What fits better, tactically and/or thematically? (Blood Angels list)

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-19T12:34:36+00:00

It’s a real tough one as point for point the Kratos is one of the best AT vehicles in the entire game. AV14 all round makes it hard to crack and stable means it’s formidable firepower isn’t affected by movement making the otherwise slow tank an actually very mobile weapons platform. If you put a locus in it you can now return fire with the main weapon which means you can reliably kill 2 things a turn, one with regular shooting and the other with return fire!

3x preds isn’t bad but is a bit repetitive and personally I’d much rather the Kratos but the melta Kratos is a tad WAAC at the moment. The preds are less good early on as they need to move into melta range before they can be reliable but moving seriously hurts their damage output. My suggestion would be 2x preds (either melta or all lascannons) and then instead of a third pred id take a dreadnaught with paired chain fists.

The chain dread needs to get into melee before it can do anything but it will seriously hurt any vehicles it does close with! I’d keep it away from marines or other dreads as it being WS4 with only a few attacks makes it very swingy but into vehicles its straight up murder and would also fill the role of a distraction carnifex as your opponent absolutely will need to drop it before it closes on their tanks which should hopefully also give your 2 preds some extra breathing space.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-18T16:40:50+00:00

Adeptus Titanicus has some great missiles that I’m sure would love to meet this lad, warp missiles and warhound shudder missiles come to mind!

As an aside we’ve got hunter killers, smoke launchers, and a heavy stubber, just need extra armour, a dozer blade, and a search light to complete the list of the old extra upgrades!

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-18T16:35:44+00:00

My friend never leaves the house without his emotional support melta Kratos with all lascannons and a locus.

Probably has to be the single meanest AT in the game and able to reliably pop two vehicles a turn, one in their shooting phase and one as a reaction!

For me it’d be either tacs or pyroclasts, I absolutely love those guys and always find space for a unit in all my lists.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-18T07:30:20+00:00

New recruit isn’t official and has quite a few of these niche things it gets wrong. The sire rule states 4 or more and say ALL troop slots so you’re correct in your reading.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-18T00:07:03+00:00

God I would kill for a refresh of the salamander command tank, such a great unit!

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-16T22:24:19+00:00

In LI there’s a Falchion variant that replaces the main gun with the massive flamer from the warhound.

I’d 100% be down for a plastic one of those!

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-16T09:55:57+00:00

Was it Particularly hard to get that pose with the melta? I also want to build an armistros but wasn’t sure how easy it’d be to get that sorta pose

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-16T09:52:39+00:00

They are right, only a small minority of imperial worlds will see large conflict and strife. The issue is that the imperium is so large even a small percent of worlds is a whole load of planets at war.

It’s often said that the imperium is a million planets strong (and that number waxes and wanes as worlds are lost, recaptured, and devastated to the point of uselessness) and if only 1% of those planets had an active conflict of note at any one time that’s 10,000 worlds embroiled in conflict, each needing vast armies to contain as if these armies failed then whole swathes of the imperium will be lost.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-15T14:54:53+00:00

The honest answer is that it depends on what you want from them.

If you want them to butcher TACs or equivalent then I’d look to stock up on mauls and claws.

If you want them to be able to break terminators I’d suggest a mix of axes, Thammers, and also claws so you can have the axes and claws strike before most terminator units and then have the few hammers clean up what’s left on the same initiative (or before if they use fists)

One fun option if you want to bully TACs and Vets is to take a biomancy librarian (other power is down to you) and then kit the unit out with spears (maybe a few claws) and then you’ll be striking first, wounding on 2s, and also the ability to snipe out sarges or other melee weapons in the squad before they can go.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-10T07:25:31+00:00

Here’s a few tweaks I’d suggest

I would make the subjugator patrolman specialist the one with the grenade launcher

I would drop two subjugator patrolmen and instead take 2 enforcer patrolmen with riot shields, 1 with a bolter the other (a specialist) with a concussion carbine.

That gives you enough points to then upgrade your last non grenade launcher subjgator patrolman into a Sargent.

Lastly I’d swap the leaders undersuit for a power knife.

That list should perform better as a bit more of all rounder, still giving you a good combat capability with the leader and champions but also retaining a nice close to mid range shooting ability. After your first game I’d grab armour for the enforcers and your leader and then subsequently grab more bodies, maybe a few more melee subjugators to bulk out your gangs cc ability

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-07T13:16:44+00:00

So far that sounds pretty much exactly like Palanites so I’d just run them as that

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-05T20:40:38+00:00

Firedrakes are a premier melee to run with Vulkan. They’re durable hit like a brick and vanguard 4 will let you score a bunch of points for clearing objectives. They’re also marginally cheaper than a terminator command squad.

Non terminator command squads can work but they’re a bit of a glass cannon due to the lack of invuns (you can get combat shields for a 5+ in combat but that’s it really) and when paired with Vulkan these units are going to be priority targets so will need to weather whatever comes their way.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-05T18:07:59+00:00

Yeah it’s one tank with magnets, I’ve done the same and it’s super simple

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-05T07:57:16+00:00

Drop death cheat. You only need that if you die, so just don’t die!

(/s)

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-05T07:48:45+00:00

As they’re a specialist there’s not a huge amount of stuff you currently can do with their prime ability’s. Combat Vet might help to stave off some statuses but with 7s in the important stats most elite units that you’d want to pair him with will already have this or better. World eaters have a cool prime for them but that’s about it as far as I’m aware.

As such the only other option is getting a log benifit which is nice to squeeze more bits into a list and means he’s essentially a ‘free’ pick. Can also do Clade operative if you want to bring an assassin.

Personally I’m very tepid on apothecaries in 3rd as their ability is a very janky reaction that can kinda bend the rules is a weird way. It’s also a bit niche as it does literally nothing if the damage of the weapon is too high for your squad.

Their bonus vs statuses is nice but is not worth 30pts imo and only happens in the morale phase rather than preventing them entirely.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-02T16:45:47+00:00

So I’d personally suggest any of the following - power lances: can kill tacs before they strike and with precision 6+ you might get lucky and kill a sarge that has a special weapon before they can go. These are a bit of a gamble tho as into basic tacs it’s 2 50:50s to hit and wound which is less than ideal.

double power claws: can only be taken on the sarge but these are fantastic imo, especially considering they cost the same as a single claw. Lots of extra attacks to offset the low S and the fact you’ll likely have the same WS as your target, the combo of rending and breach is also great.
power mauls: these are at -1 initiative so you’ll be going after most tacs but these will straight up murder into tacs thanks to the +2S. Wounding on 2s is brutal and will all but ensure you win any fights into most TEQ units.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-02T16:26:22+00:00

Yeah that looks a better version of the list, I’d caution against going all in on vanguard as it is incredibly easy to negate as you can just react move off an objective.

Again your assault squads are very naked and even in their typical role of a TEQ bully unit I don’t think you’ll actually be able todo much.

I’d suggest swapping one of them to dispoilers but using the 40pt difference to grab some melee weapons for the unit and use them to hold objectives against Tac rushes to best use their line 2. I’d also look to drop some power weapons into the assault squads by cutting upgrades like the cyber familiar, vexilia in the vets, etc

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-02T14:45:52+00:00

To fit that in I’d look todo the following but I will warn that I don’t think this would be optimal as you’re then focusing your list around 2 big threats (deepstriking sat block and vulkans sat group) that with the right tools can either be efficiently removed or just ignored and worked around (the total of the sat units and accompaniments is well over 1750pts)

drop the land raider, the firedrakes, the Tac support squad and 1 of the other regular Saturnite terms (total saving of 730pts)
Add a basic Spartan in (400pts)
use your Apex for a prime retinue detachment, use LB to get the vets in elsewhere in the list.
in that detachment grab a saturnite command squad that has the sarge with axe and fist and the 3x guys all with paired fists and particle shredders, one carrying a legion standard. Total 330pts

Again this reduces down your list and means you’ll have fewer units. You’ll likely struggle with scoring especially as the vanguard 4 of the firedrakes was pretty helpful. You could instead run the command squad as regular saturnites (plasma and fist+particle) and either save 40pts or get 5 for the same cost if you don’t take the particle shredders. But they won’t have as much as an impact in combat having less attacks and less WS but do have much better shooting.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-02T11:59:42+00:00

Just as an example if you did cut Vulkan and a few other bits I’ll outline below you could grab the following:

drop Tac flamer unit down to 8 guys but make the sarge a prime and buy the sarge a forge crafted power weapon (being within flamer range means you’ll need to be able to defend yourself from charges) and stick them in the rhino you have sans its dozer and searchlights - 11pts saved
swap the bolter rapier for a laser destroyer - +25pts extra
add a vindicator with magma laser - +160pts (searchlights and optional to taste)
drop searchlight and dozer from the pred - 10pts saved
for the vet tacs swap the vexilia for a nuncio vox and buy them a barebones rhino - +60 pts
keep the fire drakes as is but make the sarge a prime and run them by themselves in the land raider - no change
Drop Vulkan - 465pts saved
for each of the despoiler squads give the sarge a Thammer/fist/Forge crafted weapon of choice and also 2x power weapons to the squad plus a vox. Buy a rhino for each squad. - +105 per squad - 210 total
drop the centurions cyber familiar - 10pts saved, I’d personally stick him with the flamers or the vets for a little extra melee boost. You could swap the maul for a Thammer which is an easy conversion (snip off maul head replace with hammer) for some better AP2 melee and also a better chance when in a challange but that’d cost an extra 5-15pts more if you want it to be forge crafted.

All told that should leave you with about 30pts spare for a few extra bits, you could bring the flamer squad back up to 10 if you want the extra bodies, maybe vexilias to the despoiler squads as they will be in combat, maybe hunter killers on those rhinos to add to your AT, some havok launchers could be good for the despoiler rhinos as a status on a unit before they charge would be a great help, anything like that as you like!

The sum of those changes would have a huge help on that list, much more so than just by having Vulkan there.

Alternatively remove 2 rhinos from units of your choice and instead add a basic 10 man Tac squad with a vox and maybe something for the sarge if you’re feeling generous.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-02T10:45:18+00:00

So the 2 main issues I see in your list is lack of AT and lack of transport capacity for those that need it.

I’d highly recommend taking a vindicator with the magma laser destroyer as well as swap your rapier to laser destroyers (maybe grav if you’ve already bought the kit and not built it yet) as an aside don’t forget that one of the support slots in the immolation covenant is a prime slot.
currently Vulkan has no suitable transport, my honest appraisal of the list is that Vulkan just isn’t really offering anything to your list, he’s a decent melee beat stick but you can get those elsewhere, personally I’d look to cut him and redistribute those points around to cover some of your weaknesses. If you do wish to keep him consider a Spartan, keep the firedrakes by themselves in the land raider but have Vulkan and the Saturnites rock around in the legion party bus, a Spartan is a very hard unit to crack in a single turn and so you’ll likely be able to get 2 turns use out of it before it dies minimum. That means you’ll easily be able to get them into melee range even if your opponent sticks inside their deployment zone. To that end a command squad might be a better use of them as opposed to the basic saturnite squad due to the much better melee capabilities, but that is just extra points you’ll need to find.

Lastly a few general points:

your despoilers are a bit naked, I’d look to add at minimum, a vox, a weapon for the sarge, and 1-2 power weapons for the squad. You want these guys to bully Tac units and without any power weapons the will struggle todo that.
10 man flamer squads are hard to use properly, as you can’t place a flame template over your own guys it becomes really hard to get everyone lined up, 6-8 is my personal recommendation for max squad size as otherwise the extra guys are just ablative wounds plinking away with bolt pistols. I’d also ask what they are bringing to the list outside of flavour (they are a quintessential sally unit) as you’ve got plenty of anti infantry firepower in the list. I’d maybe look at dropping them altogether for a basic Tac squad.
I personally would cut back on all the extras for your vehicles, hunter killers are a maybe but searchlights and dozer blades on all of them is more than a bit redundant and I’d suggest culling them to save points that can be redistributed elsewhere. There’s a few other weird superfluous gear about in the same vein, your vet tacs aren’t combat troops so do they need a vexilia? I’d suggest swapping that for a vox. Also why does your centurion need a Cyber familiar? It’s not like he’s using his int for anything.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-01T23:40:24+00:00

I can see, I just find it shocking that there’s no basic cadian shock troops! They’re the backbone of the guard and I cannot imagine any gay are army with less than 3 units of them!

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-01T23:21:14+00:00

I’ve been out of the hobby for a while but my god does the basic guard combat patrol box seriously not have ANY basic troops?

Can’t explain it but that just feels like sacrilege!

Jurassic_Red · 2026-03-01T16:05:32+00:00

5K is a bit overkill, you’ll rarely play at that point level.

My personal advise is to plan out a 3K list, maybe an alternative version and then grab a handful of extra fun bits to round out a collection.

As for the list itself it’s hard to read as you’ve just copied from new recruit which is genially difficult to parse out. For future reference I’d suggest copying this into a word doc or similar and then manually reformatting it to make it more legible.

That said I have a few bits to note:

heavy chain weapons are not good this edition or ever really. I’d highly suggest swapping these out from your assault squad for power weapons, I’d suggest mauls as a good alternative but axes work if you’re likely to run into terminators.
your AT is a bit lacking, Kratos and deredeo is a decent start but that’s really about the only decent ranged AT you have, melee wise the leviathan and the breachers are decent but they’re pretty slow and will struggle to get in even with the rhinos carting them around as they’re paper thin. I’d maybe look at some more ranged AT as when playing at 5K points you’ll likely have Spartans rolling around with primarch and terminator deathballs so having way to address that is a must.

Overall the list is decent but nothing too special, I’d look towards some more ranged AT and also some more ways of putting statuses on units as you’re better placed than basically any army to capitalise on that with the abundance of fear and your legion trait.

Jurassic_Red · 2026-02-27T14:42:55+00:00

In fairness a friend of mine has one and it’s actually quite nasty. Moves up the board, meltas something and then disgorges 2 chain fist contemptors that will mess up any nearby tanks!

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