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Hey all, I'm just starting Blood Angels and I managed to get hold of one of the older multi part plastic Captain kits (it's now oop.) I was wondering what the best gear to equip him with is. I was going to avoid going bike heavy so I'm considering a jump pack. Is this viable, and if so what are the best weapons to give him?

I would recommend a cheap and cheerful approach as I don't think the BA captain is that great. Relic blade and storm shield are probably the best combo though.

Not sure why you'd do a Captain, as BA Captains are pretty garbage.

Make him into Dante or something.

I don't play Blood Angels, but, IIRC, they have +1 initiative when they assault ?
If this is true, why not the AP2 sword ? You charge, attack first and kill his 2+ guy (won't work in a competitive environnement where everyone has an invulnerable save).

Because BA don't have +1 init when they assault.

The Baal Strike Force CAD gives +1 Initiative as a benefit.

I see a lot of people assume that the Baal strike force initiative bonus is stock in BA. It is not. It also means the troops won't be obsec.

As for an HQ, try your hardest to get a sanguinary priest with a magnetized jump pack. I recently made my 7th priest a jump pack/power fist guy by mutilating kurtha sedd from the Calth box. (Bonus points in that he can be a 30k primus medicae with the same model.)

If you absolutely must have a captain, give him valour's edge and stick him with grunts like basic ASM, NOT with other good Killy things like sanguinary guard. Unit multipliers (like priests) go in good units to make them better, good fighters go in mediocre units to make them carry a threat. <-- general rule of thumb for where to put independent characters to be most efficient in your lists.

Alright, is it a Saunguinary Priest or a Chaplain that are best?

 Lord Corellia wrote:
Alright, is it a Saunguinary Priest or a Chaplain that are best?

Priest is far and above our best HQ and possibly our best unit. Some high-tier tournament lists actually grab a small BA detachment just to get a priest in one of their units.

Depends on which unit you want to put them in.

IMO, Chaplains are best in the Death Company.

Sanguinary Priests are best in Sanguinary Guard or Vanguard.

Captains are best in Assault Squads, Vanguards,Terminators, or Command Squads.

I've used Valor's Edge and A Relic Blade on a Captain to mediocre success. I've had a lot more success with a Thunder Hammer. He is just very difficult to keep alive.

I find the +1 Init to be better than Obsec for BAs. Practically everybody else does shooting Obsec better than we do.

Obj sec is super valuable on fast Rhinos. The +1 init has been extremely corner case for me.

Depends entirely on your meta. If you face majority I4 [and to a lesser extent, I5] the bonus I is great.

If you face off against mostly not-marines, the bonus I does nothing, really. Striking simul to typical Eldar units isn't that important because WK still get to hit you before your PF's swing, and other Eldar infantry probably aren't going to significantly damage you anyhow.

That said, I don't find Obsec to be all that valuable to BA, anyhow. If you're within 3" of something, you should hypothetically be able to beat it to death, so Obsec is a non-issue.

That's not my experience at all. Obj sec is $$.

Objective Secured works better for me, +1 Iniative it's only really useful against Marines because either your faster (in which case it's most likely Eldar who will hardly wound you, or stuff you shouldn't get into combat with in the first place) or it's slower (practically every other army not SM).

Heck, I have way more fun using the Flesh Tearers Detachment. Sure Rage is alright, but it's circumstantial. The real bonus is the 6 Fast Attack slots and only one Troops.

@OP Bike is usually better because of the +1 Toughness, but if you're looking for Jump Pack variant, Artificer Armour, aforementioned Jump Pack and either Relic Blade/Storm Shield for durability or Valour's Edge/Pistol for offense/AP2.

 greatbigtree wrote:


If you face off against mostly not-marines, the bonus I does nothing, really. Striking simul to typical Eldar units isn't that important because WK still get to hit you before your PF's swing, and other Eldar infantry probably aren't going to significantly damage you anyhow.

Eldar assault units basically rely on high initiative to avoid casaulity inassault, i.e. kill the oppoent before they strike. Baal strike force let Your DC get to strike at the same time as their Howling Banshees, Strike Scorpions, Incubi, etc. on the charge, that will be n*5 more S5 attacks (n being the number of DC get killed at I5 step) which will result a lot more dead Eldar.

Neophyte2012 wrote:

 greatbigtree wrote:


If you face off against mostly not-marines, the bonus I does nothing, really. Striking simul to typical Eldar units isn't that important because WK still get to hit you before your PF's swing, and other Eldar infantry probably aren't going to significantly damage you anyhow.

Eldar assault units basically rely on high initiative to avoid casaulity inassault, i.e. kill the oppoent before they strike. Baal strike force let Your DC get to strike at the same time as their Howling Banshees, Strike Scorpions, Incubi, etc. on the charge, that will be n*5 more S5 attacks (n being the number of DC get killed at I5 step) which will result a lot more dead Eldar.

Eldar shoot you to death before you can ever dream of charging. Init 5 used to be a big deal, but it's not anymore. The shooting phase is init infinity.

Plus it isn't like the Banshees or Scorpions are killing THAT many Death Company before they strike anyway. The weight of attacks is enough to win for them.

I5 is hugely overrated. Ob sec is better in almost every case. BA is a CC army that are "meh" in CC. They fall flat against most other armies built for CC (fighty SM or crons, DE, SW, GK, KDK, and you'll likely struggle against CC CSM).

Also, BA captains are ass. If you are going against an army with little to no psychic defense run Libbys. If they have psykers, roll with a chappy and/or a Sang Priest

I'd give the cap the vapors edge relic, Jump pack, artificer armour, and iron halo. I think ap 2 at initiative is big, plus movement to go in a DC squad or something with the pack. Artificer and halo is practically manditory for any worth while cap.

No iron halo in BA wargear. Thank God Capn comes with one.

I've been using a biker captain with powerfist, artificer armor with a biker priest more and more. The captain is really, really, good a soaking firepower from units that rely on weight of fire, which is actually quite useful.

I don't consider BA libbies worth taking much anymore because of the lack of conclave option, making powers VERY difficult to get off. I've been rolling with dual priest or priest/captain more and more. BA libbies are just terrible in the scheme of psykers.

Bike, fist, artificer and shield or claw. If not on bike, fist/shield. Captain is actually pretty good (for BA internally) but anything other than a bike his usefulness really drops.

X

If you're really sticking with a Captain then I would put him on a bike with a storm shield and powerfist.

 DarthOvious wrote:
If you're really sticking with a Captain then I would put him on a bike with a storm shield and powerfist.

This works okay with a priest in the unit.

What about sticking him with a command squad with JP?

You really want T5.

Jump troops are chumps. Slower, less resilient, no jink, less firepower.

They get deep strike...but then they're target priority #1, while being nothing more than T4 3+ guys.

Edit: Unless you're trying to be fluffy, but in that case "tactics" are irrelevant.

Martel732 wrote:

 DarthOvious wrote:
If you're really sticking with a Captain then I would put him on a bike with a storm shield and powerfist.

This works okay with a priest in the unit.

I did actually make a priest on a bike too. Makes the unit pretty decent. I do have 2 libbys on bikes too but I'm wondering how I get them included in a list.

 DarthOvious wrote:

Martel732 wrote:

 DarthOvious wrote:
If you're really sticking with a Captain then I would put him on a bike with a storm shield and powerfist.

This works okay with a priest in the unit.

I did actually make a priest on a bike too. Makes the unit pretty decent. I do have 2 libbys on bikes too but I'm wondering how I get them included in a list.

Dual CAD.

I'm legitimately curious as to what the point of a biker captain is. Our command squads can't take bikes so even though the captain gets T5, he has to be put with a unit that is even weaker in CC than the Jumper units. So you either have a seriously half-assed deathstar or a tank for your Grav bikers. Best case scenario, you put him and a priest with combi-gravs and PFs in a bike squad they are a threat for one round of shooting.