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Ive been thinking about adding in an allied force for my BA, and i was debating between Raven Guard and Imperial Fists. Which one would you think would be a better fit? I seem to love both equally, and I have no issues with painting either of them.

Any help will be appreciated!

What is it you are hoping your allies will add to your force?

Like curran12 said, what do you currently bring with your BA (your usual list) and what would you want more help with? Anti tank, anti-MC, anti-air?

Now that I am thinking about it, my BA need ranged support. I was thinking bringing in some dev cents and using the veterans formation to bring in sternguard. Now that I vocalize it, IF may be the way to go. I'm not sure though, i don't want to give up on the idea of having a raven guard force so easily.

Raven Guard are fun, but they mainly specialize in Scouting Rhinos and and Assault Marines, so they're not very long range. IF are perfect for ranged support, especially with re-rolling 1's. Dev Centurions and various Devastators/Predators would do wonders for long range shooting.

Get yourself some Tau.

Martel732 wrote:
Get yourself some Tau.

Thought about this too as I don't really have a xenos army yet. But starting a whole new army might have to wait a bit.

Martel732 wrote:
Get yourself some Tau.

You show up in every BA thread like a bad cold.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

JuniorRS13 wrote:

Martel732 wrote:
Get yourself some Tau.

Thought about this too as I don't really have a xenos army yet. But starting a whole new army might have to wait a bit.

Ignore Martel, he's just bitter about everything. I'd still take IF, you get way more useful units and don't have to worry about Ally rules, plus you can cast powers on other units, intermix ICs and units, and even let them use each others transports.

I'm really serious about getting Tau. Ignore cover is $$. If I had Tau allies for my BA, I'd probably win 10-15% more often. IF can't dial up the ignore cover tech like the Tau. The only reason I'd go IF was if I were going full invis Centstar, at which point you might as well not bring any BA at all. BA can stand around and be bodyguards for Tau shooting.

Oh, and Riptides can survive volleys from scatterbikes. Nothing in C:BA can.

And every BA person on here ignores me at their own risk.

Martel732 wrote:
I'm really serious about getting Tau. Ignore cover is $$. If I had Tau allies for my BA, I'd probably win 10-15% more often. IF can't dial up the ignore cover tech like the Tau. The only reason I'd go IF was if I were going full invis Centstar, at which point you might as well not bring any BA at all. BA can stand around and be bodyguards for Tau shooting.

Oh, and Riptides can survive volleys from scatterbikes. Nothing in C:BA can.

And every BA person on here ignores me at their own risk.

Right, god forbid they ignore you and actually play an army they like besides, sure you can take Tau, but you might as well just upgrade to Taudar and skip SM altogether.

Part of it is not just what the allies can do for the BA, but what the BA can give the allies.

The BA have a double strategic trait relic that syncs well with any list that has a decent or higher unit count of all battle bros. My ITC tourney list did this alongside a battle company as a big force multiplier.

Priests. Apothecary independent characters at a competitive price point are always welcome with your battle bros. you can have him lead a guard blob, join bikers or centurions, or hop in a deathstar. Iron hands definitely love this guy.

Pods. We are the imperium's finest taxi service. Pod a culexus assassin, pod some cents, pod a Libby conclave...

Speaking of pods, BA have good suicide drop squads at good price points. Heavy flamer tactical for an obsec drop that can steal a maelstrom while also flaming something, the ever-famous meltacide ASM pod, and the highly damaging fragioso.
I will point out though that if you have just a few spare quintillion dollars, sisters IN BA pods make even better suicide drops at cheaper prices. Quad rending heavy flamer squads and quad ignore cover melta squads is no joke.

The "140 load out" of death company is a good selection. (That's 5 jump pack guys, 1 with a fist.) Either charge alongside the rest of an advancing army, or deep strike timed up with other arriving reserves. (Preferably with reroll reserves in that case.)

All in all BA actually do better as the smaller detachment in lists, as support for a bigger list of core marines etc.