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I am new to Blood Angels, and i was wondering if Death Company were worth it. they seen to be pretty expensive, and have quite a few options, are they any good?

They are way better in 6th than in 5th.

They can be worth it, a 3+ armor, 5+ FNP Rage relentless unit that can have power weapons or Power fists is really good at killing just about anything.

Their only downside is that they are not a scoring unit, But they are a denial unit so you can get linebreaker and deny an enemy objective or two with them once they get across the table.

They are extremely effective in assault, especially if they get the charge.

That said, you have to be careful what you spend your points on. It's almost essential to get the charge, so you need either a transport with assault ramp (expensive) or jump packs (very expensive). If you're taking a stormraven then that's the natural place to put the squad.

In terms of upgrades, consider power axes. They're strength 6 on the charge, so killing MEQs on 2+ and ignoring all armour. With their 3+ armour/5+ feel no pain, enough of them should survive to make a significant impact at I1. That said, they'll die to assault terminators, but probably take the terminators with them. Think of it as trading a queen for a queen.

They are an excellent non-scoring unit. With jump packs, they are deadly, but being relentless means they can even run around without jump packs and bolters, rapid firing and charging.

Thanks! would running them at 1000 points in a drop pod be any good?

They are savage, with lemartes they are pure filth.....

I wouldn't run them in a pod myself....jump packs for the win lol

Drop pods are fine if you want to arm them with bolters. But you're likely to get charged that way.

At 1,000 points, I would keep them down to 5 with close combat weapons, with one choice of extra weapon (power weapon or fist), but give them jump packs. Apart from Terminators there are few units that can resist 5 DC at that points level.

ok, thanks! so, how about a 5 man DC with JP and is lemartes worth it at that point level? or maybe a chaplain? what weapons?

Someone ran the maths on Chaplains, and it's better to spend 100 odd points on power axes than to spend those points on a Chaplain.

Lemartes is a great model (well the new one is) but he's a very expensive upgrade that could be better spent buying more power axes.

I just tried 12 of them in a Raven with Bolters, but no other upgrades. The rapid fire killed 2 terminators and their attacks did ZERO wounds and then a few turns later the game finally ended. My opponent made almost 20 2+ saves, but I'll never send them towards termies without a power axe or 5 again.

Freman Bloodglaive wrote:
Someone ran the maths on Chaplains, and it's better to spend 100 odd points on power axes than to spend those points on a Chaplain.

Lemartes is a great model (well the new one is) but he's a very expensive upgrade that could be better spent buying more power axes.

This here is a prime example of why mathhammer is only theory, and doesn't always come into practice.
Given that 100 points buys you axes for the whole unit of 5... how exactly do you work out the maths on why always striking at I1 with a dedicated assault unit is a bad idea? :p

Besides, the rerolls are infinitely more useful on any unit that DOESN'T have a 2+ or 3+ save. Take it from someone who always runs DC - take the Chaplain over the axes.

I do not take a chaplain, or any character, in my death company. That way the PFists, Axes, and Mauls get to kill everything they come into contact with without the ability to take one guy out of the fight.

agreed on the Chaplain over axes

I run 10 + a chaplain with CCW, 3 PS, 1 PA and 1 TH and it works extremely well, it beats almost anything - killed 5 assault termies + vulkan hestan in 2 rounds of combat (without a chaplain in that game) and squads of 20 necron warriors and 5 excessively upgraded TWC have gone down to this squad in 1 round of combat, along with other squads that are not as noteworthy.

Forget the Chaplain in small games, take a Reclusiarch as HQ and run him with the Death Company. You must have a HQ anyway - he's cheap compared to many others and he helps the DC exactly like a Chaplain would.

how can you just give the DC axes or mauls? I thought they only had access to power weapons? (i.e swords) can you choose what sort of power weapon you give them when you purchase this upgrade?

Power weapons come in 4 types.

Sword, Axe, Maul, Lance.

They are all the same cost and the rules tell us to "look at the model to tell which type of power weapon it has." P. 61

Woo a DC thread. I myself play an entire army of em(I do not reccomend it though.) They are way nasty in CC even without a buttload of Axes. I also find that overall I get more use out of mine when they have bolters and special CC weapons. They get VERY expensive with JPs though. So far I've had the most success with the JPs out of the other transports I've tried. I haven't had the luxury of a SR so I cannot comment on that. Pods are a very bad idea. They get shot up most of the time before they ever get an assualt off. And while they aren't bad at range with the bolters that doesn't make them good either.

My only real problem with them outside of the no scoring nonsense is that it's impossible to get any real numbers of them with JPs for an army of em. I currently only have 8 Jps and 20 or so foot sloggers. Sure I could get rid of my support units for more JP but I'm not so sure it's worth it. Maybe I will proxy and find out.....

In short, they are awesome when used right and equipped right. They really can't be used as an entire army but they are great for scaring the Gak out of your opponents.

right, but looking at the model? the picture pg 45 or 46 of the c:BA is unclear, black and white and shows just a sword. How am I just finding out about this?!!?!?!?!

When you actually build the models you can give them whatever power weapons you want. That codex was before the new rule on power weapons and as such the pictures may not reflect the current rules. You CAN in fact equip DC with whatever power weapon type you want so long as it's actually modelled that way.

"look at the model to tell which type of power weapon it has." P. 61

Means you look at the model that is on the table to see if it is an Axe Sword etc.

So if you are using a model like this you have a Power Axe:



Images from Falco:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/397766.page

They are scary good. If i could take them in my Chaos army and get away with it i would, in a heartbeat.

cool. learned something new today....gameswork shop and their vague rulings...

death company is amazing on the charge, mediocre when charged. as much as I love to run JPs I just can never force myself to spend the 15/per model.

whats every ones thoughts on stuffing them in the storm raven? Thats a lot of eggs in a basket...

Yes. they are good...

I do not like them in a SR, as they usually all die if it is zooming and it crashes. I use TH/SS terminators in a SR with a Librarian that has a Storm Shield and Force Halberd.

I do put 10 of them in a Drop pod sometimes, or use 15 of them with Bolters footslogging across the field.