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Hello guys!
Im new to warhammer 40k and table top gaming in general, and wanting to start my own army.
most of the players in my local gaming group play "shooting armies",deploy all sorts of long range weapons
and play very strategic and calculative play style a-la tau empire (and more armies).
I thought about going the opposite way and build a fast assault oriented army, that can make contact quick and break
my opponent's "shot and run" strategies. the blood angels seems to be the perfect solution, and their models look badass!

Since Im on a budget, I would like to build a 500 points army first, that would be a strong base for a latter upgrade to a 1000 army
and maybe a 1500, but really struggling doing so.
the flesh tearers strike force detachment looks like a good direction since it enables me to spam fast attacks.
I prefer not using drop pods and librarians, even though they are usable I just don't like their look.
I would really appreciate your help and/or opinions.

thanks!

Hi and welcome!

Now for the bad news. If your group largely plays long-range shooty armies like Tau, and play 'very strategic and calculative' - they are going to own you as Blood Angels.

7th edition is all about the firepower, unfortunately. Assault can work if you can get your guys there in the first place, but that is an uphill battle for most assault armies and something Blood Angels will struggle with - their codex is not considered to be that great.

that's a bummer
the guys in my local group usually play 1500 to 1850 points games on a "not so big" table, and from watching these games (including allot of youtube battle reports i was watching lately)
it seems like shooty armies only gets their advantage in the first turn, especially if they manage to get the initiative, and then they get to rain their whole long range weapons arsenal and scoring a massive first blood.
till the second round most of them are already in assault range, suffering casualties in CC.
but this is only my own impression.

do you have any other suggestions for an assault oriented army? maybe regular marines with heavy support?
im just wondering if this "screw your strategies, bite the pillow im going in dry" approach can actually work.

You might get away with it. Really depends on how big a table you're playing on, how you're deploying, how much line-of-sight blocking terrain you have and so on. But you can't get away with just lining your boys up and yelling 'Charge!'. The likes of Tau will chuckle at the foolish monkeys before blowing them off the table...

As for other advice... Certainly I don't like it when my mate's Stormraven rocks up and spits out a unit of Death Company and an angry Dreadnought in my face...

If you like Space Marines and assault, play Ravenguard, a lot of jumpack and cool rules for them. Look for the Kauyon supplement and enjoy the new rules and formations.

As already said, Blood Angels are an awful codex, very little in line with the fluff and nerfed in almost any unit.

X

daveh974 wrote:
Hello (shalom or whatever) friend,

I play BA and have done so for a long time. If they are the army you want to play, then play them. It is true the game is very shooting favored right now, but a CC army can still perform outside of 'hardcore' tournament play. No one actually seems to have answered your question so I will. If I were starting a BA force knowing what I know.

Chaplain - melta bomb, jump pack
Troops - Scouts pistols and swords, melta bomb
Troops - Tac squad, drop pod, heavy flamer,
Death Company (10), Jump packs, 2-3 power weapons

After that I'd get an assault squad (full ten) and a sanguinary priest as a second HQ to give them feel no pain. And a ranged unit. Whirl winds are points cheap, or a devastator squad to hammer something you need to deal with as your gus go in as your second 500 point block.

thanks man!
even though realising the BA would probably won't win me too many games, i really like their fluff, basicaly being some kind of berserking-vempire-marines, thats F**king metal!
I wonder what I benefit from taking scouts? just to fill a second troops slot? wouldn't it be better go the flash tearers route (1-hq 1- troops 1-fast attack must) ?

X

There are certainly ways you can be powerful with Blood Angels, and an active assault army will be a refreshing change.

Genuinely, though, you are much more likely to have a good time in this hobby if you focus on building an army you're happy with and learning to be a good player. Despite what an awful lot of interbutt people say, army-choice is not everything and win:loss ratio is not the measure of a good hobbyist. Be cool and have fun, that's the way to do it.

As to getting your army together, you could do worse than the Blood Angels Battleforce (30% added value is always good). If you fancy some Flesh Tearers, though, you might like to stick with vanilla Space Marine kits. They're altogether more brutal and basic-looking, which fits the Flesh Tearers' character.

Of course, there are plenty of Blood Angels successors. Have a look through them and see what you like. There are loads of options, and with their fluff as it stands now you might find the Flesh Tearers a bit limiting.

Anyway, as a start, get yourself some Assault Squads and a Chaplain (or a Command Squad if you want to make an Apothecary and a Captain), then either a Baal Predator or a Furioso Dreadnought. That'll clear you for a number of different 500pt lists. At that level it's good to adapt to your opponent.