So here is my new army list.
Mechanized Blood Angels 1750
HQ:
Commander Dante 200
Brother Curbolo 100
Troops
Assault Squad One: 140
Power Sword 15
Rhino -
Extra Armor 15
Assault Squad Two: 140
Power Fist 25
Rhino -
Extra Armor 15
Assault Squad Three: 140
Power Fist 25
Rhino -
Tactical Squad One: 115
+5 Marines 75
Lascannon 20
Elite:
Death Company
Death Company x4 -
Rhino 40
Extra Amor 15
Furioso Dreadnought 100
Death Company 25
Heavy Flamer 5
Furioso Dreadnought 100
Heavy Flamer 5
Death Company 25
Fast Attack
Land Speeder 65
Multi Melta -
Heavy Flamer 10
Missles 10
Attack Bike 50
Multi Melta -
Heavy Support:
Vindicator 125
Baal Predator 100
Heavy Bolter Sponsons 25
Extra Armor 15
Storm Bolter 10
Total 1750
This list has been created to take advantage of the 5th edition missions. Allow me to explain how.
First of all, Dante and Corbulo are a MUST HAVE. I have tried playing without one of them and the list is just no where near as effective. Dante costs 200 points, but is honestly better then a 10 man Tactical squad, which is the equivalent point cost. Dante has a Jump Pack, melta gun, master crafted power weapon, Iron Halo, artificer armor and a 6 WS and 5 BS. This makes him a machine! He is a tank killer and can take down whole squads of infantry alone. But also, he grants every Blood Angel model within 12" Preferred Enemy, AND every enemy within 6" is at -1 WS and BS. I move him up using the rhinos as cover, and I keep him as close to my dreads as possible.
Corbulo is equally as valuable. I attach him to the Death Company, and he deploys within their rhino where he can affect surrounding units with his powers. I move the rhino up with my Furioso Dreads. If they start their assault within 12" of Corbulos Rhino, they get Furious Charge which grants them a +1 initiative. This is SOOO invaluable when getting the drop on other dreadnoughts and squads with power fists. When it comes time to deploy the death company, I seperate him from them. This is simply accomplished by making sure he is more then 2" away from the DC when they leave the rhino. When the DC go into assault, Corbulo does NOT join them. That allows him to remain outside of Close Combat where he can still use his Exsanguinator. This allows him to negate 1 wound per turn with some restrictions.
Ideally, I want to keep Dante, Corbulo, the DC and the Dreads all close to each other for they are my assaulty force. I do not let them go far from my edge, since my opponents usually are forced to come at me and instead I try to keep them back, or let them take mid range objectives, and intercept opponents attack forces.
Before I go on, let me talk about tactics. My friend Fritz over at
The Way of Saim-Hann and I have been working on tactics to not only win 5th edition, but more importantly, to beat the new Marine Codex. Instead of giving into the temptation to follow what it seems the new Codex designers want, we are doing the opposite. The new Codex seems to be centered on creating armies with overwhelming, elite force. Ironclad Dreads, SternGuard Vets, commanders that grant EVERY unit extra attacks and make elites scoring units etc. Most of the new Codex armies you see lately are built around one or two Land Raider Redeemers, Ironclad Dreads and lots of Veterans who meet you in the middle and tear you appart. It used to be that this was what the Blood Angels were good at, the best at in fact. No marine army could stand toe to toe with the Blood Angels in close combat or in an "In your face" attack. Now the new Codex has given every marine army that same ability, for cheaper.
So, I abandoned that tactic. Yes, I keep my furioso dreads and dante, but I went mechanized. The real threat of my army is NOT Dante and the Death Company, it is in my speed. I have 4 Rhinos and a Baal Predator on the table that can move up to 18". This is an utter surprise to any one who has not faced the Blood Angels. This means that I am able to move my transports up onto objectives, tank shock the enemy infantry off them, and contest or even claim them. This is the threat of my army, and this is how I have won every game I played since I started my new tactics. There is a lot more to it then that, and that is for another post. In the meantime, back to my list.
My troops are highly mobile and fast moving. I have three 5 man assault squads in rhinos. One has a power sword, two have fists. I decided to drop their jump packs, and by the BA codex, I can remove their packs and assign them a rhino instead. When I had them with jump packs, they were simply getting torn up. A 5 man squad cannot stand against withering gunfire, and are even picked apart by random pistol shots. It doesnt take much to reduce their numbers. Couple that with having to jump into terrain to get cover saves, thus forcing Dangerous Terrain checks and the jump packs simply are not an advantage any more. Now I move my rhino 18 inches, tank shocking if I can, and popping smoke. The squad stays inside. If the transport gets knocked out, fine. They get out and use it as cover. If it is ignored, perfect, next turn I will move it another 12-18" and get it behind terrain or onto an objective. Now I have a squad, sitting on an objective, inside an armored box. Get the picture? If some one wants to get me off that objective, they have to pop my rhino first, then kill the marines inside, who are still marines after all.
I also have a 10 man tactical squad with a Lascannon. They always deploy at the reat ASAP and set up their gun with the best lanes of fire possible. People fear Lascannons, and a 10 man marine squad in cover requires a LOT of firepower to take down.
I already touched on the Furioso Dreads. But I didnt mention that they are Death Company Furioso Dreads. This means that they get an extra d3 attacks in close combat... Yup thats right! When they charge they can get 7 attacks, add to that Dante's death mask and preferred enemy and Corublo's Furious Charge and they are getting 7 str 10 attacks, at initiative 5, usually hitting on 3's and rerolling misses. When used together, very little in the 40k universe can stand up to their charge. They also have Heavy Flamers and Meltaguns. So before they assault they have a chance to completely kill the squad with shooting alone! Their drawback? They need to be close to Brother Corbulo, or else they will move and attack the nearest enemy unit. That means they will move out into open terrain even if there is nothing close enough for them to attack... But thats ok, I keep Corbs close bye in his Rhino. OR I deploy the dreads where there are lots of things for them to stomp.
I have two fast attack options. I use a Land Speeder with Heavy Flamer, Multi Melta AND Typhoon Missle Launcher. This unit has lots of functions. The missles have a 4' range, so I can sit back and lend fire support. The Multi Melta gets 2d6 to roll against armor from 12" away, so I can move it 12", then fire 12" more at a tank, giving it a 2 foot threat range with a good chance at destroying any tank in the game. The heavy flamer makes meat of infantry. So another function is to move up in support of my assaulters, or my rhinos moving to take objectives. It gets cover from the tanks, then jumps ahead at the last minute and flames a squad on an objective that my men are trying to take. Or it clears out enemy transports/tanks that might be in the way. It is also good at supporting my armor in the same capacity. It moves out with the Rhino and Vindicator lending its anti infantry support to them. This allows me to move my tanks out without infantry support.
I use an attack bike with Multi Melta. Same story. It has great range like the speeder, but is TINY. I almost always move it up with the tanks, and hide it behind them. People forget it is there. Or I deploy it behind terrain and never touch it... seriously, I love the look of shock on some ones face when they move their beloved tanks to flank my troops, only to get an attack bike rammed up their butts. Once the game is under control, it can go out on its own and pop drop pods for kill points, or single out commanders who have lost their squads but escaped. You might escape my Furioso, but you wont get out of range of my Bike.
Versatility is the name of the game with this list. The Fast Attack options are invaluable.
Lastly, I have two tanks that I always deploy together. The Baal Predator with Heavy Bolters, Assault Cannon and Storm bolter and the Vindicator. The Predator, moving as a fast vehicle, can move 6" and fire ALL of its guns. That makes it a terror to enemy infantry. It can move out from behind cover, or behind the Vindicator and unleash hell. And the Vindicator is... well, a Vindicator! People know and fear its gun. I try to move that into cover and fire as much as I can. It rarely lasts more then a turn or two, but thats ok, it is cheap and every shot at that is one shot not at my Baal Pred, which is the more dangerous of the two tanks. but people have to kill it. It is great against Ork Nob squads, tanks, or any other hard, elite targets. And I do not fear using it in close quarters... I was pressed in the assault once, and had a large Templar Command squad about to tear me a new one in my own base, when I ordered the vindicator to fire point blank. The shot landed dead on, and destroyed the entire squad, including their chaplain and emperors champion. The Baal has another function. Being a fast vehicle (on a roll of 4+ of course) it has a surprising 18" movement. This allows me to move up and contest objectives at the last minute. Also, its armor value 13 front, coupled with the 18" move, means it can ram anything with a Str 10 shot! So if its guns are knocked out, it still can take out Land Raiders...
So there you go. A combination of fast moving tactics, fire power, and brutally efficient assault has turned my army from an average 4th edition redheaded step child, into a fearsome 5th edition spoiler. The true test will be a large tournament I have coming up in a couple weeks. If I stick to my tactics, and play my game, I should do well. The best part is that I am playing a fluffy army. Instead of some of these Ork armies who cheese out two Warboss/nob bike squads, (why would two Ork Warbosses join forces, they would kill each other first) I play a Blood Angels army that is purely blood angels. Fast, Furioso, and Dante. That means that I can score composition points at tournaments where they matter... Cant say the same for the Orks...
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