Creating an army

[DarthHawke]

Alright so im new to 40k and ive decided i want to play as the blood angels chapter of space marines. Does anyone have any good army builds put there that would be useful or any advice you could give would be appreciated greatly

[Toaster36]

I think the basic rule of thumb, and I'm sure most people will agree with me on this, is:

Buy what you think is cool.

Like Death Company? Buy them. Prefer Tycho's fluff over Mephiston? Buy Tycho. Think it would be cool to paint up a Sanguinary Priest even thought the internet feels that 6th killed them? Buy them anyway.

Now you're probably going to need some staple units to get started, like a regular captain to lead your army and some tactical or assault marines to cap objectives, but it's YOUR army and really you're the only one that gets to pick what goes into it.

When I first started back in 4th with my 'nids I quickly found out that my 300 point melee carnifex and barbed strangler warriors were pretty worthless on the table, but zoanthropes and genestealers could be really fun and synced well with my play style. And my lictor, while rarely making it's points back, was a blast to paint. The more you get into the hobby the more you will find out what you do and don't like.

If you were looking for a more strategic analysis of units go check out [URL="http://www.3plusplus.net/"]http://www.3plusplus.net/[/URL].

[Black Hydra]

Not that Toaster36's advice isn't good or that 3++ doesn't have quality BA articles (they do), but here's something to keep you on track.

- Death Company can't capture objectives. Very important to know. So you'll have to be very aggressive and basically wipe out all the enemy's scoring units and put a dent in their army with a Death Company army.

- Fliers are a big deal right now. Blood Angels are mobile already, but Storm Ravens are even more mobile. Use them to transport your assault marines or even Death Company (and a Dreadnought!) straight into enemy lines and watch your opponent freak out (unless they know what they are doing). Also they are a good way to deal with enemy Fliers.

- Assault Marines with Jetpacks automatically get the "Descent of Angels" rule which is extremely useful for deep striking. But they are a spearhead unit so one Tactical squad kept in the back for scoring purposes is sound advice.

- The Baal Predator is awesome at killing infantry which you'll see more of in 6th. Don't forget that.

- Don't go full jump packs either. Due to the new deployment and reserves rules it's a difficult army to field. It's better to go hybrid with other styles thrown in. If you want to go fluffy, fine do it. But I suspect you want to have fun as well.

That's all off the top of my head. In the end build what you want, but there's some basics to consider as always. Hope that helps.

[PSiRoflcopter]

Are you wanting to get into the tournament scene as soon as possible, or just wanting to game it up with your buddies at a local store?

Don't go with the flavor of the week, because it's often not going to stand the test of time. Find a cheese build? Ignore it, it will be countered.

The most basic of advice would be to play to the BA strengths: the flexibility of the Space Marines and the fast hitting ability of the Blood Angels.

Toaster said it well: Buy what you think is cool.

You must've picked BA for a reason.
Like the idea of an army descending from the heavens to rain fury on the heretic? Jump infantry and flyers.
Like the idea of a gene seed slowly going the way of the crazies? Death company for you, sir.

Pick first the idea of what you want to do with the core of your army, and then make it work.

[the jeske]

DO not buy a BA cpt . If you want one [you choice] take an ally SM one , better gear[relic blade for example] and can make bikers troops +giving the cpt a bike gives him a mini eternal warriors[most stuff caps at str 8-9 . so he will get ID only by str 10 and stuff with special rules like force weapons].


you will want a DC unit . they are cheap for what they do , If you dont go crazy with upgrades on them . 1-2 hammer/fist 0-1 power weapons and your done .

you will want a SR . flyers are very good now and BA ones have blood rockets which makes them awesome at killing other stuff .

you will need a single tactical to camp home objectives . technicly you could go with codex sm scouts too if you take ally[and why shouldnt you do that?] , but there is too many fast moving flamers that kill them . dont go overboard with upgrades here . RL/plasma is good enough.

Baals . hvy bolter AC . a must have in every army .

2RAS . not the 5th ed 5 man in a razorback kind , but 10 man with jumppacks . If your using the DC in a rhino take 2 jump RAS . If the DC is in the SR or a drop pod then take one rhino and one jump pack . you will get the feeling that the jump RAS out performs the rhino one [mainly due to the changes how charing out of transports work] , but on the other hand if you do not run that one single rhino a lot of fire power is going to be hiting more important stuff.

anti tank unit . technicly the SR is great at taking out stuff , but it is in reservs so you cant use it from turn1. same with the ouflanking baal .

So what do you do ? well you can take 5 devastators with 4 RL [and hope for a future FAQ giving RL anti aircraft] . cheap and good. Or Multi melta attack bikes . they are fast . melta[ap1 melta so if they hit/pen stuff it dies on 4+] armed + they have the bikers +5 T so a unit of 2-3 is actualy very resilient[not that it means you can park them in front of opposing army and hope they will surive].

then there are the priests . nerfed they may be , but they are still good +1STR helps your units with lances/powers weapons and +5FnP against plasma/power weapons is good enough . how many you take depands on what set up of units you are using , but most of the time 1 is enough .


And one is enough because of HQs BAs have . now you could of course take mefiston and forget about other HQs [am assuming here you dont want to build a sang guard or DC only army , both of those would require you to use Danter or Astaroth], but BAs are not like some of the other dex they can actualy use other HQs too[save for the cpt. he sucks hard]. Carbulo is a very good HQ. re-roll on everything . awesome .+2FnP lets him "tank" a lot of stuff. Tycho , in 5th one of the worse special HQs possible . in the 6th a very good cheap HQ. remember his digi weapons say No save , so he is runing technicly runing with with an ap 2 weapon[against non tank models] + has a combi weapon , good sv .
libby is a must have for every army . In fact a lot of armies end up with libby corbs ally libby or some sort of combination of those two . divination is king most of the time [you have to play against very specific builds to want other schools] . always buy the mastery upgrade . ally librarians from the SM codex are actualy good , against some armies avanger can help a lot [in general those all terminator/nob builds] .SW rune priests are awesome because A they give you better tacticals [cheaper then tactical but with option to take 2 plasma per squad + very good squads upgrades in the form of totems/MotW] B give you the rune staff[cancel psychi power on +4 which stacks with witch] .


then come the fortifications if your runing 2 SR[or planing to] they are not a must have [still nice] . But if you run no SR , or just one and you are playing in a place where flyer builds are offten used[not cheap armies , but good so it can happen] then buying one is an option you should consider.