Well, that's because I'm back, internet. Please, take the necessary time to compose yourselves, dispose of your used tissues and maybe change clothes. I understand, I'm kind of a big deal.
Now that I've got you enthralled, I'm going to run an army concept by you. Like all things beautiful in this world, it came from Chatbawks.
Blood Drop is a Blood Angels build (surprise, surprise) making good use of both Drop Pods (get it, Blood Drop, har har) and Descent of Angels. Normally, I wouldn't be a fan of mixing them (neither is the Red Cross) as they both promote different types (more blood puns, too rich!) of armies. Drop Pod forces rely on a huge application of pressure early on to hit the enemy fast and keep doing it before his wounds can close. DoA armies focus more on reliably getting everything in on turns 2 and 3, arriving with a good deal of precision and using their built-in mobility to jump around the board causing a ruckus. They don't get along too well because Drop armies need to be heavy in their first wave, while DoA armies like being balanced.
Here's where the magic happens. What if we could still create a strong initial drop, turn 1 disruption and application of pressure and reliably reinforce it over the next 2 turns to keep momentum in our favor? I think the Blood Drop can do just that.
So, time for list-a-ma-jiggies.
First off, we need a good Drop Pod set up. You should almost always go for an odd number of Pods to maximize your first wave. 3 is too few and I fear 7 is too much to get anything else in the list, so let's try 5. The 3 Pods coming will feature Dreadnoughts, smashy smashy Dreadnoughts. Furiosos are the obvious pick since they're cheap, durable and flexible. Librarians are also an option, so let's keep them in mind. 3 of them with Magna-Grapples (more disruption and compensating for lack of speed) in Pods will be 195 apiece for a total of 555.
We also need to fill up 2 more Drop Pods. Typically, the second wave of Pods will feature scoring units to grab objectives (if you don't pick Scouts) or units to reinforce the initial drop. Since we're taking Assault Squads to fill both roles, we can cheat a bit by grabbing Devastators. They can deploy on the board to start, which fills a nice hole that most Drop Pod armies have, namely long range fire and consistent suppression. 2 units of 5 with 4 Missile Launchers and Drop Pods are only 165 apiece for 330 total.
So, we've only spent 885 on the Pods, about half of our army. Not too shabby, eh?
Now we need the DoA element. The standard 3 10-man squads of Assault Marines should serve as a good jumping off point (more puns!). 10 dudes, 2 meltas and a powerfist weighs in at 235, 3 squads makes up 705. That's melta, scoring and numbers.
For your HQ, a Librarian is a solid pick for a cheap and versatile utility character. Shield of Sanguinius would be handy for the Dreads, and Lance is always a solid anti-castle. Alternatively, since we're relying on Assault Marines to perform follow up, Unleash Rage could definitely help give them the edge in assaults. 125 points well spent.
So now we're up to 1715, a good chunk left for shiny stuff.
The obvious addition to any DoA army to Sanguinary Priests. They provide so much utility you'd be crazy to leave them out. However, all of our Elites slots are full. So, we have some options. We can either pick up an Honor Guard squad, which gives us more melta, more bodies and that awesome bubble or swap a Furioso for a vanilla Dreadnought and buy Priests normally. The former will limit us to 1 Blood Chalice bubble, limiting our threat ranges, forcing risky choices (engaging multiple targets without FNP and FC) and gives our enemy an obvious lynchpin to focus on. The latter weakens or changes our initial drop (increased melta range in exchange for poor CC power and weaker armor), but provides us with more flexibility with blood bubbles and can help mitigate survivability issues with starting only 10 men on the board.
Let's try for the Priests. Swapping one Furioso with a vanilla Dread sporting a Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer saves us 35 points. 2 Sanguinary Priests with single Lightning Claws and jump packs cost 180 while a single Priest to babysit the Devastators tacks on 50 more. Total cost is 195, leaving us 90 points to play with.
These 90 points can really go anywhere, to infernus pistols for added melta saturation, extra armor for the Furiosos and so on. One big ticket item I'd like to get my hands on is Corbulo. This army can fall prey to some dodgy rolls, particularly on the initial drop, so his re-roll can definitely come in handy. Plus, his 2+ FNP can soak up a good chunk of non-ID wounds going into the Devastators, keeping them alive that much longer.
So, this is my initial list, thought I would hardly call it polished or definitive in any way.
HQ
Librarian w/ jump pack, Shield of Sanguinius, Unleash Rage
Elites
2x Furioso Dreadnoughts w/ Magna-Grapples, Heavy Flamers, Drop Pods
Corbulo and 2 Sanguinary Priests w/ jump packs, single lightning claws
Troops
3x 10 Assault Marines, 2 meltaguns, Sergeants w/ thunder hammers
Heavy Support
Dreadnought w/ Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
2x 5 Devastators w/ 4 Missile Launchers
Total - 2000
It all looks neat, but no list is without faults and there is always room for improvement. I'll be doing my own analysis as we go and I'll post it later. For now, let's see what you pinky-poos can come up with.
Toodles
PS - If this becomes the next netlist to destroy 40k, make sure you all know who is to blame for ruining the hobby (again). Me.
