Blood angels with guard allies. 2000 pts.

[Bob821]

Morning,

I will be playing against two army’s in the near future. One a Tau army that normally includes 2 Riptides, 3 Broad sides, a big blob of fire warriors, 2 squads of path finders and some kroot snipers. He will also some time include a sun shark, just to keep me on my toes and punish me for not bringing my quad gun!

The second army is an Eldar list. Normally including a Wraith Knight, 2 squads of dire avengers, 2 path finders, Farseer, One of the new Phoenix Lords or the Avatar, Crimson Hunter, Dark Reapers and a big squad of Guardians with heavy weapons. He has been swapping and changing in to his list squads of different aspects to see how they perform...

So here is what I was thinking... My pure blood angels lists seem to be struggling in 6th. Gone are the days of my Assault squad backed up with a priest and librarian.... I'm just getting shot to bits no matter what I bring to the table. The only unit that really seems to shine is the Land Raider due to its 14 armour and 4 HP. This lead to me thinking about a Land Raider assault supported by a pair on Leman Russ tanks! What do you think of this....

Blood Angels;

Librarian,
Terminator Armour with Storm Shield,
Divination.

Terminator Assault squad,
THSS.

Land Raider Redeemer,
Multi Melta.

Assault Squad X10,
2 X melta,
Power fist.

Assault Squad X10
2 X melta,
Power fist.

Stern Guard Vets X6
X5 combi melta,
Drop Pod.

Agies Defence line,
Quad gun.


Imperial Guard,

Primus Psyker,
Divination,

Veteran squad,
Grenadiers

Veteran Squad,
Grenadiers.

Leman Russ Demolisher X2
2000pts!

So... The plan is the librarian and the terminators jump in the land Raider and move up the board to kill the MC's of doom, supported by the Leman Russ Tanks. Followed by the assault squads hiding away safety behind. The guard vets hide behind the defence line and man the quad gun hopefully keeping a objective warm and supported by the Primus Psykers Divination magic!

The Stern Guard vets are there to kill or wound a high value target. The Tau can and does somtimes just flip his list totally and run Crisis suits and Hammer heads.

So what do you think? I know I'm going to get my arse kicked. But I'm hoping with the slow movement of the Tau and the speed of my Assault squads and already having my home objectives covered by the guard I may be able to sneak a win. Against the Eldar... Not so sure. They are new to me still and the guy I'm playing against.

Many Thanks.

[Bob821]

Guess my list and tactics are perfect then! I knew it! A new Dawn rises on the sons of Baal no one shall stand in our way....sigh.

[ElectricPaladin]

As a Tau player, I can tell you that if you think that the Tau are slow, you are dead wrong. If your opponent is playing a foot Tau gunline, they'll be slow, but if he fields a riptide, or a sunshark, or any crisis suits, you will find that his list gets right up in your business, where you do not want it, and starts blowing stuff up very quickly.

Honestly? I think your list stands a good chance. It's a good list for the matchups you describe. Is it an auto-win list that will crush your enemies? No. you've got a good chance of winning, and you're going to have to win on the virtue of your tactics, not your list. Good luck, though.

[chicop76]

I play a similiar Tau list and a little familiar with Eldar. I can say raiders haven't been a problem due to fusion smashing riptides. Personally I wouldn't mind my riptides scarificing themselves fr the greater good by getting rid of two landraiders. Again two fusion shots and 3 strength 10 hits usually takes out the raider.

That being said I think you need a plan vs riptides and broadsides really. Unless he is running an ethereal or a buffing commander you shouldn't have much of a problem.

The problem I see is it looks like your solution is to combat the tide or the writh knight. For staters both move on average 12" at least a turn, the riptide can move much more. Even with raiders and jetpacks you may not be able to catch the two models, so your best bet really is shooting aka lots of melta guns.

My best advice is to push towards the broadsides, kill them and gut the troops. I would sprad your guys in a line 2" apart to reduce the dealth dealth by the riptides. If you can kill a riptide go for it since they can't really be ignored, but don't fall into the trap having your entire armytrying to kill two riptides.

With the eldarthe knight can fre strength 10 shots and you may be dealing with lance shots, throw in wratih guard or fire dragons landraiders isn't an issue for them either. Heck the raider my be more useful against Tau than Eldar. Eldar hve the same and more mobility than you do.

I think you have to think about shooty options. I found landspeeders with melta and assault cannons to be useful. The problem though both armies have units that are mobile and hard to kill with ranged weapons. I have faced shooty razorback spam blod angels before. The problem with that build it doesn't really help vs they two army types.

It's not that I think you can't win. It's just you won't have easy wins. If both players are dumb that would help.

The best bet you may have is to deepstrike and lay down melta death and flamer love. Early warning over ride can't kill all your troops .

[Bob821]

Thanks for the advice and feed back gents. I think using the Blood Angel codex against Tau and Eldar will allways mean a hard battle. I'm going to show this list a battle or two then maybe try to increase my fire power and drop the assault elements.

Again many thanks.