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Okay my friend is assembling a blood angels all assault force, and i wanted to know what units should i use as an SM player to counter it.
The only thing that comes to my mind atm is a mech force with predators and LRs.

Id say the same, mech/shooty list. A vanilla SM army doesnt have much that matches up with a BA assault, even though they are both SM's!

Lots of shooting. You want lots of overwatch shots when they do close in. Can't remember if the aegis autocannons or bastion lascannons are interceptors, if they are, take one to counter deep strikes. The fortress is a bit pricey.

Sternguard are the obvious choice, preferably in drop pods.
And dreadnaughts will slow him right down, since only PFs can hurt them (okay kraks can as well, at 6s to hit and 6s to glance).
What do you mean by "all assault force"? What sort of list will it be? Razor spam is (thankfully) dead so we can rule that out, do you mean DOA?

Definitely go for a fortification and interceptor gun. Everyone else is right, the best counter to a dedicated assault army is insane shooting ability (and good overwatch). Here HQ's are your friend. Go for Lysander first of all, and put him in a sternguard squad with dual heavy bolters. All that firepower twin-linked and a combat monster are going to make your opponent think twice about charging you.
Then, depending on points, take Vulkan and pepper the list with meltas and flamers, again for more overwatch awesomeness. He's also a pretty decent guard for a squad you don't want to die instantly in combat.
You should also invest in some units like scouts to show up in his deployment zone and make him split his attention.

A flyer. All of a sudden, you win. (can't assault flyers)

Testify wrote:Sternguard are the obvious choice, preferably in drop pods.
And dreadnaughts will slow him right down, since only PFs can hurt them (okay kraks can as well, at 6s to hit and 6s to glance).
What do you mean by "all assault force"? What sort of list will it be? Razor spam is (thankfully) dead so we can rule that out, do you mean DOA?

You hit with grenades at WS on any vehicles now.

Scout Snipers fortified somewhere would be nice to pick-out the juicy targets in the squads (precision shots) as well as pinning could be helpful.
Characters that shoot benefit from precision shots so a certain scout character could be really handy...

Rhinos may give some mobility to shoot on your own terms.

A bastion would be a good deal with the Icarus lascannon.

Maybe an Ironclad dreadnaught may fit with the armor and relevant weapons loadout?

The Aegis Defence Line with quad-gun is looking real good too.

Okay, so. . .I have to say: if you're actually tailoring your list to completely counter your friend's list, and for no other purpose. . .you're a bad person. I just don't know what else to say. :I That kinda ruins the point of friendly competition. If you're okay knowing that, that's your choice and whatever.

As actual advice to countering a BA Assault list, uh. . .mechanized stuff might not be a great idea. They're Space Marines, so Krak grenades are a thing they get, and there's bound to be anti-armor in the form of Melta stuff. Anything short of all Land Raiders won't be a GREAT time to have. They're still just vanilla marine jumpers except in larger quantities, so just take things that take out 3+ armor and. . .make them sad, I don't know. Interceptor stuff is useful, especially against Descent of Angel rules. Bastions are probably a horrible idea, however, for the same reasons as not having lots of vehicles, as those Krak and Melta grenades are allowed to be thrown into buildings and whathaveyou.

loreweaver wrote:A flyer. All of a sudden, you win. (can't assault flyers)

Hahaha, good idea

Testify wrote:Sternguard are the obvious choice, preferably in drop pods.
And dreadnaughts will slow him right down, since only PFs can hurt them (okay kraks can as well, at 6s to hit and 6s to glance).
What do you mean by "all assault force"? What sort of list will it be? Razor spam is (thankfully) dead so we can rule that out, do you mean DOA?

Yes i think its called DoA, with lots of assault marines and the special BA ones. Also probably a drop pod.

Talizvar wrote:Scout Snipers fortified somewhere would be nice to pick-out the juicy targets in the squads (precision shots) as well as pinning could be helpful.
Characters that shoot benefit from precision shots so a certain scout character could be really handy...
Rhinos may give some mobility to shoot on your own terms.
A bastion would be a good deal with the Icarus lascannon.
Maybe an Ironclad dreadnaught may fit with the armor and relevant weapons loadout?
The Aegis Defence Line with quad-gun is looking real good too.

I have snipers and the aegis defence line was thinking about a dreadnought as well so it souds good.

BrotherDoggie wrote:Okay, so. . .I have to say: if you're actually tailoring your list to completely counter your friend's list, and for no other purpose. . .you're a bad person. I just don't know what else to say. :I That kinda ruins the point of friendly competition. If you're okay knowing that, that's your choice and whatever.

No, im not i was just looking for tips and guidance on some units that would help me win, and how to use them.

If he's doing DOA then no more than half of his force can deep-strike, you might want to remind him of that before he deploys.

BrotherDoggie wrote:Okay, so. . .I have to say: if you're actually tailoring your list to completely counter your friend's list, and for no other purpose. . .you're a bad person. I just don't know what else to say. :I That kinda ruins the point of friendly competition. If you're okay knowing that, that's your choice and whatever.

No, im not i was just looking for tips and guidance on some units that would help me win, and how to use them.

DakkaHammer wrote:Definitely go for a fortification and interceptor gun. Everyone else is right, the best counter to a dedicated assault army is insane shooting ability (and good overwatch). Here HQ's are your friend. Go for Lysander first of all, and put him in a sternguard squad with dual heavy bolters. All that firepower twin-linked and a combat monster are going to make your opponent think twice about charging you.
Then, depending on points, take Vulkan and pepper the list with meltas and flamers, again for more overwatch awesomeness. He's also a pretty decent guard for a squad you don't want to die instantly in combat.
You should also invest in some units like scouts to show up in his deployment zone and make him split his attention.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:Lots of shooting. You want lots of overwatch shots when they do close in. Can't remember if the aegis autocannons or bastion lascannons are interceptors, if they are, take one to counter deep strikes. The fortress is a bit pricey.

Space marines suck at overwatch, especially against other MEQ. I played a 4000pt game the other day and I did not kill a single model with overwatch(I had lysander attached to 10 TAC termies too).

Overwatch is a nice mechanic..... if you're orks and posibly guard where firing at BS1 is of little consequence due to weight of fire.

I suggest TAC termies, they will chew most of his stuff up pretty well in CC and they can weaken units with decent ranged capability too.

I'm beginning to think snap fire/skyfire and overwatch should have been set at -2 ballistic skill rather than a flat BS1 because currently it only work for low points cost high volume armies.

Take Vindicators and watch him cry as his entire squad gets wiped out in 1 shot.

I veto the use of Lysander. He really isn't want you are looking for. You will want combat tactics, so you can exit cc.

Then drop pods make no sense against a mobile army, you land and they will either run away or kill you in assault, the choice will be up to them.

Keep way back. Get in as many turns of shooting as possible. Lots of good shooting available, you should concentrate on ap3 or ap2 as he is power armour. Sternguard are cool anyway without ap2 they have 2+ poisoned ammo, else their ap3 shot.

I would worry a little about FNP, as such try taking out priests when they appear. Your scouts will be good at this now.

I would load up in tanks, this'll slow him getting into cc with you. As he'll need to open tanks up first.

Thunderfire cannons are pretty awesome against infantry.
Vindicators will ignore FNP and remove many marines at a time.
Scouts especially Telion can neuter squads.
Dreads.
Anything shooty will work well.
Then maybe assault termies to counter attack, he'll struggle to chomp through them in cc.

You should also learn when to assault. They'll be times when you want to assault him to stop him assaulting you and getting higher strength and more attacks.

Librarians can buff shooty with divination, else pedro makes good shooting armies.

I have to agree with MFletch about not taking Lysander. While bolter drill is nice, losing combat tactics is huge, and stubborn becomes a huge liability against assault armies without combat tactics. I played a game against a Pedro list with my BT, and he couldn't flee combat, resulting in him not being able to shoot at my guys

You could also take Lysander and Calgar. If you are playing really large point battles.

Also, combat squad whenever possible. With all the penalties for multiassaulting, MSU is brutal against hammer style armies like Blood Angel jumpers who tend to have concentrations of killing power.

Simply set yourself up in a manner that makes it harder to assault. Then shoot. Counter assault. Use blast weapons, flamers, plasma cannons, and other death.

Of course if you can't stop with without tailoring, your list isn't balanced.

DakkaHammer wrote:You could also take Lysander and Calgar. If you are playing really large point battles.

That's what I do at 3k+ calgar completely negates stubborns effect.

Don't take Calgar with Lysander or any other chapter tactics character-God of War only works on models with combat tactics, which chapter tactics gets rid of, and only Calgar can choose to pass/fail. Just an FYI, the FAQ says chapter tactics, but that is most likely a typo, as only the named SC have chapter tactics.

Andilus Greatsword wrote:Take Vindicators and watch him cry as his entire squad gets wiped out in 1 shot.

But since they are fairly close-range wont i be risking melta fire or even CC from an assault if i dont kill the whole squad?

juraigamer wrote:Simply set yourself up in a manner that makes it harder to assault. Then shoot. Counter assault. Use blast weapons, flamers, plasma cannons, and other death.

Do you think i should split my force into 2 parts on deployment then?

You COULD try fielding terminators perhaps, the assault squads will lack invulns and likely a plethora of power weapons, so TH/SS might work for counter-assault purposes.

take some TH/SS terminators, maybe 2 squads. I would mix in a few lightning claws but maybe only 1 per squad. They can handle anything except the death company on the charge.

Get some sternguard in a drop pod and go hunt his death company.

Take a few vindicators and screen them with rhinos.

Take some regular tactical squads with plasma and missile launchers. Combat squad them and dance around. If he charges one of your squads, either let it die or counter assault next turn.

It all depends on how the enemy sets up and what their and your composition is. If the guy is an assault army, it's a victory point mission and you got shooting up the wazoo, then just deploy in a corner.

It takes practice to learn how to deploy to deny your opponent advantages while keeping yours.

I wouldn't deploy in two parts unless you have a massive speed advantage over the enemy and can simply relocate later.

Just run a deathwing against him. 30 TH&SS terminators with Belial will munch him. He can't reliably get through your armor, while every model in yours denies him armor saves and FNP saves. So good luck to him.

Kevlar wrote:Just run a deathwing against him. 30 TH&SS terminators with Belial will munch him. He can't reliably get through your armor, while every model in yours denies him armor saves and FNP saves. So good luck to him.

Nice, but i am a "vanilla" marine player.

And in addition to that, if he sends in his own supply of multiple units of DC to respond to that, you'd be in some trouble.

Shooty is a good tactic as other people have said. Splitting your units up is another great tactic. I run CSM and there is nothing worse than a berzerker out of combat. If you can bait him to take out a 5 man squad that leaves him in the open for an entire round of shooting/counter assault you could kill 500 points by sacrificing less than 200.

Titan Atlas wrote:And in addition to that, if he sends in his own supply of multiple units of DC to respond to that, you'd be in some trouble.

Aren't death company only AP3? And they won't get FNP vs thunder hammers. I don't think a squad of death company would match up against a squad of TH&SS terminators at all.