Blood Angels - HG vs DC vs SG vs...etc (choosing an elite unit)

[TheComedian]

Hey guys and fellow BA players. I'm having trouble choosing an elite hard-hitting unit in my armies cuz I love all of them so much. That's what this post is for : deciding which load out of which squad is your favorite, how you play them and how effective they are for you. Also specify which kinda army you use them for (drop pod, mech, jumpy...)

I'm starting off as a Red tide/running-jump army but will look into a mech army later on after I build my 1000 point list and see what I like and how I like them played. Hopefully this shud be helpful to new and old players alike (but mainly new).

Again many things are factored in : transport, cost vs effectiveness, how they support your army, how the enemy reacts to them...etc... Please state why you think your choice is good and add some tactical pointers/general rules to follow on.

Thanks and ask any questions needed

[greektlake]

my furioso dread in drop pod with all the fix-ins has always worked great for me. fantastic at soaking up firepower and capable of handling most units i never leave home without him

[TheComedian]

Ya I'm dead set on getting e furioso, simply awesome looking and scary. Do you take blood talons or fist? What list do you play with your furioso?

[Intrepid]

I'm having trouble choosing an elite hard-hitting unit in my armies cuz I love all of them so much.

Do a full bike squad with attached Priest. If they turboboost on Turn 1 then they'll be in position to charge on Turn 2, when your jump infantry deepstrike. FNP and bike toughness are a winning combination against most troops, the squad's speed practically guarantees Furious Charge and their base sizes make it easier to keep the Priest out of base contact for the first round.

My own list is heavy-Drop Pod so it won't help you much. The best unit I can run is honor guard with packs and quad-plasma, to help against Monstrous Creatures.

[TheComedian]

O ya thanks. I dont LOVE the bikes but i havent played them and would give it a go. How does your HG perform? and how would you recommend i outfit them?

[Intrepid]

Well, the basic idea for the quad-plas jump HG is they come in on Turn 2 or 3, light up a transport (or MC) and then let some other unit make the charge. Odds are good the Priest will be close enough to buff the charging unit, which is important in BA Drop lists because our Pods' limited capacity renders attaching characters inefficient. Having up to eight plasma shots against any target in 24" is very useful but expect casualties. Bring 'em for the plasma, keep 'em for the Priest.

A different way to use HG is tooled for CC, attached Chaplain, in a Land Raider. This lets you measure range for both the Priest's and banner's benefits from a huge vehicle hull in addition to their CC prowess. Issue lightning claws for handling major threats or ccw's and Seth for horde crushing. (He's fun and useful but not game-changing.) Mephiston or a Furioso can follow the LR to advance in relative safety.

You can safely ignore Dreadnought Blood Talons. Maximum strength is almost always better.

[greektlake]

Ya I'm dead set on getting e furioso, simply awesome looking and scary. Do you take blood talons or fist? What list do you play with your furioso?

i take fists. since a majority of my army is assault based, i tend to rely on my furioso taking care of vehicles and punching people like Pedro Cantor (sp?) in the face for maximum good times. when i used to run a death company dread with talons i found that the times he wasn't shot up people would just counter assault him with their dread or equivalent and str. 6 becomes a very big gimp.

as for my list it have 2 jump pack squads, assault squad in razor back, tac squad, assault termies in stormraven, furioso in drop pod reclusiarch, librarian and priests to baby sit the assault squad and termies.

[TheComedian]

Thanks, i will keep that in mind depending on who i play. That list looks pretty fun wat are your thoughts on its performance and fun-ability are.

Anyone have any tips on Sanguinary Guard, Vanguard and the likes, or shud i stay away from them?

[greektlake]

i love playing with my army. it's not a uber powerful list but it does work well and the termies with storm raven really punch people hard in the brown eye. i havn't played with sanguinary guard or vanguard but from what i have seen they both have their uses though i think the vanguard are a better pick for BA because of the decent of angels rule and they don't take up a crowded elite slot. just don't go too crazy with their upgrades because they die like any other marine, just more expensively.

[nat01]

from my personal experiences,

honour guard- best use is as a gunplatform with either 4 melta or plasma, used to back up some cc squad which the priest helps to boost whilst the squad opens transports for them and kills the really choppy stuff. can be choppy but gets expensive. can do both but gets really really expensive....

sanguard- beautiful models, cheap for what they are but expensive as well, whilst they can shoulder off missiles and the like anything ap1/2/ powerweapony will slay them real quick and each loss really hurts the effectiveness of the unit. you really need to add a libarian to give them sheild for survivability and a priest to back it up... though against the right army they rock( and against the wrong sicssor/ paper...)

death co. - id say only if you were running a chaplin of one form or another, and never with jumppacks, always a veichle so you can control them.a few cc weapons help the squad but dont go wils as they will be shot to ribbons by any sensible player... a real nice unit is 10, 2 powerweapons, a hammer, lemartes all in a storm raven...

vanguad vets. i was determined to see this unit work well. trouble is to make proper use of heroic intervention(which if your not then dont use this unit look elsewhere) they need to be getting furious charge, which means playing them close to a priest or using astrorath, and if you can using the sanguinor to boost them futher. whilst interesting and fun for the occasional game their cost(you really need every model armed differently to play wounding shaniagan and to have the unit fit to assault whatever it is in range of) really they just didnt cut the mustard and never really managedto cause enough damage or holding back a unit long enough for them to be a game changer. never mind deepstrike mishaps and the difficulty of placing a unit that can scatter d6 inches when you need to be within 6 inches of whatever you want to charge.

anyhows those were my findings. i made a unit of each of around the same points and subsituted them in everyso often to see what worked best for me. and to be honest i dont even have a real answer cept that you kinda do need one to atleast distract attantion away from the rest of your force. id prob just go blood talon dread as no it wont always work but the rep it gets when it does is enough to make my opponents sweat when it does hit the table...