40k Thursday - Blood Angels 8th Edition Prep

With 8th edition about a month away and the radical changes it seems to be bringing I am scrambling to get some of the armies updated/expanded/finished. I'm making this post to mark where the army is right now and what I am thinking as I work on it - partly to force myself to think through it as I put it down and partly as a historical document so a year from now I can come back and either  rejoice in my amazing foresight or wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Today: The Blood Angels

I've been working on these guys a fair amount since the Holiday Battles and I've made some tweaks to my initial plan for them. The general plan before was to  have everything pretty much in either a drop pod or wearing a jump pack - this was going to be the high-mobility rapid strike army. It still is, only moreso.

With the change to the twin-link rule Razorbacks got a lot more attractive. Blood Angels have had the "overcharged engines" rule for a few editions now which makes them fast vehicles. I'm assuming some form of this will carry over to the new edition. Combine this with my belief that BA tactical squads sitting still or hoofing it across the board on foot is just not how they should operate. Mix in the freeing up of 3 Razorbacks from the Dark Angel shutdown and you have my new approach.

That rule change also made Baal predators quite a bit more interesting so ... I picked up two more of those over the weekend. They're covered by the "overcharged" rule too. I didn't intend to make the BA's a tank army but they are looking a little tanky these days. If I go with the twin-linked assault canon option on the Razorbacks that would let me put 12 assault cannons on the field with just this part of the force!

I may add two more drop pods too, taking those up to seven. MSU man!

So the revised force looks something like this:

• HQ: Mephiston, another librarian, various Priests and chaplains as needed. Dante when it's time to get really mean.
• Troops: 3 tactical squads in Razorbacks. My thinking right now is 5-man squads with a multi-melta, maybe one with a heavy bolter.  One big tac squad with maximum flamers in a drop pod. Also a pair of 5-man melee scout squads infiltrated up somewhere interesting. 
• Elite: 20 Death Company, Lemartes, and a bunch of Dreadnoughts, two of which should be in pods. A Command squad for Mephiston, and a Sternguard squad for another drop pod. 
• Fast Attack: 2x Grav bike squads, 3 speeders, and a bunch of assault squads
• Heavy Support: 2x Baal Predators, 3x Devastator squads

So on the ground we would have 3 Razorbacks w/Tacs, 3 Baal Preds, a pair of Scout squads, and maybe some Devastator marines.  Maybe a Dreadnought too. Oh and 20+ Death company led by Dante and Lemartes, along with however many Assault squads I can fit in.

From the skies we would have Mephiston and the Command squad, a Sternguard squad, two Furioso dreads, and either my Maximum Melta Assult squad or a Maximum Flamer Tac squad. 

There's just a lot of fun ways to build and use this force so I am really looking forward to it. Meph and his bodyguard could go in a Razorback. The devastators could go in one too - or in a drop pod! Adding the Razorbacks makes my tac marines more interesting to play and puts more threats on the board which should make life easier for the drop pod troops.  

Future Acquisitions? Well I'm not feeling too much of a lack here but there are a couple of things on the list:

• Finish the Terminators. I have a shooty squad and an assault squad. At some point I will want to field them.
• Sanguinary Guard - someday! Just not right now as I have plenty to do here.
• 10 more Death Company troops - because why not? There may be some kind of bonus for bigger unit sizes and that's only going to make them nastier.
• "Fast Vindicators" - Again, I don't really need a tank army here but these would be cool.
• With the new edition I am even looking at The Sanguinor! Why not see if he can do something here.

That's it for the Blood Angels! More to come later!