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Getting back into BA's


Bearman71

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Hey I'm Bearman, I havent played since the 4th ed and I have been wanting to get back in to the game. 2 big things are really holding me back, the rumors of the new dex coming out. I dont want to buy the 5th ed when the 7th ed will hopefully be coming out soon. 

The other reason is that when I moved from DC to georgia  I think the moved took or lost a good portion of my army. so all I have left is a 10 man death company, 1 3/4 of tac squad, a termi squad (not CCW's) a baal pred, and a land raider crusader that is in unfinished. 

I guess my question is what would your guys recommend? 

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If you've got the money, I'd invest in a bundle. It might not be a deal, but it'll save you time. The Space Marine Strikeforce is a good get, though you'll need to get an arm off eBay or Forgeworld (by the way, their MkV dreadnought arms are awesome to field the dreadnought as a furioso). It's basically got everything you need to build any kind of power armor force, but without anything that the Blood Angels can't use. The Blood Angels Battleforce is a bit less tasty - for one thing, you'll still be down an HQ, so your force won't be legal yet - but it includes the spiffy death company sprues.

 

Beyond buying a big chunk of marines to start rebuilding your army, I don't have any specific advice. The Blood Angels future is a whole lot of unknown unknowns, and I have no idea what's going to be a good investment.

I like them ok. I find that they're a little undergunned in terms of anti-air firepower, which is a problem because they're the only anti-air the Blood Angels have got at the moment.

 

The Forgeworld variants are much better, though. The storm eagle1 has better transport capacity and its guns are better at weeding out infantry, which makes it better at delivering assault units and objective grabbers (though it can't carry a dreadnought - the only major flaw). The fire raptor1 is an enormously better gunship, though it has no carrying capacity. I've got a storm raven, but now that I've got a second hand storm eagle on the way, I've found myself kind of wishing I hadn't bothered with the raven.

 

The real problem is that the consequences for infantry in a flyer is pretty drastic if the flyer is shot down. This hasn't happened to me, yet, but an automatic 10/2 hit on everything carried is pretty awful. That's a good way to see even a squad of hammernators disappear - and it's doubling everyone out, so no FNP from the priest you've got riding with them!

 

1. Note: the storm eagle is technically not allowed for the Blood Angels, but Forgeworld has emailed various folks to the effect that the next Imperial Armor FAQ will allow all power armor codices access to the storm eagle. The fire raptor has already been FAQed into the Blood Angels codex.

I'm a big fan of the stormraven. I usually run them with Lascannons and hurricane sponsons, and stick a dreadnought inside for late-game assaults. YMMV with the assault cannon on top as well.

 

I think they provide excellent anti-air against everything except *other* stormravens and the new Space Wolf flier (damn ceremite plating), but there are few things that can't be wrecked by a multi-melta to the face!

 

And I happen to like the model and the idea of a BA air force. I recommend taking the time to magnetize the wings at least, as the thing is massive with the wings on and they're easy to magnetize.

I have to agree that YM may seriously M regarding the stormraven. I loved mine when I first got it and gradually got sick of it, beginning to see its faults in the roles it was forced into. I wouldn't see anything wrong with adding a stormraven to your force. You probably won't regret it.

Storm ravens have pretty decent guns for everything else. The upper turret can be assault cannons, lascannons, or plasma cannons; the nose can have multi-meltas, heavy bolters, or a typhoon missile launcher (costs more). All versions come standard with four one shot each 8/3 missiles and can be upgraded with hurricane bolters. The typical configurations are:

 

  • Configuration: Turret Gun/Nose Gun/Other Guns
  • Anti-Infantry: Assault Cannons/Heavy Bolters OR Typhoon Launchers/Hurricane Bolters
  • Blast Spam/Toolbox: Plasma Cannons/Typhoon Launchers
  • Anti-Tank: Lascannons/Multi-Melta

 

I tend to go anti-tank, for two reasons. One, the long range and wider firing arc of the lascannons helps to compensate for limited flyer movement, which keeps me out of hover mode, and two, good long range fire support is hard to come by in the Blood Angels codex (not necessarily because anything's wrong with our devastators or ordinary predators, but I often find myself putting points in things like land raiders and assault terminators and death company instead).

My stormraven has been a class act. Regularly delivers my death company where I want, while popping vehicles all over the place.

 

However, as ElectricPaladin has stated, if it gets shot down with infantry and/or dreadnought aboard, prepare to feel nauseous. It has happened to me once so far, and I lost all but my Reclusiarch and one other death company model. Ugh...

I don't want to thread jack but as some of you may know I'm in a somewhat similar situation, but I bought the wrong box set. I loved the box set and it had about a 65 dollar discount. However I lost touch with my BA friends and did not realize that they can't take Stormtalons (I suspect they probably will be able to).

 

But the rest of the box is very cool, but not very 'BA friendly'.

 

One thing I was wondering is I love the unique infantry units BA have but don't see anyone play them anymore... Sanquinary guard and Deathcompany. Are these units any good? They look really cool but are they just eye candy?

 

Right now I'm playing my first Ultra games, but my intent is to try some BA games as well before I put any paint on my newly assembled army (I'm proxying units I KNOW BA can't take that I think are cool such as Centurions, Thunderfires, etc.) I ask this because after a few games of each I intend to start painting immediately. Just curious about the special BA infantry units (aside from the dread which is cool.)

I don't want to thread jack but as some of you may know I'm in a somewhat similar situation, but I bought the wrong box set. I loved the box set and it had about a 65 dollar discount. However I lost touch with my BA friends and did not realize that they can't take Stormtalons (I suspect they probably will be able to).

But the rest of the box is very cool, but not very 'BA friendly'.

One thing I was wondering is I love the unique infantry units BA have but don't see anyone play them anymore... Sanquinary guard and Deathcompany. Are these units any good? They look really cool but are they just eye candy?

Right now I'm playing my first Ultra games, but my intent is to try some BA games as well before I put any paint on my newly assembled army (I'm proxying units I KNOW BA can't take that I think are cool such as Centurions, Thunderfires, etc.) I ask this because after a few games of each I intend to start painting immediately. Just curious about the special BA infantry units (aside from the dread which is cool.)

Sanguinary Guard are a bit meh under the current rules, but the Death Company are one of the hardest assault units in the game. With a Chaplain and a couple of Power Weapons they can take out virtually anything if you get the charge. They are a bit costly though, since you probably want to run them in a Storm Raven or a Land Raider. I use them almost every game and they never fail to rock. smile.png

Just proxy them and watch the carnage unfold! devil.gif

My DC win my games.

 

Last game they are a guard blob in one round, then killed Pask and his 2 Leman Russ honour guard in combat with nothing but chainswords and a fist on the reclusiarch.

 

Actually, Corbulo got really lucky and killed a russ on his own, on the charge. 5A, 5 Hits, 3 pens.

My DC win my games.

 

Last game they are a guard blob in one round, then killed Pask and his 2 Leman Russ honour guard in combat with nothing but chainswords and a fist on the reclusiarch.

 

Actually, Corbulo got really lucky and killed a russ on his own, on the charge. 5A, 5 Hits, 3 pens.

Nice! yea first thing I did was rebuild the death company. now I am going to finish my LRC after she sat for almost 10 years. 

Also to weigh in on the Stormraven query.

 

I've used one in 2 games with my regular marines (I dont like how it looks in red...), and it's been...underwhelming. One game it got heldraked into oblivion, the other it didnt really do too much.

 

I think I'd rather have the 250pts invested in a threat on the table T1, like a land raider.

 

Though if you play on 6x4 boards more (I usually play on 4x4), then the longer range firepower may help out. Once you've shot the missiles, it's shooting isn't too great. I'd maybe keep a small squad in there to aid with late game objective grabbing.

My DC win my games.

 

Last game they are a guard blob in one round, then killed Pask and his 2 Leman Russ honour guard in combat with nothing but chainswords and a fist on the reclusiarch.

 

Actually, Corbulo got really lucky and killed a russ on his own, on the charge. 5A, 5 Hits, 3 pens.

 

I can't argue against this. My death company has never failed to deliver. Ok, once, in combat against some Necrons, but only because mindshackle scarabs are stupid, broken, and unfun and my Reclusiarch decided to have more luck when rolling to punch his buddies than when punching Necrons. Stupid Necrons. Stupid scarabs.

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