40k NEWS: Blood Angels Codex Viewed
Its been a VERY long and dirty ramp up to the Blood Angel release window, but at long last, multiple eye-witness accounts of black box copies of the physical codex are with us. Its time to put aside all the last month of craziness and see what the Blood Angels are REALLY bringing to the tabletop:
via The Dude
General info
Release 8 April 2010
Written by Matt Ward
Rules
Army-wide Special Rules
Combat Tactics – As per C:SMAnd They Shall Know No Fear – As per C:SM
Red Thirst – Almost all BA units have it. After deployment roll D6 for each unit with the Red Thirst rule. Any unit that rolls a 1 must exchange Combat Tactics for Furious Charge and Fearless.
Descent of Angels – Anything with a Pump Pack can re-roll reserve rolls and will only Scatter 1d6 when Deep Striking.
Weapons & Wargear
GW have said there will be a range of specialist wargear for the Blood AngelsAdvertisementInfernus Pistols – 6” Melta pistols
Hand Flamers – S3 AP6 Template
Death Mask – Force a Ld check at -2. Fail and fight at WS1.
Over-charged Engines are gone, replaced with Fast on some vehicles.
Blood Talons – close combat weapons on the Furioso Dreadnought. A dreadnought CCW with a Stormbolter, likely upgradeable to Meltagun/Heavy Flamer.
AdvertisementMagna-Grapples – A R12” S8 anti-vehicle harpoon weapon for Dreadnaughts. On a successful Penetrating or Glancing hit, the target vehicle is dragged 2D6″ toward the Dreadnought, facing unchanged. Will only pull a vehicle as far as the edge of Terrain or 1″ away from (friendly?) models. It has been said it can cause Tank Shock.
Psychic Powers
The Sanguine Sword – Gives Librarian S10
Wings of Sanguinius – As per GW PDF
Quickening – As per C:SM
Unleash Rage – Gives unit Preferred Enemy
Blood Boil – A successful Psychic test causes a wound on an enemy unit, allocated by enemy Player. If the Psychic Test is passed with a result of 5 or less, The Blood Angels player allocates the wound.
Unnamed – Draw a line of length 4D6” from the Librarian ignoring friendly models. Enemy models take a single S8 AP1 Lance hit.
Unnamed – Units within 6” get a 5+ cover save
Unnamed – One enemy squad has to take a Ld test to Move, Run, Shoot or Assault.HQ
Dante, Lord of the Blood Angels – He and his squad don’t scatter when Deep Striking. He doesn’t have Eternal Warrior.
Death Mask of Sanguinius – As per regular Death Mask, plus pick a single Independent Character at the start of the game and cause -1 to WS, A, I and Ld.
Gives his squad Hit & Run
Allows Sanguinary Guard as TroopsGabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers – Captain stat line Armed with a very large Chainsword (S8, rending), Bolt Pistol and Iron Halo
Can forgo his normal attacks and cause one auto-hit on everything in base to base contact with him
If an enemy rolls 1 to hit him, he hits back with a basic close combat attack.
Causes all units with Red Thirst to suffer it on a 1-3.Subscribe to our newsletter!Get Tabletop, RPG & Pop Culture news delivered directly to your inbox.By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Mephiston, Lord of Death – WS7 BS5 S6 T6 W5 I7 A~5 Ld10 Sv 2+ Around the cost of a Land Raider
Armed with Psychic Hood, Plasma Pistol, Force Weapon, Frag & Krak grenades
May cast 3 psychic powers per turn,
Transfixing Gaze – Does not require a psychic test. A single Independent Character must take a Ld test with a -4 modifier. If they fail Mephiston may re-roll failed hits and wounds. The enemy may fight back is they survive.Tycho, Captain of the 3rd Company – Hits like a Monstrous Creature (at S4) and can re-roll a single To-Wound roll. His Combi-Melta has access to Sternguard special ammo.
Apparently there are multiple versions such as Death Company in the codex.Reclusiarch Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of Hate
AdvertisementLibrarian – No news yet
Company Captain – No news yet
Honour Guard – No news yet
Astorath the Grim – Armed with Power Axe, pistol and Jump Pack
Described as an Uber Chaplain. Apparently, if he is with the Death Company, they can re-roll Hits and Wounds.Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host – A “mysterious avenging angel” armed with 2-handed master crafted Power Sword (possibly S6), Bolt Pistol, and Jump Pack. WS8 ST5 T4 A5 Sv2+ 3++
Forces successful invulnerable saves in close combat to be re-rolled
Can nominate an enemy HQ and get re-rolls to all To-Hit and Wound rolls on that model
All friendly units within 6” get +1 attack
Blessing of Sanguinor – One sergeant in your army has +1 to WS, S, W, I, A and LdElites
Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of HateTerminator Squad – No news yet
AdvertisementTerminator Assault Squad – No news yet
Dreadnaught – Can upgrade to Venerable, Furioso, and Furioso Librarian
Furioso Librarian have a single Blood Talon and Force Weapon, they have to choose which to use in close combat, but they DO get the +1 attack for having multiple CCWs. They can take 2 Blood Angel psychic powers (including Wings of Sanguinius) and has a Psychic Hood.Techmarine – No access to the Thunderfire Cannon
Vanguard Veterans – A bit cheaper than C:SM. No Relic Blades, but access to the Glaive Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons). Able to take Hand Flamers. Can supposedly take an Exsanguinator
Sternguard Veterans – As per C:SM
Sanguinary Guard – Armed with wrist-mounted Angelus Boltguns (12″ S4 AP4 Assault 2), Glaives Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons) Jump Packs and Artificer Armour. May take Death Masks. Max squad size of 5.
Sanguinary Priests – Unit of 1-3.
AdvertisementBrother Corbulo – Upgrade to Sanguinary Priests. Same profile. Armed with a S5 rending Chainsword. Red grail gives Feel No Pain and Furious Charge within 6”. Supposedly only gets FNP himself on a 2+
Troops
Assault Squad – As per C:SM but have Red ThirstTactical Squad – As per C:SM but have Red Thirst
Death Company – Furious charge, fearless, relentless, FNP, 3-30 models, 0-1 choice. Armed with Bolter, Bolt Pistol and Close Combat Weapon. Can take Power Weapons and Power Fists. Can take Jump Packs.
Cost with Jump Packs is the same as it is in the GW PDF.
Not a Scoring UnitLemartes, Guardian of the Lost – Upgrade character for Death Company. Armed with Crozius, Bolt Pistol and Jump Pack. Gets stronger if he loses one of his two wounds.
Death Company Dreadnaught – May take one for every 5 Death Company in the army. Several different weapon options including Magna-Grapple, Blood Talons (some form of Melta weapon), etc.
Scout Squad – Standard Scouts. No “Mad Max” style ones
Fast Attack
Baal Predator – Pretty much the same, but is Fast, has the Scout USR, and the option for a turret-mounted Flamestorm Cannon.Bike Squadron – No news yet
Attack Bike Squadron – No news yet
Land Speeder – No news yet
Land Speeder Storm – Likely Added
Heavy Support
Devastator Squad – No news yetWhirlwind – As per C:SM
Predator – No news yet
Vindicator – As per C:SM but are Fast
Stormraven Gunship – Armour 12 all around, Skimmer, Fast, Assault Vehicle, Deep Strike.
Armed with twin-linked Assault Cannons, twin-linked Heavy Bolters and 4 Bloodstrike Missiles.
Ceremite Plating make is immune to Melta weapons’ extra penetration due to being able to withstand atmospheric re-entry temperatures
Bloodstrike Missiles Range 72” S8 AP1 Heavy 1, One-shot
Transports up to 12 Marines (Jump Troops take up 2 slots) and up to 1 Dreadnought at the same time.
Transported Dreads take a single S4 hit on rear armour if the Stormraven explodes
Models can be deployed at any point of the move, even if it goes flat out but they must take a Dangerous Terrain test (Jump Pack Troops have a better chance of passing). Models deployed in this way cannot assault.
No fire points
4 access points (front, sides and top (?))
May replace Heavy Bolters with either twin-linked Multi-Melta or twin-linked Typhoon Launchers. May also take Hurricane Bolter sponsons.Dedicated Transports
Rhino – 50 pts. As per C:SM but are FastRazorback – No news yet
Drop Pod – No news yet
Land Raider – Standard, Crusader and Redeemer. Only available as Dedicated Transports. Can supposedly Deep Strike somehow.
~Let the feeding frenzy begin. Off the top of my head, Red Thirst will give the army a slightly uneven texture with some unpredictability, and those dread magna-grapples are quite the hotness! Mephiston lacks eternal warrior but is noetheless a monster. Fast Baals, Rhinos, and Vindicators are certainly yummy. Finally, the Stormraven lives, but apparently with no model as of yet… Have at it.
