1000 pt Blood Angels Advice/Tips

[vyrago]

Hi everyone. Having a tournament this weekend, and I've submitted by 1,000 point BA list. I've never used this army yet, I've been frantically painting it to get it ready. Looking for some tactical tips or advice on how best to use them.

Here's my army list:

HQ

Space Marine Captain w Power Sword 120 points
and Melta Bombs.

Troops

Space Marine Tactical Squad. (10 models)
w Missile Launcher and Melta Gun.
Mounted in Rhino. 225 points


Space Marine Combat Squad. (5 models)
Mounted in Rhino. 140 points



Space Marine Assault Squad. (10 models) 195 points
Sergeant has Melta Bombs.


Death Company Space Marines. (5 models)
w Jump Packs, 1 Thunder Hammer and 1
Power Sword. 220 points


Heavy Support

1 Predator Tank
w sponson heavy bolters. 100 points




Total 1,000 points




whaddya think? this army has been submitted, so it cant be changed. I need advice on how to use this list. Do I want to Deep Strike my Assault and DC guys in most cases? Do I want my rhino's Flat Out then pop smoke on turn 1? things like that.


Thanks!

[StarWarsDoug]

First, congrats on painting the army up.

it appears you have a semi-balanced list, although you may struggle against horde armies.

BA are meant to be in your face. I do recommend deep striking your DC and Assault squads, however, you will need to protect them with cover so they dont get shot to hell before they can engage.

With such a small points size tactical board control will be important. you need to use your rhinos to protect your tac squads as long as possible, including hiding until last minute to take objectives. Use your jump troops and predator to focus on the high threat units in your opponents list. concentrate on eliminating things that can swing the game if they are allowed to last. remember tank shock, it is a great way to displace troops on an objective.

For small games like this, troops are precious resources, if you eliminate scoring units fast, your opponent is put into a position to just defend himself...protect your own troops and press the advantage at this point. in objective games a win only needs 1 objective games.

in a tourney, make sure you understand fully not only the Win criteria, but also the round points calculation. Do you get additional points for tabling, for having a 2:1 KP ratio in a win, etc. plan you strategy before the first dice is rolled around those rules.

[vyrago]

So, the tournament is over. I wanted to put an update here about it. I didnt do so well. I played 3 matches total. I won my first match vs IG, but lost the next 2 to Chaos Marines and Space Wolves respectively.

My flaw seems to be where I choose to deep strike my Assault and DC squads. it seems, in my 2 losses I had them arrive a bit too close to the enemy, presenting them an opportunity to wipe them out quickly before they can assault. I suppose I was trying for around 18-20 inches. each time, my opponent turned his army to face the deep strikers and wiped them out, leaving my rhinos and pred to carry the fight and of course, lose. There wasnt a whole lot of good cover to deep strike them behind either, which there was in the first game which had lots of city ruins.

Whats the ideal way to deep strike assault squads? behind the enemy? on a flank?

how far should they be from the enemy? how far from my other units?

[WereWolf_nr]

My thought would be not to deep strike the jump packs. Walking them across the board will give your opponent multiple threats they must shoot at. With careful use of terrain you can keep them mostly safe. Ultimately you will probably get them into combat sooner by not deep striking.

Of course the layout of the board can do a lot to change things. Up to you.

[vyrago]

That is a valid point. at 1,000 points, you really want your army on the board from the start. even though, descent of angels is a really cool rule, perhaps its more valuable in a 1500+ game. So, it brings up a new question. If both my DC marines and Assault squad are on the board, am I correct to want to 'shield' my DC guys behind my regular jump guys?

[Xenith]

Yes.

Also, the 5man tac squad is a little silly - no special weapon, no nothing. They would be better as assault marines - that 140pts will get you something like 5guys, the rhino and a special weapon? More effective than 5 bolters.

At the moment, the captain isnt really doing anything. Get him a jump pack, and get some special weapons on that assault squad!

[vyrago]

ive been hearing that. perhaps, 5 assault marines w/o jump packs in that razorback along with the captain?

the 10 man ASM squad is already assembled and painted, kinda locked them in. :S

[Lemt]

Well, DS has several ways of working:
A - "Fire and Forget", a unit destined to get in, do damage on that same turn, then die on the enemy's next turn.
B - "Shoot me, shoot me!", a unit destined to soak up firepower from the enemy while the main part of your army closes in. He'll probably die, but his job is to let the rest of your army advance in a safer fashion.
C - "Oversaturate, baby", everything, or a LOT of units suddenly appear in the enemy's front door. The enemy only has time to destroy so much in his turn, so next turn you roll him over.

It seems like your army deepstriked a couple of units that needed to assault the enemy to really do anything, but it was too little (and possibly appeared spread over two different turns) for it to oversaturate, and too much to only distract the enemy, as it was a large part of your forces.

I guess this advice is too little, too late, but let me give an example of the 3 scenarios I mentioned:

A) Drop Pods with some way to fire Melta inside: you will probably kill an important target from shooting, so after that it's no big deal if they die.
B) Two dreads that drop-pod in the first turn in an otherwise assaulty army. A third pod has something else inside (like an A). This can work in larger games, say 2000+, since those two pods won't cost that much when compared to the rest of your army.
C) My 1500-point Tyranid Army. Flyrant with Hive commander can deepstrike or fly into the fray from normal reserves, and gives me +1 to my reserve rolls. My tervigon outflanks, thanks to the Flyrant with Hive Commander. My two units of Genestealers also outflank, attacking the enemy from the sides. My Ymgarl Genestealers suddenly appear and assault on the same turn they appear. And my 3 Mawlocs, well, nomnom stuff. On turn 2 the enemy will easily have 1000+ points worth of assault units at their door, maybe some even in combat. (And meanwhile, the 50 points worth of termagaunst that allow me to field a troop tervigon sti in cover feeling pretty darn useless).