Tuesday 2 December 2014

Blood Angels are almost here - pre-release thoughts


Well here we are folks. It's hard to imagine it's been almost 5 years since the Angels got an update. For anyone who doesn't know, Blood Angels are my first love in 40k and have been for about 20 years now. They are my largest army and I have around 200 models including a battle company. I love everything about them: the background, colour scheme, heraldry, unique equipment, fighting style, Primarch, noble/savage and tragic curse. So expect plenty of posts over the next few weeks as things start to take shape.

Last time around saw some great additions to the ranks. The armoury got expanded with various pistols and blades, veteran assault squads got hit with the codex bat and split down the middle, sanguinary priests got a unique entry and awesome area effect power, a few new special characters were introduced along with a new psychic power list, Dreadnoughts got some new variants and toys, death company got even meaner, land raiders became dedicated transports and could deep strike (!), we got the first marine flyer, sanguinary guard, a new chaplain, the Sanguinor etc etc. I could go on. Basically, I thought it was a great release at the time, and it has stood the test relatively well. But now it's looking dated and an update is definitely welcomed with open arms.

In terms of models they were pretty much split into 2 waves, with the sanguinary guard, Baal and death company arriving with the codex, sanguinor, astorath and lemartes and the second wave bringing along the (soon to not be) unique Stormraven flyer and a plastic dreadnought kit. These kits were all pretty much faultless and gave the Blood Angels a comprehensive range to be proud of. In addition, the beauty of Blood Angels is they've benefitted from subsequent codex marine updates too in the form of the plastic veteran, tactical and character kits.


Shield of Baal was our first solid inkling that a Blood Angel release was on the horizon. The moment I spotted what they did with Sanctus reach I would have put money on the same being true for Blood Angels and I'm thrilled that turned out to be the case. I may get ahold of the campaign books once they are reprinted and the model/codex releases are out of the way as my regular gaming partner plays Tyranids so it makes sense. As for Deathstorm, the same formula was used as for Stormclaw - older models boxed with a pair of limited character figures  - both of which are beautiful. New base sizes came as a surprise but I can firmly say my models will be staying 25mm - I cannot begin to fathom rebasing my entire collection but will likely treat any new collections to the larger bases.

So what do we know so far. We have a very shiny new hardback codex which will hopefully bring us up to scratch with both codex space marines and 7th edition. We retained unique psychic powers, which was likely given the background but still gave pause for thought when wolves/orks/BAs lost their powers through FAQ earlier in the year. We've been granted a unique tactical squad kit - an unprecedented but far from unwelcome move, especially as it adds heavy flamers (Sorry Sallie players), grav weapons (Sorry DA players) and a host of beautiful new bits to play with. We also have  a new sanguinary priest model, which although a dramatic departure from what we're used to is a beautiful addition to the army - mine shall certainly be used as Corbulo.

What remains to be seen is which other rumours turn out to be true. Apparantly Blood talons and magna grapples will change and the primaris psychic power will be quickening. While the bog standard marine wargear/rules and certain Blood Angel specific items (infernus pistols etc) are sure to stay the same, there are a great many things with potential to change. Points costs, red thirst, priests, descent of Angels etc etc etc all have potential to change. Other rumours pointed to two new kits to be released the week after the codex wave. The first was a new terminator kit which would allow normal, death company and honour guard terminators to be built. The other model was an update (Logan Style) for Mephiston like a mini-Nagash. Wishlisting; probably. Would it be welcomed; hell yes. We won't have to wait long to find out.



What is for sure is that 5th Edition was a huge push for certain armies to drag them to a better place. Whole armies got drastic updates / revamps - namely Necrons, Dark Eldar and Blood Angels. This left several 6th edition armies needing similar treatment but not quite on the same scale. When we came to 7th, the impact of 6th has become clear with GW in fact over-reaching in some cases and having to trim back on the gaming content of the codexes or slim down the releases, most notably with Dark Eldar and Grey Knights. Once Blood Angels are done (and Necrons are sure to follow shortly) 40k will be in a really good place to turn another corner and say 'OK, so we have really comprehensive model ranges and shiny books, what can we achieve now?' This hopefully will turn their attention to other things such as model wave releases (More plastic Chaos please!), campaigns, other fringe armies (Sororitas, Mechanicus), more supplements and fixing some of the odd one out books in terms of power levels (Dark Angels and Eldar being opposite ends of the spectrum here). I suspect the Codex release schedule will crank down a few notches from what it has been. Exciting times are hopefully ahead in 2015 as we step into the relative unknown.  Cheers.

13 comments:

  1. I imagine that the BA codex will result in non stop internet rage, followed by acceptance, then people winning and being happy. Par the course lately! It hurts when the codexes get brought into line.

    I really hope that when eldar gets revamped, they make sure to buff the less used items to help take up the slack of completely annihilating the competitiveness of the wave serpent.

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    1. Hi Gregg,
      Yes, I agree with your assessment as it fits the usual pattern. ;)

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  2. i'm happy they will release a new codex. like wolfs and other armies, i think they will nerf or totally remove what makes us unique and make it generally bland, but i don't care, i guess i will be happy to play BA like generic marines with a lot better look. what really makes me worry though, is the new 32mm base issue. what do you think about it? do you think sooner or later we'll be forced to rebase or just let old minis with 25mm bases on the shelf cause people will whine about them not being "regular" (i'm talking about competitive environment ofc).

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    1. It's still legal to use old style terminators on the 25mm bases, so it isn't an issue. I think it just offers additional flexibility in basing your models.

      I've been to a GT, and I didn't see anyone complaining about someone using a squats army as counts as, or anyone complaining about an ork player using the old style trukk or battlewagon models. It's all legal. If you have an old rhino hull, nobody is going to raise a stink at any level, tournament or otherwise, and that same type of argument will apply to bases as well.

      It specifically points out about bases early in the rulebook to use the bases that come with the model if available, and if not, to use an equivalent sized base. Here is the exact text. (straight from 7th edition rulebook)

      "The rules in this book assume that models are mounted on the base they are supplied with. Sometimes, a player may have models in his collection on unusually modelled bases. Some models aren’t supplied with a base at all. In these cases (which are, in all fairness, relatively few and far between), you should always feel free to mount the model on a base of appropriate size if you wish, using models of a similar type as guidance."

      As for the lost of flavor, if that is a byproduct of bringing rules into line, then I'm all for it. First the net complains about codexes being op, so GW brings them all under the same rule umbrella...then the net complains about loss of flavor.

      They are just removing "codex specific rulesets" with similar rulebook special rules. I'm hoping it will all just make more sense once each codex has had the same treatment.

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    2. HG, thanks for the reply. I think the 32mm base would have been a great idea 5 years ago. Now it just seems a bit of a late addition to the game. I'm not even contemplating using them except maybe for independent characters. Lots of my guys have resin bases which there's no way I'd change and the others are too large an undertaking. Way I see it, 25mm was good last month and is still good now. If I start any new armies though I may just use 32mm from the outset, the old armies will stay as is aside from maybe the ICs as mentioned.

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  3. yeah, as i've wrote i'm ok too with loosing some flavor, even if in the end it comes to play BA like regular marines it's not bad, we'll get a much needed point reduction for most units (maybe i will be finally able to field some DC with jump packs). i agree with you about the "base" issue, in the end who cares, i only attend a tournament or two every year, i hope no one will make a fuss about my "old" bases. i never brought my old termies with square bases to a GT though, now that you mentioned next time i will try that ;)

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    1. If anyone made a fuss about the old bases, they probably wouldn't be the type of person you'd enjoy playing with anyway!

      The point reductions on your units seem pretty amazing so far...and DC can score now!

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    2. Very much looking forward to the new book / models if only because it will bring everything in line with 7th and give me a chance to tidy up / pimp the army with some new models. My blood Angels stand at nearly 200 strong so it's going to be a busy month!

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  4. lololol DC are elite and assault squads are no longer troops either. they screwed our beloved army big time. i love the way GW totally disregards the people that plays and collect their game. and what's more hilarious, they just released a product where DC are actually troops!

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    1. 16 Dataslates, relics, warlord traits, and possibly another CAD in the baal supplement exterminus.

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  5. let's wait for it then, because the more i dig in the new codex, the more i feel disappointed... (after the initial shock for loosing AS as troops, i think that it's even worst to have lost descent of angels armywide. i can survive with assault squads not being scoring, but if they are not able to deep strike precisely the whole point of melta squads for anti tank role becomes pointless).

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    1. Everything is scoring, even death company now.
      Objective secured is good to have, but virtually everyone would be happy to toss that to give army wide +1 init. (str 5, init 5 claws...yesssssss!)

      My bet? There is another CAD, that works like the coven supplement, that requires 2 fast attack to unlock, then gives you another 4 fast attack, and reduces scatter distances when deep striking.

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    2. that would be too awesome even to hope for ;) cross fingers...

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