Blood Angels
 This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess. |
| Blood Angels | ||
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| Battle Cry | By the Blood Of Sanguinius! or For The Emperor and Sanguinius! | |
| Number | IX | |
| Founding | First Founding | |
| Successors of | N/A | |
| Successor Chapters | Angels Encarmine, Angels Sanguine, Angels Vermillion, Blood Drinkers, Exsanguinators, Flesh Eaters, Flesh Tearers, Knights of Blood, Knights Sanguine, Lamenters, Blood Swords (Claimed otherwise in Codex: Blood Angels 5th ed.), Blood Legion, Red Wings | |
| Chapter Master | Dante | |
| Primarch | Sanguinius | |
| Homeworld | Baal | |
| Strength | 1000 Marines | |
| Specialty | Rapid Assaults | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Red | |
The Blood Angels were the 9th Space Marine legion (not the 9th chapter) created by the Empra and also known as the most batshit insane loyalist chapter in the Imperium. They're also all Bishonen. No srsly, all of them...
Oh and Hive Fleet Leviathan is coming to devour their homeworld along with a Khornate army lead by their ancient enemy Ka'bandha. But since these guys aren't pussies like the Ultramarines, this isn't that big a deal.
Also they one of the only chapters (other than the Dark Angels--for obvious reasons--and the Ultramarines) that can call on it's successor chapters even the ones that don't like them all that well. Which in this case is justified as all Blood Angel descendants are united by the twin curses/blessings of Sanguinius. So you mess with one of them too much you might just get an entire legion attacking you. Or in the case of the Time of Ending, uniting to defend their ancestral home.
History
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Their Primarch is named Sanguinius, a Primarch who ironically has angel-like wings that mutated out of his back due to warp mutations on his homeworld, Baal. Many of the Blood Angels emulate this by focusing on Assault training. Their current Chapter Master is a Marine named Dante, the oldest non-Dreadnought interred loyalist Space Marine in history.
They had a brotherly rivalry against the World Eaters (if only the Imperial Fists/Iron Warriors and Ultramarines/Alpha Legion managed that).
Though they don't have as strong of a motif as the Space Wolves do, the Blood Angels commonly fly (with jump packs), are eternally youthful, drink blood, and sleep in coffins. Just sayin'...
In times of dire need, they are helped out by the Sanguinor, a guy who seems to be a Blood Angel except more literally so. Maybe he's some psychic manifestation of the chapter. Maybe he's a ghost of Sanguinius. Nobody knows. The important thing is that he enjoys piledriving Bloodthirsters from space, killing Eldar Avatars, and Killing a bunch of Orks during boarding actions. In recent Black Library tales he appeared to lead Blood Angels brethren in a heroic last stand against Hive Fleet Leviathan, where the squad sergeant punched a hole in a Carnifex's chest after being impaled, allowing the rest of his squad to live. He took off after that, but not after he managed to renew the Astartes' faith in humanity.
Combat Doctrine
Blood Angels Legion took the implementation of the Codex Astartes with notably less bitching than other chapters probably due to the death of their Primarch and the onset of the Black Rage. They took the news of the Codex as stoically as they could and follow the strictures of the codex as much as they see wisdom in it--i.e. the division of the legion into chapters, companies, and squads. Like their brethren in the Raven Guard they have a natural predilection for jump packs and using their brains (as opposed to blindly following the codex)but due to their chapter's curse have had to tweak things a bit. Once they get out of scout training they immediately go into Assault squads rather than devastators per the Codex (Ala Space Wolves) though not strictly because of the brash youth of the newly raised marines. This variation allows the new marine to become accustomed to the nature of his jump pack (he'll be using one a lot) and to take note of those who are best able to keep tabs on their fury and those who are most likely to give in. Devastators are usually reserved for brethren able to keep tabs on the Red thirst better. As ADHD fire support isn't really the most useful in any situation.
The Red Thirst, The Black Rage and You!
Black Rage
The "Death Company" is a group of Blood Angels who are afflicted by the Black Rage, each Blood Angels successor has one, since they all share the same curse, though some are more susceptible than others.
The Rage is where they see themselves as Sanguinius battling Horus in his battle barge which has the unfortunate side-effect of making them completely lose touch with reality and fight a battle that they can never ever win, since the outcome of the hallucinations has already occurred. On the plus side though, their disconnection with what is going on around them turns them into immensely powerful warriors, since each and every one of them believe that they are Sanguinius.
Long story short a marine afflicted with "Black Rage" will be almost as angry as an Angry Marine except that they can't control themselves and so if they aren't killed, they are locked away as they're too batshit insane to be controlled... Or Astorath will come and execute them on the battlefield since no other Blood Angel has the stomach to kill his own battle brothers.
Don't forget Drop-Podding Blood-Taloned Death Company Dreadnoughts, since the Black Rage can overcome any battle-brother, even those locked in Dreadnoughts. Fuck. I need a cigarette after that ass-raping
Red Thirst
The Red Thirst, on the other hand, is what makes them space vampires, and if they don't drink enough blood they become psychos who get locked away.
Speaking of 6th Edition...
Welp...that hurt.
With the advent of 6th ed Blood Angels fell from their former spot of broken, cheese-tastic rape-machine to just plain broke. First off, CQC is pretty much dead--random charge distances will muck up your charge every time. Changes to Furious Charge mean no more auto-attacking before your opponent knows what hit him. Furioso's aren't as gloriously nasty as they used to be with power weapons having AP values now--so now they're not just a fire and forget death blender. And you end up paying out the nose for things that C:SM can get for many times cheaper. And (like C:DA) you lose out on a lot of toys that the other guys get. Also for some reason Mephiston can rip open Land Raiders with his bare hands and level monstrous creatures to nothing but cinders...but his sword bounces off of Terminators. Stormravens can't deep-strike anymore, what with new flier rules and all and Sanguinary priests aren't as awesome due to the new 5+ FNP. Dante's stupid high initiative is rendered moot cuz his axe is unwieldy. And Astaroth has a pretty high chance of eating it as soon as combat starts. And there's basically only two lists now that are anywhere near competitive.
It isn't all bad though. All Artificer/Terminator armour was made better so Sanguinary Guard can laugh off most things a MEQ will throw at them (unless they get plasma'd to death)and despite the downgrade to the priests they also, kind of, got an upgrade in that FNP will resist all but instant death. And Blood Angels don't make a particularly bad Shooty army, they have the same BS as regular marine armies...they just pay more for it. And they did manage to keep all the fast vehicles to themselves, though that upgrade has been around since 3rd ed Chapter Approved.
The true bummer about Blood Angels is a lot of their cool and unique toys got taken away from them. The Stormraven got shipped in with C:SM and they didn't even get the Stormtalon as a return favor. Forge World started putting out predator variants so you can basically "build your own Baal!" just without the FA force organization and Lucifer pattern engines.
All in all, 6th ed turned a brutally nasty army into something that is still playable. Just not a brainless assault army like it used to be.
UPDATE: As of the 6th edition rulebook, Blood Angels and Necrons can form an "Unholy Alliance". For reference, Necrons can form the exact same alliance with the Black Templars. This implies that the whole scenario with the Necrons and the 'Nids was part of the then-upcoming Necron fluff change wherein the Necrons went from omnicidal kill bots to an actual empire capable of politics and forming alliances (which is infinitely less awesome and unlikely since they still, canonically, have no actual minds at all).
Daily rituals of the Blood Angels
0400 - Reveille - The Blood Angels are roused from their coffins to start the day.
0410 - Grooming - The Blood Angels take the time to comb their hair and brush their teeth. Special attention is given to the fangs.
0430 - Morning meal - A light meal is prepared by the chapter serfs for the Blood Angels. Consuming a chapter serf is explicitly prohibited.
0500 - Morning prayer.
0600 - Morning firing rituals - The Blood Angels assemble for target practice. The Blood Angels have an unusually large amount of a heretical series of books from the ancient days of Terra called the Twilight Saga, which they use for target practice by the thousands.
0700 - Battle practice - The Blood Angels begin practice in the battle cages. Frequently, the Blood Angels will forgo their Bolters for melee weapons.
1200 - Midday meal - The Blood Angels consume a light meal made for them by the chapter serfs. The chapter serfs are still explicitly off the menu.
1300 - Deep strike training - The Blood Angels practice their deep strike maneuvers.
1600 - Evening firing rituals.
1700 - Staring contests - Fools brave enough to challenge Mephiston to a staring contest do so now. Usually its just the neophytes who don't know any better.
1715 - Round up - Staring contests are over, and those who went mad while staring into Mephiston's eyes must be tracked down and dragged from the walls of the fortress-monastery.
1730 - Evening prayer.
1900 - Evening meal - A feast is prepared by the chapter serfs, usually of animals who were killed during the Deep Strike training. The chapter serfs may be consumed depending on how good the first two meals were. Using the Red Grail in drinking contests is explicitly prohibited by order of the Sanguinary Priests.
2000 - Free Time - The Blood Angels are allowed to engage in free time. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor. Others play video games. Some just pose moodily and bare-chested in front of a mirror. Still others will engage in artistic activities. A good vampire movie is often shown for the Blood Angels entertainment.
0000 - Rest - The Blood Angels retire to their coffins for the evening.
Notable Members of the Blood Angels
- Sanguinius - Primarch
- Dante - Current Chapter Master. Dude's mad old and prefers not to mention anything about having a Necron's cell phone number.
- Mephiston - Chief Librarian and resident named rape train.
- Corbulo - High Sanguinary Priest.
- Astorath - Keeper of Sanctity and the dude who kills Death Company nutjobs.
- Erasmus Tycho - Captain, proof that Your dudes has a reason to exist.
- Moriar the Chosen - Matt Ward's excuse for making generic Death Company Dreads a thing.
- Sanguinor - May be or may be not Sanguinius reborn...or Azkaellon...or a Warp Entity made by the desires of the Blood Angels...or all three together...DAMMIT!, IT'S COMPLICATED.
See Also
Blood Angels
Gallery
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A pre-heresy Blood Angel
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Vampires, IN SPESS!
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You know it to be true.
