Goatboy’s 40k Thoughts: Played some Blood Angels
Goatboy here again, and as the title states I got to throw down with my Goat Angels this week. The games were enjoyable and I got to play with some of the different Blood Angels things. Here’s what I learned:
I did not play a min maxed list, I went for something a bit mish mashed to help find better avenues into finding the sweet spot for the army. I still enjoy my Space Wolves, but I feel the Vikings from Fenris are a lot harder to create something that is not “set to 11” as some of my fellow players think I play. So today I wanted to talk about some of the things I will be trying and thinking about as I build my lists.
Troops
The first thing for any army I build is to think about troops. The push of objectives as well as troops giving you the most access to “scoring” vehicles means that your troop choices can be some of your most important choices in your army. I know in the past I have talked about troops not always being needed but I think with some good thought you can pick 2 to 3 options that will best help your army without filtering it down too much. With the Blood Angels the only real troop choice is the Assault Squad. It gives you the most options as well as one of the best point savers in the game. It also lets you cheat a bit on the points, which helps it a lot as their troop choices are not the cheapest especially when compared to Space Wolves and the Grey Hunters or activated Wolf Guard. So right now I just think Assault squads are really the way to go. My current troop build out usually starts like this.
10 Man Jump Pack Assault Squad, 2 Meltas, 1 Power Weapon
10 Man Assault Squad, 2 Meltas, 1 Power Fist, Rhino
5 Man Assault Squad, Flamer, Razorback, TWL Heavy Flamer
5 Man Assault Squad, Flamer, Razorback, TWL Heavy Flamer
This is the initial build out, and lets me have up to 6 scoring choices if I want. The two Heavy Flamer Razorbacks are designed to move forward and provide cover for any dreadnoughts I might want to take. I am also using Flamers to help mitigate any massed horde armies, or massed IG I might get out of their hard candy shell. The one drop in Jump Pack squad is there to go get an objective if need be. They are usually accompanied by a Librarian and a Sanguinary Priest with Jump Packs. The Priest has a Power Weapon also. This lets me go through and just chew up a squad if need be as most of the time my other elements in my army have popped them out of their transports.
I also did some testing with the Death Company and find them pretty brutal. I like the ability to equip them out with some crazy stuff, as well as the fact they hit extremely hard. I did not add a Chaplain as I felt my points were already stretched thin with trying to fit in a Death Company Dreadnought. Those guys hit really hard and just can chew up any troop squad they get near. Certain armies will just find these chainsaws of death to be unfair and I kinda agree with them. I know my Space Wolves will be letting a Wolf Lord touch them mixed with the two dogs so they can only kill dogs or maybe put wound on the lord. It is still something I would normally run away from and let my Long Fangs deal with them.
HQ & Elites
I am used to playing crazy HQ choices with my Space Wolves, so this is a complete departure from the norm from me. All the other choices in the book are just a tad too expensive to let me dump a lot of points in a leader. Personally, pick a Jump Pack Librarian or a regular Librarian and call it a day. They are cheap, their powers can be useful, and did I mention they were cheap? I ran with Blood Lance and Unleash Rage. There will be times when you can just smash into a big fat Ork squad and emerge out of it looking like Dark Angels (green with Ork blood). Most of the other choices either need an army built around them or just cost to much and don’t effect the game like they should.
For my elites I ran one Sanguinary Priest and 2 Librarian Dreads. The Dreads had Blood Lance and Wings of Sanguinius. I like Wings because flying dreads just sound way to awesome to pass up. And Blood Lance will help versus some lines of Mech you might see. The one Priest is there because I just feel you really need only need one with some important guys. Dropping him with the Librarian and a 10 man Squad should mean he leaves to see the next round of combat. I think having too many Sanguinary priests might be too much on your points limit and really hurt your army in the long run. Will see if that pans out as more people test the list.
The other thing that might happen is I bring in a 4 Flamer Honor Guard list with one fist in a TWL Heavy Flamer Razorback. This might be the perfect option to hide between the wall of steel and slowly creep up and put 20+ wounds on a unit. Too many of my fellow IG players have thrown this on me, so I am thinking it might not be a bad idea to have in your army. Also building it out this way, means that if they die they won’t be taking the legs out from under you either.
Fast Attack & Heavy
Here I really only think one choice is right for Fast Attack. The Baal Predator gives you some much needed ability to hurt light mech. I know it is not guaranteed, but these guys will get side shots pretty easily. I am not sure if the Flame Storm cannon is needed, as to make something like that viable you need a lot more options for popping Rhinos/Chimeras/Etc to let you cover the bad guys in Emperor blessing flame. I normally ran 2 of them in my lists, as I have two goofy looking ones that fit my Goat Angels theme. Speeders could also be an alright choice, but really the list is not hurting for close range pain, it has more trouble with long range pain delivery.
The Heavy slot I normally save for one Vindicator. I like having one as people get scared of it and think to shoot that first. Most of the time it is the lonely Rhino that is running up the middle or the two Librarian Dreads that are really more of a threat as they move up, hiding behind a big shield. I will probably end up adding the shield on it because so far I have immobilized the stupid thing and really, I am sure I can find 10 points somewhere. I am also thinking of adding in a small Devastator squad with 4 Missile Launchers too. Like I said this army is seriously lacking in ranged anti mech firepower. These 4 Missile Launchers should survive at least 2 to 3 rounds of the game as the other bits and pieces are closer and provide a more direct threat. These 5 guys are designed to kill Valks, Eldar fliers, and any other far away jerks that threaten the awesome power of the Goat Angels.
So far my game playing has been fun. I think the list will be hurt by some specific Space Wolf builds as well as some Ork builds. A good Blood Angels player should do well versus IG, which is what a lot of people want. The interesting thing from Blood Angels is that they are not nearly as good in assault as some of the other armies out there. Which is where they will get hurt the most when their fast moving gets them into trouble. Still I think the army is a good addition to the overall game and I think I will enjoy throwing down with more red armored jerks.
My personal thoughts on the current Marine Codexes are
Space Wolves – One of the few armies that can have army threatening characters as well as a ton of cheap troop options and long range fire power options. If you are not an aggressive player don’t play these guys, as the sit and wait style just doesn’t use the armies strengths.
Space Marines – These guys still are a good option. Too much of the time people seem to get stuck in Vulkan spam, but the army still has a lot of good things going for it. They have one of the best Elite choices in the game, TH/SS termies as well as some good HQ choices and solid troop options. They are also one of the few armies that really can change up their style pretty easily with an HQ choice and still leave a strong option behind too.
Blood Angels – These are a much more finesse army. I think the list works a lot better with less emphasis on one or two good units, and instead covers the board with massed units designed to balance each other. The more I play the more I think I just like a bunch of good 10 man troop choices mixed with some small walls to help hide them.
As usual, if you got questions shoot me an email to [email protected]. Lets hear your thoughts on both the new codex, and how you think the different Marine codices are stacking up in new meta. Who’s up, the same, or down?
