Richard's Warhammer 40,000 List Building: Blood Angels Dread Bash

List Building

Hello! My name is Richard and I've decided to help contribute to Roll of the Dice by starting off with a bi-weekly list-building blog for Warhammer 40K. My aim is to help promote competitive, non-competitive, fluffy and outrageous lists that are not only fun, but will ensure you drive your enemies before you and hear the lamentations of their women...or hive minds, spirit stones, ect..

A brief introduction is order though! I've been playing Warhammer 40K since the age of sixteen, and having recently turned twenty eight, I can safely and grudgingly call myself a veteran. Thankfully I leave most of the crusty bitterness at the door and approach the hobby with optimism and enthusiasm. I have known Sean for several years and have had the privilege of gaming with him in as many formats as you can imagine. We participate in weekly table top role-playing sessions, sit down with card games once in a blue moon, and of course obsess over several different war games at any given time.

With the release of Warhammer 40K: 6th Edition, excitement has reached a feverish pitch across the net and I have decided to add in my voice to the net-building that helps form the meta. Not all of my posts will focus exclusively on specific 2000 pt lists, but rather provide tactics, strategy and advice about the new rule set and how to understand the game on a conceptual and tabletop level. Anyway, on to my very first list for Roll of the Dice!

2000 pts Blood Angles w/ Space Marine Detachment

1510 pts Blood Angels:

HQ - Reclusiarch - 160 pts

Terminator Armour

Elites - Furioso Dreadnought - 175 pts

Librarian w/ Psychic Powers: Wings of Sanguinius & Blood Lance

Elites - Furioso Dreadnought - 125 pts

Elites - Furioso Dreadnought - 125 pts

Troops - Death Company - 225 pts

10 Death Company w/ Powerfist

Troops - Death Company Dreadnought - 125 pts

Troops - Death Company Dreadnought - 125 pts

Heavy Support - Dreadnought - 125 pts

2 Twin-Linked Autocannons

Heavy Support - Dreadnought - 125 pts
2 Twin-Linked Autocannons

Heavy Support - Stormraven Gunship - 200 pts
Twin-Linked Multi-Melta, Twin-Linked Lascannon

490 pt Space Marine (Death Watch!) Detachment:

HQ - Master of the Forge - 120 pts

Conversion Beamer

Elites - Ironclad Dreadnought - 135 pts

Troops - Scout Squad - 100 pts

5 Scouts w/ 4 Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher & Camo Cloaks

Heavy Support - Ironclad Dreadnought - 135 pts

Thoughts & Summary: 

HQ - 2
Elites - 4
Troops - 4
Heavy Support - 4

So lets get down to business! First and foremost: Dreadnoughts and a lot of them. One of the reasons I created this list was out of nostalgic devotion to an old friend of mine who used to frequent a local Games Workshop with his all Dreadnought Blood Angels list. It wasn't necessarily the most competitive list but god damn was it fun to watch a tide of walking mechanical coffins inexorably march forward and slaughter all who stood before them. 

At first glance this may seem like a pretty outrageous list, but it'd be quite the fool who underestimates it. With nine dreadnoughts and a Stormtalon, you theoretically have the mech spam required to potentially cause target-priority issues, although with DC and a Reclusiarch riding in style in the Stormraven, a clever opponent will realize what's most likely going to hit them first and hardest.

The strength of this list is in the massive assault potential of 90% of this army, with minor backfield support in the form of two dakkadreads (the ones with two twin-linked autocannons for those wondering) and a rather douchey Conversion Beamer toting Techmarine and his 2+ cover-save scout-buddies hopefully in a fortified ruin. Is a conversion beamer, a missile launcher and two dakka dreads going to save you from mechanized/flier spam in return? Definitely no and that is this list's biggest weakness. But the idea is to crack transports/fliers with what limited firepower you have, and then allow your Dreadnoughts to feast on the blood (or crunchy metal) of what's inside.

The enemy either targets your Techmarine and dakkadreads at the danger of letting seven dreadnoughts (including a flying Librarian Dreadnought) reach their line. Or begins popping the Dreadnoughts rushing at them while the Stormraven flies forward on turn 2/3 and surgically removes a key element of the enemy army, as well as your fire support plinking away. Shield of Sanguinius for the Librarian Dreadnought may seem tempting, but having several of your dreadnoughts within close proximity to one another is too dangerous now with the return of full-strength attacks under templates. So best to spread out and use superior weight of numbers to intimidate and corral your opponent in killing fields where you can assault with several dreadnoughts and the DC at once. Just run/fleet every turn and use melta-guns on the Dreads when up close and personal.

For my own personal scale from Fluffy, then Fun to Competitive and Highly Competitive, I would rate this army a cross between fun and competitive. It's an army that you'll enjoy putting down on the table and catching your opponent off-guard!

p.s. If there are concerns over having a 2000 pt army when you're "supposed" to have 1999 pts, then take off the Terminator Armour on the Reclusiarch and either give him a power fist and a DC a power weapon, or just give another DC a power fist!

Later this week: IG & Orc AV14 Shenanigans!