Warhammer 40K: Blood Angels Crusade Rules On Display
The Blood Angels are getting a ton of new rules for Crusade in their upcoming supplement. Get ready for the red marines to hit the tabletop!
All the new style codexes and supplements are getting Crusade rules and the Blood Angels are no exception. Today, we’re taking a look at a batch of preview rules from GW for the upcoming supplement. These new rules are going to help you create your own narrative through your very own Blood Angels Crusade.
“As a narrative play campaign system, the Crusade rules fully embrace this hidden element of the Blood Angels’ nature – both its effects and their endless quest to find a cure for the affliction. In fact, the more blood they spill, the more likely they are to succumb to its effects, so you’ll need to keep track of how many Flaw points Blood Angels units accrue on their Crusade cards!”
Losing a Battle Brother to the Black Rage is at least unique. But what does that impact in terms of your Crusade army down the road?
“The effects of failing this test range from a Character or Dreadnought being consigned to the Death Company, to a unit losing experience points as some of their battle-brothers are lost to the Black Rage and replaced with fresh recruits. There are a lot more nuances to this than we have space to include here, but joining the Death Company certainly has its perks too! Death Company Marines and Intercessors, for example, no longer gain experience points, but nor will they ever fail Out of Action tests.”
Well that seems like quite the trade! Again losing a character or dreadnought to the Death Company might be a bigger blow but the benefits aren’t all bad. You basically have two options: Embrace the curse or slow it with the use of your Requisitions.
Upgrading a Chaplain with this Requisition can help with a re-roll for your Black Rage tests. Another option is to spend some points for a Blood Cleansing:
It’s a once per unit option. And for 2 RP, you might only want to use this on key units… In any case, these are just short term band-aids. You need a cure.
While these Apothecaries might be searching for a cure, they are really just gaining some sweet XP. That’s not a bad thing as leveling them up is good for your army overall. It’s just maybe not the most advantageous thing you could do with them – hence the 3 xp reward if you can pull it off.
Crusade Relics
There are seven additional Crusade Relics your army can earn while they are out fighting for the Imperium. We’ve got names for a couple: The Hood of Baal (meant for a Librarian) and the Encarmine Warblade (the same one wielded by Chapter Master Raldoron during the Horus Heresy). Those sound cool – but rules wise, we get a look at the Blade of Judgement:
Re-rolling the hit vs Characters, double the strength, AP -3 and 3 damage? Yes please! A power sword that hits like a power fist. Yep. Seems solid to me.
Honorifics
“Despite being a Codex-compliant Chapter for the most part, the Blood Angels nonetheless maintain many traditions that are unique to the sons of Sanguinius. Among them are the Honorifics – such as Master of Sacrifice – that they bestow upon their Captains, which replace those found in Codex: Space Marines.”
Well that’s one way to keep your character in the fight – make them take all the hits! Then again, you can load up a pretty defensive character thanks to their warlord traits. Toss a Storm Shield in the mix and I’m starting to wonder if this doesn’t make one heck of a tanky character…
The new codex supplement is to pre-order this weekend!
