What's Next For My Blood Angels?

[The Iron Chancellor]

So I've just finished my first 10 man tactical squad and 10 man assault squad (using 1 assault squad box and 1 death company box)

 

So now that I've got a couple of guys I know that I should keep building up assault squads, and I will, but I feel like taking a little break between building and painting these kind of "everyday" troops- even though I love them. So what should I get that won't be too ridiculous to have at this early stage? It can be anything other than what I already have.

[Sn4k30r]

a vehicle maybe? or a Furioso dreadnought? :D

[ElectricPaladin]

I'd say you're ready for some archangels: a jump pack librarian? A jump pack reclusiarch? You need someone to lead your army after all... If you've already got an HQ and just didn't mention it, I can definitely recommend getting him an awesome escort. My captain on foot hangs out with a squad of hammer terminators, and they have yet to let me down.

 

Furioso dreadnoughts are also awesome. Librarian ones are both awesome and likely to be important in 7th Edition.

 

I'd also recommend a rhino for your tacs. Given how fast the rest of our army is, it's important that your tactical marines don't get left behind in the ceaseless advance.

[Midnightmare]

HQ, then you have a FOC ready battleforged army :)

 

How do you see your BA expanding? Mech? Drop pods? Mostly jumpers? There is a big choice out there. 

 

For fun, what about a Baal Predator? Cool looks, cool dakka and fits in with most builds.

[Father Mapple]

Flexibility is always key to me as I expand. 

I echo the HQ choice. Either a Librarian to make your current troops more effective, or a Reclusiarch to make the Assault Squad more effective with an eye towards making Death Company soon for him to lead. If you do the Reclusiarch, I would just paint a Lemartes in that case - awesome sculpt and its a definite change in colors/scheme/detail if you need a break from painting more "mundane" marines.

[Jakbal]

From my recent experience, I would suggest a Baal Predator (Heavy Bolter / Assault Cannon loadout).  They are really fun to play, and boy do they put the hurt on your opponent.  Being fast and having a scout move is pretty sweet as well.  The one problem is that - if your opponent is wise - he may focus a lot of fire on it during turn #1.  While this stinks, it isn't all bad because it means the rest of your army will last longer into the game.

 

As for HQ, my suggestion, considering the recent release of 7th edition, is a librarian.  My personal experience is that an offensive biomancy librarian is better than a support divination librarian in this edition, but I'm still working that out.

 

Most important thing is to have fun!

[Xenith]

A HQ choice and a drop pod.

 

Drop pods are now excellent for T1 objective stealing that can net you VP's, and are scoring on troops choices.

[Jakbal]

A HQ choice and a drop pod.

 

Drop pods are now excellent for T1 objective stealing that can net you VP's, and are scoring on troops choices.

 

I just built 3 more drop pods to take advantage of this.

[The Iron Chancellor]

Okay so an HQ, Drop Pod, Tank, Librarian.... hmm... okay I'm thinking about playing them as very aggressive assault with maybe an ideal force being 2 deep struck dreads to surround, 2 5 man devastator swads to blast missile launchers from back and a couple 10 man squads of assault troops, maybe some death company,tanks/ land raider, terminators to bolster front assault group I'm not sure. Just by the way the tactical squad was like a painting/ building prep squad- I plan to field them I just wanted some practice with the models. So all that being said do you think that changes things?

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Baal Pred! Baal Pred! Baal Pred!

You will regret not getting one, or two or three, the moment you try them out.

[Dolchiate Remembrancer]

Okay so an HQ, Drop Pod, Tank, Librarian.... hmm... okay I'm thinking about playing them as very aggressive assault with maybe an ideal force being 2 deep struck dreads to surround, 2 5 man devastator swads to blast missile launchers from back and a couple 10 man squads of assault troops, maybe some death company,tanks/ land raider, terminators to bolster front assault group I'm not sure. Just by the way the tactical squad was like a painting/ building prep squad- I plan to field them I just wanted some practice with the models. So all that being said do you think that changes things?

To add to my previous post:

If you don't plan on using the tacticals, I would recommend you do with yours, what I did with mine: Convert them to Sternguards!

[The Iron Chancellor]

Hmm... Whats the Pro/ Con of Librarian vs Reclusiarch?

 

and in terms of armored choices, Which is best Dreadnought or Baal Predator or Land Raider or Razorback??

[ElectricPaladin]

Hmm... Whats the Pro/ Con of Librarian vs Reclusiarch?

 

and in terms of armored choices, Which is best Dreadnought or Baal Predator or Land Raider or Razorback??

 

Librarian

 + Psychic powers

 + More versatility in the kind of support he can provide to his unit (ie. he can be built to fight, or tank, or enhance)

 - Actually kind of mediocre in combat

 - Currently painfully overpriced compared to similar units in other codices

 

Reclusiarch

 + A total beast in combat

 + Buffs his unit

 + Buffs his unit more if they're death company

 + Because Blood Angels can bring chaplains as Elites choices, the model will do double duty in your collection

 - Not a psyker

 - More expensive, and not as likely to enjoy as big a price cut as the librarian

 

The armor choices you mention are really... kind of different, is the problem. Razorbacks aren't any more durable than your average rhino. You need to think of them as less "badass tank with guns!" and more "rhino that carries less folks but has a decent gun on top." Baal predators are main battle tanks that bring a lot to the table, largely thanks to their combination of special rules and weapon options. Land raiders are... land raiders. Most power armor players have at least one. I have two. Some folks have three or more. They're enormous and expensive, both in terms of the model and on the table, and you won't use it often... but when you do, it'll be fun.

 

Dreadnoughts are a hard case. They tend to die without a delivery system, so unless you also plan to get a stormraven or a drop pod for it, you aren't going to get to use it right away with any chance of success. That said, they're really neat models, and furiosos are particularly fun, and librarian furiosos are all that and a psychic bag of chips, too.

 

As you're still building your collection, I'd steer away from the land raider. The rest of your collection isn't big enough for you to play games of a size where the land raider will make sense for some time, so you'll buy it and lovingly paint it... and then it'll gather dust. I'd recommend a razorback - especially as it's not hard to assemble the kit so it can be a rhino as well - but you said you want a break from the mainstays of your force and to build and paint something special. If you want something that's going to synergize well with what you've already got, and you want something neat and special, do a Baal or a dreadnought.

[The Iron Chancellor]

Okay I think I have made my decision.... drum roll please..... My plan is to get a Furioso with blood talons and heavy flamer- which will tear through infantry with the blood talons special rule, and a librarian for my HQ, However since the librarian models are like 17 bucks each and a squad of 5 Sternguard (which look pretty similar to me) are 50 bucks I think I'll just buy a stern guard box and furioso librarian box. That way I get Blood Talons and Blood Lance to cut through armor and troops.

 

 

 

I'm thinking eventually I'll get a drop pod for the dreadnought too, Also can I give a librarian a jump pack?

[ElectricPaladin]

...Blood Lance to cut through armor and troops.

 

Actually, we lost all our special codex powers in the latest FAQ.

 

Also can I give a librarian a jump pack?

 

Absolutely! JUMP PACKS FOR EVERYONE!

[Shaezus]

If ye gonna run dreads, put em in pods. It's the only way to do them justice unless you have a defensive role in mind. Carrying them in stormravens is another way, not my own but it can work.

 

Adding to whats been said, another big advantage of the reclusiarch over libby is that he has a 4+ invul. And an extra wound. Bear in mind though his buff only applies when you get the charge, whilst a libby with prescience applies in every round of combat, assuming you pull off the cast successfully.

[Demoulius]

To chime in (albeit abit late...)

 

HQ for your army:

*Captains sadly are quite mediocre for blood angels. Quite expensive but lacking options for AA and dont offer anything other then hitting power.

 

*Reclusiarch has a build in 4++, have iniative 5 and give rerolls for themselves and their squad. If your planning on adding death company sooner or later theyre even nastier as those also get reroll to wound on the charge. And believe me not even MEQ like beeing charged by WS5, S5 marines with 2 base attacks, 2 extra attacks on the charge and a potential pistol for a 5th attack who ALL reroll to hit and to wound.

 

*Librarians are pretty good. Cheaper then the Reclusiarch by 2 marines but sadly lacking an option for an invunerable save unless your planning on taking terminator armor. That said with their powers they are VERY versatile and they can customize their weapon to be a sword, axe or staff respectivly while the Reclusiarch is stuck with a powermaul (which is AP4, and sadly not very good at cracking 3+ saves...) they are however the slowest HQ we have at initiative 4 so against other MEQ hq characters dont expect to hit first or at the same time as your opponent. Its the reason my liby has a force axe, incidentily.... Well that and 2+ saves on most of peoples warlords <_<

 

Anyway, after that. A vehicle id say if your fed up with painting infantry for abit :) Il second (or third, or fourth) what most here have said. Baal Predators are REALLY good. As are Vindicators, razorbacks and Furiosos. If you dont got the funds/will to buy a drop pod for the latter though I wouldnt bother. If he has to footslog in your matches expect to see him blow up in a ball of flame ALOT. People are afraid of Furiosos. And rightly so. If they reach combat semi-intact they start cleaning house and theyre quite good at that ^_^

[The Iron Chancellor]

Hey @ElectricPaladin,

 

I saw the FAQ you mentioned

 

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/Warhammer-40k/Blood-Angels.pdf

 

and I think it say that you may/ not that you have to change Blood Angel psychic powers for General ones, also later in the document with the Yes/No questions two questions about blood lance are answered- which I don't think would have been if it were being shelved.

[The Milkman Of Baal]

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/Warhammer-40k/7th-faq/Blood_Angels_v1.0_May14.pdf

 

This is the latest FAQ mate, think we lost our codex powers?

[ElectricPaladin]

That's a good point - if you want to add tanks, don't forget that the Blood Angels do many mainstays of the Space Marine armory even better than the Ultramarines, because ours are fast. Our vindicators are great because their main disadvantage - their short range - is mitigated by the ability to move 12'' and still fire their main gun. Whirlwinds don't need to zip around the board as much, thanks to their long range missiles, but it's still a nice advantage to have. And even regular predators can shine with the Fast rule.

 

Hey @ElectricPaladin,

 

I saw the FAQ you mentioned

 

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/Warhammer-40k/Blood-Angels.pdf

 

and I think it say that you may/ not that you have to change Blood Angel psychic powers for General ones, also later in the document with the Yes/No questions two questions about blood lance are answered- which I don't think would have been if it were being shelved.

 

Er... yeah. And in the first version of the FAQ - which you have mercifully been spared - they also forgot that all our vehicles are Fast. And over in the Grey Knights FAQ, they copy-pasted access to a bunch of Space Marine vehicles  that aren't in their codex. This is not exactly a high quality operation, here.

 

YMMV, but I think the FAQ is pretty obvious. It says "you can do this." Does it actually have to explicitly say "and you can't do anything else" for it to be pretty clear what they mean?

[ElectricPaladin]

It seems clear to me. 

 

The FAQ says that the psyker special rule in our codex should be replaced with "Psyker: a librarian generates his psychic powers from the Biomancy, Daemonology, Divination, Telekinesis, and Telepathy disciplines."

 

Where do you see permission to take the other powers in the codex?

[The Iron Chancellor]

Oh. Yeah I only read the FAQ I posted, in the other one it is pretty explicitly stated.... that sucks, Maybe it will change with the new codex? 

 

also we still have Blood Talons right?

[ElectricPaladin]

Oh. Yeah I only read the FAQ I posted, in the other one it is pretty explicitly stated.... that sucks, Maybe it will change with the new codex? 

 

also we still have Blood Talons right?

 

Oh yeah. And they're totally boss.

[The Iron Chancellor]

Also do you think that the loss of our special rules is because we have such an old codex, and in the new one, we'll get them back/ or new ones?

[Orblivion]

Also do you think that the loss of our special rules is because we have such an old codex, and in the new one, we'll get them back/ or new ones?

 

Maybe.  Space Marines and Dark Angels lost their old powers and did not gain any unique powers back, so that is the precedent.  However 7th edition has a larger focus on psychic powers so it's still possible that we could gain our own unique psychic discipline.  We'll see in a couple of months hopefully.