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What are some good basic blood angels tactics to use in 1500 - 2000 point games? I already know of some (DoA army lists) but as far as actual tactics go, I think I could definitely use some improvements.

I usually run:

Astorath
5 Sanguinary Guard w/ Infernus pistol (I put astorath in with these guys)
3 Sanguinary Priests: 1 with Jump Pack, 3 Power Fists
5 Assault Terminators w/ Thunderhammers & Storm Shields
10 Assault Marines + Sergeant w/ Power Weapon
(Landraider Transport)
10 Assault Marines + Sergeant w/ Power Weapon
(Landraider Transport)
5 Scouts w/ Sniper Rifles & Camo Cloaks
5 Devastators: 2 Plasma Cannons, 2 Lascannons + Sergeant w/ Power Weapon & Plasma Pistol

That's what I've been using lately in 2,000 point games. Pretty good results so far but I know it needs some improvements. Or to be completely redone. Whatever works I guess. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

o.O

I personally would switch out Astorath with Dante for this list, for a few reason. First, The guards would be a troop choice, second if your running Infernius Pistol, you are going to be able to Deep Strike without scatter anywhere on the board as long as you have Dante attached to the Unit, Sure it is a one trick pony,but that trick can change the tide of any game.

True, I have switched Astorath for Dante a couple of times and it works pretty well. Mostly because they don't scatter when they deep strike. I find that Astorath adds a pretty decent boost to the unit, especially if I add a Priest in with the sanguinary guard as well. Makes them Furious Charge and Astorath lets everyone re-roll failed to hit rolls. I guess whichever character I use depends on the situation & army I face though.

Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

nyaaarrrgh wrote:True, I have switched Astorath for Dante a couple of times and it works pretty well. Mostly because they don't scatter when they deep strike. I find that Astorath adds a pretty decent boost to the unit, especially if I add a Priest in with the sanguinary guard as well. Makes them Furious Charge and Astorath lets everyone re-roll failed to hit rolls. I guess whichever character I use depends on the situation & army I face though.

A normal chaplain does that as well I am sure and for cheaper. General BA tactics really depend on your army/style. Most BA armies focus on getting into CC quick and easy. DoA generally use scatter to flank the enemy forces in mass, although not always reliable. Mech BA armies rely on using Libby Shield power to keep their Razorbacks alive and pumping out heavy firepower. JP armies generally just charge in mass towards the enemy trying to use cover/FNP to keep losses minimal. My general BA tactics is to focus all my forces on one flank, it works with proper placement of units roughly 80% of the time.

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Relic_OMO wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Haters are going to hate.

Drop Astorath, with Priests and no DC his bonuses are being wasted, a reclusiarch with do the same thing that you're using him for and for cheeper and a libby can using unleashed rage to get that on every turn, not just the charge for even cheeper.

I would stick the termies in one of your raders and just have one squad of marines jump behind the two of them since the jump marines can keep up (just don't drop the packs, pay the extra 35 points with points you save from not using Astorath.

for personal preference I would drop the devs for more assault marines, you seem very shy on troop choices for a 1500-2000 list. this will increase the lists mobility add some extra melta for tank poping power and give the termanators a ride.

Finally I would say loose the power fists on the priests and put them on the sargents, in close combat people can, and will, pick them out and kill them before they go at init 1.

125 jump libby
235 jump marines 2 melta guns and a power fist
235 jump marines 2 melta guns and a power fist
235 jump marines 2 melta guns and a power fist
250 standard raider
215 cheep standard raider
225 Hammernators
125 1 jump priests 1 foot priest
200 Sang guard
-----
1845


The raiders are eating up a lot of points, but I kept them in there for the over all feel of your list, in a 2000 point list you could add your infiltrating camo scouts with a locator beacon to have a couple units DS without error around them.

How's this? I still don't really know what to replace the Devs with.

Reclusiarch: Jump Pack, Infernus Pistol - 170PTS

5 Sanguinary Guard: Infernus Pistol - 210PTS
3 Sanguinary Priests: Jump Pack - 225PTS
5 Assault Terminators: Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields - 225PTS

10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
Landraider - 215PTS
5 Scouts: Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks, Locator Beacon - 115PTS

5 Devastators: 2 Plasma Cannons, 2 Lascannons - 170PTS

nyaaarrrgh wrote:How's this? I still don't really know what to replace the Devs with.

Reclusiarch: Jump Pack, Infernus Pistol - 170PTS

5 Sanguinary Guard: Infernus Pistol - 210PTS
3 Sanguinary Priests: Jump Pack - 225PTS
5 Assault Terminators: Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields - 225PTS

10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
10 Assault Marines: Power Fist, 1 Melta Gun - 225PTS
Landraider - 215PTS
5 Scouts: Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks, Locator Beacon - 115PTS

5 Devastators: 2 Plasma Cannons, 2 Lascannons - 170PTS

My only real suggestiongs are drop the infernus pistols for more melta guns, if you drop the 2 infernus pistols you can get 3 MGs
other than that you could drop the Reclus to a libby (giving you 30 points) drop the devs (170 points) and drop the jump pack off 1 SP (25 points) that gives you 225 you could pick up another cheap raider, maybe the crusader with a pintle MM.

You really should look into the Libby, for very cheap you can give everything in a 6" bubble (inside, say a land raider giving you an even bigger bubble) a 5+ cover save on you enemies turn, freeing up on your turn unleashed rage that gives you the preferrend enemy USR (re-roll failed rolls to hit) and once your in close combat you can still use Unleashed rage on their turn if you want as well. the cover save would be esspecially good for your expensive but vulnerable to AP2 SG.

The libby has more utility than the Reclus, the raider gives you more survivability and more than 1 vehicle for them to have to target and has a MM 2 hurricain bolters and an assault cannon on it (all of which can be fired if it moved 6") that makes up for the devistator fire power)

Relic_OMO wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Bah hahahahaha. Well played.

MadMaverick76 wrote:

Relic_OMO wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Haters are going to hate.

Granted, we are hating. However, I'm not hating blindly. I hate the fact that 40k, in general, revolves around the close combat phase (which mostly consists of playing yahtzee) rather than trying to use tactics, like flanking. Also, I hate how Blood Angels play like Khornates: hack things apart in close combat, revel in the bloodshed. But of course, they're Loyalist Khornates, so it's ok.

*grump*

Nevertheless, to contribute: Blood Angels have some, "Descent of Angels" skill. I know nothing about it. Does it make their Deep Striking more potent? How does that factor into list-building? Last, how does a mass Deep Strike-reliant Blood Angels army vulnerable?

Ogiwan wrote:
Nevertheless, to contribute: Blood Angels have some, "Descent of Angels" skill. I know nothing about it. Does it make their Deep Striking more potent? How does that factor into list-building? Last, how does a mass Deep Strike-reliant Blood Angels army vulnerable?

DoA says that they can re-roll failed reserve rolls and that they only scatter 1D6 when deep striking.

Also only the crazy ones revel in the bloodshed and they're sent into battle for the express purpose of breaking the enemy lines ahead of the rest of the marines and then dying in combat.

Well. some may really like it, no accounting for taste and all that.

Ogiwan wrote:
Granted, we are hating. However, I'm not hating blindly. I hate the fact that 40k, in general, revolves around the close combat phase (which mostly consists of playing yahtzee) rather than trying to use tactics, like flanking. Also, I hate how Blood Angels play like Khornates: hack things apart in close combat, revel in the bloodshed. But of course, they're Loyalist Khornates, so it's ok.

Hahaha, I agree. They are Loyalist Khornates.

Warhammer 40,000 5th edition doesn't revolve around the combat phase, it revolves around the Movement phase, with the Shooting phase making a close second. Close combat is okay for moping up, but relying on it is asking for pain.

Funny story, the only game I won at the last tournament I attended was Blood Angels. They had a Land Raider full of Terminators (I think, my opponent conceded before they entered play). Basically I had a glance at their list and noticed they had a distinct lack of blast and template weapons. So I castled up my Plasma Cannon and Missile Launcher toting Devastators inside a screen of Tactical Marines (there was some sort of Annihilation-liked scenario being played), and deployed in fire-base, with my Dreadnoughts in reserve.

So he faced the problem of either landing within point-blank range and getting shot up, or trying to jump across the board and getting shot up. After two turns of shooting up his Assault squads, he crashed into my Tactical screen with the remnants of his Assault squads and murdered them. Then I wiped them out. Nothing quite like forcing your opponent to rest in front of big guns.

In fact, his best unit was a Tactical Squad that arrive via Drop Pod and suffered from the Red Thirst, so the squad's Lascannon destroyed a Dreadnought, and were wiped out by a combination of the Devastators and my surviving Dreadnought.

Strategically speaking, therefore, it's a good idea to include some blast and template weapons for breaking up castles like this. Most people like to do it with Baal Predators. Only once you have shot up enemy squads, cracked open enemy vehicles, and generally stomped on him should you throw in the Assault Squads to mop up the survivors.

Ogiwan wrote:

Granted, we are hating. However, I'm not hating blindly. I hate the fact that 40k, in general, revolves around the close combat phase (which mostly consists of playing yahtzee) rather than trying to use tactics, like flanking. Also, I hate how Blood Angels play like Khornates: hack things apart in close combat, revel in the bloodshed. But of course, they're Loyalist Khornates, so it's ok.

40k still revolves around tactics. It is not simply a game of charging forward, or sitting back and shooting. Those who play BA as simply just charge until you reach CC should get their get their army beat quite significantly. Also, BA may be good in CC, but there are many other units that do it better. Also if you look half of all BA armies are Meched up in RBs and the like, just following the flow of 40k. 40k is does not revolve around CC and there are armies out there to prove that.

Ogiwan wrote:

Relic_OMO wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Bah hahahahaha. Well played.

MadMaverick76 wrote:

Relic_OMO wrote:

Ogiwan wrote:Basic Blood Angels tactics.....wouldn't that be, "Get into close combat as quickly as possible, play Yahtzee"?

That's a gross oversimplification. You're forgetting the intricacies of Blood Angels strategy, such as:

- Paint marines red.
- Convince self and others that Fast Marine transports full of Troops that Feel No Pain, Librarian berserker Dreadnoughts and flying, Fast, cheap Land Raiders that drop said Dreadnoughts are balanced.
- ???
- Profit!

Haters are going to hate.

Granted, we are hating. However, I'm not hating blindly. I hate the fact that 40k, in general, revolves around the close combat phase (which mostly consists of playing yahtzee) rather than trying to use tactics, like flanking. Also, I hate how Blood Angels play like Khornates: hack things apart in close combat, revel in the bloodshed. But of course, they're Loyalist Khornates, so it's ok.

*grump*

Nevertheless, to contribute: Blood Angels have some, "Descent of Angels" skill. I know nothing about it. Does it make their Deep Striking more potent? How does that factor into list-building? Last, how does a mass Deep Strike-reliant Blood Angels army vulnerable?

Haha! I think that painting marines green with a certain chapter symbol is better! Still use BA codex over DA for dreads