Blood Angels were my first army and due to alot of poorly painted/cheaply primed minis that I had that just won't work anymore, I have been stockpiling space marines to get my Blood Angels going again. All I needed was the new book.... Now is the time!
| The long wait is over! |
Well Blood Angels players, it's been a long time coming but the new codex finally dropped. I have spent the evening checking it out and wanted to take a minute to show you all some highlights and lowlights. Let's get it going!
The Good:
Commander Dante- This dude is finally the golden god of death he should have always been. BA players, we asked for a few things and we got them all. Firstly he finally got eternal warrior! Emperor be praised, he finally won't die to a krak missile! But wait, there's more, Dante's been doing his curls because The Axe Mortalis is no longer unwieldy! That's right this thing is +2 str and goes at initiative 6!
Points decreases- Instead of talking about this on a unit by unit basis, I will just tell you that units are in line with Codex Space Marine prices. Some notable Blood Angels only decreases include Death Company are now 12 points cheaper per model to field with jump packs. Sanguinary Guard saw a 7 points per model decrease in cost as well. It is also important to point out that Sanguinary Guard can be taken in units of 5-10 models.
The Baal predator's sponsons also saw a minor decrease in cost. The Baal Predator did however lose scout.
| If your armor save is 3+ or worse, you're frikkin dead! |
Mephiston- Wow did this guy get cheaper. He saw a 75 point cost reduction. He also gained independent character status! He did see a drop in toughness and still does not have an invulnerable save however.
Fast vehicles- The Blood Angels kept the option for having fast vehicles. Overcharged engines are included in the cost of Baal Predators, Rhinos, and Razorbacks and can be purchased for anything that uses the Rhino/Predator chassis.
New Relics- Man a couple of these are really good. For the low price of 10 points more for a character jump pack you can get The Angel's Wing which lets you reroll the scatter dice and the mishap roll should you mishap while deep striking. It also forces any enemy unit firing interceptor shots at you to have to use snap shots. No longer will your entire assault squad get murdered by an Iontide's large blast seconds after landing! Learn it, know it, use it well!
There is another one that for the low price of a gravgun, you get an extra strategic warlord trait. This could be really nice if you are hunting the Master of Ambush trait in your games!
New Detachment- There is a new Baal Strike Force detachment that adds an extra elites slot (more to come on that) as well as an old bonus that Blood Angels players have been missing! Old time Blood Angels players lament the change to furious charge that removed the +1 to initiative. Well, it's back! Thanks to the new Red Thirst rule, all models in this detachment gain +1 initiative when charging. Prepare to beat down those "other" space marines in close combat now!
The Bad:
Not all of this is bad, some of it is just different but any time someone has to redesign their army, it can easily be seen as a bad as 40k is not a cheap game to get in to.
No more Assault squads as troops- This was a mainstay of the Blood Angels identity but alas it is now gone. This is a real bummer for alot of people and many on the internet are howling with rage. For me it's a bummer but not a deal breaker but I can appreciate the angst felt by those who had 60 man jumper armies using the old books. I feel for you all, I hope you all stick around with the Angels of Death!
Sanguinary priests are now HQ- This one was a real bummer for me. I loved have 1-3 Sanguinary Priests occupying an elites slot in my old armies. I will adapt and overcome and will be buying one of the new Sanguinary priest kits. My god it is beautiful!
| What do you mean there are only four elites spots? |
Wow are elites overcrowded- Command squads, the Death Company and Death Company Dreadnought have both found their way to elites as well as Vanguard Vets and regular Dreadnoughts. All of those moving on top of the usual suspects in the codex; Sanguinary Guard, Sterguard, Terminators, Furioso Dreadnoughts, This creates a logjam that is only mildly mitigated by by the extra elite spot in the Baal Strike Force.
What the heck happened to units that don't take up FOC spots?- You have to use en elites choice for a command squad? What the? The silver lining is with the Blood Angels command squad you get to upgrade to an apothecary and champion for free. Going for the small wins here!
All said and done, the book is an upgrade from the 5th edition codex Blood Angels players were using and many iconic Blood Angels units got buffed. I am looking forward to digging in to this as I rebuild my Blood Angels.
What are your thoughts on the codex? post your comments below!
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