Why Blood Angels have 4+ INV Stormshields

Today’s merry topic is why Blood Angels have worse Stormshields than any loyal Space Marine Chapter of the Second Founding. Nobody knows quite the reasons, but rumors indicate that the Blood Angels actually order their Stormshields from Grotz in the Terto sector.

In other words, since the advent of the latest Codex: Space Marines it is especially evident that the Codex: Blood Angels is outdated. Common sense tells you that it is just natural to use some of the rules for the Vanilla Marine for the Blood Angels as well. Over at Bolter & Chainsword one can even download a nice homebrew “Codex: Blood Angels – Revived” that allows you to adapt the Blood Angels rules in a three tiers system depending on how close you wanna stick to the original. With this document, you can iron out all errors in the current Codex: Blood Angels and everybody could be happy – if it weren’t for reasons of jealousy.

You see, with the Codex: Space Marines, all those Vanilla players felt treated well again. Suddenly they had cheaper troops and cool wargear to play with – if you compare the Ironclad Dreadnought to the Furioso Dreadnought and the Vanguard Veterans to the Veteran Assault Squads, you can sort of see where the ideas were coming from. So, everything in Vanilla world was good and that’s okay as every fan deserves a Codex he’s happy with.

However, some Vanilla players reacted to Blood Angels players’ attempts to unify the rules with utter refusal. Obviously, the new Vanilla Codex was theirs and nobody else should have a part of it as this would endanger them feeling special anymore. When a Blood Angels player vented his frustration over at Librarium Online about Blood Angels Stormshields still being a 4+ INV save rather than a 3+, he was corrected by a Vanilla player that this differences are necessary for balancing reasons. Yeah, right. When there were rumors about a new Codex: Blood Angels in 2010, people commenting over at Bell of Lost Souls already know how broken it will be. The truth is, the Codex Blood Angels can be considered broken right now, but not in favor of the Marines in red. There’s a list of challenges a Blood Angels player has to think of if he wants build an army list that is as efficient as a Vanilla list.

Since the Blood Angels have been confirmed for April 2010, we will see a few types of players come into focus:

1. Veteran Blood Angels players enjoying the new Codex.
2. Blood Angels newbies picking up the army because it’s either just the latest strongest army (they think) or because they like the fluff.
3. Vanilla players bitching about the new Codex: Blood Angels. I assume those are the ones who picked up Vanilla Marines just because they were the latest strongest.
4. Vanilla Veterans who are still proud of their own Chapter and are happy for the Blood Angels players because ultimately it’s diversity that makes this game great.

I will play anytime with a happy Vanilla or Blood Angels Veteran. I will also play anytime with a Blood Angels newbie who wants to commit himself to this army because he likes the Chapter’s fluff and background. However, I won’t have much patience for unhappy whiners. Everyone gets a little jealous every once in a while because the time frame when one’s army is the latest fad is relatively short. If you let that dominate your game, you’re missing a whole lot of fun. All the Space Wolves models that will be left unpainted when the Codex: Blood Angels arrives will speak for themselves.

Blood Angels rumors

Just a quick note to spread the word that there’s a current and condensed thread with Blood Angels rumors over at Bolter & Chainsword.

Your Absolute Worst Reloaded

So, the FTW collaborative post came out – many thanks to Ron for running cool ideas like this one!

This collaborative post was about our absolute worst miniature in terms of modeling and painting – my Blood Angels Scout Captain was part of it as well, of course. However, reading through the answers from other people I have to say a lot of stuff they did actually isn’t that bad. I mean, if I go to tournaments at the FLGS I see armies that are far worse but are still being tagged as “painted” by their owners.

Either way, I give my vote for “best of the worst” definitely to Gotthammer and his Chaos Predator tank that should really be an Orkzez Loota Waggon. I am sure you agree with me that it’s so bad a.k.a. crazy that it’s definitely cool. And if that’s not enough, check out his Apothecarius down at the bottom of the post.

(oh, BTW, I still have one of those HeroQuest Chaos Sorcerers, too )

Flashes everywhere

Over at the FTW network we have a new collaborative post on the topic what is the worst miniature we ever did.

Well, basically I don’t think I have anything to show that I need to be ashamed of. Shame is something for those guys who don’t paint their models because they are too lazy. (I have a couple fellow players who admit that they can’t paint and they have repeatedly tried it.)

My worst miniature surely is my first miniature in 2008 after my 12 year hiatus:

My Blood Angels Captain is:

• My first miniature after not painting for 12 years.
• My first miniature that went beyond just coloring, but involved (for me) new techniques like inking and drybrushing.
• My first glued together plastic (and resin) model. (yes, in the old days all GW miniatures were made out of metal.)
• My first freehand (on the Lightning Claw).

While all these factors may sort of excuse the poor quality of the miniature, there is one thing I repeatedly get criticism for: the leftover flashes from the casting process. I am simply too lazy to file them off. In the picture above, you can still see a fine line e.g. on the upper side of the Plasma Pistol, but most remarkably on the Captain’s boot on the right foot where the light changes. According to some critics, leaving the flashes ruins the entire model. I don’t care because those flashes still remind me that these models are toys, after all, and not living organisms.

So, if you give me credit for honing my painting skills, then my Blood Angels Captain is my worst miniature. If you blame me for being lazy, then pretty much each of my miniatures is.

Don’t bring guns to a knife fight

Over at the FTW network there is currently a series of what must have unit we always have in our army list. Not the type of unit we put onto the table because the Codex says we have to, but the type of unit we simply like too much to leave it at home.

Well, from the intro picture my choice is obvious: it’s the Baal Predator, of course. On the one hand, the Baal Predator is very fluffy as it’s a unique Blood Angels’ build that isn’t mimicked by the Ultramarines yet (see e.g. Vanguard Veterans or Ironclad Dreadnoughts).
On the other hand, the Baal Predator is a fairly devastating weapon: it’s twinlinked Assault Canons fire with a high and reliable accuracy and the Rending rule even allows them to crack a Land Raider with a little bit of luck. If you add Heavy Bolter side sponsons, you pump out quite a few shots in every turn, especially if the Overcharged Engines throw is successful and the Baal moves and fires all weapons.

I for my part don’t use Heavy Bolters, however, as nothing screams “Assault!” more than Heavy Flamer side sponsons. Yes, Heavy Bolters are indefinitely better because you can fire them all game and not just in the last round when you closed in on the enemy (or not at all if the Baal explodes while getting there). However, Blood Angels are a close combat army and I think nothing’s cooler than tanks scorching everything before the Rhinos with the infantry arrive. Plus my fellow Tyranid player has a huuuge respect from my Heavy Flamers, so even the better.

Of course, the Heavy Flamer loadout has one huge drawback: distance. My default setup is filling the three Heavy Support slots with two Baal Predators (both with Heavy Flamers) and one Vindicator meaning that my thread bubble is limited to 24″ of firing range. Especially when I play against Imperial Guard or other tank heavy lists this is a real problem as my tanks tend to die before they do any real damage. Furthermore, using Heavy Flamers in a turn automatically means that the tank will get charged in the next turn, so you better make sure you always drive minimally 6″ far.

In conclusion, one can say that my must have pick is mostly based on fluff and style reasons rather than pure power. However, rumors go through the WWW that in the new Blood Angels Codex Games Workshop makes taking Heavy Flamers worth their points again…