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Making a BA army and don't know what HQ/s to take. Want it/them to be cheap but not rubbish.

I want it/them to complement the rest of my forces and I will normally take at least 5 death company (hardly ever more) in rhino, sanguinary guard (or assault termies, depending on what mood I'm in), Furioso Librarian, 10 man rhino tactical squads in rhinos, 10 man assault squad and Sanguinary priests. I'd also like it/them to be good at atleast horde or tank killing (or a bit of both).

Enjoy.

Please.

Sadly the only Good one is Mephiston.

If you must take a cheap one, take a Librarian instead.

If you are going for a Terminator Deathstar, go for a Rechlusiarch.

Does this meen I shouldn't take a Furioso Librarian? Should I take a Furioso dread or just add tanks instead?


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What should I give a Librarian and what retinue? I'm still open to different HQ opinions.

Mephiston is not the only good one, but he is the best!!

Reclusiarch is probably the best non character one since he comes with power weapon and big bonuses when assaulting.

I've been inclined lately to take a cheap librarian and more sanguinary priests...FNP and Furious Charge is just tooooooo gooood.

Would I be inclined to make him an epistolery? Retinues? Wargear? Come on, work with me.


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Would it be good if I took both cheap Librarian an Reclusiarch.

I find mephiston's lack of invun save very unappealing. i normaly run dante b/c of the Sang G becoming troops and his no scatter role. works wonders on enemy armor. also lemartes is beatiful if you like to run DC.

Mephiston is worth his points as he's effectively a Hive Tyrant/assault unit of his own and the BA army benefits from that. The only time I'd not take him is if named characters are specifically banned, and then I'd go with the standard naked Librarian.

I like the Sanguinor other than the points cost. But The abilities are great.

For my money the best HQ is a Librarian with no wargear. Just a nice, cheap HQ so you have points to spend on the other stuff. As for powers, I say blood lance as mandatory, and the second to fit your play style and list.

Meph sure ain't bad, that is for sure, but I would rather spend the points elsewhere, myself.

the Problem I have with Meph is that he doesn't add anythign to a list. Yes, he's a fast moving CC powerhouse, but the Blood Angels don't lack for that.

Exactly, I would rather have more scoring units that are powerful in assault, which is why I think the cheapest HQ is best for BA.

The bigger the game, which ever guy makes 'em flip out half the time becomes better as well. It depends how you feel about being fearless, to be sure, but I wouldn't bother under 2500.

Captain for the win. Seriously. Not too expensive points wise run mine with a jump-pack ,melta-pistol, and power sword. saves a load of points which can be thrown into more practical units.

guess it really comes down to your play style, no matter what you view as the most 'uber.

I like Astorath. S6 Power Weapon and re-roll invul plus the 50% chance of making the whole army be fearless and have FC, not to mention the normal chaplain abilities...what's not to like?

I opt for a Reclusiarch, cheap and effective.
The 2nd choice for me its a Librarian.
However, I plan to run a Librarian Dread. So the Chaplain will be the only HQ.

I like Cheap HQs unless they grant army-changing abilities. So Astorath and Dante would be my only named characters here. Librarians and Reclusiarchs are great units, cheap, yet provide fantastic support for the rest of your units.

However, as Slave said, Astorath provides some great army boots (as well as allowing more Death Company) and has awesome stats. Dante, on the other hand, allows Sanguinary Guard as troops (and more troops are always better). However, where I think he really shines is deep striking with a MASSIVE Death Company unit loaded for bear with power weapons and melta weaponry. THey don't scatter so you can make sure the unit lands..., they pop a tank with their melta... they weather the next turn with their FNP and 3+... and they they eat everything.

As with anything though, you always need support. Any army with a Deathstar needs supporting units hitting at the same time for distractions, or if you go for the cheap HQs, take a lot of useful units and hit them all at the same time.

As for loadouts... ask a BA player, not a C:SM player. :p

Well, thanks. You'v really helped me here! After this the HQs I would probably use would be:

1)Mephiston/librarian (depending on the point limit).

2)Astorath/Reclusiarch (depending on the pt limit).

3)The Sanguinor

4)Dante

I'd Run Librarian/Mephiston normally, Reclusiarch/Astorath if I want a big DC or want to give more punch to another death star unit, The Sanguinor if they like to use really powerful HQs (Swarmlord, nightbringer) or I want an uber sanguinary guard and last Dante if I have fallen over, banged my head and can see a giant Blood Angels strike force with only Dante and Sanguinary guard (or against Deathwing based armies).

By the way, if I use a Librian or Mephiston should I take a Furioso LIbrarian or if not say what you would take instead. Thanks again .

I think the army composition / points and play style is what really determines which HQ choice is best.

Mephiston is truely a monster and with a 19"-24" potential Wings/Fleet/Charge range, he will always keep your opponent on your toes as he can tear squads, vehicles and most characters apart. Only model I am truely afraid of is the Swarmlord. What is very appealing about Mephiston is he is good in most compositions except maybe an all jump army. He is a no brainer in an assault army, a lynch pin in a shooting army as a deterence to engage your army in CC and basically an all around swiss army knife that also brings a hood for psychic defense to boot.

All around low point all star is the Librarian. Cheap and is a nice force multiplier with his abilities and the psychic hood he brings to the army but is fragile in CC. With a Storm Shield he become much better and can do some nasty things in CC if made into an Epistolary with Unleashed Rage and Might of Heroes being used in every assault phase. If going with the standard 100 pt version or with a jump pack then Shield of Sanguinis and Unleashed Rage are just so solid. I have tried using blood lance but in all honesty, at least for me, has never been worth it as most vehicles need a 4 to glance 4+ to penetrate, rather short random length, and allowing secondary vehicle targets to get cover saves. This guy is a true work horse for the points.

Dante is rather interesting as he allows pin point surgical deepstrike, the downside is many times that can be suicidal. Yet what he does offer that is solid, is for Sanguinary Guard to become troops. Those Sanguinary Guard with a medic close by and possibly in range of a librarian offering sanguinary shield makes them incredibly tough scorers that can also do well vs high armored troops. The last thing he offers, which is actually quite good is he allows you to cripple the stats of one of your opponents HQs. The hit and run can also be quite nice as well. Dante may indeed be a clutch center piece for a jump army and has done well with my honor guard working my opponents from their flanks.

The Sanguinor really requires an all out assault army as you really want to tailor your army to maxamize his extra attacks. If you don't plan on using him as a six inch beacon for your army, you will quickly find out that he is sub par for the points. He also needs a decent size vehicle to hide behind to completly block line of sight to, even with his 2+/3+ eternal warrior his 3 wounds will run out quickly. He is a huge point sink and I strongly advise to save him for 2k games or higher.

I have yet to run any of the other characters but I will try to give Astorath some time on deck soon to see what he has to offer. The only thing I don't like about him is he gives my opponent, if he is running blood angels, a 50% chance also to have Fearless and Furious Charge as BA are still very popular atm.

@Gurgle
Don't ever engage Swarmlord, the Nightbringer or any such unit in HtH. That is playing the other guys game. You shoot those units. Shoot them dead with every unit you have at the first opportunity. The only time you can ignore this is if you have a mobile shooting army like Mechdar or Mech Tau, in which case you can just run away from them and ignore them most of the game. But with BA's, you will most likely be moving to engage, so you must destroy those units with shooting immediately to the exclusion of anything else.

As for the libby dread, I personally don't think they are worth the points as you already have Meph or libby, I would rather take more units than buff the dread. The only real reason I can see is for wings to make him jump capable, which is a big time force multiplier. Typically though, save the points and try and get another dread as two is much better than one that has powers and is a bigger loss when it dies.

What do you recommend me using to shoot at those such models?

By the way, if I use a Librian or Mephiston should I take a Furioso LIbrarian or if not say what you would take instead. Thanks again

Well, a Librarian gives you a psychic hood.
I'd take one psychic hood in the army as you have to pay for it.

@gurgle
Razorbacks, Dev Squads, Predators

You should have some shooting units, if you go all out assault with MEQ's you are asking for trouble because you can run into armies that are flat out better at assault than you like Stealer shock, Eldar assault armies, etc. Anything that has high In and can ignore armor will rape your assault units.

If you want a good shooting unit use sternguard. they have the +2 to wound rounds and also they can take 2 laz cannons for 15 pts each, but with dev squad you take them for 25 per.

I cant say who the absolute best is.. but i do know who the worst HQ among virtually every SM book is

Blood angel captain!

Lets see, hes like a SM captain but cannot take relic blades, grenade launchers, digital weapons, hellfire rounds, ARTIFICER ARMOR (Which BTW is one of the main fluff points of BA) and does nothing like make your bikers troops

He has absolutely no place nor purpose.. For 115 pts (power weapon) you can get a more expensive librarian with no powers or a less expensive chaplain with none of the awesome special abilities!

You cant even say hes a cheap HQ since hes not the cheapest.. and has absolutely 0 utility and marginal combat ability.. Somehow they made a character that is actually worse than the PDF tycho (Atleast tycho had rites of battle and the OLD BA captain could get TH/SS for 125pts total)

I'd never take a captain.

@Reecius
I'm all for fluff so I don't think I'll be taking Devastators but I'm all for Preds with LAS. I wouldn't take razorbacks as I would have to purchase a small squad.

I will have to go with Gabrial Seth Full of strength 8 goodness.

Voted Reclusiarch. He is relatively cheap, even with jump pack, and almost every unit in your army can benefit from his abilities.
He is also pretty deadly in CC, so if you just stick him in an assault unit he will make his points back if he makes it to CC - pretty simple.

@templeorks
Gabriel Seth dosn't even ignore armour saves and anything with over S5 will have a good armour save to go with it. I'd prefer something the same as a relic blade or even a normal glaive encarmine.


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Mephiston gets S10 with a Leadership test.

Librarian with a command squad is what I take. Its loaded against MEQ, as that is what my army lacks, anit-MEQ.