Coming soon to a game store near me...

Fairly soon my local game store will be hosting a 2,000 point 40k tournament, either run by myself or another of my 40k club members. I'm excited to hear that Blood Angels are doing well in many different arenas, so I'm going to try to come up with a 2k list that doesn't do a *whole* lot of copy/pasting but still utilizes the strengths in the new codex.

Additionally, I just got a new job so my schedule is not only constantly changing, but I have been CRAZY busy lately and have not had time to update anything. I will be adding some info on the many 40k projects I've been working on lately and hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have my schedule figured out so I can continue making my Blood Angels YouTube videos.

'Ard Boyz 2010 - Batreps HERE!

So I attended the 'Ard Boyz Preliminaries yesterday at Valhalla's Game Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Thirty power-gaming 40k fanatics showed up to have epic battles at the 2,500 points level, and after ten grueling hours and the dust settled, some amazing battles were had and a victor was named.

I will put up my results and some pictures of the event after I recuperate, so be sure to check back soon!

--Edit--

Check a post I made on my 40k club's forum for more info here!

Blood Angels at 'Ard Boyz?

In a very short three weeks, the 'Ard Boyz preliminaries will be held around the country. If you've never heard of 'Ard Boyz before, it's a nation-wide tournament consisting of the most brutal and devastating lists at 2,500 points you've ever seen. No painting is required though everything MUST be "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG), as in properly represented on your miniatures.

I've been tooling around with a few lists that I'd love to bring, though I'm not quite set on which one yet. Anyways, here's what I came up with so far.

List #1:

HQ
150 Librarian, Epistolary <-- Shield of Sanguinius, Unleash Rage
150 Librarian, Epistolary <-- Blood Lance, Unleash Rage

Elites
130 2x Sang Priest w/PW
210 Furioso Librarian in DP <-- Wings of Sanguinius, Blood Lance

Troops
450 Assault Squad (10, 2x Melta, PW, LRC w/MM)
450 Assault Squad (10, 2x Melta, PW, LRC w/MM)
180 Assault Squad (5, Meltagun, PW, Razorback w/TLAC)
180 Assault Squad (5, Meltagun, PW, Razorback w/TLAC)

Fast
155 Baal Pred (TLAC, HBS, SB)
155 Baal Pred (TLAC, HBS, SB)

Heavy
145 Vindicator
145 Vindicator

 Now this list is a little bit safer than the next one. I went with a core of two Crusaders full of Assault Marines, with each one including a Sanguinary Priest with a Power Weapon and a Librarian with Unleash Rage. One Librarian will use Shield of Sanguinius in a similar manner to an Ork Big Mek's Kustom Force Field, granting a 5+ cover save to all units within 6" of the hull of the Land Raider he'll be chilling in, and the other will use Blood Lance to knock out multi-wound T4 creatures or rank-and-file tanks like Chimeras and Rhinos. Pretty much anything these two mounted units shoot at and/or assault will be removed from the table. Then for some additional objective support I took two five-man Assault Marine squads with a meltagun each in Razorbacks with Twin-Linked Assault Cannons. These are extremely versatile as they can fulfill a number of roles as needed. To back them up I took a Furioso Librarian in a Drop Pod. With the Wings of Sanguinius and Blood Lance powers, he will be an immediate threat that will have to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and with a front armor value of 13, it won't be that easy. Finally, for some mixed anti-infantry and anti-armor choices I took two Baal Predators (dakka variants) and two Vindicators. As Fast vehicles, they will be able to respond to situations quickly and put out enough firepower to suppress almost any type of unit.

And here's list two:

HQ
250    Mephiston
150    Librarian (Epistolary) <-- Unleash Rage, Shield of Sanguinius

Elites
130    Sanguinary Priests (2, 2x PW)
210    Furioso (Librarian, DP) <-- Wings of Sanguinius, Blood Lance
300    Sternguard (10, PW, DP)

Troops
450    Assault Squad (10, 2x Meltas, PW, LRC w/MM)
450    Assault Squad (10, 2x Meltas, PW, LRC w/MM)

Heavy
135    Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)
135    Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)

Fast
145    Baal Predator (TLAC, HBS)
145    Baal Predator (TLAC, HBS)

Okay, there's not a HUGE difference between these lists but I'll go over the changes. First of all, I decided to go with my favorite character in all of Warhammer 40k, Chief Librarian Mephiston, Lord of Death. With stats like a Greater Daemon and abilities and psychic powers to back them up, I just can't say no to him. I thought about using the Sanguinor but Mephiston is just too cool to pass up. So sue me if he's not "the best" option available. Next, I took Sternguard with a Power Weapon in a Drop Pod. Sure, they're a solid Codex: Space Marine entry but I think they can do some real good in this list either as area denial or Monstrous Creature/specialty unit hunters. Finally, I replaced the Vindicators with Autocannon/Lascannon Predators for a little more anti-vehicle support considering I took out the Razorbacks and added a few anti-infantry units. These were basically meant to balance the list back out so I'm not incapable of dealing with a Mech list.

Well, I'm currently building and painting (albeit slowly) my army and with some luck I might be able to show up to the Primaries for this year's 'Ard Boyz. Let me know what you think!

Houston, we have a problem...

So after some technical difficulties experienced during the upload process, I am continuing to work on getting my battle report up ASAP. The game was against my friend Thomas using the same 1850 list I've been using for my Blood Angels lately, and was one weird game with a lot of twists and turns and some really unexpected rolls and outcomes. However, as I promised, I will have the bat-rep up this week AND since I've made people wait a bit, I'm going to go ahead and post a unit review from the new Codex. And just because I'm feeling generous, I'll review the highly anticipated Stormraven Gunship first! Keep checking both this blog and my YouTube channel for updates!

Blood Angels - First Three Games

So after playing three games Friday night at my local game store with the new Blood Angels codex, I'm very happy with how it performed. I used the 1,850 point list that I posted right before this entry and played three different opponents. I didn't take notes after each game so I'm not going to be able to do any battle reports with them but here's the rundown of how things went:

Game 1:
Versus a Slaanesh-themed Chaos Space Marine army played by Toni G. Included three Vindicators with Daemonic Possession, two Slaanesh Daemon Princes with Lash of Submission, two Noise Marine squads in Rhinos, a Chaos Space Marine squad with Mark of Slaanesh in a Rhino, and two units of five Chosen Chaos Space Marines with four meltaguns (in each unit) infiltrating.

Result: Blood Angels major victory.

Game 2:
Versus an Eldar skimmer army played by Matt D. Included two Wraithlords, two four-man Guardian Jetbike squadrons, an Autarch on a Jetbike, 10 Banshees in a Wave Serpent, 10 Fire Dragons in a Wave Serpent, and a Warlock with six Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent.

Result: Blood Angels major victory.

Game 3:
Versus a Nurgle-themed Chaos Space Marine army played by Thomas F. Included two 10-man Plague Marine squads in Rhinos with melta/plasma/fists, a Chaos Space Marine squad in a rhino with a lascannon, a five-man Havoc squad with four missile launchers, four Chaos Terminators with Icon of Nurgle, a heavy flamer, and a combi-melta, a Sorcerer in Terminator Armor, Typhus, and a Land Raider (Typhus, Sorcerer, & Termies ride inside).


Result: Blood Angels major victory.

All three games were great fun and I have to send a special thanks to Thomas for working with me through the one round where I surrounded his Land Raider with Typhus, the Sorcerer, and the Termies inside and destroyed it.

I'll probably be doing a battle report on Monday so look for it to hit my YouTube channel by Friday!

1,850 Points - Blood Angels

So after reading through the codex some more, I decided to try my hand at a 1,850 point list. I wanted to use a lot of the new units while still having a competitive list so here's what I came up with:



HQ

Librarian (Epistolary)
-will use Blood Lance and Unleash Rage and will ride in the Land Raider

Elites

Sanguinary Guard (Chapter Banner, Infernus Pistol, Power Fist)

3x Sanguinary Priests (2 Jump Packs)
-will be attached to the Sanguinary Guard and the two assault squads

Troops

10x Assault Marines (2 Meltaguns, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon)
-will keep their Jump Packs

10x Assault Marines (2 Meltaguns, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon, Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta)

Fast Attack

Baal Predator (Heavy Bolter Sponsons)

Heavy Support

Vindicator

Stormraven Gunship (Hurricane Bolters, Typhoon Missile Launcher)

I know there are only 33 models in the list but the new codex makes everything really expensive.

With the Sanguinary Priests giving Feel No Pain to my Assault Squads I think my troops choices will be much more durable. Though they are "assault" squads, I don't have to over-commit my forces early. They can take cover or ride around until needed so they're not Manticore'd off the table for example.

Additionally, though there are only two troops choices I can combat squad the Jump Pack Assault Squad and put five of them in the Stormraven to make it a scoring fast skimmer. Sure, Armor 12 means it has a moderate chance at getting shot down in the first or second turn but it can go flat-out to get that 4+ obscured roll and then in the next turn it can disembark the unit, fire 4 Bloodstrike Missiles AND it's Hurricane Bolters AND it's Assault Cannon AND it's Heavy Bolter AND it's Typhoon Missile Launcher (as two kraks or two frags), all while having Power of the Machine Spirit to possibly harass two different units, followed by that unit assaulting whatever's left. Or, no one has to ride in it. Who knows.

This new codex is quite different than any other book the Blood Angels have gotten, and it's going to take a lot of practice to get used to the new units and rules.

Blood Angels - First Thoughts

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.