Hello all,
Jason here with another installment of Blood Angels, Hot or Not? where we take a closer look at the units in the much maligned Blood Angels codex and make a determination regarding their actually hotness or notness.
This week we look at the second half of the meaty man parts from Codex Blood Angels, the elites! The elites section is really where the codex really shines though the Blood Angels sadly show the truth in the saying that everything that shines ain’t necessarily gold. Without further adieu, Blood Angels, Hot of Not! Elites Part 2.
Death Company Dreadnought
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/312705-.html?m=2
It used to be you could only take one of these guys if you took a squad of Death Company, but that restriction is long gone. The Death Company version comes with the same stat lines as your run of the mill Dred, save for an extra base attack, and comes with the Blood Angel-centric Furious Charge, which is a nice touch on this guy. Unlike the basic Dreadnought this guy comes with the Rage special rule, which will give you 5 S7 attacks on the charge if you take the Blood Talons. Speaking of Blood Talons, they were nerfed with the new codex, unfortunately, and no longer let you make more attacks for each successful kill. They are now just a big pair of Lightning Claws. Not bad though for a anti-Infantry based Dreadnought. I would still take him in a Drop Pod and equip him with two Power Fists and call it a day. If he survives your opponent’s first round of shooting and can actually assault something with 5 S10 attacks. He is a bit more survivable than regular Dreadnoughts due to his ‘None Can Stay my Wrath’ special rule which allows him to ignore the effects of Crew Shaken and Stunned but it would have been a million times more helpful to have him ignore the immobilized effects. Le Sigh. Overall pretty decent for a vehicle in a game that makes being a vehicle increasingly useless.
Verdict – HOT
Furioso Dreadnought
http://www.excommunicatetraitoris.com/2015/02/blood-angels-furioso-dreadnought-painted.html
This is a Blood Angel specific unit and frankly is one of the best things they have going for them in the codex. The dude clocks in with WS5 and has front armor 13, which is damn crucial in order to counter the prevalent S5-6 shooting we see on the tabletop. He comes with Furious Charge, which only matters if you take him with no Power Fists, which will almost never be the case (or if he gets weapon destroyed I suppose). The real beauty is his ability to take both a Frag Cannon (basically a two shot S6 flame template that is AP – but has the Rend special rule) as well as a Heavy Flamer in his Power First hand. DECENT! He comes in a the same cost as a Death Company Dreadnought but puts out a ton more firepower. Throw him in a Drop Pod, use some Teleport Homers on a unit of Scouts and drop 3 S5 and S6 flame template shots wherever you need something killed, dead. Thumbs up, Jabronies!
Verdict – HOT
Terminator Squad
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-viewimage.jsp?i=140628&m=2&w=798
Yawn. Though they do have Furious Charge and access to Feel No Pain via a Sanguinary Priest, the basic Tactical Terminators are used about as much as any other Tactical Terminators in the game, which is not at all. They suffer from what Terminators have suffered from for years, which is not putting out enough firepower for their points cost. They have a 2+ save but we might as well say they come with a 5+ save due to the amount of AP2 and 1 weaponry that would be instantly evaporating these guys the turn they show up on the table. If I WERE to run these guys I would go all in and run a 10 man squad with a Sanguinary Priest attached and 2x Cyclone Missile Launchers. That would be 20 S4 and 4 S8 shots hitting something every turn they are at full strength and you could throw in a Librarian for Prescience and hopefully Perfect Timing to ignore cover but that’s a lot of points (over 500) for something that will just roll 1’s all game after getting hit by Lasguns and you smashing your models and all that shit.
Verdict – NOT
Terminator Assault Squad
http://raffetin.deviantart.com/art/Blood-angels-terminator-command-squad-579699452
Do we even have any other Terminators at this point? The standard Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer Terminators are good in this codex and they are good in any codex. The addition of having Furious Charge and the ability to run them with a Sanguinary Priest of WS5 and Feel No Pain makes these guys a VERY good choice. Throwing them in a Storm Raven is probably your best bet since mobility is an issue with them and putting them in a Land Raider is a really good way to have an immobalized 250 point model on turn 1 from mass Grav fire. You really do need to have a Sanguinary Priest with them, so another good tactic is to throw the Angels Wing jump pack relic on a Priest so he can get Deep Strike and then have them come down right in your opponents face. The Angel’s Wing allows you to scatter only 1 D6 and forces any interceptor shots to do Snap Fire. Take that fish heads!!
Verdict – HOT
Vanguard Veterans
https://lupusj.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/vanguard-veterans-finished-1.jpg
Other than having Furious Charge there is not all that much different from the standard Vanguard Veterans in other marine codices. Not really a bad choice but in an overfilled Elites section you will almost never opt to take these guys to the dance. They cost too many points to equip them like Assault Terminators and with just a 3+ armor save and T4 they go down pretty quickly. Honestly without any special rules like the Ravenguard or ways to have them assault turn 1 when they Deep Strike there isn’t really any reason to ever take these guys.
Verdict – NOT
Sternguard Veterans
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/blog/600/313003.page
The same as above applies to these guys. Nothing really other than the Furious Charge for being a Blood Angel which doesn’t really do anything. There was a time when the Blood Angels Sternguard were really good because you go the combi-weapons for like half what they cost in the Space Marine codex but that’s over and done with. Just like the Vanguard Veterans I think GW could have gotten away with just not including them in this codex. I mean, the only reason someone is playing Blood Angels at this point is to take the Blood Angel specific units because all the units other than the Assault Terminators are worse than they are in the Space Marines codex.
Verdict – NOT
Another Blood Angels, Hot or Not? article down! Hopefully any fledgling Blood Angel players got some good advice out of the elites reviews. For those of you who disagree with some of these ratings, what are some better way to play them? Any hot units you feel are more not (hot)? Let me know if the comments! Thanks for reading.
A couple corrections:
1. Blood talons are no longer middling strength lightning class like they were in 5e. They are now just the standard s10 ap2 just like the normal fists. Only difference is that they give shred.
2. The angel’s wing doesn’t reduce scatter. It lets you reroll the scatter and reroll the mishap result (in addition to the anti-interceptor ability.)
Oh good! I was worried I misread the blood talons. Str10 at
Initiative 4 has won me some matches. And I didnt wanna be cheating!
Dang it! I should have taken a longer glance at that wargear item before writing that. Good catch and thanks for reading!
Blood angels and a few other codexs need a decent multi formation detachment and some tweaks all around. Although I’m unsure if GW is planning on a full codex update for them soon it does seem GW is trying to push out a multi formation detachment for each army.
After GW is done with the above I do hope they start making a supplement/chapter approved book for each army that contains all the formations and detachments for each army as its getting a bit cumbersome to locate eaxh updated detachment.
DC dreads have 6 A on the charge, which seems cool until you realize that C:SM dreads have 5 and the same amount of A on the following turn. Wouldn’t give them a hot marker personally.
Teleport homers only works for deepstriking terminators.
Especially since SM Dreads are cheaper, have the potential for a Chapter Tactic that isn’t worthless, and have more options for upgrades, I can’t really see calling the DC Dread “hot.” Ignoring Shaken is pretty minor if you just want to get into combat, so the only real upside is being able to charge after taking a Stunned result- and the chance of that is relatively low.
I’m pretty sure this is a internal hot not external. If we start comparing ourselves with SM most of our units would be in the ‘not’ category.
Ah you know I was probably thinking about locator beacons. Good catch and thanks for reading!
One fun thing I like to try to do is, when I actually use dreads, Dreadnaught Drop Pod with no scatter relic. Perfect.
Do you mean the jump pack? Thats re-roll scatter and mishap and it can’t go in a pod. You can take the detachment that gives a ton of elite slots and gives everything 1d6 less scatter.
I mean legacy of glory.
I actually get reasonable mileage out of BA Vanguard Veterans, running them either on foot or with Jump Packs, as a unit equipped fully with Storm Shields & Melta Bombs. On foot they’re a good escort for a Karlaen/Corbulo combo, with Jump Packs they round out the 3 specialist assault units – Death Company to annihilate, Sanguinary Guard as middle ground of tough & hitty, & Vanguard Vets w Shields as ultra-resilient.
I just can’t justify them now that they pay so much more than Codex Vanguard Vets for their Weapons.
Actually, I think the only way to run Vanguard or Sternguard vets is in the “Archangels Sanguine Wing” formation. All of the models can upgrade their weapons for free. It’s a pretty easy way to drop the cost a bit. Still pretty expensive, but it’s a nice way to screw with your opponent.