Bladeguard Veteran

It's like taking a page out of Oldschool.

The Veteran Squad of Primaris Space Marines. The Bladeguard Veterans are Primaris First Company veterans that are armed with master-crafted power swords, storm shields and heavy bolt pistols.

Overview

Bladeguard Veterans are the Chads that go into battle clad in incredibly overdone armour that could give a Chapter Master a run for his money. Covered with so many seals of purity to be mistaken for a member of the Galactic Partridges and adorned with victory icons and heraldic items. Their stupidly overdone storm shields are the work of entire generations of Chapter Serfs, and the powerful force-field generators they house are said to protect the soul of their wearer as well as their flesh. This equipment comes out of the chapter's reliquaries during wartime, and it constantly reminds Battle-Brothers who exactly they are honouring upon their enthronement.

According to a recent Warhammer Community article, they pretty much confirmed that these guys are also part of the Deathwing, a rather sharp break from tradition considering that normal power-armored members wearing the company colors haven't been an official thing since Second Edition (with a possible exception being in the Deathwatch RPG depending on how canon you take that).

With 10th edition stating that Firstborn and Primaris Terminators are both one in the same. We can assume that Primaris who prefer long range combat such as Aggressors and Hellblasters are given Termi-Armor or become members of the Sternguard. Meanwhile those who have a preference for melee have the option of going into battle as Bladeguard instead of Assault Terminators or Deathwing Knights if they're in the Dark Angels - though this does leave a question as to what foundational differences lie between these Bladeguard and the older Vanguards, perhaps Bladeguard are meant to be akin to an Honour Guard. GW seems to be going out of their way to lessen (but not completely erase) much of the Derp. Even if it is a bit lazy on their part but it is better than not doing anything at all.

Crunch

For some reason they get 3 wounds despite not wearing Gravis armour, which is what gives Aggressors and Inceptors their 3 wounds. (But Company Veterans, Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans, get 2 wounds each, and Terminators need to don, well Terminator armour to get 2 scratch that, Terminators have 3 now too. Alright, definitely no bias there. It can’t possibly be the fuck huge shields they're carrying since that means everyone with a storm shield would get an extra wound). They not being gravis means they can fit into an impulsor or a repulsor, so taking them and deploying them in the front lines should be easy.

Attack-wise, they have a heavy bolt pistol, but the thing that makes them a threat is the master-crafted power swords. A weapon of S+1, AP-3 D2 on an unit with WS3+ (2+ if near a Bladeguard Ancient) S4 A3 can cause a lot of damage. They are MEQ and TEQ killers extraordinaire, and they are pretty good at killing lighter units, since what are they going to do that can take the bladeguards, considering they are +2/++4 thanks to the shield and 3W each? The Sergeant can also take a Neo-Volkite Pistol, but its worthless without taking a Lieutenant with a similar loadout.