From 1500-1750 Points

For a very long time now I have been in a comfortable state of playing 1500 point games. I have stated many times that this is probably my favorite point level to play because it allows a player enough points to take everything they might want but not enough to go over board with crazy things. When I was trying to hunt down a tournament not many were at the 1500 point range, most hovered between 1750 and 2000 points. I want to get my primary list up to that point limit, I will be taking my previous 1500 point list and adding 250 points worth of new stuff. What this post will cover:
1. Current 1500 point list.
2. 250 points of additional troops.
3. What it will cost.
4. How the army will work.

Current List

Blood Angels Primary Detachment: (Actual total of 1490 points)
HQ- Reclusiarch in terminator armor 160 points. (Warlord)

Elite- Sanguinary Priest in terminator armor 85 points.

Sanguinary Priest with power fist and jump pack 100 points.

Terminators with Thunder hammers and shields 225 points. 

Troops- Assault Squad with 2 flamers, Sergeant has an Infernus Pistol and lightning claw 230 points.

Assault Squad with 2 flamers, Sergeant has an Infernus Pistol and lightning claw 230 points.

Assault Squad with just 5 guys, no upgrades 90 points.

White Scars Allied Detachment:
HQ Kor'sorro Khan with his bike 150 points. 

Troops-5 bikers, Veteran Sergeant upgrade with power fist 140 points.

Troops- 5 Scouts with Sniper rifles, camo cloaks, and teleport beacon 80 points.

Additional Support 250 points

Note: Both of these additions are being added to the White Scars detachment.

1. 5 bikers with 2 grav guns and the Sergeant has a plasma gun for a total of 150 points. For this unit I would be taking out one of the bikers from the other bike squad making this one my troop choice and the other a standard fast attack choice since it would drop that squad down to 4 models.

2. Thunderfire cannon 100 points. 

This leads to a small problem of having 31 points to play with. There are a few things I can do to spend those points. 

1. Give my jump pack sanguinary priest an infernus pistol and then give three squads melta bombs. (10 man assault squad, 5 man assault squad, and the other 10 man assault squad.)

2. Give the priest his pistol and the 5 man assault squad a power sword.

3. Take out the 5 man assault squad entirely and have 120 points to play around with. 

My Favorite: The first option gives me the most for my points. Infernus pistols can do a lot of damage if placed correctly and I have had over a year of practice to learn where to place them. Giving the melta bombs to the 5 man assault squad gives them a role other than holding a random objective. They can go out and try to destroy transports and other such vehicles. For 5 points they become twice as good at assaulting targets of opportunities. If my 10 man assault squads need to assault a monstrous creature they can now do a bit of damage to it with the melta bomb after shooting it with the infernus pistol from the priest and sergeants.

The Cost

$156 dollars for 6 bikers, the thunderfire cannon and 20 chapter specific shoulder pads. I will be using my current Blood Angel bikers for the 4 man bike squad that Khan will be attached to and the 6 new bikers will go to the 5 man Grav Bike squad with the last bike will be used to make a Khan conversion. The shoulder pads are just so that I can actually finish the models correctly since they will be painted in my custom chapter blue and yellow and I'm tired of my 5 man squad being finished except for the shoulder pad. As of now I am planning on just using plasma guns as my grav guns but I may look at getting the Volkite chargers from forge world to better represent them unless I can find them on the bitz market.

How the Army Works

Let's start with the warlord. A Reclusiarch in terminator armor in a squad of 5 thunder hammer storm shield terminators with an attached sanguinary priest is a very hard character to kill. If there is a super killy character that charges my unit I have two other characters to throw at him before he can get to my guy. In combat he is no slouch either. While he may not be beating up on other space marines with his ap4 weapon he will be giving the terminators a much needed boost in the first round of combat in which they charge. Essentially he is what I would consider a point denial unit since he is hard to pick out of that unit. In the dozen games I have played with him he has yet to die or even take a second wound. 

The other HQ choice being Khan on a bike gives the army a decent but not great choice to go out and bring the fight to the enemy in the Reclusiarchs absence. It might be worth looking into making my own bike captain for less points but I really like the little extra things that he adds to a unit. D3 hammer of wrath attacks can be nice but the entire squad having furious charge can make quite an impact in a combat, especially with making the sergeants power fist strength 9 on the charge. 

This build gives me 5 troop choices or 7 if I combat my assault squads which I almost never do. Two 10 man assault squads, a five man assault squad, and a 5 man biker squad will be the ones holding objectives for me. This is one of the weak points of the army, none of these units is specifically designed to hold an objective except the small assault squad and perhaps the bikes. Luckily by the end of the game all my squads are so weakened that charging them would mean getting them killed so objective holding is the only option for them. Of course the scouts can go scurry off after an objective once the terminators come in.

Terminators are able to take on most elite units in the game and with so much combat power in my opponents face on turn 2 it forces them to really take a hard look at what to shoot at in preparation for the coming turns. If they shoot at the terminators, their 2+ 3++ will keep them alive against most attacks, then should they fail that there is a 5+ FNP save from the sanguinary priest. With my terminators absorbing the hits it leaves my more vulnerable assault and bike squads to make charges into the guts of my opponents army. Should they fire at my basic infantry then my terminators will cleave a bloody path of vengeance through my opponents most valued unit in the next turn.

My bikers take on the task of being my hunters. The 4 man squad rides with Khan and between them they can take on a squad of something vicious, or they go after weakened squads left crippled by other assaults or shooting. Those bikers with the grav and plasma guns are destined for greatness since it will be their task to hunt down the enemies elite units and wipe them out with the mass amounts of shots that unit can turn out. 6 ap2 grav shots, 2 plasma shots if in rapid fire range, and 4 twin-linked bolter rounds if they are in also in rapid fire range. 

With everything else in my army being fast and generally assault based it may seem odd or out of place to add a thunderfire cannon to the mix. Having three different types of ammunition changes how this cannon works in my army. The subterranean round makes a unit it hits act as if it is in dangerous terrain for the duration of that turn and dangerous terrain if they are already in difficult. I can really use this ability to hamstring my opponents infantry counter to my assault squads or use it to prevent squads with mass amounts of ap3 and lower weapons from getting into rapid fire range. If there is a squad with a bunch of heavy weapons like lootas hiding in a building I can use the round that ignores cover to blast them off the board. Of course if there is a bunch of models out in the open I can just blast them with the high strength low ap shot to cause mass casualties. 

Weaknesses I see in this build are that I have no anti-flyer weaponry. That is a weakness that is purposely built into the list so if I face a flyer heavy army it will remind me, should I forget, that my place is in combat where I can't be shot. Armies that are faster than me like Eldar are a big concern to me. My grav guns can only be in so many places at one which is why lists that have three or more big creatures is also a concern to my army. 

That is all I have for today. If you have anything to say about my army build, or suggestions on how to spend some points better/differently please leave a message in the comments section. Have an Emperor blessed day!