Dante by Analysis

Let's move on to Dante. Commander Dante is a special character that has been with the Blood Angels from the 2nd Edition codex. Let's read:

Commander Dante is one of the most experienced and able Space Marine Commanders. In no small part this is due to the quite extraordinary longevity of the Blood Angels, which has meant that he has ruled the Chapter for over 1,100 years! He is held in awe by the leaders of most other Chapters, who can remember him being a famous Commander when they were still in the Scout Company. Because of his reputation, when it came to choosing a leader for the Armageddon intervention, the Masters of the other two Chapters taking part (the Ultramarines and the Salamanders) unanimously asked for him to be placed in command.

Let's check his statline. A nice WS 6, BS 5 for that infernus pistol, W 4, A 4, I 6, 2+ and  4++ save. You might as well keep that high initiative so he only has AP3 on his weapon. The real bonus is opening up the Sanguinary Guard as troops choices - thereby making them scoring and freeing up more space for other elites.

Stelek:

Still overpriced, like all the rest.


Mr. Black:

Dante, I feel, came out the Codex Winner this edition. I loved running this guy before, but always knew that his life would come to an end when a random Power Fist decided to punch him in the abs Harry Houdini style - but now? Now that won't be happening as much because, again, wound allocation. In fact, I'm just going to get this out of the way now: 6th Edition is the Herohammer edition. I say that because now your ICs and whatnot will have a much harder time being instantly taken out by, well, Instant Death, as well as just ablative wounds... But that's a whole 'nother article in itself, so we won't bog this down with that speech.

Anyway, Dante... What did he gain this edition? Well Hit and Run is just as good as ever, and his Surgical Strike remains pretty much unchanged... So what changed about him? Well his Axe got...Ermm...Different... For those that are not aware a big debate has been running about whether or not his Axe Mortis qualifies as a "Unique Power Weapon" or a "Power Axe", and while the debate is long running I'm not going to get into it, I'm just going to state my opinion: It's an Axe, I do not believe Master-Crafted is enough of a stigma to make it "unique"... If you want to change it to a Sword, then by the same rules I go by, that's fine, model it how you want- the name is just a fluff thing titling a set of rules, if you want the bottom line. On that note, however, his Initiative: 6 lost a bit of bite (ok, a lot), but the added Strength bonus (now 6 on the charge) makes up for it in my mind. Plus, it gives a unit (traditionally Honour Guard or Sanguinary Guard) that has issue with Terminator Armor the ability to deal with it.

Speaking of Terminators, Dante also allows us access to our own brand of flying Terminators the Sanguinary Guard as Troops, who got a huge boost this edition with the advent of, once again, 2+ being a huge deal. I can already picture a combined Dantewing and Deathwing army storming across the battlefield... It is a glorious sight... Not that I want my precious Blood Angels tainted by Dark Angels.

Sons of Sanguinius:

A bit underused in 5th but probably more due to Meph being king. Was always pretty good especially for DoA armies and a nice character but not a must have.


Again Dante has been severely hampered by 6th. Like Meph 2+ is a good save. However the problem lies in the fact that the Axe Mortalis is a "Mastercrafted power weapon" And from the weapon title we must infer that the type of power weapon specifically is a power axe. Oh. So the lovely initiative 6 on his profile is worthless as he will in fact be striking at Initiative 1, at least he'll be strength 6.. -.- the only positive is that it's AP2.. but I'm still not convinced that makes him worthwhile at 225pts. Probably still kinda nice for DoA but not convinced at all especially as he might not even get to strike if challenged and dies before swinging...

3++:

-I can see Dante becoming more popular now that Sang Guard aren't a joke. His axe nerf is unfortunate. Guess getting old makes you slow even if you are a space marines, huh?

BA Devastators:

Well, you do need to pick an HQ. If we are running only Blood Angels, then you may want to try something different and have a unit or two  of Sanguinary Guard scoring troops. Don't forget to give him a Personal Warlord Trait too.