this is the final post in my review of the blood angles codex and will look at the tactical objectives. I will also put some of my thoughts, both on the army and book, at the end. To start with let's look at the 6 blood angels specific objectives.
Tactical objectives
11 - Valour of the angels
The destruction of enemy characters is, in 8th edition, an important part of the game and here you can be rewarded for such actions. You can gain the standard one point for destroying a character in the fight phase or d3 points if you use one of your characters to do the killing. This is a good card, the the blood angels generally have some good combat units and characters. Not much use if you draw it turn one but later in the game it can be easy to pick up.
The destruction of enemy characters is, in 8th edition, an important part of the game and here you can be rewarded for such actions. You can gain the standard one point for destroying a character in the fight phase or d3 points if you use one of your characters to do the killing. This is a good card, the the blood angels generally have some good combat units and characters. Not much use if you draw it turn one but later in the game it can be easy to pick up.
12 - Aerial assault
This is another good card, as there are quite a few fly units in the blood angels arsenal. With the inclusion of the likes of inceptors and there assault bolters or plasma exterminators, this card has got easier than it would have been. One point should be fairly easy to achieve but d3 is possible, with only the added stipulated that the unit must have arrived from reserve to claim the d3. Now this means that you'll struggle on turn one to achieve this, but turn 2 and 3 it should be fairly easy to pick off a weaker unit.
This is another good card, as there are quite a few fly units in the blood angels arsenal. With the inclusion of the likes of inceptors and there assault bolters or plasma exterminators, this card has got easier than it would have been. One point should be fairly easy to achieve but d3 is possible, with only the added stipulated that the unit must have arrived from reserve to claim the d3. Now this means that you'll struggle on turn one to achieve this, but turn 2 and 3 it should be fairly easy to pick off a weaker unit.
13 - purity through bloodshed
This card is pretty standard amongst the faction specific cards and involves killing stuff, this time in the fight phase. This is one of the few cards where you have the option to earn yourself some big points, up to 6vp in total. That does require you to kill off 6 units but late in the game it is possible. It's more likely you'll be scoring just 1 or d3 points for killing between 1 and 3 units. For the blood angels this is not a hard card to achieve, you just have to be careful not to sacrifice your units in doing so.
This card is pretty standard amongst the faction specific cards and involves killing stuff, this time in the fight phase. This is one of the few cards where you have the option to earn yourself some big points, up to 6vp in total. That does require you to kill off 6 units but late in the game it is possible. It's more likely you'll be scoring just 1 or d3 points for killing between 1 and 3 units. For the blood angels this is not a hard card to achieve, you just have to be careful not to sacrifice your units in doing so.
14 - Decapitating strike
This card can either be really easy or very hard to achieve. Basically, you need to kill the character with the highest power rating to claim a VP. If your opponent is running marines with a captain or guard with a company commander, this card should be fairly easy to achieve. If however they are running Guilliman or Saint Celestine, then this is going to be a bit harder and then there's the like of Mortarian to consider. There is also the fact that of the character is buried in amongst the troops, it can be quite difficult to get at them and for 1vp, it might be more Hassel than its worth.
This card can either be really easy or very hard to achieve. Basically, you need to kill the character with the highest power rating to claim a VP. If your opponent is running marines with a captain or guard with a company commander, this card should be fairly easy to achieve. If however they are running Guilliman or Saint Celestine, then this is going to be a bit harder and then there's the like of Mortarian to consider. There is also the fact that of the character is buried in amongst the troops, it can be quite difficult to get at them and for 1vp, it might be more Hassel than its worth.
15 - swift advance
Possibly one of the easiest cards in the game to achieve, simply advance 3 units and gain a VP. Simple really. The difficulty comes with advancing units without sacrificing shooting or combat but you have to grab the easy points where you can.
Possibly one of the easiest cards in the game to achieve, simply advance 3 units and gain a VP. Simple really. The difficulty comes with advancing units without sacrificing shooting or combat but you have to grab the easy points where you can.
16 - Noble self-sacrifice
Ok, this is probably one of the few cards I really don't like drawing. Basically go get a character killed. Yeah, not ideal and certainly not for a single point. If you've a character on a single wound, then it could be worth throwing him in to combat and taking down a few enemy models before being killed off himself. Not a card that I like but it can be useful.
Ok, this is probably one of the few cards I really don't like drawing. Basically go get a character killed. Yeah, not ideal and certainly not for a single point. If you've a character on a single wound, then it could be worth throwing him in to combat and taking down a few enemy models before being killed off himself. Not a card that I like but it can be useful.
So that's it, we are at the end of our run through the Blood Angels Codex and while I do like the new codex, there are some points to note. While there are some new units included in the codex, there are definitely some units that stand out from the others, most notably the infamous smash captain. I think it was at the NOVA that they did a poll of the number of smash captains on the table and came up with about 25. There is also the fact that with the inclusion of the new units, the various marine codices are becoming closer and each individual codex is becoming more generic. This is even more so than with the new Primaris units. At present there are only the core units and no variation within them, meaning that all the Primaris units within the various codices are all the same with no variation. I hope that in the future as we see more Primaris releases we see some more chapter specific releases, some Dark Angels Deathwing and Ravenwing Primaris, some Sanguinary Primaris and some Thunder Wolf Primaris, although that's going to be a bit odd.
I think it's safe to say that the old marines that we know and love are living on borrowed time right now, granted, we don't know how much longer they will be around but my feelings are they will last until 10th edition. By that I mean that we have primaris introduced this edition, next (which will be in a couple of years and be a "soft" update) and then in about 7 or 8 years we'll see 10th and old skool marines will become bit part players and disappear from GW shops. Anyway, that's getting off topic.....
Overall this is a good codex with lots of options and good units but only a few are really top tier. It still retains the flavour of the blood angels but it's moving further towards the centre, hopefully the future holds some more specialist units. I can say, that dispite my lack of success with the army, I'm enjoying playing with them at the moment.
I think it's safe to say that the old marines that we know and love are living on borrowed time right now, granted, we don't know how much longer they will be around but my feelings are they will last until 10th edition. By that I mean that we have primaris introduced this edition, next (which will be in a couple of years and be a "soft" update) and then in about 7 or 8 years we'll see 10th and old skool marines will become bit part players and disappear from GW shops. Anyway, that's getting off topic.....
Overall this is a good codex with lots of options and good units but only a few are really top tier. It still retains the flavour of the blood angels but it's moving further towards the centre, hopefully the future holds some more specialist units. I can say, that dispite my lack of success with the army, I'm enjoying playing with them at the moment.
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