Compensating for the Initiative Nerf to Furious Charge

Ok...... So its been around a month now.....so I guess its time to put to put the new rule book down and to take time to adjust my angry red Assault Marines to this new edition.....

Codex Blood Angels suffered quite a bit from the update; however I don't plan to dwell particularly  on how painful some of the changes are, instead over the coming weeks I will be posting my musings on how BA players can adjust their lists to stay ahead of the meta-game.  For example I expect to see Dante to be cruising around in a Storm Raven a lot more, accompanied by his Guard and Battle Bro's dishing out the pain on a table near you!!

First up....managing the Furious Charge Nerf....

By far the biggest nerf to my BA play style is the loss of the Int bonus that was given by Furious Charge in 5th Ed....

So let's de-construct why the initiative bonus of 5th Ed's Furious Charge was so attractive.... and then look to how we can all try and replicate these benefits in 6th....

Ultimately attacking at a higher initiative makes ones units much more durable in close combat....

....to risk spelling out the obvious the reason for this durability is because we can kill our opponents models before they can strike back, therefore denying your opponent their attacks....

Now in 6th Ed this avenue is practically closed for BA units, attack denial is hard to come by; with the exception of using HQ units or the Warp Speed Biomancy buff there's little that can be done....Hammer of Wrath although conditional is all that's left...

So where else can a close combat advantage come from in 6th?

Lets take a look at the game mechanics for the assault fight sub-phase:

1. Each model has a designated number of attacks at their Initiative step
2. Roll on WS to hit chart
3. Roll to wound
4. Take saving throws

Step 1:  Attacks & Initiative

As discussed above denying your opponent attacks is really hard for BA in 6th; however our best units can still reliably get more attacks ourselves... Chapter banners, Sanguinor's Aura of Fervour and Might of Heroes, Blood Talons.... none of which are new to 6th btw.

Delivering your assault troops to the door walking in order to enable Hammer of Wrath to get the Int 10 hits in  is the only option we've got to starve those MEQs of their swings.  Storm Ravens are an assault transport remember, so a unit can ride 6", disembark 6" assault 2d6" with a reroll and still get their HofW hits in.

Alternatively equip everyone with a 2+ save and an unwieldy weapon and ride out your opponents attacks until Int 1, Sanguinary Guard and terminators being the obvious choice.......as terminators can't be chosen as troops, the Sanguinary Guard are the only real proposition for me.....

Step 2:  Rolling to hit

BA are possibly the only loyalists with a (pseudo) Fear causing unit, most opponents will be hitting our BA on a 4+, however for 25 points we could have our opponents hitting us on 5+....

Sanguinary Death Masks are currently a risky expense, as most of the Int 4 stuff we'd want to use the masks on are unlikely to fail the prerequisite Ld test (fearless units must still test btw)...unless of course we can modify our opponents leadership in some way.......PBS as allies perhaps?

Opponents hitting on a 5+ can also be achieved through the telepathy line an Epistolary could make an entire unit invisible which could also reduce our opponents to WS1.

My biggest problem here is whilst it sounds good, applying WS1 to ones opponent is very conditional and very unlikely to be army wide.

In our arsenal we still have our rerolls to hit from our Chaplains and Master Crafted Glaives, Preferred Enemy from our Librarians with Unleash Rage, and through Divination a BA Librarian can reliably get rerolls to hit from Prescience.

Step 3:  Rolling to Wound

Rolling to wound can still be quite reliable thanks to the +1 Str bonus on the charge.  Having a model armed with lightning claws isn't a bad idea either.

Biomancy can give some pretty nasty toughness nerfing through Enfeeble, when combined with the +1Str from the FC USR means wounding MEQs on 2+ in a similar manner to the rad grenades and hammer hand combo from the GK codex, throw in an Ordo Xenos inquisitor into the same melee and you could get a -2 toughness opponent...problem here is that Enfeeble is a 1/6 chance and GK aren't Battle Bro Allies so timing is tricky.

Denying ones opponent an easy to wound roll isn't that easy, Bike troops aren't available to BA so only through allies, which isn't too bad an idea.....cavalry are even more alien to us....again allies would be the only source of T5 scoring joy.

Step 4: Armour Saves

Denying your opponent an armour save is obviously the ideal, so maximise power weapon load outs, however the changes to wound allocation and the creation of AP3 power sword wound pools means that we don't have to wait to Int 1 anymore unless you're going to be packing anti-terminator close combat kit.  

I believe the power sword & melta bomb combo is now the sporting choice in an Assault Sgt's war gear.

Feel no Pain helps BA marines out a little with a 1 in 3 chance of over turning a failed save isn't too bad; providing a 5+ pseudo invulnerable save versus anything strength 7 or lower is also pretty neat too.

Summary

Storm Ravens are needed more than ever to get our guys through the assault phase safely, they provide mobility whilst preserving HofW ftw.

Sanguinary Guard will provide some innovative combinations, especially when taking death masks, their 2+ save and Dante making them troops is a nice option.

Librarians are going to be even more of a must, my personal favourite Telepathy is going to open up some neat combos.

Allies to help us through IG PBS, Wolves and Bikes, GKs with Rad grenades...

This is going to mean a very low model count........