Thursday 11 February 2016

Overview of the Blood Angels - Retribution rules

Hi guys,

So after an amazing weekend we have been flicking through the new book Retribution and looking at all the new characters, rules and campaigns. Notably, for myself, I have been checking out the new rules and rites of war for the Blood Angels. For those that haven't seen them yet I will be going over what is in the new book. I wont be going over word for word over the pages but give a brief explanation of the rules that are applicable here. So lets dive in:


First and foremost, there are no characters or Sanguinius rules in this book. This is just a taster for rules so people can now pick up a legion and tune it to the rites of war. This is also the same for the Dark Angels and White Scars, which were also featured in this book. 

BLOOD ANGELS RULES

Legiones Astartes

Of course they have the Astartes special rule like all of the Legions. This allows units to regroup regardless of casualties, at their leadership value.

Encarmine Fury

This is a tasty little rule which is a great rule suited to the 9th legion. This allows any model with a melee weapon, in an assault, to wound a model with one lower result than required. So for example lets say you have a s4 weapon fighting a t4 enemy. Rather than on the chart having to roll a 4+ to wound it becomes a 3+, and so on to a minimum bonus of 2+. 

This is a great rule that showcases the melee prowess that the Blood Angels are known for. Get your despoilers at the ready!!!

Without Remorse, Without Relent

This is a rule that forces any model with the Blood Angel Legiones Astartes (going to shorten this to BALA for the duration of this post) to make Sweeping Advances where possible, and makes them unable to Go To Ground voluntarily.

This makes sense as they would be relentless in their assaults and keep going no matter what.

Host of Angels

This is a restriction on the army lists you may use. This rule forces Blood Angels armies to not have more units with the Vehicle special rule than those with the BALA special rule. 

This will need to be concentrated on as this will inevitably limit a player to certain Rites of War. Basically we all just need to be sure we take a lot of infantry and only a couple of tanks and flyers as a small support option to the ranks.



BLOOD ANGELS WARGEAR

Some nice options are available to the Blood Angels here, most of which allow the swapping of wargear and the rules regarding this, and a certain lovely prototype weapon....

Here is a list of weapon change options for certain units;

Any model with the BALA rule that can take Volkite Serpentas can take hand flamers instead for a small points increase, and any which can take a plasma pistol can take an Inferno pistol instead (read below for the description) for the same points increase as above.


Any leader option (a model that is a Praetor, Consul or Centurion) with the BALA rule that can take a power fist can take a new weapon called the Blade of Perdition (yes I'm excited too....!!!! See below for rules)



So what do these new weapons mean and look like? Here is a brief look below:

-The hand flamer is your typical flame pistol, with s3 ap6
-The Inferno pistol is basically a melta pistol. It has a 6" range, s8 ap1 with the Melta rule. Very handy I think to include this with your various assault squads to have a go at those pesky tanks your adversary will no doubt place in front of you!!
-The Blade of Perdition, a marvellous creation in my opinion!! Its a master crafted, two handed sword that hits at the users strength and has an ap2 value. "But Darko", I hear you cry, "that doesn't sound so menacing...." But you see the Blade has a special rule called Deathfire. This is a tasty rule that causes every wound you make with this sword doubled!!! Tell me that isn't exciting and I would say you have already succumbed to the Bloodlust!!!! And even the extra wound has to be saved seperately!! A great weapon that I think will be very defining in your custom characters that you have in mind.



Now the Blood Angels also have access to a vehicular prototype weapon. This weapon is called the Iliastrus Pattern Assault Cannon

This is a unique weapon that replaces any unit including vehicles with heavy flamers if you so wish for a few extra points, and the Predators main cannon for free. This has 4 shots with it, a 24" range, with s6 ap4 and the rending special rule. 

It does have a slight drawback rule called Malfunction. This effectively is a 'Gets Hot' parody which can cause the weapon to permanently break down if too many '1' dice results are rolled to hit.



A lot of great unique choices here that anyone playing a IXth Legion army will be very excited to use. I will definitely be throwing some of these into my army lists!!! But lastly lets look to the Rites of War that the Blood Angels can use.



Really enjoyed going through and looking at the new things coming for the Blood Angels. In another post I will go over what Rites of War the IX Legion can be subject to and even throw out some example lists that I have concocted from these. Also I am very excited to see what characters will be forthcoming, and how Sanguinius will be depicted in his entry when his book is released.



What do you guys make of the new Blood Angels introduction? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below :)



Darko Thane




33 comments:

  1. Darko, I believe the Blade of Perdition is actually AP2, which make it even nastier.

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    1. Yup you are right. Will have to slap the scribe servitor. Cheers bud.

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    2. My apologies, have updated now!!!!

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    3. Granted, it's a lobotomized creature, but that poor servitor. And no apologies needed Darko, it happens. Jeez that weapon is going to wreck a lot of face though. I'm loading my Praetor up with one.

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  2. Fab. So are we expecting Signus to be book 8?

    Did the Forgeworld team give any hints during the weekender?

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    1. The idea is that Book 8 will be similar to the old Angels of Darkness codex and include both Dark Angels and Blood Angels. Should be really great. Hopefully will be a spattering of White Scars too lol

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  3. Does anybody know what is the color of the helmet of the assault marines for the Blood Angel

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    1. Old school art from the days of the old Visions of Heresy books had them in all red from head to foot, regardless of their squad type. That's not to say that the FW books won't change that though.

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    2. Yellow for assault, red for tactical, blue for devastator, and finally gold for veterans.

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    3. Looking for this info for Horus Heresy, not for 40k.

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    4. There are images in the Visions of Heresy where there are Blood Angels with yellow helms. I don't have the book on hand at the moment so I can't cite what pages. However, it also shows Assault Marines with red helmets as well, so I can't help but wonder if it's also a company-specific designation.

      Given that the fluff of the IX Legion has been expanded upon in the Heresy with regards to certain characters and companies (eg - Amit the Flesh Tearer, etc.) there will probably be company-specific heraldry and legion-specific as well.

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  4. You missed the look dark, sultry and very very emo rule...

    I'm not sure how useful inferno pistols are against all the melta shielded tanks, but they will ruin heavy infantry sqauds in short order!

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  5. With the Host Of Angels rules: Even the standard HQ and two Troops means you can take three units of vehicles. 9 predators if you so desire and the Dedicated Transports for the BALA units. Plenty of tanks. Not much of a restriction. In fact, nothing seems to be prohibited with some sensible List Building.

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    1. Very true. It does state "units" with the Vehicle type as opposed to "models". And since vehicle squads can help with that, it won't be a terrible restriction to deal with.

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  6. The Assault cannons can be taken by any model with access to a heavy flamer, not just vehicles.

    The full list includes...
    Heavy support squads
    Veteran tactical squads
    Terminators (inc Command squads)
    Attack bikes
    Tarantulas
    Rhinos
    Dreadnoughts (inc Contemptors, Deredeo)
    Land speeders
    Javelins
    Land raiders
    Vindicators
    Spartans
    Stormblades
    Cerberus
    Typhons
    Falchions
    Malcadors
    Fellblades
    Glaives
    Castellum stronghold

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    1. Thanks for noting, I have updated now!! :)

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    2. This can be potentially terrifying, the options are innumerable and can make very scary combinations: predator squadrons fully loaded with assault cannons, all kinds of dreads can become even more shooty, or even rhinos with pintle-mounted ones, you could go hunting enemy vehicles with your rhinos (it would be hilarious, although unlikely, to see rhinos blowing up spartans)

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    3. The idea of leviathan dreads with the autocannons, the assault cannons and the phosphex discharger would be utterly devastating against any kind of infantry, we're talking about 20 shots, and against tactical squads 12 of them ignore armour saves, some of the other 8 might be ap2, and it can add three phosphex small blasts for one turn. It'd be 335 points + drop pod, but the carnage it could unleash...

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    4. Interestingly the rules calls out Heavy Flamers but does not mention Twin-Linked Heavy Flamers. Other similar rules (Salamanders swapping Heavy Bolters for Heavy Flamers) specifically call out both Heavy Bolters/Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters.

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  7. Interesting set of rules! The sword sounds really cool!! Going to be a lot of fun seeing blood angels on the table!

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  8. Typhon is out of stock. Odd, the only just redid the mold.

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  9. I hope we get a cataphractii upgrade set that includes an assault cannon, I'm not sure I want to convert a reaper to an assault cannon.

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  10. I've been trying to find out whether thee are color plates of the Blood Angels in the new book. Can any of you who were at the event shed any light on this? Even Forgeworlds previews of the book only shows previously known legions in the artwork...?

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  11. The book has some, If you hunt around on the usual sites you should be able to find something, B&C, BoLS etc

    I think there are a pair of vehicles and 1 Marine, may be two Marines. Not necessarily new art works though.

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  12. So not to the level of the previous books then... Well that's a little disappointing but some is miles better than none. :-)
    I guess I will see for myself soon enough, thanks for the info.

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  13. Love the assault cannons options! Will need atleast two Baal Predators and an unit of Assault-cannon Devastators (using the rotor cannon models <3)

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    1. Give them hardened armour for top lels! Helps against blasts and templates.

      Wow 10 assault cannons with hardened armour in Zone mortalis 💯💯

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  14. Yup, the fact that there are so many places you can substitute assault cannons in, really is fantastic. There is even the possibility of building a Baal with Assault Cannon sponsons! :-)

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  15. Wow so correct me if I'm wrong but a squad of Destroyers will wound fellow Marines on a 2+? (granted they charge.) A Moritat can spam his inferno pistol without overheat? Can he spam his hand flamer too hahaah since he automatically hits with the template?
    And how does 285 points sound for 10 Assault cannons? In a 7 turn game, ⅓ of a guy's cannon will jam!

    Wow Blood Angels really got it over their 40K counterpart!!!

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    1. Ooppss i meant 0.9 of a guy's cannon will jam in a 7 turn game in that 10 man squad.

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  16. When replacing the Predator primary weapon for free, do the assault cannons become twin-linked like a normal Baal?

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