legionnare]

Particularly nasty units abound! I suppose it varies everywhere but if your locals are comp-minded expect to see them field at least two of the biggest nastiest things available to them. The most common in my neck of the woods are very heavy in MCs or flyers:

 

Eldar with at least two wraithknights

Tau with two riptides including fire support cadre

Chaos with at least 3 flying MC plus another MC as HQ. Not sure if this will last into 7th ed but the flying circus is still something to be aware of

Chaos marines with two heldrakes

Necrons with at least a dozen wraiths and 3 flyers

 

It does vary but it is still worth taking a list that can deal with all kinds of units.

Luckily the people around me aren't too big on anything "cheesy" as they refer to it.  I don't think I'll be facing double or triple Helldrakes, thankfully.

 

Just curious about fluffy, normal units, that are particularly nasty.  I'll learn by playing(getting hurt by them), but knowing some up front doesn't hurt!

[Angrypantz]

Fluff wise. Tactical squads, assault squads and devestator squads with a sprinkling of what you like and some death company.