August 20, 2010

The Next Big Thing


So here's the next army I'm working on. Right now it's all proxies - I want to solidify my feel for the game before I buy that many more vehicles.

It's Blood Angels - and it's kind of AV13 MSU. Kind of... anyways, I don't feel the need to keep it secret, so here goes:


NO MEPHISTON, WTF?

2000 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

HQ: Librarian (1#, 100 pts)
   1 Librarian @ 100 pts (...in Power Armour; Shield of Sanguinius; The Sanguine Sword)

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 165 pts)
   3 Assault Squad @ 165 pts
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon)

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 165 pts)
   3 Assault Squad @ 165 pts 
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun 
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon)

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 165 pts)
   3 Assault Squad @ 165 pts 
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun 
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon)

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 165 pts)
   3 Assault Squad @ 165 pts 
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun 
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Razorback (Twin Linked Assault Cannon)

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Furioso Dreadnought @ 140 pts (Magna-grapple)

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought (1#, 135 pts)
   1 Furioso Dreadnought @ 135 pts (Heavy Flamer; Blood Talons)

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)
   1 Furioso Dreadnought @ 125 pts

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
   1 Baal Predator @ 145 pts (Heavy Bolter Sponsons)

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
   1 Baal Predator @ 145 pts (Heavy Bolter Sponsons)

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
   1 Baal Predator @ 145 pts (Heavy Bolter Sponsons)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 135 pts)
   1 Predator @ 135 pts (Lascannon Sponsons)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 135 pts)
   1 Predator @ 135 pts (Lascannon Sponsons)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 135 pts)
   1 Predator @ 135 pts (Lascannon Sponsons)

Total Roster Cost: 2000

Note - this was inspired by several armies I saw at the NOVA Open. None of them had quite gone to this level, but a few were quite close... this is an amalgamation and distillation (oooh, 236 points in Scrabble!) of these armies.

Options: When I pointed out the army, it came to 1975 pts, so for grins I gave a dread the magna-grapple, and the talons dread the Hvy Flamer - those aren't necessary. But I do like them.

Thoughts: The army has long/med/short range shooting in abundance. The Assault Cannons can move 12" and still fire: forward for the added range, or obliquely for side armor shots. 7 TL-Assault Cannons, 3 Autocannons, 6 Lascannons, and 6 Heavy Bolters - all on move and fire platforms. The Libby provides cover, the dreads provide assault threats, counter-assaults, and general all around short-range threat. 4 Meltaguns back up the big guns for close range anti-armor. Small unit sizes means if they're getting out to shoot, I'd better be able to protect them ala dread in front or the triangle of doom with vehicles.

So what do you think?

15 comments:

  1. I've been using a similar 6 pred + razor build and found hunter killers to be pretty useful. I've also always liked having the inferno pistol as well, as a single melta tends to miss a lot.

    off the top of my head my list has gone somethig like

    Libby

    5/6x assault squads- melta, inferno
    ~razorback- h-k missile

    3x baals w/ HB & H-K
    3x Preds autolas & h-k

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  2. Massed AV13 is totally cool, Trueblood had I think 9 AV13 vehicles at Nova.

    Problems may arise from lack of bodies and crowding out LoS for sponsons.

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  3. Yeah, Trueblood had 9 AV13 - mine is slightly different, but he did convince me that it was viable. His has Vindicators, which I like - but felt there needed to be a "true" long-range threat. I really wanted to discuss some list choices with him... hence the Looking for Mr Goodbar post.

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  4. I think the sponsons are wasted points, and that this few bodies means that enemies who focus on killing 4 vehicles and their contents will just demolish you.

    I haven't found lists like this to be competitive against opponents who look for how to guarantee not losing before going towards the win, which is pretty much the common outlook here. You'd have to table me to win any objective based mission, because I would most certainly kill those 20 boots every game.

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  5. Scrabble werds.

    New value of posts based off that.

    U is genius. :D

    That said, it's more balanced than the Sanguinary Guard army and I am happy you aren't using Mephiston :3

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  6. So you hide the Razors behind Predator wall for a 3+ cover save. I think you need more units, less Dreads. They just don't impress me.

    Call it more cheaper units.

    Not sure what tactics it takes to blow people off of objectives but firing at the Razorbacks in cover then running close to the Dreads to finish off the Marines strikes me as foolishness.

    I think with a bit of tweaking it'll be better than you expect. Since I'm not allowed to write you a new list, I'll just ask which armies you want to playtest against next weekend? Face-stompy, or Stompy-face? They are both available upon request. =P

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  7. You really like balls huh? I'm not a fan.

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  8. Well, I second Stelek here. I playtested a list like this. I'd replace the Dreads by more troops. Some units to intercept enemy plans would be definitely useful.

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  9. John,

    If you're gonna do mech then do mech, if you're gonna do dreds then do dreds... don't mix the two.

    20 guys aren't going to cut it. A smart player is going to focus on your low number of 'elite' troops and get rid of them.

    With writing the above pargraph I think you are going to have 'oodles' of problems hiding your scoring units.

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  10. I agree the dreads don't fit in with the rest of the build. This type of list seems to be popular. I think if you were to replace the dreads with more Marines that would be a step in the right direction. I'd definitely keep the Baals, to me they are a must have choice for this style of list. Play some games and I think you'll find some ways to better tweak the list.

    G

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  11. I think it depends on what he wants to do with the list. If he wants it to be a contender for top chair in tournaments then it will probably need some tweaking.

    If its for Saturday hang out over pizza, then the list is fine. The smaller number of actual marines would help with the challenge. Remember, both players need to have fun.

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  12. Well, I played essentially this list against John's Eldar.

    To say it was very unfun for me would be an understatement.

    If it can't beat mech Eldar, then yes, it will be 'fun' for someone...

    The fun you find in 40k is not up to your opponent (I think John's Immolator list would have been even less "fun" lol), I couldn't have fun because of me being unable to make the army work. It had been fun before, but against a very inferior list. Run into any real opposition, and the list folds in half. John is always fun to play, and it was very amusing blowing my own army up and failing to dent his.

    Well, ramble ramble. ;)

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  13. Im not a fan really. Id almost venture to drop the Asst Can upgrades and grab a fifth 5man in a hvybolter razor.

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  14. Yeah, drop the Dreds for more troops. You have enough firepower without them.

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