New 7th Edition Blood Angels Codex Review - Lords of War and Summary

Here's the last post in Matt's review of the new Blood Angels codex. Here he'll talk about the Lords of War (there are two unlike other books) and round everything up with a summary.

Commander Dante

Dante is easily the best character in the codex. In close combat he is an absolute monster (as he should be, being one of the oldest living space marines and leader of the Space Marine chapter that excels in close combat). On the charge Dante puts out 6 strength 7 AP2 attacks at initiative 7, with his axe also being Master Crafted, this is enough to slay many other dedicated close combat characters (and units) before they even have chance to strike back. Don't forget that he can be made even deadlier by casting the Blood Angel primaris power on him with a Librarian, for a maximum of 9 strength 7 AP2 attacks at initiative 10!! He's also not too shabby defensively with 2+ and a 4++ and Eternal Warrior, which allows you to tank him on the front of squads without the fear of him getting blasted apart by a lascannon. Obviously there are more ways to buff him further such as putting him in a squad with a chapter banner and/or giving him Feel No Pain from a priest etc.

However, his personal prowess is not the only reason to run Dante, he's also got a few special rules that help out his fellow Blood Angels. Firstly he has Hit and Run, an excellent special rule that allows him to escape combats that aren't favourable or just disengage in order to charge back in again for the charge bonus, or even just to engage something else/claim an objective. Also he has the best Blood Angel warlord trait, this allows all flyers, skimmers and jump units to re-roll reserve rolls, excellent for getting your Stormraven in earlier. But it doesn't stop there, additionally if you are playing a Maelstrom game then Dante also gets to roll on the Tactical traits table and gets that warlord trait in addition to Descent of Angels, this can be a great help in winning Maelstrom games.

The Death Mask of Sanguinius is a bit rubbish as generally no-one cares about Fear and even when they do it is forgotten about. I think that this is mainly because the units that suffer from Fear are generally rubbish in combat anyway!

I would say he is pretty much an auto take in any pure Blood Angel army if Lords of War are permitted.

Gabriel Seth

I have never used Seth before, but I wanted him to be good this time around so that I could start giving him a whirl (pun intended). However he isn't that great really, mainly because he is essentially a close combat character who insists on hefting a massive chainsword rather than any sort of power weapon. However, at strength 8 AP4, the sword is pretty good against some things such as vehicles, multi wound models and low armour save units, but a bit rubbish against 3+ or better (except for multi wound T4 or less of course). On the charge he gets 6 attacks because of Rage and his attacks are strength 9 due to Furious Charge, he would also strike at Initiative 6 in a Baal detachment and any 6's to hit generate extra attacks, so like I said, this is great against vehicles and multi wound things that may fail their saves and get insta-gibbed. But the thing is, he doesn't bring any sort of other buffs or bonuses to other units in the army, therefore if you are looking for a close combat monster you are better of looking elsewhere, Mephiston is only 20 points more for example….

Summary

I have enjoyed writing this series, mainly because it has really made me think about the different options available in this codex and it has made me consider units that I probably would have just overlooked in favour of others before.

Overall I do believe that the codex on its own does have some competitive builds in there, but I don’t think you would ever be able to create a top tier list that could take on all comers. Obviously it relies heavily on close combat and so against a dedicated shooting army like Tau or some Eldar builds it will struggle, I think it would perform best against a balanced army with some shooting and some assault units as the Blood Angels should be able to tackle most assault units from other armies, there are exceptions of course.

The other thing to consider is allies. They would ally well with an army that can provide a lot of supporting long range firepower as this is what they lack. I also think that they would ally well with other armies that can provide further buffs, such as Grey Knights and their Santic psychic powers or Space Marines and their access to different wargear and reliable psykers such as Tigurius.

I hope you have enjoyed reading

Matt

Hobby Resolutions 2015

Looking back at last year's post and reading through my resolutions for 2014 is pretty depressing stuff. Here's what I resolved to do (and mostly failed at):

• Play more tournament games

Well I'm not really sure whether I achieved this or not. I certainly got in a decent amount of tournament gaming in but looking at the numbers I seem to have only played in one GW doubles, one team event, Blog Wars 8 and three Outpost events. That's down on the 9 I went to in 2013 but I'm sure I went to more than that. Anyway, it's down to a combination of GW not running a doubles recently and having less weekends free this year.

• Scenery painted

Epic fail as always. I started off fairly well and got a couple of pieces painted up. Getting a mat from Frontline was suppose to inspire me to make some snow/ice terrain but that hasn't happened yet and I got the mat in late March. This is the year though!

• Dark Eldar painted

The new codex arrived and I thought I'd get somewhere but I don't think I actually painted a single DE model. I've got a voidraven still in shrinkwrap and some scourges I bought when they first came out that I haven't touched either. Of all my armies I'd love to have these finished the most as the models are the nicest I own.

• Orks painted

Again the new book gave me some inspiration but with the SW book shortly after I quickly turned my attention away. I did manage to get a Morkanaut mostly painted but that needs finishing and a massive pile of boys need looking at too. I think it's the sheer number of models I'd need to paint that puts me off. They're probably going to be way down the list again.

• Potential New Army (Tyranids or SM)

Let's not even talk about this idea. I'd still love a Tyranid army but until everything else is painted I'm determined not to start one

• Best Blog Wars yet

I actually think I did this. Blog Wars 8 was easily my favourite ever. No one brought anything particularly horrendous, there were no major cockups on my part and the painting competition was probably the best yet. Additionally BW7 had a massive attendance which was totally unexpected. BW9 and 10 this year have a lot to live up to.

• Plenty of alternative games

Well I played x-wing a fair bit. Does that count? I barely touched Blood Bowl and had a few games of Space Hulk but otherwise that's it. I think x-wing will become a larger part of my gaming but I can't see me starting any other systems this year.

• Great blog content

Difficult one for me to call. I know some of my stuff isn't great but the figures look pretty good for this year so I must be doing something right. If someone could let me know what that is that'd be greeaaattt (Office Space reference anyone?).

It does make me wonder why I bother with these resolutions as I clearly can't stick to them but my plan this year is to be a LOT more realistic:

Tournaments & Blog Wars

I intend to play in both Blog Wars events this year. With the improvements I've made to the admin side of it I'm confident I can play and keep things running smoothly. I'm going to tweak a couple of things from BW8 but generally speaking I'm pretty happy with how it's set up at the moment. The main thing will be to change the last mission to Maelstrom but that needs a lot of playtesting and development work before I'd be happy to make the switch. More on that soon.

Otherwise I'd like to keep attending Outpost events and hopefully GW doubles if they come back this year. Looking at their calendar it certainly won't be back until at least April so I'll keep an eye on that as they redevelop the venue. The team event we played at the end of last year was great fun so I'd be up for something like that again. We're also planning on a little round-robin event between a group of 6 of us once we can get it organised. Generally speaking I find tournaments to be an excellent way of getting a grasp of the game.

As I've already mentioned, this will probably be the year where we start playing x-wing competitively. No definite plans for this yet but it's becoming more and more likely. 

Scenery

This is the year. It has to be. I'm determined that this time next year I'll be reporting that I achieved my aim of having NO UNPAINTED SCENERY on my table (that doesn't just mean hiding it underneath either!). Thing is, it isn't even that big of a job. Scenery really doesn't require much effort to paint so I have literally no excuse especially with my airbrush in hand.

Ideally I'd like to have enough scenery to be able to mix things up a lot and avoid getting sick of the same terrain. To this end I'll be hoping to put some new pieces together and I intend to blog about my progress. Speaking of which...

Blogging

Less blogging, more hobby, more hobby blogging! Got that? Basically instead of writing rambling posts about general 40K topics (see the Highlander post for example) I'm going to use that time to paint some bloody models. I'd love to be sitting here next year with a fully painted DE force but we'll see about that. 

Don't get me wrong there'll still be plenty of content on here but I'm going to try to be more selective about what I post about. Hopefully there'll be more hobby related posts but again, we'll see about that.

Hobby

For starters there will definitely be no new army (unless the Ad Mech stuff actually materialises, then it depends on the models/rules). Otherwise it'll only be the odd kit here and there to bolster my existing forces. My Dark Angels are going, partly to give me funds for other stuff but mostly to make it look like a less daunting effort to get things painted. I'm also going to flog a load of other spare stuff I have lying around. I've got a huge pile of Ork stuff that I'm simply never going to get around to building, nevermind painting, so that can go. The start of my hobby drive this year will be once of consolidation then. Clear out the crap, mend and bolster my existing armies then actually get stuff painted. 

What I'd like to do is write a list of each of my armies that I'd be happy to take to the Outpost and work on having 1,750 of each army painted to a high standard. Wolves would be the obvious first choice here as (a) that would mean very few models and (b) they're already to a decent standard. Next up would be Tau as again they're mostly painted and finally DE need a lot of work. Orks are certainly going to be a back burner thing. I might paint the odd model for a break but generally speaking they're going to be ignored I imagine.

Summary

In the interest of keeping things simple and realistic that's it for now. Here's a rundown of my resolutions then:

• Keep up the tournament attendance - probably mostly at the Outpost 
• Paint the bloody scenery - I really mean it this time
• Clear out the crap - I'd love to have space for every model I own the shelves which means some have to go!
• Paint up forces from each army - less likely but I'd love to do it
• Be more selective about blog posts - quality not quantity is the name of the game

That's it then. A lot more realistic than last year. Here's hoping I can stick to them for a change. Of course the blog is the place to find out how I'm getting on so keep an eye on it. What are your aims for the year?

New 7th Edition Blood Angels Codex Review - Heavy Support

Back to Matt's Blood Angels codex review and onto the Heavy Support section. Often the Stormraven was the only Heavy unit that BA players ran in the old book. Let's see if the new book has changed anything.

Stormraven Gunship

I've already talked about this quite a bit. This is the only option for anti air in the codex and it's pretty solid as it's always been. The main problem I have with it is that it costs 200 points and whenever I use it the thing doesn't arrive until turn 4! It just makes me think that I'd rather have more points on the table turn 1. The fact it's an Assault Vehicle is also great for Blood Angels, especially since it can carry dreadnoughts, but that makes the "points off the table" problem even worse. Of course there are options within this codex and other allied codices that improve the odds of it arriving, so if used in conjunction with those then I would say that it's a pretty solid choice with or without passengers.

Baal Predator

These used to be a popular choice with flamestorm cannons and heavy flamer sponsons. This setup still isn't bad as the Baal Predator is a fast vehicle as standard and so it is quite easy to get it close enough to the enemy to unleash the templates, however there are a couple of reasons why this setup won't be as popular as it once was. Firstly there just aren't as many 3+ armour squads around, with the ability to now tank a 2+ character onto the front of squads the flamestorm cannon just isn't as dangerous as it used to be. Secondly the changes to vehicle damage now means that many squads can take down vehicles in close combat by glancing them to death which means that getting your Baal Predator up close to the enemy's lines probably isn't a good idea. Finally, it would have been nice to have the Scout special rule on this tank, that would have allowed it to perform the outflank flame attacks that I always used to do with it back in 5^th edition.

So considering all that it is probably a much better idea to load it out with an assault cannon and heavy bolters. This way it will have 6 heavy bolter shots and 4 twin linked assault cannon shots even when moving 6", while only losing the ability to fire one gun when moving 12" (and snap firing the other - ed.). This gives you a very effective infantry killing vehicle with the ability to take out light and even heavy vehicles thanks to Rending on the assault cannon (well assuming it doesn't have many hull points left at least). Also, as with the other predator chassis tanks, armour 13 on the front also goes a long way to help keep it alive long enough to cause problems for the enemy, both in terms of causing casualties, but also in capturing and holding objectives.

Predator and Vindicator

I have already discussed these when talking about overcharged engines in one of the first posts in this series. They are both solid heavy support choices due to the fast upgrade.

The Predator because it can more easily get a firing solution and fire all of its weapons, either load it out with all lascannons or with autocannon and heavy bolters (this last loadout is in some ways better than a Baal Predator as it out ranges it and is also 30 points cheaper, but when in range the Baal's firepower is better due to the assault cannon being much better than an autocannon).

The Vindicator is good with overcharged engines purely because it can get enemy units in range faster and easier. A Vindicator's main weakness is its 24” range, so being able to move an extra 6” before firing helps a lot.

With the changes to vehicle damage I can see Predators and Vindicators being a lot more useful. AV13 became that bit more difficult to deal with so with enough predator hulls you could cause problems. Fast has always been a big bonus for BA tanks and makes the Vindicator a lot more viable than it is in other books. Of course, Matt hasn't talked about Whirlwinds or Land Raiders here. That's because they're the same as in the SM book and have the same advantages and disadvantages as their SM equivalents. The next post will be the last part of the review looking at Lords of War.