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Hi all. I am looking to add some jet pack blood angels (assault units, sanguinary guard etc) to my mech guard army purely because I love the look of the units and jet packs are cool. The question that arises though is how are they best deployed and used? Do people deep strike them to cause problems in the opposition’s deployment zone or hang back and wait for the correct time to strike? If I consider my army, if I deep strike in someone’s face then they must deal with it, this would enable my armoured units to advance more freely. My other thought would be to deploy behind the armour and use moving cover whilst the tanks move forward; they would then assault any units that came to close.



Any thoughts and suggestions on this topic would be very appreciated, what do you follow generals do.

I can't say I have a lot of personal experience with jump packs. But I'm fairly sure one sure fire strategy is anti-tank martyr unit.

The idea is keep them cheap as possible but able to still put down vehicles.

Don't expect them to survive, your goal is to make their sacrifice as useful as possible. Take out the long range firepower of the enemy quickly, or simply bust transports wherever you think it's essential.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not really feeling the sacrifice role for my angels just to kill armour, stormies can do that and cheaper. I would rather have my angels in cc, something guard does not do. A assault unit can do both I suppose.

Blood Angels USED to be able to run full-reserve jump pack armies pretty well - the idea being just about everything would drop on turn 2, and give the opponent too many immediate threats to take them all out. Turn 3, everything worth worrying about is in combat.

Unfortunately, we can no longer run that list in the same way because we can't reserve everything - so it's better not to reserve at all. That way you still give your opponent lots of targets, but they have an extra turn to whittle you down. You need to hug cover to make it across - using Librarians with Shield and Priests for FNP also helps here. If you're running a couple of units in a mech list you can also keep them behind the vehicles to block line of sight.

There are two exceptions - Vanguard, and the full Sanguinary Guard list. Vanguard you want to keep reserved as their Heroic Intervention allows you to assault on the turn you arrive - be brave with your deep strike and land close, relying on Descent of Angels to keep you from mishapping, and ensure you get charge range. This is best used against heavy firepower units that have ended up split up from the rest of the force - they're vulnerable to any counter-attacks from other dedicated assault units.
With Sanguinary Guard you don't have to worry quite so much about cover because of your 2+ save, but beware massed firepower like large bolter squads.

Lastly - if you keep your jump packers next to mech units, you can mitigate some of the risk of disembarking units in transports. Normally that unit would be sitting alone in front of a unit that could charge it or shoot it down before they can charge in. With the jump packers around, you can attempt a charge on the turn they disembark. Either they get that unit locked in combat, or at worst present that unit with two targets instead of one.

Firstly they are jump packs not jet packs. Which is an important difference.

Now it tends to be best to run up the field rather than deepstrike. Trying deepstrike a melta unit behind tanks still works but it will be very situational where you can not wait for them to just fly there.

I have found vanguard no longer work. If taking them then sure deepstrike. Then again maybe they work in landraiders, I have no idea.

Without priests blood angels are not that great at cc or that much particularly. Furious charge and FNP is awesome.
Assault marines tend not to live that long as they get stuck in, so just make sure you keep some scoring units alive.

The only other point is sometimes think about combat squads. This is unpopular but can work very well. Doubling your scoring units when they are so mobile really defeats some enemies. Also it nicely separates the role of the marines, you can 5 with 2 meltas and then 5 for mostly grenade chucking and scoring work.

MFletch wrote:
I have found vanguard no longer work. If taking them then sure deepstrike. Then again maybe they work in landraiders, I have no idea.

Not sure why you've found they no longer work? They're still great in the same role - disruption of units by forcing them into combat. We've lost absolutely no accuracy on deepstrike thanks to DoA, in fact if anything they're MORE reliable simply because with the reroll, they're much more likely to drop on turn 2.
You just have to be careful not to throw them against any 2+ units, unless they don't have much means to fight back (like Obliterators) then you can safely put fists and/or axes on them.

Putting them in a Land Raider is a waste of points - you pay a premium on the unit for Heroic Intervention. If you're not using it, you'd be better spending their points on Death Company (for more attacks) or Termies (for more survivability), both units like Land Raiders.

Another possibility would be the use of a Storm Eagle (Stormraven counts-as, they're based on the same kit).

Transport capacity of 20, so a full squad with jump packs fits.
Except for that it's a stormraven (including assault ramp), just one hull point more and a bit more expensive.

The turn it arrives (flyer mode) it can cross 36" and is hard to hit (except for AA guns), the next round it moves 6" more (hover mode).
Jump squad gets out (6"), shoots regularly, attacks with jump pack (hammer of wrath bonus and distance re-roll).

Works fine for me. No scatter, good range, shoot before CC, and locked in CC after disembarking.

 Super Ready wrote:
Not sure why you've found they no longer work? They're still great in the same role - disruption of units by forcing them into combat.

Firstly the rules means they are less killy, ap3 et cetera.
You could use combat squads to give some flexibility whereas now you have to guess what type of unit they will assault into.
Most importantly DOA was a whole list that could be boosted by assault unit on turn 2.

Thanks all. I've changed the title to jump pack, my error.

I would think vanguard would be great for 6th edition, they could tie up any AA before your birds fly in (storm rescans etc). As for blood angels not being great at CC I don't really get it. Yes assault units are not stellar but they should get the charge unlike most troop choices and death company will kill almost anything.

It's all about making sure you do extreme damage on the charge - so, having multiple units attack a single target, keeping Priests nearby for Furious Charge, and so on. Each unit individually is nothing amazing (DC excepted), but together they're formidable and you have the mobility to be able to concentrate your assaults that way.

Fletch is right, combat squads are a great way to use an Aslt sqd. Id say a reclusiarch with jmp pk b in fernus pistol. For the aslt sqd id say 2 flmrs, and Pfst with another infrns pstl. The flamer sqd can go after hordes or burn opponents outta cover for a objective. The other cmbt sqd with srg & chappy can hit MCs vehicles or other baddies. That's 5 rerollable pwr maul & 4 rerollable Pfist atks on the chrarge. Throw in a sang priest w/pwr swrd & there rock hard with loads of reroll to hit power wpn atks. Bit of an investment but I think its a good way to go. Otherwise...Cptn w/jmp pack & 5 aslt guys. Use them to intercept & hold a dangerous enemy hh unit, aid in a ongoing fight you want to see end or hide them untill the end & take an objective on the last turn.

I've found Sanguine Guard awesome.
It's like a terminator with a jump pack.
2+ armor, 2 attacks, a re-roll to hit, and a S4 AP4 assault2 gun.
I've tried a mix of equipment and I'm most happy with 5 power fists.
You lose out on the 5+ invul, but cover is so easy it's not a big deal.

I usually don't deep strike. I don't want to spend a round sitting in the open, I'd rather control their placement. In a high risk environment, I will reserve them and walk on. Usually if I'm mixing my guard and BA, my opponent is coming at me fast, and having them walk on is better, and they get in the thick of it plenty fast.

A firned of mine runs a A army and Deep Striking Assault troops, of any variet, are a nightmare.

BA have a rule where they only scatter 1D6 on deep strike which makes them very reliable.

He tends to DS in behind my armour and pop it with a melta gun or pistol (infernus pistol is it?) - then weather a roudn of shootign and charge in next turn.

Alternatively you can use Vanguard - they can charge in the turn they DS so are VERY nasty.

Sanguinary Guard are nice but they are expensive - they also lack an invul save to go with their 2+. So anything Ap2 or better will melt them (plasma, melta, demolisher etc).

If you can, chuck a Sanuinary Priest into the unit as well to give them all FNP - it's annoying as hell!

One word of warning (whcih i only noticed a few days ago) - you can only use the jump packs ONCE per turn - so you can EITHER move 12" or get Hammer of Wrath & re-roll charge