Sunday, December 8, 2013

Blood Angels + Inquisition "Skull Bash" DoA (and 2k List)

So the new Inquisition "Codex" has unleashed a whole realm of possibilities for Imperial Armies. Pieces of wargear such as the psyocculum and servo skulls open up some real potential, and at low costs. Looking through this I found a clever trick. Yes it is cheesy/beardy/unfair, but on a competitive circuit I think it can definitely give the Blood Angels a bit more bite, and bring back the glory of 5th edition descent of angels lists.

I call this the Skull Bash.

NOTE: I scanned through the BRB several times and couldn't find anything that makes the trick below illegal. If you have information counter to that PLEASE comment and let me know the error of my ways. Specifically give the section and page number in the rulebook.


Skull-
Take two inquisitors of your choosing. Equip them how you like, but you must MUST take MAXIMUM SERVO SKULLS. That is 6 skulls. For those of you who don't know, servo skulls subtract 1d6 from scatter for Deep Strike and Blasts w/in a 12" radius. Now Blood Angels have Descent of Angels which ALSO subtracts 1d6 from Deep Strike. So effectively you have six 24" circles where there is no scattering for Blood Angels.  The great part is only 3 are required to get full board coverage, so with all the overlapping coverage, it is nearly impossible for you opponent to move within 6" of more than 3 a turn, meaning you can have coverage to guarantee what is coming next.

Bash-
Now to maximize this-Heroic Intervention and Fast Vindicators. Mainly Heroic Intervention. Having a unit that can Assault the turn is arrives from deep strike is great. Being able to place the unit with 100% accuracy is brutal. Insanely so. This has the potential to make Blood Angel Vanguard Veterans one of the deadliest units in the game. The fast vindicators can add to this brutality as you end up with highly mobile Demolisher cannon blasts that can only scatter 2" stationary, which is a guaranteed hit essentially, or max of 6" otherwise, which is still AMAZING.

Spice up the whole mix with some other nasty Inquisition Tools and Astorath as your Warlord. Why Astorath- well making the Vanguard Vets furious assault 50% only adds to their undeniable lethality on the board.


Here is an example list I put together

Primary Detachment- Blood Angels
HQ- Astorath the Grim- 220
Elites- Sanguinary Priest (2)- 100
Troops- Scout Squad (10)- Sniper Rifles, Cammo Cloaks, Missile Launcher- 190
Troops- Scout Squad (10)- Sniper Rifles, Cammo Cloaks, Missile Launcher- 190
Fast Attack- Vanguard Veterans (5)- 5 x Power Weapons, Jump Packs- 225
Fast Attack- Vanguard Veterans (5)- 5 x Power Weapons, Jump Packs- 225
Fast Attack- Vanguard Veterans (5)- 4 x Power Weapons, Power Fist, Jump Packs- 235
Heavy Support- Vindicator- 145
Heavy Support- Vindicator- 145
Fortification- Aegis Defense Line- Quad Cannon- 100

Inquisitorial Detachment
HQ- Ordo Xenos Inquisitor- Power Armour, 3 x Servo Skulls, Conversion Beamer, Psyker, Force Sword- 117
HQ- Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor- Power Armour, 3 x Servo Skulls, Psyocculum, Liber Heresius, Psyker, Force Sword- 107

Pts: 1999 Scoring Units: 2-4 KPs:12-14

So the priests and inquisitors camp in the Scout Squads. Place the one with the Liber Heresius in the Aegis Line, as the Split Fire it can provide will be best suited there. Place the priest on the quad gun, which is really your only anti-flyer defense. The Psyocculum + Split Fire + Sniper can make the squad incredibly deadly against armies with heavy amounts of psykers, like Grey Knight and Eldar. With their psyker rule, I recommend Divination for the obvious reasons of boosting shooting in the sniper squads. Meanwhile the other inquisitor brings the conversion beamer to the army, adding some extra high range, high S fire power that is otherwise lacking.