September 19, 2012 by darrell
Video Sponsors: Infinity - Warmachine
Have the Blood Angels really taken such a big jump forward in 6th Edition? The guys discuss the changes.
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I don’t think you mentioned that Astorath the Grim’s CC attacks are AP2, on account of the axe (clarified in the BA6ed 1.1 FAQ) and require the opponent to re-roll successful invulnerable saves.
I know it’s situational, but it makes him great at challenges with tooled up Warlords, and against units like TH/SS Terminators.
I don’t think he’s worth 220 points in every game, but against Marine armies, with lots of invulnerable saves, leading a unit of DC, in an assault heavy list, I think he’s worth every one.
I wouldn’t send Astorath any where near TH/SS termies, unless he’s attached to a squad of yours. The opposing ones will tear through his protection, and as soon as he gets hit it’s ID time. I agree though he can be waesome for hitting down other characters, especially if they don’t have str8 or ID causing weapons.
Commander Dante’s Power Axe striking last isn’t really an issue because he’s got the Death Mask of Sanguinious.
Dante, yet another character that Iron hand Straken gets to extend an adamantium middle finger to… death mask only works on independent characters, and he ain’t one!
Poor Dante. During 5th ed I always felt that he was forgoten but now he has even less chance seeing play when he gets I1 from his axe.
I have to say that bikes can be far better than Landspeeders for BA due to Priests. A priest on bike with a bike squad makes them VERY survivable, they get to take feel no pain on everything except str 10. That means a Nob on the charge can punch you in the face and you have a chance to laugh it off, or a Lascannon shot to the face that gives you no more than a nice close shave. And making your Priests tougher is a nice side effect, cause anyone that knows BA will go after them ASAP. I would have to take a much closer look before I decided to make an entire army of bikes, but a nice fair sized squad can cause some havoc for your opponent. Scout bikers can be usefull in small squads too, if for no other reason than to get Teleport Homers on the board for your TH/SS Termies, cause trying to run them across the board in a Landraider doesn’t seem like such a good idea to me anymore, even though Landraiders are one of the toughest vehicles in the game.
Also I think Tycho is one of the best, if not THE best character in the BA codex now. Remember though that DC Tycho can’t join any units, not even a unit of DC, he isn’t an IC just like Sanguinor and Mephiston.
And remember that Honour Guard get a free Priest in their squad, I personally don’t take them but have seen many BA players that do. Then again I also have never taken more than one FO slots worth. If I have enough units that I need more than 3 I’d consider the Honour Guard before limiting my Elites to ake extra Priests.
I really enjoyed this video, keep them coming!!
Sorry for the double post but when I said a Nob could charge your bikers and they’d get FnP, I meant a Nob with a power Klaw, after all I still think that’s one of the best weapon choices for Nobs.
If Astorah’s Axe is indeed a axe it be S7
Priests on bikes would be more faster then a jump pack and more resilient-turbo boost across the table and make yourself in 6 of a unit that needs help
Ntm lemartes is incredible as well in the account he gets 5 attacks on the charge with S7, If wounded he’s 8 attacks AT S8 on the charge and with I6 he could very well instant kill a marine
I believe that if a weapon is given a strength value then the model uses that strength value for attacks regardless of modifiers. With furious charge a Blood angel would be str 7 on the charge if they were subject to furious charge and using a power axe. So Astorath’s axe takes a bit of a hit there really. If they said it was a regular power axe with the added rule about re-rolling invul saves it would be a little bit better.
Dante’s Axe Mortalis is a disaster from a design point of view. Dante has Initiate 6 on his profile. That is high even for a space marine character. So to give him a weapon that actually negates this obvious trait seems silly. I’ve also never liked the fact that it is simply a master crafted weapon. I always felt that as chapter master of a marine chapter that supposedly has amazing artificers, not to mention his amazing age and experience, it seems odd that he doesn’t have a more unique weapon. And lets not forget that the oldest living space marine (not in a dreadnought at any rate) and chapter master doesn’t have eternal warrior.
The Blade Encarmine also seems like a poorly designed weapon. I’m not sure if there are many other examples of a two-handed weapon that gives no str bonus of some kind (or set str), not to mention the fact that using mastercrafted with an entire squad means you have to roll for each model individually, which can slow the game down. And you can in theory have a whole army of these weapons. Dante + Sanguinor + multiple Sang guard squads.
Overall I feel that the Blood Angels codex suffers from a severe case of imbalance. By that I mean that there are entries that you never see used as discussed in the video. The Blood Angels are supposed to be a largely Codex chapter, using mostly tactical marines, yet many people simply don’t field them at all. I also would have preferred if GW had introduced cheaper squad upgrade type characters rather than expensive HQ ones like Astorath and the Sanguinor. Blood angels already had Lemartes in the fluff to fulfill the all Death Company army role that Astorath now brings.
And yeah, 15 points for a jump pack on the Death Company just seems super expensive.
Hopefully GW will use future FAQ’s/amendments to the Codex to at least address things like the weapons mentioned above.