Why Play Blood Angels?

[plaguengine]

They were the first codex I ever bought as I had the 2nd edition one.

I loved the fact that they just loved to tear the crap out of any enemy of the Emperor.

They are the Wolrd Eaters without the gay constant need for skulls which=the tactics of a gnat.

Their colour is the most striking and recognisable, they love a good bloody assault.

They are not TOTALLY close combat either and have reasonable amounts of tactical marines and devastator squads.

[Imperialis_Dominatus]

I play a Successor but...

 

Everything. Blood Angels are the most awesome Space Marines. Period.

 

Ultras can go eat salt and pound cake. For it is only the Blood Angels who may eat cake. Delicious cake.

[lesdiablesrouge]

I don't care for these new toys our vet assault squad is more than a match for the vet squad ........ what has really annoyed me is the fact that all codex special characters have been tooled up and the blood angels have been left for dead. Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't Dante the oldest living space marine - but has no upgrades and for example marneus calgar has been tooled up with eternal warrior!!!!!!!!!!!!!! plus orbital bombardment, re rolls in shooting and close combat plus all their other upgrades. Mephiston has also been held back against tigurus (i think). Isn't mephiston supposed to be the greatest swordsman in the known universe and the best psyker for man following him overcoming the red thirst.

 

I feel the red thirst rising ----- may the blood angels drink the blood of those scum who have betrayed them called games workshop

[Aias]

Why do I play Blood Angels? It's a complex question, one not easily answered. However, it is a question worthy of the inquiry.

 

When I started playing 40k coming up on 2 years now, I started with my Tau. I fell in love with the power of their guns, the options afforded by the Crisis suit, but most of all with their fluff. Everything I'd seen about 40k at that point was all very pessimistic and dark, and the Tau were a bright spot of hope. They were young and vigorous, trying to bring the light of the Greater Good to anyone who would listen, and that seemed to be enough for me. Maybe it's the Trekkie nature in me, but that was my hope.

 

However, game after game, I came to realize that my guns were not a match for the enemies I faced. That the world of 40k was dark for a reason, and that reason was the sheer volume of evil I faced. From Chaos to the shambling Necrons, the voracious Tyranid swarms to the demented hordes of the Dark Eldar, the light of the Tau'va, though bright, could not hope to stand against the ferocity of this evil. I wanted something better. I wanted something nobler.

 

I wanted to win a few more games, too, but that's not the point here.

 

So I started reading through fluff again, and more in-depth this time. And I ran across the tales of the Heresy, and the Blood Angels. I read about the noble Sanguinus, about the Angel and his fight against the daemons outside the Eternity Gate. About his stand against Horus, despite his knowledge that he would not survive. And about how his children would be both blessed and cursed with this knowledge, that each of them would succumb to the Black Rage, and how their time on this earth (to broaden the metaphor) was precious.

 

This, combined with the release of the BA codex soon after I heard it made me decide to pick up a Marine force, and begin my cleansing of the darkness with a new boldness, and with new ability. And while I have still had less success than I would like, that's more of a constant refrain from any general than a disparaging comment on my men.

 

"For Sanguinus! For the Emperor!"

 

We struggle against the darkness not just for the memory of our Primarch, not just for our Emperor's name, but for their ideals, for their hopes and dreams. We fight to bring the light to these darkened corners of the galaxy, and to bring them peace from the evils that beset them.

 

And that, my friends, is why I play the Blood Angels. Because better than any other beings in the galaxy, they know that darkness, and struggle against it. The Eldar splintered that part of them off a long time ago. The Tau are too naive to see it. The rest of the Imperium just doesn't get it. Chaos embraced it. The Tyranids and Necrons are too mindless to even hope to understand.

 

In the end, it's just us. We alone can stand upon the watchtower and protect our brethren, knowing full well what's out there, knowing what we must face.

 

And we face it anyway.

[Remmah]

Love it man!

 

It is right up there with the colour red.

[spectre312]

I was over at my uncles house a couple years ago, and we were cleaning the garage. And he pulls out these little tiny models for a game called "epic". he says no one plays it anymore, but he thought the models would look good on display. So for about a week we're setting up this bookshelf of epic models. these itsy bitsy little things. no, some of you are saying 'a week, how many models was it?' He had collected the entire chapter of the dark angels. all ten companies, 10 squads a piece. the raven wing, the death wing, the support elements of vehicles, and because they used in epic, a legion of titans. and as we worked he told me all these cool stories about space marines,their crazy history with the emperor, and the way the universe worked. in the last box i found this codex called "the angels of death" including stories and lists for both the dark angels and the red angels. and I was hooked. I read every last magazine and codex and 40k story he had in this garage of boxes. and i thought, well, he has the dark angels......

 

But really, I've fallen in love with the death company. I found rules to playing the flesh tearers back in his old white dwarf collection, and I played them for a few games. Something amazing about having a good third of your army being jet pack equipped lunatics that are near impossible to kill. and dreadnoughts that were the same! it was unheard of. dreadnoughts bring a good chunk of fear to a game, and to have furioso dreadnoughts that had extra attacks and more wounds? The black rage, the blood angels trait that had struck fear into the heart of many a gamer as those black monsters roared across the battlefield was now enclosed in armor surpasing any other infantry....

 

I'm in for life. I'm even getting the angels badge tattooed on me.

[Sanguinor]

I've been playing Blood Angels since I started collecting Warhammer 40'000 some... 8 years ago. I fell in love with the paint scheme, the fluff, the models and the play style. Everything about them screamed 'collect us' at me, so much so that I just joined the forums and came straight to the Blood Angels section!

 

Anyway, I have the entire 3rd Company of the Blood Angels and if you assume that the 10th is never at full strength then I have enough for that too. It is my personal goal in life to bolster this collection by another 8 companies.

 

But I will not play them anymore, not unless Games Workshop bring out a 'real' codex for the first Chapter they did any work on, or if my opponent will allow me to play with the 3rd edition rules no matter how broken they may be.

[HIMSA]

I played BA because I interpreted the fluff as Blood Angels are actually vampires.

 

They are basically one of the most important chapters in terms of humanity surviving, but they are self destructive and harbour a terrible secret... the irony.

[Dark_Ace_Cipher]

Why do I play Blood Angels?

 

Well, ifrst off, SPEED. I started off with Mech Tau (against nids of all things), and so got used to speed, and became a master of mobile infantry. My next army was Tyranids, another fast army, which made me love exteremely fast basic troops, and also how to use them. ANd my last army before the Sons of Sanguinius was the Traitor Marines of the Iron Warriors, which got me used to playing marines.

 

And so now, I play 8th company. At the 1000 points level, EVERYTHING in my army can move up to a max of 18" a turn. With that kind of speed, we could wait for the boys in blue all day, and when they finally arrive at our fortress-monastary, they will find that we have already been to theirs AND BACK, and have all of their princesses, gold, artefacts of power, etc.

 

Another factor is the Free Codex.

 

There is also our Lawnmower Tank and our Weedwacker Dready. Don't forget the marines with rending and FNP... THAT CAN FLY!

 

Finally, there is this Motivational Poster:http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e55/Dark_Ace_Cipher/BloodAngelsMP.jpg

[Brother Antio]

You mean there are lists out there other than blood angels that people actually play?! and here wa me thinking they were just robots sent so i could beat them!

Play BA and sucessors, but dunno why.

My 1st introduction to the hobby was in good old herohammer days. played undead before they split. then went to vampire counts, now blood angel sucessors, all in all as long as an army drinks blood i'll play it!

[Swedeguy]

I cant find the Blood Angels Codex pdf anywhere can anyone suggest where to look

[Shido]

Here you go Swedeguy, I suggest you favourite it or save it for in the future :D.

 

BA 5th Ed Revised

 

Now on to the question of why I play Blood Angels, well my mate got me into playing Warhammer 40k really, always loved Dawn of War and so we both got the Macragge sets and started making Space Marines, him with his Ultrasmurfs and of course me with my Blood Angels. He told me the whole lore of the 40k universe and how the heresy happened and I really liked the noble astartes of the IX Legion Blood Angels and especially Sanguinius, so I got the BA Codex and I looked at it and really dug into the fluff, I think its all amazing and then I noticed the Angels Sanguine successors and thought thats how I want my marines to look with a few slight changes to the colour scheme and thats where I'm at now, painting an Angels Sanguine army. :D

 

OwlandMoonGuy really inspired me too, his models look awesome and I'm not nearly as good a painter but I hope mine still look cool when I'm finished. I have over 3000 points of models to paint however, only 2 tactical squads are near finished right now ;) the joys of collecting lots of models and not stopping to paint them haha. I'll get them finished some day and post them ^_^.

 

Also...

"What is this treason? This is madness!"

"Madness? THIS IS THE DEATH COMPANY! *boot*" lol :lol:

 

Umm... red makes things go faster? :lol: We are essentially 300 in power armor as has been said before, we're just badass we really are.

Edited October 25, 2008 by Shido

[Warforger]

Strangely enough, when I started Blood Angels, I started them because of there rules (They seemed to make normal SM look bad).

 

I also started them because I already had a furiso and I loved assault squads.

 

Now I know how to use them properly and Mephiston is one of my fav characters.

[strikeforce_comander]

I play Blood Angels for many of the same reasons the rest of you do...

-Free Codex-http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/...amp;aId=7000010

-Fluff- They have the best fluff that I've ever read

-Models- Lets face it, who wouldn't want DC, Baal Pred, Furioso Dreadnought, our IC's, and/or our version of the Rhino? Easy to paint and look great.

-Rules- Assault squads as troops? I won't argue against that one bit.

[clanfield]

ther was a story about the siege of the emperors palace i forget which version now ,but there was a line in it about the demonic forces arrayed before the outer wall and the defenders bemoaning there fate ..and the sanguinius and his blood angles arived upon the walls something about the primarch stareing down angron ,...hooked

 

that and the red

[TechnoBanker]

Strangely enough, when I started Blood Angels, I started them because of there rules (They seemed to make normal SM look bad).

 

I also started them because I already had a furiso and I loved assault squads.

 

Now I know how to use them properly and Mephiston is one of my fav characters.

 

 

I second this. I too started playing BA back in early 3rd because of the rules. I liked the randomness of the DC, overcharged engines, Dakka Pred, Furioso, and Mephy.

 

Now we have Rending, and FnP on the DC, and the Space Marines have....a bunch of people that argue over the rightness of taking a "special/named character" or not.

 

I mean c'mon, in a world (universe?) at war, how many times do you hear about Marines or any race for that matter practicing the ARTS! Art of war? Sure. Artistry of design? Of Course. Painting...Music...Poetry? Why not?! Hell I see the Sons of Sanguinius more with the Greek feel than any other chapter. Both lovers of the arts, and of war. Nothing comes close....well maybe tearing a Khorny player limb from limb...maybe.

[Warforger]

Fluff-wise, the Ultra's are the Blood Angels laptdogs, during the Armageddon intervention Tu'Shun Chapter Master Of The Salamanders and Marneus Calgar himself willingly put Commander Dante on top due to his vast experience, since he was chapter master even before they were scouts. Also In Blood Angels Omnibus,

they replace the Codex Astartes with there own version, to suit Deus Encarnate,

totally disproving the propaganda that the Blood Angels aspire to Gulliman. TBH the fluff in the codex was too stupid, its from Ultramars POV, not the actual happening, meaning changing into PROPAGANDA! The only good piece was Idaeuses last command, that was good. Edited December 2, 2008 by Morticon

[Battle-Brother Meteor]

It all started back when I first got interested in Warhammer 40k, I was into Fantasy at the time (had not bought anything yet though) when my friend led to Dawn of War, the demo. In the demo, you can only play as Space Marines, and it was the Blood Angels LOOK (found inside the Army Painter of the demo) that first caught my eye. That, and the mega-awesome name "Blood Angels" :tu: .

 

Needless to say, Space Marines, with their Power Armour, Bolters, DREADNOUGHTS, and their fanatical faith in their comatose-Emperer-God-Person-Thing, grew to be my favourite army. However, I was into the Ultramarines, because that's the only army GW seems to show on their website, before I had gone to a bookstore and found the only Space Marine books I could find (whose Chapters I recognized). These novels were the Blood Angels Omnibus and the sequel, Red Fury, both by James Swallow. These were, and still are, epic tales, and it really introduced me to 40k fluff and the BA themselves.

 

A few months later, I decided to pop by a GW store mercifully near my house, pick up an Assault on Black Reach, and am now waiting for Christmes to open it, and paint my first army of glorious Blood Angels.

[masterchief1001]

For me it all started one day when my brother and I accidently stumbled into a GW in our mall. We played a game with the workers and we both loved the SMs. I however saw the blood angels book and loved how they looked. But I had no moneys until I was 19, and I attacked them like a Death Company on an ork. Love the lore, the color, but I love the Furioso Dread!!! My girlfriend got it for me for my birthday!!! (yes she is awesome) Got 500 points all painted up and workin on 1k.

[Emperor's Instrument]

Because we seem to be a Chapter constantly in mourning for our Primarch and use that pain to purge the Imperium of the Unclean.

 

Because I love my Death Company, Chaplain Lemartes led my five Sanguinius wannabes through 8 Khorne Berserkers, 10 Orks and 10 Necrons in one game for no loss.

 

Because Tycho was an absolute legend.

 

Dante is over 1000 years old.

 

Because even Horus thought Sanguinius should have been Warmaster.

[igotsmeakabob!!]

First, it was the playstyle. I was 12, ten years ago, and they seemed radically different from any other chapter.

Later, the fluff in the codex and eventually the information that was written about them in novels.

 

Because of the sacrifice that Sanguinius made. The chink (yeah, I still say that he made the chink, it's a good story) that he gave his life for, so that the Emperor could defeat Horus. He knew he was going to his death, and he still tried to talk Horus out of his madness.

 

Because each Blood Angel fights his own inner battle, all while violence erupts around him.

They're a chapter that teeters on the edge of oblivion, of being lost to a great madness... yet they persevere.

Edited February 4, 2009 by igotsmeakabob!!

[Otniel]

Everybody else was playing smurfs, puppies, and skirt wearing plasma bunnies, so I thought I'd try something different. Then I fell in love with a list with 6 dreads, 2 assault scout squads, and all the AS, and VAS I could squeeze in! I even fielded DS squads when they were subject to rage! I've switched many times to try others, but I always come back to RED!

[Meracalis]

I decided to play Blood Angels because...

 

Of this thread. I've never played a game of 40k in my life, but I ordered the Black Reach box set and a tactical squad the other day. They haven't even arrived yet, but they just seem like a better choice than any existing chapter. I plan on eventually making my own, possibly a successor chapter, but until I've got more experience in the 40k world, I'm sticking with the BAs. (Only played DoW and read a couple books so far.)

[JamesI]

Welcome Meracalis!

[kraegus]

I haven't played a match of 40k since 3rd Ed., so I have no idea how easy or hard BA are to play, but they're by miles the most fun to paint.

 

(because while getting that perfect red is really really really hard, it's worth it when you nail it. :P I still haven't yet, but I've seen people who have, so there's hope!)