My BA list, and why Tactical Squads matter

So, after hearing more and more about how the BAs are playing out, Im glad my lists is as follows:








HQ
125 Librarian with JumpPack

Troops
180 10 man Tactical Squad w./ Lascannon,
Flamer
180 5 man Assault Squad in Razorback w./ TL Lascannon; w./ Power Weapon, Meltagun
180 5 man Assault Squad in Razorback w./ TL Lascannon; w./ Power Weapon, Meltagun
125 5 man Assault Squad w./ Jump Packs, Powerfist

Elite
65 Sang Priest w./ Power Weapon
65 Sang Priest w./ Power Weapon

Heavy
160 Dreadnought w./ Assault Cannon & Heavy Flamer in Drop Pod
135 Predator - Lascannons

Fast Attack
145 Predator - Baal Ass Cannon, Bolters
145 Predator - Baal Ass Cannon, Bolters

It actually comes in to 1505, so hopefully my opponent will go with the flow.

Now, as far as the tactical squad is concerned, everyone say it at the same time... WHY??? Well, for one, I like the additional lascannon in my list. That isnt the reason for taking that squad though. If you read anything about the BAs online, youll likely hear that can be a little fragile and are a finesse army. Well, given im not the most finesse player I needed a rock hard unit to sit back and hold that ever important objective. In 2/3rds of the games in likely to play, this squad will be holding an objective, and because of that I feel confident in my ability to use the rest of my army to forge ahead and strike the enemy.

Your thoughts? I for one dont think ill be dropping my tactical squad. As for the dreadnought, I love that unit but Im not yet sold on it.

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Custom BA Librarian w./ Jump Pack

So, Ive made some more progress on the 1500 point BA, getting so so close to completing it, as I will soon be able to taste the defeat of any foe willing to challenge my generalship (duh duh duhhhhh).

So, as you can see I really wanted a jump pack librarian, yet GW makes no such model Im aware of. I decided to attempt to "scratch" build a BA librarian. No talk about him not being in blue armor thought (why are most Libs in Blue Armour?)... I did however try to use some green stuff to craft the physic hood (and cables running up the body), mold the BA and skull symbols on the knee pads (very easy to mold the BA blood drop, give it a try), and did a little hood work on the head as well. I need to do some custom paint work on the jump pack, but that will come later (perhaps use a Death Company Sprue jump pack)

This was also my first attempt at painting my power weapons with lightning. I love the way it turned out, but more on that later. Here is my second attempt:

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Brother Corbulo - And the reroll... Change game length

So, with all the goodies in the new BA codex, amongst all the golden armored jump troops and shock assault fast vehicles, lies one of the more important strategic assets in the game - Brother Corbulo.

So, its turn 6 and your up one objective in a tournament match, and your opponent rolls to continue onto turn 7... damn if the game would have ended here I would have won. Wait wait, what do we have here. Ill be using Corbulos ability to reroll any one die roll in the game. Ohh, you rolled and this time the game ends, wow, I just won... Ohh no, I just failed that leadership test with Mephiston because he isnt fearless. Ill go ahead and reroll that that 6...

So, with a little strategy as outlined above, I find that Corbulo bring something to the game no other character is able to (outside perhaps the SW HQ that can become a kill point), the ability to attempt to change the ever important game length. This is a very bizarre move by GW considering they claim to want to streamline the game. I noticed a number of things in the BA codex that seem to go counter to that philosophy. Continue to debate!

Also, feel free to click on an add for me, get me an extra 50 cents or so for my modeling fund :-)

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BA Scout Army = FUN FUN

With all of the RAS razorback spam list builds out there (and yes, it is the list I run too), I decided to try and craft a another competitive list which will be very different on the table top. It goes as follows:

HQ
Astorath the Black - He will grant any of my units furious charge on a 1-3 roll of the dice (as opposed to a 1).

Troops
6 man Assault Marine Squad - Power First and Melta Gun (accompany Astorath)
10 man Scout Squad - close combat blade and pistols, power first and combi melta sergeant
10 man Scout Squad - close combat blade and pistols, power first and combi melta sergeant
10 man Scout Squad - close combat blade and pistols, power first and combi melta sergeant
10 man Scout Squad - close combat blade and pistols, power first and combi melta sergeant

Fast
Baal Predator - Assault Cannon, Heavy bolters

Heavy
Predator - Lascannons/Autocannon
Predator - Lascannons/Autocannon

This list comes in around 1500 points or so, and includes up to 9 scoring units, of which 8 can infiltrate/scout. If your lucky with Astorath, your going to get furious charge for 4 or 5 or the scout units. This list wont be as "competitive" as some of the other builds out there, however It will be very different than anything else youve likely ever played, and will cause some chaos on the table top. Your opponent wont know how to defend against this... Give it a try sometime (im sure you can proxy in some marines for scouts to just give it a run, as im guessing you dont have 40 scouts).

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Blood Angels get cheap Devistators? other BA lameness

So, the more and more I absorb the BA codex, the more and more I find its advantages over the C:SM codex... As someone who converted to the BAs a few months back (yes, 4 months before the codex was released) I am begining to be a bit shocked at how strong the BA dex is. Now, Im not stating its overpowered, but I cant really find a weakness in the army... When I compare it to the C:SM, I know the C:SM has awesome special characters who change the dynamic flavor of the army, however I dont know what else it can bring against the BAs.

So, here are things I think should be changed in the BA dex:
The Devastators in the BA dex should NOT be cheaper than C:SM. BAs are an assault army and the C:SM are a shooty army, so why does this work?

BAs should NOT have sternguard veterans... They are one of the benefits to the C:SMs that is no longer unique.

The Furioso dreadnought should NOT be front armor 13. Thats the place of the ironclad, which is no longer "that" dreadnought. The furioso dreadnought also should not have "blood talons" either, they kinda lame in how good they can be... Give them lightning claw rules, fine, but the stacking attacks. You could take out a squad of marines a turn with that.

Here is what I think the C:SM has to offer over the BAs:
- Null Zone Librarian power
- Troops that can take a land raider (notice in the BA codex most units can take dedicated transports on pg. 90 only!)
- Special Characters which change the play style of the army
- Cheaper TH/SS Terminators

So, with that said, please leave your comments! I would love to hear what advantages the C:SM can bring that im just not thinking of (and dont say land speeder storms or thunderfire cannons).

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Tactica: Blood Angel Reserves & Finesse

As a new blood angels player (though a decent C:SM player), Ive began to really investigate the new BA codex and officially getting my hands on my copy yesterday (along with my death company box set, which will be used to spruce up the army - if your interested in bitz go on ebay now, more BA bitz than you can shake a stick at).

While Ive was able to glance over the BA codex to get my next purchases lined up, I hadn't yet fully thought through the meta game strategy behind my army. While my army consist of a few RAS teams (again, razorback assault squads - 5 man assault team with sang. priest with melta gun, 2 power weapons, twin linked lascannon on razorbac), a baal pred or two, a lascannon pred and so on, I now think more people are overlooking the finesse style you should play with when running the BAs.

The codex is certainly a stronger codex, and while I contend all new 5th edition codexs out are just about equal in strength (though that IG codex is still #1 in my book), most people see the BAs as a smash mouth army. I think there true power lies in having fast vehicles and there reserve abilities (though, having the ability to smash along with the finesse aspect is powerful). In my 1500 point army, im going to be using at least 2 twin linked lascannon razorbacks and 1 baal predator. While the razorback is a nible piece of armour, the fact all BA tanks are fast means ill have the ability to come off the board edge 12 inches and still be able to fire. So going forward, unless I like what I see, I will be holding my razorbacks in reserve if I dont get to go first. So I will hand my opponent nothing to shoot at except rock hard units so I dont get alpha striked to death.

Now, as for the ability to re-roll my failed reserve roll on my jump pack marines means I can be (for all intent) much more confident I can get that unit in round 2 if I want, or choose not to reroll and keep that squad aside for another turn. The power in this is depending on the battle field situation, Ill be in more control about how I want to dedicate my army (or not...). The ability to further influence my deep striking units when I choose is something I again see being overlooked as everyone goes for the deep striking land raiders and 15 man death company squads.

Ill continue to ponder these thoughts the next few days as deep striking hasnt been a preferred means of deployment before...

And finally, one last thing to note, why dont I see Blood Angels scout heavy bolters carrying the hellfire rounds??? Did I just miss it?

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How do you find 40k Tournaments?

As I continue to paint and play more and more, I have a question to the 40K community... How do you find out and register for local 40k tournaments? Tournament gaming is naturally the next step in my gaming career, yet I know so little about it. I know the local GW store host a game from time to time, however I know there has to be more out there... Outside of googling it and searching obscure forums, any central location that hosts all of this info? How do you find out about local (within 2 hours drive) 40k tournaments?

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Painted TH/SS Assault Termies for Sale

So, Im selling of some of my stock, so here are some TH/SS Termies for sale:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180486582603&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

I think they would go well as Death Company Termies or Ravenguard/Templars.

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