Review of Codex - Blood Angels

Another undersized Codex from Games Workshop. I don't feel quite so bad about this one, though, as there are actually a few rather important changes made to the army concerned. Before, the Blood Angels were normal Marines in red armor with the Death Company running around like maniacs. Now, the Blood Angels are close-combat fanatics, with the Death Company running around like maniacs on crack. I've heard criticisms of the new rules, especially the Death Company. True, you don't pay any points for the Death Company, but you do pay for the models that go crazy and become Death Company. If it's a few scouts, you come out on the good side, but when it's 5 Honor Guard with jump packs, power weapons and Terminator honors, they become damn expensive.

The new character of the Blood Angels is a very welcome one. They now live for close-combat, which suits me just fine. With extra strength and initiative on the round of a charge, combined with the extra attack, makes them potent indeed. I'm guessing the Black Rage is supposed to be a bad thing, but I like the extra move. It gets you into hand to hand quicker. Sure, you can't fire heavy weapons, but when your army has no heavy weapons, it's not much of a problem.

As much as I like the new rules, and I really like them, they can be a bit unbalancing at times, especially if you're playing against someone new or unprepared. I also don't see how they can make the Space Wolves the same as they were before, since I see no way for them to out perform the Blood Angels in hand to hand without some incredibly unbalanced rules.

Produtcion values were, of course, lovely. It was, of course, too short and sparse on background. For more complaining about the shortness of the new Codexes, see my review of the Dark Eldar or Space Marine Codexes.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)