Wahammer 40k blood angel tactics?

[Kasil]

So I've never played Warhammer 40k, but I've watched a few games and decided to buy a Blood Angel army, I started out by buying two Death Company squads, The Sanguinor, Astorath the Grim, Terminator Assault Squad, Sanguinary Guard, a Crusader Land Raider, Stormraven Gunship, and a Whirlwind.

I'm looking for ideas on how to employ the troops I have so far. Also what upgrade and troop combinations might be good ideas. I might buy a chaplain and 2-3 Sanguinary Priests to intergrate into my troops. Also a maybe a Furioso dreadnoght or two, and Sternguard Veterans with combi melta and combi plasma upgrades.

Not sure if you have painted anything yet, but you can also use the death compant squads as assault marines, just with more details. Persoanlly, I don't bother with death company as I don't think they are very good right now, but I have a ton of them as assault marines.

As for where to go with your stuff, adding as little as possible, I would make a list that looks something like:
Stormraven carrying death company/assault marines or assault termies and a furioso dread
Land raider with whatever squad is not in the stormraven
then, if you want more shooting: go get some razorbacks with 5 assault marines in them and a pred or 2
if more assault: add some JP assault marines and sanguinor

No matter how you look at it though, your initial purchase has you all over the map...

[ElDuchen]

Just to throw some love at the Death Company, I have a 5-man jumppack unit that I use in 1850+ battles that work great. True, they are expensive (with obligatory fist they're 200pts) and can't score, but they do lots of damage when they hit, especially when a Chappy joins the party. People say that rage can be an issue, but with the jumppacks I have found that i can get them to a squishy target.

BTW, I run either DoA or a mix of Jumppacks and Dreads with a Stormraven.

[St.Germaine]

Have to agree with Iaipunk. I've been playing BA since their first codex (although mine are purple with gold trim - see sig ) and they fit my style of play perfectly. I love the DC regardless of the expense vs value issue; I always include at least a small squad, sometimes two. I've not tried the all DC list but it is tempting from a fluff point of view.

I play closer to a DoA force than a Mech list but it's still a hybrid list. Regardless of what kind of list I always have all Heavy slots filled, using a combination of Vindicators and Baals. While the vehicles are effective on their own merit, you cannot overlook the benefit of their use as fire magnets. Assault marines are more survivable if the enemy is shooting at something else.

[canoebuilder001]

What this all comes down to is that the Blood Angels are very flexible. You can run them in multiple ways. However, they are at their core an assault based army. So if the idea of sitting on your table edge and shooting the enemy as they come to you sounds like fun, do not go with the sons of Sanguinius.

I find that filling my fast attack slots with two Baal Preds and an Attack bike squad gives me a mobile fire support to pop tanks, kill troops and give my assault squads (my main troop choice) a bit of a screen to get stuck in. To aid them in getting stuck in, you have some choice:

I find that MSU Blood Angels (5 assault marines in a razorback) tend to not have enough punch to take down a full squad of Necrons, other marines, etc. However, with support from the fast attack and heavy department, they can be quite lethal.

DOA give you the advantage of showing up anywhere, but that first turn you drop in you will get hammered if you do not give your opponent something else to shoot at.

It comes down to what you own, and what you like. But either way, be ready to assault and roll some dice.

[Baeltor]

Some good points to think about here, as I too am relearning my BAs. One thing to look for when deep striking is cover, resist the urge to drop right at your target unless you want alot of fire directed at that squad instead of the rest of the army.

[Lovecraft]

The Stormraven has to be one of my favorite models in the BA. I've been running it with a Furioso in it and am considering adding some Assault Terminators to the mix. I just use it as a wrecking ball/distraction. Go flat out, firing one weapon with POTMS. If you don't get first turn, reserve it so you can get the 4+ save by going flat out onto the board. It usually draws a lot of fire, but with a 24" move, even if it gets shot down, its cargo will be much closer to enemy lines. If it lasts two turns it's done its job.

[Bootskum]

Another question then, how do people feel about Flyers in a Mechanized BA list? Stormravens pack a punch, but at the same time, they make quite a lovely target. pro's and con's to having a distraction flying around, but is it worth the points?

[Wolfshade]

I love my Stormraven, but it is a very tempting target, especially if my opponet has some dedicated anti-air.
Loaded up with Death Company in the back and a Death Company Dread dangling out the back zoom!

[pgarfunkle]

I haven't played much in 6th but in 5th I almost always fielded a 5 man Death Co squad with 2 power weapons and a power fist in a Rhino, and they were always very useful. Either people targeted them with most of their shooting for a few turns allowing the rest of the army to advance or they shredded their way through units.

[Martel732]

For the OP: The BA have excellent fluff, but have taken some hits in the competition department in 6th edition.

For the good:

1) FNP works vs more stuff, but is only a 5++. I still call this a net good
2) Fast vehicles: probably the single biggest advantage the BA have left (if you're thinking this is not a good sign, you're right)
3) ASM have better options than vanilla, and score
4) Fragnoughts. These guys can drop in and cause all kinds of pain.
5) Sternguard. I think we all know how these guys work.
6) Bikes and attack bikes got a lot better for us with the FNP rules and jink. Blood rodeo anyone?

For the meh:

1) Stormravens. Necessary evil with things like FMCs and Helldrakes running around. Unfortunately, Vendettas make these things look stupid and they are useless as transports. I'd rather have the stormtalon at this point.
2) Cheap devastators. THat can't take autocannons. The big debate is how to equip these guys. Missiles launchers are cheap, but suck horribly in 6th.

For the bad: Crunch time

1) Furious charge now sucks. It just does. Well, for us. The Orks are still quite happy. But without access to init 5, the BA lose many fights they used to win, and the fights they still win they'll suffer more casualties. Remember that FNP got worse vis a vis getting punched in the face. This makes our ASM considerably less potent.
2) Non-assault transports got gimped. So now we can't assault out of rhinos or razors even it is doesn't move. OUCH
3) BA HQs got gimped. Dante is init 1, Mephiston AP 3. In general, BA HQs are a disaster. The only bright spot are divination monkey libbies and maybe Tycho.
4) DC are overpriced and easily countered. Shoot them, or spoiling assault them. Or do both. They also suffer from awkward deployment options: overprice jump packs, expensive land raider, assault-delaying drop pod.
5) Trap units like vanguard or sanguinary guard. These guys are expensive, but still only T4 W1. The kill our model count, and die all the same. In fact, I argue the codex should be renamed Codex: Trap Units
6) Tactical marines got better, ASM got worse in general. Apart from the furious charge castration, assault got gimped in general in 6th. Double ouch for us. We can take tac marines, but with no combat tactics.
7) Dreads with blood talons. People like these things, but I just laugh at them. Again, deployment is the problem. They can't assault out of drop pods, and the Stormraven is not a valid option for a TAC list. Being busted down to AP 3 hurts a lot too, imo.

Basically, I view the BA as an assault army that just isn't good at assault anymore. I've run into init 5 CSM, Tyranids, Chaos Demons and the dreaded Space Wolves. All these armies are major problems for us now in HTH. So I've rebuilt my lists to shoot more. But, in general, we field fewer models than vanilla marines and so we don't quite have their throw weight of fire.

The more I play, it becomes clear that when against a pool of players that are reasonably knowledgeable of how 6th edition runs, the BA are one of the worst armies in the game. Now being bad in 40K is a lot like being bad in baseball. You're going to still win a lot of games, but not nearly as many as the Necrons, GK, or IG.