Phat J here in my next installment of Blood Angels, Hot or Not? In this series we’re going to take an in depth look at the much maligned codex and figure out which units are worthless and which ones are worth taking a second look. This time we’ll be looking at the second half of the Blood Angels HQ choices.
In my last segment of Blood Angels, Hot or Not? we took a look at the first half of the Blood Angels HQ choices. Though it’s a shame for the players that the Blood Angel codex has an abundance of terrible HQ choices that they are presented with, it’s a great thing for an article writer trying to pad his series with some serious filler. From the comments section of my first segment, I want to be clear that I am reviewing the HQ units in the codex in a vacuum, and not as how good they would be if they were in a squad of Dark Angel Black Knights or other such nonsense. As usual, please keep in mind that these are just, like, my opinion man. So without further adieu, Blood Angels Hot or Not? HQ part deux!
The Sanguinor
What has 3 wounds, toughness 4, and costs more points than a Leman Russ Battle Tank? Why, none other than the Blood Angels’ own golden god, the Sanguinor! Like most of the Blood Angels’ HQ choices, the Sanguinor looks pretty good. He has a 2+/4+, a master-crafted S6 power sword with 5 attacks on the charge, and Eternal Warrior. He has one glaring issue, though, that makes him completely unplayable and that is that he is NOT an independent character. Hopefully that Iron Halo can fend off the mounds of Grav, Melta, and Plasma shots that will be heading towards his general direction. He has the ability to buff nearby Blood Angels units with an additional attack, which is nice, but in an edition that horribly punishes all assault armies that aren’t Khorne Daemonkin, it’s fundamentally useless.
Verdict – NOT
Astorath the Grim
Some people might be under the misconception that I am entirely negative with this review so far, and that wouldn’t be an inaccurate statement. That is, until now. Enter Astorath the Grim. Redeemer of the Lost. Rocker of cockers all over your face. The guy not only has a 2+/4+ save, he also brings Zealot to his squad, has a S5 AP 2 ax that has Killing Blow on a 6, and grants Adamantium Will to the unit he joins as well. He really shines when put into a squad of Death Company, where he not only lets them re-roll their hits in the first round of combat due to Zealot but he also allows them to re-roll their wounds.
Verdict – HOT
Sanguinary Priest
Sanguinary Priests are a bit of a mixed bag when comparing to the Sanguinary Priests of past editions. On the plus side they gained a wound which was one of the worst things about the priests in the past. The priests not only confer Feel No Pain to the entire unit they are joined with, but also increase their Weapon Skill by 1. Sanguinary Priests also have access to wargear items and the Relics of Baal, which increases their usefulness by tenfold. One of the better items to issue a Sanguinary Priest is the Angel’s Wing, a jump pack that allows the priest and his deep striking unit the ability to re-roll the scatter as well as making any intercepting units snap fire at them. In the world of entire Tau armies getting Interceptor for 5 pts, this piece of wargear is essential to any competitive Blood Angels list. The only downside to Sanguinary Priests compared to previous iterations is that they are now HQ options which limit the number you can take and the fact that they no longer confer a Feel No Pain bubble and only give it to the unit they are with.
Verdict – HOT
Brother Corbulo
The hunkiest Space Marine ever to live, Brother Corbulo is a named Sanguinary Priest that comes in at double the point cost and three times the sex appeal. The additional points buy you one more wound, a better BS for your Bolt Pistol, and I6 S5 Rending Chainsword (S6 on the charge), and the ability to re-roll one die at some point in the game. His custom Blood Chalice, The Red Grail, grants the WS bonus to all Blood Angel units within 6″ as opposed to just the unit he is joined with. To be honest, for his points I think Corbulo is a solid choice if you don’t have any important Deep Striking units. If you plan on running an assault unit in a Land Raider than he’s your guy. In all other instances I would rather have two Sanguinary Priests with some custom kits.
Verdict – HOT
Techmarine
Since the Blood Angels got the Dark Angel treatment with their codex release, their Techmarines are still 1 wound HQ models. The only time you should consider a Techmarine as a legitimate choice would be if you wanted to tow one around in a Stormraven to try and increase it’s surviveability. NEXT.
Verdict – NOT
Chaplain
Ah, nothing wrong with going with a good old fashioned. The Blood Angels Chaplain gives you all the goodies that a Space Marine Chaplain gives you but come with Furious Charge, making their attacks S7, which is nice. They lost some ground from the previous codex in that they are now an HQ choice, which like the Sanguinary Priests limits the amount you can take, as well as no longer allowing Death Company units to re-roll both their hits and wounds. I think Sanguinary Priests are still a better choice than the Chaplain, but if you have the points a combination of both in an assault unit is a really solid way to go.
Verdict – HOT
So there you have it, the end of the HQ segment of Blood Angels, Hot or Not?. Next week we’ll start in on the troop choices for the Blood Angels (all TWO of them!). Let me know your thoughts on the Blood Angel HQ choices in the comments!
My brain keeps failing to process that an ATSKNF army with toys like 2+/3++ feel no pain ws 5 unit combos can be sub par. I keep thinking there has to be some way to make that good with a priest from AM or AS or something but i think my mind is still stuck in 3rd ed sometimes.
it has to do with survivability. Sure you can have a Squad floating around putting around several attacks per models with higher weapon skills. ATSKNF isnt very important because so many units ignore morale.
Scat bikes, Tau, a stiff fart, will kinda destroy these units wholesale.
As I mentioned in the Celestant-Prime article, I really want the Sanguinor to get some truly epic Rules (like Lord of War slot-worthy, can wipe the floor with a Bloodthirster like he did in the fluff), and then convert one from the awesome Celestant-Prime Model.
As it stands, tho, Sanguinary Priests and Librarians are my go-tos for BA HQ.
I really just want them to be decent because they are my go to “counts as” choice for Sisters (who are not ever going to get a proper release again lets face it). Heavy flamers, a focus on jump troops instead of bikes and the Sanguinor might as well be called a living saint concept wise.
I love and hate Astorath at the same time. He is awesome vs bad players, but good players will never really be impacted by him, either through movement, shooting and in sometimes even in assault.
Was Captain Karl in part 1?
I’m just reviewing the units in the codex in this series. Thanks for reading!
You may want to consider Karlaen and the rest of the BA units from Deathstorm for inclusion regardless, since they add some good stuff to the list. DC as Troops, yes please! Karlaen’s guaranteed Warlord trait, yes please! Especially combined with Corbulo for a 5+ Steal with possible re-roll…
Don’t forget, Corbulo also provides an initiative buff to all BA units within 6″
I think there are actually four choices for troops for the BA faction, Cassor the Damned. The cheapest dreadnaught you can get buy if you consider the replacement cost in the deal. Meaning he is 140 points but you would have to spend 55 points anyway on the cheapest replacement, so really like a 85 point upgrade. The Raphael (?) Death Company Squad is a troop choice as well,not so good though just too expensive and not kitted optimally.
the sanguinor doesn’t even buff units any more, only models……shudder
It truly boggles the mind.
Yeah, I “love” that they not only reduced his save to a 4++ but also made his aura weaker. Because… because he was apparently too strong before?
hey man, he used to buff a random sergeant too…..woah there nelly!
Ask MrMoreTanks about his super-rad dual-Lightning Claw sergeant getting buffed by Sangy. IT’S ALMOST AS GOOD AS HAVING A CAPTAIN!!1111ones
I made all my sergeants have a lightning claw storm shield and a melta bomb.. just in case:) also, no one else could get storm shields on sergeants a the time which was funny.
only tried it once though sang is just… so not that great:(
Jason, you haven’t been overly negative, you’ve just been approaching the BA HQ’s very objectively, which is great. There really isn’t anything in this codex outside of a Priest or Librarian worth looking at. Even Astorath, along with DC, are very hit or miss since it’s crucial for you to initiate the assault if you want to get full value for them. It’s why I’ve gone mostly for Sanguinary Guard for my CC hammer. And even then, let’s face it, you’re not playing BA because you want to win all the marbles in the ITC.
yeah, DC have issues, they lose all there cool stuff if they multi charge, and if they do charge a unit with astorath, that unit usually vanishes and then they get shot to death.
I’m not opposed to DC entirely. having multiple smallish units of them and a sang guard death star could be interesting..maybe
Those people who are down on the Sanguinor should give him a try. I run him in over 50% of my BA lists and have over a .700 winning percentage with my 7E BA army (mostly tournament play, including one GT).
I run him with a Sanguinary Priest w/ power fist on a bike. Running this way, the two-model unit is T5 against shooting, is WS9 in close combat (so most people are hitting the Sanguinor on 5+), and has FNP. Against AP2 shooting, you can LoS the wounds onto the jinking sanguinary priest for an extra ablative wound. If facing a 2+ save in CC, the priest can do real work with a power fist, his high WS, and his bonus attack from the Sanguinor’s blessing.
For 305 points, you have a mini-death star your opponent can’t ignore. They don’t need a transport, can move 12″, are T5 with a 2+/FNP against ranged attacks, and the Sanguinor is WS9 in close combat with eternal warrior. Between the Sanguinor’s AP3 and the Priest’s S8 (S9 on the charge) AP2 attacks, you have the tools to deal with just about any foe. In a recent tourney, they tore up a wraithknight.
Try it out, it does wonders for me.
Unfortunately the Sanguinor does not have the Independant Character special rule so cannot join any other units or characters.
There is no longer a rule stopping an IC from joining a 1 model unit as long as it isn’t a monstrous creature. You can indeed have IC’s accompany the sanguinor.
Correct. The Sanguinor can’t join a priest, but a priest CAN join the Sanguinor.
an imperial knight or..cheaper still a wraith knight would have a field day vs that unit. Or they get shot to death.
you could go more crazy and pop a libby on a bike in there as well, or dante for giggles.
did you think about valours edge on the priest possibly? or maybe lightning claw/power fist duo for an extra attack and chance at initiative?
Like I mentioned, this unit wrecked a wraithknight for me the last time I ran it in a tourney. Unfortunately, my opponent had two wraithknights, and after I killed the first one, the second one rolled a “6” on his stomp and wiped my unit.
Think about it though, a wraithknight is hitting this unit on a 5+ (WS9 versus WS4), so unless he rolls lucky on his stomps, you’re going to be fine against him. And the Sanguinor can tank a couple hits with his 4++ (again, if the opponent doesn’t roll a “6”). All your attacks are ignoring his armour and the fist wounds on a 4+ (3+ when you charge). It’s not as one sided as you might think.
I agree, an imperial knight isn’t the best matchup for this unit. But the unit can tank some of the knight’s ranged attacks and moves as fast as he knight, so should be able to keep its distance while you send your anti-knight units against the knight.
Yes, valour’s edge is a nice option for the priest. If you run him with that instead of a fist, I recommend you add melta bombs so that you still have an answer for high-AV targets. I run mine with a fist because that is how I have him modeled :p.
The humble generic sanguinary priest is one of the few things that BA have that other books could realistically be jelly over. He’s just shy of a captain in stats for 2/3 the points, and comes with a squad WS buff AND is an apothecary. It’s a shame that such a good support HQ is in an otherwise mediocre codex.
Its a shame the Codex is mediocre, in comparison to the select few awesome units. The codex needs fixing and its units need to be brought inline with the vanilla marines with their blood angel jump pack flavor sprinkled over it.
Honestly is there even any realistic chance to make a jump pack based army valid considering how bikes seeem to do all the same things but way better and with a ton of additional bonsue, while usualy not costing that much more points wise?