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This is my effort to build a Descent of Angels force that mixes it up with a few vehicles, because I'll get bored of only assembling, painting, and building infantry.

In addition to getting your general feedback, I'm most interested in what should fill the "HQ and elite combat unit" slot. To make that easier, I'll post the body of the list first, then the HQ and his retinue, so you can see what my options are:

Main List (things that are the same in all versions of the list)

Elites
* 2 Sanguinary Priests w/Jump Packs

Troops
* 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Sergeant w/Power Fist
* 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Sergeant w/Power Fist

Fast Attack
* 1 Land Speeder w/Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missiles
* 1 Land Speeder w/Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missiles

Heavy Support
* Stormraven w/Assault Cannons, Multi-Meltas

Option One: Sanguinary Guard

HQ
* Librarian w/Jump Pack (Might of Heroes, Shield of Sanguinius)

Elites
* Sanguinary Guard, 1 Power Fist, Chapter Banner
* Furioso Dreadnought w/Blood Fists (Heavy Flamer and Meltagun)

Option Two: Super-Captain

HQ
* Captain Uriel (Actually Gabriel Seth)
* Honor Guard, 3 Power Weapons, 1 flamer

Elites
* Furioso Librarian (Might of Heroes, Shield of Sanguinius)

Option Three: Terminators

HQ
* Librarian w/Terminator Armor, Force Weapon, Storm Shield

Elites
* Terminator Assault Squad, 3 Lightning Claws, 2 Thunder Hammers

The assault marines are my main combat units, supported by the sanguinary priests, who deploy alongside them. The land speeders - kitted out as multi-purpose gunboats - deploy behind or in front of the assault marines, either to screen them from receiving the assault, to shoot over their heads at whoever they assault, or to do both. The stormraven does a similar job for whoever it carries.

That's where the questions start.

Here's what I know already.

Option One (Librarian and Sanguinary Guard) is a hard-hitting unit and a little tougher than the average marine. I've seen them carve their way through enemy forces with insane speed. However, they lack Feel No Pain and Furious Charge (unless they either succumb to the Red Thirst or land in range of one of my Sanguinary Priests) and have no way of getting an invulnerable save. They're hard-hitting and tough, but I've seen them go down far too easy to AP 1 and 2 weaponry.

Option Two is probably the hardest hitting. Gabriel Seth is a freaking monster in close combat, and backed up by a flamer, power weapons, supported by a Sanguinary Priest's Furious Charge aura. They only have a 3+ save, but their 4+ Feel No Pain means that they're probably about as tough as Option One - anything that denies them both saves would deny Option One its save, too. I also think playing with a librarian dreadnought will be lots of fun. The main weakness of "Captain Uriel" and company is that if I want to get them onto the battlefield I have to put them in the stormraven (unlike Option One, which can do a Descent of Angels Deep Strike on their own). The second - and far more significant - weakness of Option Two is that, while they're tough, they aren't quite as tough as…

Option Three is quite simply the hardest to kill. 2+ armor save. 4+ invulnerable save on half of them, 3+ invulnerable save on the rest of them. Completely loaded with power weapons, some of which can cave in the side of a tank, they hit pretty hard, though they lack the Sanguinary Guard's ability to deal damage at range when need be and "Captain Uriel's" (Gabriel Seth's) badass combat tricks. Unlike Option Two, they can deep strike eon their own, which means that they don't HAVE to ride in the stormraven unless I want them to.

Option Three also leaves me with ten spare points. I'm not sure where to put them. My current thought is meltabombs on the assault marine sergeants. You can never have too much anti-tank.

So, here are my questions:
* HQ and Elite options aside, how does the main body of my list look? Are there any holes that need filling?
* I think I've done a good job of laying out the strengths and weaknesses of each of my options, but I'm not sure which set of advantages and disadvantages is going to help me win the most games. All of them are equally fluffy, and while none of them are quite as beautiful sculpts as the Sanguinary Guard, all of them should be quite striking on the tabletop and give me many options for modeling and painting. What do you think I should go with?
* For Option Three, what do you think I should do with my ten remaining points? Meltabombs on the sergeants? Something else?

Main body looks pretty decent. Landspeeders really arent my thing, but to each his own (maybe take more bodies). I like the first option the best. FurriosoLibbys are seth are kinda meh in my exp. However, if you went with option one it would be nice to stick some other unit in the stormchicken also. Maybe take unleash instead of might on libby.

zcantin wrote:Main body looks pretty decent. Landspeeders really arent my thing, but to each his own (maybe take more bodies). I like the first option the best. FurriosoLibbys are seth are kinda meh in my exp. However, if you went with option one it would be nice to stick some other unit in the stormchicken also. Maybe take unleash instead of might on libby.

Unleash Rage has scornergy with Sanguinary Guard. The Guard already rerolls one of its attacks per turn and you can only ever reroll a die once, the power is less cost effective than one that just adds more attacks.

I hadn't thought about that. The list of things I could put in the stormraven, using the points currently invested in land speeders, include:

* Sternguard Veterans: These guys kind of waste the Assault Vehicle power of the stormraven, but the combination of special ammo, rapid fire boltguns, and the ability of the stormraven's speed to get them EXACTLY where I want them, when I want them, with some anti-tank backup could be really powerful at chewing up infantry and armor of all kinds.

* Death Company: I could field a pretty big and well kitted-out death company in my stormraven, and use the stormraven to cart them around so that their Rage issues don't become a problem. Assault Vehicle wouldn't be wasted on these guys.

* Vanguard Veterans: It almost seems like a waste to field these guys without jump packs, but it's an interesting thought.

* Devastator Squad: Probably a bad idea, since they're at their best with heavy weapons, and with heavy weapons they can't exit stormraven, then fire, then get back in the stormraven on their next turn - and wouldn't that be the point of putting them there? That said, if someone wants to tell me that Devastators are so awesome that I absolutely have got to have some, this would be the way to get them onto the board.

So, yeah... I kind of think I might use some of my enormous box of marines to assemble a squad of Sternguard Vets. I always knew I was going to eventually make some Death Company, but I hadn't thought about how dangerous Sternguard Vets could be in a stormraven.

1) Put a Locator Beacon on the Stormraven filled with Sternguard
2) Flat out 24" move and 'Skies of Blood' the Sternguard within 6" of the Stormraven for no scatter
3) ????
4) Profit.

Halfpast_Yellow wrote:1) Put a Locator Beacon on the Stormraven filled with Sternguard
2) Flat out 24" move and 'Skies of Blood' the Sternguard within 6" of the Stormraven for no scatter
3) ????
4) Profit.

Actually, scratch that - I can't add Sternguard. They're an Elites choice, and with Sanguinary Guard, a Furioso Dreadnought, and Sanguinary Priests I'm out of elites slots. Of course, I could bust the Furioso down to an ordinary... but that's not the direction I want to go in right now. I'll keep it in mind.

Though, come to think of it, a regular dreadnought and some sternguard would serve similar purposes, and a regular dread is good enough in close combat that I could use it as a countercharger to help keep the sternguard alive. That and - AND - I could equip it with a multi-melta and a flamethrower, thus freeing the Sternguard from having to deal with both hordes and vehicles, letting them do what they do best - take out enemy elites with their many and varied forms of special ammo.

I may have to try this list out.

Anyway, would that actually work? Skies of Blood lets them drop "as though deep striking." Locator beacon lets things deep strike without scattering. Actual Deep Strike.

I'ma go post that on You Make Da Call.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ok, let's hope this doesn't get buried in an appendix to my previous post.

Here's List 1, but with Sternguard backup.

HQ
* Librarian w/Bolt Pistol, Jump Pack (Might of Heroes, Shield of Sanguinius)

Elites
* Sanguinary Guard, Chapter Banner, 1 Power Fist
* 7 Sternguard Vets, 2 Meltaguns
* 2 Sanguinary Priests w/Bolt Pistols, Jump Packs

Troops
* 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, 1 Powerfist
* 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, 1 Powerfist

Heavy
* Stormraven (Assault Cannons and Meltaguns) w/Locator Beacon
* Dreadnought w/Blood Fist (Heavy Flamer) and Multimelta