Battle for Salvation 2k tournament Blood Angels list

Since I posted my win from Saturdays tournament, I have had few dozen emails and comments asking for a breakdown of my list in detail. Being one to share, and knowing that my list will completely change in a few months, here you go!:

HQ:
Space Marine Captain
Power Weapon
Combi-Melta

Troops:
10 man tactical
lascanon
melta-gun
power weapon
rhino
extra armor

10 man tactical
lascannon
melta-gun
power weapon
rhino
extra armor

Elite:
Death Company
2 models

Furioso Dread
Venerable
Death Company
Extra Armor
Heavy Flamer
Drop Pod

Furioso Dread
Venerable
Death Company
Extra Armor
Heavy Flamer
Drop Pod

Furioso Dread
Venerable
Death Company
Extra Armor
Heavy Flamer
Drop Pod

Fast Attack:

Attack Bike x2
Multi meltas

Attack Bike x2
Multi meltas

Heavy Support:

Baal Predators x3
Heavy Bolters
Storm bolter
extra armor

The instant reaction to this is "Where are your jump packs?" "Where are your troops?" And most people, like I used to, laugh off Baal Predators without a thought. They also laugh off Pod Dreads because they know they have to suffer a round of shooting before they can assault. Usually dreads dropped close enough to use their meltagun will die to the return fire. No big deal.

My basic strategy is to combat squad my two tacticals. I place four bolters and a las cannon back in cover and on an objective. I put the other combat squads in their rhinos and the captain jumps in with one. I hold back the rhinos and send them out when needed. I line up my three preds together, with the two bike squads hiding behind them and my two death company standing with their backs up against the front of one of them. They are big enough to block 50% and give me a front cover save. Of course with nothing to stop them from taking their Death Company move this only lasts until the first turn but every little bit helps. If I can I advance them 6" and advance the tank behind them and try to squeeze out another round of that cover save. Yes, I admit, this is cheezy. Why should two infantry grant a tank a cover save? Well, that is out there for all you Land Raider rotaters. :)

So I hold back my advance until my pods come down. But in the meantime I sniper speeders and exposed troops with the heavy bolters. I focus on speeders and bikes first.

My general target priority? Any thing melta of course. Then I work on his troops if I have nothing else to shoot at. I try to supress pockets of armor in prep for my pods to drop. If I can I will pepper transports with asscannon fire near my intended drop pod target locations in an attempt to Stun them, since most guys refuse to take extra armor. If I can pop transports, even better. Lets get those juicy vet squads out on the table in nice clumps of disembarked fun where I can lay down the flame. If they fail their pinning test from their transport being knocked out, even better.

If I have no speeders or bikes to snipe with lascannons, I will use them to suppress armor as well. Hopefully by the time my pods land, they are coming down in a pocket of suppressed tanks and disembarked troops. That raises their survivability.

Now the pods drop. I have had 1 or 2 rounds of supressing fire and hopefully killed or imobilized stuff that can get over to my pods and kill the dreads. I use the pods as little walls, blocking off the majority of his stuff, and disembark the dread to take advantage of cover while getting a nice shot at the back of a tank or transport. I will almost always drop the pods together. Strength in numbers. If I can get them out and pop a transport with one, I will attempt to lay the flame over the troops while targeting the next tank in line with the second dread. Three dreads working in a triangle are truely frightful. If I can drop them behind something full of death that has to die, like a land raider full of terminators I am good to go. I will shoot the middle dread first and hopefully get two flamer shots on the terminators inside. I will also use the pods to stop enemy advance. If I need to slow down a Land Raider I will drop pods in front of it and try to box it in. The best best is to try to catch the LR while it is still in his deployment zone. Often times guys keep it back on the first turn to protect it while they try to take out my tank killers. If I can catch it on the back edge, I will always go for the kill.

"But Jawa, dreads are only armor 12, don't they get destroyed by all the melta guns?" Well, if I am lucky I have successfully suppressed most of the tanks in my drop zone. Now they are creating road blocks stopping active transports from moving up and unloading the troops to get their melta shots. Or there is so much stuff around, speeders cant get close. Etc. Use his armor against him. Pick your targets, stun things that will then grant you cover, support them with cover fire from the predators, and have faith in your wargear!

Finally, the dreads only work if they have extra armor and venerable. What shots that do make it through the cover have to pen or glance. Then they have to Immobilize or destroy the dread. A Shaken has no effect except for not shooting, a stun becomes a shaken with extra armor and a weapon destroy just reduces my attacks by one. If I get through the round only taking a weapon destroy and a bunch of stuns/shakens, I am good to go. I will be assaulting with up to 6 attacks next turn. So if he gets a 4+ on the damage roll, I make him reroll. He has to do it twice.

When used properly, ven furioso dreads are incredibly resiliant and devastating in combat. If they actually get a chance to move, shoot and assault, things are gonna die. I have yet to play them against a full guard army with chimeras and melta vets or a army with super serious fire power, but I am confident that smart placement, suppression and a little luck will get them through the fire and they will roll some heads.

Weakness? Yes, I lack the loads of assault punch typical to a Blood Angels army. But ask yourself, is the BA dex all that assaulty? Sure, Assault Squads are troops. But they cannot take special weapons. They cant take a melta gun to pop a transport and assault the boys inside. Plus, only the sergeant can take a power weapon. They are not vets so they only get one attack, plus off hand and charge. Orks with shootas are as good as that, cheaper and can take tank popping guns. I'm not griping, I love the BA dex. I am just pointing out that I have focused on a weakness and turned it into a strength.

Guys look at a BA army with no jump troops and think "Oh sweet, a really expensive generic space marine army." Which quickly turns into "That dread gets seven attacks???"



I also lack the troops that most people believe 5th edition requires. Sure, I combat squad them down into four squads. But that makes them squishy 5 man squads. Most guys will say that my biggest weakness, especially in objective games, is that if you want to beat me, all you gotta do is kill 20 marines. My answer? Try it. Easier said then done.

So there you go folks! Please dont mistake my explanation as arrogance. It is hard to talk about how you have won games without sounding arrogant. I went into that tournament prepared, but with low expectations. My game plan and surprisingly strong, unconventional list carried me through. If you can get the right combination of those two, and throw in a smattering of luck, any one can win a tournament. I don't consider myself any better then any of the guys who did not win. Believe me, there were some fantastic players at that tournament. But when the dice were done rolling and the smoke cleared, Blood Angels and Jawaballs were standing on top! :)