Blood Angels Effective Army Size?

[Col_Festus]

Hey guys a quick question for anyone that has been messing around with the preview copies of the codex. First off I've been obsessed with Warmachine lately, because of this I have totally shelved all of my GW stuff. I feel pretty bad because I have a few good friends who want to play 40k still but I have almost zero interest in it. I think the main problem stems from model count as I greatly enjoying the skirmish level stuff and being able to paint my entire army fairly quickly. Soooooo I feel that if I was able to create a smaller force that was still pretty effective I would enjoy 40k a bit more.

Now I know that in 40k usually the more units the better as target saturation plays a big part in the game. I also know that space wolves can create pretty good armies that are fairly light on model counts (2000 points). My question to you is can the new Blood Angels achieve something like this? Now I don't want to make a stomp your face in at every game list. Something that is flexible but obviously low on the model count side of things. Anyone with any experience in this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

[gcsmith]

Oh yes of course, with tanks and uber pricey units its possible :p

[Herald of Nurgle]

Obvious few army builds would be the Dante, Astorath, or just Mech Raven/Mech.

With Dante you get the Sanguinary Guard as troops. Small units - max 5 - but expensive upgrades and they come fairly decent with their Kantor SBs and Power Weps. 200pts for the 5 - special pistols are pretty much at the price of combi weapons usually. Rest of options pretty much like the Vanguard Sergeant in C: SM.
Dante and any other captain (etc) give Honour Guard as options, so that's an opportunity to use more of the Guard models - too bad they're just basic here, no PWs etc.
Dante = 225

Astorath gives you the option of having full Death Company. 20pts each for essentially the closest any SM comes to being part Plague Marine and part Khorne Berserker. PWs etc are normal costs, Jump Packs cost 15... There's a maximum of 30 DC per squad, so 180 is fun. Ain't cheap. The guy himself will enable mass Black Rage if you want to combine more normal marines later on.
Astorath = 230
Of course, another part of the Astorath army is the number of Death Company Dreadnoughts you could field in decent conditions. 1 for each 5 DC, and they're Troops. Cost the amount of a Furioso right now, I think.

I can't say that BA would be a good Dollar : Punch : Point ratio - i'm certainly not a master of the lawyering arts like some people here may be - but the above two are brilliant ways to achieve at least two of the points. On the other axis, if you want Opportunity : Punch : Point ratios then there's many other options such as the fore mentioned Mech Raven/Mech - such as the big beautiful Stormravens.

(I sound almost like a GW salespersonman)

[therealjohnny5]

you can always go full dread army for a feel change and uber low model count...

[lobster-overlord]

You have to have 5 Death Company for each Troops slotted Death Company Dreadnought though, so your model count goes up there, but 25 death company and 5 DC Dreads is still only 30 models, and that's all you need in troops, although, no objectives can be held (do the dreads also have that rule like the DC unit? can't remember).

You'll have 11 dreads, 3 drop pods and 25 guys.

John M.

[DarkLink]

You have to have 5 Death Company for each Troops slotted Death Company Dreadnought though, so your model count goes up there, but 25 death company and 5 DC Dreads is still only 30 models, and that's all you need in troops, although, no objectives can be held (do the dreads also have that rule like the DC unit? can't remember).

You'll have 11 dreads, 3 drop pods and 25 guys.

John M.

25 death company are, what, 875pts before upgrades? And it can't fit in a transport? That's just waiting to catch vindicator and leman russ pieplates. Though some armies would have trouble with that many dreads and FNP Marines.

[lobster-overlord]

875 if you have jump packs. They would be 1/3rd of a 1,500 point list no upgrades.

John M>

[Herald of Nurgle]

Yeah. So if you're doing Death Company on a budget at, say, 1500pts, here's what the stupid person who knows nothing about lists would say:
Death Company Tycho - 175
Astorath the Grim - 230 (lol
10 Death Company, 1 Power Weapon - 215
10 Death Company, 1 Power Weapon - 215
Death Company Dread - 130a
Death Company Dread - 130a
Stormraven - 200
Stormraven - 200
Pts: 1495

[lobster-overlord]

And in an objective based game, you're going to win how? By elimination of the opponent or just through contesting objectives?

[joescalise]

Blood angels are perfect, they are expensive.(points wise)

[DarkLink]

And in an objective based game, you're going to win how? By elimination of the opponent or just through contesting objectives?

By killing every single one of his models:p.

Seriously, though, I got second place in a 1750 tournament with a list that had an 8 man troop squad in a land raider, and a 5 man footslogging squad. Those were my only troops.

You don't need 6 troops choices to win. Really.

[Duke]

Well you did only get second, lol

[therealjohnny5]

Well you did only get second, lol

and like dad always used to say, "if you're not first, you're last" am i right? am i right? Shake and Bake baby.

[DarkLink]

Well you did only get second, lol

Yeah, the guy who got first steamrolled his three opponents with his nidz, getting 48, 48 and 46 battle points in his three games, with 48 being the max (we used adepticon missions, I think). I also don't have a very good track record against 'nidz so far, having lost the handful of game I've played against them. I just don't play them enough to have learned how to deal with them well, and I always seem to have bad luck to top it off.

[gcsmith]

wow can you get him to give me some pointers, i find nids now are an average army which wins due to underestimation :p

[Lord Inquisitor]

You could do a 30 man Death Company Squad all with jump packs and powerfists and I believe that they alone are 1650 points.

[Herald of Nurgle]

You could do a 30 man Death Company Squad all with jump packs and powerfists and I believe that they alone are 1650 points.
Anyone who does that is an even bigger noob than I am.

[Lord Azaghul]

You could do a 30 man Death Company Squad all with jump packs and powerfists and I believe that they alone are 1650 points.

And all IG players everywhere smiled.:D

[LoverzCry]

Henostly, (now mind you I've only glanced at the copy in-store) its structure reminds me alot of my Eldar codex, and I can bring out a tough list with little to no cheese at pretty much any point level. IF my assumtions are correct, then it can similarly be contestable. Either way, I'm buying the codex! : P Librarian Dreds, Dreds as troops, and Land Raiders that can Deep Strike? I don't even field Land Raiders, but that's just sexy.

[beeny13]

i think that blood angels can make some of the best low model armies. especially since some of their units can be half khorne/half nurgle

you could get away with converting some assault on black reach kits, then adding in some kits and ic's

sanguinor
dante

2 sanguinary priests-1 with jump pack
5 terminators
librarian dreadnought

tactical squad in a rhino
sanguinary guard

and it is 1500 with a few upgrades, and dirt cheap- half an aobr, dante, sanguinor, sang guard, razorback, command squad, jump packs- should run under 200, so close to 150 from online retailers
and the army wouldn't be too bad on the table