# Vanguard Veteran Use (In BA Army)



## SynnerG (Jun 3, 2010)

I'm thinking of adding a unit of Vanguard Veterans to my all (or mostly) JP Blood Angels army list. In 1000pts, I have 2 units of 10-man ASM with Meltas and a PowerFist plus a JP Librarian, which comes out to 595pts. I was thinking of using the VV as a beat stick to come down and assault some unit trying to hold an objective in the back or maybe take out a weak/shooty unit mid-field to really mess up the other guy's plan. 

How would they best be kitted out / used? 5 or 10 men? Is it worth taking a shield to shrug off some power weapon hits? And what really would be best to target with them? I would think maybe giving the Sgt a Shield and since he loses the bonus attack anyway, switching from the sword to a L. Claw. Yea, nay?


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## jasonfly (Feb 1, 2009)

they can get very expensive, kit them out to do something specific. use their heroic intervention coupled with descent of angels means you will almost always be able to DS into CC. Take out any long range support(devastators, Tanks, HWS ec) and then attack the rear of you opponent's army


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## Refyougee (Nov 24, 2008)

imo a 5-man squad of vanguard works fine, unless you plan on combat squadding and want your 2 other FA slots for something.

bare mimimum you're going to want a power fist, a couple shields and a power weapon/glaive encarmine. i give mine a third shield, as well as 2 meltabombs and a couple infernus pistols for subsequent tank hunting.

when deep striking getting a priest close enough to them is key, and don't forget to roll for red thirst - it's crazy how often i roll 1s for my vanguard vets


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## SynnerG (Jun 3, 2010)

Hm, sounds expensive, but maybe could do that in a 1500pt game. I'm thinking maybe 6 dudes with a shield and lightning claw (free switch out) and a Power Fist... maybe add another shield just in case. The rest of the points in my list still need to go to ranged fire support, so I can't go hog wild on these guys.


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## Kirby (May 16, 2010)

VV are an essential part of a BA Jumper army to tie up units/remove bubble-wrap on the drop. There are really two variations on how you should run them. Bare bones to simply do the above or as an anti-super unit w/a lot of SS. This allows the unit to do decently against super-units whilst the rest of your army mass charges w/FC the super unit later. You can add weapons such as LCs to them but I wouldn't do that until higher points if yoou have some spare.

Here's a 'How To' on Jumper armies explaining VV a bit more.


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## SynnerG (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks for the link Kirby, I gave it a read. So, you're saying just go all out in their face and tie up the shooty units instead of worrying about having a fire base from say, Predators or Tacticals? The other thing I noticed was the longest range anti-vehicle is the melta gun. Has this really worked out on the field? I always figured you'd need some sort of long ranged punch, but again, the list seems to be in-your-face and not worried about that. I guess you're hoping the DS will land you in 6" and pop the tank, because next turn is a world of hurt otherwise.

If that is the case, I'll run some numbers and see what I can do here...


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## Kirby (May 16, 2010)

Exactly. It's all about using DoA for reliable T2 arrivals + drops then having ~50 FNP/FC marines in the guys face. VV help here in that they tie up any units which get popped out of transports or really shoot infantry (i.e. IG platoons/heavy weapons, Long Fangs, etc.) which protects the rest of your Marines from shots. Libbies w/Blood Lance and shield provide cover when dropping in and force opponent's to not castle (please line your vehicles up for 4 hits). Then the ASM/HG/SP go about meltagunning everything they can, keep FNP/FC on everyone and torrent infantry through CC. 

The hardest part about a Jumper army is keeping FNP/FC on everyone due to the drop. 12" move means you can keep up with mech and they don't have a lot of opportunities to shoot down all your Marines. There are a few examples of Jumper lists on the blog (there's one on top right now actually) so maybe check those out for some ideas.


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## SynnerG (Jun 3, 2010)

So I also listed this in the army list section of the forums, but this is what I figured so far.

1x 10-man ASM (2x Melta, 1xPF) 235
1x 5-man ASM (1x Melta, 1x PW) 125
1x Librarian (Jump Pack, Shield, Lance) 125
1x Priest 75
1x 10-man Vanguard (L. Claw & Shield, L. Claw & Shield) and (Thunder Hammer & Shield, Shield) 440

The VV would be combat squaded with the claws as anti-infantry like broadsides or something and the other is anti-tank. Could run just a fist, but I had 5 points left after this list, so why not? Otherwise I'd have to retool everything to accommodate say like 2 fists. But at least both have two shields to weather power weapon strikes. What do you think about the VV at least?


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## Kirby (May 16, 2010)

I'll reply in the army lists thread ^^.


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