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Hi

I am playing regularly against a 1500pt Valkyrie based IG army.

IG Army:
2 x Vendettas (3 TL Las Cannons) - transporting 2 x 10 Veterans with demo charges and 3x Melta guns each.
1 x Valkyrie (missiles or rocket pods, depends on game) - transporting Command squad with Straken, Lord Commisar (with 2x bodyguard), Imperial Navy guy (-1 to my reserve rolls) and some melta troops.
1 x 10 Storm Troopers (2 with Meltaguns) - usually deep stike'd
1 x Sly Marbo (kept in reserve)
1 x 10 Veterans using infiltrator (cant remember how), 1 x heavy bolter and the special character who has relentless and a heavy bolter.

Me (Blood Angles) - All in reserve to begin with:
5x Sang Guard led by Dante
10 x Assault Squad (with 1 Plasma Pistol, 1 PW, 1 Inferno Pistol and 1 Melta gun & Melta Bombs) with Jump Packs, kept in reserve
Landraider with 2 TL Las Cannons & Multi Melta & TL Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour - Carrying 5x Assault Terminators (2 THs & 3 Lightning Claws)
1 x Furioso Dread with melta gun & flamer (plus the special assault claws) in a Drop Pod
1 x Normal Dread with TL Lascannons, Powerfist & Storm Bolter in a Drop Pod

I have multiple issues - My dreads tend to get shot up in ore or two turns, usually exploding - the Furioso has not made a single assault in the three games I have had him and the other has managed two shots in my last game.
My land raider soaks up a lot of damage, luckily it tends to survive and usually manages to shoot down at least on Valk/Vend - the terminators inside have also managed to squish one or two units
The Sanguinary guard get shot to pieces
The Assault squad get shot to pieces as well.
The main killers on his side are his Demo charges from Vets & Marbo and the Melta guns as well as some pot shots from the las cannons on his vendetta's.
I also usually use combat tactics and split the 10 man Assault squad into two 5 mans.

Ive played various different BA and Ultra Armies against him and I am at wits ends, since out of 7 games I have managed 1 draw and 1 win.

So what setup & tactics should I use? Considering that when I deep strike my army is quite patchy (due to his Navy Officer) in arriving and cannot assualt - but if I dont deep strike they are all quite vulnerable from the word go.

Please be critical!

Edited:
I have additional access to these extra miniatures and can either use BA rules or Ultramarines:
1 Dreadnought (either)
(The furioso dread in my list above can also be used as a Librarian Dread for BA, but havent tried it that way yet)
10 Death Company (assault version) with or without jump packs + Lemartes (BA rules)
2 Rhino's (either) - Can be converted to 2 Lascannon Razorbacks
1 Predator (either) - Lascannon version or Autocannon version
1 Land Speeder (either) - (has 1 Multi Melta, can be upgraded to have either an extra Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer, Assault Cannon or Heavy Bolter - or can be upgraded to carry Missiles)
1 Mephiston (BA rules)
1 Sanguinor (BA rules)
1 x Captain/CM (Artificier Armour) with PW (or Relic blade for Ultra) & Storm Bolter
1 x Captain/CM (AA) with 2 x Lightning Claws & Jump Pack
1 Marneus Calgar (terminator arm.) & Honour Guard (Using Ultra rules)
1 x Command Squad (1 Vet Sarge, 1 Banner, 1 Apothecary, 1 Chapter Champion) - (cant remember if just Ultras or both)
1 Master Tech Marine (when playing Ultra rules)
1 Normal Tech Marine (either)
3 Bikes (either)
10 Scouts (5 with bolters/shotguns & 5 with BP & knives) (either)
5 Terminators (not assault) (either) - can either use Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer or Cyclone Missiles
1 more Assualt Squad with Jump Packs (10 man) (either)
3 x 10 man Tactical Squads (either) (can be armed with 1 multi melta for each squad)
1 x Chaplain with Jump pack (either)
6 x Vanguard Vets with Jump Packs (either)
5 x Sternguard (Ultra)
1 x 10 man Devastator Squad

hey mate, maybe i can help as I play a small elite IG force with a Vendetta and BA as my two mains. ha.

Firstly, lets talk about your list.

The IG list you're facing is going to get pumped in CC. So thats where you need to be at. His Valks can still only fire 1 main after moving 12 inches, so if hes trying to get close with those valks and intercept you halfway, dont go halfway.

You've got a ranged Dread TL Lascannon in a DP. My personal view would to be having him behind cover at the start where only a flat out move from one of the valks could put him in their sights, which even if they managed to do they couldnt fire at you, and being a skimmer, moving flat out in the previous phase would mean that on an Immobilised result hes going to be wrecked, leaving a squad of expensive guys somewhere in no mans land.

If you're going to drop the furioso, why not make it into a death company dread for the fleet, and ignoring 1,2 results on the damage table. If you're podding in then you should place it carefully, and let him go nuts. Flame and shoot the poo out of anything on arrival OR pop smoke. and pray. The only reason i could see someone wanting a Furi over Death Company is if you actually want to control where it goes.

I think the landraider with termis is a bit of overkill. Most of his squads are packing meltas or things that make diddly of your +2 armour save (demo packs anyone?), so why not use those points for another 10 man tac squad, chuck in a lascannon and combat squad it for more ranged back up. Spread your guys out to not get pie'd by the lg. template so bad. A 5-10 man devastator squad might also be able to pack some lascannon love for his valks, getting them to explode is key as guardsmen aren't so great at taking automatic strength 4hits and living. The next turn a few casualties will force a check.

I won't spefically build you a list BUT i think the key to winning is;

Popping the valks from afar and leaving his guys stranded, preferably having three different lascannon sources to try at all of the valks at once. podding to where you think he's going to be at based on previous games and letting the dread make mince meat of his soon to be popped valks and then a) backing up the dread with an assault squad (melta's or inferno pistols for valks if standing/flamers for mop up duty) or b) making the most of the Descent of Angels and Dante to screw his Officer of the Fleet and landing where ever they can to clean up what should be a done and dusted shooting phase.

This will never be as easy as 1,2,3 but a think having a good rear gunline of lascannons and an assault force cleaning up will seal the deal.
All his meltas are toasting your armour, so if thats the case 3 dead marines is better than a dead Dread. (10 man Dev squads)

Hope this helps!
Its not definite but its how I would play against me if I wasn't me.
Yep.

good news for you, although 3 flyers is annoying his list is hardly optimized. That being said if you look at your list you are just asking be crushed. It seems he's carrying lots of anti tank weaponry and you have very little target saturation. You are basically allowing him to eliminate your most

A few suggestions, instead of putting a dread in the pod use 5 sternguard with combimeltas. Drop then first turn and they should auto kill 1 tank/flyer.
Also do you have assault marines without jump packs? because frankly putting 2 units of them in rhinos with melta guns will probably be much more surviveable then oens with jump packs.
Take a MM/HF land speeder. If he does not kill it on turn 1 then he is in allot more trouble.

While I agree with last poster that CC is great for you, I disagree on how to implement it. Because you don't need TH SS termies to wipe out guard, yuou just need marines you will win, you don't need spend tons of points just to beat them. A naked tac squad will beat then.

Now with your 2nd pod I'd probably upgrade to a libby dread put him in the pod and give him blood lance or even just take a libby and give him blood lance. Get close and watch tanks blow up.

Now with the speeder/and 2 more rhinos you have an addiiton 3 targets that he has to fire at. since they are overcharged on turn 1 run your rhinos up 18" pop smoke. He will have to deal with them. The key here is not to rely on one or two units to get everything done force your opponent to make the hard choices when directign his fire. With just a little luck you can completely derail his plan.

hope some of this was helpful.

Just put the Furiso Dread in a drop pod, but I would take the death company dread instead, and deep strike as much of your units as possible into cover close to enemy units. This will prevent them from being shot up after they deep Strike.

Edit: I didnt realise it, but I have played that last game using the list with 1 troop choice only .... go figure

Thanks for the replies guys!

One more question - should I keep the Sanguinary Guard Squad led by Dante?

I can convert my Assault squads to use normal packs (ill do what I did with my DC and use magnets).

I forgot to add I also have access to:

1 Predator
and
2 Razorbacks (but sacrificng the Rhinos - as I can magnet attach the turrets to the Rhino's).

Based on replies so far, Ill come up with a short 1500pt list and see what you guys think

You can't take the death company dread without taking death company. Just FYI.

I'm a fan of the Blood Angels Librarian w/ Jump Pack and Lance of Blood + Shield of Sanguinius myself. Land that guy with a line on with two of his Vendettas if possible. Force disembarkation will pin his Veterans so they can't shoot at you next turn - assuming you don't blow up the vehicle (AP1 = +1 damage result die) and kill most of them in the explosion.

You must've already seen it already: Dante + Sanguinary Guard is a big, gold, not-enough-invuln-or-cover-saves Bullseye that never earns back its points. Kick them and their pointless bling to the curb. Get yourself a Librarian and a second Assault Squad. Keep the Squad Bling to a minimum - Power Fist + 2 Melta Guns should just fine for you. Now you've got options, and invulnerable saves too.

Get your Furioso the Frag Cannon (seriously, just flip a Missile Launcher upside down for now). That extra DCCW and Storm Bolter isn't worth passing on a S6, Rending, Assault 2 Template attack. You might want to also consider giving your regular Dreadnought a Missile Launcher arm and discarding his Drop Pod entirely. That makes him a proper rifleman Dread, hopefully hull-down to draw some enemy fire and return it in kind.

Good luck!

- Marty Lund

yeah Marty has some good tips, i've never used the frag cannon myself just because I've not got the bits to model it.
He's also right about discarding the pod and making the dread into a rifleman dread and just pumping out shots at the valks.

I myself don't have Dante or the Sang guard, just seems a bit points heavy, for what they are/do. And again Marty is right, they come across as a big "shoot me" magnet.
If you can work that to your advantage then all the better!

i beat a six vendetta list at conquest gt a couple of weeks ago with BA.

deep striking melta equipped assault squads nearby did the job.

battlereport up on http://www.vanhammer40k.com

Ok this is the new list I came up with based on peoples varied reccomendations.

HQ

Librarian with JP

Troops

2 x 10 man Assault each squad with JP, 2 Infernus Pistols, 1 Melta Gun & 1 Power Weapon

2 x 5 man DC each squad with 1 Infernus Pistol, 2 power weapons
Both riding Razorbacks with TL Lascannons

1 Land Raider with Lascannons

1 Dread with TL Lascannon & Missile launcher

-

That lets me field melta squads close to the enemy with deep strikes as well as letting me unleash 5 TL lascannons per turn if necessary.

Any changes to it?

The list isn't legal because the death company is limited to 0-1, unless you are fielding Astorath the Grim. Either remove the LR and add him, or remove the second DC squad and put something in the LR to make the list legal.

Ok, in light of the illegality above changed to:

1 Librarian with JP, FW & using Blood Lance & Sanguineus Shield

2 x 10 Assault with one inferno Pistols & 1 Melta gun

5 Assault (no JP) in a Razorback with TL Lascannons

6 Death Company (no JP) in a Razorback with TL Lascannons

1 Land Raider with Lascannons

1 Land Speeder with 2 Multi Melta's

1 Dread with Lascannons & Missile Launchers

Meh - keep refining

If youre going to customize for the fight, take out most of the vehicles as thats what he has the most units invested in taking out. A Dread or two with meltas and a pod can definitely make short work of any vehicle in his list (providing it didnt go flat out and can roll a save) but those would be a sacrifical unit in a lot of cases. Death company would be kited like its going out of style by the fast vendettas, so I think your best bet would be to spam dropping assault squads with a pair of meltaguns (no infernus pistols, too many points and suck range) and maybe invest in a sanguinary priest,(to cut any losses from incidental frie from crap with lasguns) bring a reclusiarch for an HQ and put power fists in the unit (being able to reroll those misses helps)
Just my two cents

First of all, youre not taking any Devastators. LCs wreak havoc on Valkyries. My brother and his friend play IG and I always shoot their Valkyries out of the sky. You seem to be focusing on an assault heavy unit when you should be focusing on firepower. The troops cant shoot their guns at you if you blow up a Valkyrie 36-48" away. I play BA and you gotta have a flexible force that can take on anything that comes at it. Take the Predator and the Razorbacks over the Land Raiders. As much as I love Land Raiders the extra points will give you enough space to field a squad of heavy weapons and shoot some Valkyries out of the sky