Don’t miss the top 40k rules you need to know for the Blood Angels in Psychic Awakening 4: Blood of Baal. Check out how Games Workshop overhauled this faction!
Spotted on Dark Artisan’s YouTube channel, we’re able to see the full disclosure on the new Blood Angel hotness. Check out what made it to the book as we pull out some of the more relevant Stratagems, Relics, etc.
Blood Angels: Blood of Baal Supplement Rules SPOTTED
Starting off, some big points to make here are that Blood Angels’ assault doctrine bonus, Savage Echoes gives a +1 attack in addition to Shock Assault. Plus, Red Thirst got +1 to advance and charge rolls on top of the +1 to wound for their Chapter Tactic.
Dropping in from Deepstrike, your units will only need to roll an 8. And don’t forget about the 3D6″ charging Stratagem to keep in your back pocket as well!
They also get access to all the Litanies in Codex Space Marines, in addition to their own special one called Invocation of Destruction which gives a unit rending wounds of 6+.
As far as Stratagems go, a bunch were ported over from the Space Marine codex. However, there are some real heaters we can’t forget about that are unique to the faction as well.
Unbridled Ardour lets you pick a friendly Blood Angels unit and they get to heroic intervene as if they were a character for 6″. If your opponent slips up and thinks he can ignore a Death Company unit to the side, you can pop 1CP and clean house.
Chalice Overflowing is another awesome 1CP strat that allows a Sanguinary Priest heal twice and he can target the same unit.
If you’re in the market for running Sanguinary Guard, you can spend 1CP for Explosive Judgement to have them reroll all wound rolls from their Angelus Bolt Guns. Plus, the enemy doesn’t get cover saves.
Death on the Wind is another damage-multiplier Strat for just 1CP on Sanguinary Guard. Any weapons with a damage of 1 have a damage characteristic of 2 instead.
Refusal to Die can boost the FNP for Death Company to a 5+++. This is only going to have higher payoffs with the more dudes you put into one squad. There are still more awesome Strats out there, but again, these are just some highlights.
Blood Angels Get New Toys
Blood Angels have some pretty cool new toys. From a multi-damage assault 3 boltgun to a Crozius Arcanum that gives a -2 Ld aura, the best is probably Biomantic Sarcophagus.
If you’re running a Librarian Dreadnought, you can slap this relic on and give him a +6″ range to cast as well as getting to reroll a die for Denies or Psychic tests. If you spend another CP to make him a Level 2 Librarian out of Faith and Fury you can really start to pull some shenanigans off with this guy.
Of the Special Wargear available to the Blood Angels, they got some stuff ported over across all other Space Marine Supplements. However, they also get a ridiculous ammo type called Quake Bolts. All you have to do is hit a target in the shooting phase. Then, any unit that makes it into combat with the unit that was shot, they get +1 to hit. Imagine sending a unit of thunder hammer Death Company into something like a Knight. They’ll be hitting on the normal 3+ and can squeeze out so much more damage.
Flesh Tearers Get Some Love (And it’s Decent)
Flesh Tearers got a slightly tweaked Chapter Tactic, giving them an additional AP for a wound of a 6+. That’s not bad but it’s arguably worse than +1 to charge and advance.
So…In terms of Warlord Traits, Merciless Butcher is good, but it’s really only worth taking for Gabriel Seth. And it just so happens that it’s his base Warlord Trait. With Gabe, you’ll get 4 attacks, +2 on the charge. send him into a crowd of dudes and you can get up to 3 more attacks with the Warlord Trait. Every hit of a 6 with his weapon explodes into two hits. He’s now up to potentially 9 attacks (+D3 more for 1CP Red Rampage). That’s a potential of 12 attacks getting exploding 6’s to hit. You can also reroll all your rolls because you’re a Chapter Master. His sword is 3 damage flat by the way, so you can see where the potential damage lies in this just over 100-pt model. Don’t forget that you can also fight twice with him if you roll hot.
If you were going to bring another Warlord aside from Gabriel, the next best is probably Cretacian Born. This frees up a relic slot for your unit and you can still make something non-overwatchable even if it doesn’t have a Jump Pack. Throw this on your Librarian Dread, give him Wings of Sanguinius and Quickening and watch him be a non-targettable wrecking ball.
For 1CP, one of the best Stratagems out of the book is Aggressive Onslaught. You can pick an Infantry model at the beginning of the fight phase and have them pile in 6″. Don’t forget the 3CP Honor The Chapter at the end of that will let them pile in an additional 6″ and fight again. That’s a free 12″ move outside of the movement phase!
For Relics, the better one is probably Sorrow’s Genesis, which is a beefed-up Narthecium. You can heal a flat 3 to a unit, or bring a dude back on a 2+ as well as restore 3 wounds back to them. That’s not bad at all if you bring this dude with a unit of Aggressors or Inceptors.
Be sure you take a look through all the new gadgets and tricks that are coming to the Blood Angels and let us know what your favorite combo looks to be! Will Blood Angels reshape the meta next? What’s the best Blood Angels character out there?
Hit play on Dark Artisan’s video below for all the deets, and be sure to subscribe to his channel as well!
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
