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I was asked on my blog to make a Blood Angels army for the Ard Boyz, or rather...improve one.

This is how I envision Blood Angels running over people.

3 units whose job it is to kill tanks speedily.

2 Veteran Assault Squads whose job it is to win close combats.

3 Troop squads whose job it is to beat on MC and survive to the end of the game.

You can (and probably should) 'feint' with one troop squad forward with everyone else, then on turn 2 run them back towards your objective. Unless you don't need to, of course.

Brother Corbulo runs (literally) with a troop squad. Yes, he's slow. His job is to run behind the death company for a turn guiding them, and when you get ready to assault on turn 2...you move to 'pick him up' with a jump pack unit in a T formation. See, the death company leaves him behind (thank you jump packs) then you take his escorting assault squad and run them off too. Then you move half (or whatever you need to) into position to get him 'sucked' forward with a jump pack assault unit that ran ahead. Even if that means running them in a L or I formation, do it. Once he gets another free 6" move forward, you should give yourself alot more furious charges if you know what you are doing.

Use the troops as screens for your other troops on turn 1.

Remember you don't have to throw the honor guard into combat but between them and corbulo you get 3 'saves' per round. Quite handy really.

75 assault marines + 3/saved marines a turn + turn 2 assaults = bad day for you.

====================================================

2500 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

1 Dante, Lord of the Blood Angels @ 200 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Axe Mortalis; Perdition Pistol; Death Mask of Sanguinius
1 Artificer Armor @ [0] Pts
1 Death Mask of Sanguinius @ [0] Pts
1 Iron Halo @ [0] Pts
1 Jump Pack @ [0] Pts

1 Brother Corbulo @ 100 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Chainsword; Exsanguinator; The Red Grail
1 Exsanguinator @ [0] Pts
1 The Red Grail @ [0] Pts

4 Honor Guard @ 200 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs (x2); Bolt Pistol (x4); Meltagun (x2); Jump Packs; Sanguinary Priest
1 Sanguinary Priest @ [20] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Bolter; Exsanguinator; Jump Pack
1 Exsanguinator @ [0] Pts

4 Honor Guard @ 200 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs (x2); Bolt Pistol (x4); Meltagun (x2); Jump Packs; Sanguinary Priest
1 Sanguinary Priest @ [20] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Bolter; Exsanguinator; Jump Pack
1 Exsanguinator @ [0] Pts

5 Veteran Assault Squad @ 180 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs (x2); Bolt Pistol (x5); Bolter (x3); Meltagun (x2)

10 Veteran Assault Squad @ 370 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs (x3); Bolt Pistol (x10); Bolter (x6); Lightning Claws (pair) (x2); Meltagun (x2)

10 Veteran Assault Squad @ 370 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs (x3); Bolt Pistol (x10); Bolter (x6); Lightning Claws (pair) (x2); Meltagun (x2)

9 Assault Squad @ 280 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol (x9); Chainsword (x9)
1 Sergeant @ [58] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs; Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Fist

9 Assault Squad @ 280 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol (x9); Chainsword (x9)
1 Sergeant @ [58] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs; Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Fist

9 Assault Squad @ 280 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol (x9); Chainsword (x9)
1 Sergeant @ [58] Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Melta Bombs; Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Fist

8 Death Company @ 40 Pts
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt Pistol; Jump Packs; Furious Charge

Total Roster Cost: 2500

Why would you not max out the Death Company? They are your best unit; is it a matter of points?

Also, I have found after playing Blood Angels for quite some time that armies built primarily of assault units suffer against armies that you want to soften up before assaulting. I agreee with the smaller units with meltas being tasked to eliminate vehicles, but would you not want some form of shooting to complement your assault? Are you banking on the lack of consolidating into new units to allow you to counter assault?

To answer your questions in a roundabout sort of way:

In a Blood Angels army, play to your strength (assault troops).

Don't buy stuff that isn't part of that strength.

Blood Angels with furious charge and preferred enemy do not NEED to soften anyone up. Let the Orks come. 180 Orks fears 75 Assault marines, because the Orks will be annihilated in one fell swoop.

Does 45 assault marines make the same Ork army quake in it's boots? How about a Demon list? Or a MC list?

No, no, and no.

As a Blood Angels player you want to get as many mass assaults in across an enemies lines as you possibly can so when you are done rolling your 200 dice, there's nothing left.

Granted, some armies can sacrifice units to delay you; but if they are going to shoot you down it takes alot of firepower to do so and few armies can do so. Having meltaweapons everywhere gives you assurances against mech that mech does not like, and helps against strong MC builds because like it or not--S5 hurts them badly.

Having maxed out squads gives you the best chance of stringing ALL of your assaults on turn 2, into ONE assault. That means that even enemies who don't necessarily fear your assault like demons/chaos/nids will learn to to because you can put out so many fearless wounds its disgusting.

The Death Company always gets shot to pieces, or always gets ignored. Having 1 or 2 extra guys won't matter, but having smaller squads (so you get more DC) while attractive on the surface of things...is really a loser for you, because having only 5 guys in your assault squads means you can be torrented repeatedly and lose your power weapons. Without those, your devastating charge suddenly isn't so devastating.

It's also alot easier to keep those 5 big squads and the death company in range of Dante (his silly range will be FAQ'ed someday, or GW is just nuts) and intersperse them for cover than it is with many small squads.