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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Herohammer: Blood Angels - Thoughts and Approaches



BLOOD ANGELS HEROHAMMER: THOUGHTS AND APPROACHES
BY AURETIOUS TAAK.

This is a long article. If you want to cite tl;dr, don't bother reading or trolling us Taak. I write alot, this is well known A lot is two words for crying out loud!. If you don't want to read the article then don't waste peoples time. To everyone else, enjoy the tricks and hopefully you'll start to look at codicies and 40k as a game on a tactical and strategical level much more elaborately and unexpectedly .... Things to throw your opponents off balance with. There's plenty of that in the article below in any case. Finally, before we get to the meat of it all, to those who said SW's could ONLY do Herohammer because they get TWM's for their characters, I'm here to say otherwise, and indeed BA's could well do it far more efficiently then SW's, unfortunately with not quite as few models but still less then 20 and no armour in sight at 1,750 points. Enjoy the article. All 5000+ words!

But first, a Problem for you.

BA codex.

You have a 3 model unit.

They all have majority Toughness 6 for shooting.

Do you know how?
Your answer is Mephiston has Majority Toughness 6 against shooting.

When you have a unit with 2 Toughnesses it's the highest toughness used for shooting.

Mephiston is Toughness 6. He isn't an independent character so he can't join units unfortunately, but other IC's can join him.

T4 character on foot or with Jump Pack and a T5 character on bike. Sanguinary Priests, Chaplains, or any of your HQ's except Mephy of course, are all independent characters, most fall into one of those T4 or T5 categories. You have 3 models making up the unit - 2 IC's+a unit model, all have differing toughnesses, the common toughness for shooting is thus 6.

Ever wanted to see Dante or the Sanguinor get Toughness 6 as they close in? This is how.

OR SO I THOUGHT... Phew! Didn't want to open that can of worms again :P.

UNTIL I FOUND THE RULE STATING THAT UNITS OF ONE CAN NEVER BE JOINED IF THEY AREN'T AN INDEPENDENT CHARACTER. Which is a shame because a) I was 99.99% it was legit and B) because the next few paragrapghs which were originally written don't apply directly anymore, rather Mephiston is used alongside the other units and it's just as nasty, well slightly less so but still just as scary for the opponent. But the key point here and one which will echo through this article is that of mixed toughness units increasing survivability of lesser toughness models and units. Whilst it can't be achieved with Mephiston, it can be achieved in other ways, namely with Biker Independent Characters joining other units for Majority Toughness 5.

There are issues on movement of course and it is to move at the speed of the slowest moving model, so you need to either be outside of psychic defenses to have Mephy keep up with the JP/Biker guys and thus keep a 12" move happening or kill it off so that Wings can be cast unhindered. The limitation is the unit of 3 fights as one but that sort of potency where you have a blood chalice (and with the new FAQ where if the Blood Chalice bearer is killed before you strike in initiative order then you don't get the benefits of FnP or FC) and good positioning can see to helping keep that Sang Priest alive as Mephy goes nuts alongside.

Originally I thought Mephy was an IC, then he could join a unit with a Techmarine (T4 or 5) a servitor (T3) and another T4 or T5 character (the opposite to the techy) thus getting 4 models, many ablative wounds for Mephy and HQ and a funnily awesome unit verse shooting. Alas, this is not the case, though a Servitor, Marine and biker is still Majority Toughness of 5 verse shooting despite only 1 of the 3 being T5. This is an important distinction and one we'll come back to later on as it helps make the army work well just as it did with the SW Herohammer list (where Grimnar and Njal joined the 3 WG Bikers). :)

Of course, running an Epistolary Librarian with Mephy and another character as well then gets you insanely awesome combinations. It's hard to decide on it but either Sanguinor or an Epistolary would be a good pairing with Mephiston as the other HQ choice. Sanguinor definitely boosts Mephy's attacks by 1 each turn he is within 6", but an Epsitolary unleashing might of heroes is tempting. Might of Heroes, Wings of Sanguinius, TDA+SS+Epistolary upgrades, Mephiston and then a Chaplain on Bike would be a formidable unit with enough high armour saves, wounds and invulnerable saves to be a nuisance. You just need to make sure a Sanguinary priest is nearby for FC+FnP to be added to the unit (the unit being the Epistolary and the Chaplain, though the Sanguinary priest could also join so long as 2 of the 3 models are on bikes to keep that T5 against shooting for the unit). The Sang Priest doesn't need to charge to get the bonuses to the unit according to the FAQ, just stay within 6" at the time the FC bonus or FnP bonus would be used. So we have 4 models in this build.

Combo 1:

HQ 1: Mephiston - 250pts
HQ 2: Librarian, Epistolary, TDA, SS, FW, Might of Heroes, Wings of Sanguinius - 195
Elites 1: Chaplain, Bike, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Power Fist, MB's - 155pts

Elites 2: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Lightning Claw, Hand Flamer - 110pts

710pts

Pretty solid so far towards the Herohammer side of things.

Now, what if we went the other route and took the Sanguinor instead of the Epsitolary?

This is interesting as we can tool the rest of the force to make sure we can predict where that Sgt upgrade goes - onto the Assault Marine Sgt with the SS. BA's suffer from lack of Troop based invulnerable saves, a key thing of note with the Space Wolf Herohammer where the troops can take anything and come out the other side without a scratch. The only SS for troops we can get is on the Vet Sgt in the Assault Squad, even adding Dante doesn't unlock SS's on troops as Sanguinary Guard can't take SS's. So taking choices with no Vet Sgt's or Sgts in the rest of the force would be a guiding aim here, meaning DC for the second Troops unit, which is an issue itself as you then have 1 scoring unit. The scoring units took ALOT of firepower in Space Wolf Herohammer which many people didn't recognise when I explained about how well the TWL's did destroying the enemy. If they weren't scoring and didn't have that resilience to everything then they would have been ignored and the TWL's as I had feared, would have been torrented to death first. I digress a little, so lets look at how Blood Angels Herohammer might work.

IT'S ALL ABOUT FLEXIBILITY AND UTILITY OF ROLES.

More so then Space Wolves, the BA's have ALOT of special rules Seriously. Two words.. Someone stated that Herohammer only works for Space Wolves because of their access to TW's and massed HQ choices/heroes. However, this is a glancing, misunderstood perception. SW's worked because there are more tricks with the majority of rules interaction, unit choices available and resilience plus ability to take on all comers no matter what in ALL of the choices run. BA's are different. You need to approach the force differently, recognising that there are very few widespread Invulnerable saves across the army so the resilience isn't there, and whilst people will cite FnP from Blood Chalices coupled with FC as an equaliser, FnP means nothing against all the anti-tank/MC firepower and all the PW's/LC's/PF's et al in the world. FnP is NOT a factor, it is a bonus in this army not to be relied upon. The other army rules need to be looked at and considered. Moreover, BA Herohammer is truely a finesse army because of the wide variety of choices available and the rules interactions there. The only 2 staples in my own forces from initial analysis is a 5 man assault squad with JP's and a SS on the Veteran Sgt as well as Mephiston. The other HQ choice then governs a large part of the rest of the army and indeed the Elites choices which could be massed Sanguinary Priests could also be 3 Sang Priests and 2 Chaplains, or indeed NO Sanguinary Priests and instead 3 Furioso Librarians coupled with Mephiston and an Epistolary Librarian - 5 Psykers will get psychic powers off, but also present other difficulties and other considerations. This leads to one conclusion:

BLOOD ANGELS HEROHAMMER IS A CLUSTER:cuss OF RULES INTERACTIONS AND MULTIPLICITY OF DESIGN LAYERS WITHIN THE SAME ARMY. IT IS FINESSE EMBODIED AS NO TWO GAMES NEED BE ALIKE AND INDEED ADAPTING TO EACH OPPONENT IS ONE OF THE STRONG POINTS OF THE ARMY WITH BA'S.

Thus, difficulty in running a solid list because each list has advantages and disadvantages to it...

Lets jump back to where we went off on a tangent and look at The Sanguinor as an addition. Here we get a 3 wound Eternal Warrior combat beasty that also boosts our Veteran Sgt making him far better in combat and also increasing his own wounds by 1 to 2 making that Sgt very valuable. He has Descent of Angels and so too does our assault squad, a 2+/3++ and FC giving him 5 str 6 I 7 attacks on the charge, with a Sang Priest nearby he also benefits from FnP to boot but in essence you have between the Sanguinor and Mephiston a massive combat threat and resilience which cannot be ignored. Also boosting the Sanguinor to T5 verse shooting thanks to a Biker friend see's some serious bang for your buck and as you also are great at killing off one enemy HQ unit (the whole unit mind not just the character in that unit) with Mr. Sanguinor, he brings alot of awesome to the list and options to split to the Assault Squad for a DS move that is quite interesting. Again, sticking a Chaplain instead of a Sanguinary Priest into the mix is an interesting option though with the extra wounds and increased resilience the Sanguinor brings as well as the Glaive encarmine coupled with high attacks/str, attaching a Sanguinary Priest on Bike to the unit makes for a very solid addition to the unit as it is unlikely the Sanguinary Priest will be killed before Mephy (alongside Sangy) and Sangy can kill off everything in range of the Sang Priest so FnP can get through (besides, the Sang Priest is T 5 in combat with that bike of his so is resilient still).

Dante is an interesting choice as he brings a de-buff to an enemy character which can be vital with such an army as herohammer. He has a 2+/4++, makes his DoA's brilliant and non-scatterable and adds some interesting options to the mix. Sanguinary Guard as troops is cool, but with no Invulnerable saves available to anyone I think the Death Company is a better secondary choice especially as we can pack in the great choice of Lemartes Guardian of the Lost to boot. Whilst not an IC, packing in enough Sanguinary Priests on Bikes means we can join into the DC or even the Assault marines to give them a T of 5 verse shooting and against krak missiles which will surely land on the Sang Priests the grunts take it instead...I digress, Dante brings options and rules which can benefit the build nicely. It's a real shame I can't run 4 HQ's like I can with SW's else it'd be Mephiston, Sanguinor, Dante and an Epistolary Librarian in terminator armour...

Astorath the Grim doesn't bring too much to this style of army. Sure he messes up peoples invulnerable saves, but he is basically a glorified reclusiarch with str 6 attacks base and the shadow of the primarch rule doesn't effect the army enough to make much difference in swaying him to the army. Chapter Master Gabriel Seth doesn't add any rules to the army as a whole, he can hurt light infantry nicely but isn't worth the cost in such an army. Captain Tyco is interesting especially his Death Comapny Version. We've enough IC's floating around that Ld 10 to the army isn't huge so the DC version is much more appealing. A strong statline is nice and relentless with his special issue ammo'ed boltgun can be useful (Rage+Bolters = not getting dragged around the field by sacrificial bait units - can't charge something you didn't shoot so that 24" relentless bolter is golden, good thing the DC can take Bolters also as options!). The only downside is his relatively low Initiative compared to some of the other choices in the list but he has that invulnerable save which is much sort after in the army...I feel that The Sanguinor, Dante or the Epistolary bring more to the army though as a whole. The Reclusiarch and Captain are done better in named characters so I'm not really interested in them.

Elites are harder. It is very tempting to run 2 Chaplains and 3 Sanguinary Priests rather then 6 Sanguinary priests (or there abouts) and 1 Chaplain. The Invulnerable save as well as the bonuses to the combat effectiveness of the army is highly appealing and more, the 2nd wound makes for a very solid addition especially as the option exists for terminator armour so as you have a 2+/4++ on the chappy, or a Bike/JP to add flexibility to other units and still maintain the speed of the army as a whole. Shooting isn't really a focus for the force but combat is so whilst a crozius+ccw or equiv in pistol form is nice a Powerfist also has options against bigger threats as well and the flexibility of Crozius at I 4 or 5 and str 4 or 5, or Powerfist at str 8 or 9 is very useful as well.

The final thoughts and ideas here to help the army stand a chance against everything is to capitalise on the speed options of the force alongside the much smaller elite size of it and to run a trio of Storm Raven Gunships. They aren't the most effective things around per point but they do bring more options to each unit and how to run the army and further complicates how the force can play on the field. The downside here is that anti-tank weapons will target them but with lesser resilience to the troops and overall army because of less invulnerable saves, having these as distractions in addition to transport options make them a force multiplier that is appealing to pack in.

So where are we in points? Lets go with the Sanguinor and Mephiston as the primary list:

HQ 1: Mephiston, Lord of Death - 250pts
Artificer Armour, Plasma Pistol, Force Sword, Frag & Krak Grenades, Psychic Hood, The Sanguine Sword, Unleash Rage, Wings of Sanguinius

HQ 2: The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host - 275pts
Artificer Armour, Glaive Encarmine, Frag & Krak Grenades, Jump Pack

525 HQ

Elites 1: Chaplain, Bike, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Power Fist, MB's - 155pts

Elites 2: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Lightning Claw, Hand Flamer, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 115pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Jump Pack, Lightning Claw, Hand Flamer, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 105pts
Brother Corbulo, PA, Bolt Pistol, Heaven's Teeth, Frag & Krak Grenades, The Red Grail - 105pts

Elites 3: Chaplain, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Powerfist, Melta-Bombs, Jump Pack - 145pts

625 Elites
1150 so far

Troops 1: 5 Assault Marines - 145pts
Jump Pack, Frag & Krak Grenades, PA, BP+CCW
incl. 1 Marine with CCW+Flamer, 1 Sgt with Storm Shield, Lightning Claw, Melta-Bombs

Troops 2: 3 Death Company - 195pts
Jump Packs, PA, Frag & Krak Grenades
incl. 1 Thunder Hammer+Boltgun, 1 Power Weapon+Bolt Pistol, 1 Thunder Hammer+Power Weapon
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
Jump Pack, PA, Rosarius, Bolt Pistol+The Blood Crozius, Frag & Krak Grenades - 150pts

490 Troops
1640pts so far

This brings us to: 1,640pts of 1,750pts...with 16 models and 110pts to mess with which, to be honest is a bit frustrating as it is quite hard to decide what to run, we've not enough points to bring in Storm Ravens, and whilst we cand rop some upgrades here and there, the army currently has alot of flexibility inbuilt to it. Whilst increasing DC numbers seems logical for minimal bodies added (we really want to keep below 20 models at 1,750pts else it isn't quite herohammer anymore and is borderline a DoA Sanguinary Guard force in size - which we don't want) ditching this chaplain (Elites 3: Chaplain, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Powerfist, Melta-Bombs, Jump Pack - 145pts) for 145pts gets us 255pts to mess with. We have 2 models in the force currently on bikes - a Chaplain and a Sanguinary Priest. Lets mess with this more. With the points trimmed we now have 255pts which is exactly enough to run 3 Sanguinary Priests on Bikes with no other upgrades. This gets us ablative wounds but ablative wounds which aren't working as hard as they should be. We really want them to be a threat to the enemy so that means at least Melta-bombs but preferably a LC or PW as well...but we can't trim points easily for this. But we at least have 5 bikers including a chaplain on bike which when attached to the Assault marines gets a definite FnP/FC bubble but also T5 verse shooting and a full 10 models and 12 wounds to the unit able to move 12 inches and (move as slow as the slowest model in the unit - just gotta remember about bikes taking Dangerous Terrain tests whilst the Jump Packers will not as they move through difficult terrain - yep, like I said, cluster:cuss of rules and options!) assault 6" it's quite solid and very interesting. At the very least the extra 3 base attacks on the biker Sanguinary Priests are useful. Having just realised the awesomeness of combined movements of Bikers and Assault Marines in the same unit (gotta love Independent character shannanigans) yet wanting to keep the flexibility of the Mephiston/Sanguinor/and either Sanguinary Priest or Chaplain on Bike T6 verse shooting super HQ Unit , I now am going to upgrade the Jump Pack Sanguinary Priest to a Biker Sanguinary Priest by ditching his Hand Flamer, and to get MB's on the 3 new Priests we'll ditch the LC on the other Sanguinary Priest. The army thus looks like this:


BLOOD ANGELS HEROHAMMER 1: MEPHY-SANG

HQ 1: Mephiston, Lord of Death - 250pts
Artificer Armour, Plasma Pistol, Force Sword, Frag & Krak Grenades, Psychic Hood, The Sanguine Sword, Unleash Rage, Wings of Sanguinius

HQ 2: The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host - 275pts
Artificer Armour, Glaive Encarmine, Frag & Krak Grenades, Jump Pack

525 HQ

Elites 1: Chaplain, Bike, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Power Fist, MB's - 155pts

Elites 2: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Lightning Claw, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 105pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Hand Flamer, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 100pts
Brother Corbulo, PA, Bolt Pistol, Heaven's Teeth, Frag & Krak Grenades, The Red Grail - 105pts

Elites 3: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 90pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 90pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 90pts

735pts Elites (1260 so far)

Troops 1: 5 Assault Marines - 145pts
Jump Pack, Frag & Krak Grenades, PA, BP+CCW
incl. 1 Marine with CCW+Flamer, 1 Sgt with Storm Shield, Lightning Claw, Melta-Bombs

Troops 2: 3 Death Company - 195pts
Jump Packs, PA, Frag & Krak Grenades
incl. 1 Thunder Hammer+Boltgun, 1 Power Weapon+Bolt Pistol, 1 Thunder Hammer+Power Weapon
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
Jump Pack, PA, Rosarius, Bolt Pistol+The Blood Crozius, Frag & Krak Grenades - 150pts

490 Troops (1750 so far)

Total = 1,750pts
Models = 18
Kill Points = 11

The odd fellow out in terms of speed is Corbulo, but he brings a very valuable re-roll to the army whenever I want whilst he is alive and isn't half bad with str 6 rending attacks on the charge and a 2+ FnP save and the PA. 2 Wounds means he can buff a unit such as the Death Company or even the Assault Marine unit, though that would slow them down considerably. The interesting thing about the list is that there are so many options in how to play the army. It packs in 11 Kill Points (Mephiston, Sanguinor, 6 Sanguinary Priests, Chaplain, DC incl Lemartes {Lemartes isn't an IC} and the assault squad) so isn't as strong in Kill point denial as the Space Wolf Herohammer List was, however, it brings in the ability to engage with relative ease 10 pieces of armour with Melta-Bombs or just down right plain high strength attacks. Mephiston running at str 10 is your obvious solution to units such as Thunderwolf Cavalry but the army as a whole excels in combat with high initiative and strength attacks and whilst not everyone can ignore armour saves either outright or via rending like the Space Wolf Version can the sheer volume of attacks and unit tricks and flexibility is quite staggering.

Get The Sanguinor on that biker/Assault marine unit alongside the 5 Biker Sanguinary priests and the Biker Chaplain and you have a super unit that is 12 models strong, gains FnP and FC as standard and packs in on the charge 6 str 6 I 7 PW attacks by the Sanguinor, 4 I5 str 5 PW or 4 I1 str 9 PF attacks by the chaplain, 4 I5 str 5 LC attacks from a Sanguinary Priest, 5 I6 str 5 LC attacks by the Assault Squad Sgt and between the remaining Sanguinary Priests and Assault marines a grand total of 31 I5 str 5 attacks...with 16 wounds in that squad set up, a number of mixed saves and toughnesses to boot it is quite a dominant threat. Remember the Sanguinor adds an extra attack to all units within 6" not including himself so this mega squad on the charge is going to mess up pretty much anything it goes against. Oh yeah, and there's a chaplain in here and he is making this whole unit fearless and also re-rolling their failed to hit rolls as well, those Lightning Claws are loving the re-rolls to hit and the re-rolls to wound, not to mention the Sanguinor with his str 6 glaive encarmine attacks...meanwhile Mephiston is flying about doing his thing and having people over-react (not undeserved of course) and so are the Death Company. We're gonna assume that Brother Corbulo is getting into the Sacramental Blood Wine at this point - He is The Man and knows how to Party hard! The main strength here though is that your single scoring unit is now a bitch to kill because of mixed armour, mixed wounds, and mixed toughnesses within the unit as a whole, without losing it's mobility for the most part.

Other ways to run the list is a Straight Assault Squad; the DC squad; Mephy, The Sanguinor and a Biker Priest as two units working right next to each other in effect as one; and then 4 Biker Sanguinary Priests and the Biker Chaplain as another unit with Corbulo chilling till his re-roll is used and doing what he does best which isn't as much as the rest of the army.

Then there are even more combinations and tricks to unleash. Especially with the flexibility of moving in a big ass unit then deciding at the end of the movement phase that no, the IC's of which in the above mega-unit you have a massive 7...are going to split off and multi-charge the crap out of units all over the shop (and shoot them, they have biker bolters after all!) or split off at the beginning of the turn to present a bugger load of individual turbo boosting targets which are now providing cover for the assault marines instead of a transparent Toughness increase against shooting. My mind is starting to boggle and I have another 1750pt tournament army I need to go mess with at a tournament...but then again,we get the options when we run Dante instead of The Sanguinor.


BLOOD ANGELS HEROHAMMER 2: DEATH OPENS MINT*

*Anagrams are fun, especially anagrams for Mephiston Dante! :D

HQ 1: Mephiston, Lord of Death - 250pts
Artificer Armour, Plasma Pistol, Force Sword, Frag & Krak Grenades, Psychic Hood, The Sanguine Sword, Unleash Rage, Wings of Sanguinius

HQ 2: Commander Dante - 225pts
Artificer Armour, Iron Halo, Death Mask of Sanguinius, The Axe Mortalis, Infernus Pistol, Jump Pack, Frag & Krak Grenades

475 HQ

Elites 1: Chaplain, Bike, PA+Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Power Fist, MB's - 155pts

Elites 2: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Lightning Claw, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 105pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Jump Pack, Infernous Pistol, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 95pts
Brother Corbulo, PA, Bolt Pistol, Heaven's Teeth, Frag & Krak Grenades, The Red Grail - 105pts

Elites 3: Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Lightning Claw, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 105pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Hand Flamer, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 100pts
Sanguinary Priest, PA, Bike, Hand Flamer, Melta-Bombs, Chalice of Blood - 100pts

765pts Elites (1240 so far)

Troops 1: 5 Assault Marines - 165pts
Jump Pack, Frag & Krak Grenades, PA, BP+CCW
incl. 1 Marine with CCW+Meltagun, 1 Sgt with Storm Shield, Thunderhammer

Troops 2: 3 Death Company - 195pts
Jump Packs, PA, Frag & Krak Grenades
incl. 1 Thunder Hammer+Boltgun, 1 Power Weapon+Bolt Pistol, 1 Thunder Hammer+Power Weapon
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
Jump Pack, PA, Rosarius, Bolt Pistol+The Blood Crozius, Frag & Krak Grenades - 150pts

515 Troops (1750 so far)

Total = 1,750pts
Models = 18
Kill Points = 11

There are some key points we've changed to reflect the bonus's that Dante adds to the force which the Sanguinor doesn't and which Dante takes away from the Sanguinor force. The obvious change is the Assault marine Sgt. His LC has been changed for a TH because his I is less and the TH will be vital against higher toughness opponents where the Sanguinor was fighting in the first list but which Dante struggles against. The Flamer has been replaced with a Meltagun and the hand flamer Sanguinary priest now totes an infernous pistol and Jump Pack so as Dante, the Sang Priest and the Assault Marine unit can Deep Strike in as a melta drop. It's a different approach, but one which turbo boosting Sanguinary Priests and Chaplains may be able to then join at the end of their movement to T5 the unit or at the least add ablative wounds with mixed cover saves to the unit for added protection against AP 3 or less firepower (I am pretty sure you can do this, I might be wrong, it is getting rather late now... past 4am dang!). Another LC on a Sang priest Biker and 2 Hand Flamers with slight adjustments see's a close resemblance to the first list (Mephy Sang!) but allowing more synergy with Dante as oposed to the synergy the Sanguinor brought to the table. The one less biker Sang Priest is a bit of a blow if we were to put all the bikers in with the Assault Marines and Dante as the Majority Toughness would be 4 until someone died...still with Hit and Run, that big unit can do quite alot of damage (less then the Sanguinors unit) and escape from a tarpit situation only to break it with a charge next turn.

Now the reason I favour Mephiston is because alot of people are afraid of him and will direct portions of their force into taking care of him. It's justified because he is a right terror even without his psychic powers once he hits combat he is as good as most Monstrous Creatures out there. Indeed with Fleet, even without Wings going off he is faster to combat then alot of foot only modles in the game and has more wounds and better armour then many also, though he costs a fair wack. An Epistolary with Bike or JP or TDA & SS and Sanguine Sword/Might of Heroes is great, but at 2 wounds only and without the epic base stats, just doesn't cut it.

Another option that could be interesting and require a different list again is a Sanguinor/Dante army instead. You'd lose your psychic defenses but would gain an interesting mix of characters and powers. Ditching the massed Sanguinary priests in favour of a point blank Descent of Angels list with 3 Chaplains with Jump Packs, Dante and an Honour Guard maxing Storm Shields and tricking out coupled with The Sanguinor in the Assault Marines alongside the Death Company and Lemartes again seeing the Assault Marine Sgt being the only Sgt in the army and thus knowing he'll get buffed for his LC+SS build. Sanguinor/Assault Marines have Descent of Angels, whilst The Honour Guard don't but DSante just instant drops them wherever he feels smack bang on target every time whilst the Death company still do their things. It'd be a stronger army in terms of invulnerable saves across the board, but would it be enough to stand a chance at even a comp tournament let alone a non-comp tourney? It depends on many things.

Blood Angels can do Herohammer. It's harder to do then Space Wolves due to the lack of invulnerable saves and larger number of models required which whilst under the effects of FnP do not have the survivability of the Space Wolf Herohammer List I wrote and ran at Cryx Cup so successfully. However, I am confident that with enough understanding, at the least the Mephy-Sang BA Herohammer list 1 could work quite solidly.

All the best,

Auretious Taak.

There are too many grammatical errors and spelling fixes to be made with this article...; just roll with them.

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