Blood Angels Review by Raw Dogger

Raw Dogger of Frontline Gaming and Kimchi Games dropped on article here.

Let's examine Raw Dogger's analysis in italics.

Mephiston-A lot of players will dramatically alter their deployment to stay away from him and that can set you up for a good game.  He can still lay the smack down with a base strength 6 which can be increased to strength 10 with the use of his psychic power, the Sanguine Sword.  I primarily use him as a monster hunter but watch out because he is still only AP3 with his sword so Riptides should only be assaulted if entirely necessary.  He is also quite fast with a jump pack psychic power (Wings of Sanguinius) and a base Fleet, which means he’ll normally getting into assault turn 2.

Keep in mind that Mephiston comes in at 250 points. You have to decide if you want to invest into one model that cannot join a unit and hide. When looking at his stat line, do not overvalue the weapon skill 7 he has. It only adds a 16% chance to hit for enemies with WS 4-6 compared to a normal Space Marine. A BS of 5 is always welcome, especially with a plasma pistol.His strength 6 (10 with Sanguine Sword) attacks at initiative are nice. His toughness 6 is going to help prevent a lot of strength 4 attacks from going through. Although 5 wounds sounds impressive, the amount of plasma on the table could pose a great danger to him. Mephiston needs to be kept out of sight from units with significant AP 2 weaponry. His initiative 7 is going to allow him to limit the amount of returning wounds in combat he will take as long as he stays away from AP 2 weaponry. This significantly lowers his value and needs to be used with care. His 4 attacks look significantly light without an AP 2 weapon despite having preferred enemy if his power goes off. His points cost seems prohibitive to run him as a force multiplier by swapping his powers for the main rule book ones.   

Sternguard- In an edition dominated by high toughness monsters and mobs of cheap troops hiding in cover, Hellfire Rounds (wound on a 2+) and Dragonfire Bolts (ignore cover) are the [good].  Put these guys in a drop pod with a priest (I like Brother Corbulo for his 2+ Feel No Pain wound tank ability) and watch your opponent cry as his models melt off the table. 

One of the biggest drawbacks is that they are never scoring while still being as easy to kill as a regular marine which some have said is the worst armor save in the game for the points. Be careful about going overboard on dropping too many points on them at 25 each. Have a role for them and give them enough to get the job done whether it is more combi-weapons, just more bodies, priests and dedicated transports.

Assault Terminators- Put them in a Land Raider with a priest and a Librarian (Divination) and point them at the thing you want to die. 

Try and synergize this unit by hiding your Vindicator behind it or a Landspeeder or Razorback with some Death Company inside to be able to punish your opponent for focus firing on trying to stop the Terminators from getting to their target. 

Death Company- Throw these guys in a drop pod with a Chaplain and a power weapon and power fist and watch your opponent scramble to deal with them.  Oh and guess what?  They’re Relentless.  Take bolters for maximum death.  Each model has 5 strength 5 attacks on the charge (Rage) and with the Chaplain they re-roll all hits and wounds.  Remember that power sword and power fist?  You can’t challenge them away. 

It's true but remember to keep them limited to what they need to do because they are relatively expensive at 20 points each and might actually be better than Sternguard all things considered at this point.

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Assault Squads- What you SHOULD be doing is taking advantage of their cheap pimp wagons and sitting backfield until the Short Bus Dragons get taken out.  My favorite builds are the 5 mans with a meltagun and power ax (yes, you need to be able to kill stuff) riding in a Razorback with Twin-Linked Lascannons.

Customize your Razorback load out for the job you want it to fulfill. Remember to protect your scoring troops and keep them out of sight as five man squads disappear quickly even in cover. With the 6th Edition changes though, Tacticals are a solid choice. If you go with ten Tacticals, grab a free multi-melta to snapshot with.

Razorbacks- Did you know that Blood Angel transports are fast?  Did you know that Fast Vehicles can move 12” and still fire a weapon at full ballistic skill?  Now you know.  Assault Marine Squads have a built in 35 point discount on any transports they take.  DEAL BREAKER. 

It really is the best discount in the codex next to the one you can get for a Land Raider.

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Predators-  Look, the ability to move 6” and fire all of your weapons at full ballistic skill has won me more games than I care to admit.  Being able to re-position your auto cannons/lascannons to get that perfect kill shot is worth the higher point cost you’re paying above the Dark Angels. 

Baal Predators- AV 13 fast vehicles that also have the ability to Scout (Outflank)?  I’ll take three please.  I normally take the Assault Canons / Heavy Bolters combo and they can REALLY lay down covering fire.  The best thing about these guys is their ability to Outflank.  They can come in from behind you opponent and blast ... a tank or a wimpy back field scoring unit. 

Considering the two types of Predators, you can choose depending upon which category in the Force Organization Choice has more space and provide balance for the two special scoring missions. The question is also whether the Scout rule is something you are looking for. The Predator comes in at a bargain 70 points but considering you should be at range to bring the force of both side sponsons to the enemy, it is probably a good investment to add the heavy bolters (100 point unit) unless you really need to hunt tanks (lascannon sponsons bring the total to 135 points). The Baal Predator starts at 115 points with either the T/L assault cannon or flamestorm cannon. Heavy flamer sponsons bring the total to 140 points or 145 if you choose heavy bolters instead. Again, your load outs come down to what you want to accomplish with them. Just remember that you want to have a balance between back field fire power, midfield support and close combat presence combined with appropriate target prioritizing.

Meaningful Extra Armour

Although there were rumours of a potential Vanguard Veterans dedicated transport, perhaps we could come up with a way to give meaningful extra armour to the Rhino/Razorback kit.

Forge World has two kits out just for this.

Follow with me for this as the first is named the dozer blade upgrade that is called a siege shield that you would see on Vindicators. For Vindicators, this automatically passes dangerous terrain tests (for 10 points). This presumably has nothing to do with their front armour surprisingly then. Turning to the Predator entry, it says that "it completely surrenders transport capacity for much improved frontal armour..." (C:BA, 2009, p. 35). Extra armour as used today goes back to the last century where crew stunned results are turned into crew shaken. After your opponent has actually penetrated your vehicle, there is only a 16% chance they will end up with a die roll of 3 to make this work. The Extra Armour cost is a whopping 15 points for the ability to continue moving the next turn. Surely there is a better way to do this or to add armour to vehicle transport that be a bridge between the regular Rhino and the Land Raider.

Having Codex Envy?

If you are not already having codex envy, you probably will with the next Space Marine codex only a short while away. If rumors are true, there could be some significant additions to the game. However, please remember that if the Blood Angels are your first army, do not sell them. Never sell your first army. There is only regret that can come of it unless you never liked the aesthetic in the first place.

You will probably not get as much as you want for your Blood Angels too. The codex was not nerfed but there was so much codex creep that it may be difficult to find a buyer willing to pay what they are really worth after your hard work. Additionally, there are a lot of BA armies waiting to be sold since Grey Knights and Necrons were released. Other players may also find you interesting to play if they do not see your army often unless you are running Mephiston. 

Further, GW has greatly increased its release pace, and it may not be that long before there is a new codex and supplement. Those are some good reasons to not abandon your army and remember you can ally in something in if you must have it. Hopefully, the Blood Angels will get all of the good things to come and not left behind in the separate but equal situation of the Dark Angels.

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Blood Rodeo Review

3++ updated the Blood Rodeo for 6th Ed.back in July. Essentially, I have combined three separate articles to be able bring the concepts together into one place rather than ending up disjointed. Set aside a little time to read it through properly and be able to advance this conversation and Blood Angel army build.

First, bikes are improved. That constant Toughness 5 is a huge benefit.It is like strength five and six weapons with multiple shots where it tips from being lucky to wound to being useful and consistent. It also brushes aside instant death from missiles and melta weapons.Blood Angels' Bike Squads only score in one of the missions and cannot be unlocked as Troops Choices.

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Here's the final 5th Edition 3++ Blood Rodeo to review:

HQ -
Librarian w/Bike, Blood Lance & Sanguine Sword
Librarian w/Bike, Blood Lance & Sanguine Sword

Elites - 
5x TH/SS Terminators
2x Sanguinary Priest w/Jump Pack, Lightning Claw
Sanguinary Priest w/Jump Pack

Troops -
10x ASM w/2x meltagun, Power Fist, hand flamer
10x ASM w/2x meltagun, Power Fist, hand flamer
5x ASM w/meltagun, infernous pistol, hand flamer, melta bombs

Fast Attack - 
8x Bikes w/2x meltagun, Power Fist, Attack Bike w/MM
8x Bikes w/2x meltagun, Power Fist, Attack Bike w/MM

Blood Rodeo is about using a screen of biker models to protect the FNP/FC Assault Marines of a Blood Angels army for any unwanted assaults/attention and basically ferry them into combat. In 5th edition this looked at bringing Bikes from the Blood Angels army who had the benefit of FNP but as we all know, bikes aren't cheap and bikes without combat tactics are bikes stuck in combat, particularly when they are a screening force. The ASM + heavy units (TH/SS, Sanguinary Guard, etc.) were used to try and break that stalemate and the Bikes gave the ASM some extra ranged dakka and the ability to get off charges against their opponents.

There are a couple of things which make this list and concept work. The first one is obviously scoring ASM. Whilst scoring bikes are arguably better, we have scoring ASM which provides the list with the needed mobility, special weapons and combat prowess across multiple units. Whilst ASM aren’t great assault troops they are a sight better than Tactical Marines & Bikes and when combined with the FNP/FC bubbles Blood Angels have access to, they are greatly improved. This brings us to the 2nd point on why this list works. FNP/FC bubbles. FNP makes the whole army (Bikes & ASM) very survivable, especially in combat against anything without power weapons. As stated above, FC makes the ASM ‘good’ assault troops and even makes Bikes on the charge better than terrible but it still doesn’t make the army a good combat army as an entity. This is where the Terminators come in and the major concept of this list, bubble-wrapping. 

This works by ‘wrapping’ the ASM with the combat squadded bikes. The bikes aren’t great in combat even on the charge w/FC and are a higher toughness (which combined with FNP makes them very tough against anything which doesn’t ignore saves) and are therefore better able in this role to accept charges. This protects the ASM from charges and because ASM have jump packs, they are able to jump over the combat and assault the units engaged with the Bikes. Ergo, the Rodeo. This takes advantage of both the FNP and FC aspects of the Blood Chalice to great effect. Furthermore, with the FAQ changes to FNP/FC bubbles it is also easier to get the ASM those benefits by tucking the Sanguinary Priests behind the combat on the bike side (but not engaged in the combat). This is a key part of how the army works and should be practiced as once FNP disappears you‘ve just got a bunch of Marines & Bikes who are mediocre in combat. The obvious alternative is to have the Sanguinary Priests assault with the ASM as you can get an extra special weapon and a higher WS IC involved.

However, there is still the glaring weakness of no real scary combat units in this list and without VV or HG to suck up power weapon hits on storm shields, super combat units which ignore saves can be very problematic for the Blood Rodeo. Enter Stelek’s change: Terminators. Whilst TH/SS terminators don’t benefit from Descent of Angels, deep striking them on the enemy’s side of the engagement line (where the Bikes & ASM are involved in conflict) provides you with a huge rock unit which will beat most other rock units in combat (and anything else besides). This is another key point of the Blood Rodeo, where and when to deep strike these guys. Sometimes it is better to run the Terminators behind the Bike bubble-wrap and assault forward as a gap opens and sometimes it’s better to reserve them and have them walk on. Let’s take a quick look.

Reserve on foot: the only time you really want to do this is when you are playing defensively against armies like Daemons, Jumpers or Drop Pods. Since the enemy is approaching you, by the time your Terminators walk on you have either created a huge “no go” zone for your opponent or will be able to assault something on the turn your arrive.

Reserve: this should be the most common option as you want your Terminators to drop behind the engagement line and be able to wreck face by either threatening more of your opponent’s army or countering super units. The one problem with this is they may turn up later or earlier than you need them.

Walk: this should generally be against shooty lists with a large amount of Ap2+ weaponry. Dropping these guys in will generally have them shot to pieces by such weaponry as your opponent focuses on them. By deploying them on the table, you’ve forced your opponent to make a choice on what to shoot. Furthermore, armies like this such as IG and Tau need to be overwhelmed with targets and don’t really have units the Terminators are designed to counter anyway. It can also be difficult to bull the Terminators through your lines and requires a bit of finesse to do so.

So why Terminators? VV, HG or Sanguinary Guard would fit the theme of Blood Rodeo much better whilst still providing either a strong combat punch or steely combat defences through storm shields. For this however, we want both. This rules out Sanguinary Guard as they are incapable of receiving an invulnerable save. HG and VV are both options then (particularly VV who can benefit from Descent of Angels and Heroic Intervention). However, for the point costs Terminators are flat better as they have both great defences (2+/3++) and can dish out the hurt with 10-15+ TH attacks. Whilst HG and VV can both get combat weapons like LCs and storm shields for defence, that’s 35 points just for the upgrades and the Terminators still have a better armor save and can deal more damage in combat with their Thunder Hammers. Whilst they have less mobility, with the nature of the Blood Rodeo they can generally get to where they are needed one turn after they deep-strike in.

Let’s take a final peek at how the list operates on the table and what its strengths and weaknesses are. In most games the Terminators and 1 combat squad of ASM will reserve via Deep-Strike. This allows the Blood Rodeo to land units behind the engagement line and expand the threat zone. Whilst Blood Rodeo is a very mobile army, it is susceptible to being bogged down in combat due to the lack of raw power by the ASM and bikes. The majority of the time the ASM and Bike squads should therefore be combat squadded. Whilst this gives you a potential ~15 Kill Points, meh, still less than mech lists and it gives you a lot more flexibility and mobility. The bikers then run as a screen for the ASM and will generally turbo-boost T1 for a 3+ cover with the ASM moving and running behind them. This gets the whole army (minus what’s in reserve) in your face very quickly and once the Bikes are engaged in combat, the ASM can jump over them and assault the units behind. It’s important to attempt to focus the PFists squads on a unit you want dead which the Terminators are unable to get to. The army also has a large amount of melta and flamer weapons with which to tackle both infantry and tank based armies and it’s important to try and de-mech your opponent ASAP so your ASM can benefit on the charge. Remember, the Bikes are there to accept charges and die whilst the real damage in combat comes from mass ASM attacks and the Terminators.

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Here's the 6th Edition Version of the 3++ Blood Rodeo.
HQ
Librarian w/Bike, Shield of Sanguine, Unleash Rage

Elites
2x Priest w/Jump Pack, Power Weapon

Troops
3x10x ASM w/meltaguns, PFist

Ally
HQ Captain w/Bike, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Artificer Armor
Command Squad, Bikes, 4x Storm Shields, 4x Power Axes8x Bikes w/2x meltaguns, Attack Bike w/MM

Troops
5x Bikes w/2x meltaguns, Attack Bike w/MM

195 points gives us the basic squad with Bikes & FNP, so only 60 points left. Yikes. They cannot get any armor upgrades so storm shields to avoid death to power weapons is pretty important. There goes all 60 points. A Lightning Claw is what was used previously and they are still probably a good bet as the storm shield takes away the advantages of the power weapon for getting +1A. The Librarian is also giving them Unleash Rage which will be helpful in making sure those hits count. I'd stick with Lightning Claws at this point - without the +1A you're not going to benefit at all with power weapons, Lances without Hit & Run are risky, particularly with the fearless units abound, Axes you're just better off getting the Thunderhammer or Powerfist for and Mauls will have issue punching through Marine armor though could be usable for simple torrent. However, this unit is being run to deal with Terminators and the like in combat so running mass Power Axes might be a good idea - leave the anti-infantry/Marines up to the ASM.

Regardless, I'd pay the extra 15 points per model for a power weapon of some type - if you end up using all Lightning Claws change the 4th one to a Thunderhammer/PFist and if you end up using Power Axes, you can forego the last (but grab some melta bombs in combat). Command Squad, Bikes, 4x Storm Shields, 4x Power Axes. At a minimum this puts you 60 points over. Time to shave some points and we'd also like to buff our Captain a bit. We want to keep our ASM core - 30 ASM is the minimum you really need to break things open and that's only the case because we have some other scoring units + the Command squad. We'll look to trim from one of the Bike squads then and turn one full squad into a half squad. A full squad costs 280 whilst a half squad costs 205 giving us the 60 extra we needed for the Command Squad and 15 to play with. Perfect...

We can drop a final Bike from the small squad (still five strong with AB so counts as a Troops unit) to get some extras here and there on the characters or Command Squad (like plasma weapons, melta-bombs, etc.). Otherwise, that's Blood Rodeo taken to 6th edition.

There's still a bit of inefficiency with the Priests + ASM and potentially running this with the Marines as the parent list with attached ASM and then some Hybridity with Dreadnoughts/Predators running around wouldn't go amiss.

The theory still works and as we looked at before with Jumpers in general, they should fare fine in 6th edition. Bikers as a pure army probably aren't going to work any longer - low model count with reduced cover hurts, particularly with more AP2 weapons out there but should still work fine as a Hybrid army - as is the case here. There are 50+ T4/5/3+ models out there and most of them have FNP, so even mass plasma isn't going to chew through them. All platforms are fast so mass melta is still an excellent option, particularly as they are looking to engage the enemy though some Plasma might not got amiss on the Bike platforms. Impact hits from both units can help raise the damage in combat but it's still important to take down MCs/Dreads before engaging them, particularly with the ASM who do not have combat tactics. Flyers will be an issue and you could replace something on the Libby for Blood Lance but even then, that's only one option and this lack combined with a general increase in power for 2+ saves in combat will probably see this specific Jumper build be less viable than it was in 5th. Anti-infantry is again mostly combat related outside of the Bikes bolters and with large fearless units coming to play, this may end up being an issue for such armies in 6th.

The updated Blood Rodeo is better. Although it has lost some durability, it has significantly increased its objective scoring power significantly. It is also more mobile losing the Assault Terminators. Without needing to deepstrike the Assault Terminators, it allows more of your army on the table immediately. As Stelek has already mentioned, Turn 2 is the new Alpha Strike. There are serious problems with leaving too much of your army in reserve with the decrease in cover and increase in power of overall shooting. 

It is also nice for your opponent to see an interesting army being put across the table from them and that isn't Ravenwing. Please post your thoughts and ideas to improve this list in the comments.

Thanks, but no thanks, GW.

I grabbed a screen shot from GW's homepage.

Start a new army this year? Thanks, but no thanks. It was thoughtful for you to ask, but players should generally become "invested" in their own army and perhaps a side army (hopefully where they can also become allies- sorry, Nids.). Players are already quite conscious of costs. Play only one army then to control your spending and at most have a small side army. Of course, the company needs sales, but it should not be trying to bleed its player base dry. GW needs to grow the game and do some real marketing. The Internet is angry again at GW just dropping a boring and cryptic "video" to launch another codex. Plain and simple, that is not good enough and everyone knows we expect more than that.

Additional Armies
GW does not do the player base many favors when it introduces codex creep making older codices' players abandon or even forsake their army for the temptations of power (gaming). The Imperial Guard codex is pretty much the standard for this. It made it through an edition and transitioned better than any others into 6th Edition. Hopefully, the game designers will follow the Blood Angels, Dark Eldar, and Chaos style where there are lots of interesting choices and it is well-balanced internally and against the rest of the other codices. It is annoying to see tournament results from around the world where the players have obviously picked out the most powerful codex to give them the best chance to win (Starting from in 5th: Imperial Guard-Space Wolves-Grey Knights). People from Adepticon felt ashamed if they had brought Grey Knights because of the sheer amount of them at the tournament. It is extremely sad to see so many nicely painted armies on Ebay because you can see that the list build they were made for is now ineffective for competitive gamine. There was great sorrow among us Blood Angel players when our DoA lists were nullified by 6th Edition. I suggest writing letters to Games Workshop to let them know how you feel about your Blood Angels and what you would like to see from the next codex- they might just listen if we are loud enough.

Drink Deep of Victory: a Vanguard Veteran Historia

"Drink deep of victory and remember the fallen."
                            -Inscription over the archway leading to the Sepulchre of Heroes on Baal Secondus

This post will review the historical entries of the current Blood Angel Vanguard Veterans.  Let's go back to their first mention in the Rick Priestly and Jervis Johnson created Angels of Death Codex (I guess it will be the Dark Angels' turn in the sun now after too much time in the chambers with the Interrogator Chaplains.) "The members of the Blood Angels 1st Company fight as assault troops when not equipped as Terminators" (p. 48). Here they are labelled as a Veteran Assault Squad. Also in the entry "A single Battle squad of Blood Angels Veterans forms the personal honour guard of the Chapter's commander" (p.48) Interestingly they could split the purchasing of jump packs between combat squads that meant you could take 10 and have five of them with jump packs and five without if you wanted. The stat line had them at weapon skill 5, ballistic skill 5 and initiative 5. I would sure like to see that come back because veterans should be able to take down a regular marine more easily than just having an extra attack. It would also add some more difference between them rather than simply an extra attack and additional war gear options (Why bother? I guess it's just another thing to blame Gav Thorpe for then in the 3rd Edition BA codex.).

Codex: Blood Angels (3rd Edition) had the Veteran Assault squad moving from the now defunct Squads section to the Elites section. Unfortunately, they also dropped their WS, BS and I back to 4. They also had limitations put on the amount of Wargear they could take "Even amongst these supreme fighters, there are those whose martial skills put them above their battle-brothers.These remarkable individuals are accepted into the First Company and form hard-hitting shock squads that can tear the heart out of an enemy army." Well, I guess they used to be like that but dropping the stats sure knocks the wind out of that quote.

Codex: Blood Angels (4th Edition) by Jervis Johnson still had the Veteran Assault squad in the elites section which look very similar to what the excellent Assault squad is in the 5th Edition Blood Angels codex. They already had jump packs attached but could take them off for a free transport. They kept the same stat line they had in the 3rd Edition codex.

Last, we come to Ward's 5th Edition version of Codex: Blood Angels. They have now changed their name to Vanguard Veterans and moved them to the fast attack slot (in line with the previously made Codex: Space Marines). They lost some options for shooting weapons but gained more close combat ones. They also gained the Heroic Intervention rule as the space marine codex but combined with the Descent of Angels rule made it somewhat more powerful. Although they are better than their Codex: Space Marine brethren, they still suffer from being over-costed in comparison to the scoring unit of the Assault squad. Let's hope for the next codex that they will be given a stat boost or more special rules to make them exciting choices to take.

10,000+ Page Views

Thank you, everyone who has come by and visited to get Blood Angels material. I will continue to do my best to keep Blood Angels content coming to you. The bigger we can grow this blog, the more reach there will be to bring in the best ideas and content around the world on the Blood Angels that can be brought to you.

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Special Thanks to everyone already following the blog:

Lamenters
DimmyK
Codicier Ignatius
Lovecraft
Nic E
Gonewild
pchappel
Ulterior
Nicholas Sacco
Niels Peter Lindemann
Rikuturso

Much Love Everyone

A Critique of BoLS: Why it is holding you back.

Ah, yes, that title could be misconstrued. If you can read, then you will know this is a critique and not a hit piece to belittle the various authors that contribute to BoLS. It is not like that.

Before getting started, please just go and read a lot of different 40k sites on the Internet. Yes, there are more than you have enough time for. Yes, there are a bunch of excellent podcasts. My favorite stuff is all in the sidebar on the right, but I love visiting around even if it's just once to check out someone else's living room so to speak.

What did you notice from those sites?
Take a minute and think of at least three things.

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What I noticed was that these blogs specialize and are close to their creators' hearts. BoLS predominantly has a bunch of mixed authors that import articles from their blogs. Ideas build up over time and develop. Ripping these articles out of their context in their home blogs make them appear shallow and incomplete because they are put in a new surrounding. Essentially, things are going to look out of place and disjointed when they are haphazardly put together without consideration to the overall picture. There is little to no discussion that carries over from one author's considerations to another- this means they are not developing ideas further and considering things from another perspective. The feedback loop maybe only runs through the comments if at all.

Which brings us to the next idea of  putting out unedited pieces. This has long been a complaint in the comment section that has fallen on deaf ears. Whether it is simple grammar errors or more important information screwed up or illegal tactics, there needs to be some sort of minimal peer review.

Another annoyance for readers is the scraping for content by some authors (This is the article?) and how many times the authors just lay it out for the comment section to put all of the thought into the article: The floor is yours generals...because we got nothin'!" Then there are the articles that are thinly veiled advertisements to sell armies. The site is also plastered with advertisements which puts clicks at a premium where "articles" essentially take you to their forums so you can click some more. The scheduled and controlled post release to ensure content is always there is not a problem in and of itself, rather it is that there is a back up to ensure that content will be continued if there are delays. However, information there lags behind other places. Their rumor posts were improved by bringing Natfka aboard; however, it's so much better to just go and visit his own site to get the information, comments and more.

Hobby articles are well liked in the comment section. Some of them are useful, yet others are questionable in aesthetic and bits needed to be used by what commenters have put forth. I have heard that Goatboy is tremendous in person, but his articles during 5th Edition were upsetting to a lot of people. His "counts as" armies were thought of mostly as unacceptable power codex jumping and incredibly full of spam. Thomas would spend time refining his lists for getting stuff packed into them instead of advancing in thought his lists like Stelek at YTTH is known for. Thomas has come around a lot in his writing of lists and the way he thinks about the game since the change to 6th Edition. I think he has a lot of growth potential to become an excellent 40k article writer.

BoLSCon is fine as their thing. However, that pushes aside a lot of coverage of other tournaments where the top players are performing their most refined tactics. It's narrowing the knowledge base. There is also a conflict of interest where they want to promote themselves as excellent winning gamers, yet if they want to stay that way, it doesn't benefit them to drop their most important tactical ideas onto the site to raise the level of competitiveness of the player base and thinking more deeply about what the game is about. Essentially, we should have players thinking about this game on higher levels.

Stelek and YTTH Community on Rhinos

Go read his Community Quiz: Why do YOU bring Rhinos? and the comment section at yesthetruthhurts.

Let's adapt this for our Blood Angels armies with Rhinos and where applicable Razorbacks too. If you missed the earlier post on Rhino Schematics click away.

Credit

Let's visit the Rule Book FAQ (1.0a) on Page 5:

Q: If a unit disembarks from a destroyed vehicle during the enemy turn, can it Charge in the Assault phase of its own turn? (p80)
A: No, unless the vehicle in question was an Assault Vehicle.

6th Edition Rule Book page 80:
•Wrecked. The passengers must immediately disembark in the usual manner (see page 79), save that they must end their move wholly within 3" rather than 6". If, even by performing an emergency disembarkation, some models are unable to disembark then any models that cannot disembark are removed as casualties. This does not prevent the rest of the unit from disembarking, The unit must then take a pinning test. After this, the vehicle becomes a wreck.

•Explodes! The unit suffers a number of Strength 4, AP- hits equal to the number of models embarked. Resolve these as for shooting hits, except that the controlling player allocates any Wounds caused. Surviving passengers are placed where the vehicle used to be; any models that cannot be placed are removed as casualties. The unit then takes a Pinning test.

Here's a video for some of these ideas in action. Go ahead and click on it.

Let's cover the other ideas (numbers converted for Blood Angels) covered in the comments too.
1. You can get your models 24" closer to the enemy.
2. Provide line of sight blocking terrain.
3. Clog firing lanes for your opponents.
4. Bait assault units to assault the wrong units.
5. To take the middle of the field.
6. Cause psychological stress in your opponent so they have to think about dealing with
    them.
7. Mobile bunker with two firing points for special / heavy weapons.
8. An additional layer of defense for a small cost.
9. You can Combat Squad from them.
10. After delivering their troop payload, they can keep moving to create blocking to
     opponent charges (and the aforementioned shooting).
11. Rhinos turn into terrain after getting wrecked.
12. Let's you put melta threats midfield to zone enemy vehicles, especially high AV.
13. Mobile cover.
14. To take away shooting from troop choices and screen units behind them.
15. Use them as movement blockers. One or two sideways Rhino chassis can really take
      a lot of movement off other units.
16. Park them right in front of a shooty squad and essentially negate their shooting.
17. Force Anti-Tank fire away from expensive stuff.
18. To have a chance to reach a distant objective.
19. Lighting up enemies in Night Fight.
20. If destroyed, allows you to move in the enemies shooting phase.
21. Assault protection: if the Rhino explodes, you can move up to 3" to crowd at the rear
      of the crater and force a difficult terrain roll in the assault phase.

Let's just leave Stelek's comments to stand for themselves:

Why do *I* bring Rhinos, you wonder? I bring them for many of the reasons given.

Notably, I play them about the same as I used to in 5th.

You’ve read the rapid fire and disembark rules, right?

What did everyone give their ground troops? Plasma guns?

Please tell me how exactly you are firing your plasma guns and charging me.

I’ll give it to you plain and simple, so you really understand why you bring mech.

In most CCGs, there is always a way you can gain a phase for yourself.

Lowinor is the only one I noticed mentioning the free move after you blow up my ride. Oh no, I can’t charge with my…rapid fire weapon equipped unit.

Gee. I can’t anyway. This is an inherent bonus in the rules system for Marines. You get this bonus for free, you know.

So we can see I can generate an extra phase for myself (movement). This is really nice to have when the other guy just rapid fired his plasmaguns to kill my Rhino, guess his guys standing in the open can’t charge me after all, so who cares?

Well, I can always let another squad disembark and fire on said squad, then embark on that other squads Rhino (especially nice if I’m stuck and unable to do anything but snap shot) and then run forward 12″ (if I want to snap shot).

Now think about what I just did. I not only gained a phase for myself, I denied a phase for my opponent (his CC phase, since he cannot charge me).

This might not seem like much, but the +1/-1 adds up over time. You have to LET your opponent make those choices, and then capitalize on them, but if you set up the bowling pins…eventually, the other guy IS going to knock some of them down. That’s where you come in.

Terrain Variety with Mysterious Forests [Tactical Exploration]

Sixth edition has opened up various new ways to explore the game. Let's get into the rule book about terrain and how we can increase the amount of variety and best utilize terrain to help your Blood Angels.

First, play with a lot of varied terrain. Not just ruins, hills and empty craters. As a codex that has a general speed advantage, terrain variability will help out. Isn't terrain going to be equal for both sides is the first question you should ask? Of course, the principle is correct but Blood Angels will be able to avoid, bypass or just plow through it more easily than other armies.The over reliance on ruins gives undue advantage to armies like Space Wolves with maximum Long Fang units blasting from the tops of ruins and hiding Rhinos full of Grey Hunters waiting to counter attack.

Forests, Jungles and Woods (Rule Book p.102)

Dropping a Mysterious Forest onto the board is a good idea. Although it does not actually help your army as  a boost, it probably will have an increased negative effect on the army you are playing against- especially filthy Xenos ones. Blood Angels have their 3+ save but also Feel No Pain. This makes the dangers of forests more acceptable and may gain you additional tactical advantages if the enemy is hesitant to enter it or suffers penalties for passing through it.

Mysterious Forest Effects Summary
1- just difficult terrain
2- 3D6 leadership. If failed, a random squad member inflicts D6 automatic hits with his weapons
3- D3 automatic hits S5 AP- / vehicles use rear armour
4- 3+ cover saves
5- 2+ cover saves on grenades
6- 4+ on the difficult terrain test means D6 S3 AP- hits with Rending / vehicles use rear armour

Jumpers treat difficult terrain as dangerous terrain (Rule Book p.47). You have to roll a 1 to trigger it though  (Rule Book p.90). Then you still get armour saves and a Feel No Pain roll too. Dangerous Terrain is far less risky now. Remember, your jumpers can also land on impassable terrain if they physically fit and they treat it as dangerous terrain (Rule Book p.47). This may come in very handy for Deep Striking and jumping onto buildings, etc.

As the Blood Angels codex continues to age, you will need to become less risk averse in your games to gain tactical superiority. It could also blow up in your face but there is little choice against superior points effectiveness armies at times. This codex was never able to push Imperial Guard or Space Wolves aside for most competitive and now it is getting buried. Stick with your Blood Angels army and know it inside out and how to get the most out of the new rules. Tony Kopach did this with his Space Wolves for 5th Edition and you can become a better player too with a solid list, knowing your opponent's army and knowing what your Blood Angels army can do. Opponents will be seeing Blood Angels' armies with less frequency and will be glad to play you and will be less familiar with all of the changes the 6th Edition has caused to it.

Techmarines [Tactical Exploration]

Welcome to the first [Tactical Exploration]. I would like this to be wide open to new ideas on how to use different units even if they aren't utilized heavily at the moment.

Let's explore the Blood Angel Techmarines together. They are definitely an underused unit on the table because of points cost, Elite slot competition, unusual army role, amount of utility versus an enemy may be somewhat unpredictable, etc.

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Stats: The Techmarine has the standard Marine line except he has a 2+ save.
Special Rules: They are not independent characters. Although you can run Servitors (without mind-lock) with them. Bolster Defences actually got better considering that cover saves have generally been lightened. Blessing of the Omnissiah is basically the reason for a Techmarine's battlefield existence.
Wargear:  Servo-arm- this allows you to fix your vehicles on a 5+ roll. You need to be in base contact and roll to fix during the shooting phase. If fixing a weapon destroyed, it will be able to fire immediately. The Servo-arm allows you an extra close combat attack at Strength 8 Initiative 1 but ignores Armour Saves. That's pretty valuable in a challenge. If you have a servo-harness, you can fix a vehicle on a 4+ roll, get two Servo-arm attacks, and a twin-linked plasma pistol and a flamer that can both be fired in the same shooting phase.

From the Blood Angels FAQ:
“Blessing of the Omnissiah: In each of your Shooting phases,
instead of firing his weapons, a Techmarine may choose to
repair a single friendly vehicle that he is in base contact with or
embarked upon."

Q: Can a Techmarine that is in base contact with multiple damaged vehicles attempt to repair them all?
A: No. A Techmarine can only ever make one repair attempt per turn.
If you want your Techmarine to be effective, you have to get those repair rolls chances in your favor.

On the whole, the new edition is friendly to the Blood Angels' version of the Techmarine. He has a nice 2+ save and his shooting repairs are now enacted immediately. The Servo-harness is a nice upgrade although that needs to be balanced by only having one wound.

If you take the Servo-harness, you might as well take a plain Servitor or two as an ablative wound and to help fulfill its main function of battlefield mechanic. Fulfilling this role will require a lot of movement, so despite  the increase in power of the Plasma Cannon, it will still be hard to actually get shots off and it can't fire snap shots either. However, you shouldn't receive too much early fire from your opponent as your Techmarine will be lower on their target priority which will allow you to get premium positioning. Use this to your advantage. Remember, the Techmarine doesn't have the option of taking a dedicated transport, so they will have to borrow one. You'll have to think about how he will get around. Will it be on foot or will it be an assault squad razorback with twin-linked assault cannons or maybe twin-linked lascannon?

Your other main choice is then for your Techmarine to become like a Devastator squad. In this instance leave your Techmarine minimally armed to just absorb wounds and load up your servitors with Plasma Cannons to drop tons of damage on your opponent. This unit will serve as a distraction to your opponent because between two and four plasma cannon shots a turn will be hard to ignore. If you want to play more defensively, make sure they have a nice firing lane to where you think the enemy will be advancing into mid-field. If they make it there, they will pay for taking the advantage dearly.

What about unusual choices?
Landraiders- Well you could pack them inside of one, but it would make more sense to follow it in a razorback so you can keep your assaulty units tucked away inside of it instead. You can jump out and still get in base to base to fix it and then embark onto it after. If you have two Land's Raiders then you may want to dump them in quickly and let them zoom ahead first drawing fire.

Techmarine in a razorback with Death Company within a following razorback would be a major distraction to your opponent and allow a greater chance of getting to enemy lines.

Please add any great ideas you've used or seen for Techmarines in the comments.

Easy Terrain

Once you have some of your Blood Angels painted up, it's time to think about the terrain they will be playing on. The problem is that with all of the fantastic terrain and probably coming terrain, it is very hard to mix in scratch built stuff because it will not look right. One way to blend is to have two different scenes on the table like jungle transitioning into a ruined edge of a city from the main rule book.

I am going to show a bridge from the How to Make Wargames Terrain book.

The popsicle sticks are cut, aligned and then glued. We want the bridge to look more Imperial than the example though.

Final cuts and then paint them lightly with your favorite brown. Remember, you can make more cuts to show the effects of the ravages of total war or even collapse the middle of the bridge.

Super glue on the support legs and paint on details like mud. I stamped on the aquilla symbols. You can also use a lighter and create burn marks effectively to give the impression that a flamer was used previously. 

Last, remember to have fun making terrain pieces and if you don't like the results at first, try it again later or experiment on it with more damage so none of your efforts are wasted.

11th Company Podcast

This week we are in luck again with another podcast episode devoted to Blood Angels. This time, it is the 11th Company bringing magic to your ears. Link here.

Scoot on up to one hour and seventeen minutes to get started on it.

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Open Blood Angels List Builder

The Blood Angels open list builder is here. If anyone sees something to update it, tell me or fix it yourself  and send it back to me and I will re-post it.

Credit

Reclusiarch

The Reclusiarch is the final HQ choice to get reviewed.
From the Angels of Death codex:

The first Space Marine Chapters were founded centuries before the development of the Imperial cult and the dominion of the Adeptus Ministorum. As a result every Space Marine Chapter has its own cult practices and its own priests, known as Chaplains. Whereas the Adeptus Ministorum has gradually extended its influence over all the many thousands of individual cults that once existed throughout the galaxy, it has never been able to influence the Space Marine cults which remain as stubbornly individualistic today as they ever were. Other civilian cults are denounced as heresy, and their adherents rooted out by the Ministorum's troops, but the Space Marine Chaplains care nothing for the ravings of the Ecclesiarchy and ignore the dictates of the Imperial cult in favour of their own ancient traditions.

The Chaplains administer the rites of their Chapter, performing the ancient ceremonies of Initiation and Vindication, as well as leading their brethren through the prayers of faith and sacred psalms of the Emperor. It must not be forgotten that Space Marines are devout warriors. Their faith in the divinity of the Emperor is as vital to them as their skills at arms, and their spiritual life is deep and complex. The Chaplains accompany their brothers into war, chanting the liturgies of battle as they lead the way into the ultimate consummation of battle and death.

                                                                             Credit
Blood Angels are fortunate to have an upgraded Chaplain as an HQ option as well as regular Chaplains in the Elite section. The Reclusiarch is a small force multiplier but is mostly a legitimate close combat threat. Let's peak at the stats:

Reclusiarch WS5 BS5 W3 I5 A3  3+4+ saves
Chaplain     WS5 BS4 W2 I4 A2  3+4+ saves

Seeing that nice BS5, it is worth upgrading his gun to a storm bolter or if you have the points, a plasma or inferno pistol because you will be hitting on a 2+. Anyone using Devastator squads know how powerful that signum is when you need to hit to take out those target priorities. If you're not upgrading to a power fist, you might want to think about melta bombs to make sure you can wreck any armour you may end up against especially because your Reclusiarch may end up outlasting the rest of his unit and need to switch roles. Since the Reclusiarch only has a power maul, it might be better to keep him as flexible as possible.

The Reclusiarch's special rules include Honour of the Chapter (makes units fearless), and Liturgies of Blood (this is post FAQ):

On a turn in which he charges, a Chaplain and all members of any unit chosen from Codex: Blood Angels the he has joined re-roll failed rolls To Hit. Models in a Death Company can also re-roll failed rolls To Wound (their rage makes them particularly susceptible to the Chaplain's fiery oratory).

Mr. Black:

Reclusiarch
We all know the real Captains of the Blood Angels, and it isn't the weenie that can't take Artificer Armor.

So here we are at the Reclusiarch, who on initial impression got knocked down a peg due to having a Power Maul; but really, is that so bad? I mean, he hits like a brick, sure he doesn't auto-ignore armor, but usually the combined wrath of him and the unit he's leading (never mind Death Company) are enough to mitigate that. But that seems to be all I've heard about him from people: "Power Maul, Power Maul, Power Maul"... Did those people forget he can also take a Power Fist for almost no points?


That's honestly how I've been running him, Fist and Maul. That way he has the option of hitting with whatever he deems best while still being the excellent combatant that he's always been!

Adding onto that he still confers Fearless, which as I mentioned way way back at the start is actually slightly worse than And They Shall Know No Fear but... Well, it varies per situation. Overall, however, he is still a great addition to the army for his combat prowess, variety of weapon options (and bikes! Don't forget bikes!), and utility he adds to the army. Basically, I would take a Reclusiarch and a Librarian, sending the Reclusiarch into the thick of things to hammer down some justice while allowing the Librarian to move around the board as needed, doing his Librarian buffing and debuffing.

Jack of all trades, master of none situation here in my mind. He is a potent melee force with a good amount of variety to him, and seeing as how characters will be living longer this edition he might actually get to see use of his skills, rather than just Wham, Bam, Dead like the olden days.

Stelek:
Reclusiarch. He’s fearless and can get a power fist.

BA Devastators:
Reclusiarchs are a fine choice that is a decent second to the Librarian. If your elites are filled up and you want to buff your Death Company, then he is a nice choice if you want a different weapon loadout than what Lemartes has. However, if you are looking at the Death Company as a distraction unit, its reputation should let you get away without needing to put a chaplain in to save points and invest them elsewhere.

A Reclusiarch or chaplain can also be a nice addition to small units like Honour Guard or the Sanguinary Guard to make them fearless and add something that they don't bring in having multiple wounds and an invulnerable save.

The Fiftieth Post

Credit

I would just like to thank everyone who has stopped by for a visit and especially those who have left comments. If I wasn't getting the kind of readership I am, it would be much harder to keep the constant search for content continuing. Let's build this Blood Angels community together to be the envy of the 40K world.

Thanks,

Brent

Blood Angels Blog

What do you want to read about from a Blood Angels blog?

I want to hear from you in the comments.

What I want is to see more content when there is no one talking about it anymore. How can we connect the older Rogue Trader players to the new ones just starting the game? A forum like the Bolter and Chainsword is nice, but it is inundated with talk about weapon loadouts and works in progress. When there is a new codex, FAQ or new edition, the armchair theoryhammerists pick apart the codex for power shifts and unit combinations. What's left after that? That's where blogs can come in and provide hopefully excellent commentary and perspective. I do hope that the growing Blood Angel blogosphere can come together and provide the players and especially new players everything they could need and dream of (except left handed devastators).

Please put your thoughts below.

Credit : David Galagher

Blood Angel Librarians

For many BA players, the Librarian was a default choice to take in 5th Edition for psychic defense and the Shield of Sanguinius if running armour. Blood Angel Librarians go back to the Angels of  Death codex:

The Apothecaries of every Chapter test its initiates' physical gene-structure whilst the psychic potential o fthe young candidates is examined by the Chapter's Librarians.

Librarians are powerful psykers. They are responsible for all interstellar communication with the power to project their minds through warp space. They are also adjudicators of the Chapter's psychic population, dividing psychic mutants into those whose powers are dangerous and those whose powers may be used by the Imperium...

Space Marine Librarians are trained to use their powers in battle: to unleash energy blasts, to sense the enemy's movements, and to predict the fortunes of battle. They learn how to read the Emperor's tarot and to sense the subtle movements of daemons and other extra-real entities through warp space. A Librarian can feel the psychic shock waves that herald the arrival of a spacecraft, or the turmoil that ships leave in their wake as they depart. All these powers and more make the Librarians the ultimate Warrior mystics, endowed with abilities which set them aside from their brother Space Marines. 

                                                                                                                                                   Credit: Codex: Angels of Death

Let's get to the stats:

WS5  W2  A2 and a 3+ save and don't forget about the Force weapon.

Which makes for a very vulnerable HQ character that you need to figure out how to protect.

Stelek:
Librarian. Still a staple. BA powers are still strong, giving you a 5+ cover save on turn 1. Nice to have. Fear of the Darkness has lost some power but if you can double tap a squad they will often run off the board anyway. Note that despite going last, a Librarian with a force axe is AP2 and with S10 up, can put the hurt on.


Mr. Black:

Well, you certainly changed a bit, didn't you?

Honestly, I'm probably going to do another article just focused on the changes to Psykers in this edition, and it's quite a lot to put down in just a paragraph. Basically, I think Librarians came out one of the top winners in sixth due to the sheer number of options you can give them. I know I have been enjoying my Terminator Epistolary (Divination) leading a large group of Bolter Death Company, and I've seen some great things done with a Biker Librarian (Telekinesis).

Overall the field for psykers changed radically, so you really can't just look at them like normal Special Characters anymore. Sure, they have all the same benefits, such as Look Out Sir, Challenges, and all the rest, but they're so much more than that now- now they are a real force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, able to both buff and destroy enemy units at a whim.

Of course, not to neglect our own brand of psychic powers: Blood Lance became an amazing anti-flyer tool, and Unleash Rage is just as good as ever. Fear the Darkness? Well, you can't escort units away anymore, but combine it with some of the new powers and some truly dangerous combinations begin to appear.

In the end psykers are now a huge deal, and I feel they deserve more than just the cursory talk this article will give. We'll speak later over the complex changes and differences psykers make this edition.

3++:
-Our libbies got both boosted and nerfed all at the same time. Boosted in that opposing libbies can't stop our powers that help our own units (Shield, Wings, etc), nerfed because our hoods got nerfed too. Mephiston and Libby Dreads are much more reliable now. That said, fudgemuiffin Wolves and Eldar still have their great psy defence, so it's not all roses.

BA Devastators:
If you are not sure which HQ to take, a Librarian is a good all-around choice. You can give him various weapon loadouts along with a choice of psychic powers. You can't really go wrong for that kind of smaller points investment. You just need to make sure he is protected in a unit or even better in a vehicle.