Warhammer 40K Dirty Tricks – Behold the Upgraded Oath of Moment for “Blood Angels”
Goatboy here with some cross-codex shenanigans via Oath of Moment. It tuns out Codex Space Marines and Blood Angels go together like peanut butter and jelly!
Let’s talk about a funky hot mess from that comes out from a fun little FAQ question answered this past week by GW. If you are living under a rock there was a Dataslate update to Space Marines and Oath of Moment. The big shift is for the armies from the regular Space Marine Codex – and not the supplements – they gain a +1 to wound versus the Oath Target. This is a pretty huge upgrade and most likely will be the biggest shift in some match ups and upcoming books coming out.
But did you know that you can get this upgraded oath for your supplement chapters with some fun little interactions and rules nonsense?
New Oath of Moment
First let’s talk about this rules change to Oath of Moment. In the 2024 update the Army Rule got a change that add if your army does not include one or more units with the Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch, or Space Wolves keywords units get a +1 to the wound roll versus the Oath Target. This is pretty sweet, and lets the “regular” marine armies really wreck their target, and helps amp up the regular Space Marine output. This is all good but you do know you could get this in say a Blood Angels army pretty easily?
Let the Rules Shenanigans Begin!
How does that work? Well remember that there are a ton of Space Marine units that don’t have any of those supplement keywords. There are a ton of options that let you build a “Blood Angels” army without having to take anything with Blood Angels in their lovely little keyword area. You don’t have to take Mephiston. You don’t need to take Dante. You can take a ton of Marine models that are “Blood Angels” without the Blood Angels stamp on their data card.
Now you are asking the question why would you do that? Well the real reason is that while you would think the Blood Angels Detachments are locked to their Supplements they actually aren’t. There is nothing in the Detachment that says you need to have Blood Angels units in them. Heck if you read all the rules in some of those Detachments – there are some that just care about having Adeptus Astartes unit and the rule targeting only them. They do this to ensure the regular Space Marine book works with all the Supplements but it also works the opposite way to let Space Marine rules work with the Supplements.
Let’s Test It Out… Hello Liberator Assault Group
Which leads me to say why this is important. The Liberator Assault Group is a very powerful detachment with a very strong rule. Remember how good the World Eaters Berzerker Warband Detachment is? Well this one now gives you another pip of strength, a ton of powerful enhancements, and a stack of good stratagems. This lets you have an army that can shoot the crap out of you and still punch the heck out of you all utilizing regular Marine options that are acting like Blood Angels options.
Think of it the Detachment gives you an advance and charge option. It gives you a fallback shoot and charge option. You also get a lance or lethal hits option as well. You get a FNP for mortal wounds too. Heck you even get the ability to get more attacks if needed. All of these are pretty dang powerful and this “Blood Angels” detachment becomes a great add on to regular Marines and creates a powerful little bully detachment.
Will GW FAQ This?
Now is this what GW wants? Probably not, but I don’t think it is too bad. It lets you create a unique little Marine option and heck I could see someone creating their own “homebrew” Flesh Tearers option with this and utilizing just regular Marines to feed the hobby work. I wish you could add in the Blood Angels Captain to help give you a brutal assault monster but you would lose the Oath rules and that is not worth it.
What do you think? Is this a good interaction? Is this a correct interaction? Are you excited you could do weird little combos with Space Marines? The other Supplements don’t work as well because Dark Angels like their own Dark Angels options too much to not use them as well as the new Death Watch and any upcoming options in the future. This might just be a fun little choice you can just do in Blood Angels and you just have to give up taking Mephiston.
For Sanguinius!
