Blood Angels army list [BA] 2000 - Troop Spam TAC List

[Jolemai]

tbh I'm still pretty petrified about things being obliterated in units of 6+ 

[Jolemai]

Latest tweaks, changes in red:
 

2000 "Troop Theme" TAC List

 

Blood Angels Battalion Detachment

 

 

 

Commander Dante

~ Warlord: Heroic Bearing

 

Sanguinary Priest

~ Boltgun, power sword, jump pack

~ Chief Apothecary, The Armour Indomitus, Selfless Healer

 

Librarian

~ Force stave, jump pack

~ Unleash Rage, Shield of Sanguinius, Smite

 

 

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword

~ Heavy flamer

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasma gun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasma gun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter

 

 

Company Veterans (3)

~ Stormshield, chainsword, jump pack (3)

 

Death Company (5)

~ Jump pack

~ Bolt pistol and chainsword (5)

 

Relic Contemptor Dreadnought

~ Two twin lascannon

 

Sanguinary Ancient

~ Angelus boltgun, power fist

~ Icon of the Angel, Rites of War

 

Sanguinary Guard (6)

~ Angelus boltgun, power fist (3)

~Angelus boltgun, encarmine sword (2)

~ Angelus boltgun, encarmine axe (1)

 

Scout Squad (5)

~ Boltgun, chainsword, camo cloak

~ Heavy bolter, camo cloak

~Boltgun, camo cloak (3)

 

 

 

Devastator Squad (5)

~ Armorium Cherub

~ Bolter

~ Bolter (2)

~ Missile Launcher

~ Heavy bolter

 

Rapier Carrier

~ Quad mortar

 

  

 

Drop Pod

~ Storm bolter

 

Drop Pod

~ Storm bolter

 

Musings

• Up to 9 CP with one detachment and Dante as Warlord
• Extra body in the SG as they are dying too quickly
• Chief Apothecary upgrade to keep the SG ticking over as long as possible
• Ancient tweaks to help with objectives
• Company Veterans to keep the characters alive for longer
• Scout tweaks with a view to Outflanks and greater survivability
• Otherwise, it plays the same. Pods and DC are the first wave, with the SG and character bomb the second wave, supported by the Dreadnought, Devastators, and Rapier.

[Jolemai]

Current setup, geared for Nephilim battles:

2000 - TAC Troop List

Blood Angels Battalion Detachment

Commander Dante

~ Warlord

 

Sanguinary Priest

~ Jump pack, bolt pistol, power sword

~ Visage of Death, Chief Apothecary, Selfless Healer

 

Librarian

~ Jump pack, bolt pistol, force stave

~ Veil of Time, Null Zone, Smite

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword

~ Heavy flamer

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Storm bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter

 

Death Company (5)

~ Power fist (1)

~ Thunderhammer (1)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword (3)

 

Sanguinary Ancient

~ Angelus bolter, powerfist

~ Wrath of Baal

 

Sanguinary Guard (6)

~ Angelus bolter, powerfist (2)

~ Angelus bolter, Encarmine Sword (2)

~ Angelus bolter, Encarmine axe (2)

 

Relic Contemptor Dreadnought

~ Twin volkite culverins (2)

 

Scout Squad (5)

~ Storm bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter

~ Bolter (3)

 

Scout Squad

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword

~ Shotgun (1)

~ Bolt pistol, combat blade (3)

 

Devastator Squad (5)

~ Bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter (1)

~ Missile launcher (1)

~ Bolter (2)

~ Armourium Cherub

 

Rapier Carrier

~ Quad gun

 

Drop Pod

~ Storm bolter

 

Drop Pod

~ Deathwind missile launcher

 

Musings

~ 2CP with Dante as the Warlord 

~ Secondaries: Engage, RND, other

~ Pods try to land on Objectives. They and the Tacticals work Engage and RND. Choppy Scouts Outflank and also do this. Bolter Scouts on the board where needed.

~ Character bomb and DC ideas are straightforward. Devs, Dread, Rapier near home objective.

~ There are a few tweaks I can do. Little things such as weapon choices (such as the Drop Pods), spells, or I can drop some units. The Rapier is hit and miss atm, but can claim objectives and counts for Engage (Vehicle keyword). Scouts do a job for me but are brittle... six SG doesn't seem like enough when they are focused (such as mortal wound spam from GKs...)

[Tokugawa]

Power creep is happening day after day, book after book.

2W 3+sv MEQ bodies just can't bring enough raw power via spam. Imagine your opponent build his list in similar style, but the bodies he spam are 30 Deathwing Terminators, or 50 Plaguemarines. How would you handle them?

[Jolemai]

Having not played either, I'd likely lose.

I don't expect to out-muscle anyone. Just get enough points early doors and hang on tbh.

Yes, I know that's not a great plan...

[Jolemai]

Was thinking about this last night and this is an alternative:

2000 - TAC Troop List

Blood Angels Battalion Detachment

Commander Dante

~ Warlord

 

Sanguinary Priest

~ Jump pack, bolt pistol, power sword

~ Visage of Death, Chief Apothecary, Selfless Healer

 

Librarian

~ Jump pack, bolt pistol, force stave

~ Veil of Time, Null Zone, Smite

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword

~ Heavy flamer

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Storm bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter

 

Death Company (5)

~ Power fist (1)

~ Thunderhammer (1)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword (3)

 

Sanguinary Guard (7)

~ Angelus bolter, powerfist (2)

~ Angelus bolter, Encarmine Sword (3)

~ Angelus bolter, Encarmine axe (2)

 

Venerable Dreadnought

~ Twin lascannon, missile launcher

 

Terminator Squad (5)

~ Teleport Homer

~ Assault cannon, power fist

 

Scout Squad

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword

~ Shotgun (1)

~ Bolt pistol, combat blade (3)

 

Devastator Squad (5)

~ Bolter, chainsword

~ Heavy bolter (1)

~ Missile launcher (1)

~ Bolter (2)

~ Armourium Cherub

 

Drop Pod

~ Storm bolter

 

Drop Pod

~ Deathwind missile launcher

 

=][=

Vindicare Assassin

 

~ 5 CP now

~ SG up to seven. TDA to be in Reserves. Assassin to do what it does best.

 

 

[Karhedron]

Visage of Death is an interesting choice. I realise it provides some protection for the Priest in the form of a -1 to-Hit but I have found mine to be a bit squishy and would probably prefer to run the Armour Indomitus to keep him safe.

I prefer to pair Visage of Death with the Rites of War WLT to guarantee flipping any Objective but this works best on a tankier character such as the Primaris Biker Chaplain.

[Maggotlord]

4 hours ago, Jolemai said:

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, chainsword

~ Plasmagun

 

Right now Grav-Cannons / Gravguns are better than plasmaguns in almost any circumstances:

• even moved a grave–cannon gets 2 hits on average, while a plasmagun in rapid fire range gets just 4/3 hits on average
• against MEQs you can neglect the difference in strenghts
• against MEQs you get more damage with the grav weapons
• both weapons offer the same AP
• only against vehicles supercharged plasma weapons are better – with the risk of loosing the model

 

 

 

[Jolemai]

19 hours ago, Karhedron said:

Visage of Death is an interesting choice. I realise it provides some protection for the Priest in the form of a -1 to-Hit but I have found mine to be a bit squishy and would probably prefer to run the Armour Indomitus to keep him safe.

I prefer to pair Visage of Death with the Rites of War WLT to guarantee flipping any Objective but this works best on a tankier character such as the Primaris Biker Chaplain.

In an ideal world, I would do the VoD/RoB combo, but then my Priest couldn't have Selfless Healer (which I feel I need for the free Combat Revival Stratagem). As I run a character bomb of sorts, VoD alone means I can outnumber whatever is left if my squad somehow leaves something alive. In theory anyway. I suppose I could give Icon of the Angel to the Librarian to ensure charges though...

17 hours ago, Maggotlord said:

Right now Grav-Cannons / Gravguns are better than plasmaguns in almost any circumstances:

• even moved a grave–cannon gets 2 hits on average, while a plasmagun in rapid fire range gets just 4/3 hits on average
• against MEQs you can neglect the difference in strenghts
• against MEQs you get more damage with the grav weapons
• both weapons offer the same AP
• only against vehicles supercharged plasma weapons are better – with the risk of loosing the model

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I haven't any grav weapons (yet) otherwise I'd likely switch them in (I use them on my Bikes in other lists and I'm generally a fan apart from the 18" range).

[Khorneeq]

I like this list very much

Assasin can get You fantastic effects  (altough I think that Callidus may be even better than vindicare- when opponent weighs every CP this can have big psychological effect)

Oh and the Terminators are simply great 

[Jolemai]

Used this last night. Only difference was Might of Heroes instead of Veil of Time on the Librarian.

Opponent was a triple Redemptor Emperor's Spears list, missions was Conversion from Warzone: Nephilim. Won 77-63 (should have been 87-63, but I somehow managed to forget my Pods and had to use proxies...)

Maxed the Primaries. Secondaries were as follows: Engage: 9 , RND: 12, DFA, 11 - which tbf I am happy with as it's what the list is built for after all. DFA will improve once I can switch to grav instead of plasma, Engage needs me to be a little more aggressive/adventurous (maybe), however, all of this was helped by going first.

Not entirely sold on the assault cannon in the Terminators tbh, they still don't do enough shooty damage. Maybe eventually, I'll paint my Relic Terminators up. Vindicare wasn't great, but held an objective and was still a threat for character positioning. Seven SG with MoH on them (in addition to the usual buffs) is as horrendous as you'd expect it to be and my two inferno pistols actually came with ammo this game...

 

[Khorneeq]

You are writing about seven Sanguards but You do remembered that Might of Heroes affects only single model, right?

[Jolemai]

... yes 

[Jolemai]

Stepped in as a replacement opponent with this list on Sunday, so didn't change anything. No idea what I was coming up against - as it happened, it was a carbon copy of the DG list that had won the recent US Goonhammer tournament 

• Mortarion
• Lord of Corruption, Deathshroud, Dreadclaw Pod
• Malignant Plaguecaster
• Tallyman
• 2 x Rhino filled with Plaguemarines
• 2 x Pox Walkers
• Foetid Bloat Drone with fleshmower
• Plagueburst Crawler

There's a video on YT about it if interested. It basically plays like "a bit like" my list in that it puts pressure on the enemy T1 and really shines on the quarter deployment maps. Whilst you're shooting Mortarion, everything else is getting Primaries and Secondaries. However, this is the first time he's played DG, first game of Nephillim, and first game for a while due to illness... we managed two turns.

Mission was Recover the Relics and I went second. Notable points were the Vindicare only taking three wounds off the Plaguecaster (at least he's consistent...) and Mortarion being left on four wounds at the end of the game. T2 he charged a Tactical Squad, wiped them, then consolidated into a fully buffed SG... My T2 I got Nullzone off and Dante plus everything else left him on four wounds. Everyone comments about the lack of re-rolls but no FnP aura  tbh I'm happy with that considering.

T2 it was DG 19-27 BA and only because I was fully painted. I kept the same secondaries (Engage, 5; RND, 4; DFA, 0), but I need to consider back ups. As I play my Pods petals open, it can be hard to get placement on short edge deployment maps - they end up just reinforcing the mid section of the board. I really need more grav in my list, not just the DFA units but on the Devastators too given my meta, and maybe another hammer on the DC and another inferno pistol on my SG. Wondering if melta would work better than plasma for me in the interim period?

[Karhedron]

10 hours ago, Jolemai said:

 Wondering if melta would work better than plasma for me in the interim period?

I am finding a balance of plasma and melta is the key. Plasma is an efficient answer to a lot of  problems but too many units have -1 Damage to rely on it exclusively. At 1500 points I normally find a trio of MM Attack Bikes provides punch against anything that plasma struggles with. At higher points I am planning to add a squad or two of ASM with 2 melta guns and an inferno pistol on the Serg. These units provide cheap mobility for scoring as well as actions. At a pinch they can help out against both chaff and armour.

[Jolemai]

Thanks for the perspective 

It's just micromanaging at this point tbh. As a meltagun and plasma gun costs the same, I guess I can switch them out and see what happens. Just need that little more oomph on the drop with those Tacticals.

[Galron]

Even though they have lost a bit of oomph devastators with grav cannons are fun. When I had salamanders drop list I would run a dev squad of multi-meltas and a squad with grav cannons as well as two 5 man tacs as body guards/action guys in two drop pods. They provided a significant threat which distracted from the main thrust of the force and required the opponent to deal with them since each had obsec present. While salamanders have synergy with the multi-meltas, no reason you cant have the lone grav squad tagging along with your tacs somewhere important. 

I love seeing lists like these rather than the same boring SG and DG spam. 

[Jolemai]

Grav cannons are on my wishlist. Once I have more suitable heavy weapons, perhaps cycling them into a Drop Pod would get the DFA I need (and allow the other squad to do an action or whatever). With some fiddling, it should be doable...

I should be painting at least one grav gun Marine and combi grav Sergeant in October, which should help for now.

[Maggotlord]

Thank you for your batreps. Fantastic theme! Recently I bought a lot of stuff to field something similar. Though I wonder whether Rhinos are better than drop pods on these actually smaller gaming tables with lots of terrain. Maybe one of each? 

 

Cheers ML

[Jolemai]

Perhaps. It could possible work well enough for Engage on certain boards and eventually things like RND, but DFA would need to be switched out - so the list would evolve in a different direction. Happy to hear you like what I'm persisting with 

[Maggotlord]

5 hours ago, Jolemai said:

Perhaps. It could possible work well enough for Engage on certain boards and eventually things like RND, but DFA would need to be switched out - so the list would evolve in a different direction.

What does DFA mean? 

And why are drop pods mandatory then? 

5 hours ago, Jolemai said:

Happy to hear you like what I'm persisting with 

Well, I actually pretty like the Firstborn. Second reason: I have been trying to avoid any kind of spam since 2 years now because there were a lot of game-group-busting spams out there in my region. To an extent that almost killed any kind of casual gaming. 

Though there are some units I like to field which aren't part of your list, namely Centurion Assault Squad and a Leviathan Dread or two. Pretty expensive units, but extremely lovely ones. :) 

[Leonaides]

Death from above, so you need to be bringing in units from deep strike and killing enemy units with one of yours that has come in from deep strike. Drop pods allow t1 deep strike with units that have viable shooting to score this turn 1, and then again t2 onwards if the enemy doesn't deal with them so providing a distraction unit, scores vps and forces your enemy to turn units back from the rest of your army.

[Jolemai]

I like my lists to have a theme. With the way the current game is, and what I play at my club (Matched play, often Nephilim), I make sure they are built with a set of secondaries in mind that the theme can achieve. So whilst I could use my Leviathan here, I eschew it because 1) I use it in a different list and 2) the CP limit with Nephilim. This is why I've gone from a FW Contemptor to a Ven Dread. Doesn't mean you couldn't do this (or the Centurions - which is on my wishlist) as this list needs some long range damage to function. DFA triggers on the unit that kills it, but I haven't got the models (yet) to reliably annihilate something on the first turn the Pods arrive - so the longer range stuff weakens the unit and then, in theory, the Pod and cargo finish it off for the points.

 

 

[Jolemai]

New Warzone, new list (plus it has a game planned for this weekend). Previous incarnation of this list was to push for the Death From Above secondary (along with Engage and Retrieve Data), but as that's no longer available, it needs a new focus whilst sticking to the same theme - the easiest of which is Oath of Moment. Changes in Red:

 

2000 - TAC Troop List

Blood Angels Arks of Omen Detachment

 

Commander Dante

~ Warlord

 

Sanguinary Priest

~ Jump pack, storm bolter, power sword

~ Visage of Death

 

Librarian

~ Jump pack, bolt pistol, force stave

~ Veil of Time, Null Zone, Smite

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-melta, lightning claw

~ Meltagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-melta, lightning claw

~ Meltagun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Combi-grav, lightning claw

~ Grav-gun

 

Tactical Squad (5)

~ Storm bolter, chainsword

~ Lascannon

 

Apothecary

~ Chief Apothecary, Selfless Healer

 

Company Champion

~ Chapter Champion, Imperium's Sword, Blade of Triumph

 

Company Veterans (2)

~ Power maul, storm shield (1)

~ Chainsword, chainsword (1)

 

Death Company (5)

~ Inferno pistol, power fist (1)

~ Thunderhammer (3)

~ Bolt pistol, chainsword (1)

 

Sanguinary Guard (4)

~ Angelus bolter, powerfist (2)

~ Inferno pistol, powerfist

~ Angelus bolter, encarmine axe (1)

 

Sanguinary Guard (4)

~ Angelus bolter, encarmine sword  (3)

~ Angelus bolter, encarmine axe (1)

 

Terminator Assault Squad (7)

~ Teleport Homer

~ Thunder hammer, storm shield (7)

 

Scout Squad (6)

~ Combi-flamer, chainsword, camo cloak

~ Missile Launcher, camo cloak (1)

~ Sniper rifle, camo cloak (4)

 

Devastator Squad (5)

~ Combi-plasma, lightning claw

~ Heavy bolter (1)

~ Multi-melta (1)

~ Plasma Cannon (2)

~ Armourium Cherub

 

Drop Pod

~ Storm bolter

 

Drop Pod

~ Deathwind missile launcher

 

=][=

Vindicare Assassin

 

Musings

• 3CP to start with. I could give the Priest Rites of War too, but that might be too little CP to start with (given 1CP is earmarked for the DC's FF Stratagem usually). Alternatively, is RoW better than VoD?
• List still pushes Engage with RBD in tandem, but this will be dropped for a juicier third if need be. Oath is a focus and in six Objective games, hopefully a distraction too.
• Main changes are no more Dreadnought (mainly because it's currently unavailable...); SG split into 2x4 (I've had some success like this in other lists); Terminators shifting focus (based on my Nephilim success in previous lists); Champion and Apothecary to buff the centre with the Veterans to get them with no slots and as backup.
• Rest is just WYSIWYG changes apart from anything which isn't modelled (so the lightning claws and Priest's stormbolter, which I feel cheeky giving a combi to)
• Sticking with the Assassin for now, but with the removal of their stratagems that may seem them benched.
• So, Pods arriving in other quarters bringing two Tacticals and a Tactical + Devastator to cause damage. Scouts and Lasticals in SR to arrive where needed. DC do their thing, centre blob advance on centre ASAP, SG and jump characters go where needed.

[Khorneeq]

As for Rites of War vs Visage of Death- my bet is on RoV. It affects Core and Characters so Sanguinary Priest can go solo to snatch objective from non-ObjSec unit or stay back giving ObjSec to friendly unit quite far away.

So many units in Drop Pods sounds interesting, be sure to write how it works and good luck