Demo Game - Battle For Hades Hive - 2nd War for Armageddon

Ello,

On Saturday we ran 2 demo games at Phalanx in St Helens. It was a really good event, and I'd urge those who didn't go this year, to check it out next year. I've not got any pictures of the actual event hall and stalls, but there were a lot of really great traders, along with a bring and buy. (So next year, I'll start saving up some pennies a couple of months before!)

So, we decided for our MAWS 40K demo game, we'd like to do one of the Armageddon battles, but it was dependant on who would be going as to what one we'd run. Eventually it was decided that we'd do the 2nd War for Armageddon as we had Orks, Guard and Blood Angels.

We did it at 10k for the Orks and 9k for the Imperium, but loooking at the table we had, we vastly underestimated how much stuff we had to fit on the board - although it did look epic! But actually trying to play the game and move units was a nightmare.

So yeah, here's some pictures of it all...

Pre-Game shot of the terrain on the table, courtesy of Sanguinius' hard work.

View from the ultimate Vantage Point. No cover saves from up here folks!

The Green tide descends!

"Who suggested 10,000 pts? Look how many Orks I've got to move!"

Tycho and Corbulo become a road block, to prevent the Stompa getting to the Land Raider.

"Fire EVERYTHING at the Stompa!"

Mr Stompa Head finally topples over after 3 turns of Imperial shooting.

Sly Marbo takes aim...

Ork Fighta Bommas emerge amidst the Imperial Guard's backline.

The Killa Kans attempt to avenge their father... "Nooooooo! Daddy!!"

(Young) Commissar Yarrick takes on Warboss Ugulhard, ultimately defeating him and claimining his Battle Klaw!

Dante and the Sanguinary Guard take on the Meganobz and Warboss.

We called it at the end of Turn 3, as we needed to make a start on packing up. It was good fun, just a lot of models for the table size we had, especially playing 1 v 1.

The Imperium held back the advancing green tide (no thanks to the amount of terrain on the board!) succesfully defending Hades Hive for the time being. But we all know that Orks never truly lose!

We've got a few plans for future demo games, (all of which will be reduced in points!) based on feedback and other demo games we saw around the hall.

Big thanks to everyone who helped out beforehand and on the day (Sanguinius, Col. Straken, Farseer Jordan) and also a big thanks to St Helens Spartans for organising a fantastic event, and allowing us to play the demo game.

Peace,
SB

P.S. Everyone LOVES the Stompa. He'll definitely be at the next show.

Beer-Hammer 40,000 at Nottingham

Morning all,

It's took me a few days to recover from it, but over last weekend the 40k'ers at MAWS went to Warhammer World in Nottingham, to drink copious amounts of alcohol and play a 500pt 1 day Cup - dubbed the Beerhammer Cup.  The aim was simple - to play 1 game against each player, whilst recovering from pre-game drinking the night before.

My army idea was simple, whatever will take the least space as possible in my bag. I had a plastic tub which, if the list couldn't fit inside of, it needed to be changed. Luckily the 500pt Necron list I'd used a few weeks ago was small in number and (with a bit of help) just managed to get in the tub.

It weighed in as follows:
10 Necron Warriors
2 x 2 Units of Destroyers
2 x 1 Unit of Tomb Spyders with Particle Projector.

Lowe and behold, after finding out everyone's forces, it seems it was the Old Blood against the New Kids. Three 3rd edition Codexes - Necrons, Dark Eldar and Daemonhunters, playing off against 2 of the newest codexes -Blood Angels and Tyranids.

Game #1
So, after a fair bit of messing about with tables at Warhammer World, we got into the gaming and I kicked the competition off playing against Angryman's Tyranids:

The list was something along the lines of:
2 x 1 Zoanthropes
2 Hive Guard
2 x 20 Gaunts with Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands

This was the game I was dreading. The sheer amount of Gaunts on the table, backed up by High S and Low AP killy stuff that was there.

Fortunately, my Destroyers managed to snipe one of the Hive Guard early on, took out the Zoanthropes a bit later on and then the Gaunts struggled for Synapse.

Combine that with failing an assault charging Necrons into, then being run down by an assaulting Tomb Spyder as they fled.

Result: Win

Game #2

Game 2 was against Blood Angels (if I remember rightly), the new kids on the block. No vehicles, but focus on the numbers:
5 Man Tactical Squad
2 x 5 man Devastators with lots of weapons
4 Jumppack Death Company with 2 Power Weapons

We played a Capture and Control mission, 1 home objective each.

Thanks to an absolute ton of cover saves from AP2 weaponry, and extremely poor rolling by both of us for shooting, we played out to a draw. I held my Objective, the Blood Angels held theirs.

Result - Draw

Game #3
Game 3 was the battle of the 3rd Ed Codexes. Necrons v Dark Eldar. Now, this is the first time I can remember playing against Dark Eldar and I really enjoy playing against them since they're rare to see.

The list was along the lines of:
Drachon
2 x 10 Warriors in Raiders
Ravager

The mission was again Capture and Control, this time with Dawn of War deployment. The Dark Eldar, being Dark Eldar, hoped to cripple the 1 unit of Necron warriors on the board in the first turn. Unfortunately, thanks to a lot of cover saves on my part from Dark Lances.

Unfortunately, whilst holding my own, the amount of Dark Lances and Disintegrator (?) shots tore into my Warriors and made the army phase out.

This was after a first 2 turns where I managed to destroy 2 of the 3 paper planes in the Dark Eldar army, forcing them to foot slog it over to the Necrons.

Result: Loss via Phaseout

Game #4

Again, another battle of the third edition Codexes, this time Daemonhunters were the opposition. Straken was the opponent, and he chose to use an all or nothing army of Deep Striking Grey Knights with a squad of Inquisition Storm Troopers.

Stormtroopers with 2 Meltas in a Rhino
2 x 5 Grey Knights Deepstriking with Incinerators(?)

The game was Capture and Control, 1 "home" objective each. The Stormrooper Rhino parked in cover, with the Destroyers looking for an easy kill. Unforunately, the Rhino just would not stop making successful cover saves from penetrating hits.

Unlucky for Straken, both Grey Knight units came down in different turns, so couldn't overwhelm the Necrons and were picked off.

It took a while, but eventually the remaining Destroyers managed to shift the Rhino and Stormtroopers from the objective, to give the Necrons a 1-0 victory.

Result: Victory

Final Results

So with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to my name, I think the Necrons gave a good show for their money, by ending up on 7 points putting me in 2nd place.

1st place went to Brother Captain Ventris with his Dark Eldar army, through a combination of clever play and taking advantage of everyone's lack of knowledge of Dark Eldar! Combined with the fact his Dark Eldar are yet to lose a game at the club, it's well deserved win.

1st Place - 8pts - Brother-Captain Ventris (Dark Eldar)
2nd Place - 7pts - SuicideBadger (Necrons)
3rd Place - 5pts - Sanguinius (Blood Angels)
3rd Place - 5pts - Angryman (Tyranids)
5th Place - 1pts - Col.Straken (Daemonhunters)

It was a really fun contest, and I really enjoy the smaller scale games where everything hangs on a knife edges - less of a war of attrition.

Here's looking forward to the Combat Patrol Cup in November / December!

Peace,
SB

Stormraven launches

This has been a long time coming and I'm glad I've finally reached the end of it.


When I got the new codex there wasn't that much I needed to add to my army as I already had over 8000 points of blood angels, besides some sanguinary guard and a few new characters. With no model for the Stormraven I decided I'd have my first real attempt at a scratch build. Keeping price to a minimum and because sooner or later they'll bring out an official model.


I wanted to base the Stormraven on the Thunderhawk, as the codex describes Stormravens as having been in the service of the Blood Angels for some time but being mistaken for them. This also gave me the idea of building a slightly larger than GW scale model so that if / when an official model is released I can use my scratch built Stormraven as a Thunderhawk (but time will tell).


If anyone saw my earlier post I ran into a little trouble when deciding how to do the wings and tail. After a lot of messing about and other projects (like painting a whole 2000 point list for a tourney in a week) and other bits and pieces the Stormraven project was put on hold.


The weekend just gone we went to Warhammer World for one of the club members stag do's, after a night on the town. I decided to crack on and try to get the thing finished for this. Alas, I wasn't able to, but got it finished on my day off when I got back home. At last it is finished and ready for its first outing on Monday.

All weapons are magnetised so I can give them all a run out at some point. The hurricane bolters were easy to place and was originally going to have a chin mounted assault cannon. I then had to find a place for the second turret and didn't like the look of one on top or underslung. So they each got stuck on a wing tip.

The magnetised dreadnought isn't painted yet, but thought I'd stick on the customary picture I've seen on most other Stormraven builds.

For the final touch I decided to put the Blood Angels insignia across the wings and hull of the model.

So there you go. Hopefully you like the finished thing, any comments would be appreciated. I don't think it looks too bad for a plasi-foam-card model that cost less than the £6 Valkyrie stand to put together and the couple of hours paint job (it takes me longer to paint 1 marine ).

I know whats going to happen on Monday though, after all that time put into it it'll be 1 shot, 1 hit and "We're going down !!!!!" ---- that's gaming for you !!!

[News] Tyranid and Blood Angels FAQs

So, GW finally get around to sorting these out, and I think they've addressed most of the annoying Internet rules bashy ones, and done a good job of covering some of the other situational ones.

Tyranids: DOWNLOAD HERE

Blood Angels: DOWNLOAD HERE

I'd like to think the "MAWS FAQ" page had a hand in making them sort it out quicker ;)

Happy now Nid players?

SB

[Blood Angels] Stormraven Gunship Ebay

This is one of the best looking stormraven models/kits I have found you can buy --- Isn't Ebay great !!!!! Don't really like the valkyrie mod that seems to be everywhere at the moment -- and this one is cheaper from the ones I've seen. Might have bought 3 of these if I hadn't already nearly finished my first scratch build.

The engines I'm using arrived today. Just got to hack them to pieces as they are too big, then I can make the wings. Will post a few pic's when its done.

This one comes with 4 missiles and 2 twin linked weapons plus magnets --- how thoughtful :-)

[FLUFF] The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

(Now I don't mean to steal Uriel's thunder, but I have been waiting to hear his next part of the Ultramarine / Blood Angel story, so I decided I would take a stab at adding a part. I dont think it is anywhere near as good as his writing but I wanted to add in my my favourite Space Marine Unit in the game... so read on and I hope you enjoy.)

His Prey was close, he could smell it, the sickly smell of taint, the metallic tang of freshly spilt blood and the anger radiated from its body all this he could pick out from the dense cloying smells of the jungle. He knew it hadn’t noticed him yet it was too busy butchering its latest find and drinking deep from the heart of the last Ultramarine. It must have been the Ultramarine that sent the request for help on a broad frequency. Lukan’s ears pricked as he heard a muffled step and cursed in his head, his fellow Wolves should be quieter than that. The Wolf Scouts stopped as one when their newest recruit stood onto some damp sticks, but it appeared their prey was too intent on its kill. Lukan started forward again and his pack followed, only the super heightened senses of the Space Wolves able to know where each member was, it was even more enhanced than that of a normal Space Marine, if such a creation could be called normal. Lukan caught sight of his prey for the first time and was disgusted, he knew what his squad had been sent to do, they were here to quell the Red Thirst from the Blood Angels before the Inquisition found out, but to see a fellow Astarte standing over the body of the fallen Ultramarine sickened the Wolf. He drew his power sword, but didn’t activate its power field to keep up his current stealth, his enhanced hearing picked out the sound of the rest of his Pack as they did the same. He was only five strides from the Blood Angel when the trees of the jungle came to an end, reaching the clearing he waited until he knew his pack was surrounding the prey. After only a few heartbeats he leapt from the trees, the Blood Angel finally looking up from its horrid food to see the snarling face of Lukan bearing down on him. To his credit the Blood Angel did not freeze in horror as most mortals would when faced by a charging Space Wolf, he bared his own fangs which were thin and needle like compared to the Wolves thick Dagger like fangs, he brought up his own chainsword just in time to parry the wolves power sword, luckily the power field hadn’t been activated yet.

Lukan turned with the force of the Blood Angels parry, he was stronger than he had thought. Lukan brought his sword round again this time activating the field and cut deep into the leg armour of his prey, out of the corner of his eye he saw his fellow pack ready to strike if he fell. He was determined he wouldn’t. The Blood Angel was unhindered by the cut to his leg and fought with a madness seen only in those who have fallen to the Red Thirst. Lukan knew he had to end it quickly and put all his effort into breaching his preys defences, time after time he scored a hit, but the Angel refused to fall, he could smell other Blood Angels approaching, they had to leave before they arrived. He pushed himself to his limits and releasing the inner wolf he managed to get inside his preys guard, his sword bit deep into the side of the Blood Angels army piercing both hearts and coming out at the shoulder snarling fiercely into his preys face, the Blood Angel didn’t even blink, he brought down his own chainsword and only Lukan’s wolf like instinct kept him out of harms way as he dived around the back of his prey twisting his sword and pulling it free. The Wolf pack had vanished by the time the Blood Angel fell to the ground, short seconds later a Sanguinary Priest arrived to find their fallen comrade lying next to the last Ultramarine, he believed they killed each other. Lukan could smell the shame radiating from the Priest and the other Blood Angels lurking in the tree line, he waited in the shadows until the Priest had left before going back to the hunt.


(As with everything, feel free to comment.)

[Battle Report] The Weekly Waaagh! vs Blood Angels 4th Ed

Well, seems to be a bit of a barren week again for the blog - everytime I look at the "Compose your post" screen, my mind seems to blank out. I'm intending on starting a new series of articles this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

In the mean time, I figured to ease myself back in I'd do a mini battle report on my game from Monday night against 4th Edition Blood Angels (which will be my last game against that Codex).

After all the talk of how uber the new Codex has become, it's easy to forget that the previous codex was no slouch.

First off, I can't remember the exact details of what went on in the game, all I know is I got a proper pasting in it. I was using my highly untested 1750pt list consisting of:
2 x Big Mek with KFF, Power Klaw, Cybork, Eavy, Bosspole
15 Lootas
15 Burnas
15 Tankbustas - 2 Tank Hammers
2 x 30 Slugga Boyz - Nob, PK, BP
18 Grotz - 1 Runtherd, Poisoned Weapon
2 Battlewagons - Red Paint, Deff Rolla, Big Shoota, Kannon, Armour Plates

The mission was a modified Cities of Death game, with the objective to hold the central building with Troop choices. Having the most troop choices within 3" at the end of the game was key to winning and ONLY Troop choices can capture. There is no Contesting, other units are there to annihalate the troop choices.

First turn, I think both Battle Wagons were gone from the sheer amount of twin linked Lascannon Razorback fire, along with Bike and Speeder Meltas. Which put a serious dent in not only mobility, but there seemed to be some mega high rolling to wound the Burnas and Tankbustas inside. Despite having KFFs, I seemed to manage to epic fail on rolling higher than a 2 for any of them...

Throughout the game it seemed to be that what managed to survive the torrent of fire from the Blood Angels, managed to make an impact in the assault phase with turn 1 and 2 yeilding the scalps of the Landspeeders, half a Bike squad and an attack bike Squadron.

The Deathcompany were skulking around on a far flank, and the Razorbacks had formed a wall of Red Steel until their speedier Bretheren were chopped down. So out jumped Corbulo and the lads with their furious charge and after 2 turns causing a big Ork mob to run away after dropping to low numbers.

Turn 4 brought the stand-out moments of the game:

One of the Big Meks and the 1 remaining Burna in the unit almost managed to weather the fire of 4 Twin Linked Lascannons and 8 Stormbolter shots rolling an obscene amount of 5+ cover saves. Unfortunately the Mek eventually fell to the final Lascannon shot.

In the same turn, 2 Space Marine bikers charged the (now 15 man) Grot unit. Charging in, hitting on 3s, killing on 2s and managing to kill nothing. Woe betide the wrath of the Runtherder, seeking vengeance on the bikers that tried to run down his family of Grots. He managed to hit with his 2 attacks, wound on both with his poisoned weapon and the bikers failed their saves. I think he may be in line for a promotion after that show of force!

On turn 5, had the game ended it would have been a draw, with the last remnants of a Boyz mob and the Grotz holding the middle building, along with 2 nearby Tactical squads.

Unfortunately, it went to a turn 6, where the Boyz were pwned by fire from the Razorbacks and tac squads - and the Grots were battered by Death Company. Oh well... Orks never lose... we just leave and come back for more later!!

Things I lacked were some real combat punch to rely on - like a Warboss and some better rolling for Kustom Force Fields.

On the other hand, I had some really good luck with rolling Leadership tests especially for my Lootas who were locked in combat for 2 or 3 turns because of this.

The Tankbustas once again did ok, although I do wish they'd change the restriction on the Glory Hogs rule in the assault phase. Not charging a enemy thats close enough to spit on you, is highly irritating. I don't mind the shooting restriction, but the assault one becomes a pain.

The Burnas didn't get up to much, aside from scalping some Attack bikes and helping finish off a Tactical squad.

All in all, a close game, but one that was poorly played, but well rolled, on my behalf!

Peace out,
SB

[FLUFF] The Morning After The Night Before.

(Well due to popular demand and the fact I'm on a night shift I thought I would follow up my earlier post with a short continuation to the Return!!! My apologies for the quality I'm tired and not an author by trade. So are you sitting comfortably now lets begin.)

Brother Corbulo sat in the ruined Chapel he knelt in front of the broken effigy of the emperor pleading for answers... for forgiveness. How could he the Sanguinary High Priest of the Blood Angels allow such events to occur. Even now a day later the events of yesterday played through his mind, first the escape of the Death Company during the training exercise, the subsequent rending of the Ultramarine Tactical Squad and then the escalation into a full conflict. Unable to calm Cassius's anger and answer his questions he had no choice but to fight. No choice...the secret had to be kept!! If the knowledge of the red thirst and black rage became known they would be subject to exterminartus, hunted down like animals, them and their successors, all those centuries of fighting for the glory of the Emperor and the Imperium would count for nothing.

Still he knelt he pleaded to the silent emperor for help.....but all he got was the sound of dripping water and a cold breeze. Corbulo knew in his heart they were tainted but it was the fight against that taint that made them stronger, more noble. Still he knew he had failed. He knew... because as he watched the life flow out of Cassius's eye on the plain yesterday, as he watched them all fall down, all the tanks explode and all the blood flow. He knew then at that exact moment he had failed.. he knew because, he had enjoyed it all too much....

The Razorback Cicero stopped at the edge of the forest and cut the power to the Lucifer engines. The silence was deafening the only noise was the Heavy Bolters as turned slowly on their greased runners. The auto visor showed the faded infrared tracks left by the marine, the tracks led into the forest and Corvus would be risking fatal damage to Cicero in that kind of terrain. Not without dozerblades anyway. Corvus was silent he could feel the squads anticipation behind him, the slight shuffle in there seats. Four of the squad had served together since Armageddon the only new addition was Pullo. Pullo had been promoted from the devestator squads to replace Yanis who had succumbed just before planet fall. The squad knew how he and each other thought after 10 years and countless deployment they could almost second guess Corvus's next order. Still he made them wait for it. "Deploy squad, scout pattern, keep the channel open and call if you find anything, he's out there remember!"

"He's here I can smell him." whispered Corvus on the secure channel. All five members in the combat squad fanned out switching to a standard scout pattern. Each one checked his Holy Boltgun and religiously chambered the first round. The forest glowed silver and the frost sparkled like diamonds. The animals were silent they sensed something was different in the forest not natural and as a result didn't want to draw attention to themselves. Corvus knew he was here, he could smell his fear, taste his sweat and blood even through the air filters of his helmet. The squad had followed the marine as he ran from the battlefield. The emperors finest indeed. Corvus had to suppress a shrug, still he still couldn't understand how easily they had crushed them. They were the Ultramarines Fourth Company strict followers of the Codex Astartes the best of the best, like themselves one of the first chapters founded by the Emperor most holy himself. He knew the marine they were chasing was only young maybe a century or so not much more, but to RUN! Such a thing was as an alien concept to him.

"Tracks Sir! 20 meters leading north, Mk5 armour slight drag on the left side indicates a high level of fatigue." Pullo spoke in a thoughtful tone as he always did and casually raised his hand in front of his face rubbing the dirt between his fingers. "These tracks are fresh no more than 10 units old no sign of new frost. We have him!"

"Beware Pullo, be confident in yourself but never doubt you enemy till he is dealt with, overconfidence is a sin that only the emperor can forgive. Now lets hunt him down and finish this sorry affair. Switch to non verbal delta-one search and destroy." Corvus acknowledged the signals from his auto senses and watches as his brother marines slip into the search and destroy role so often practiced. Though Pullo was new he had seen the tracks that the point marine had missed, Corvus made a mental note to arrange Brother Simeon a period of prayer and meditation on the rituals of tracking though he knew Simeon would punish himself enough. The squad moved out as silently as they had arrived. The only sign of there passing was black footprints in the silver frost.

Corvus knew they had to finish this but only the Emperor knew if they would be forgiven.....

(Feel free to comment below subject to demand I will continue.)

[Blood Angels] The New Releases

Blood angels codex is almost upon us !!!!!!

Just been to pre order mine and also a couple of their new models to merge into my existing 8-10 k points. Will wait and see what else the codex has to throw at us once I get a look at it. A copy of it and the new sprues will be on view at your local Games Workshop from Saturday.

I did get a look though at an in house article though, for new releases while I was there spending my hard earned cash, which shows the new minis available and some of their new rules. Didn't get to read the majority of them though but here's what I can remember.

First and foremost the thing that defines the Blood Angels -- The Death Company. This unit is now a stand alone troops choice. As its points cost is not included within the rest of the army it will be far easier to have a competitive list in a small points game. However, you are limited to one squad, but it can range from 1 - 30 marines !!!!!

The box comes complete with bolter arms & close combat weapon/ bolt pistol arms & jump pack / back packs. Gives u more options though personally I would always take pistol & CCW for the extra attack. Unless they have both like chaos marines or GW say CCW for jump packs only to sell even more models.

If you love the Death Company and can't bear to field an army with only one squad of 30 then this guy, Astrorath the Grim, removes the one squad limit and you can take more. It didn't say if there were any restrictions on these extra units so I'm hoping that means I can take 6 squads of 30 Death Company marines. He also has a strength 6 power weapon.

To supplement this already awesome Death company Lemartes is now an upgrade character and not a HQ choice (wipes a tear from my eye - as GW have done with one of his wounds). Though I have to give them some credit and say the new model is far better at making him look like the barely controlled psychopath that he is. Also there is Tycho (who I would have been glad to see the back off in the old/current codex). He can either be fielded as a company captain retaining his much of his current stuff (so preferred enemy orks) n few other perks or he can be fielded as the Death Company Tycho who gets fleet, furious charge & I think rend. How all these characters would work in a squad I'm not sure. Though if you to Astrorath you could take 3 Death company units so 2 jump pack units (Astrorath & Lemartes) and 1 walking with tycho.

Didn't see anything on Death Company Dreadnoughts, bu presume this will just be an option, as it is currently, from the Furiso (see below).

 








The Sanguinar, Exemplar of the host --- The main rule I can remember about this guy is that he has gives anyone friendly units within 6" +1 attack. I think it was this model that if invulnerable saves are passed they have to be taken again. I'm gonna save myself £12 here & use my pre heresy Sanguinius model for this.

He also gets eternal warrior special rule.

 









The Sanguinary Guard -- An awesome honour guard / vanguard squad. Wrist mounted weapons so they can fire & still use their 2 handed master crafted relic blades (so re-rolls, plus strength & +1 attack for 2 weapons).

If you chose to field Lord Dante these buys can be taken as troops. (Dante also gets some new rules - but not eternal warrior. My biggest criticism of GW as he is the oldest marine about & never lost a combat but I'll save that for another time).

 








Mephiston --- Certainly lives up to his name as the lord of death more than ever. He goes to s6 t6 with w5. He still doesn't look to have an invulnerable save though. With any hope there is a raft of new psychic powers and one will give him this. Hopefully he will still be able to use 3 psychic powers and his force weapon in the same turn.

Furioso Dreadnought --- Blood Angels will not be getting the Iron Clad or a separate Venerable Dreadnought but the Furioso is much improved on the current/old codex and is still unique to the Blood Angels. It is an amalgamation of the Iron Clad, venerable & furioso dreadnought . It has front & side A 13 of the iron clad & increased WS & BS of 5 like venerable but gets the +1 attack for 2 close combat weapons. The BS I'm not bothered about because this baby will be running with that extra +1 Armour & hopefully venerable damage re roll as standard if should be pretty survivable. Hopefully the Death Company option remains with its D3 extra attacks or seeing as everything is being hiked up why not D6.

Gabriel Seth (Flesh Tearers Chapter Master) --- This will be a welcome bonus for those non-first founding commanders. To be honest after reading the new Blood Angel books I got to liking this guy but will not field him as I'm a pure blood lol.

He's got some pretty god rules though and will expect to see him many times on the table top. He has a 2 handed eviscerator with is S8 (poss power weapon) -- but its gonna be double most peoples Toughness anyway so no saves. He gets 5 attacks basic so 6 on the charge, but can fore go these attacks and claim an instant hit on all models in base to base contact. So for the majority of things its gonna be 2's to kill or independent characters a failed invulnerable save & dead.

Hope you have found something useful in all of this. As I say this is all I can remember from having a very quick scan through. Anything that does not have a model made for it was not included on the new releases sheet so there will be a second wave of models ---- like the librarian dreadnought that has already bee confirmed in White Dwarf.

For Sanguinius !!!! For the Emperor !!!!!!

[Blood Angels] Up for Pre-order!

BA Fans ahoy! Stuff is up for pre-order on GW, including a fair few special characters

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat1490603&rootCatGameStyle=wh40k


Also included there are Plastic Deathcompany and plastic Baal Pred.

Credit cards at the ready!!!

[Blood Angels] Stormraven - It's in the codex!

Well... one of the most hotly debated subjects recently has a photo from the codex:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/87904-Stormraven.html

From the wording it sounds like it can transport 2 seperate units AND a Dreadnaught (via a grapple on the bottom) which is a bit mental.

Aside from that, it's nothing too major... so you don't get the extra D6 from Melta weapons? Boo-hoo.. take a Lascannon. It's only AV12 so it's nothing massive...

Plus if rumours are led to be believed, it's a Heavy Support choice in there. Basically, you're looking at a Valkyrie that can transport 2 units, with better weapons and immune to extra D6 from Melta Weapons.

At the bottom you can see the word "Assault" before it gets cut off, so I assume then it's an assault vehicle. But I'd guess there's a restriction saying that they can't assault from a deep-striking Stormraven...

Not long to go now chaps!

[Rumours] Could this be the BA lander ????

Thought I'd share this picture I came across on the web (Gives me a chance to see if I can actually post something). Apparently from games day 09 showing a pic of an imperial transporter in progress from forgeworld ????? Could carry 2 sets of troops in each side of the hull from the looks of it as the rumours suggest. Looks like 2 WW2 beach landers with something out of star wars stuck to the top if you ask me.

Me !!! I think I'll wait & see until I can get a look at the new dex - given up on the rumour mill front now -Far too many. Before anyone posts a comment yes I know I just added to it
Personally I'll be happy if the blood angel codex isn't changed too much, but this many rumours can't be wrong. So expect at your next gaming competition or people playing in GW stores around the country to see the greatest marines of all time and nid's by the bucket load. That's until the next over hyped codex comes out with god knows what included to make each one better than the last. At this rate by the time they get back round to vanilla marines it'll include Emperor class Titans (for 400 points ) and while GW are at it they might throw in the emperor himself !!!!!!

[Rumours] Blood Angels

Some new rumours for the Blood Angels just to throw them out there as we did with the Nids, courtesy of Bell of Lost Souls

I will add my thoughts in RED

General info:
Release 8 April 2010
Written by Matt Ward

Rules:
Army-wide Special Rules
Combat Tactics – As per C:SM
And They Shall Know No Fear – As per C:SM
Red Thirst - Almost all BA units have it. After deployment roll D6 for each unit with the Red Thirst rule. Any unit that rolls a 1 must exchange Combat Tactics for Furious Charge and Fearless.
Descent of Angels - Anything with a Jump Pack can re-roll reserve rolls and will only Scatter 1d6 when Deep Striking.

So far sounds good, Descent of Angels makes me think of Dark Angels though, but a good rule for Blood Angels

Weapons & Wargear:
GW have said there will be a range of specialist wargear for the Blood Angels
Infernus Pistols – 6” Melta pistols
Hand Flamers - S3 AP6 Template
Death Mask - Force a Ld check at -2. Fail and fight at WS1.
Over-charged Engines are gone, replaced with Fast on some vehicles.
Blood Talons - close combat weapons on the Furioso Dreadnought. A dreadnought CCW with a Stormbolter, likely upgradeable to Meltagun/Heavy Flamer.
Magna-Grapples - A R12” S8 anti-vehicle harpoon weapon for Dreadnaughts. On a successful Penetrating or Glancing hit, the target vehicle is dragged 2D6" toward the Dreadnought, facing unchanged. Will only pull a vehicle as far as the edge of Terrain or 1" away from (friendly?) models. It has been said it can cause Tank Shock.

Sounds alot like Sisters of battle, not too impressed with this "Magna-Grapple" but nothing too scary

Psychic Powers:
The Sanguine Sword – Gives Librarian S10
Wings of Sanguinius – As per GW PDF
Quickening - As per C:SM
Unleash Rage - Gives unit Preferred Enemy Blood Boil – A successful Psychic test causes a wound on an enemy unit, allocated by enemy Player. If the Psychic Test is passed with a result of 5 or less, The Blood Angels player allocates the wound.
Unnamed - Draw a line of length 4D6” from the Librarian ignoring friendly models. Enemy models take a single S8 AP1 Lance hit.
Unnamed - Units within 6” get a 5+ cover saveUnnamed – One enemy squad has to take a Ld test to Move, Run, Shoot or Assault.

Some good rules here

HQ:
Dante, Lord of the Blood Angels – He and his squad don't scatter when Deep Striking. He doesn't have Eternal Warrior. Death Mask of Sanguinius – As per regular Death Mask, plus pick a single Independent Character at the start of the game and cause -1 to WS, A, I and Ld. Gives his squad Hit & Run Allows Sanguinary Guard as Troops

He sounds like a decent choice even without Eternal Warrior

Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers – Captain stat line Armed with a very large Chainsword (S8, rending), Bolt Pistol and Iron Halo. Can forgo his normal attacks and cause one auto-hit on everything in base to base contact with him. If an enemy rolls 1 to hit him, he hits back with a basic close combat attack. Causes all units with Red Thirst to suffer it on a 1-3.

This guy sounds like he could be fun especially he special rule.

Mephiston, Lord of Death – WS7 BS5 S6 T6 W5 I7 A~5 Ld10 Sv 2+ Around the cost of a Land Raider. Armed with Psychic Hood, Plasma Pistol, Force Weapon, Frag & Krak grenades. May cast 3 psychic powers per turn, Transfixing Gaze - Does not require a psychic test. A single Independent Character must take a Ld test with a -4 modifier. If they fail Mephiston may re-roll failed hits and wounds. The enemy may fight back if they survive.

OMG WTH that is rediculous Stats, 5 Wounds at T6 he is a Trygon gone MAD, expect to see him around alot, guess he is the Lord of Death though, will be interesting to find out how to take him down. Appears to have no Inv save which is only fair.

Tycho, Captain of the 3rd Company – Hits like a Monstrous Creature (at S4) and can re-roll a single To-Wound roll. His Combi-Melta has access to Sternguard special ammo. Apparently there are multiple versions such as Death Company in the codex.

Sounds good.

Reclusiarch Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of Hate

Librarian – No news yet

Company Captain – No news yet

Honour Guard – No news yet

Astorath the Grim – Armed with Power Axe, pistol and Jump Pack Described as an Uber Chaplain. Apparently, if he is with the Death Company, they can re-roll Hits and Wounds.

This all sounds reasonable.

Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host – A
“mysterious avenging angel” armed with 2-handed master crafted Power Sword (possibly S6), Bolt Pistol, and Jump Pack. WS8 ST5 T4 A5 Sv2+ 3++Forces successful invulnerable saves in close combat to be re-rolled. Can nominate an enemy HQ and get re-rolls to all To-Hit and Wound rolls on that model. All friendly units within 6” get +1 attack. Blessing of Sanguinor - One sergeant in your army has +1 to WS, S, W, I, A and Ld

Sounds alot like the Swarmlord, i'm hoping for a high price with saves like that and forces re-rolled Inv.

Elites:
Chaplain – Death Company get to re-roll to-wound and to-hits on the charge with the Liturgies of Hate

Terminator Squad – No news yet

Terminator Assault Squad – No news yet

Dreadnaught – Can upgrade to Venerable, Furioso, and Furioso Librarian Furioso Librarian have a single Blood Talon and Force Weapon, they have to choose which to use in close combat, but they DO get the +1 attack for having multiple CCWs. They can take 2 Blood Angel psychic powers (including Wings of Sanguinius) and has a Psychic Hood.

Flying Dreadnoughts! Not too keen on the Libby Dread but will have to see how they play.

Techmarine – No access to the Thunderfire Cannon

Vanguard Veterans – A bit cheaper than C:SM. No Relic Blades, but access to the Glaive Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons). Able to take Hand Flamers. Can supposedly take an Exsanguinator

Sternguard Veterans – As per C:SM

Sanguinary Guard – Armed with wrist-mounted Angelus Boltguns (12" S4 AP4 Assault 2), Glaives Encarmine (master crafted Power Weapons) Jump Packs and Artificer Armour. May take Death Masks. Max squad size of 5.

My only Problem with these is the Wrist mounted guns... too much like Grey Knights for me. i might have to do a Counts as army using these guys

Sanguinary Priests – Unit of 1-3.

Brother Corbulo – Upgrade to Sanguinary Priests. Same profile. Armed with a S5 rending Chainsword. Red grail gives Feel No Pain and Furious Charge within 6”. Supposedly only gets FNP himself on a 2+

The rest sounds good.

Troops:

Assault Squad – As per C:SM but have Red Thirst

Tactical Squad – As per C:SM but have Red Thirst

Death Company – Furious charge, fearless, relentless, FNP, 3-30 models, 0-1 choice. Armed with Bolter, Bolt Pistol and Close Combat Weapon. Can take Power Weapons and Power Fists. Can take Jump Packs. Cost with Jump Packs is the same as it is in the GW PDF. Not a Scoring Unit

30 models!!! bloody hell!

Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost – Upgrade character for Death Company. Armed with Crozius, Bolt Pistol and Jump Pack. Gets stronger if he loses one of his two wounds.

Death Company Dreadnaught - May take one for every 5 Death Company in the army. Several different weapon options including Magna-Grapple, Blood Talons (some form of Melta weapon), etc.

Scout Squad – Standard Scouts. No “Mad Max” style ones

The rest sounds fair

Fast Attack:

Baal Predator – Pretty much the same, but is Fast, has the Scout USR, and the option for a turret-mounted Flamestorm Cannon.

I like the transfer to fast rather than Overcharged, it was always good to see it fail but will make the game run smoother. They seem to be going for a Flame theme with these blood angels, makes sense to the "combat" specialists.

Bike Squadron – No news yet

Attack Bike Squadron – No news yet

Land Speeder – No news yet

Land Speeder Storm – Likely Added


Heavy Support:

Devastator Squad – No news yet

Whirlwind – As per C:SM

Predator – No news yet

Vindicator – As per C:SM but are Fast

Stormraven Gunship – Armour 12 all around, Skimmer, Fast, Assault Vehicle, Deep Strike. Armed with twin-linked Assault Cannons, twin-linked Heavy Bolters and 4 Bloodstrike Missiles.Ceremite Plating make is immune to Melta weapons' extra penetration due to being able to withstand atmospheric re-entry temperaturesBloodstrike Missiles Range 72” S8 AP1 Heavy 1, One-shot Transports up to 12 Marines (Jump Troops take up 2 slots) and up to 1 Dreadnought at the same time.Transported Dreads take a single S4 hit on rear armour if the Stormraven explodesModels can be deployed at any point of the move, even if it goes flat out but they must take a Dangerous Terrain test (Jump Pack Troops have a better chance of passing). Models deployed in this way cannot assault.No fire points4 access points (front, sides and top (?))May replace Heavy Bolters with either twin-linked Multi-Melta or twin-linked Typhoon Launchers. May also take Hurricane Bolter sponsons.

This... this is just wrong, its a Thunderhawk, and barely any smaller from the sounds of it. I expect Land Raider and higher costs for this, around 250-300pts

Dedicated Transports:

Rhino – 50 pts. As per C:SM but are Fast

Razorback – No news yet

Drop Pod – No news yet

Land Raider – Standard, Crusader and Redeemer. Only available as Dedicated Transports. Can supposedly Deep Strike somehow.

Deep Striking Land Raiders?!?! We were joking about Deep Striking a Rhino, didn't think GW would take it seriously and make some Deep Striking Land Raiders!?!?

Well theres the newest rumours, Enjoy!

[News] Incoming! - Blood Angels

Look what arrived in my inbox at 7am this morning :)

Incoming! Blood Angels

This April the Blood Angels will be re-launched with an all-new Codex and range of plastic and metal miniatures. One of the oldest and noblest of all Space Marine Chapters, the Blood Angels have stood fast against the enemies of the Imperium since the Great Crusade and it was their Primarch Sanguinius, who laid down his life to aid the Emperor against Horus in the final hours of the Warmaster’s rebellion. The new Codex explores the background and history of these superhuman warriors like never before, and contains new artwork depicting some of their greatest battles and most powerful champions.

The Blood Angels have always been a powerful close combat army and have been made even deadlier thanks to a range of specialist wargear, the ability to field Assault Squads as Troops choices, and more Dreadnoughts than any other Space Marine Chapter, including a Death Company Dreadnought and the fabled Furioso Dreadnought. The Sons of Sanguinius will be deep striking onto a tabletop near you this April – now’s the time to practice painting red.

No mention of a joint release with something else, but April is way earlier than expected....

Could this be the fabled year of 4 codexes? I'm hoping so!

What do you guys reckon? WHat are we going to see in the Blood Angels book and is it going to be a joint "Angels of Death" style codex?