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I've been playing Blood Angels off and on since 2nd ed. when I was but a clueless eleven-year-old and thought they were the sole good guys (and that Ultramarines were just a special kind of Blood Angel hoho) and now have about 2500 points of badly painted, badly configured BA’s sitting in storage at my parents’ house.

At the moment I’m putting together an Imperial Guard army, but following the WD BA list and the various 5th ed. rumours that have been floating around I thought I’d try to throw together a relatively competitive list to put together once I’ve finished the IG.

I’ve put this list up in a thread on BA jumpers in the tactics section, but in an effort not to de-rail that thread I thought I’d ask for comments and criticism here.


HQ
Chaplain - Jump Pack - 120

ELITES
7 X Death Company – Jump Packs – 65

5 X Veteran Assault Marines – Power Fist, 2 X Meltaguns - 195

5 X Veteran Assault Marines – Power Fist, 2 X Meltaguns - 195

TROOPS
5 X Assault Marines – Power Fist - 165

5 X Assault Marines – Power Fist - 165

5 X Assault Marines – Power Fist - 165

5 X Assault Marines – Power Fist - 165

HEAVY SUPPORT
Baal Predator – Heavy Bolter Sponsons – 125

Baal Predator – Heavy Bolter Sponsons – 125

TOTAL – 1485


Obviously I’m banking on Jump Infantry being scoring units in 5th, but I’d like replies to take into account the rest of the 5th ed. rumours we’ve heard so far.

The left-over 15 points I have would probably go into meltabombs unless anyone has a better suggestion.

Love your list, I don't know why I don't see stuff like this more often from BA players...anyway. I would drop the veterans to make the troop AM squads larger and give them half plasma half melta i.e 3 squads of plasma 2 squads of melta.

Well I would actually recommend increasing the VAS at the expense of the regular AS. The reason being they have more attacks and can hide more fists.

Right, always forget about the xtra fists. Maybe increase the size drop the meltas max out fists and then put the meltas on the remaining regular AS. 5 man squads are just way too small.

Take Lemartes as your HQ, he's the best bang for the bucks.

the reason for so many little squads is so that i can get as many death company as possible

i take your point on lemartes but i'm not so big on special characters so i'm going to stick with the standard chaplain

Depending on the models you have or are willing to purchase I would consider dropping the predators for more troops. I would have to say that more troops would be more of a benefit to the army than the predators would be. I have nothing against lots of smaller squads, they are easier to hide and maneuver than the larger squads but remember what it is that makes jump troops lethal, the power fist. Having 2 or 3 in a squad will give anything in the game a hard time but they still have to stay alive and for that you need numbers. If you are going the little squad approach I would say run all 6 troops then.

Hmm. Dropping the preds for troops would leave me with something like this -

HQ
Chaplain - Jump Pack

ELITES
8 X Death Company - Jump Packs

5 X VAS - Power Fist

5 X VAS - Power Fist

TROOPS
5 X AM - Power Fist

5 X AM - Power Fist

5 X AM - Power Fist

5 X AM - Power Fist

5 X AM - Power Fist

5 X AM - Power Fist

TOTAL - 1500

It's tempting, but seems slightly mad. Also, I'd end up with literally no anti-tank, so something'd have to go for that.

1. You lack a screen for your jumpers.

I know you want all jumpers, so you'll have to figure a way around that. Cheap preds are a way to go. 70 points for a no-options destructor would give you some mobile cover. 210 points would give you three to make an armored spearhead out of. Your jumpers hide behind, everyone moves 12 inches... You get the point.

2. Anti-tank for mobile BA= Attack bikes. 50 points for a two wound mobile MM which can turboboost. Very efficient.

cerebaton wrote:
It's tempting, but seems slightly mad. Also, I'd end up with literally no anti-tank, so something'd have to go for that.

No anti-tank? I have lost my predators to jumping powerfists not a few times! And how many would you now have. I will admit though that tanks are great mobile cover for the troops, it really depends on the terrain layout on what you can do. I would actually take the time to practice setting up terrain pieces on the table and deploying and seeing how well you can get the troops to the other end of the table while deploying a proxy shooty army(coke cans, whatever) to assault. This will give you a feel of what to expect. If its going to be an all jump pack army, which I am a big fan of, learning how to use it will be vital.

I am a big fan of this type of army because it takes a lot to make it work (moving the troops down before getting shot to peices) but when they get there they pack a big punch from the fists as well as the rending DC.

and a Baal predator is anti-tank!?!?!?! no seriously it depends on the army your against but assault marines are pretty solid and for petes sake can i get a plasma pistol in there!!!

Baal Preds actually do make for decent AT (not against Monoliths, of course). Plasma pistols, on the other hand, are worthless.

On another note, can you please trade in some of those excessive exclamation and question marks for some appropriate punctuation, like the commas and apostrophes your post so sorely lacks? Your posting style makes my head asplode. Thanks much.

u know what you little :S i think that plasma pistols are great and i also think your slow hitting himself in the head logo sucks!

Good grief. Way to make an entrance there, scooter.

If you stock up on jumping fists, you have *great* anti-tank - you just have terrible anti-skimmer. And an all jumper army will suffer against things that are better than you in hth - genestealers, orks, and other threats you want to soften up before they get to you. Id keep the predators.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Assuming I'm taking some kind of shooting-based unit to back up the jumpers then, are the Preds my best option or would Attack Bikes/Landspeeders/something else be a better choice.

My worry with using power fists as anti-tank was their not-so-greatness against av 14 so I think whatever shooty unit I go with I think I'll keep the Meltaguns on the VASs.

If you're going to commit to jump infantry, I think you need to commit the entire army to dominating the short range firefight and the assault. I'd back my jumpers up with lots of attack bikes, speeders, and possibly drop-podded dreads or deepstriking terminators depending on the amount of points available. You will have plenty of AT, albeit short ranged, and the speed to get there. Blood Angels are one of the few lists that can skimp entirely on long range shooting because of their unique combination of speed and survivability to get the most out of their short range weaponary.