Death Company for beginners
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:30 am
Death Company are one of the cooler units the Blood Angels have access to, but probably one of the hardest units to field.
First of all, lets look over their good points:
Marine stat line with an extra attack and an extra point of WS. They are fearless, have furious charge, relentless and feel no pain. They can buy jump packs, all the models can have power weapons, power fists or thunder hammers and they have access to the new Blood Angel hand flamers and meltas.
And now the bad news:
They can't score (because that would make them WAY too awesome) and they have Rage. Rage is probably the hardest rule in the game to work with as it completely takes away your ability to control the unit....or maybe not.
So DC are hard as nails and very effective in assault. So how do you get them there? Jump Packs seem like the coolest idea until you find your DC have gone in the opposite direction to beat up that small infiltrated scout squad. Land Raiders and Stormravens are the best choices as they have the assault vehicle rule so you can jump out of them and crush something. They're fairly pricey though. Rhinos and Razorbacks are now fast, so they can get you where you need to be. You just cant jump out and assault. It may be best to just drive up and wait to get out next turn. Drop pods are another fine choice, your DC can pop the hatches and enjoy a turn of shooting up enemy units before closing for the kill.
Rage is always going to be an issue for DC though, so how to deal with it? Rage makes you move towards the CLOSEST VISIBLE enemy unit in the movement phase, if you run, the same applies, and if you consolidate AFTER assault, the same again. The only move you can completely control is your assault move. If the enemy is foolish enough to leave units standing close together, go ahead and clean their clocks.
There are two ways to get around the Rage rule. Firstly, leave your DC in transports till you are ready to get out and assault . On the turn you disembark you should be in position to attack your selected target. Rhinos Land Raiders and Razorbacks have side hatches. You dont have to get out of the back/front.
The second way around the Rage rule is, once your DC are disembarked, move your transports FIRST. Use that nice bulky tank to block line of sight from the DC to a unit you dont want them to attack. For really big models this might not always work though.
Other solutions:
Make sure the DC have the weapons to deal with targets they dont want to assault. Melta pistols will deal with annoying transports. Thunder Hammers and Power Fists will take care of any armour they have to fight. (+1s from furious charge makes them S9, enough to punch through a Land Raider or Monolith).
Also, use your other units to create a kill zone around the DC. Shoot the targets you don't want the DC to attack. With the Blood Angels large quantity of Twin Linked Assault Cannons and Melta guns, not to mention their cheaper Devestator units, you should be able to kill any distractions and let the DC get stuck in.
Hope this helps.
First of all, lets look over their good points:
Marine stat line with an extra attack and an extra point of WS. They are fearless, have furious charge, relentless and feel no pain. They can buy jump packs, all the models can have power weapons, power fists or thunder hammers and they have access to the new Blood Angel hand flamers and meltas.
And now the bad news:
They can't score (because that would make them WAY too awesome) and they have Rage. Rage is probably the hardest rule in the game to work with as it completely takes away your ability to control the unit....or maybe not.
So DC are hard as nails and very effective in assault. So how do you get them there? Jump Packs seem like the coolest idea until you find your DC have gone in the opposite direction to beat up that small infiltrated scout squad. Land Raiders and Stormravens are the best choices as they have the assault vehicle rule so you can jump out of them and crush something. They're fairly pricey though. Rhinos and Razorbacks are now fast, so they can get you where you need to be. You just cant jump out and assault. It may be best to just drive up and wait to get out next turn. Drop pods are another fine choice, your DC can pop the hatches and enjoy a turn of shooting up enemy units before closing for the kill.
Rage is always going to be an issue for DC though, so how to deal with it? Rage makes you move towards the CLOSEST VISIBLE enemy unit in the movement phase, if you run, the same applies, and if you consolidate AFTER assault, the same again. The only move you can completely control is your assault move. If the enemy is foolish enough to leave units standing close together, go ahead and clean their clocks.
There are two ways to get around the Rage rule. Firstly, leave your DC in transports till you are ready to get out and assault . On the turn you disembark you should be in position to attack your selected target. Rhinos Land Raiders and Razorbacks have side hatches. You dont have to get out of the back/front.
The second way around the Rage rule is, once your DC are disembarked, move your transports FIRST. Use that nice bulky tank to block line of sight from the DC to a unit you dont want them to attack. For really big models this might not always work though.
Other solutions:
Make sure the DC have the weapons to deal with targets they dont want to assault. Melta pistols will deal with annoying transports. Thunder Hammers and Power Fists will take care of any armour they have to fight. (+1s from furious charge makes them S9, enough to punch through a Land Raider or Monolith).
Also, use your other units to create a kill zone around the DC. Shoot the targets you don't want the DC to attack. With the Blood Angels large quantity of Twin Linked Assault Cannons and Melta guns, not to mention their cheaper Devestator units, you should be able to kill any distractions and let the DC get stuck in.
Hope this helps.