40k Reddy

Chaplains are critical to a Blood Angels force, the spiritual guardians of the chapter entrusted in keeping check on the Chapters Black Rage and the Death Company.


In this section im combining both the Reclusiarch and the normal elite chaplain in one, because I think its best to compare the two and see if there is any reason to take one or the other.


Reasons to take a chaplain

There are a number of reason why chaplains are worth having a look at, a free power weapon and iron halo already makes them close to worth their points IMO.
On top of that they have a special power called Honour of the Chapter which makes the unit they join Fearless.
And the most important power Liturgies of Blood allowing the Chaplin and the unit he has joined to reroll of missed hits in the turn they charge, and if the unit is a DC they can also reroll failed to wounds.

Uses

So first of these guys are unit enhancers, never leave these guys on there own.

So either this guy runs in a DC or another unit so lets look at each separately:

In Death Companys Chaplains are a must, the ability to reroll to hit and wound on the turn they charge makes even a 5 man DC a formidable combat unit. On the charge a DC can more than likely kill any unit in the game.

Attaching a Chaplain to a normal squad gives them Fearless but not the reroll to wound, the Chaplain is a versatile character being able to take jump packs and bikes therefore he can be in any squad. Combining a Chaplain with an Assault squad and a priest can make for an expensive but highly resilient unit that wont run from morale checks and pinning.


Are they worth their points?

First we must compare the two and why would take either over the other:

Reclusiarch (HQ)
Pros: Not an Elites choice (very useful), Extra wound and attack etc
Cons: cost 30 pts more (for not much)

Chaplain (Elites)
Pros: cheaper
Cons: takes up an elites slot

So it essentially comes down to your army build in most cases if you have a extra elite slot then go for the regular chaplain but if you dont or you need a HQ then go for the Reclusiarch.

Now we need to see if they are worth their points in comparison to the rest of the choices in the Blood Angel codex.

Well the main competitor to the Chaplain has to be the Librarian, with the preferred enemy power (which can be used every combat round) it can do the same role as a chaplain but slightly differently, straight of the bat we have a different set of wargear, the Libby has a force weapon and hood but lacks the 4++ sv. But the Libby has a second power and this tips the scales in favour of the libby for most people as it makes them much more versatile (I will take more about them in my Librarian Tactica). But the Chaplain is not doomed it still has fearless and the fact that its reroll is much better than the Librarians for two reasons, it can be used against tanks and secondly its not a psychic power (obvious why).


So when will taking a Chaplain be useful?

• When using a Death Company
• When you need a unit to be fearless
• When more you have more than 1-2 big combat units
• Cause they are cool!

Special mention to Chaplain Lemartes: he is a good value character upgrade and packs a punch but Im not going to talk about him until the DC tactica, but he is extremely hard to use as he has a jump pack and therefore the DC should really be having jump packs and that means rage which is as I have said before a big problem when it comes to DC.

In the end most armies will look past the Chaplains as most armies will not bother with DCs as rage makes them difficult to play. Which is a pity because they are such an important part of the Blood Angels theme.

Now we are on to the Lord of Death (cue evil dramatic drums), although for one of the supposed most powerful modern-day (41st millennium) space marines peoples say he dies to easy, well thats what they say..............



Mephiston has been a roller coaster in terms of rules, sometimes he looks viable, other times he seemed weak and sometimes he was awesome and fit the bill. In terms of the model/character well thats always been straight forward, loved the character but the model, well lets say a revamp is desperately required.

Well isnt this half the reason why you buy him? WS7, S6, T6, I7 and 5 Ws Wow! he has drawn comparisons to Monstrous Creatures and rightly so but as I will get on to later I dont think thats altogether fair.....

Wargear


This just reinforces the importance of those stats. Artificer armour, force weapon, plasma pistol and of course Psychic hood, thats it, no fancy weapons and why would he need them when you've got powers like he does.......

Special Rules


Fleet, has it obvious uses, coupled with Wings this guy can cover big distances. Transfixing gaze, pick an enemy IC, if they fail a Ld test on -4 then Mephiston can re-roll to hit and to wound ouch!
The most important of all his special rules has to be, Psyker, this allows him to cast 3 powers a turn and he can pick from, Wings, Rage and Sanguine sword! remember that means he can cast each one as many times he likes and that is very important.........

Uses


Well he is a one man monster, the size of a space marine with the ability to cause 6 S10 wound relativity easily, hes a beast in combat. The only major downside to Mephiston is the lack of a Invulnerable save and Eternal Warrior. To be honest though its the Inv save thats really worrying, the lack of EW is not to bad, remember hes T6, the only thing that will really hurt him are Force weapons, Boneswords and stuff like wraithcannons.  The invulnerable save only really matters in combat IMO, at range Mephiston is small enough to hid either completely or partially (4+cover save) from ranged shots, but in combat he has no where to hide! He must get nightmares about hidden fists, cause this will be the bane of his life literally. Admittedly most hidden fists are limited to 2/3 attacks, but without an invulnerable save he is going to lose wounds quick. With almost every unit now taking hidden fists if they can Mephiston can probably hit 2-3 units before dying. While saying that not all armies have hidden fists, infact only 5/12 races can have them and for 2 races (IG and Witch Hunters) they have S6 PFs which reduce effectiveness towards Mephistion.

Another element that makes Mephiston who he is is physic powers, he has 3 as ive mentioned before and can cast 3 a turn. Obviously if your opponent lacks physic defence then your ok, he can cast powers off merrily, but anything from a physic hood to Runes of Warding can be detrimental to Mephiston. The key here is the fact that mephiston can cast 3 a turn so that means you can cast wings, if that fails you can cast wings again. This is fine when facing the likes of a physic hood but without any protection from perils Runes of Warding can do more damage than the eldars shooting phase (RoW makes you take physic tests on 3D6 with a roll of 12 and above causing perils).

One thing that is undeniable is Mephistons ability to kill! and kill meta game, nob biker, thunderwolf cavalry etc. 6 S10 attacks rerolling to hit is awesome and on  top of that any IC that treads Mephistons path is surely dead, instead of casting rage (You have Transfixing Gaze!) then cast the force weapon, although against most ICs the S10 will do it already, but Tyranids be warned with no EW anymore they are perfect targets for Mephiston.

When we consider Mephiston for all round competitive armies, I would highly suggest a free transport, such as a Stormraven (which will be acting as a gunship otherwise) when facing physic defence and you need a way for Mephiston to get into combat when relying on Wings may not be an option.

One of one favourite ways to run him is with honour guard with JPs, this gives him FNP, 4+ cover (he can easily hide) and a unit that can support him! It reduces his weaknesses against horde and hidden fists (the honour guard can mow a 10 man marine squad before it hits back). Also lets not forget Furious Charge, which lets him win meph on meph! I like:

Honour Guard: JPs, 2 melta bombs, 1 power weapon, 1 blood champion: 210

Now of course you will face armies without Physic defence or with very weak defence and armies with few hidden fists but you still have to remember how much mephiston realises on powers and T6 before you pay his hefty price tag.........

Cost


To be honest it is very difficult to gauge if Mephistion is worth his points, certainly there is no other HQ to compare him to and there is no other model in the SM range that he can be compared to, indeed he does bring something to the BA army which is irreplaceable. Comparisons to a LR is where anyone might start but he plays entirely different roles in armies. One of my main problems with Mephiston is he is so 1 dimensional, your opponent knows what he is in your army for and more than likely what you plan to do with him. He will struggle against certain armies for sure, Orks, Eldar and IG off the top of my head but there are armies I think he is well suited to fight Nids, SM , Necron and Choas. But there is no denying his combat prowess, he can turn the tide of a battle and certainly be a major threat to your opponent, physic powers or not.  The real choice is not is he worth the points but are you willing to take the gamble......

40kreddy

The long dead Captain Tycho, now in 2 forms, normal and DC, but they really shouldnt have bothered putting him in with rules like this!


Captain Tycho

Stats


Well compared to a normal captain Tycho has no improvement other than the 2+sv from the Artificer armour

Rite of battle is the only real good one here, and for some bizarre reason hes the only HQ that has that rule!
Hes got preferred enemy to Orks (basically ignore it when it come to building competitive lists)

Cost/Uses


I just dont see it, and if someone else can tell me! what do you pay 75 extra points for over a captain? Dead mans hands ok but its not worth say 30 odd points (10 pts for the combi-melta, 15pts for artificer armour and 20pts for rites, which is a bit much IMHO) great he can do damage to tanks and also be versatile and hit troops ant initiative order but at the end of the day he is not good at either! and only 4 attacks on the charge, an honour guard can have more attacks than that. hes not worth the points.

But still there is a bit of me that still wants to use the him for the coolness factor.........

Death Company Tycho

Stats


Difference between DC and captain is DC Tycho has WS7 and 4A including a drop in to BS4, the drop in LD to 8 can largely be ignored cause hes Fearless and not an IC.

Wargear


Hes got all the same stuff as normal Tycho here

Special Rules


Fearless, FNP, Fleet, FC, Relentless and PE:Orks, but this is where DC Tycho falls apart, Black Rage, so hes running all over the place, no IC status.

Cost/uses


I could put Costs/Uses:Dont Buy/None but thats a bit harsh, although hes not worth his points at all (same cost as 7 DC with a power weapon and a powerfist!) There is one, just one use I have for him. Put him in a Stormraven, get him out, fleet and assault. even then I would say hes not very good at that job for his points!

40kreddy

Sorry this is just the stupidest special character that GW have brought out for a while! Appears out of nowhere, some sort of essence of Sanguinius. Anyways im not here to talk about fluff!


This is not The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host but Sanguinius the Blood Angels Primarch, stunning similarity, I suppose if you ever wanted to use pre-Heresy Blood Angels...........


Stats


Its difficult to compare hes stats to any other character, and rightly so, but there is a few things here that stand out, WS8 is nice, S5 is a must considering he only has a power weapon, 5A is alot, but only 3W and T4........


Wargear


Artificer armour, JP obviously and Glaive Encarmine (MC-Power weapon) nothing special really.


Special Rules


There are alot of these. 
Aura of Fervour: +1A for all units in 6" (except himself)
Avenging Angel: pick one of your opponents HQ units and for the rest of the game the Sanguinor can re-roll to hit and to wound against that unit.
Eternal Warrior, Fearlesss & Furious Charge
The Sanguinor's Blessing: randomly pick a sergeant to gain +1WS, A, I, A (basically a mini HQ)
Undyielding Will: and finally a 3++ inv save

Uses


Starting at the basics, hes not an IC! shock, ya major blow for this guy, so what can we do with him.
Well with EW and a 3++ he can take plenty of shots, which he doubtless will be doing. keeping a SP near by will improve this guys chances of survival. So essentially the Sanguinor must be near other units (but cant be in them) so you make the most out of that +1A bubble and try and smash him into the HQ unit you picked.
Its not a great prospect I find when you have to build your army around a Special Character just to make him work and thats exactly what you have to do with the Sanguinor. Personally I would want to make the most of the +1A, so Id keep him near 2 10 man Assault squads and an Honour Guard, so you get FNP and FC for all. This would be a solid block of marines which should be aimed at the main bulk of your enemies force. Give the Honour Guard unit a banner and watch your opponent scratch his head over what unit to shoot at (each honour guard will then have 2+1(banner)+1(Aura)+1(2CC)+1(charge)= 6 attacks each (and they dont cost a bomb either). He is rather good at absorbing anti-tank fire (which is whats needed to take him down from distance) 13-14 bs4 s>6 ap<3 shots are required to kill him! now that puts him in an odd position, instead of having him in an army with assault marines, have him in a mechanised force, using him as a way to draw firepower away from your army, with rhinos and LRs following behind your opponent has to decide to shot him or let him live and your full army can come out of transport and charge with his aura.


Cost


This is unfortunately where the Sanguinors quest for a spot on my army list halts, to a stop. See for that many points is he really worth it? hes only good at killing infantry at s6 max, hes got a decent save but that's not so great when you consider that hes not an IC, the blessing is random (which makes it half useless, unless all your sergeants are kitted out), your opponent knows what HQ you've pick and will promptly avoid his charge. I think that hes not worth his points certainly there are better choices both HQ and otherwise in the Blood Angels codex........


40kreddy

Bad boy Astaroth has now taken the place of High Chaplain and Redeemer of the Lost, well no actually he always was! we all just thought Lemartes was! anyways with GW sending us a swanky new vampire model our way let have a look if hes really up to that title.....


Stats


Astroboy (ya thats my nickname for him) has to be compared to a Reclusiarch, and not very impressively here he has got +1WS. But hes got artificer armour which combined with the 4++ thats pretty good.

Wargear


Executioner's Axe has to be my favourite weapon in the BA codex (thats not very hard considering the rest are all Master-crafted force weapons). Its two-handed s6 power weapon and I love this bit, makes your opponent re-roll all successful invulnerable saves!
Other than all the normal chappy stuff thats it.

Special rules


Honour of the Chapter: as with all HQ chaplins it makes the unit he joins fearless.
Liturgies of Blood is the same again allowing Astorath and his squad to re-roll missed hits and if its the Death Company all wounds as well on the turn they charge.
Lastly he has the Shadow of the Primarch ability which I suspect is why most people will take him, making Red thirst on a 1,2 & 3 for all units.

Cost


Well in comparison to a Chaplin hes worth the points, well I think he would be, cause the Chaplin doesnt have very many options to bring him up to his standard and what cost do you put on the Executioner axe and an army wide special rule? I think hes worth every point you spend but saying that is he really that useful?

Uses


See although he may be worth the points, where does he fit into your army? It would seem that Red Thirst is obsolete when you have Sanuinary Priests in the army (and you will, they already give FC and let your units keep "ATSKNF" which is not that worse IMHO)  He clearly works best with Death Company (as with all chaplins, you may as well take a Librarian if your not joining them to DC) but here is the problem, Death Company suffer the Rage special rule which means that they will run at the closest thing essentially making them out of your control, for this reason DC with Jump packs are highly inadvisable. Since Asrorath has a JP what do we do with him?

Astorath's JP gets in the way alot of the time but here is you options:

Stick him with a unit of 10 assault marines, make them fearless and plough your way through your enemy

Or try and stick him with DC which makes the Stormraven the only viable option really, so you take 5 DC with JPs and stick Astorath in, there is no doubt that this unit will pack a punch! But its going to make your Stormraven attract alot of firepower (which is not good, as I will explain when I get around to the Stormraven)

Lets be fair though in the end he cant do much better than a chaplin really! the Shadow of the Primarch is not that effective and certainly leaving a 50/50 chance for the units that need FC is not a good idea. Of course hes a beast in combat but not by much really, a bog standard HQ chaplin has 5A on the charge and will kill 2.9 marines and he kills exactly the same amount, with the cost difference of 65 pts, hes obviously better at killing better tougher stuff but still its never going to be that much better....

40kreddy

Gabriel Seth is the Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers. There it is in one sentence why you might want to take Seth! Flesh Tearers, one of my favourite chapters, but lets look past his fluff and get down to the bare bones..........

Stats

You have to compare this guy to a Captain, hes go +1A & W which is a good start, although im not sure how useful +1W is without eternal warrior, certainly +1A will be benefitical.

Wargear


Blood Reaver and of course an iron halo.
Blood Reaver is a two-handed s8 chainsword that causes rending. Right time to take a step back and figure out what all that means. Two-handed, well that extra attack is all the more important now! s8 going at initiative order, sounds good on paper but when is that going to be better than a powerfist? most things that you need strengeth 8 for will also have 3+ saves and you cant be relying on rending to cause wounds now can you!


Special Rules


Whirlwind is an intresting rule, hes can automaticly hit all models in base-to-base with his s8 rend, now thats great if your character is mobbed by models (then you can get 6) but most of the time you are not. Now there is one intresting application to his rule, hit a vehicle with it, automatically! if hes got a priest near by (likely) then you can automatically hit a vehicle thats moved greater than 6" (not to mean that you cant hit them otherwise!) with a st9 rending attack! and most of the time ur hitting rear armour 10, bye bye waveserpent/falcon (altho on the falcon youll probably shake it!)
He also has Ferocious Instincts which lets him make a st4 attack that automatically hits (doesnt he love autohit) for each 1 the enemy rolls to hit, this is a good side add on, in the cases where this will do damage ie 30 orks all hitting him! he will be dead by the end of combat anyways.


Cost


This is where picking Seth just doesnt add up, literally! As ive said already he has very few uses, mainly combat, with no army wide modifing? A captain with a powerfist has -1W and -1A but doesnt need to worry about rending (35pts cheaper) and will actually cause those vital wounds on MCs etc, bar the autohit vehicle rule there is nothing special that Seth actually bring to the table.

Uses


His roles on the battle field are limited, Ideally he should be taken with a 9/10 man assault squad and bundled up the battlefield in a rhino or LR........... to be perfectly honest Im only going to take him when the Fleshtearers role out.....


40kreddy

So to get the ball rolling on my blog im going to start with the army im loving the most atm, Blood Angels........



First off lets just have a look at what we are looking at, we have a number of special characters, Reclusiarch, Librarian and the captain along with Honour Guard as sort-of rentinue.

Special Characters

Commander Dante

Well every BA codex I have ever looked at this guys is the first page I turn to. From the outset he seems like a decent choice. lets break him down....




Stats

Well he looks fairly ok here, only thing that stands out is his I6 and A4(5) which are pretty good.

Wargear

2+ save and 4++ inv, solid.
Master-crafted power weapon and inferno pistol, the power weapon is a bit of a let down but the inferno pistol is a nice addition
Death Mask of Sanginius: -1WS, W, I, A plus the normal rules for death mask, this could come in handy but altogether against most opponents is going to reduce the effectiveness of their Combat HQ or just soften him up.

Special Rules

This has to be where Dante makes his points up, army wide rules but not all you might expect!
Tactical Precision: Dante and the unit he joins (provided they have Jump packs) dont roll to scatter when Deep Striking! This rules opens up alot of options, especially when he is with a 10man squad or Honour Gaurd, Melta weaponry will always been in 6/3" which is very reassuring.
Surgical Strike: Hit and Run, alot of people overlook this, its really good, especially in an army where charges are so destructive, Furious charge, can be game changing
Ontop of all that he make Sanguinary Guard troops, obviously this is only good if you plan on taking SG which might not be as straight forward a choice...

Cost

For his points I think Dante is worth it, given that he is more of an enhancer rather that a CC monster I think he fits straight into most Jump pack armies and is going to be a safe choice for those wanting alot of golden in their armies...

Uses

Very obvious is to point out that this guy needs to be in a unit with JPs, no doubt. Make use of his Tactical Precision and rock out some meltas or flamers. Obvious choice being HG with the ability to take 5 melta/flamer weapons, but I would be more inclined to go for a Assault marine squad and pop a sanguinary priest in, give you great flexibility and they are scoring, you can never have to many of those, ontop of that the new codex lets you take 2 meltaguns and an inferno pistol- thats 4 melta shots! and you still have more bodies behind you.
Or you can go for Sanguinary Guard, not my favourite unit due to there high points cost and will be the most expensive of the 3 choices for number of models but they are scoring and have some of the most beautiful models I have ever seen!
Just a note for those who are wondering, Vanguard Vets cant have ICs and Heroic Intervention so he cant join them.


Typical units:

10 Assault Marine: 2 meltaguns, Inferno pistol, Powerfist, JPs: 250
and a Sanguinary Priest: JP: 75
total: 325

Honour Guard: 5 meltaguns, JPs: 215
Honour Guard: 5 flamers, JPs: 190

Sanguinary Guard: 2 inferno pistols, 2 powerfists: 240

The reason I didnt give the SG a priest here is because they should survive light fire and FNP wont help against ap1 and 2 shots.
Although I am not a fan of SG because of their cost, there is no doubting their effectiveness when paired with Dante.

To me its clear, if you want bodies go for AS, if you want good and scoring go for SG and if you want pure points effectiveness go for HG.

40kReddy