40K TACTICS: Blood Angel Vanguard Veterans
by Black Blow Fly
Hello everyone! It’s BBF here today again to discuss more thoughts on DoA Blood Angels army tactics, strategies and list building. Today I want to focus on one unit – Vanguard Veterans (VV).
I think it’s common knowledge that VV are a staple choice for any DoA army. The combination of the DoA deepstrike rule (1d6 scatter) and Heroic Intervention (assault from deepstrike) makes VV the new ultimate ninjas in the current 40k universe. I started to use them while playtesting versus Space Wolf armies in preparation for last year’s BoLScon. I was having some serious problems versus Wolfstar/Grey Hunter/Long Fang spam. My jump units such as assault Marines had no chance versus this style of SW army. If I dropped in close to shoot the Long Fangs then they be raped by Grey Hunters rapid firing and assaults from the Wolfstars. If I dropped in outside of the SW assault arc then I’d eat plenty of rockets in the face – ThunderWolf Cav have a huge charge arc as well. : (
The Long Fangs were heavily embedded in the SW trenches which meant my Stormraven was going to have some serious problems. I couldn’t play my DoA army as intended and that was very frustrating! So I thought about it long and hard then finally realized that VV were the answer. Up until this point the general consensus on the interwebs was that VV with jump packs and power tools were just too pricey to be effective overall. I’ve always enjoyed playing hardcore units so VV are right up my alley. I finally had my answer to dealing with Long Fangs! Once I started using VV everything changed and it opened up a whole new world of strategies and tactics for my DoA army. VV can easily assault Long Fangs on the drop and destroy the unit. Removing one squad of Long Fangs in exchange for the VV is worth the difference in points for me. This removes one long range AT unit and forces the SW player to react – they can’t afford to let the VV fly around their backfield destroying units. Their reaction in turn takes the pressure off of my other jump units which must wait one turn after deepstriking to launch an assault. So by coordinating the rapid assault from the VV with the arrival of other jump units I can use this combination as a 1-2 punch type of assault. As I said everything changed after I started using VV.
SW or any army for the matter can deploy in such a manner to guard against the VV. Typically this is done by deploying in a castle – that is, all units are deployed close together so they can support each other and typically the army is placed in a corner of the table. This is actually a great opportunity for DoA players as now your VV can multi charge more than one enemy unit. Often mech players will use some of their vehicles to create a bunker wall to hedge the outside perimeter of their castle. Krak grenades and meltabombs are excellent versus vehicles in assault. If your VV succumb to the Red Thirst then you can use the massive number of S5 attacks they will generate on the charge to flip tanks. Basically your VV are hemming in one side of the castle thereby greatly reducing the opponent’s overall mobility. Again this tactic coordinates very well with your other jump infantry units dropping in simultaneously and assaulting the following turn. This is a very aggressive style of play and well suits DoA armies. There is no need to start with your army deployed and slowly move them across the table to engage your opponent’s forces.
So how to build a great VV unit… There two prevalent approaches, one is minimalistic while the other is over the top. The first approach is to simply take a squad of five veterans and equip the sergeant with a power fist. They should be able to destroy or greatly deplete a unit of Long Fangs on the charge. This first approach saves lots of points and you can use krak grenades and power fist versus the backside of armor. There are many builds following the second approach – for the sake of simplicity I’ll present my favorite as an example:
Vanguard Veterans/include jump packs & meltabombs
Sergeant: power fist & stormshield
1st Vet: lightning claw & stormshield
2nd Vet: lightning claw & storm shield
3rd Vet: lightning claw & stormshield
4th Vet: power sword & infernus pistol
5th Vet: bolt pistol & chainsword
This squad is very expensive albeit very choppy. They can soak up a lot of damage during return fire and are great at receiving a charge from nasty units like Berserkers. This unit will require more effort from your opponent to remove from play and works the best with the rest of your army.
Either unit is effective. It all comes down to how you want to parcel out your points. Personally I prefer the second unit for their uber killiness but I also often will use the first squad.
So there you have it all from soup to nuts for one of my favorite units, the Vanguard Veterans. You visit my blog (greenblowfly.blogspot.com) for more tactical discussion on VV. : )
NOTE – The SM FAQs have all been recently updated and it has been stated that units held in reserve cannot combat squad. Unfortunately this means you can no longer take a full squad of VV, combat squad them then deepstrike them onto the table.
So what’s your take on Vanguard Vets?
