Thursday, April 15, 2010

Blood Angels: Diversity, Restricted List

In my last article, Eriochrome noted my general trend towards 'spam' oriented lists. However, that does not necessarily indicate that Blood Angels (or any army for that matter) are only capable of hyper redundant designs in order to be competitive. For this post, I sat down for about 15 minutes and drew together a quick list using unit-based design restrictions...Lets examine the results of my little experiment shall we?


The Restrictions:
-List <= 2000pts
-The list cannot have more than 2 of the same unit selections (EG no more than 2 assault squads, rhinos, preds etc.) regardless of configuration.
-No Special Characters
-No more than 15 minutes design time.

The List: 2000pts

HQ: 125
[125] Librarian: Jump Pack, (The Blood Lance, The Sanguine Sword)

Elites: 490
[190] 1xFurioso Dreadnought (Librarian): Magna Grapple, (Wings of Sanguinius, The Blood Lance)
[190] 1xFurioso Dreadnought (Librarian): Magna Grapple, (Wings of Sanguinius, The Blood Lance)
[110] 2xSanguinary Priests: 1xCombi-Melta

Troops: 895
[255]6xDeath Company: 3xPower Weapon: Razorback: Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun
[230] 9xAssault Marines, 1xSergeant: 2xMeltaguns; Rhino
[230] 9xAssault Marines, 1xSergeant: 2xMeltaguns; Rhino
[180]9xTactical Marines, 1xSergeant: 1xMeltagun, 1xMissile Launcher, Melta Bombs

Fast: 0

Heavy: 490
[220] 4xDevastators, 1xSergeant: 4xMissile Launchers; Razorback: Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun
[135] 1xPredator: Autocannon, 2xLascannon Side Sponsons
[135] 1xPredator: Autocannon, 2xLascannon Side Sponsons

Stats:
5 Missile Launchers (static)
6 Lascannons (mobile)
2 Autocannons (mobile)
8 Melta Varients (mobile)
3 Power Weapons
3 Force Weapons
2 Predator Chassis
4 Rhino Chassis
30 Scoring Infantry (Min 3 units Max 6 units)
14 Non-Scoring Infantry
2 Dreadnoughts (Pyschic Wings)
16-19 Kill Points


Basic Tactics:
Without getting into too much detail, the tactical marines will combat squad with the Meltas using the Devs Razorback. The Devs are your backfield firebase, the Preds are able to maneuver (flanks if necessary), though are best kept at range from most enemies. Once within 12", the two dreads can potentially drop a melta, grapple and blood lance, possibly followed up by a S10 2D6 armor penetration or S6-7 Force weapon assault. Needless to say, they will probably be priority targets for the enemy. That's fine, let them be, pop smokes and move up. The Death Company are a potential high profile target, but their intended use is for follow up charges. They are best, by a large margin, on the charge making their power weapons S5 I5. The bare Priest will sit by the Devs (or can join an assault combat squad) while the melta priest is intended to join the Tactical Marines (or vice versa). The Librarian can be used to deepstrike in (and bloodlance) or follow up the marines.

Basic Analysis:
While this is obviously no optimized list, I feel that per its unnecessary restrictions, it is both very capable and relatively flexible. The lists weaknesses lie primarily in its inability to disperse target priority. For the most part, the opponent will be left with some fairly obvious targets. When said targets are eliminated (which isn't an overly daunting task to perform for some armies), the offensive capabilities against said armies will be significantly hindered. Being able to identify your key models versus any given opponent and then appropriately deploying/protecting them will allow this army to match wits with most competitive 2k lists. However, this is heavily reliant upon you, your opponent, your opponent's list and often times who goes first.


When I get the time, I will write a more comprehensive article on unit 'spam', its definition, pros and cons as well as a corresponding 'spam' alternative to this list with the same restrictions. In the meantime, what are your thoughts? Don't hesitate to comment!

2 comments:

  1. Now, don't I feel special. Post just for me. Where does the Librarian go? He seems like the only jump infantry. I am not one for suicide missions for 125 point IC but I guess that if people line up a nice tank line where the Blood Lance could crack a few tanks with 1 shot I might give it a try.

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  2. I agree, that the Librarian is a little out of place here, but he's essentially a sunk cost. Since you must take an HQ at a minimum of 100pts, theres no real way around making a semi awkward selection. You could play around with removing a Death company model in lieu of a Reclusiarch or captain...etc, but they also don't fit comfortably with the way this list would play.

    I'd say, you'll generally be using the librarian as follows: When moving up your tank/infantry line, sit him out of LOS behind your transports or in any walking squads. Alternatively, against any army with (as you noted) lined up tanks, then the deep striking 'sacrificial' blood lance has a high potential for causing significant collateral. 125 points is not much to sacrifice for harming a (or multiple) tanks. Most melta sacrifice squads run upwards of 125pts.

    The experiments not quite done, in the next article I'll compare it to a more 'spam' oriented list made under the same restrictions. Thanks for taking the time to comment :).

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