Warhammer 40K: Blood Angels Stratagem Updates
The Blood Angels have some changes to their most popular stratagems. Let’s take a look.
There is a new Codex Supplement on the way for the Blood Angels and it’s looking pretty interesting. We sat down with the book and took a good look at a handful of the popular stratagems from the old book to see how they changed. Turns out, they have shifted around quite a bit! Strap on your Jump Packs and get ready to launch your assaults – we’re diving in!
Upon Wings of Fire
So this one is kind of weird. Upon Wings of Fire (8th Edition) got a CP increase to 2 CP via an FAQ. But now, functionally, it’s the same – it’s just been re-worded so that it is more in line with the new phase changes in 9th. It’s also back down to 1 CP.
Oh – and it’s now specific to Blood Angels CORE Jump Pack units. Sorry non-Core units. This does mean you won’t see that Captain Re-deploying across the battlefield in the middle of the game. Instead it could be a pack of screaming Assault Marines!
Descent of Angels
This one changed quite a bit. The 8th edition version cost 2 CP and you could drop in and roll 3D6 for a charge. This made for a pretty crazy threat range and a ton of extra movement for getting models into combat. The new one has been shifted around.
It only cost 1 CP now, but instead of rolling 3D6, you now ignore any or all modifiers to that charge roll. Thanks to that wording, if you have a positive modifier, you can keep it. If you have have a negative modifier, you can ignore it. So that’s not terrible. You also get to add 1 to that unit’s attack rolls. This Stratagem used to provide some extra security for your charges and also provided some extra movement for multi-charges. The new version seems like it’s going to be a tad more consistent vs a normal Jump Pack assault, but it’s trading off the potential for the extra range.
Red Rampage
And the last Stratagem we’re tackling is Red Rampage. This ability has been completely reworked. The old ability cost 1 CP and added D3 attacks to a Blood Angels character. Now? Take a look:
It’s still 1 CP. But instead of buffing a single character, it nows applies an army-wide buff. It can only work when the Assault Doctrine is active but now all unmodified wound rolls of 6 generated from Pistol or Melee weapons get an extra 1 AP. And yes, it does stack with the Combat Doctrine, too. So if you take a basic Astartes Chainsword, you’re now looking at a potential -3 AP on turns when the Assault Doctrine is active. If only there was a unit that could generate a ton of attacks to really take advantage of this.
There are lots of little tweaks and changes with the new Codex Supplement. And it IS a supplement – you’re going to need Codex: Space Marines to really build your Blood Angels army still. The book is up for Pre-order this weekend from GW.
Are you looking forward to the new Blood Angels Codex Supplement?
