Blood Angel Codex

Just finished reading and analysing the new Blood Angel codex in White Dwarf and I’m now ready to give my toughts on it. I want to start with the army list itself before talking about the actual idea of the codex in White Dwarf.

The good

-Black rage: I think there’s an improvement here even if not all BA players I know agree with me here. For one thing it removes the randomness factor of it and it allows you to know exactly what you are getting. And the combat bonuses are very good. Also, it will prevent the cheesy BA armies that I’ve seen some player use where the goal was to have the biggest, meanest Death company possible. I do however admit they lose the very fun and characterful part of rolling to see who goes mad…

-Death company: It’s free, fearless, got 2 base attacks, completely enraged and they have rending attacks! The death company is now officialy one of the deadliest units this game has ever seen and its free… best of all you know exactly how many you will get and can even get them a transport. Free space marines with rending attacks… *drools* (well not exactly free.. see later).

-Supercharged engines : They are now reliable and that extra 6’’ should allow BA to get close enough to dismount and charge a turn earlier. And it costs nothing.

The bad

-5/10 man squads: It sucks.. I got the same with my Dark Angels and so far it caused me more trouble than it helped. And unless I’m mistaken BA can’t even split them up like the Dark Angels.. In short it’s a constraint to army composition and it’s a mean one.

-Increased cost on space marines : Not only do you buy them in 5 or 10 squads but you pay extra for that Death company member. My advice would be to buy 5 man squads to get more death company for the same price.

The ugly

-Special characters: BA special characters feels more like premade commanders than ever. I suppose in order to save space they forgot to include backgrounds or interesting special rules. Very disapointed with those characters who used to be so cool.

-Background : Simply put there is none or at least not enough to be worthwhile. For me this is a capital sin.

The 9th layer of Hell

For some dark reason GW decided that the codex would be released in a) White Dward , b) over two issues. I don’t know if it’s because they want to increase WD sales, faze out slowly the Blood Angels or whatever else they where thinking. I don’t know what the BA players did to deserve such a cruel punishement. I’m not even a BA player and it makes me angry so I can imagine how pissed off the BA community is. Why can’t they have a real codex? Not a piece of rushed junk that you need 2 white dwarf to refer to. It has been a long time since GW made such a major blunder and I hope no one else gets this treatment.

Wraping up

Speaking strickly about the codex I do think it’s an improvement over the last one(rule wise). It follows the tread of cleaner, simpler and removes randomness wich makes it more solid. The deathwing is so sweet it’s almost too much. As for the rest of the list I know that when people get used to it they will find strengths in it. It will require a bit of adjustment but speaking from experience with my Dark Angels in the end it’s worth it.