BADCo, til the day I die...

Previously, I had mentioned that I was building an all-Death Company army. I have dubbed my 2000 point list "the BADCo." (read as "Bad Company", stands for "Blood Angels Death Company") So for this installment of SGS I thought I'd break down the army list.

The impetus for the BADCo was when I was reading the Blood Angel codex a while back and stumbled upon the facts that all Death Company models have the Relentless USR, and a Death Company model may have both a Boltgun and a Jump Pack. This combination is unprecedented in my eight years of playing 40k. The persistent little seed of an idea took root, and I found myself continuing to come back to Army Builder, trying to build an army around the idea. I was enamored with the idea of a unit being able to lay down considerable suppressing fire, bouncing back and forth, balancing that 12" Rapid-fire, and choosing where and when they'd get into close combat.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I had found out that DCo. with jump packs were just too darn expensive to not be applied to close combat. 35 points per model, needing at least 10 models, preferably 15 to get the volume of fire I was looking for. Plus a Powerfist, two if the squad was 15 strong, to help dig their way out of CC. Then you're looking at investing in a Jump Chaplain for the twin-linked To-hit/To-wound to make up for the lack of that extra attack. Not to mention having to take Astorath, who costs almost as much as a Land Raider, just to unlock the 0-1 restriction on DCo. All in all, I figured I was spending too many points on a gimmick that would be ultimately less effective than just shoving DCo. into close combat.

But that idea tenaciously stuck around, clinging to the cliffside I had shoved it off of. I continued to tweak the list, and finally found something I was happy with, here it is:

-Astorath
-Death Company w/ Jump Pack (12x)
-5x Bolt Pistol/Chainsword
-3x Bolt Pistol/Power Weapon
-2x Infernus Pistol/Power Weapon
-2x Bolter/Power Fist

-Chaplain in Power Armor (Bolt Pistol/Crozius)
-Death Company (9x)
-8x Bolter/Chainsword
-1x Bolter/Power Fist
-Drop Pod

-Chaplain in Power Armor (Bolt Pistol/Crozius)
-Death Company (9x)
-8x Bolter/Chainsword
-1x Bolter/Power Fist
-Drop Pod

-Death Company Dreadnought
-Blood Talons
-Heavy Flamer
-Meltagun
-Drop Pod

-Death Company Dreadnought
-Blood Talons
-Heavy Flamer
-Meltagun
-Drop Pod

-Death Company Dreadnought
-Blood Fists
-Heavy Flamer
-Meltagun
-Magna-Grapple
-Drop Pod

Granted, the list is a lot spammier than I like, lots of duplication. But when you're limiting yourself to two entries in an entire codex, things get a little redundant. The plan is to hold everything in reserve, decide if Dreadnoughts or Footsloggers will do best first turn, send them in. Astorath and Company Descent of Angels in at their convenience. The cheap Chaplains add another four Power Weapon attacks and allows the DCo. to re-roll To-Hits and To-Wounds, making for 18 Bolter rounds, plus 24 S5 attacks and 3 P-fist attacks, all of which are twin-linked twice, essentially. And you save almost 150 points by putting the Boltgun DCo. in Drop Pods instead of giving them Jump Packs.

Food for thought, lemme know what you think.
-Ian