We all know that Games Workshop is in it for the money we shouldn’t hate them for that, but I can hate them for is giving out army list examples solely on model releases! Let us see if you can spot the right way and wrong of promoting new products from these sample lists found here…

Blood Angels: Sample Armies – Part 2

Coincidentally the article was released at the same time as the Blood Angel second wave hit store shelves. I have to say these lists are not as bad the list I reviewed last year.

It’s like Tactics: A Tactica presented by GW

Still there are some major problems with them– let us take a look…

HQ
Captain Tyrael
Captain with power sword and melta bombs.
120 points

Epistolary Azazel
Epistolary Librarian with plasma pistol, force weapon, psychic hood and the Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage psychic powers.
165 points

Elites
Brother Areas
Furioso Librarian Dreadnought with force weapon, psychic hood and the Fear of the Darkness and Might of Heroes psychic powers.
175 points

Troops
Tactical Squad Boreal
10 Space Marines with meltagun, multi-melta and Sergeant with power fist.
200 points

Tactical Squad Astanor
10 Space Marines with flamer and missile launcher.
170 points

The Death Company
5 Death Company with jump packs, power weapon, power fist, thunder hammer, hand flamer and Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost
405 points

Brother Furion
Death Company Dreadnought with blood talons, heavy flamer and magna-grapple.
150 points

Heavy Support
Fury of Absolom
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked multi-melta and twin-linked lascannon.
200 points

The Wrath of Baal
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked multi-melta and twin-linked lascannon.
200 points

Dante’s Ire
Stormraven Gunship with twin-linked multi-melta and twin-linked lascannons.
200 points

TOTAL
1985 points ($444 retail)

Hmm, I wonder what model this army list is trying to sell…

It was not clear this is the part of the advice they give for running this list.

This army is designed to maximise speed and flexibility, allowing you to strike anywhere on the battlefield at a moment’s notice. To take advantage of this overwhelming advantage, the entire force, including the two Dreadnoughts, should be deployed aboard the three Stormravens. With so few Blood Angels to lose, a war of attrition is certainly out of the question, but the speed and hitting power of this army enables you to rapidly bring your entire force to bear and annihilate the enemy piecemeal. The Stormravens are equipped to engage and destroy enemy vehicles, whilst the Tactical Squads, bolstered by the strength of the Captain and psychic powers of the Librarian and his Dreadnought-bound colleague, can concentrate on hammering the enemy squads either in combat or with rapid-firing boltguns.

Now that I bought three Stormravens I decided to put tactical squads in them because…

1. Tactical Squads really take advantage of that assault ramp.
2. Boltguns are the best thing to use when I want to hammer an enemy squad.
3. I prefer to use Skies of Blood with Tactical Squads because controlled decent is for pussies!

So can the second list do any better?

HQ
Captain Leonis
Captain with power sword and melta bombs.
120 points

Elites
Brother Arimus
Furioso Librarian Dreadnought with force weapon, psychic hood and the Blood Lance and Might of Heroes psychic powers.
175 points

Brother Mythos
Furioso Dreadnought with a pair of blood fists incorporating a built in meltagun and heavy flamer.
135 points

Terminator Squad Alator
5 Space Marine Terminators with heavy flamer and two chainfists.
215 points

Troops
Tactical Squad Ithius
10 Space Marines with flamer and missile launcher.
170 points

Tactical Squad Sador
10 Space Marines with flamer and missile launcher.
170 points

The Death Company
10 Death Company with bolters, power weapon, hand flamer and thunder hammer.
255 points

Brother Heasos
Death Company Dreadnought with blood talons, heavy flamer and magna-grapple.
150 points

Brother Torvin
Death Company Dreadnought with blood talons, heavy flamer and magna-grapple.
150 points

Heavy Support
Brother Helvenior
Dreadnought with multi-melta and blood fist with built-in storm bolter.
105 points

Brother Kodis
Dreadnought with multi-melta and blood fist with built-in storm bolter.
105 points

TOTAL
1750 points ($443.50 retail)

I am not sure, but I think I am going to start a paper route right now and buy $273 worth of new dreds!

So what is the winning guide to this army?

This army is designed to advance steadily towards the enemy, laying down a curtain of firepower before making an unstoppable assault in the latter half of the game to finish them in combat. The sheer resilience of this army is frightening – whilst still relatively short on numbers, the combination of tough infantry and Dreadnoughts will make this army incredibly hard to slow, let alone stop. The Terminators, Death Company and Dreadnoughts lead the charge, capable of surviving all but the deadliest incoming fire, and sweeping all before them in a crushing assault. The Tactical Squads can hold objectives, lending fire support to the rest of the army, or even join the general advance as required, adding their boltguns to the close-range fusillade before assisting in the inevitable assault.

So this army advances nice and slow with a curtain of firepower? I don’t know much about drapery, but I think this curtain has a lot of holes in it. Let me see, two multi-meltas and two missile launchers are my only shooty tank cracking? Tough infantry? You mean the Death Company I am going to lead away like my dog with Beggin’ Strips? Or do they mean the two tactical squads now without transports! I do have to admit that having  played six dred lists they are really fun, but never not very effective. If you thought the Stormraven list was a straight money grab I think that one took the cake.

So what about the final GW army list?

HQ
Epistolary Talion
Epistolary Librarian with plasma pistol, force weapon, psychic hood and The Wings of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage psychic powers.
165 points

Troops
Tactical Squad Gaius
10 Space Marines with flamer and missile launcher mounted in a Rhino transport.
220 points

Tactical Squad Antis
10 Space Marines with flamer and missile launcher mounted in a Rhino transport.
220 points

Assault Squad Agitor
10 Space Marines with jump packs, plasma pistol, hand flamer and Sergeant with power fist and combat shield.
245 points

The Death Company
10 Death Company with bolters, power weapon and thunder hammer mounted in a Rhino transport.
295 points

Elites
Brother Draicus
Furioso Librarian Dreadnought with force weapon, psychic hood and the Blood Lance and Might of Heroes psychic powers mounted in a Drop Pod.
210 points

Fast Attack
Baal’s Fury
Baal Predator with flamestorm cannon and heavy bolter side sponsons.
145 points

TOTAL
1500 points ($347 retail)

As a 1500 point armies goes this is pretty darn good one, I know shocking! Everyone has a transport that can. The Death Company are not particularly over priced. A few tricks that can mess with your opponent. Enough scoring units. I would even give this list a try, but what does GW think about it?

Two Blood Angels Battleforces form the basis of this army, providing two full Tactical Squads and their Rhino transports, ten Assault Marines and a large squad of the Death Company. With a few simple additions, this army can be increased further to create a number of different army compositions, but will form a strong foundation for any army that you choose to make.

This particular army list combines speed, versatility and numbers enough to create a highly effective army on the tabletop. Against enemies such as Imperial Guard or Tau, whose greatest strength lies in both the quantity and quality of their firepower, this army can unleash a rapid assault, speeding across the board by Rhino or jump pack, whilst a Furioso Librarian Dreadnought plummets into their midst aboard a Drop Pod to disrupt and devastate their battle lines. Against a more combat-oriented enemy, the Tactical Squads can assume more defensive duties whilst the Assault Squad and Death Company bide their time before engaging and destroying the enemy in a ferocious counter-attack. In either case, few squads can withstand the searing touch of the Baal Predator’s flamestorm cannon, so use this fearsome weapon to annihilate enemy Troops and deny them the ability to control objectives. The Librarian moves with the Assault Squad, using his Wings of Sanguinius psychic power to keep pace, and leading them in devastating charges, amplified by Unleash Rage.

Another shocking development, GW is upfront about their scheme to get you to buy the new products. This is though a great example of selling a product in a  productive way.

Battleforces (done right) are great money savers and with the Blood Angel one you save 33 (the rhino) bucks. This is great beginner example army: you can grow and build any type of Blood Angel army you want from this core. If only GW applied the same philosophy with the other lists. Use the new Battleforce first then sprinkle in the new releases; instead they went all chuckles by making lists that spam the latest toy hoping to dupe some poor soul to pony up large chunks of dough. It is just simple model math to see that GW gets better margins if they sell multiple single expensive models (Dreds and Stormravens), but don’t you think it would be better to showcase easier lists than the monsters of cumbersome and fail?

What about the dedicating only two paragraphs to explaining how to play each list? The reader would be better served if GW calmed down the adjective machine and be more specific on how to play these lists. Funny that the last list (the best one) is also the same list with the best advice.

What is the best solution for GW poor articles and plain money grabs? It is not like they are going to listen to the community on how they can better serve players. So where does that leave players, besides visiting the website and making fun of the content for the most part?

What do you think?