Blood Angels, my favourite 40K army. But what makes them my favourite army? And how do they differ from normal Marines? In essence, I will tell you what makes Blood Angels what they are how they differ from other Space Marine armies.
In this article I will have a look at the different unit entries and what roles they play in the army as a whole.
To start with are the Blood Angels specific special rules. ‘Red Thirst’ and ‘Descent of Angels’. The first one applies to almost all non-tank units and makes them fearless and furious charge on the roll of a ‘1’ at deployment. The second makes that models with that special rule scatter only 1D6” when deepstriking and can re-roll when they come in. These two rules already define the general lay-out of Blood Angels, they are fast and combat oriented.
Tactical Squads: Same as vanilla marine option, good troop choice for claiming and holding objectives.
Assault Squads: Troop choices, so they can claim objectives, combat oriented marines with short ranged (12”) range weapons. They can choose to take a dedicated transport, by giving up their jumppacks at a discount. These are very good in combat and have a lot of anti-horde and anti-tank weapons.
Devastator Squads: The static shooting unit of the space marines, great weapon upgrade options. No mobility due to heavy weapons, so either move or shoot.
Veteran Squads: Expensive but effective marines. Vanguard veterans don’t scatter at all. Able to be upgraded with numerous weapon options.
Terminator Squads: Same as normal terminators, assault terminators with lightning claws are slightly better, because they have the possibility to get furious charge.
Dreadnoughts: The standard dreadnought is not much different, it is a Heavy Support choice however and not an elite.
Furioso Dreadnought: A Blood Angels only Dreadnought, it’s tougher, has different weapon options, and can be equipped with a Dreadnought sized shotgun.
Death Company Dreadnought: The monster of all dreadnoughts, with fleet this thing will be within charge range before you know it. The amount of attacks (3(4)) with the combination of blood talons makes that this Dreadnought can decimate whole units in one turn.
Furioso Librarian: A Librarian inside a sarcophagus, S6 Force weapon, the possibility to move as jump infantry. It makes this dreadnought very versatile, only downside is you can not equip it with different equipment than it has.
Bike Squads: Same unit as in the vanilla marine codex, although it fits very well with the fast moving Blood Angel army.
Scout Squads: Nothing new here, novice marines, lower toughness and armour save. Cheaper though and can be very useful in certain situations. Good for camping on objectives in cover, with snipers and camo cloaks.
Drop Pods and Land Speeders: Nothing special about them, still the same entry as they are in the Marines codex.
Rhinos, Razorbacks, Predators, Whirlwinds, Vindicators: The same as in the Space Marine codex, with one big difference, they are fast vehicles, so you can move further and still shoot. You will get your precious cargo where they need to be faster. And the Whirlwind can surge forward and then still shoot his S4 missiles.
Baal Predators: A fast, anti infantry tank, which can outflank and has the options to take a flamestorm cannon or Twin-linked Assault Cannon.
Land Raiders: The big sturdy tanks, have the possibility to deep strike, the only vehicle in the codex which is not a fast vehicle.
Stormraven Gunship: A flying tank, very versatile, it can transport models (even with jumppack), can arrive from deep strike, can transport a Dreadnought, is an assault vehicle and has Power of the Machine Spirit. And it can take an array of weapons. Anti-infantry and Anti-tank alike. Downsides are that it is an expensive unit with only AV12.
Techmarines: Same unit entry as in codex: Space Marines. Can be very handy to have running around when using a lot of tanks, has a good array of weapons, both shooting and close combat.
Captains: The standard Space Marine HQ choice, a shame that we do not get any relic blades or digital weapons and hellfire rounds. Still a good CC hero.
Captain Tycho: One of the special characters, he is unique in the way that you can take two versions of him, the normal one and a crazed Death Company version. A bit overpriced or 175 points in my opinion.
Chaplains: Elite instead of HQ, same rules and profile as in the Space Marines codex. Very nice to buff units, but it is an Elite choice and not HQ. There is however the option in HQ section for a Reclussiarch, a stronger chaplain.
Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost: A unit upgrade for Death Company. He becomes crazed when he gains a wound. Becoming even better in CC than he already is. Next to re-rolls to hit he also gives re-rolls to wound.
Death Company: Close combat monsters, with Feel no pain and relentless they are very hard, they pay for it however, with the rage special rule and high point costs. A lot of special weapon options, from pistols to thunder hammers. Next to the rage and high point costs they are a non-scoring troops choice, and there shall only be one unit of them (3-30 models)
Astorath the Grim: Guardian of Death Company this guy is no joke. He is a chaplain with all sorts of nice little extras such as fearless to the unit he joins. Red thirst on 3- instead of a 1 and an axe that makes you re-roll invulnerable saves. Downside T4 and high point cost.
Librarians: My favourite HQ choice. Half decent in Close Combat, with the potential of becoming über killers. The Blood Angels psychic powers include some very nice options. Shield of Sanguinius for 5+ cover save, Unleash Rage for preferred enemy, Sword of Sanguinius for S10, Blood lance for killing tanks and I can keep going. These guys are a must in my opinion. They are a bit fragile due to the 2 wounds and no Inv. Save, but they can put out some real hurt and protect your units or boost them very well.
Mephiston, Lord of Death: Well chosen, the name for this guy. He is a monstrous creature in infantry size. Too bad he is no Independent Character and will always be on his own. He also costs a hefty sum of no less than 250 points.
Sanguinary Priests: THE best unit in the codex. Elite choice, independent characters. They are apothecaries which also give the Furious Charge range to any unit in 6”. Options to take jump packs, special weapons, powerswords, terminator armour and the like, be careful though that you don’t make them too expensive. A jump pack is enough most of the times, although a power sword or infernus pistol can also be nice.
Brother Corbulo: Unit upgrade for Sanguinary priests. Stronger in CC, and gives you a free 1 time re-roll on any roll in the entire game (only 1 re-roll per game). Can not take any other equipments, so is on foot, with chainsword.
Sanguinary Guards: Very strong elite unit. Master-crafted power weapons. Options to take chapter banner, Deathmasks and all pistol variants. Plus angelus bolguns, a stormbolter with AP4. These are the ultimate Blood Angel units, in looks and play. They are elite (can become troops) and costly however.
The Sanguinor: An interesting fellow, were it not he costs 275 points. He does however have really nice special rules, that make one of your sergeants better, gives extra attacks to units close by and has rerolls on 1 enemy HQ of choice.
Honour Guard: The Blood Angels variant of a Command Squad. A nice choice to take. All models can be differentiated and it includes a sanguinary novite (a priest) so you always have furious charge.
Commander Dante: The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, confers Hit and Run special rule to joined unit, makes Sanguinary Guard troops, does not scatter when entering from deep strike and downgrades the stats of opponent’s Independent Character of choice. A nice choice, especially when you want a lot of Sanguinary Guard, still quite the investment for 225 points.
Chapter Master Gabriel Seth: The Flesh Tearers chapter master, rightfully so, a fearsome force to deal with in Close combat due to his special rules and special weapon. 160 points of total worth, too bad he does not have a jump pack.
And this was my overview of the Blood Angel units. I hope you like it and you learned what the Blood Angels are all about.
Martijn v.
BTP Correspondent from the Netherlands.
