Ba
BA are my favorite army to play.
For a small army, I suggest the following
chaplain HQ
2 boxes of dc
2 boxes of tactical marines.
2 boxes of scouts (10 models total)
1 Assault squad
2 rhinos
1 Dev Squad
This will give you about 1300 points or so, depending on how you trick it out.
yes, we assault well. But we are not the best assault army.
We are space amrines and we shoot well. The black rage is not a reason not to take heavy weapons/fire support. You will rage on average once per game with each unit. I routinely field dev squads starting at 1200, and it's THE way to go for solid fire support.
We are the most mobile space amrines on the board due to black rage, grail (a relic), overcharged engines, and the ability to take many squads of jump pack marines.
In terms of assault, we assault better than regular space marine armies, so we need less, not more, to get the same punch they have.
In terms of shooting, black rage is a liability, so you will want to put a heavy weapon in every single squad that can take one. Example, I always take a 10 man cc scout squad with PF and ML. I don't use the ML too frequently, but the redundancy is helpful.
Also, you will want all of your infantry units to be able to do something when they rage. For Ba, that's easy, right? Sure. But if your dev squad rages, you're got about 250 points or so of army that's not doing anything useful. So I put a PF in my dev squad. I take a 10 man dev squad with 4 ML and a VS with PF and purity seals. This way, if I rage, I can reposition and/or put in a supporting assault.
Avoid the trap of building many small squads and putting VS's into them to maximize on the DC. The DC are pretty tough, but they go down to power weapons/fists just like anything else. You're best off considering them as a uber-infantry killing assault squad, and not plan on having a squad larger than about 8 - 10 models, including the chaplain.
Scouts are great, inexpensive assault units. I usually take 2 squads. 10 man. PF in each. ML in one.
In keeping with the redundancy theme, equipping your assault squads with MB would probably be best. This is again due to the rage and the effect on heavy weapons.
Since we tend to end up in assault, I suggest all of your squads be at least 8 man squads. 10 man is what I prefer to field.
tactical fire support squads are a big waste in a BA army. I'm referrinjg to the 6 man las plas team. effective, but not flexible enough. I put my firesupport infantry units in heavy support. For the cost of 2 6 man las plas teams, I get a 10 man dev squad with 4 ML. Much more powerful and cost-effective. My troops are COMPLETELY geared toward getting within 12" of the enemy. This doesn't mean I always charge my opponent (b/c we're not the best assautl army). It does mean the my tactical squads are large, in rhinos, and have a PF, a special, and a heavy weapon. I put those and scout squads (2 max) in my troop slots. Rhinos are very survivable if you build a combined arms force. combined arms is what space marines are best at. And it's the core principle of what SM do best, which is fire and maneuver.
BA are a marine army, so build upon your basic marine strengths first. Fire and maneuver. Make your whole army mobile, with the exception of your dev squads.
In keeping with the basic marine strength of shooting, take a special and a heavy weapon where ever you are able to. This makes your tactical squads truly tactical units that can do everything in an above-average way, but not as well as specialist units. They should be able to assault or shoot every single turn, and have the mobility to get where they need to go when they need to get there (rhinos).
As far as BA-specific abilities, this is where we gain a significant edge. I suggest you build you army such that it contains a slightly higher percentage of assault specialists than a regular space amrine army. For my own composition, I'd say that I put about 40 to 45 percent of my points in assault specialists. this includes cc scouts, assault squads, and HQ.
Put about 40 - 50 percent of your army, minimum, in troops. I suggest at least 2 rhino tactical squads and 2 large cc scout squads at least.
As far as assault marines go, I take one squad up to about 2500. But I also have the chappy/dc HQ and 2 scout squads. that's a good 40 dedicated assault units. with tactcial squads supporting, you can have alot more bodies should you need them for assault.
You'd make a mistake if you want with an all-out assault set up with masses of assault marines, cc scouts, and no tactical marines or other fire support. This isn't a very viable army against all comers. You'll get owned by nids/orcs and tougher cc armies like WE, SW, and BT.
Ba have a force organization similar to regular sm chapters, so use it. this is where we're dangerious. We can assault one turn, shoot the next, both very effectively, or go combined arms and do both for a turn.
Anyhow, I've played BA for a while and have about 400 games or so under my belt with this army. I've played anywhere from 1000 to 3000 point games, with about 2000 being typical. I've got about an 85 percent win rate, against experienced players for the most part. This isn't bragging. My point is, I go wit ha combined arms, mobile BA army that accentuates basic SM strengths. IN combination with BA-specific chapter abilities we have an army that's very hard to fight against.
Lastly, don't go crazy on your HQ. I generally have 1 HQ even in 2500 points army lists. You don't need it.
Any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I can post a few sample lists if you like to give you a feel of the combined-arms approach I'm referring to.