The Angry Druchii No.1:Sanguinius weeps
Blood Ang
els players everywhere were eager for the release of the highly anticipated Codex: “Blood Angels,” myself included. On April 17 our prayers were answered! Not only was there a codex but a host of new models and units. Son’s of Sanguinius every where swarmed their local hobby centers in hopes of obtaining a copy of what we believed to be our Primarchs will.
Alas, when I received my copy I was, disappointed there were gaps in the story line, and holes in the rules. What I saw was the Codex: “Space Marines,” with different cover art, slightly modified rules and some unique equipment.
For an example of this take a long look at “The Red Thirst” special rule, the brief fluff before the actual rule states that every blood angel struggles against “The Red Thirst,” however take a look at your HQ units, not single one suffers from “The Red Thirst” rule. The only one this would be acceptable for would be “Mephiston.” The one whom you would expect it from is “Tycho,” but neither his captain form, nor his Death Company forms, has this rule. Why?
If there were an explanation like – and such is the discipline of the senior blood angels they are capable of restraining “The Red Thirst” except in the most perilous situations- this would make more sense. Perhaps Games Workshop thought that we, the players, would prefer it that way. Not I! I, for one, would love to see “Dante,” lose it – gain the “Furious Charge,” and run rampant across the battle field! Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Matthew Ward or Games Workshop, I just find it somewhat disappointing.
Story wise, the “Blood Angels,” have always been closer to “Space Wolves,” than, lets say, the “Ultramarines,” but Codex: Blood Angels gave us “Ultramarines,” the only difference is “The Red Thirst”, hand flamers, Infernus pistols, and only a couple of specialized units. As for the story line, the time line, from pages 14 to 17, completely ignored the events of the Blood Angels Omnibus, you would think that would be important enough to include!
Perhaps there will be a FAQ on these confusing matters. Until then on a scale of 1 (Lies & Heresy) to 10 (glory to the Emperor), I give Codex: Blood Angels a 6.5(the Inquisition is keeping a wary eye upon you)! This is solely based on the ability to construct a winning army from this Codex.
Posted by Dreadmajesty
on May 18 2010. Filed under Warhammer40K.
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I've played blood angels for better part of a two decades now and I wouldn't say it was that bad. Yeah red thirst and descent of angels should be everywhere according to the fluff but really I don't think its necesary for the HQ. I always looked at it as an issue of age, Dante and the other officers were created hundreds of years before the degregation of the gene seed progressed to its current state. They suffer from it but its still easy enough to keep in check that it doesn't come up often. I never read the blood angels omnibus but I agree they don't really pay enough attention to the black library publications in general
It's my understanding that the Black Library publications are not cannon, which would explain why the codex does not include references to the events in the Blood Angels Omnibus.
You have to be kidding. “Hand flamers, Infernus pistols, and only a couple of specialized units”?!?! You have Death Company Dreadnoughts as Troops choices, you can legally field up to 6 Predators in a single army, and you have Librarian DREADNOUGHTS!! Your complaints are, IMHO, beyond chintzy and ridiculously minor. The Blood Angels are VERY well flavored (it kinda goes without saying that the senior commanders have fought out of the Red Thirst – you're just sticking to the older codices too much), there are a TON of new Special Characters, and the whole bent of the army is towards fast, in-your-face, melee death and destruction.
Ultramarines would never have the special Deep Strike rule that the vanilla BA assault marines do. Ultramarines would never have FAST tanks. If anything, the Blood Angels should have been more restricted in their access to some of the “generic Space Marine” units (I don't see Blood Angels using a lot of Whirlwinds, but since the Whirlwind is broken and near-useless now, it's sort of a moot point).
Your complaints about flavor text aside, what else were you expecting to make this codex any better?