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Hello all. Long time lurker. Just starting 40k and after a lot of research I decided on Blood Angels. I know a lot of people online dismiss them or have gripes. I already know they are overpriced, but I like the look, the fluff, and a lot of the crunch. Here's what I have: The BA battle force and the SM battle force. Yes I know people say BA's shouldn't use tacs, blah blah blah. I plan on using them. For the time being anyway. So with the two BF's I have that's: 20 tacts, 10 assault, 5 DC, 5 combat squad, 5 scouts, 2 Rhinos, plus 5 pre-built DC a friend gave me. I popped the arms off of 'em and plan to fix them up. I also bought 10 more jump packs and a ton of magnets to magnetize EVERYTHING. I plan on DIYing a few sanguinary priests, chaplain/reclusiarch, and a librarian. I don't plan on being competitve just having fun, at least for now. Hopefully by the time I get everything built and painted and a few games under my belt the new codex will be here. Fingers crossed! I plan on getting more DC boxes to make assault squads out of. Maybe some Sang Guard later on too. Terminators and such later on. Furiosos? Yes please. Def some mech. A couple of Baal's, maybe a vindicator. Landraiders someday. Remember I'm just starting out and have a metric crapton of plastic to work on for the time being. Just thought I'd see if anyone has some ideas about how to play with what I have for the moment. Tactics, loadouts, that sort of thing. I have some ideas I'm floating around, I just wanna get some constructive criticism. Like I said I don't need to be real competitve. I wanna have some fun and not get destroyed too fast. Thanks!

If you like them, play them! Don't let other people decide your army for you. I love my Blood Angels while hating what has befallen them. Tactical squads may not be the focus of the army but they certainly serve a purpose and you should use them if you want. The negative talk you are hearing is from the competitive mindset and I have to agree. Blood Angels are not competitive for many reasons, but playing with friends is another matter. I have a winning record with my Angels in my group because we all play what is fun, not what is over the top good.

For the loadout on the Tacs it depends on what you want them to do. I use mine to sit back on a home objective so give them either a plasma cannon or lascannon and sometimes a plasma gun. If you give the sergeant anything only give him a combi-weapon that compliments the squad. Another good tactic is to combat squad the unit and give it a flamer/combi-flamer with a rhino or razorback to go up the field. I would say to build what vehicles and special things you want and see what holes need to be filled to choose what's best.

^what he said.

Every army is playable, if they were 100% broken and unusable sisters wouldnt exist at all and probably DA too and i can tell you this they still exist and are not a pushover, even for my tau which is regarded as a top tier codex.

Hell, i play orks as much as my tau, and i usually lose. My goal with them is to last the whole game and krump things in a funny manner (always hilarious when my grots kill marine bikers ) not win.

Play what you want. If it happens to be a race you need to understand the flow of the game and the mechanics of the stats etc etc, then it just means you gotta try a little harder to use that race.

Death company and mephiston are good. 7th strongly buffed BA with the new psychic phase and jump packs getting juke. BA can take more librarians than any other space marines besides ksons, so you can go that route if you like. Vehicles are overpriced for their fast upgrade but got a bump in durability with the new edition and can be taken in squadrons for more firepower.

TL DR I'd try to maximize your psychic potential and stock up on assault marines. I feel BA are going to get a huge buff with their codex in the fall

Keeping in mid the way 7th and 6th treated assault phase, using those tacticals isn't as bad as you would think. Personally, my force is really lacking right now. I've put them off to the side as i collect more Guard. once BA make their glorious comeback, it's off the shelve and in the table for them.

I would suggest getting some pods for any dreads you have. The best way to field them IMO is to throw them at the enemy head on by DS the pods on the enemy's face. Unless your dreads are weapon platforms, you would keep those in the back popping tanks and what not.

Thanks guys. This advice isn't far off from what I have read elsewhere but its worded a lil better for me to understand. Still trying to learn all the rules atm.

Also be sure to check out the latest FAQ. Your Librarians got their powers shuffled around, and their Lvl2 upgrade got cheaper. Furtunately, smothering your opponent in Death Company and Furioso dreads still solves all problems.

Didn't BA got stealth nerfed in the last FAQ , losing powers , losing fast on all vehicles other then baal , but not having their stuff cost lowered. So they pay more for everything , other marines get cheaper , while not having access to stuff like centurions , unless they burn an ally slot for it.

Yea. I saw that FAQ yesterday and was like wtf. Hopefully the new codex will fix it. Hopefully we don't lose the Lucifer engine for all rhino chassis's.

They are a tough army, but a rewarding one as you learn to play them.
Awesome fluff and hey, who doesn't like red?
So in short, you should play them if you like.

As you mentioned, Tacticals aren't appreciated with BA. But hey, they look badass!! So go nuts, take the two suqads and add a Priest in there somewhere.
Or use Drop Pods to deliever them in the middle ground. Remember that the Pods are also scoring now so you can drop them in objectives and advance.

And Psykers. Take some of them, because why not. Effective and fluffy-ish.

I would welcome you to BA as I'm an owner if a lRge BA army and it's not off putting to hear from everyone they have been recently regarded as a slowed chapter.

For me they look tough, their fluff is tough and what's most important even though they lose a lot their just too busy looking gooooood to give a damn.

Hopefully new codex will fix the brokenness

7th is good for a black rage army!

Furioso dread, Furioso Librarian and Brother Corbulo+2 Priest isa very good elite loadout. I love tacticals and use them with decent success. I use a combi plasma for the sarge, a plasma gun for one dude and a missile launcher and they do okay. Don't underestimate DC but you gotta play crazy with them because Death Company Rhinos are decent for getting them around, 7th helped that but they got screwed in losing fast so you will lose some fire support if you want mobility.

Mephiston is great, roll him in Biomancy and he'll do just fine. Corbulo is the final word on tanking. Furioso dread is awesome no matter how you load him up. I prefer frag cannon and blood fist, but you haven't lived until you nuke a squad of nine Necron Warriors and a lord in one assault with Blood Talons. If you like DC the DC dread is a monster too. I believe BA can field more dreads than just about anyone so go nuts if you want

Your fights right now will be very tough but can also be very rewarding! Good to see a player with some balls

Thanks ya'll. I'm actually contemplating getting some dark angels and making an 'Angels of Death" army.

They are just color coded miniatures, clearly state that you are using codex X, respect WYSIWYG, and use what ever codex is reasonably powerful at the moment.

That's also a thought I've had too Vader.

DeadHorse wrote:
Thanks ya'll. I'm actually contemplating getting some dark angels and making an 'Angels of Death" army.

Go for it, as long as it's clear what the unit is and what books it's from(probably don't want allies painted the same) bring your own chapter or successor chapter. It really in the end should be play what you like and what's fun, if people online tell you they suck but you have fun with them then just ignore those people and have a fun game.

And BA have fast tanks again. Wooooooooo!

What?! people don't like blood angels?

Well too bad! It's your money, and your army! I remember when I bought a space marines scout box some guy told me exactly how to build each one. And I don't even use those scouts anymore.

Play what you like, and screw what everyone else thinks!