I've had a chance to pour through the actual codex (as my local game store has a copy now) and I'm quite impressed. This time the Blood Angels codex doesn't look like a copy/paste job from a different codex cough Dark Angels cough, and most of the units seem very well balanced in ability and cost.
There's a lot of new units and rules to take in, but to me the one unit that stands out is the Assault Squad. For a base cost of 190 points for a full 10-man unit, this unit has almost a half a page of options. In addition to being able to take a special weapon for every five models in the unit, the Sergeant can take an Infernus Pistol along with the typical Sergeant wargear. This potentially allows the unit to have three melta weapons for slightly less than 250 points. And the coolest part is that if you take the jump packs off of the unit, you get a 35 point discount on any dedicated transport, which in this codex happens to include Land Raiders. Thus, a 10 man Assault Squad with two meltaguns, a Sergeant with an Infernus Pistol and a Power Weapon, and a Land Raider with a Multi-Melta totals only 465 points! That's 25 points more than similarly armed Space Wolf Grey Hunters in a Land Raider Crusader but it only takes up a Troops slot instead of a Troops and a Heavy slot, and the Assault Squad will have Leadership 9 and possibly even Furious Charge if they rolled a one for the Red Thirst.
Another really cool unit I look forward to using is the Stormraven Gunship. With rear armor 12, an immunity to the melta rule, four S8 AP1 72" missiles, a twin-linked Assault Cannon, Power of the Machine Spirit, and having the "assault vehicle" rule all for 200 points, this fast skimmer will surely see regular play and possibly even tournament play.
As we approach the release day expect to see more Bell of Lost Souls articles covering this 96-page codex, as well as articles and even battle reports from myself.
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