HQ Part 2
The Sanguinor (not): He is bemoaned for not being an independent character, but he is not really possible to be part of one due to his sudden, unexpected appearances on the battlefield. He almost should be like a summoned daemon where in games of above 1800 points he could come in if you have had two units wiped out or you are down 2+ maelstrom points at the end of a turn. He could come in and try to save the day. Anyways, if you like this rather unusual character, bring him out to do some work on anything without a 2+ armour save.
Astorath the Grim the Blood Angels high chaplain (hot), Chaplain (hot): GW has really continued its emphasis on chaplains for the Blood Angels, more specifically the Death Company, although we did lose the Reclusiarch option. Generally, Astorath is a weird character as he travels between Blood Angels and their successors, so you would not need to do the "counts as" with him for successors. If you like the flayed skin armour look, go ahead and use him as you will but there is some pretty stiff competition for model aesthetics from the new winged death company chaplain as well as the legendary Lemartes model. Spoiled for choice, choose the one you want to paint. In regards to the regular Chaplain, you probably would run him when you are not using Death Company because you want something to look badass on the board and toughen up something you can deliver into combat.
Sanguinary Priest (hot), Brother Corbulo (hot): This choice is going to be divisive. First, it is interesting to see apothecaries as HQ choices. I think it works for Blood Angels considering how important they are fluff wise in terms of the curse. It also fits in the same way you would let a chaplain lead smaller raids (or points games) where the company commander would not be involved. Previously, the option of running them all over the board with three available a slot obviously rubbed some opposing players the wrong way. Also, the new fetishized design aesthetic for the priest makes it a tough choice. It really should have just been labelled a Corbulo sculp update and left the old Sanguinary Priest alone. The other much older apothecary options have also quietly been culled other than the command squad. Disappointingly, the tactical dreadnought armour option is no longer available for making your own survivable priest. At least the helmeted version is available for the new one which kind of makes it a dual Corbulo / regular Sanguinary priest kit.
Techmarine (not): Narratively, a Techmarine is simply brilliant. Hunting for technology or a relic- he has all the sensors you need. Have an armoured convoy under ambush, he needs to be there. Needing to deliver a Techmarine to a radar array to be repaired is a great mission. Suddenly, this oft-ignored model is the center of the action. You are also spoiled for design choices.
That's an interesting way of bringing in Sanguinor. He could be could also be either costed cheaper or buffed to counter balance the odds that he doesn't even reach play. Still it's nice having your own guardian angel when brown things hit the fan.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. That's a good point in that costs can be moved to help balance characters. I know it isn't something that GW has done before, but it would be fluffy and flavorful. The idea that you can get extra points on the field has been done now with being able to summon daemons, so I don't think there would be much objection to it now in larger point games.
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