Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Here is my final Blood Angels list after taking a lot of advice from dakkadakka users (thanks for that).

Please comment, criticise and suggest fixes and ideas.
I would like lots of feedback for the equipment/weapon choices.

140 - Librarian (jump pack, plasma pistol)

090 - Sanguinary Priest (jump pack, plasma pistol)

240 - Assault Squad (2x Meltagun, Thunder Hammer)

240 - Assault Squad (2x Meltagun, Thunder Hammer)

145 - Baal Predator (twin-linked assault cannon, heavy bolter side sponsons)

145 - Baal Predator (twin-linked assault cannon, heavy bolter side sponsons)

1000 - Points in total.

What would be better to equip the libby and priest with (preferably the same weapon on each) - Hand Flamer, Plasma Pistol or Infernus Pistol?

All suggestions and feedback very much appreciated - Thanks

You're very limited unfortunately at 1k points, especially with 10 man assault squads. I'd keep the Priest as is, you need the plasma to deal with any enemies with 2+ armor. On the Librarian at that point value I'd put him in terminator armor with a storm shield, and if you need to shave points to make it work bump a thunder hammer down to power fist. The terminator librarian just tends to work very well for me, and the normal libby is going to be very squishy.

 troa wrote:
You're very limited unfortunately at 1k points, especially with 10 man assault squads. I'd keep the Priest as is, you need the plasma to deal with any enemies with 2+ armor. On the Librarian at that point value I'd put him in terminator armor with a storm shield, and if you need to shave points to make it work bump a thunder hammer down to power fist. The terminator librarian just tends to work very well for me, and the normal libby is going to be very squishy.

Ok thanks - but then the librarian won't be able to keep up with the rest of the army?

In which case would the equipment stated be appropriate for him or should I spend points elsewhere from downgrading him? - Thanks

looks like a decent list, i myself prefer normal preds but hey thats up to me. I would not recommend putting him in termie armour, especially with this jumpy list there is absolutely no reason to do that, dont worry the JP is good enough. Also I dont feel 2 plasma pistols will do that much, i recommend giving a weapon to your priest (either another fist/hammer, or keep one plasma pistol and get a power sword). 2 shots isnt that great, but three hammers in a charge is very versatile and can take out big threats and 2+ armour without too much problem, as well as 4 melta shots, lots of dakka from 2 baals and a ton of pistols whihc are hopefully prescienced by the libby, you should be able to take out 2+/big tough guys without 2 plasma pistols. The only big big issue your lists has is 1) flyers and 2) no real home objctive campers, or a squad will be expensive to do that. just something to think about, I dont always run homebase guys anyways. Anyways, good luck and have fun with BA, their Underpowered and overpriced but can be really fun and are so cool looking

 TheComedian wrote:
looks like a decent list, i myself prefer normal preds but hey thats up to me. I would not recommend putting him in termie armour, especially with this jumpy list there is absolutely no reason to do that, dont worry the JP is good enough. Also I dont feel 2 plasma pistols will do that much, i recommend giving a weapon to your priest (either another fist/hammer, or keep one plasma pistol and get a power sword). 2 shots isnt that great, but three hammers in a charge is very versatile and can take out big threats and 2+ armour without too much problem, as well as 4 melta shots, lots of dakka from 2 baals and a ton of pistols whihc are hopefully prescienced by the libby, you should be able to take out 2+/big tough guys without 2 plasma pistols. The only big big issue your lists has is 1) flyers and 2) no real home objctive campers, or a squad will be expensive to do that. just something to think about, I dont always run homebase guys anyways. Anyways, good luck and have fun with BA, their Underpowered and overpriced but can be really fun and are so cool looking

Thanks - is it worth even considering hand flamers?

generally no, I would never take hand flamers unless you play against tyranids a lot, even then generally no. Honestly, you are better off using those 15 points for a weapon, but in terms of pistols, plasma are the best. If you want to keep the pistols, do so its fine more STR7 AP2 never hurts, it just means you leave yourself a little bit more open in CC. Your call, its only 15/30 points so pretty easy to play test around with, even try that flamer but aginst T4 armies (most) its not so great.

Ok - I will test a few equipment combos with the libby and priest so apart from that the list is sound? - Thanks

Yes, sound is the word i would use. It gets you comfortable with Blood Angels, and is good all around whilst covering the basics of them. However, do not expect to win all your matches as it lacks a bit of killing potential IMO. However, it has pretty good mobility and good firepower, as well as pretty good resilience so yeah, its "sound", or sturdy, basically a good stepping block to the harder to use other aspects, which we have and are also fun to use. Good luck, feel free to ask anything else. Im not an expert but i started with BA, have now moved on to mainly daemons but hey, gotta love 'em anyways.

(BTW - do you already own these models?)

 TheComedian wrote:
Yes, sound is the word i would use. It gets you comfortable with Blood Angels, and is good all around whilst covering the basics of them. However, do not expect to win all your matches as it lacks a bit of killing potential IMO. However, it has pretty good mobility and good firepower, as well as pretty good resilience so yeah, its "sound", or sturdy, basically a good stepping block to the harder to use other aspects, which we have and are also fun to use. Good luck, feel free to ask anything else. Im not an expert but i started with BA, have now moved on to mainly daemons but hey, gotta love 'em anyways.

(BTW - do you already own these models?)

Thanks for the reassurance - what do you think is the killing potential that is missing and could be added if/when i expand the army?

No I don't own the models already - I have been tossing ideas around for almost a year but have never got around to "investing".
I chose these units as I wanted something totally unique to Blood Angels hence the assault squads as troops and Baal Predators (after a Lot of thought).
Also I dislike moving slowly and the tactical squads thus the above again!
Thanks

well these models you have are great for laying down dependable results in shooting and assault if needed. However, you do not have a unit that will mow through people. For example 8 sternguard with corbulo, combi-watevers (melas normally) and a libby dropping in a pod are almost assured a kill on several different unit types, and very hard to shift. Storm Ravens could work, Furioso's with frag cannons + heavy flamers in pods, Death company in several forms... Hopefully somebody else wil comment and add on, but something you know is a huge threat and will perform well. These are normally pretty fun to use as well. Sadly BA arent the best at this, but we have good choices.

In terms of expanding with your mobile wants, i would say get 2 attack bikes with MM to roll with your jump squads, they are really tough with 2 wounds, T5 and FnP from priests and can crack open tanks easily, hit big monsters and even assault decently. Maybe a furioso in a drop pod or sternguard as they apply pressure very early. Consider stormravens too, they will be mobile and quite shooty, as well as fairly sturdy. However, perhpas you should create a different thread for that and people can comment on their experiences... so forth. lad you chose BA, just remmebe they are weaker than other codexes and are not going to be getting a codex soon (rumors say 2015 ish?) but if you are not playing competitively all the time, there is absolutely no problem there.

On a similar note, where do you plan to play and with who? that also factors your next choices to expand.

I would drop a tank for a cheap stationary troops unit. In almost every game you are gonna have an objective near your deployment zone, it seems like a waste to not have a contingency for claiming it.

A minimum scout squad (with heavy weapon and cloaks at your discretion), would leave you enough points for a heavy flamer/mm speeder or perhaps a minimum death company squad.

Ok all of that makes a lot of sense

1) For killing potential - what about a furioso w/ blood talons,ect, in a drop pod? That looks extremely fun! How effective are blood talons though?

2) stationary units are an issue - what about devastators? (A lot of points but wouldn't they be ideal?) The scouts are cheap and would do the job too but they would be stuck at the back of the map?

Thanks

to answer tour questions:

1) Sadly, the blood talon has been nerfed since 5th. It used to be the go-to, but now I much prefer the fist on the dread, just a lot more all round. Here is how I run my furioso's:
---Furiso: Frag cannon, heavy flamer, Blood fist, pod = 170
Its pretty cheap, and with 2 templates, one being x2 hits and rending it can hurt so many things and do it well. Its also pressure directly from turn one, and will wipe away those large horde armies that are hard to deal with otherwise at 1k, and still can kill TEQ's with rending.

2) Devastators are great and cheap-ish, however the problem is there not scoring and that is what problem we are addressing in the list. What you could do is this:
---Drop both plasma pistols, change the TH to power weapons and drop one Baal. This gives you enough points for a 5 man with 4 ML dev squad and a small unit of naked scouts. The scouts can also be anywhere on the board with infiltrate and are cheap harrasment which arent really worth the opponents time compared to your other threats. Just a thought if ya wanted to to that and dont mind only having one tank, its a bit more evened out but sacrifices some mobility and durability for better fire support and ability to grab home objectives without worry.

I am very keen on keeping duplicates of each unit - for good or for bad. However a scout squad would do the trick for holding "home" objectives?

The Drop-Pod Dred sounds very cool and I'm very tempted to expand after 1000 points to include one.

What about including long range predators after the 1000 points? [alongside the dred of course ] I would be able to proxy the baals as preds at my local games (which is all I plan to do for now) if I needed extra defense atm.

Thanks for the advice - lets keep it flowing!

like I said, I prefer preds as I think they offer more for your sort of list. they can pop open tanks for that Fragioso to come in and roast them alive, that coordination is fun to pull off and nets 2 kill points depending on army, (probably 3 due to first blood). You cab also go cheap dakka preds with autocannon tops and heavy bolters sides. This means between the two they shoot 4 STR 7 AP 4 shots and 12 STR 5 AP 4 (probably 9 cuz one side wont see everyone). Not bad. yes, your scouts are there to sit in cover on an objective while the rest of your force does their thing. They can also harrass and even take a ML for some fun. However if your opponent wants those scouts dead and is willing to fire cover ignoring shots or deepstrike next to them when they are alone, they are probably dead...just note this.

Dont take double furioso's, take either 1 or 3 to have the maximum dropping in that you can(rounded up 50% pods = 2 pods turn 1, another for later) or make the third pod with sternguard.

So, you would suggest replacing the baal's with regular preds in the 1000 list and then getting the baal's later on?

What about the weaponary? - Autocannon and lascannon sponsons makes the most sense because they have equal and long range and the lascannon is a lot stronger.

Is it worth adding in a stormbolter for the extra points to bring it up to the same as the baal?

Although with the autocannon heavy sponsons I think there is enough points to add in one scout squad.

Thanks

The only way I run a furioso is to have blood talons, heavy flamer, magna grapple and extra armour. And have stormraven in your army. Use it as his transport and use cover when it first comes in if your enemy has any kind of intercepter rules. Hiding behind a building will give a 4+. Then in your next turn move up 6", deploy the furioso up to 6" away from the base, then either take a tank out or assault a squad. (Not saying that this is foolproof but it works pretty damn good most times.)

I agree with having no drop pods. I used to run them with my furioso and it died horrribly alot.

If you must use baal pattern preds, use them with the infurno flamers and infiltrate them into your enemies back filed. They chew up any thing that doesn't have a 2+ save and it will ignore cover. Also remember that anything that has a rhino chassis for BA's are fast moving. Coming on from the noard edge and moving up to 12" then flaming rocks.

I wouldn't use scouts. Your assault squads can combat squad and take objectives. This will free up points to use somewhere else.

Hope this helps.

That helps a lot thanks - I think I am going to put the furioso on the back burner for now and re think it.

If I used predators (autocannon, lascannon, stormbolter) then they come up to the same points as the baals and provide a more versitile support.

The baal flamer edition sounds pretty awesome so that could be included after 1000 points (alongside the furioso maybe)

So overall, if the initial list up the top of the discussion [switching the baals for preds (autocannon, lascannon, stormbolter) 145 points each]
Is the "fruits" of this thread then I am very pleased and appreciative of all who gave advice - Thanks Very Much

Please continue adding ideas and suggestions and your view on the "final" list - Thanks