List Fu: Dante's Blood Angels 1750

A new player posted on our club forums with his Blood Angels list. Here's the advice I gave...

Blood Angels Army List One (1750 points limit)
Elite Force One

:HQ:

Commander Dante - 225

:Elites:

"Dante's Boys" Sanguinary Guard - 260
    Infernus Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Power Fist, Chapter Banner
Sanguinary Priest - 90
    Jump Pack, Power Sword
 Sanguinary Priest - 75
    Jump Pack
2 x Sanguinary Priest - 100
"Archangels Commandoes (1st Company)" Sternguard Veterans - 145    
    4 Combi-Meltas
Razorback - 95    
    Lascannon/Twinlinked Plasma Guns, Dozer Blade

:Troops:

"Bloodblades (8th Company)" Assault Unit - 130
    2x Lightning Claw

:Fast Attack:

"Archangels Heroes (1st Company)" Vanguard Veterans - 210
   Jump Packs, 3 Lightning Claws
"Armoured First Division" Baal Predator - 140
    Flamestorm Cannon, Heavy Flamer Sponsons

:Heavy Support:

2 x "Sunderers First and Second (9th Company)" Devastators Unit - 140
    2x Plasma Cannon, 2x Heavy Bolter - 20

OK I'd say that you need to make some changes to make this playable, and a lot of changes to make it competitive. Here goes...

• The Sanguinary Guard are a good unit, but definately trade the plasma pistol for another infernos pistol. If you fail to pop a transport when you need to assault you are in trouble.  If Dante drops with this squad you can easily get them within the 3" range needed.
• The chapter banner is OK but a lot of points. The unit already kicks arse so it might be overkill, and points are a valuable resource!
• Too many priests! 3 max, but try and get away with two if you can. Also I'd avoid close combat upgrades as they can be singled out and killed in close combat. In fact try to keep them out of combat if at all possible - they can hide out safely in a rhino, which also extends their range.
• The Sternguard unit is pretty expensive, and they want to move forward whilst the razorbacks happier at the back or in midfield. A simpler and more efficient load-out is 3 combi-meltas and 2 heavy flamers in a rhino. If you want to take a Razorback put a minimal assault squad in it - very important because this makes the tank scoring.
• Vanguard Veterans are a good unit in this dex, with descent of angels or even Dante! They can take storm shields which are awesome, try to squeeze at least two in.
• That small assault unit is easy pickings. Swap the lightning claws out for melta or even a flamer for some late turn objective clearing.
• The Devastator squads are very weak. The problem is that they can't reliably destroy vehicles, and both weapons suffer from the proliferation of cover in 5th edition. The optimal loadout is 3-4 missile launchers, but even combining 2 missiles with 2 plasma is not the worst option. I wouldn't bother with the heavy bolters sadly :(
• Baal Predators are good, probably better in pairs. You would be better off with the twin-linked assault cannon because you need more anti-tank.

Your army is unfocussed, with elements of jumpers, tanks, foot and mobile infantry. You need to choose a focus and create redundant units so that you can reliably perform in the battlefield. Note I don't mean duplicated units, just units that can perform the same roll on the battlefield.

Anti-tank is king in 5th edition, because vehicles are so tough to destroy. You must make sure that you have enough melta and missile to dent your opponents vehicles. Also if you are going to take tanks you need to have at least four chasis on the table, as long range fire is going to take some of them out straight away.

Finally Troops are very important in 5th edition. I think that you would want to have at least two units of assault marines tucked safely into Razorbacks/Rhinos, as well as the Sanguinary Guard of course. Probably worth squeezing another troop unit in there too. Assault Marines with a dedicated transport are a bargain in this codex, especially with access to Feel No Pain!

I think at this point you are best of having a think about the above advice and comin back with a new list :) I'd suggest something but it would end up being very different to the above at this stage. Also I don't know how much wriggle room you have, what models you have already bought, etc...