Death From Above!

[Guest Article]

Deepstriking. A phenomenon returning to the tournament setting. And this just because last April the most awesome special rule for deepstriking came out and made it very competitive. Most of you will already know that I am talking about the ‘Descent of Angels’ special rule from the Blood Angels Codex. Some of you might think: “what makes this special rule so awesome then?” well before I explain that I will first talk about deepstriking (at tournaments) in general.

Deepstriking was rarely used, and especially at tournaments it was rare. Outflanking was more common. Some explanations for this is that deepstriking is risky and random business, which you don’t want at tournaments, because if you scatter 12” and then hit something (which is likely) you have to roll on the mishap table and got a 1/3 chance to lose the unit, 1/3 chance you opponent may place it and 1/3 chance it comes on later. Drop pods are an exception but therefore they are used way more. Another downside of deepstriking is that you can’t assault on the turn you deepstrike while most units able to deepstrike are combat oriented units. People don’t like the randomness and danger of deepstriking in tournaments while there are safer options.

This changed with the ‘Descent of Angels’ special rule, this rule says that you can re-roll unsuccessful reserve rolls and only scatter 1D6” which is a mayor difference. Blood Angels Vanguard Veterans do it even better and can even assault on the turn they deepstrike. Since you only scatter 1D6” deepstriking is now more reliable (given you play Blood Angels). An example of deepstriking with Blood Angels:

A 5-man assault (combat) squad with 2 meltaguns has successfully rolled for reserves and now comes in by deepstrike. You want to place them exactly 7” away from an enemy tank (some may it is impossible to be exactly 7”away but with some practice you can do it). If you’re 7” away and you do not scatter your 1st model will be 7” away but the ring you build around it is only 6” so you place the 2 meltas in front to get the 2D6 penetration. Now say you did scatter exactly 6” away from the tank, your middle man would be 13”away from it, but the meltas (again in front) 12” so they can still hit it, and being meltas they are still S8 Ap1, even with 1D6 penetration a high chance of penetrating and destroying the tank. But the exact opposite could happen too 6” directly to target, what you do then is build the ring away from the enemy unit, because you don’t want to get in 1” of it, then you have to roll on the mishap table, and since only 5 man are in the unit you can do that and now the meltas are 2” away and any infernus pistols you might have are also within halve range, giving you 3 melta shots with 2D6 penetration, say good-bye tank.

This is the big deal about the ‘Descent of Angels’ special rule. It is way more reliable and has a very nice tactic hidden in it. But there is another thing to deepstriking, your opponent doesn’t know what will happen until it happens and so he or she won’t be able to react until it’s too late. Deepstriking also gives a nice surprise.

On that note I am building an army with this tactic as it’s backbone. I am planning on going to tournaments with this list.

HQ:
Librarian - 190
- Jump Pack
- Infernus Pistol
- Unleash Rage
- Sanguine Sword
- Epistolary

Elite:
Sanguinary Priests - 315
- 3 Priests
- 3 Jump packs
- 3 Power weapons
- 3 Infernus Pistol

Troops:
Assault Squad 1 - 250
- 10 Assault Marines
- 2 Meltas
- Powerfist
- Infernus Pistol

Assault Squad 2 - 250
- 10 Assault Marines
- 2 Meltas
- Powerfist
- Infernus Pistol

Assault Squad 3 - 250
- 10 Assault Marines
- 2 Meltas
- Powerfist
- Infernus Pistol

Assault Squad 4 - 250
- 10 Assault Marines
- 2 Meltas
- Powerfist
- Infernus Pistol

Assault Squad 5 - 195

- 10 Assault Marines

- Flamer

1700 Points in total.

The idea behind this army is that it completely is in reserves at the beginning of the game, and as soon as they enter the board (75% will on turn 2) they hit hard and fast. Most units will become combat squads giving me lots of small fast and manoeuvrable units. Blood Angels are very strong in combat and with so much units and some priests I am very likely to get some furious charges making them more devastating in combat. All the meltas and infernus pistols are meant to destroy enemy tanks, transports and heavy infantry. Another nice thing about this list is that most of it is troops and in that way I’ve got very high chances of claiming objectives (actually everything is troops since the rest are independent characters). Another funny thing is that you render opponents anti-tank almost useless, killing a 18 point marine a turn is not what it’s meant to do, but it’s the only thing it can do against this list since there are no 200 point predators and demolishers driving around.

To finish off I hope you liked it if you’ve got any questions let them know. And in the future “Strike from the skies brothers!”

Martijn

BTP Correspondent from the Netherlands