My latest BA list, enjoy.
HQ:
Commander Dante: 225 pts (an absolute MUST have for this list because of his precision strike rule)
Librarian w/ jump pack: 125 pts (Unleash Rage, and Blood Lance/Might of Heroes)
ELITE:
Chaplain w/ jump pack: 125 pts
Sanguinary Priest w/ jump pack, power sword: 90 pts
TROOPS:
Sanguinary Guard w/ chapter banner: 230 pts
Assault Squad w/ 10 men, 2 meltaguns, powerfist, infernus pistol: 250 pts
FST ATTK:
Vanguard Veterans w/ 10 men, 9 lightning claws, sarge lightning claw (free!), jump packs: 450 pts
Vanguard Veterans w/ 5 men, jump packs, x5 storm shields, x3 power fists, sarge power fist (15 pt discount), meltabomb (x1): 355 pts
And thats the army. 34 marines, no transports.
Unit formation: Dante, Chaplain, and Priest go with the Guard. (I WOULD put the priest and/or chaplain with the claw vets, but that takes away heroic intervention) The Libby goes with the Assault Squad.
Here's how it works: Get your reserves in, re-rolling for them if you need to, and place them near your enemy. Place your SS/PF Vets first, placing them directly on top of a vehicle, meaning that if you scatter, you can still assault. Of course, if you get a direct hit, you can always shift your unit two inches as allowed by deep strike rules. This garuntees an assault on the first turn you come in, which is key. Second, place your other Vets group in a similar way. Either place them next to a group of soldiers that MUST die, or wait to kill whatever comes out of the vehicle (if its a transport). Either way, keep them fairly close to your other vets squad. Next, place your assault squad in a position that the libby can blood lance, and the meltas can get down and dirty. (also try and keep this close) Finally, place Dante's unit onto the board. As you may have noticed, this unit carries all the buffs. With your army (hopefully) fairly close together, this means that you will hopefully extend these buffs to most, if not all, of your army.
Comments: This army truly depends on getting a large portion of your reserves into the game at the same time. This is going to be the most dangerous time for your army, as things might not work out as well as you had hoped in this respect. Obviously, you will need to compensate when not all your units come in at the same time, but, take consolation in the knowledge that this is army is a close combat monster. Pop those transports any way you can, and then let the claw Vets multi-assault the juicy units inside. This army really does need to fear the template weapon however, so, make sure you eliminate as many of those as possible when you first come in.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Shooting vs Assault
As a Blood Angels player, you probably have a good idea of my thoughts on shooting and assault. Specifically, that shooting is an auxiliary to the assault. Allow me to explain how I think shooting and assaulting stack up.
Shooting
First of all, you need LOS for most shooty weapons. So if you are playing something with a LOT of terrain, a clever player can essentially neutralize enemy shooting (and their own in the process). Also, you can't shoot into an assault.
Second, shooting just doesn't get the job done. Assuming you have a group of 10 tactical marines across from some 'zerkers (also a 10 man squad). Your within 12", so you decide to rapidfire with your bolters. Standard 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound with a total of 16 shots (because your sarge and special weapons guys are being excluded from this example). In total, this gives you a 33% chance of wounding a model, and a 22% chance of killing a model. This translates to roughly 3-4 dead 'zerkers (on average). That's gonna be a lot more attacks coming back your way, because they are going to move up, shoot with boltpistols (likely killing a single model), and then assaulting. This gives them 4 attacks each on the charge, bringing the total attacks to either 24 or 28, depending on how many died. The tac squad is responding with a meager 10 attacks in return. Guess who wins that one...
Third, I haven't seen any special rules for shooting, other than markerlights or equivalent. Great, you can increase your ballistics skill. On the other hand, one of your models isn't shooting that turn.
Assaulting
Why does assaulting rule? First, you don't need LOS. You just move up, charge in, and get bloody.
Second, assault guarantees results for either you or your opponent. Eventually, one group of models will die, and the other group will seize the day. Unless you have some of the rare special rules that allow you to leave combat whenever, your models stay in combat until either you or your enemy is dead. Translation: results.
Third, assault has lots of different rules. First, offhand weapons, chapter banners, and assaulting each give a free attack. However, there is no way to increase the number of shots you take. Sweeping advances and fearless wounds also take a huge toll upon the enemy, something shooting isn't able to incorporate.
In conclusion: assaulting is far more dangerous than shooting. Shooting certainly has a place, (softening deathstar units, popping transports, avoiding getting locked in combat with dreads, etc) however, it doesn't have the mass killy capabilities of assaulting.
Shooting
First of all, you need LOS for most shooty weapons. So if you are playing something with a LOT of terrain, a clever player can essentially neutralize enemy shooting (and their own in the process). Also, you can't shoot into an assault.
Second, shooting just doesn't get the job done. Assuming you have a group of 10 tactical marines across from some 'zerkers (also a 10 man squad). Your within 12", so you decide to rapidfire with your bolters. Standard 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound with a total of 16 shots (because your sarge and special weapons guys are being excluded from this example). In total, this gives you a 33% chance of wounding a model, and a 22% chance of killing a model. This translates to roughly 3-4 dead 'zerkers (on average). That's gonna be a lot more attacks coming back your way, because they are going to move up, shoot with boltpistols (likely killing a single model), and then assaulting. This gives them 4 attacks each on the charge, bringing the total attacks to either 24 or 28, depending on how many died. The tac squad is responding with a meager 10 attacks in return. Guess who wins that one...
Third, I haven't seen any special rules for shooting, other than markerlights or equivalent. Great, you can increase your ballistics skill. On the other hand, one of your models isn't shooting that turn.
Assaulting
Why does assaulting rule? First, you don't need LOS. You just move up, charge in, and get bloody.
Second, assault guarantees results for either you or your opponent. Eventually, one group of models will die, and the other group will seize the day. Unless you have some of the rare special rules that allow you to leave combat whenever, your models stay in combat until either you or your enemy is dead. Translation: results.
Third, assault has lots of different rules. First, offhand weapons, chapter banners, and assaulting each give a free attack. However, there is no way to increase the number of shots you take. Sweeping advances and fearless wounds also take a huge toll upon the enemy, something shooting isn't able to incorporate.
In conclusion: assaulting is far more dangerous than shooting. Shooting certainly has a place, (softening deathstar units, popping transports, avoiding getting locked in combat with dreads, etc) however, it doesn't have the mass killy capabilities of assaulting.
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