Blood Angels Tactica

[Brother_Byhlli]

Hail, brothers!

 

I decided a couple of days ago that I wanted to write a quick summary of each unit I’ve played with in the Blood Angels codex so far. The plan was to have the information handy as a reference for myself when I’m writing army lists.

 

As good an idea as that was initially, I realised sharpish that writing a “quick summary” of anything in Warhammer is impossible. (Except for Captains in the Blood Angels codex, snork, snork!) So I decided I’d try to write a slightly more comprehensive review of the units I’ve played with, including which units work well together, which units can work as alternatives for each other and my own personal opinions and experiences of using them.

 

Although the idea blossomed and I made a start on writing things down, it wasn’t until I read SnorriSnorrison’s review of Sanguinary Guard that I appreciated exactly how well done this could be if I was able to find the time and effort to match Snorri’s inspiring article. So, thanks must go to Snorri for giving me the momentum to get started. Hopefully we can turn this into a comprehensive run-down of all Blood Angels units, tactics, combinations, options, hints, tips, pitfalls and anything else we can think of!

 

I’m planning to open the thread and to reserve some posts so that I can gradually fill them with information. I would massively appreciate all feedback from anyone who’s got thoughts or advice to offer. I’m also definitely open to other people making any contributions as they see fit. To let you know in advance: anything which is offered as tactica will go through a thorough spell-checking and I’ll probably reformat it and change grammar and syntax around, as I tend towards OCD! Full credit will, however, most definitely be given for anything you’re good enough to send me!

 

So, on to the army reviews!

 

Edit: I'm going to keep a running list right here of the units I've included (green), the units I'm working on writing or have already played with (orange) and units I'm planning on play-testing (red) as soon as possible. Just to keep y'all infomed!

Commander Dante

Astorath the Grim

Librarian

Reclusiarch

Captain

Honour Guard

Sanguinary Guard

Terminator Squad

Sanguinary Priest

Tactical Squad

Death Company

Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost

Assault Squad[/colour]

Land Raider

Dreadnought

Stormraven Gunship

Devastator Squad

 

 

Commander Dante

 

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1000277a_99060101027_BADante_445x319.jpg

 

The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels seems to have somewhat divided opinion amongst Blood Angels players. On the one hand, he’s reasonably good at killing things in close-combat, allows Sanguinary Guard to count as a Troops choice and has a few nice special rules. On the other hand, he has a limited invulnerable save and no Eternal Warrior, which makes him worryingly easy to single-out and kill for a determined opponent.

 

 

Unit Composition

 

1 (Unique), Independent Character

 

Obviously there can only be one Chapter Master of the Blood Angels in an army list! As an Independent Character, Dante is an HQ choice that can join other units, which provides some measure of protection for him from shooting attacks and offers plenty of buffs to the unit he joins.

 

 

Wargear and Special Rules

 

Artificer Armour: providing an improved save over standard Space Marine power armour, Dante’s artificer armour makes him exceptionally resilient to anything ranging from small-arms fire and boltguns up through assault cannons and heavy bolters, right into krak missiles. Sadly the save isn’t invulnerable and so doesn’t apply to power weapon attacks, but then no armour save is. For those who say Dante is too easily killed: I say he has the best armour save he could have.

 

Infernus Pistol: a standard infernus pistol, exactly the same as those available to most units in the Blood Angels codex. We shouldn’t ignore how special this weapon is. (I believe that infernus pistols are unique to Blood Angels. Certainly, Codex: Space Marines doesn’t include them.) Providing the benefits of melta at close-range and generating an additional attack in close-combat make infernus pistols an exceptionally powerful weapon for any unit that intends to find itself fighting in close-quarter battles. Any unit with designs on charging the enemy will be finding itself, in its shooting phase, sitting within 6” of the enemy. There is simply no better weapon available to a model that is sitting within 6” of a unit it intends to charge.

 

The Axe Mortalis: Dante’s axe is a master-crafted power weapon. If Dante is run on his own and charges, he has six attacks that are hit at I6 and S4, one of which can be rerolled to hit in every turn of combat and all of which ignore armour saves. Many people have questioned why the Commander of the Blood Angels doesn’t have a more powerful weapon, but I rather feel that the point of playing any Space Marines army – and a Blood Angels army in particular – is to create as great a synergy as possible throughout your army, supporting every unit with others that confer benefits. Commander Dante can find himself rolling up to eight attacks that are hit at I7 and S5, all of which can reroll misses and all of which ignore armour saves. Suddenly he’s looking a lot more dangerous than people gave him credit for…!

 

Jump Pack: a standard jump pack on Dante doesn’t really have huge amounts to be said about it. The standard limitations apply to jump packs, meaning that he can’t be embarked into any vehicle other than a Stormraven but that he has exceptional mobility on the battlefield. As per normal with Blood Angels, the jump pack confers the Descent of Angels special rule, which for Dante only has the effect of bringing him into the game from reserve more reliably.

 

Frag and Krak Grenades: nothing needs to be said about these, with the exception of pointing out that due to having frag grenades, charging into cover for any Space Marine is significantly less dangerous than for many other armies. If Dante finds himself in a position where he has to use his krak grenades, something has gone wrong somewhere!

 

Iron Halo: the second part of Dante’s defensive array brings the crucial invulnerable save that means even if he’s singled out in combat by power weapon attacks, most opponents are going to have to wound him eight times before he dies. Against a character who is WS6 and who strikes as fast and as hard as Commander Dante, that’s surprisingly difficult to do. Unfortunately, those who say he dies too easily are not entirely wrong – in spite of his invulnerable save and his excellent armour save, if any of the attacks that make it through to wound Dante are from power fists or equivalent weapons, he’s going to die instantly.

 

Death Mask of Sanguinius: the Death Mask of Sanguinius is one of the most spectactular parts of picking Commander Dante as your army’s leader. Before the battle has even begun, Dante can reduce the WS, W, I and A characteristics of one independent character in your opponent’s army. Taking wounds off an enemy character before the game has even started is huge – both tactically and psychologically. Additionally, you’re ensuring that run properly, Dante will be striking first against any enemy HQ that was originally I7 or lower, which pretty much covers any model you care to think of; and he’s hitting anything on a 3+ that started the game as WS6 or lower. Using the Codex: Space Marines as a sample army, Commander Dante is striking before any single model and hitting absolutely everything on a 3+. Removing a wound from an enemy character will rarely cause anything less than 25% of the total wounds that character can receive without dying – and will often be causing as much as 33% or even 50%. This ability is absolutely huge.

 

And They Shall Know No Fear: see the Blood Angels Special Rules for more information.

 

Descent of Angels: although this is one of the Blood Angels special rules, it effect Dante slightly differently from most units. Because of Dante's Tactical Precision special rule, the only benefit that Descent of Angels confers is to bring him onto the table from reserve more reliably. This is still beneficial, but just be aware that it offers less of an advantage for Dante then for other units.

 

Surgical Strike: this rule increase Dante’s efficiency at killing in close-combat. Granting the Hit and Run special rule, the effects of allowing Dante to disengage with the enemy following an assault phase can make all the difference to winning a combat or not. If you plan to use Dante’s Surgical Strike special rule, however – and this goes for all units using Hit and Run – be aware that you should only ever be using Hit and Run at the end of your opponent’s assault phase. This is crucially important and I’ve seen it done wrongly several times. The reason is that if you successfully disengage from the enemy following your own assault phase, the very next turn will see your enemy get free reign to fire at you and then assault you themselves. Not what you’re aiming for by disengaging! If you use Hit and Run following your opponent’s assault phase, however, you give yourself the opportunity to fire another salvo of shots into the unit you’re fighting and then hit them once again with a Furious Charge. It’s also worth noting that Dante’s Hit and Run special rule will only be rolled on his initiative if he’s not in a squad. On most occasions, the initiative roll will be rolled against the squad’s I5 value.

 

Tactical Precision: this rule allows Commander Dante to drop both himself and any unit he has joined with pinpoint accuracy anywhere on the board. Being able to decide precisely where Dante arrives is hugely beneficial in many game situations. If Dante is with a squad who have infernus pistols, then both he and they can unerringly be placed where the melta weapons can provide most benefit. If he’s in a squad that has the Feel No Pain and Furious Charge bubble granted by, for example, Sanguinary Priests, then he can place the squad in such a way as to provide maximum cover for units. If there’s only one very narrow spot on the board between pieces of terrain where Dante and his unit need to drop, with scatter-based death on either side, suddenly you can stick him there with impunity. This can be a very useful ability.

 

Master of the Host: if Commander Dante is included in an army, then suddenly all units of Sanguinary Guard become Troops choices. This is a useful benefit, though perhaps not the greatest boost in the game! Sanguinary Guard can now capture objectives, rather than simply contest them and up to six units can be taken. It also frees up valuable Elites slots for other choices should you have the points available to buy them. This is definitely a valuable boost to an army and increasing your options for scoring Troops choices should never be overlooked.

 

 

Tactical Uses

 

Commander Dante has several tactical uses that can be applied depending on the rest of your army list and the situation on the battlefield.

 

Although Dante wields an infernus pistol, it should be noted that, for all intents and purposes, he entirely lacks in ranged weaponry. The infernus pistol is excellently useful should you be charging an enemy or aiming to take out a tank in close proximity, but Dante has no ability to provide long-range fire support of any sort. However, that lack of ranged weaponry means that everything you’re paying for is 100% close-combat monster. With the number of attacks Dante brings and the likelihood of him striking first, there are few units that will stand up to a charge by Dante – even more so if he’s linked up with a squad. Dante’s Surgical Strike rule also benefits him in close-combat. Whether you deep strike to destroy an enemy’s tank and get charged by an enemy unit in the following turn or just get caught short and are charged for some other reason, you have the chance to disengage from the unit and re-engage on your own terms.

 

That said, Dante isn’t actually useless at shooting. The one time you might particularly want to have Dante used in a shooting role is the turn he arrives by deep strike. Because the deep strike rules do not allow units to charge on the turn they deep strike, Dante and his unit are limited to shooting. Linking Dante with a unit that allows him to make full advantage of his own infernus pistol and the accuracy of his deep strike means using units like Sanguinary Guard with infernus pistols, Honour Guard with meltaguns or infernus pistols or Assault Squads with meltaguns. Although Vanguard Veteran Squads can also take infernus pistols, if you can avoid putting Dante in a Vanguard Veteran Squad you avoid losing their main selling point – Heroic Intervention. The ability to drop a melta unit next to an enemy tank means that Dante can fairly reliably destroy one enemy tank before taking any damage. This is in addition to removing one wound from an enemy character using his debuff!

 

Because of his ability to debuff an enemy character, Dante and his unit are well-suited to hunting down the most dangerous of your enemy’s characters. In games up to around 1,500 points, Dante will very likely outclass any independent character he comes across due to his debuff ability (and if he doesn’t then your opponent can only be running an unbalanced army, which means you’re more likely to beat the rest of his army with your forces!). In larger games you’re going to find plenty of things that Dante will struggle to kill either on his own or with a unit so you need to be careful who you charge with him.

 

Dante’s character debuff doesn’t actually have to be put on an enemy combat character. Although it makes killing that character easier in combat or by shooting, another choice for the debuff is to target an enemy psyker. Because psykers tend to be limited to only two wounds, removing one of their wounds before they’ve started the game makes spell-casting suddenly ominously dangerous. It only has to go wrong once and the psyker is killed by the Perils of the Warp!

 

It’s very important to bear in mind that while Dante comes with his deep strike buff it’s not always in your interests to reserve him and deep strike. For one thing, you’re not guaranteed that he’s actually going to get onto the table until turn five. Also, you’re not going to be putting him combat by your own choice until turn three at the earliest and combat is where he’s most dangerous. By starting Dante on the table and either obscured behind cover or in a vehicle, you give him the opportunity to make the maximum possible contribution to the battle.

 

Due to Dante lacking long-range weaponry, using terrain to obscure him goes beyond sticking him behind a hedge or sitting him in some woods: if at all possible, putting him smack behind a building so that nothing in your opponent’s army can see him at all is ideal. Covers saves are useful but being shot at all is definitely preferable! Due to his jump pack, Dante can completely ignore intervening terrain in his movement phase, so that big building that stops him from dying absolutely does not stop him from attacking in your movement phase.

 

Unfortunately, Dante’s deep strike buff will not work if he’s reserved embarked on a Stormraven Gunship or if he’s attached to any unit that doesn’t have jump packs. Terminators, for example, can deep strike, but they don’t use jump packs to do so, meaning that Dante’s buff doesn’t benefit them.

 

 

Combinations

 

Dante is best used in combination with a unit. Because he lacks Eternal Warrior and his invulnerable save isn’t spectacular, a wily opponent will pounce on an unsupported Dante at the earliest opportunity and stands a good chance of killing him through weight of fire.

 

However, the combinations that Dante can make use of are definitely not all equal. For example, putting Dante in a Terminator Squad or Tactical Squad completely ignores almost all of his unit buffs: you can’t deep strike with either unit, Dante’s jump pack mobility is lost and there’s little synergy with his infernus pistol or power axe. Instead, Dante should be used in conjunction with a unit that allows him to make best use of his benefits: Honour Guard, Sanguinary Guard or Assault Squads are all excellent choices for different reasons. Death Company with jump packs and Vanguard Veteran Squads are viable options, but are most definitely not the best use either of Dante or of the squads themselves. Of course, Dante can also be attached to other Independent Characters – another HQ, a Chaplain or a Sanguinary Priest, so long as they are equipped with a jump pack.

 

Of course, picking a unit for Dante to join isn’t just a question of him providing benefits to the unit. Some units will also provide benefits to Dante – Honour Guard and Sanguinary Priests, for example, provide Feel No Pain and Furious Charge. Sanguinary Guard and Honour Guard can equip the chapter banner, providing an additional attack. Chaplains, Reclusiarchs and Librarians all provide some measure of utility, increasing the number of attacks, giving cover saves or allowing rerolls in combat.

 

With so many options available to attach to Dante, let’s look at them on a case-by-case basis:

 

Independent Characters

 

Librarian: the Librarian is one of the more viable options for attaching to Dante, although you’re very much putting all of your HQ-eggs in one basket, so to speak. The Librarian can provide Dante with an extremely valuable cover save on the turn he deep strikes from reserve using Shield of Sanguinius; can support his anti-tank shooting on the same turn using The Blood Lance; can increase Dante’s attacks in combat using Might of Heroes; can provide rerolls to hit using Unleash Rage; or can help to kill enemy characters, monstrous creatures, multiple-wound models and tanks using either The Sanguine Sword or his force weapon. Almost all of the Librarian’s psychic powers are directly beneficial either to Dante’s damage output or to his survivability.

 

Reclusiarch & Chaplain: I’ve put the Reclusiarch and the Chaplain together because the only reason they’re considered at all is they both provide the same buff: allowing rerolls to hit on the turn you charge. This struggles to be even a situational benefit. Dante already has a reroll to hit and with his high weapon skill there’s not much chance of him needing rerolls. Reclusiarchs are better in combat than a Librarian but provide less utility and Chaplains free up an HQ slot but as well as only providing little utility, they’re significantly weaker in combat. There are worse options for attaching to Dante, but really there is no reason for taking either a Reclusiarch or a Chaplain to accompany our Chapter Master.

 

Sanguinary Priest: the Sanguinary Priest, like the Librarian, is one of the most valuable options for attaching to Dante. The Feel No Pain bubble is hugely valuable for keeping Dante alive against massed small-arms fire or in combats against anything that lacks power weapons, while the Furious Charge bubble means that Dante’s hitting at I7 with S5, both of which make him significantly more powerful in combat. At the top end of combat units, only a very small number have an initiative in excess of 7: even looking at the Blood Angels, only one unit – our “combat monster” Chief Librarian, Mephiston – has initiative 7 or higher. So even against as powerful a combat army as Blood Angels, Commander Dante backed up by Furious Charge will be putting out a minimum of six attacks before anything he’s going to be fighting against. Just about the only reason I can think of for not attaching a Sanguinary Priest to Dante and his unit is that you’re either attaching Dante to an Honour Guard or you intend to have an Honour Guard follow him around everywhere he goes. And I mean everywhere. There’s no excuse I’m aware of for not covering your army in an all-enveloping Feel No Pain bubble by dotting Honour Guard and Sanguinary Priests around carefully.

 

Units

 

Honour Guard: one of the premium choice for attaching to Dante, the Honour Guard can support him in any role you choose. However, they get very expensive very quickly and can pay for their flexibility with a lack of focus. Honour Guard can be equipped to deal masses of close-combat pain in a similar vein to Sanguinary Guard, with their two basic attacks augmented by power weapons, additional attacks from two close-combat weapons and the option of taking a chapter banner. However as I say, gearing an Honour Guard up in this fashion is simply mimicking a unit that already does the job and does it well: Sanguinary Guard. So, rather than creating a combat-oriented killing unit, what other options are there for Honour Guard? As it happens, there’s something that Honour Guard can do which no other unit in the codex can – they can equip four meltaguns or four plasma guns and use the mobility provided by their jump packs to spread an exceptional amount of damage around the board. Combined with the built-in Sanguinary Novitiate and their above-average close-combat ability, the Honour Guard are a superb option to attach to Dante. Another choice is to use the Honour Guard as bodyguards for the Master of the Blood Angels: by equipping them with storm shields and jump packs, you create an extremely mobile unit that can soak up vast amounts of damage, making sure that Dante is in one piece to strike exactly where and when you want him.

 

Sanguinary Guard: this unit seems almost designed to run with Dante. Whether it’s Dante making Sanguinary Guard Troops, their built-in jump packs, their ability to take infernus pistols for five points less than any other unit in the codex or their undoubted close-combat ability, Sanguinary Guard are a phenomenal option to accompany their Lord into battle. Most people swear by keeping them cheap and only adding a chapter banner to the unit in order to increase their number of close-combat attacks, but I would go one step further and add two infernus pistols into their unit. Dante’s infernus pistol plus two in the unit make destroying a tank much more reliable. Also, the sort of units you’re going to be charging with Dante and a Sanguinary Guard will take more damage from infernus pistols than they will from the Sanguinary Guard’s angelus boltguns. One thing I’m in agreement with, however, is that power fists in Sanguinary Guard are misplaced. We’ll deal with that in the entry on Sanguinary Guard!

 

Death Company: Death Company are an option for Dante purely because they have the option to take jump packs. However, nothing about the Death Company makes this a particularly good idea. Although they can take infernus pistols, they’re limited to one per five men – and only extremely rarely will more than five Death Company be together in a single unit. Although they are definitely powerful in attack, they don’t gain any benefits in combat from Dante; nor do they provide any benefits. Their Feel No Pain and Furious Charge is limited to the Death Company models themselves. Generally speaking, this is a bad idea.

 

Assault Squad: one of the three best choices for attaching to Dante, in my opinion, is the ubiquitous Blood Angels Assault Squad. A unit of ten Space Marines with two meltaguns and an infernus pistol on the Sergeant provide even more melta power than I would suggest taking in the Sanguinary Guard unit for fewer points. Having a significantly larger number of bodies means that the unit will better protect Dante from shooting and, surprisingly, the very fact that they’re not painted gold means they’ll be less of a priority target for your opponent. Putting Dante in an Assault Squad and hopping a separate Sanguinary Guard around the board on your other flank will give your opponent a target priority headache! Only having one base attack per model and only having access to one power weapon in a unit of ten Space Marines makes the Assault Squad significantly less competent in close-combat than Honour Guard or Sanguinary Guard can be. However, their weight of numbers means that against units with a lower toughness or poorer armour save, they can definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

 

Vanguard Veteran Squad: although the Vanguard Veteran Squad can be equipped almost identically to a close-combat oriented Honour Guard, they don’t have the ability to provide so much in the way of a mobile firebase. They have the same problem as Honour Guard of getting extremely expensive but they can do almost anything you want them to. The big drawback that Vanguard Veteran Squads have is that they have their own special rule – Heroic Intervention – which they cannot use if they’re attached to an independent character. So, while they’d benefit from Dante’s buffs, they’d lose their own ability to assault on the turn they deep strike. Although they are a viable option, I think there are definitely better options.

 

Transport

 

Stormraven Gunship: there is only one option available to Dante as a form of transport due to his jump pack. The Stormraven Gunship is a superb vehicle, currently available only to Blood Angels and Grey Knights. Due to the Stormraven’s transport capacity, you either have to run Dante with an Honour Guard or wave goodbye to his Feel No Pain and Furious Charge, as he can only fit in the Stormraven with five other models. Stormravens are often target-priority number one for your opponents so putting Dante inside one is just going to make it all the more appealing as a target. Using a Stormraven provides some protection to Dante for moving him across a board, but obviously negates his ability deep strike. While there are situational advantages to putting Dante in a Stormraven, I’d not recommend it generally.

 

 

Alternative Choices

 

Commander Dante, shimmeringly clad in golden armour as he is, is not the only option available if you’re looking for an HQ choice to fill his role. Any of the named HQ choices are useful in their own right, with The Sanguinor and Astorath the Grim perhaps performing the most closely to Dante: close-combat-oriented characters who bring a selection of bonuses to an army. Mephiston, Lord of Death is another option but is less close to a like-for-like swap.

 

 

Conclusions and Personal Opinions

 

Commander Dante is a very useful HQ choice for the Blood Angels. He’s not the greatest character in the game by any stretch, but he provides that most vital ingredient of any Space Marines army – synergy. He works incredibly well with a selection of units and independent characters and provides buffs and debuffs that vastly benefit an army – particularly if it includes Sanguinary Guard. Although a lot of people dismissed him earlier on in the life of the new codex, as with the previously much-maligned Sanguinary Guard, people are now coming round to understanding just how useful he can be in the right army list.

 

Of course, his benefits and buffs are as situational as any other unit. If you plan to run a footslogging Terminator army or an all-mech army made up of five-man Assault Squads in Razorbacks, you probably don’t want to use Dante in your list. However, if you’re planning on using Sanguinary Guard generally or if you have hopes of playing with a mobile assaulting force, Dante is worth his weight in gold. And, as it happens, he’s armoured entirely in the stuff. I’m not sure what the relevance of that is.

 

Perhaps the most important thing to consider with Dante is that his deep strike bonus, while beneficial, is just as situational as any other special rule: you do not have to use it. If deep striking Dante will put him in unreasonable danger or will probably fail to achieve anything hugely valuable, there’s a good chance that starting him on the table will provide better options.

 

The other important thing to remember is to look after him. Dante’s an old man and his toughness isn’t quite what it perhaps was in his heyday, back when he was a mere stripling three- or four-centuries old. He’s susceptible to instant death from melta weapons or power fists – putting him in a unit and avoiding power fists in close combat will help mitigate these dangers.

 

If I was to play Dante in a list, I would tend to include him in an army that focused on jump infantry. Depending on the points available for the game, I would ideally attach him to something like a Librarian with jump pack, a Sanguinary Priest with jump pack and a unit of Sanguinary Guard with chapter banner and two or three infernus pistols Obviously this is only going to happen in larger games – dropping nearly 700 points on a single unit quite simply does not work in smaller games. However, Dante is still viable in smaller games - a unit of Honour Guard armed with four meltaguns will escort Dante very handily. This second option costs only 430 points and gives you a unit that will do vast amounts of damage to almost anything. Clearly you can aim for something in between the two points costs. There are endless combinations to play with!

 

Further, in terms of fluff or pure modeling goodness, Dante is a great choice. He's got an excellent background and the model has absolutely stood the test of time. Although many people have started modeling their own version of our Chapter Master, I personally think the existing model is gorgeous!

[appiah4]

You can't attach other ICs to Dante, who is always a unit of 1 model..

[Brother_Byhlli]

You can't attach other ICs to Dante, who is always a unit of 1 model..

 

Of course you can. Read the entire rule.

[Brother_Byhlli]

Librarian

 

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1000287a_99060101337_BALibrarianAxePlasma_445x319.jpg

 

Librarians have most Blood Angels frothing at the mouth, proclaiming in loud, proud and happy voices that they’re the optimum HQ choice for any Blood Angels army. They certainly provide excellent utility to an army, but does that make up for their reduced statline as compared to Captains and Reclusiarchs?

 

 

Unit Composition

 

1 Librarian, Independent Character

 

Librarians are as common to the Blood Angels as any of the HQ choices and up to two can be selected to lead your army. As independent characters, they are allowed to join other units. In fact, much of their strength lies in providing buffs to their own unit and others around them.

 

 

Wargear and Special Rules

 

Power Armour: Librarians are equipped with the surprisingly common power armour worn by almost all Space Marines. The excellent armour save provides a good amount of durability that will only be bettered by a few select Space Marines in the codex. Obviously susceptible to power weapons or weapons with a low AP, but power armour is so much better than the armour available to other armies we should be thankful for it!

 

Boltgun or Bolt Pistol: the Librarian’s weapon is a matter of exceptionally little import: because Librarians cannot fire a weapon and a psychic shooting attack, in most cases the Librarian’s ranged weapon has no bearing on the game. However, in the question of boltgun or bolt pistol, there is an additional effect: bolt pistols allow an additional attack in close-combat over the boltgun. And since the additional attack is made by a force weapon, the bolt pistol is clearly the most useful of the two choices for a Librarian.

 

Frag and Krak Grenades: nothing needs to be said about these, with the exception of pointing out that due to having frag grenades, charging into cover for any Space Marine is significantly less dangerous than for many other armies. If a Librarian finds himself in a position where he has to use his krak grenades, something has gone wrong somewhere!

 

Force Weapon: one of the defining elements of a Space Marine psyker is his force weapon. With the ability to be used either as a regular power weapon or to provide a third psychic power in close-combat, the Librarian’s force weapon is a massively valuable piece of equipment. The force weapon allows the psyker to call on the power of the Warp to instantly kill any model that takes a single wound from his force weapon. Any multiple-wound enemies, monstrous creatures and the like can be swept off the board by a single wound and successful leadership test.

 

Psychic Hood: a psychic hood allows the Librarian to nullify any psychic powers cast by enemy psykers within 24”. The Librarian is well-suited to doing this – rolling D6 and adding leadership means that the Librarian’s maximum leadership of 10 gives him an edge of a lot of enemy psykers. The psychic hood can be used every time an enemy uses a power within range and there are no potential harmful effects to using it. Very valuable if you play against psyker-heavy armies!

 

And They Shall Know No Fear: see the Blood Angels Special Rules for more information.

 

Psyker: clearly a psyker is going to have the Psyker special rule, but for Blood Angels there’s an interesting twist: all psykers are allowed to choose two psychic powers and normally a psyker would be allowed to cast one spell per turn. The Blood Angels psyker, however, can choose spells which can be cast in his own turn and can also choose spells which can be cast in his opponent’s turn. This means that although you can pay extra points to cast a second spell per turn, with careful choice of psychic power, you can already cast two powers per turn for free!

 

 

Upgrade Options

 

Upgrade to an Epistolary: this is perhaps the least efficient use of points in the Blood Angels army. As previously noted, choosing psychic powers carefully with your Librarian will enable him to use two psychic powers per game turn anyway, so putting additional points into casting multiple powers in your own turn is really not worth it. For an upgrade that costs the same points as a Sanguinary Priest, this is extremely underwhelming.

 

Storm Bolter: as mentioned before, taking a gun upgrade for your Librarian negates the ability to use a psychic shooting attack. Although there are psychic powers which are not psychic shooting attacks, most of them are situation at best and downright useless at worst. Upgrading your Librarian’s gun is absolutely not a priority unless you have points to spare at the end of list-writing.

 

Hand Flamer, Combi-flamer, -melta, plasma: see above for thoughts on upgrading a Librarian’s shooting ability.

 

Plasma Pistol or Infernus Pistol: see above for thoughts on upgrading a Librarian’s shooting ability.

 

Terminator Armour: depending on your army list, this upgrade might be useful. At its most basic, it’s a pretty cheap upgrade which provides a marked increase to the survivability of your Librarian. The option of picking up a storm shield makes your Librarian even more durable, increasing your save from 3+ to 2+/3++. If you plan for whatever reason to run a Terminator list, you might consider this. Honestly though, in most lists this won’t fit with what you’re trying to achieve. Librarian’s are generally best left in their trusty power armour!

 

Jump Pack: again, a situational benefit that depends on your army list. The jump pack is hugely beneficial if you plan to run a jump infantry list, but in a mechanised or gunline list, for example, it will be a thorough waste of points. If it fits with your list, it’s a cheap upgrade that allows your HQ to keep up with your army.

 

Space Marines Bike: as with the jump pack this is an extremely situational upgrade. As well as providing an increase to your mobility, though, it increases both your damage output and your durability. The bike itself comes equipped with two boltguns and putting the Librarian on the bike increases his toughness to T4(5). I suspect this would be more useful in a Space Marine army which was using Space Marine Bikes as Troops choices. In a Blood Angels army, I’m not convinced by the value of the upgrade.

 

 

Psychic Powers

 

Blood Boil: a psychic shooting attack which gives you a 1/12 chance of targeting a specific enemy model with a single wound that allows no armour saves. Arguably quite useful if it works, but the Librarian has much more useful powers available.

 

Fear of the Darkness: a psychic shooting attack which causes a unit within 24” to run away based on a modified leadership test. Unfortunately most units that you might want to focus on with this power benefit from Fearless or a similar special rule that prevents the power having any effect: large units of Guardsmen or Orks, for example, will tend to be immune to this power. Almost an extremely useful power, but sadly not quite strong enough a contender in my opinion.

 

Might of Heroes: a very situational psychic power which might be useful in some cases, but to be honest given the choice of close-combat oriented psychic powers the Librarian has, this one will tend to be dropped. Giving one model a few extra attacks is likely not to be the best option available to the Librarian, who could instead grant rerolls to hit across the squad, increase his own strength to S10 or use his force weapon to insta-kill an enemy model. I can see this psychic power being useful if you’re casting two spells per turn, but other than that, I doubt it’s ever been used.

 

Shackle Soul: limits an enemy unit’s ability to due anything by foisting leadership tests on them for anything they try to do. I can’t say I’m a fan of psychic powers that require leadership tests on the opponent to be successful – as I said earlier, the units who tend to have low leadership either have special rules granting them Fearless or similar, or they can be killed quite easily in combat by my assault forces.

 

Shield of Sanguinius: you might have been wondering why I would recommend taking a Librarian if I hated all their psychic powers. I don’t actually hate them, but the earlier choices pale in comparison to this and a couple of later choices. The Shield of Sanguinius psychic power is absolutely key to getting the most out of your Librarian. As a power which you cast in your opponent’s turn instead of your own, taking this power frees you up to cast your other spell in your own turn whenever you want. The spell itself also happens to be one of the better spells available: generating a cover save within a 6” bubble means you can pop your Librarian in a transport and extend that 6” bubble outward from its hull. That’s a lot of bubble. Alternatively you can use the Descent of Angels special rule to put your Librarian and his unit somewhere that’s going to cause some nasty shooting damage to the enemy and pop the cover save up in your opponent’s shooting phase if he decides your unit looks a tasty target for his plasma. Whatever other power you take, this one is as close to a must-have as the Blood Angels Librarian’s have access to.

 

Smite: a tasty shooting attack which hits four times and ignores all armour saves, but has a limited strength. To be honest, I would expect you to have enough shooting in terms of bolters, plasma guns and meltaguns to not really need the extra four shots. Although the armour penetration is excellent, the strength means that you’re looking at maybe two or three wounds on average. Not breathtaking.

 

The Blood Lance: one of the more viable options for the discerning Blood Angels Librarian to read up on. Potentially damaging every unit along a 24” line is useful, but it’s the S8 AP1 that makes this spell so valuable: it’s ideal for pumping into turtled tanks and transports. Although the power is undoubtedly most powerful spammed by multiple Librarians (ok, two…!), the destructive power of one extra S8 AP1 shot fired at a number of tanks shouldn’t be scoffed at. Typically you’re only going to hit one or two tanks, but careful placement – say in a squad that includes Dante, so you can deep strike precisely where you’re most effective – can allow you to hit one or two – or even more! – tanks on their soft rear armour. Definitely one for consideration.

 

The Sanguine Sword: used in either player’s assault phase, this lets your Librarian do huge damage to tanks, monstrous creatures and units that contain several models with multiple wounds who are S5 or lower. Where the force weapon allows you to more reliably kill one model who has multiple wounds and a high toughness value, using this power against a unit of, say Ork Nobz or Tyranid Warriors will allow you to kill several models in one sweep.

 

Unleash Rage: giving your unit the opportunity to reroll missed to-hit rolls can be very valuable indeed. Although some units, such as Sanguinary Guard, already possess a reroll to hit, others such as Assault Squads lack both in rerolls and a high enough weapon skill to cause significant damage on their own. Giving an Assault Squad rerolls on every missed roll to hit can increase the damage output of the squad by 25%. Potentially a very useful spell.

 

Wings of Sanguinius: essentially essence-of-jump pack, I wouldn’t use this power on anything that isn’t half-dead and encased in a sarcophagus, lumbering around the battlefield like a walking God of Death. (That’s a Dreadnought, so we’re clear…!) If you think you’re particularly going to need the added mobility, slap a jump pack on your Librarian.

 

 

Tactical Uses

 

Librarians are one of the more tactical HQ choices available to Blood Angels, able to react to most situations well. However, the fact that they lack focus in their unit design can only mean that while they can do many different things, they don’t excel at any of them.

 

As with most independent characters, a Librarian is definitely best used as part of a unit. His unit buffs can promote a unit from average or even dangerous into wrecking balls.

 

The Librarian is well-suited to joining almost any squad at all. Their psychic powers can be adapted depending on who you plan them to join and they hold their own in combat nicely.

 

Attached to any elite infantry, such as Honour Guard or Sanguinary Guard, the Librarian’s 5+ cover save can be absolutely invulnerable. Given how valuable each of those models is, protecting them against AP1, AP2 or AP3 attacks can make a massive difference on the game. This is most likely to come up if you’re deep striking your Librarian attached to one of these squads.

 

The Blood Lance spell has already been point out as giving the potential for some nasty damage to tanks’ rear armour if they can be found lined up nicely. It combines well with a tank-busting, contents-assaulting unit such as Sanguinary Guard or even basic Assault Squads.

 

Although the Librarian can provide rerolls to hit, this should probably be avoided if you’re putting him in a unit of Sanguinary Guard as they already pay for a reroll. Instead, the power is better used in an Honour Guard or Assault Squad. Although Assault Squads and, to an extent, Honour Guards aren’t best-suited to taking out particularly nasty units that might be on the table, the Librarian means they can attack nasty units with a bit less caution. Taking out multiple-wound creatures can be done very efficiently, really improving the overall combat result in your unit’s favour. Let the Librarian focus his attacks on your enemy’s power fist or thunder hammer – hitting in initiative order with the ability to insta-kill the opposing squad’s dangerous characters is very useful!

 

 

 

Combinations

 

The Librarian, as with most independent characters, will do best in a unit. Because of the utility a Librarian provides, almost any unit can benefit from having a Librarian in their midst. Let’s look at a few of them:

 

Independent Characters

 

Sanguinary Priest: the Sanguinary Priest is one of the most valuable options for attaching to any unit. The Feel No Pain bubble is hugely valuable for keeping your Librarian alive against massed small-arms fire or in combats against anything that lacks power weapons, while the Furious Charge bubble means that the Librarian’s more powerful in combat. There should probably be a Sanguinary Priest or Honour Guard somewhere within range of your Librarian at any time.

 

Units

 

Sanguinary Guard: although the Librarian’s rerolls to hit are less valuable for Sanguinary Guard, his ability to insta-kill a particularly nasty monster or independent character means that he can greatly increase the Sanguinary Guard’s chances of surviving a combat with a tough enemy unit. Additionally, as Sanguinary Guard lack an invulnerable save the 5+ cover save can greatly benefit them and, again, add to their survivability. Remember that each of your Sanguinary Guard costs you at least 40 points and suddenly keeping them alive seems a very worthy goal!

 

Terminator Assault Squad: a Librarian attached to a Terminator Assault Squad can give you a unit that, armed with lightning claws, gets to reroll all failed rolls to hit and to wound. With the damage that a Terminator Assault Squad can put out, that is a massive boost. The Shield of Sanguinius power is less useful for the Terminators though, being as they already have at least a 5+ invulnerable save. Still, an option worth considering.

 

Sternguard Veteran Squad: since the Sternguard are very often used in a shock attack role, dropping in Drop Pods to give an alpha-strike element to an army, they can regularly be left in the cold with no cover save and only their armour to rely on. Putting a Librarian in the unit can provide a hugely valuable 5+ cover save to your veterans while also providing an increased amount of damage output through shooting attacks or increasing close-combat capacity.

 

Assault Squad: probably the best option in the army to provide with rerolls in close-combat, the Assault Squad can go from merely dangerous to suddenly causing vast amount of damage in combat. Rerolling missed hits, combined with a strength boost from Furious Charge and a power weapon means that where you were previously looking at a unit that could do two, three or four wounds in combat, you’re now doing maybe six or seven wounds. Of course, this is depending on the enemy you’re fighting against. Assault Squads are often overlooked by your opponent in favour of your shinier units, but properly augmented and working together they can be game-breakers.

 

Devastator Squad: while the Librarian lacks in long-range shooting he can be used in a pinch to provide cover for a Devastator Squad which is sitting exposed in your back-line. Realistically though, you should be placing your Devastators in cover anyway, so while this is an option to consider, it will probably see very little use in games.

 

 

Transport

 

A Librarian has no limitations on the transport he can use unless he is equipped with either a jump pack or Terminator armour. In the case of the former, he’s limited to a Stormraven; in the latter, to either a Stormraven or a Land Raider.

 

 

Alternative Choices

 

Although the Librarian is almost the only psyker available to Blood Angels, there are other options available to the Blood Angels general who wants something similar but different. Mephiston, Lord of Death provides one of the main alternatives for providing psychic power to your army and can cause untold destruction in close-combat, but he’s a significant outlay of points. A Furioso Librarian Dreadnought is the other source of psychic power. Costing more than the Librarian but less than Mephiston, a Furioso Librarian Dreadnought doesn’t take up an HQ slot in the Force Organisation Chart, is extremely durable and can cause absolutely massive amount of damage in close combat. Generally going to be limited in spells due to its poor mobility – many players will pick Wings of Sanguinius as almost an automatic choice for Furioso Librarian Dreadnoughts. Other options to replace the Librarian include either the Reclusiarch, who can provide a decent combat boost but less utility, or the Captain, who provides significantly less utility but a better combat statline. The Reclusiarch can boost the unit he’s attached to almost as well as the Librarian in combat, but lacks a lot of the deadlier powers of the Librarian, where the Captain is probably the least popular HQ choice available to Blood Angels players – lacking any kind utility, he doesn’t provide any buff to his unit or to his army. His combat statline is reasonable, but not significantly improved over that of a Reclusiarch.

 

 

Conclusions and Personal Opinions

 

The Librarian provides a surprisingly cheap and exceptionally useful HQ for Blood Angels. In smaller games I would have no hesitation in recommending him as a first-choice HQ and, for larger games, if I haven’t already picked the Librarian as my first-choice, I’ll generally pick him as my second-choice HQ.

 

The sheer utility provided by the Librarian is fantastic and the fact that his statline is superior to a standard Space Marine makes him a reasonably powerful character. (Lest we forget, even a standard Space Marine is a powerful model in the Warhammer universe!) Granted, he’s not likely to take on a Bloodthirster on his own, but he does stand up reasonably well in combat.

 

He can be killed if you’re not careful with using him, however. Make sure he’s surrounded by bodies in a good unit and don’t throw him up against anything you cannot target which will cause instant death, such as power fists. As with any member of the Blood Angels, using him carefully to support the troops around him and using the troops in turn to look after him will give you good results. Look to achieve the greatest possible synergy with your Librarian: given the options he has open to him, if you can’t find a way of doing so, there’s something wrong!

 

I suspect that in smaller games I would run him with an Assault Squad or sitting in the central transport in a group of transports, providing as wide a coverage as possible with his cover save. The Assault Squads would then benefit greatly from his rerolls to hit in combat. In a larger game, I might even consider matching him up with Dante in a big, HQ-heavy unit that provides a cover save to the Chapter Master after he deep strikes to cause some melta misery with his unit.

 

Regardless of what unit I used him in, I would also make a point if possible of keeping a Sanguinary Priest or Sanguinary Novitiate nearby. The Feel No Pain and Furious Charge buffs are invaluable to any Space Marine, but particularly so to one you’ve spent over 100 points on!