Warhammer 40K: Starting A Blood Angel’s Army – Advice From A Player
If you’re starting a new Blood Angel army I’ve got a few bits of advice before you dive in and just buy everything.
Right now I’m getting that urge to just rush out and snag all the Blood Angels goodies this weekend. And I’ve already GOT an entire Blood Angels army. But that’s the gut reaction/impulse buyer talking. Now, GW also did their take on this and while it’s got good info in there they are also trying to get you to buy stuff. I don’t hold it against them — that’s how they stay in business.
So, before I go pick-up a bunch of stuff I don’t actually need, I wanted to chat with you all about what I would do if I was starting over from nothing with a new Blood Angels army. Here’s what I would buy and why.
The number one thing I would get is the new codex. And look, I know you can buy the digital versions but I prefer the classic physical copy. Plus you can use the code inside to register it with the app — you already know all of this. But you kinda need this book if you want to play Blood Angels. But there’s a catch…
You also need this book, too. Why? Well, the basic Space Marine units are still used by the Blood Angels and not all of them are Codex: Blood Angels. Yeah, it’s kind of annoying but if you’re gonna play any flavor of Space Marines (besides the Chaos versions) you should have this book, too.
Now that we’ve got the rules out of the way the very next thing I’d snag is the new Combat Patrol.
I already did a pricing breakdown for this box as well as a points and next steps breakdown. The summary is that this box is a good deal and also it has roughly 500 points of Blood Angels in the box. That’s a solid core to build from.
The next thing I would buy? Is actually nothing. Instead I recommend you build and paint this Combat Patrol. Then get some games in with it. The rules are a free download. And you’ll get a much better sense of how this army plays and how that feels to you for what you want to do next.
This is of course assuming you have people to play Combat Patrol with/against and have all the other stuff you need to play. Dice, Tape measure, terrain, etc.
Try Before You Buy (More)
While you’re building the Combat Patrol and getting some games in I highly recommend you read-up on the rest of the units that are unique to the Blood Angels. See if any of them fit in with your style of play. Maybe you really like the Death Company instead of the Sanguinary Guard. Good news, it’s still early enough for you to switch your army over to that.
Or maybe you want to really explore some of the other characters and see what they can add to your army. The Blood Angels have a decent roster of special characters that each bring a little something extra to the table. It’s also worth reading up on them and seeing if they appeal to you.
Once you’ve got some games in and gotten more of a feel for the Blood Angels you really need to ask yourself if you’re liking this army. Hopefully at this point you’ve gotten your feet wet and have a good idea if this army is actually for you. If it’s not, you can always not buy more Blood Angels.
If you were expecting them to play like…I dunno, T’au, and they don’t live up to your gunline dreams then maybe this army isn’t for you. Good news: you’ve still got time to pivot. Remember, you’ve got the Space Marine book still and there’s LOADS of ways to build and play the more “vanilla” army.
While you might have to give up the Sanguinary Guard, you’ve still got Assault Intercessors and a Captain to work with. The point is you don’t need to scrap everything. You can also come back to this army later. That’s the beauty of this hobby.
So that’s my advice for anyone starting a new Blood Angels army. Get the codex. Grab the Combat Patrol. Play some games. See if the Blood Angels are an army that you want to stick with before you go nuts with all the rest of their options. That’s what I would do if I had to start over again.
I’d still play Blood Angels — I’m just a sucker for close combat armies.
