Blood Angels codex review - Heavy support

Devastator Squad

The basic marine heavy support choice, the devastator squad forms the backbone of many a gun line and has remained unchanged for many year. These are the most basic and in many respects the most versatile heavy support choice in the book, being able to be equipped with anti-infantry and anti-armour weapons and with the 8th ed rules, are now even easier to mix and match. With access to various weapons you can make this units a cheap or as expensive as you want. The one question I always have though is whether it is worth paying for the extra bodies. These extras cannot take heavy weapons and while can act as a meat shield for the gunners, they are often wasted, as they are usually out of range to do anything and there seems little point in  splitting them off on there own, you might as well just get a tactical squad. I like devastators, they are versatile, usually easy to hide and can still pack a decent punch. I just wish those extra marines could take heavy weapons as well!

Predator and Baal Predator

The classic marine battle tank and the BA's own special version. Now I have lumped these in together as the base vehicle is the same, with the same stats and degrading profile, it is just the weapons that change. Now, the weapons changes do change the purpose of the predators a bit, with the original being set up more as an anti-armour or monster vehicle and the Baal Pred being much more of an anti-infantry vehicle. Both vehicle have a place in the armoury, however, the good old tri-las predator is still the best at anti-armour and monster hunting and the classic Baal is best for hordes, while as good as the Flamestorm cannon is, its not as good as it was and has a very short range, leaving it vulnerable to counter charges and shutting it down from shooting. The main thing that will dictate what version you take will be what role you want it to perform, but in either form, they are still good vehicles to have around.

Hellblaster Squad

The primaris plasma boys and one of the new must have units. While there is no doubt that they are a good unit with lots of lovely plasma options, all of which are better than anything the old marines have, they are quite pricey and being primaris marines won't be making it in to any of my current armies. I'm waiting to see if we get more variety of "hellblasters" with melta, and grav weapons. 

Hunter and Stalker

The anti-aircraft versions of the rhino, useful for taking down flyers and not much else. Now, they both have a +1 to hit against fly keyword units, so their versatility has increases this edition, as the range of targets that this applies to has increased and most armies now have at least one fly keyword unit, so it will rarely be without a target. There are a couple of differences though, with the hunter getting re-rolls to hit and the stalker getting a -1 to hit against other targets. The biggest difference is obviously in the weapons profile, with the hunter being a one shot but heavy damage and the stalker being multi-shot but only minor damage. the potential for both weapons is the same but someone would really have to do the maths to really be sure which would be the best bet. I don't face many fliers in my area, so I haven't bothered with either of these and to be honest, if I did, I would purchase another Vendetta and use an Air Superiority Wing Detachment.

Whirlwind

The good old Whirlwind, the staple of marine artillery for many years. There is no doubt that this weapon is still a viable and useful weapon, being able to fire over most of the board and hit things that it cant see, one of the few weapons in the marine arsenal that can and for the sons of Baal, the only one. My only issue is that you have to choose to take either one type of missile or the other and cannot change during the game. It would be nice to be able to chop and change depending upon what targets you were going to target. Having faced a whirlwind several times I can say that this is a good weapon, capable of dishing out a good amount of damage and is, in my opinion, a very good option. Sit it at the back, in cover or behind a building and rain death down on your opponent, at the very least it will give you opponent a headache, at best it will start deleting some of his prized units. 

Vindicator

The real heavy weight hitter of the heavy support section, the demolisher cannon armed Vindicator. This weapon can put out some serious damage and will be wounding pretty much everything on a 3 and most things on a 2. kicking out d6 damage at -3ap a time means that even the biggest and toughest units will wither quickly under its fire power, once you get in range that is. With only a 24" range, you have to get close and be prepared for the consequences. This is its biggest weakness, getting close enough to hit the enemy can heavy you very exposed if you don't wipe them out, as it leaves you open to a counter charge, especially as many of the units you will be targeting with this weapon will most likely have a move of 10 inches or more. Taking a pair would solve this issue some what, but it then becomes expensive. Its for this reason that I am reluctant to take one, as while it really is a strong and powerful weapon, it is easy to shut down. If you were running Ultramarines, then this would be less of a problem, but as a BA unit, I would be looking at other units, probably the whirlwind.

Land Raider varients

This last section will cover all of the versions of the Land Raider, the original, Crusader and Redeemer. Again, which of these version you run will depend upon what you are planning on using them for. For me, they have always had pretty set rolls, with the Crusader being the terminator transport, with its close range firepower and large transport capacity, it is designed to get up close and personal and unleash a close range barrage before discharging it cargo. The Redeemer can also for fills this roll, although for smaller units of terminators, although it is better filled it with assault marines (without jump packs) and it performers the assault role just as well. The original is designed, in my opinion as a warlord/character and retinue transport, trundling around, keeping everyone safe at a distance until they are needed to plug a hole somewhere or make that last heroic charge at the enemy warlord/character. With its lascannons and heavy bolters, it doesn't require getting close to make use of it weapons and without the Frag Launchers, its not designed to go charging in to combat. So, if your running terminators, then take the Crusader, assault marines, or really, any other type of basic marines type, the take the Redeemer and if its warlord transport your after, then the original. At least that's my view on these things.

Quickshade methods

I mentioned in my last post that I had struck upon a method for speeding up the quickshade process. Now, I can't take credit for this idea Asni have seen a few videos, from when I was initially looking at quickshade several years ago. The classic and official method, is to dip the model and then shake them rather violently to shake off the excess liquid. This method does the same thing, just rather than using a vertical motion, it uses a rotary action.

The basic equipment, drill, small clamp and a bit of wire coat hanger. 

So, it's a bit heath Robinson but it works. The clamp was connected to the drill by a bit of wire coat hanger that was wrapped around the clamps center and then twisted up, before being placed in to the drills chuck. The clamp works well for 25mm bases and also 30mm bases but just can't handle 32mm bases, which Isn't a problem here but will be when I come to do the marines.

The system in action. The jar is these for two reasons; firstly to stop the quickshade spraying all over the room and secondly so that I can pour it back in to the pot and reuse it. 

Here are a couple of shots of the model that was used in the video above. As you can see it's turned out pretty well, with a good coating of quickshade. 

While this model turned out pretty good, the main issue that I have discovered is that the shade tends to pool around the leg pouches a bit more than I would like. The other issue is that sometimes due to the way the model sits in the clamp, you can end up with some areas almost devoid of shade, while others require the use of a tissue and brush to clean off the excess. Despite this, this will be my go to method for applying quickshade until I have to start shading a lot of 32mm based models.

Blood Angels codex review - Fast Attack

Assault Squad

Assault marines have always suffered from one issue, the very fact that they are marines. They are supposed to be dedicated assault troops but they don't have the stats or equipment to really back that up. They are standard marines and carry standard kit, the only real difference being that they can all carry chain swords. What they really could do with is extra attacks as base or the option to take more power weapons, but I guess that would encroach on vanguard vets. One thing I would love to see is the option to take bolters, making them a very versatile unit being able to jump around the board hitting targets before jumping back out of danger. Now, having basically moaned about how useless they boys are, I have a full unit of 10bwith packs and have another 10 without sitting waiting to get painted along with there dedicated rhino. In both maelstrom and eternal war missions these guys are useful for claiming objectives and worth taking a few just for that.

Bike Squad

Bikes got a good boost this edition with an extra wound adding to there survivability. Combined with the extra toughness, this makes them far more resilient than before. They also have good mobility and fire power, with the twin bolters able to kick out a good weight of fire. Unfortunately they still fall easily when targeted with massed fire and there in ability to move past the ground floor of ruins and buildings limits there ability to grab objectives. The bikes have a number of advantages of assault squads, being tougher with more wounds and having greater fire power, with better and more reliable movement, there inability to manoeuvre through ruins and buildings means that you really need to think about what you want out of the units before you choose one over the other. Personally, I'd go with assault marines.

Attack Bike Squad

As with the other bike units, this one has received a boost in surivivability and is now far less likely to give up first blood as it was in 7th. The ability to take a heavy weapon on a bike frame is a good option, being able to keep up with the rest of the bikes in your army. Taken as part of a squadron of attack bikes they can prove quite deadly, however there are some issues. The negative modifiers to moving with the heavy weapons is an issue, especially with the single shot meltas. The fact that they also do a similar job to the land Speeder but in some respects not as well, as land speeders can mount 2 weapons and has greater manoeuvrability, being able to jump up on ruins and the like. As part of a bike squad they work well, giving good support but on there own I would be more inclined to take land speeders.

Land Speeder

Land speeders also got a good boost to there survivability this edition. While there are not invincible flying machines they won't give up first blood quite so easily as they did. They also provide a good mobile fire base, being able to take a variety of weapons from anti-infantary through to anti-armour and with the option to take multiply vehicles together, they get even better. However, they suffer one major drawback still, the fact that they suffer from a -1 to hit due to moving. You would have thought with an anti-gravity platform they would be able to move and shoot without penalty. Even so, if I had some speeders then I would be looking to take them, as they enable you to keep some heavy weapon support up with the faster moving elements of your forces, namely jump packs equipped marines. 

Scout Bike Squad

I have always been a bit unsure on scout bikes. They are basically just the same as normal bikes but a little bit cheaper and a little less resilient. I suppose it depends on how you want to run your bikes as to whether you would take scout bikes or marine bikes, although there as some differences in wargear, namely shotguns and grenade launchers and for some reason that I have yet to understand, they get a pistol, shotgun and knife but a full blooded astartes only get a pistol. it seems strange to me that a scout would get all that but not a marine, I would have though that they would have had a knife at least. To me, if your looking for a cheap and mobile objective grabbing unit, then scout bikes are the way to go, maybe with a few grenade launchers thrown in but if your looking for a proper tactical type unit then the marines are better. Personally, I don't see the point in scout bikes and would take marine bikes if I was going to take any.

Inceptor squad

The primaris fast attack unit and as usual it's actually a good unit. Both the weapon option are good choices and do not suffer at all from there short range. Again, as i'm not running primaris marines at the moment, you wont see any of there flying around the table, although I can see why they are a popular choice. A good unit, with good weapon options, if your running primaris, then I would definitely suggest taking theses guys.

Quickshade

Well, I've finally got around to finishing off my Hjaltland LI. This includes giving the models a coat of Army Painter Quickshade strong tone and basing the models with Army Painter Field Grass. This will mean that, for me anyway, the models will be finished completely. I may give them a coat of Matt verbiage at some point, if I decide that I don't like the shiny finish to the quickshade.

The first batch that I did as test models, to see how the quickshade worked and looked, I brushed on the quickshade, however, I switched over to a different method for the rest, one that involved a drill and a small clamp. Sounds more extreme than it is and it works well on all but the metal models. Here are some pictures from the drill method test models.

The test batch guard models, a selection of models, all plastic at this point 

Some scions that I also tested.

Some closer shots of the guard models.

Personally, I don't think these look too bad. There were some issues that arose, like the quickshade pooling in some places and being almost absent from others.

The first two finished models for the hjaltland LI. These were two of the models that were brushed on. 

Another photo in different light. While brushing on gives greater control, it's definitely  the slower of the two methods. Hopefully by the time this post goes out, all the remaining painted models should have been through the process and be well on their way to being completed.