Has anyone played BA vs. GK yet

[Brotherjames]

Hey all im a BA player and was just wondering what some of the outcomes were from your battles, what to watch for, etc? i havent seen the new GK codex but read the reveiws and such for how they mess up deep strikers and i like my Dante assualt/sang guard DoA very much paired with bikes on anti-tank duty.

[DarkLink]

I doubt DoA armies will work too well against GKs. They can just use Strike Squads to buy themselves a lot more room than other armies could. They can then focus fire all those storm bolters, psycannons and autocannons into your units, whittling them down. And you can try to assault them, but the GKs will have some units with Halberds that will clean house with whatever squads you have left, and your FNP won't do you any good. I wouldn't bother with Storm Ravens, either, as they'll probably be dead the second they get within 24" of the GK line.

On the other hand, Predators and Dreadnoughts in their face could overwhelm the GK anti-tank, and a Furioso Dread with blood talons will hurt big time. If you can get it into combat, that is.

[Brotherjames]

Thanks for the info, but for the risk of sounding stupid what happens to special rules like Dantes tactical precision and Droppods guidance device? Gotta deliver that furioso somehow without footslogging thru the wreckage of a SR lol

[dethangel]

you can beat them. it will just take a little adjustment to your tactics. look at it like this. 10 man GKSS's(basic troop) will have a 24" range with 16 shots @ S5(with psyammo) plus 8 @ S7 rending (psycannon) and 8 PWs(possibly 1 hammer) as a standard load out. you need to ether out range them or get into assault fast. be careful deep striking near them as you may lose most of your squad before they can get into the assault. now Purifiers specially with halberds are assault monsters. similar shooting as the GKSS but cleansing flame, extra attack and I6 power weapons they will ruin your day. stay away if posible. try to shoot them off the board. key things to look for, GK are hurting in the longrange dept. there dreds , LRs, and SRs are the only long range anti- tank they have. try to get rid of these fast it will cripple there anti-tank leaving them with only 24" psycannons and hammers to deal with armor. i wouldnt give up on the Stormravens the TL lascons and blood strike missles can be great long range support and getting your furioso's into combat fast is key.

[plawolf]

BA will have a hard time with GKs since BA is a CC specialist army by all GKs having power weapons makes CC with them unappealing even if they only have one attack each base.

Its even more so if they have halberts as those power weapons are going first even if you have a priest in your unit.

Dreadnaughts will be your preferred choice to use against Halbert GKs, but watch out for S8 rifle dreads, dreadknights and Vindicare assassins.

If you are making a list against GKs, forget razorspam. Asscan razors will be exposing themselves to psycannon fire to be in range. Baals would be more survivable but will still probably not get to do much as they would be glanced to hell.

Plasma would seem a good choice, but is probably questionable since you are getting 2 plasma shots and 9 bolter shots, but in return you are getting maybe 4-8 (depending on if the GK squad moved) S7 rending shots and 16 S5 bolter shots back. Not a great trade.

Dakka preds would be a solid choice, and vindicators might just be worth it.

Librarians will be a must, although they and priests might not be if faced with vindicare lists.

With a BA list, you should be packing mainly assault marines as troops with maybe a few hammer units if you are not playing mech. Your best strategy is to dispense with the fancy stuff and bulk up on basic troops and dreads.

The plan is to use your superior mobility to avoid his heavy hitters and gain local dominance and eat his army piecemeal.

Some vindicators might be helpful to encourage him to spread his force out making it easier for you to pick them apart.

If he has a vindicare, the assassin needs to die ASAP or he will pluck all the teeth from your squads by one shoting all your priests and special weapon dudes and make the rest of the squad easy meat for the GKSS'.

I would be willing to trade a 5 man vanguard squad to take out the assassin because of how much damage and disruption he can cause you, mishap or not.

The next highest priority targets should be his interceptor squads and rifle dreads.

Although watch out for psybolt HB razorspam from GKs if you plan on taking out his long range fire and than outranging him.

[AngelsofDeath]

I am a BA player and I am looking forward to facing off against GKs. If I drop in the GKs will for sure get the charge on me and Feel no Pain does not ignore power weapons. The Razorback spam lists will have a much easier time with GKs. But balanced lists will do fine as well. After reading the GKs codex I see this army as a mission/tournament army. Being able to make select units "scoring" and to be able to teleport once per game. Just wait till the last round secure your objectives and then teleport to within 3 inches of the other objectives and contest them. Claim corners, get into enemy deployment zones...etc...etc... You get the point.

[DarkLink]

Thanks for the info, but for the risk of sounding stupid what happens to special rules like Dantes tactical precision and Droppods guidance device? Gotta deliver that furioso somehow without footslogging thru the wreckage of a SR lol

The thing is, the GK Warp Quake power means that anything that deepstrikes within 12" of the Strike Squad automatically suffers a Mishap. Dante and Drop Pods have no protection from this. All they do is reduce the amount that you scatter. Dante and Drop Pods are not immune to Mishaps. They can still suffer mishaps, you just don't need to worry about them scattering onto terrain normally.

[bonedale]

A BA DOA list will be DOA against GKs. Sorry had to do it.

A balanced BA list is just as good as any marine list against GKs. Problem is, why play BA to build a balanced marine list.

The multiple dread list that BAs can build actually would enjoy playing against an army with such short ranged firepower.

Personally, I am not going to have any GKs with swords. They all have halbreds or special weapons. Maybe a falchion squad for fun, but normally, the BAs FC will be completely cancelled out. So my Vindicar will ignore priest, and go for meltas, hunt inv saves, etc.

[Tynskel]

I play Blood Angels as a balanced force. Why? Because Feel No Pain tactical marines and scouts are awesome. They are difficult to move off objectives.

[Kawauso]

With the exception of Purifiers, GKs actually aren't all that scary in CC any more.

Charging a Strike Squad, for example, actually works out pretty well as you deny them their charge bonus. The fact that they only have 1 attack each now goes a long, long way toward making the power weapons that the whole squad has pretty fair.

This is speaking from my experience playing a few games with vanilla marines against them, of course. I haven't tried my DoA army against GKs yet, so I'll have to give that a go sometime and see how it works out. I expect Warp Quake will be a headache, but I'll still have a lot more maneuverability on the GKs, so it should be interesting.

[jorz192]

Vindicare assassins will be deadly against BA, able to pick off sanguinary priests or models with special weapons.

And power weapons negating feel no pain will be bad, but the normal grey knight only has one attack when they don't have the charge.

[Wombatofcombat]

I have, I was GK, Paladins are fantastic, they took out 18 death company 5 assault marines and astorath the grim, although they did have help from draigo, and some marines, but the normal marines didnt cause a single wound due to poor rolling and acted more as a meat shiels, by the end of it, it was draigo and the apocathary, draigo had 2 wounds left along with the apocothary